In The News

Pew Survey Finds America’s Global Stature Diminished

December 4, 2002
The globalization of media and the information technology revolution have made American actions visible to the entire world. In a wide-sweeping survey of 38,000 people in 44 countries – a feat accomplished in large part thanks to globalization – the Pew Foundation finds a gloomy image of the US overseas. From the state of American democracy to America's unilateralist stance in the...

Obstacles to Zero Tariffs

November 29, 2002
For many people, economic globalization means the dismantling of all barriers to free trade, a process which would eliminate all taxes on imported manufactured goods and agricultural subsidies. At the Doha round of world talks, the United States proposed zero tariffs on industrial and consumer goods by 2015. Though few can argue that lower tariffs will eventually benefit consumers, many...

US, Singapore on Brink of Sealing Free-Trade Pact

November 19, 2002
American and Singaporean negotiators spent most of last night negotiating the final terms of the first American-Asian free-trade agreement, which, if all goes smoothly, could be signed as early as next year. The two sides agreed on all but one major issue (that of capital transfers in-and-out of Singapore). Singapore’s geopolitical importance, with its modern technology and peaceful political and...

The Challenge for the Multilateral Trade System

Guy de Jonquières November 18, 2002
Is multi-lateral trade the only way to pursue globalization? A recent trend to forge regional and bilateral trade agreements has Supachai Panitchpakdi, WTO director-general, arguing that "by discriminating against third countries and creating a complex network of trade regimes, such [bilateral] agreements pose systemic risk to the global trading system." But the US and other countries...

‘Blood Diamonds’ Polished Off

November 5, 2002
After coffee, it’s now turn for diamonds. A worldwide campaign by NGOs brought about a new brand -- Fair-Trade Certified Coffee -- that ensures the coffee beans were bought from growers at fair trade condition. Now a global campaign against the so-called “blood diamond”, the stones mined and smuggled out by armed groups in Africa to finance civil wars or illegal operations, has brought some...

Latin American Countries Skeptical of U.S. Trade Agreement

Edmund L. Andrews November 1, 2002
In an effort to rouse support for a pan-American free-trade agreement, President Bush expanded the number of products that Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia could export to the United States without paying tariffs. In addition, 140 million dollars would be given by the United States to defray the costs of administering any pan-American trade deal. However, most Latin American countries are...

First Contact

Aparisim Ghosh October 10, 2002
Globalization is an older phenomenon than many people realize. In the early 1400's, the Chinese emperor set about building trade ties between his Ming dynasty China and other peoples in Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa. Under the guidance of Admiral Zheng He, massive fleets plied the East China and Arabian Seas for 30 years, transferring goods, people, and ideas from one part of the...