Trade
US-China trade talks: No deal yet, but a breakthrough of sorts
It is only a start, but the Friday trade talks agreement between China and the US is still the best news for the world economy in the almost three years since Donald Trump won the…
India’s RCEP reticence
Despite the modern proliferation of free trade agreements, there is an enormous gap between free trade as it is understood and advocated by those who benefit from it, and free…
A light amid the gloom of the US-China trade war
Despite an optimistic bounce in global financial markets Friday, the relentless trade war between the US and China resumed Sunday. Threatened 15% tariffs by the US on another $250…
Coordinating with America to pressure China on trade
While President Donald Trump’s bull-in-a-China-shop approach to reforming international trade doesn’t appeal, it is possible that some of his objectives might make sense. This was…
Economic diplomacy: Guns versus butter, trade wars, and feeding PNG
Separation anxiety
A new call to split trade negotiation from diplomacy in Australia has once again underlined how the rise of China has unsettled traditional frameworks…
Trump and Xi need a trade deal and they need it soon
With resumed contact between US trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer and China’s negotiator Vice Premier Liu He, the 12th round of trade talks between the US and China may take…
Research Notes
Averting a global calamity? Trump and Xi at the G20
The outlines of a trade deal between the United States and China are there. But without a return to the negotiating table, the dispute could rapidly escalate,…
Economic diplomacy: G20 warms up, the China drip and open trade talks
Data, debt and plastic dumping
The prospect that China and the US are now going to use next week’s Group of 20 nations summit in Osaka to extend their trade negotiations…
Australia and Indonesia trade: deal (not quite) done
The signing on 4 March of the Indonesia Australia–Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) has been hailed as a major bilateral trade agreement and a diplomatic…
Is Australia wise to pick sides in US-China trade war?
The US-China trade war is viewed by many as a dark cloud over the global economy. So why is Australia’s ambassador to the US, Joe Hockey, seemingly urging Trump to go harder, and…