Global
The U.S. is the world’s largest open economy and pillar of the global trading system. Yet its economic challenges today – government debt, wealth inequality, and labor force participation – cannot be reliably addressed through more open trade. One should therefore expect more U.S. steps to change the terms of trade and pressure leading exporters over the next two years.
Russia & Central Asia
There has been no shortage of analysis of the Skripal case and possible Russian motivations for poisoning the former spy. They all fall flat: the Kremlin had no motive to commit such a crime. A little common sense is all one needs to conclude that whoever did wanted to escalate the conflict between Russia and the West even further.
China & Northeast Asia
China president’s April pledge to allow more foreign competition in the country’s manufacturing and financial services sectors, and to respect western companies’ intellectual property rights, momentarily eased the tension between Washington and Beijing. These concessions, though, even if implemented by China, will not suffice to eliminate the problem of the huge and deepening defict in U.S. trade with the Asian country.
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