In The News

US Under Trump Leads on Global Dealmaking: FT

Eric Platt, Arash Massoudi and Don Weinland June 27, 2019
The United States is dominating in what the Financial Times calls a record-breaking boom in global mergers and acquisitions. “Ambitious deals by large companies ranging from drugmaker AbbVie to defence contractor United Technologies, to oil group Occidental Petroleum, have driven US activity,” reports a team for the Financial Times. “Buoyant stock markets and cheap financing in the debt markets...

Putin Muscles His Way Into Africa: CNBC

Frederick Kempe June 19, 2019
The Central African Republic is a recent example of how Russian President Vladimir Putin is investing human resources and muscle for access to natural resources and trade deals in Africa. Africa is poised to represent 25 percent of the world’s labor force by 2050 with its 54 countries having the potential to be an influential voting bloc in the United Nations. The continent has an abundance of...

China Warning on US Study: South China Morning Post

Sarah Zheng June 5, 2019
The escalating US-China trade war could last for months or years with uncertainty spreading throughout both economies. “China issued an official warning on Monday for Chinese students seeking to study in the United States, amid heightened tensions between the two countries,” reports Sarah Zhen for the South China Morning Post. “The Ministry of Education urged students and academics to ‘raise...

US Trade Deal With Britain Not Easy: CNN

Julia Horowitz, June 5, 2019
As the United Kingdom struggles to exit the European Union, its leaders hope for new trade partners. Visiting Britain, US President Donald Trump expressed desire for a bilateral deal. The United States accounts for 14.7 percent of total UK trade in goods and services, while the European Union represents 49.4 percent. “Britain can't open negotiations with potential partners until after it...

Chinese Money in Arab World Projects: Economist

June 4, 2019
This decade has witnessed a strengthening of economic ties between a number of Middle Eastern countries and China. While previously the Middle East was seen primarily as a petrol station, explains the Economist, with nearly half of China’s oil supplied by Arab countries and Iran, there was little direct foreign investment. The Economist reports that since 2010, Chinese investment has skyrocketed...

Trump Vows Rapid Tariffs for Mexico: Reuters

Steve Holland and Frank Jack Daniel May 31, 2019
Donald Trump counts on tariffs as a tool for convincing other nations to do his bidding. He vows to target Mexico unless it reduces the number of undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers crossing the southern border, imposing tariffs of 10 percent as of June 10 and rising to 25 percent in October. Mexico had shifted to the top US trade partner in goods after Trump imposed tariffs on China. “...

The Global Trading System – What Went Wrong: CFR

Edward Alden May 29, 2019
The turn of this century saw promising and exceptional development in the global trading system with the World Trade Organization and many other multilateral trade agreements. But during the last decade, the loss of jobs due to automation and outsourced labor has led to nationalist, anti-globalization backlash and protectionist measures in many countries, including Europe and the United States....