In The News

Obama’s First Trip Abroad Should Be to China

Jeffrey E. Garten December 12, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama confronts a daunting array of immediate economic and security challenges. But that does not mean the Obama administration should neglect building stronger ties with China, urges Jeffrey Garten, international trade and finance professor at Yale and a former US undersecretary of commerce for international trade. China and the US need each other to boost a weakened...

That Sinking Feeling: Global Crisis Hits Shipping Industry Hard

Thomas Schulz December 10, 2008
A global recession has hit the shipping industry hard, reducing rates and jobs. Products, from the most sophisticated electronics and cars to raw materials like iron ore, are piling up on docks, as consumers close their wallets. Financing has just about vanished for new ships, and analysts question whether the current crisis is part of a typical boom-and-bust cycle, explains Thomas Schulz in...

A Sea of Unwanted Imports

Matt Richtel November 19, 2008
Even as US automakers plead for government bailout funds, millions of dollars worth of foreign cars pile up at US docks. US Dealers decline the new vehicles because of a global credit crunch and consumer wariness about job loss. Japanese and German car companies resort to leasing space in US ports, and “They are turning dozens of acres of the nation’s second-largest container port into a parking...

China’s New Foray Into Latin America

David Shambaugh November 17, 2008
The world’s most populous nation is rapidly forming trade, investment, technology, security, and cultural ties with developing nations around the globe and in particular Latin America. Latin America is “no longer content being the ‘backyard’ of the United States,” explains David Shambaugh, director of the China Policy Program with George Washington University and also with the Brookings...

Industrial Policy Puts Global Cooperation at Risk

Patricia Wruuck November 14, 2008
Leaders gathering in Washington DC for a G20 summit to discuss the global financial crisis recognize that a global response is required. Any new financial architecture also requires international cooperation – even as the economic slowdown increasingly triggers calls for protectionist measures at the domestic level. For example, US carmakers clamor for government aid to resolve problems – such as...

Save Doha to Save the G20 Summit

Ernesto Zedillo November 12, 2008
Political leaders will gather for a G20 summit to address global economic governance. The summit could also be an opportunity “to exorcise the demons of protectionism,” suggests Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. Finding agreement on the Doha Round of trade talks, debated for seven years, would send a powerful signal for endorsing open trade. Zedillo...

Economic Crisis Could Push Reform in China

Zhiwu Chen November 12, 2008
Economic crisis can be a time of opportunity, particularly if political leaders are savvy enough to use the down period to introduce needed reforms. Zhiwu Chen, finance professor with the Yale School Management, offers such a blueprint for China. An economic stimulus package announced this week by the Chinese government, aimed at building infrastructure, is only a first step. Chen also urges the...