Search Results for: protectionism
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Bob Savic: EU deforestation law may push Southeast Asia toward China
Brussels’ regulatory imperialism may fail to save the trees and instead result in long-term isolation of Europe to the benefit of Beijing.
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Enrico Colombatto: Understanding new EU tariffs on China-made electric cars
In its rush for transport electrification, Brussels is pushing Europe’s prized automotive industry into a competitive trap.
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Enrico Colombatto: China, Russia and 23 others: Challenging the global system
This week’s Shanghai organization summit in Kazakhstan is likely to show once again that altering the Western-dominated world order is a very ambitious goal.
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Emmanuel Martin: The paradoxes of the EU’s Africa policy
The European Union has placed huge bets on an investment program in Africa. Yet inherent flaws in its technocratic approach and a lingering paternalism toward Africa threaten the whole scheme.
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Enrico Colombatto: The EU needs to stop harassing tech giants
Europe’s out-of-touch approach toward the technology sector is jeopardizing the continent’s future.
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Prince Michael of Liechtenstein: A disastrous pattern in Western foreign policy
Recurring blunders in Western policy have had catastrophic consequences in Ukraine, Georgia and Africa.
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Henrique Schneider: Judging Switzerland on climate action
Activist judges in Strasbourg stretched Europe’s human rights law in order to find the Swiss climate policy lacking.
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Enrico Colombatto: Foreign trade – clouds on the horizon
German trade statistics are sagging. Most commentators attribute this phenomenon to the global business cycle. More likely, today’s figures are the outcome of earlier decisions made by German companies to move resources outside of Europe, and they are now developing their products elsewhere.
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Diane Katz: No easy way back for U.S. manufacturing
President Donald Trump declared on October 1 that the new trade deal with Canada and Mexico signifies the return of the U.S. as a “manufacturing powerhouse,” which has indeed changed dramatically since 1992. But the complex and varied factors that have reshaped factory production in the U.S. cannot be summarily reversed.
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Enrico Colombatto: The EU’s next challenge: Emerging markets
For the global economy, the road ahead is unusually clear – it is headed for a gentle slowdown. But that is no reason for complacency. The next wave of trouble is already visible in the developing countries, which are highly vulnerable to rising interest rates. The EU could do much to prevent the economic slowdown if it cared to.
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Michael Leigh: Brexit and trade
Brexit talks were supposed to be concluded at the EU summit on October 17. But the deadline passed with no breakthrough. With the clock to a “hard Brexit” ticking down, this could be the salutary shock needed to reach a compromise — or point to a future in which encourages a drift toward protectionism.
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Enrico Colombatto: The WTO drifts toward irrelevance
The WTO is a relatively cheap international organization, but it has achieved little since its creation in 1995. Reforms could make the WTO more useful, especially if they turned it into a body that collects fines from those who violate simple rules – with no exceptions.
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Enrico Colombatto: Trump’s trade war is poised for a Pyrrhic victory
The flip side of the Trump administration’s drive to reduce the U.S. foreign trade deficit is that it will leave the rest of the world with fewer dollars to finance its budget deficit. President Trump could cut spending drastically or persuade the Federal Reserve to buy more bonds, but neither seems likely.
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Teresa Nogueira Pinto: Charting the course of Africa’s aviation sector
A growing middle class, increasing continental integration and huge economic potential all provide reason to be optimistic about the future of Africa’s aviation sector. Yet many governments still see the industry as a cash cow or point of national pride.
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Enrico Colombatto: The mysterious case of CEOs turning green
It is unusual when CEOs purport to define their companies’ overarching objectives. Things become even more curious when top managers team up with a bureaucracy to call for the imposition of tighter environmental standards on business.
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Prince Michael of Liechtenstein: Is the world safe from major war?
From trade protectionism to government overspending, bad economic ideas are weakening the world’s stability, while increasingly confrontational policies are adopted by global and regional powers.
