The Bush administration, in its eagerness to expand trade with China, has relegated consumer safety to the backseat. As the world's top consumer of Chinese goods, the U.S. has the clout to sway China's behavior, but the administration has alternately ignored safety concerns and accepted assurances from the world's fastest-growing exporter that it will clean up its act.
When the European Union (EU) launched the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP, or Barcelona Process) in 1995 with the participation of 15 of its southern neighbors, the declared objective was to create a “zone of peace, stability, and security in the Mediterranean.” A wide range of economic, political, and cultural measures was foreseen, following in part the Helsinki model of 1975.
With only days to go before the Olympic Games, Minxin Pei joined a panel of experts on the Diane Rehm Show to discuss what the Chinese government hopes to gain from hosting one of the biggest spectacles in sports.
Despite the collapse of the Doha trade talks this week, the global food crisis is creating the basis for longer term progress on a new agricultural trade regime. Key differences over agriculture as well as manufacturing and services trade seemingly stymied a final deal, but progress on farm talks bodes well for an eventual pact that better reflects the needs of developing countries and the poor.
The authors of a new policy report from the Working Group on Development and the Environment discussed the impacts of agricultural trade liberalization on sustainable development in Latin America.
China’s economic size will match that of the U.S. by 2035 and double it in total GDP by midcentury, concluded Albert Keidel during a panel discussion with leading experts on China’s economy and military. Participants discussed the success and substantiality of China’s economic rise and addressed the U.S. and global implications of China’s long-term economic growth.
For the third year in a row, the G-8 summit is set to be a largely Russian show. At the St. Petersburg meeting in 2006, Russia made its debut as host, showing off its newfound prosperity on a grand scale for the first time. In 2007, in Heiligendamm, Germany, observers watched for signs of Russia's future course during Vladimir Putin's last summit as president. This year, in Hokkaido, all eyes will be on Dmitry Medvedev; they'll be looking for signs of any real difference between his presidency and that of his predecessor. They are not likely to find it.
The next U.S. administration needs a clear strategic vision for Asia befitting the region’s status as the new global “center of gravity.”
The next U.S. administration needs a clear strategic vision for Asia befitting the region’s status as the new global center of gravity. That will require steps that include continuing the Strategic Economic Dialogue and avoiding coalitions based on democracy and common values.
On June 24, 2008, the Carnegie Endowment hosted a discussion on EU and U.S free trade agreements (FTAs) in the Middle East with Riad al Khouri, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center. While Europe has historically been active in negotiating FTAs in the Middle East, U.S. FTAs in the region have primarily been motivated by strategic concerns rather than economic impacts.






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