In The News

Cuba: Transforming a Revolution

Patricia Alejandro July 23, 2015
The United States and Cuba are reopening their respective embassies and preparing for more exchanges in diplomacy and trade. “Cubans and Americans are equally curious about exploring the other side since December when President Barack Obama and Raúl Castro made the surprise announcement on restoration of full diplomatic relations between the two countries,” writes Patricia Alejandro, a Harvard...

Inside New Horizons: What It's Like to Conduct a 9-Year Mission for a 3-Minute Flyby

Joseph Stromberg July 17, 2015
After nine years of travel and little public attention, a spacecraft the size of a piano sped by Pluto and is in the process of returning photos about 4.5 billion kilometers back to Earth. The remote exploration and operation of the New Horizons spacecraft requires patience and meticulous training: “The scientists had spent a decade patiently guiding the probe 3 billion miles to Pluto, but as...

Trouble Brews for “Imported” Beers Made in America

Jacob Gershman and Tripp Mickle July 9, 2015
Multinational companies took note that American consumers appreciated foreign autos manufactured in the United States. “Brewers like AB InBev shifted production of imports to the U.S. after foreign auto makers did the same in recent years without losing prestige or the ‘import’ label for brands like BMW and Mercedes,” notes a report in the Wall Street Journal, adding that sales of import beers...

The New South and the Economics of Taking Down the Confederate Flag

Micheline Maynard June 29, 2015
The Confederate flag was flown in battle by a general for the losing side during the US Civil War, the nation’s bloodiest war, with more than 620,000 deaths. Many throughout the American South have defiantly raised the flag, long regarded as a symbol for states’ rights including slavery, over official and unofficial venues since the war’s end in 1865. After the murder of nine black people at a...

Fabric of a Trade Deal: US Asks Vietnam to Cut Out Chinese Textiles

Tom Wright and Mark Magnier June 24, 2015
Representatives of the American fashion industry are protesting a stipulation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement that would reduce imports from China and require Vietnam to source textile materials from the United States and Mexico: “U.S. fashion brands oppose this approach, which they say ignores the complexities of global supply chains,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Vietnam is...

US Trade Deal’s Setback Causes Mixed Reaction in Asia

Anna Fifield and Simon Denyer June 15, 2015
President Barack Obama so far has failed to convince members of his own party in Congress that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement negotiated among 12 nations, could benefit US consumers and workers. Rejection by the House of Representatives came soon after China launched “One Belt, One Road” and the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank to boost Asian trade among many more...

The TTIP Gap: How a Trans-Atlantic Trade Deal Can Be Fixed

Christoph Pauly, Michael Sauga, Michaela Schiessl and Gerald Traufetter June 11, 2015
The US exported $344 billion to the EU, and the EU exported $450 billion to the US in 2013, reports Spiegel Online. Policymakers expect the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to counter competition from Asia by streamlining regulations. German manufacturers anticipate meeting one US standard rather than 50 imposed by states. “In virtually every industrial sector today, a large number...