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Teresa Nogueira Pinto: Reforming the African Union
Africa in 2018 was marked by important advances on the economic front, with the agreement to create a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA). While trade liberalization has the potential to be transformative for Africa, disparate stages of development, protectionist impulses, and political tensions may prevent meaningful advances.
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Prince Michael of Liechtenstein: The West still misunderstands the Global South
Old industrial countries’ paternalistic approach to Global South countries is wrongheaded and impractical.
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Pramit Pal Chaudhuri: Modi looks inward on trade
The government of India has implemented a protectionist policy on trade, taking measures to boost domestic manufacturing. Yet exports have failed to increase, in part because of red tape and poor logistics.
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Prince Michael of Liechtenstein: Dark clouds gathering over the global economy
We are probably coming to the end of a global economic recovery. But with interest rates still hovering around zero, central banks will have no ammunition to fight a recession. Meanwhile, debt is high and more trade barriers are going up. The underlying causes in imbalances of global economy must be addressed.
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Walter Lohman: Asia-Pacific countries look for signs of hope in Trump trade policy
Over the past two years, protectionism has dominated U.S. trade policy decisions regarding the Asia-Pacific region. However, there are signs that the administration could soften its stance and return to more pro-free trade policies. If it does, that could lay the groundwork for a return to bigger economic engagement in the region.
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Rudolf G. Adam: Globalization: From cooperation to confrontation
Disruptive challenges to the global liberal order are intensifying. The future of globalization will be shaped by factors like climate change, protectionism, public debt and resource scarcities.
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Enrico Colombatto: 2018 Global Outlook: World trade
After a surprisingly good 2017, world trade should do even better this year. But that doesn’t mean that Europe and the United States can afford to be passive. China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which will turn most of Asia into a privileged trade zone, demands a choice – either join the initiative or promote free trade outside it.
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Prashanth Parameswaran: Vietnam’s ‘bamboo diplomacy’ faces shifting global currents
Intensifying geopolitical tensions are making it harder for Vietnam to maintain its “firm but flexible” approach to foreign policy.
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Enrico Colombatto: Why Western governments may opt to sit out the crisis in real estate
Developing housing and office space regardless of demand can raise nominal growth rates nicely, but policymakers in China, the U.S. and Europe are discovering a catch.
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Henrique Schneider: Microchips subsidies: Protectionism, not security
The political popularity of the European Chips Act does not necessarily make centrally planned investment in chip manufacturing a great idea.
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Teresa Nogueira Pinto: India makes its play for Africa
India is taking advantage of close cultural and historical ties to increase its trade footprint and geopolitical influence across the continent.
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Prince Michael of Liechtenstein: Artificial intelligence: Regulations vs. innovation
The EU’s latest AI draft legislation risks stifling innovation in Europe and opens the door to misuse by governments.
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Ralph Mathekga: Africa’s window of opportunity on trade
Liberalizing trade across the continent would help African nations shape emerging ties with global powers like the U.S. and China.
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Prince Michael of Liechtenstein: Geoeconomics in constant change
Global economic winds are shifting, and not necessarily in the way most people expect.
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Tatiana L. Palermo: The future of free trade
Popularity for free trade is decreasing. The WTO has failed to rein in China’s unfair economic practices since 2001, so there is no enforcement of international trade rules. This could be fatal for post-Covid recovery.
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Enrico Colombatto: The U.S. is subsidizing clean energy. What about the EU?
American efforts to advantage its green energy sector may sting Europe, but Brussels has few effective options to respond.
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Michael Leigh: The EU: A geopolitical or geo-economic power?
The most effective course for the European Union to achieve “great power” status is to extend the continent’s geo-economic weight. The EU was never meant to be a major foreign policy player, and remains an essentially civilian organization.
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Tatiana L. Palermo: Mercosur divided
Instead of pushing for more free trade, some members of Mercosur are using it to protect their own industries. The rift may spell the end of the customs union.
