As uncertainty grips the multilateral rules-based trading order, smaller economies around the world are struggling to find a way forward. Canada’s former Trade Minister Mary Ng writes for the Hinrich Foundation on the scenarios that come after the collapse of global trust and what she hopes will prevail.
As digital services blossom in Asia-Pacific, so too have regulations around them, some of them almost lifted from other jurisdictions that may have overreached in their assiduity in reining in the tech sector. Kati Suominen puts forward a case that the antidote is a digital Regulatory Impact Assessment that bring coherence to regulation, cross-region interoperability, and achance for businesses to help shape the new data-driven world.
The National Press Foundation and the Hinrich Foundation just concluded our joint 2025 International Trade Fellowship, hosting 25 Asia-based journalists for sessions on themes covering global trade policy, the age of data, the macroeconomic outlook, and Asia’s place in a fast-changing world order.
“As someone who has spent years sitting at trade tables around the world, I offer this reflection: Trust is the real currency of global trade. And right now, it is being dangerously devalued,” Former Canada Trade Minister Mary Ng writes in an exclusive essay for the Hinrich Foundation on the need for rules that apply concepts of equality, functional multilateral institutions, and partnerships among nations that endure. The next two to three years, she writes, will be crucial in shaping the outcome for the next generation of global trade.
A digital Regulatory Impact Assessment model for Asia’s digital trade
Kati Suominen 1 July 2025
As digital services blossom in Asia-Pacific, so too have regulations around them, some of them almost lifted from other jurisdictions that may have overreached in their assiduity in reining in the tech sector. Hinrich Foundation Research Fellow Kati Suominen puts forward a case to APEC that the antidote is a digital Regulatory Impact Assessment that bring coherence to regulation, cross-region interoperability, and a chance for businesses to help shape the new data-driven world.
Trump’s 90-day deadline for negotiating agreements to avoid reciprocal tariffs is coming up next week and countries are working toward agreements, even with the legality of the tariffs still under review by US courts. We have updates on China, Canada, India, the EU, and the UK. Meanwhile, we explore the continued relevance of the WTO, and the impact of the Iran-Israel war on trade. Check out what we’ve been reading.
Highlights from the International Trade Fellowship 2025
The National Press Foundation and the Hinrich Foundation just concluded our joint 2025 International Trade Fellowship, hosting 25 Asia-based journalists for sessions on themes covering global trade policy, the age of data, the macroeconomic outlook, and Asia’s place in a fast-changing world order. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll bring you selected highlights from the workshop. This week, we have:
The Trump tariff strategy report card – six months in
No period in recent history has upended international markets, supply chains, corporate investment, and labor more than the tariff policies pursued in the first six months of the second Trump administration. To take stock of the administration’s strategy, the National Press Foundation, sponsored by the Hinrich Foundation, will host a webinar featuring Deborah Elms, Head of Trade Policy of the Hinrich Foundation, and David Lynch, Global Economics Correspondent of The Washington Post. Register here now.
