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In RealTime posts, PIIE senior staff and colleagues discuss the fast-moving economic news, financial developments, and public policy choices confronting the United States and the world.
President Obama’s fourth visit to Mexico since taking office in 2009 will also be his first under its new president, Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office in December. While some of the discussion is certain to focus on the joint US-Mexican campaign against drug trafficking, that issue, as vital as it is, should not overlook [...]
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s announcement on March 15 that Japan will seek membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) brings the negotiations a step closer to a large, 12-member trade agreement connecting countries that account for 38 percent of world GDP. To be sure, much work lies ahead before Japan fully participates: bilateral discussions with TPP [...]
As a result of revolutionary gas extraction techniques (hydraulic fracturing combined with horizontal drilling), the United States suddenly enjoys a dramatic reversal of fortune in energy production and trade. The Department of Energy (DOE) is now processing several applications for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, as producers are eager to take advantage of large price [...]
A recent report from the think tank Global Financial Integrity (GFI) identifies China as the largest source of illicit financial flows in the developing world. The report, Illicit Financial Flows from China and the Role of Trade Misinvoicing, identifies $3.75 trillion in illicit outflows during between 2000 and 2011. The possibility of trillions of dollars [...]
The author participated in the PIIE conference on Jan. 7 on “Ethics and Globalization: the Tradeoffs Underlying Our Policy Choices.” In Session III: “Expecting Ethical Duties from Private Actors,” Ms. Elliott addressed the subject of this posting as a panelist. On Jan. 8, the US Trade Representative issued a call for comments on a petition [...]
Despite its remarkable success in promoting US exports, the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) is never far from controversy. Earlier this year, its authorization was renewed by Congress, but only after lawmakers overrode a barrage of criticism from the Tea Party and others opposed to government involvement in the economy. The reauthorization was a wise and [...]
On September 17, 2012, the United States notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat of its request for consultations with China regarding what Washington said were “China’s measures providing subsidies [...] and other incentives contingent upon export performance to automobile and automobile-parts enterprises in China.”1 The same day China filed its own complaint with the [...]
Note: The author thanks Jared Nolan for research assistance. In a recent policy brief, my colleague Joseph Gagnon (2012) argued that widespread currency manipulation by many countries in recent years has led to a reduction in the US current account balance by about 4 percent of GDP (about $600 billion annually). Subsequently C. Fred Bergsten [...]
Note: This is an excerpt of the forthcoming PIIE Policy Brief Understanding the Trans-Pacific Partnership by Jeffrey J. Schott, Barbara Kotschwar, and Julia Muir. The text of this post was also the basis for the author’s remarks at The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Future of International Trade event (the webcast of which can be found [...]
Today, July 31, 2012, Venezuela officially becomes a full member of the Mercosur customs union. But Venezuela’s accession—nearly a decade in the making—effectively puts to rest the pretense of Mercosur as a serious economic integration arrangement. Mercosur, the acronym for the Common Market of the Southern Cone, started promisingly enough, a political triumph of cooperation [...]