The global trading system needs to reform. Ignacio García Bercero considers a first step in coalition building where two of the world’s major trading blocs have signalled their willingness to work to repair a system undermined by the US and China
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The challenge for policymakers is to build rules that function amid disagreement in a divided world. Dennis Snower discusses how COP30 can turn climate goals into trade rules
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For over 400 years the world economy has seen greater globalisation. Steve Schifferes believes the weakness of international institutions and the limited visions of governments are not optimistic signs for the future of globalisation
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China’s BRI has reorganised global value chains. Yasuyuki Todo, Shuhei Nishitateno and Sean Brown reveal that the initiative has triggered strategic and divergent responses among major investor countries, depending on their economic and political relationships with China
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The foundations of the multilateral trading system have been shaken. Petros Mavroidis argues that reviving the WTO will require a determined effort from the key stakeholders to address issues that the membership has previously avoided
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Thematic sanctions are being increasingly used as a foreign policy tool. Henrietta Worthington and Jaime Rosenberg consider the benefits and challenges for multinational organisations operating across jurisdictions
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The Trump administration imposed ‘reciprocal tariffs’ using powers granted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Gene Grossman and Alan Sykes argue that the tariffs do not meet two core requirements for the exercise of emergency powers under the Act
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In 2025 the US government underwent a large fiscal switch. Kimberly Clausing and Maurice Obstfeld evaluate tariffs as a broad tool of fiscal policy, reviewing both tax policy and macroeconomic considerations, and concludes that this fiscal switch will leave most Americans worse off
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The economic and political gaps between China and the West is one of the defining challenges of the modern era. Avner Greif, Joel Mokyr and Guido Tabellini argue that institutions and culture played a key role in setting Europe and China on divergent paths well before the onset of the Industrial Revolution
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There is a steel overcapacity problem. Ignacio García Bercero considers a European Commission proposal for a tight quota and high steel tariffs that risks undermining perceptions of the European Union as a reliable trading partner
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