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Trade deal will make it (even) harder for China to liberalize

  “Trump’s ‘Phase 1’ Deal with China Promotes US Exports in the Wrong Way” By Daniel Griswold, courtesy of the Mercatus Center   A novel feature of the Trump administration’s “Phase 1” trade deal with China announced last Friday is that it would require China to increase its purchase of US goods and services by […]

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The Jones Act: An Important Capability We Must Protect

  By Cdr. Rich Kavanaugh (Ret), former Chief of Regional Affairs, Office of International Affairs at U.S. Coast Guard   During World War II, the U.S. Merchant Fleet consisted of 4,221 ships and there were 221 shipyards operating in the U.S. This capability allowed for the largest movement of war materials in the history of […]

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Maybe let’s not freak out about China, so much

  “A Useful Corrective to China Fearmongering” By Christoper A. Preble, courtesy of the Cato Institute   In our book, Fuel to the Fire, John Glaser, A. Trevor Thrall, and I lament how “the fear of a rising China” was fast becoming “the most popular candidate for a new guiding principle in U.S. foreign policy.” Indeed, […]

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Strategic threats to Europe are multiplying

  “European Security: Four Priorities for 2020-2024” By Louis Cox-Brusseau, courtesy of Europeum   As 2019 draws to a close, the European Union bids farewell to a year of historic change. With the election of a new Parliament and the formation of a new Commission, the Union looks ahead to the next five years as […]

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China cracks down on illegal vaccines in swine fever disaster

    Illegal vaccines threaten to exact a heavy toll in conjunction with China’s continuing epidemic of African swine fever, which has killed (or forced authorities to preemptively cull) hundreds of millions of pigs since it began spreading in spring 2019. Chinese food regulators and health authorities are cracking down on illegal vaccines used by […]

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China Loses, Mexico Wins? Not So Fast!

  “China Loses, Mexico Wins?” By Manuel J. Molano, courtesy of IMCO and El Sol de México   Last September, Shannon O’Neil published an article in Bloomberg that said Mexico should benefit from the US trade war with China. O’Neil mentioned the openness of the Mexican economy, which is higher as a percentage of GDP than […]

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China elbowing Europe aside in Russian market

    “China’s growing presence on the Russian market and what it means for the European Union” By Alicia García-Herrero and Jianwei Xu, courtesy of the Bruegel Institute   Russia doesn’t just look West, it looks East – and increasingly so. China’s economy has developed very rapidly over the past two decades, becoming the world’s […]

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High tariffs benefit a few high flyers – and that’s it

  “Higher Tariffs Benefit Certain CEOs, But Almost Nobody Else” By Daniel Griswold, courtesy of the Mercatus Center   A big reason why tariffs are so tempting to politicians is that the costs they impose on the economy are diffused. These costs are spread across millions of households and thousands of businesses, forcing them to […]

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China’s pig population will take five years to recover

      Pigs are prolific breeders, reaching sexual maturity at six months, and with each sow capable of giving birth to up to a dozen piglets, after gestation lasting an average 115 days. Thus it is a remarkable testimonial to the devastating impact of African swine flu that China’s pig population will take over […]

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New Protectionism: Still Protectionism and Bad Economics

        By Veronique de Rugy, courtesy of the Mercatus Center   For several years now, news headlines have reflected anxieties about the effects of globalization and freeing trade: Will jobs evaporate? Does China have an “unfair” advantage? Is the middle class disappearing? These fears need to be addressed, because they have resulted […]