Trade

Reverse colonialism? India and Britain’s free trade agreements
Reverse colonialism? India and Britain’s free trade agreements
As elections loom, India is in free trade agreement mode. Hot on the heels of announcing the signing of a “landmark” deal with a group of non-EU European countries, India has also…
What price sanctions?
What price sanctions?
Book Review: The Trade Weapon, by Ken Heydon (Wiley 2023) Following the presumed assassination of Russian political opposition figure Alexei Navalny, the United States,…
Shipping and the great shrinking waterways
Shipping and the great shrinking waterways
How low can the Yangtze go? Although Asia’s longest river is making a slow recovery from the late-2022 drought that stopped some of the traffic up the “golden waterway” that…
The parts within the whole: Understanding Southeast Asia’s economies
The parts within the whole: Understanding Southeast Asia’s economies
Southeast Asia is home to almost 700 million people and collectively amounts to the fifth-largest economy in the world. Over the past two years, it has grown between 4-5 per cent,…
Kicking up a stink: Europe’s farmers, like those in Australia, are counting costs
Kicking up a stink: Europe’s farmers, like those in Australia, are counting costs
The European Union has abandoned a plan to reduce pesticide use by half across the continent by the end of this decade. It follows widespread demonstrations from local farmers in…
Vietnam’s ports prosper as supply chains fracture
Vietnam’s ports prosper as supply chains fracture
Vietnam’s main ports have shot up the world rankings in terms of volumes of container-based traffic as manufacturers increasingly pull out of China in the wake of the tariff-based…
Economic diplomacy: To market, to market, with China
Economic diplomacy: To market, to market, with China
Trading up Australia’s international economic engagement kicked off in 2003 with then foreign minister Alexander Downer telling his Cabinet colleagues that he was set to claim…
Global economic prospects are the worst in decades but investing in the future could be the answer
Global economic prospects are the worst in decades but investing in the future could be the answer
The World Bank released its semi-annual Global Economic Prospects Report on 10 January, and it reads like a warning shot across the bow for the world’s economies. Global…
Economic diplomacy: Pulling the right global value chain
Economic diplomacy: Pulling the right global value chain
Stepping up Late last month, the Albanese government took important steps towards dealing with two of the most debated developments in international economic relations since…
Economic diplomacy: Hits and misses for Project Diversify
Economic diplomacy: Hits and misses for Project Diversify
Trading places Stabilisation has been word of the month in Australia’s international economic relations as the Albanese government has sought to unravel the remaining Chinese…