Long before the last boat is delivered, the business will be winding down.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers should rise above outdated jibes at the IMF to justify his aims for a new values-based economy.

A jobs summit highlighted the challenges in crafting a foreign policy for the middle class and balanced development aid.

Regional expertise needs to extend well beyond base literacy and towards a more Asia-capable workforce.

New foreign investment rules, nuisance tariffs and supply chains are all under scrutiny by the Productivity Commission.

A new world has created new opportunities in energy, security and diplomacy that Canberra should grab without delay.

Australia’s next government needs to find ways to relate to the region that don’t depend on geopolitical alignment.

Australia’s new embrace of South Korea in minerals, defence, and trade is well-timed as the country catches up to Japan.

A roundup of recent economic events foreshadows a year of flux and reinvention, from Europe to the Pacific.

Beijing sought to make Australia pay as a diplomatic freeze deepened. But the sanction didn’t entirely go to plan.

WWW Santa beware. The gift trade is still subject to the old-school padded tromp of shoe leather.

Among other vital issues, Australia’s interests rely on the country taking a tough stance on corrupt wealth.

Greed hasn’t left Canberra cowering in the face of Beijing’s attempted punishment.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has made explicit Australia’s challenge. The next step is ensuring business knows the plan.

Is “China plus” the answer to fading US global hegemony?

Australian investors are pulling out of China just as the country has become the largest recipient of FDI.

China isn’t mentioned nearly as much in the government’s latest budget papers, but its presence looms throughout.

President Biden moves to suspend vaccine patents, RCEP ramps up, IA-CEPA gets a lesson and US dollar reserves tank.

Drawing from his new Lowy Institute Paper, John Edwards looks at the fallout of the pandemic and where things are going.

Levelling the field with a global minimum tax, rethinking student fee revenue, and getting APEC back in the room.

Targeted sanctions on Australian exports have affected billions in trade, but the real damage has been limited.

The economics of climate change are rapidly shifting, and that has opportunity for Australia.

Picking winners? In this case, one sort of export interest seems to have suffered due to support for another.

A slight but surprising rise in aid spending and a rosy take on China are inside the covers of the 2020–21 budget.

New data sheds light on how Australian businesses have (and haven’t) shifted their foreign engagements.

Reshoring incentives gather steam, India’s RCEP regrets sink in, and Indonesia’s stimulus spending gets stuck.

Australia faces rising unemployment, increased debt and lower living standards, but the challenges are not insuperable.

The government blocks a sale to a Chinese dairy firm, overseas remittances stay afloat, and ministers talk frameworks.

The country’s options in defence, aid and diplomacy are not as financially constrained as might be feared.

Australia looks to navigate a recession, global business faces routine disruptions, and war is cheaper than a pandemic.

Recent parliamentary submissions offer a window into the opportunities and risks when the country re-emerges more fully.

China, India and Australia are all dealing with the costs and risks of reshoring.

Covid-19 reveals a need for Australian exports beyond China, security plans for epidemics, and supply-chain smarts.

What might have been, had Australia had a crack at becoming a strategic hub for niche “world cars”.

China will often want a far larger ownership stake in Australian enterprises than we are comfortable with.

Australia seems set to end this year about twice as dependent on China for its two-way trade than on the United States.

The investment landscape in Australia is changing as Japan nudges out China just as China again looms in local politics.

Alarm is growing the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism may soon suffer the same credibility loss as its deal-making.

In the face of effusive predictions, don’t break out the champagne. Keep calm and carry on.

A new World Bank report allows stronger judgments about economic issues facing the region.

Foreign direct investment in Australia has boomed despite warnings of a sharp loss of international competitiveness.

Rather than continue a race-to-the-bottom on company tax, a sensible global regime is needed.

Universities need to accept their vulnerability to internationalisation in order to prepare students for the future.

Given Australia's disappointment over Canada's last-minute TPP snub, Trade Minister Steven Ciobo likely had no hesitation in lodging the complaint over wine.

An arbitrary end of year deadline looms, yet comments by Indonesian officials should give Australian negotiators pause.

Muslims are certainly a target for Senator Hanson, but I’ve little doubt their integration into Australian society is proceeding in much the same way as past waves of migration.

Uncertainty in Australian federal politics has spawned narrowly-focused political interests and an anti-free trade sentiment is also manifest.

Australia's best hope is that Canada, which shares our position as a major net user of IP, will work hard in the NAFTA negotiations to defend our common interests.

The RBA leadership is clearly thinking about the possibility that the relationship between inflation and output growth may have altered in an enduring way.

Business group submissions for the Foreign Policy White Paper will provide the first big test of the Australian Government's 'economic diplomacy' rhetoric.