In The News

The Wall Street Journal: US to Apply Tariffs on Chinese Imports

Bob Davis March 23, 2018
“President Donald Trump sought to rewrite the rules of global trade on Thursday with a long-pledged trade offensive against China,” writes Bob Davis for the Wall Street Journal. “The administration’s actions, including a threat of tariffs on $60 billion of imports and tighter restrictions on acquisitions and technology transfers, came in response to what it claimed were Chinese efforts to obtain...

Fortune: US Deep in Debt

Shawn Tully March 20, 2018
A rising US stock market hinges on a treacherous mound of debt growing due to recent tax cuts for corporations and workers. “The U.S. government’s huge and growing budget deficits have become gargantuan enough to threaten the great American growth machine,” writes Shawn Tully for Fortune magazine. “On our current course, we’re headed for a morass of punitive taxes, puny growth, and stagnant...

Financial Post: Tariffs Set Dangerous Precedent

Joe Chidley March 6, 2018
The Trump administration announced a plan to impose tariffs: 25 percent for steel imports and 10 percent for aluminum. There are many unknowns including exemptions for allies and close trading partners or certain products. The plan relies on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and World Trade Organization rules which allow blocking imports for national security purposes: “The World...

Spiegel Online: Trump's Dangerous Game With the US Dollar

Tim Bartz and Martin Hesse February 16, 2018
Economists around the globe suggest the United States is engaging in a currency war. “Even though the U.S. economy has already been growing robustly for years and, with an unemployment rate of just 4.1 percent, is approaching full employment, Trump is continuing to stimulate growth – a focus that could result in an overheated economy, which would present a danger to the entire global economy,”...

New Statesman: The New Age of Great Power Politics

John Bew February 14, 2018
Political scientist Samuel Huntington and others have theorized that elites as beneficiaries of globalization demonstrate less loyalty for nations. Many anticipated great power rivalries to subside after the Cold War, but resentment emerged about global endeavors as revealed by Brexit and Donald Trump’s election: “Two of the nations that had evangelised most about the liberal international order...

Spiegel Online: Brexiteers Are Driving Britain Into a Wall

Jörg Schindler February 12, 2018
Great Britain faces a deadline in 13 months for reaching a deal to end European Union membership and retain some benefits. Hardliners pressure the British prime minister, dictating conditions for complete separation, or “a national reawakening, no matter the price,” writes Jörg Schindler for Germany’s Spiegel Online. “They seem to have forgotten that in the summer of 2016 the Brits only voted on...

Reuters: Asian Markets Uneasy, Longer US Debt Yields Verge on 3%

Vidya Ranganathan February 9, 2018
The US Congress allowed a brief government shutdown before approving a two-year spending bill, and the US Treasury Department is on track to borrow almost $1 trillion this fiscal year, almost double from the previous year. The US is increasing spending after approving tax cuts that so far are reducing revenue. Asian markets are unnerved by the potential of rising interest rates and long-term US...