In The News

Keeping Up With China's Olympic Shine – Part II

Alexandra Harney September 24, 2008
China has become known as factory to the world – as manufacturers invested in factories to take advantage of a labor force that accepts low wages and a government with minimal environmental standards and even less enforcement. Shoppers like low prices while the companies enjoy immense profits. China, indeed the entire world, pays a heavy price for manufacturing firms gathering in a place with...

Beijing’s Shadowy Fund for Buying Assets

Jamil Anderlini September 19, 2008
China’s government has an immense pool of savings, which has ballooned in value over the past eight years, and decisions about how to invest or spend that cash influences other nations and industries. One fund, Chinese Investment Corp., is more open than the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which manages the world’s largest foreign-exchange reserves. The Chinese funds have gradually...

New US Law Requiring Country-of-Origin Label on Food to Take Effect

September 18, 2008
As of September 30, US food manufacturers and grocery stores will follow footsteps of some other countries by labeling meat, fruits and vegetables with country of origin. Fish and seafood have carried such labels since 2005. “The idea gained momentum, though, following a string of food-borne illness outbreaks, new concerns over the safety of food imports and some of the largest meat recalls in...

Is Mexico the New China?

Rafael Rivero, Sara Miller Llana September 17, 2008
With uncertainty in oil prices and rising labor costs in Asia, Mexico is luring manufacturing jobs away from China. US companies seek manufacturers close to US markets, an attempt to curb transport costs. Chinese workers also demand protections and higher wages. An emphasis on public and worker education also attracts jobs: Mexico has emphasized worker education, which complements value-added...

Why the Discomfort Over Free Trade

Kevin Casas-Zamora September 12, 2008
Many benefits flow from free trade, and attempts to “protect” economies from competition are doomed. Yet free trade has fallen into disrepute, as more workers, voters and politicians express skepticism, questioning why most rewards flow to a few. Costa Rica’s former vice-president, Kevin Casas-Zamora, insists that advocates for free trade, and he counts himself as one, must examine the problems...

Why Obama Shouldn't Cave on Trade

Roger Bybee September 11, 2008
The Democratic Party in the United States is divided over the benefits of free trade, and support has shriveled in recent years even among working-class Republicans. While many pundits and politicians insist that open trade enriches all, other analysts suggest that inserting conditions into free-trade agreements could protect human rights and the environment as well as stem rising resentment that...

High-Tech Ties Bridge Mideast Divide

Robert W. Gee September 8, 2008
With any lull in the violence, Palestinian and Israeli representatives reach out to each other for business and trade opportunities. One example is Israeli high-tech executive, Jonathan Levy, president and general manager of Nuvoton, who did not hesitate in outsourcing some software engineering work to seven recent graduates from West Bank universities. More than 2000 Palestinian students...