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.
Archive: Posts Tagged ‘trade’
The TTIP Logic in Obama’s Trip to Berlin
by Jacob Funk Kirkegaard | June 17th, 2013 | 11:22 am
Second term presidents have unfinished business, so it is no surprise that President Obama plans to speak later this month in Berlin at Brandenburg Gate, where Germany asked that he not speak in 2008. Aside from the occasion of the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” address, Chancellor Angela Merkel [...]
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Tags: euro area, Germany, political economy, trade, United States
Solar Panels: When Trade, the Environment, and Geopolitics Collide
by Caroline Freund | June 12th, 2013 | 05:12 pm
What happens when policy goals in one area collide with goals in another? This occurred when US and European manufacturers of solar panels squared off with environmental and geopolitical interests over cheap Chinese products. In the United States, domestic producers of solar panels succeeded in raising tariffs on Chinese imports, even though their victory made [...]
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Tags: energy, political economy, trade, WTO
The Sunnylands Summit: Power for Purpose
by Arvind Subramanian | June 5th, 2013 | 12:35 pm
When Presidents Obama and Xi Jinping meet for a historic private summit this week, the California desert air will be rife with the rhetoric of cooperation and partnership. The reality is that the two countries are engaged in indirect economic skirmishing that could slowly corrode the rules-based multilateral economic system, embodied in the International Monetary [...]
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Tags: China, political economy, trade, United States, US trade policy
Will the Pacific Alliance Succeed in Latin America After Other Trade Pacts Have Failed?
by Barbara Kotschwar | May 23rd, 2013 | 03:57 pm
Pacific Alliance fever has set in. This trade grouping—which joins together the economies of Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru—is holding its seventh summit on Thursday in the western Colombian city of Cali with more and more attention being paid throughout the region. The alliance has been lauded as “the most exciting thing going on today [...]
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Tags: Latin America, trade
Obama’s Trip to Mexico: Building on NAFTA to Broaden Trade with Asia
by Barbara Kotschwar | May 1st, 2013 | 04:17 pm
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 [...]
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Tags: NAFTA, trade, United States
Japan’s ‘Third Arrow’: Why Joining the TPP is a Game Changer
by Peter A. Petri | March 15th, 2013 | 12:03 pm
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 [...]
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Tags: Asia, Japan, trade
LNG Exports: An Opportunity for America
by Gary Clyde Hufbauer | January 24th, 2013 | 10:51 am
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 [...]
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Tags: energy, trade, United States, WTO
Did China Really Lose $3.75 Trillion in Illicit Financial Flows?
by Martin Kessler | January 11th, 2013 | 10:15 am
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 [...]
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Tags: Corruption, trade
Trade and Worker Rights in Bangladesh: Forget the Twig and Use the Giant Carrot
by Kimberly Ann Elliott | January 10th, 2013 | 10:54 am
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 [...]
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Tags: labor, South Asia, trade, United States
The Ex-Im Bank’s Shortsighted “Double Loss” Policies
by Gary Clyde Hufbauer | November 29th, 2012 | 03:05 pm
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 [...]
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Tags: financial policy, jobs, political economy, trade, United States