In The News

Trump Gives Carbon Price Foes New Line of Attack

Aaron Wherry November 17, 2016
US President-elect Donald Trump described climate change as a “hoax” for US businesses and promised to repeal environmental regulations and to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. China has since offered the reminder that the United States supported UN deliberations on a warming planet during the Reagan administration well before China knew such negotiations were underway. Canada and other...

China and the US Undercut International Law

Humphrey Hawksley November 17, 2016
Major powers tend to reject international law when rulings run counter to their interests insisting that the distant courts carry no jurisdiction. China rejected a Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling in July and clings to expansive claims in the South China Sea, including Scarborough Shoal near the Philippines. China’s response mirrored US rejection of a 1986 International Court of Justice...

Goodbye Globalization

Matt Phillips November 16, 2016
The US president-elect plans to increase jobs by ending trade that does not benefit the United States. That assumes the US is self-sufficient and that other countries might go along. Instead, the other countries, especially China as the world’s largest market and soon to be largest economy, will retaliate while possibly continuing trade with one another. Meanwhile, US prices will soar and quality...

Spain’s Parties Split Over Royal Visit to Saudi Arabia

Juan José Mateo Ruiz Gàlvez and Francesco Manetto November 16, 2016
Economic and security interests clash, and so do foreign policy and domestic priorities. Some Spanish political leaders are criticizing a potential multibillion dollar contract for Spain to build warships for Saudi Arabia. King Felipe’s visit in support of the deal was delayed once due to political gridlock, and members of the left-leaning party Podemos vehemently oppose rescheduling the visit or...

The Age of Pain

William Davies November 15, 2016
Populism arises out of grievances. “At what point do we attribute denunciations to the state of the world, and at what point to the state of the individual making them?” writes William Davies for New Statesman, adding that “the line separating ‘public politics’ from ‘private distress’ is culturally constructed, and not always very clear, even as we seek to police it.” Populist movements offer...

China and the US: Two Visions, One Collaboration?

Marc Grossman November 15, 2016
Donald Trump promised during the US presidential campaign to be tough on trade with China, suggesting he would label the country a currency manipulator and impose tariffs unless trade agreements were renegotiated. Trade is likewise threatened with China’s expansive claims and military buildup in the South China Sea. But the world’s two largest economies have reason to cooperate in Asia, argues...

British Icons Cash in on China's Day of Sales Madness

November 14, 2016
The world’s largest online shopping day got off to a strong start in China this November 11, a date with digits that symbolize being single. In a variation on Valentine’s Day, single Chinese shoppers buy themselves gifts. “The ‘anti-Valentine’s Day’ celebration was first known as Bachelors’ Day,” reports People’s Daily Online. “After the initial joke gift- buying day in 1993 at China’s Nanjing...