Trade
Indonesia’s uncertain climb up the nickel value chain
Indonesia has historically had limited success with industrial policy. That may now be changing, with recent interventionist policies targeting the nickel sector suggesting…
What the China thaw means for Australia’s trade diversification agenda
The meeting this week between Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell and his Chinese counterpart Commerce Minister Wang Wentao represents more than just the next instalment in the…
Economic diplomacy: Diversification is hard to do
Catching up
It is now 25 years since then World Bank senior vice-president and chief economist Joseph Stiglitz remarkably turned on his employer to set out a roadmap for …
How will China’s punitive trade restrictions against Australia end?
Recent reports of an imminent meeting between Australia’s and China’s trade ministers have raised hopes of progress toward the removal of the trade restrictions that China imposed…
Crossing the carbon border
In 2023, climate rules in international trade become real.
With the introduction of the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), trade rules based on the…
To unchain Indonesia’s commodity reliance
Indonesia’s dependence on commodity wealth has been a prominent feature in its economy. The archipelago’s abundance of minerals and agriculture resources coupled with poor local…
Economic diplomacy: From pollie crises to polycrisis
Words of the year are already flowing freely with teal taking the prize at the Macquarie Dictionary to reflect the challenge being posed to Australia’s major political parties by…
2022: A global turning point
Tectonic shifts in world affairs are underway as 2022 draws to a close.
With the Ukraine war drawing a line under the familiar post-Cold War period, the world has entered a…
Economic diplomacy: Charging up old ties with Jakarta
Mining mates
The lexicon of strained language to accommodate the endlessly complicated relationship between Indonesia and Australia is coalescing around a new phrase for…
Putting food at the heart of China-Indonesia relations
As regional leaders gathered for the ASEAN summit in Cambodia last week, a sideline meeting also took place with China. For all the talk about regional rivalries amid growing…