In The News

UK Chlorinated Chicken Ban? Guardian

Daniel Boffey and Jennifer Rankin February 25, 2020
European consumers and farmers express disdain for chlorinated chicken, a treatment that prevents bacterial contamination “The EU will demand that the UK maintains a ban on chlorinated chicken as the price for a trade agreement with Brussels, in a move that protects European meat exports and creates an obstacle to a deal with [the US],” reports the Guardian. A clause in the EU’s proposal would...

NBA Financial Hit From China: Wall Street Journal

Ben Cohen February 23, 2020
A Houston Rocket basketball executive tweeted support for the Hong Kong protests in October, upsetting the close relationship between China and NBA. The fallout could result in a financial hit for NBA. The NBA commissioner suggests the loss may reach $400 billion in response to speculation that the total could be $1 billion. Disturbed by the NBA’s support for free speech, China stopped...

COVD-19 Cuts Luxury Retail Sales: New York Times

Elizabeth Paton February 20, 2020
The shopping boulevards in London, Paris, Dubai and other cosmopolitan cities, once crowded with enthusiastic Chinese shoppers, are near empty due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus. The coronavirus has placed more than 50 million people under quarantine in China, and 70 other countries imposed travel and visa restrictions for Chinese tourists. Meanwhile, the global luxury goods industry, which...

Quarrels in the EU Over Meat Promotion: DutchNews.nl

February 16, 2020
The European Union is under constant pressure to enact best practices for the bloc regardless of cultural differences. Dutch officials question the need for EU subsidies to promote meat consumption amid growing health and environmental concerns. “The EU has spent some €60m promoting meat since 2017, in direct contradiction to Dutch efforts to cut meat consumption on health grounds, according to...

Reshaped Global Commerce: Wall Street Journal

Josh Zumbrun, Feliz Solomon, and Jeffrey Lewis February 13, 2020
The trade war between the US and China in the past two years has contributed to slowing global trade growth. Imports for both the US and China declined in 2019 due to additional tariffs and the global trade system has made adjustments. A Wall Street Journal article describes which regions benefited from the dispute: In Asia, cellphones made in Vietnam are growing rapidly while other east and...

Global Economy Without Cushion: Project Syndicate

Stephen S. Roach February 6, 2020
Global recessions are rare, but the world may have dodged one in 2019. The world posted GDP growth of 2.9 percent that year, far below the average 3.5 percent posted since 1980. Deviations from the trend signal a warning even for strong economies and corporations, suggests economist Stephen S. Roach with Yale University. “Unlike individual economies, which normally contract in an outright...

Clash Over Brexit Trade Rules: Bloomberg

Tim Ross and Ian Wishart February 4, 2020
The United Kingdom severed ties with the European Union, with current rules to remain in place until the end of 2020. The leaders have 11 months to develop new trade rules: The EU expects the UK to abide by strict rules to prevent unfair competition while Johnson insists the UK will “prosper mightily” even if the negotiations fail. He suggested the EU could provide a deal similar to the one with...