In The News

Where We Go From Here

Ernesto Zedillo February 17, 2014
NAFTA is 20 years old, and the trade agreement is assessed by Americas Quarterly, a policy journal by the Council of Americas, an international business organization. Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico, argues NAFTA has fulfilled its promise of growth, employment and competitiveness. “Annual trade among the three partners has increased fourfold, and intraregional investment almost...

A Wary US Remains Open to Chinese Investments

Ziad Haider February 6, 2014
China with its fast-growing economy is on the hunt for global investments. The United States reviews most investments for national security implications with its Committee on Foreign Investment, chaired by the Department of Treasury, and Ziad Haider, attorney and writer, argues Chinese companies fare better than most would assume: “The volume and sophistication of Chinese firms looking to enter...

Asia's Global Travel Boom

February 3, 2014
Three out of five global citizens are Asian, and the continent’s growing middle class has wanderlust. “Rapid urbanisation, increased disposable income and a relaxing of travel restrictions have enabled more people to travel and budget airlines are opening up routes from India and other parts of Asia,” reports BBC News in an article rich with graphics. China in particular is both major destination...

Reid Deals Body Blow to Obama on Trade

William Mauldin, Siobhan Hughes January 31, 2014
US President Barack Obama and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid share party affiliation as Democrats and are typically strong allies. But Reid has announced opposition to legislation that would provide fast-track approvals of major trade deals and prevent nitpicky amendments in Congress. “The move spells trouble for two sets of complicated talks” – namely the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the...

China’s Rise Leads India and Japan to Wary Embrace

Harsh V. Pant January 30, 2014
Japan and India are forging closer ties, in part because of shared interests as Asian democracies but also to counter China’s assertive rise and prepare for a decline in US security spending. Harsh V. Pant of King’s College points out that “changing geopolitical realities are now forcing Delhi to acknowledge significant convergence between its own regional interests and that of longstanding US...

China Exports Pollution to US, Study Finds

Edward Wongjan January 27, 2014
Pollution knows no borders. A study by nine researchers in three nations quantifies “how air pollution in the United States is affected by China’s production of goods for export and by global consumer demand for those goods,” reports Edward Wongjan for the New York Times: “The scientists wrote that ‘outsourcing production to China does not always relieve consumers in the United States – or for...

China Overtakes US as World’s Largest Goods Trader

Jamil Anderlini, Lucy Hornby January 22, 2014
The world’s second largest economy, China, has most likely overtaken the United States as the world’s biggest trader in goods, based on 11 months of data from 2013. “Trade with the rest of Asia and increasing flows with the Middle East represent a shift in power away from the US, still the world’s largest economy,” reports the Financial Times. Chinese officials anticipate trade and the national...