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Is Economic and Trade Policy a Strategic Tool?
What is our ultimate interest in trade policy? Vladimir Putin’s encroachments on Ukraine have drawn Western investment and trade sanctions in response. U.S. sanctions are levied against certain...
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How Hospitals Are Helping U.S. Trade Policy
No matter how divided Washington may be when it comes to foreign policy, one aspect proved to forge agreement throughout the 2014 winter: The U.S. should promote free trade, particularly with the...
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Why Conflict Is Not Good For Business: The BRICS vs. The West
After World War II, the theory that economic integration would reduce the possibility of open conflict between two nation states was tried and was deemed successful by history when France and West...
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Fracking, U.S. Manufacturing, and Putin’s Crimea
Many LNG tankers can be identified by their distinctive, supercooling spherical tanks. On others, the tanks are located below decks. (Photo: www.seanews.com.tr) The Russian annexation of Crimea and...
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Hamilton, Jefferson, and the Fate of the Export-Import Bank
Dueling visions of the role America’s government should play in commercial affairs date back to the days of Hamilton — pictured above in his fatal encounter with Aaron Burr — and continue with the...
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The Currency Manipulation Report and the Depreciation of U.S. Credibility
At a time when the administration wants to convince Vladimir Putin that the U.S. has the will to employ potent economic tools to further its diplomatic objectives, a 34-page document that the Treasury...
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Why Western Law Enforcement Should Target Russia’s Ruling Elite
Credit: Presidential Press and Information Office by Ethan S. Burger In contrast to their strident rhetoric about Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the EU and the U.S. have imposed only limited, albeit...
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Brazil’s World Cup and the True Voice of the BRICS
Brazil street artist Paulo Ito taps into country’s anger with mural of starving child eating a football It appears that when the world was praising the BRICS nations a few years ago, that Brazil,...
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Finance and BNP: How Do They Fit Our Geopolitics?
Photo Credit: jyhem via Flickr French bank BNP Paribas will likely pay up to $10 billion in penalties in a settlement with U.S. prosecutors for alleged transactions, dating back to 2002, with Iran and...
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The Slippery Slope Hazard Of U.S. Economic Sanctions
Could We Create A New Version? Russia is exploring settlement of trade payments in renminbi (China’s external currency). U.S. sanctions on Cuba may require sanctions on Venezuela to remain viable....
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Candid Discussions: Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi on the EU Sanctions against Iran
Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi is a Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and the author, most recently, of “The EU’s sanction regime against Iran in the aftermath of the JPA.”...
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Knowledge is Power, But A Lack of Knowledge can be Shocking
Photo Credit: andresAzp, via Flickr It is interesting to see the current commentary on ISIS/ISIL in Iraq and how policymakers and the mainstream media have reported on a situation that is confusing...
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Will the Tea Party Prove to Be the Ex-Im’s Slayer or Savior?
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is a leading congressional critic of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and is using committee hearings this...
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The Difficulties in Handling a Melee of Policy Decisions
The last three weeks in world politics has been nothing less than a complete disaster of the international community. Since the end of the 2014 World Cup, it appears that anything that President Obama...
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Global Value Chains Mean That Trade Barriers’ Costs Become Compounded
Photo Credit: Danny Cornelissen G20 Trade Ministers met July 19 in Sydney, Australia, and reported the proceedings in a Chairman’s Summary. The only major media coverage of the event highlighted a...
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The Dangers of Investing in Conflicted Areas
Investments in Colombia in the ’80s and ’90s were often limited to large multinational companies. These companies would take the risks to mine in Colombia’s regions despite the dangers present to...
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The pitfalls of sanctions and financial warfare
Will Western sanctions succeed in shifting Russian foreign policy? Sanctions are all the rage in contemporary foreign policy circles. Following interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, Western...
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Investments Taking Precedence Over Rights
A silent controversy is taking place in my community in Canada as the leaders of some of the Provinces in Canada plan to set off on a trade mission to China. The area surrounding Toronto is one of the...
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Developments in America’s Backyard
Latin America often receives secondary attention with the world’s focus on the Middle East. For North Americans, however, issues with regional partners may have more weight on the average person in...
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Cheap Oil and Missed Opportunities
OPEC’s recent decision to keep production at its current levels lead to the realization by many investors that the current oil price may become the new norm. The recent price drop in oil may rebound,...
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