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Rudolf G. Adam: Beyond Russia’s war against Ukraine
With irreconcilable war aims between the combatants, the conflict will drag into 2024 and inflict more damage to the global economy and long-standing security arrangements.
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Enrico Colombatto: What’s wrong with the renminbi exchange rate?
Even before the most recent disagreement, the U.S. had already begun drawing attention to a new question: whether China had been engaging in protectionism by manipulating its currency. The argument reveals confused ideas about what the U.S. wants: a dominant role for the dollar or an renminbi to please American producers.
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Enrico Colombatto: The New Washington Consensus: What does it entail?
Just as centralist policies drive China into trouble, the Biden administration advocates emulating them by discarding America’s proven liberal approach to the economy and trade.
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Prince Michael of Liechtenstein: The fragile German-French axis heads toward isolation
Germany and France want to lead the European Union, but their leaders, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron, have adopted policies that endanger the bloc. Calls for greater centralization will alienate other member states, while hypocritical criticism of the U.S. and Russia will leave the Union isolated.
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Prince Michael of Liechtenstein: Mounting tension in Asia
Tensions are rising in relations between the U.S. and China, especially after the recent APEC summit. However, the heightened rhetoric used there could give both countries a chance to climb down and come to a deal. Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping will have a perfect opportunity to do so during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.
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Enrico Colombatto: Trade wars: the options for Europe
Although U.S. President Trump maintains that he believes in free trade, his policy tool remains protectionism. Europe could do more to change this. For example, engage in aggressive free trade or seek bilateral deals. President Trump would be left with few justifications for trade barriers, and Brussels would acquire prominence on the world stage.
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Prince Michael of Liechtenstein: Planning the economy
Political interventions rather than markets are causing economic crises in the world. In 2007-2008, politically inspired intervention in the housing market in the United States caused an international financial crisis of epic proportions.
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Thitinan Pongsudhirak: The age-old nature of the ‘new Cold War’
Russia’s war in Ukraine and the rise of China signal an ideological challenge to the Western order, of the kind thought buried with the Soviet Union.
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Prince Michael of Liechtenstein: The real message from the BRICS summit
The countries of the Global South are increasingly asserting their own values and points of view – whether through the BRICS organization or otherwise
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Mojmír Hampl: Where have all the economists gone?
Support for free trade is nearly a consensus view among economic experts. Yet amid growing threats posed by deglobalization, economists are failing to stand in its defense.
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Tatiana L. Palermo: World race to self-sufficiency in strategic manufacturing
Global value chains have been shrinking for a decade; the pandemic has only accelerated the process. Western countries are now racing to reshore parts of their strategic manufacturing and make supply chains more resilient. China, meanwhile, continues its quest for dominance.
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Prince Michael of Liechtenstein: Goodbye free trade!
The EU’s answer to the United States’ most recent subsidy program will harm Europe’s global competitiveness.
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Michael Wohlgemuth: 2018 Global Outlook: The Euro-Atlantic relationship
The transatlantic relationship can be described as a family matter – with the United States as the mostly benevolent patriarch and Europe as the dependent relatives. Relations had been cooling for at least a decade, but this process is being expedited by the presidency of Donald Trump.
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Enrico Colombatto: Globalization is not going away
The Covid-19 crisis has not convinced companies that globalization is a bad move. In fact, firms have learned they need to broaden their supply chains and diversify their providers. Governments, however, will use the situation to push nationalization and subsidies.
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Emma Hadrovic: Covid-19 and the future of shipping and aviation
While Covid-19 has hamstrung global trade and delivered a brutal blow to several crucial industries, it has also accelerated change and created opportunities that could reshape the future of shipping. China has a big advantage in this post-pandemic geopolitical landscape.
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Jaime Nogueira Pinto: Separatism in Europe
Independence movements are on the rise in Europe. At the heart of this phenomenon is an ever-globalizing world, bringing with it inflows of foreigners and an outflow of traditional industries. Most of these movements have set aside violent measures in recent years, but there is no guarantee that will continue.