After nearly two years of deliberation, Joe Biden last week signed an executive order that adds new restrictions to US investments in China in national-security-related tech. It’s watered down from its original scope, but the stakes are now higher, Stephen Olson writes. On digital trade, Craig Atkinson explains why already-available technology still isn’t being put to full use in the global food trade industry. Closer to home, we have been holding a series of sessions at the Hinrich Foundation called Trade Talk Open House on all aspects of global trade. Our next in late August will feature Keith Rockwell, longtime WTO director and now our Senior Research Fellow, on the world’s geoeconomic fragmentation. Plus, how to useUNCTAD’s latest trade update and more highlights from our National Press Foundation Fellowship.
NEW ARTICLE
Key takeaways from Biden’s new investment restrictions on China
Stephen Olson 15 August 2023
Joe Biden last week signed an executive order that bans new US investment in China in key tech sectors. The scope is watered down from when it was first floated, and its issuance was noticeably quiet. But the stakes couldn’t be higher. Either this helps the Biden administration in galvanizing its broad coalition with like-minded partners worldwide on technology and trade issues against China – or Washington has just pushed itself further out on a limb and opened up a way for Beijing to cultivate America’s nervous partners. Read Stephen Olson on the key takeaways.
For all the talk about how great paperless trade would be, there still is at any given time four billion sheets of trade documentation floating around the world. These papers are what governments and companies still demand from importers and exporters because they simply haven’t hammered out the legality and standards to put available technology to full use. The global agricultural trade is a prime example, and the paper jam is adding stress to the already-precarious security of global food supplies, Lexmerca founder and digital trade expert Craig Atkinson writes in a paper.
Protectionism and trade weaponization are back. War has returned to Europe. The world is missing true superpower leadership. Multilateralism is near death. Is it all about to be over? WTO stalwart and Hinrich Foundation Senior Research Fellow Keith Rockwell will hold forth on Aug. 29 on how to keep pace with the unraveling global economy at our next Trade Talk Open House. Register now for in-person or virtual attendance. It’s free.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development publishes a periodic update providing data on macro fundamentals and analysis of current global trade flows. These flows are a useful indicator of the state of the global economy. We break down how to use UNCTAD’s latest Global Trade Update covering trade trends and the global macro outlook.
National Press Foundation International Trade Fellowship 2023
The National Press Foundation in collaboration with the Hinrich Foundation welcomed 24 Asia-based journalists to its International Trade Fellowship in Singapore. We bring you selected highlights from the four-day long training:
Bilahari Kausikan, former Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore, explains why US-China competition is not the new Cold War but a return to the default state of international affairs.
Amitendu Palit and James Crabtree of the Institute of South Asian Studies and the International Institute for Strategic Studies examine India's strategy as an emerging power.
Denis Hew of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy discusses the challenges to realizing the ASEAN economy community by 2025.
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