In The News

EU-US Summit: Hands Across the Ocean

José Manuel Barroso April 27, 2007
Despite persistent fears in the West about emerging competition from developing economies, a more immediate concern for Americans and Europeans is their own trade relationship. While the people of the European Union and the US together make up barely 10 percent of the world's population, bilateral business between the two accounts for fully 40 percent of all international trade. That is why...

US Pet Deaths: Wake-Up Call on Global Food Safety?

Susan Froetschel April 24, 2007
Pesticides and fertilizers have long contributed to global food security. But some farmers, tempted by high crop yields and profits, overuse the products, allowing excess agrochemicals to infiltrate water supplies and soil. The US Food and Drug Administration confirmed deaths of 16 pets and received more than 15,000 complaints of ill pets, linked to gluten imported from China. The reports...

How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor

C. Ford Runge April 24, 2007
With rising oil prices and growing demand for ethanol as an alternative fuel, US corn producers anticipate a huge boost in profitability. Any spike in corn prices caused by increasing ethanol consumption, however, could devastate the developing world. Billions of impoverished people depend on corn and other staples for their caloric intake, but higher corn prices would decrease affordability of...

Let Pragmatism Rule in Indonesia-Singapore Ties

Sabam Siagian April 17, 2007
Indonesia is emerging as an increasingly prominent country in international affairs, but its interests may be best met by stabilizing its relations with regional powers in Southeast Asia. In particular, as Sabam Siagian contends, Indonesia can benefit tremendously by forging strong ties with Singapore, widely recognized as a modern economic force. Although there seems to be a desire to establish...

Accord Key to Sustainable Economic Development

Lee Jun-kyu April 11, 2007
The US and South Korea have finalized negotiations on a free-trade agreement, which must be ratified by legislatures in both nations. Meanwhile, opponents in both countries organize, complaining that free trade could disrupt the economies of either nation, increasing income gaps or competition for specific sectors. Opponents in South Korea in particular fear that their nation could become a mere...

Multinationals: Globalization's Offspring

April 10, 2007
Scrappy new multinational firms are emerging all over the world: Hindalco and Tata from India, Lenovo and PetroChina from China. “Just as Toyota and Samsung eventually obliged western multinationals to rethink how to make cars and consumer electronics, so today's young thrusters threaten the veterans wherever they are complacent,” notes this article in “The Economist.” The new firms are...

US-Korea Trade Deal Still Faces Hurdles

Evan Ramstad April 9, 2007
Politicians won legislative office in both the US and South Korea by vehemently opposing trade. Negotiators for the two nations have ironed out a complex trade agreement, but lobbyists representing agriculture, automobile or electronics interests could balk at details such as South Korea excluding US rice exports or the US delaying any decision to purchase Korean products made at an industrial...