Trade policy
Global trade imbalances threaten free trade
17 October 2011
The G20 needs a strategy to rebalance demand between the surplus and deficit economies if the world is to avoid a slide into protectionism.
Why Germany is not a model for the eurozone
22 October 2010
Many Europeans believe that confidence in the eurozone is best restored by turning the region into a larger version of present-day Germany. However, Germany is not the world-beating economy of current myth.
Whatever happened to the G20?
14 April 2010
George W Bush convened the first G20 summit in Washington in November 2008, at the height of the global financial and economic crisis. At two further summits in 2009, G20 leaders pledged to co-ordinate their economic stimulus packages (as well as exit strategies), avoid protectionism, address global imbalances, triple the resources of the IMF, and work out stricter rules for banks, hedge funds and other financial players.
Protectionism and the economic crisis: So far, so good?
01 June 2009
For much of the year, the spectre of the 1930s has loomed large over the global economy.
Narrowing the Atlantic: The way forward for EU-US trade and investment
29 April 2009
The financial crisis has provoked a dramatic contraction in world trade. With economic activity declining and job losses rising, protectionist pressures are mounting.
Options for EU trade policy
01 October 2008
In late July, the Doha round suffered its umpteenth setback, when ministers from the member-states of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) failed to agree on a package to liberalise world trade.
Issue 62 - 2008
26 September 2008
- How to handle the new Russia, Charles Grant
- Russia, China and the Georgia dimension, Bobo Lo
- Options for EU trade policy, Philip Whyte
A new European mercantilism?
01 August 2008
Europe’s economic liberals have had a successful ten years. There have been protectionist pressures throughout this period, of course.
Should Europeans care about Doha?
30 July 2008
Are the Doha trade talks finally dead? Following the failure of the latest ministerial meeting in Geneva on July 29th, there will be little appetite for another big push to resolve disputes over farm subsidies and manufacturing tariffs.
China is losing its EU friends
29 November 2007
The EU is getting tough on China. That, at least, is the impression one gets from high-ranking EU officials that arrived for the annual EU-China summit in Beijing this week. Economics is the main reason for Europe’s changing mood.
Can the EU learn to live with Chinese mercantilism?
29 October 2007
Not long after its launch, the euro was famously dismissed by a disgruntled currency trader as a “toilet currency”. How things have changed.
What should Europe do about sovereign wealth funds?
01 October 2007
Several EU governments have become alarmed about sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). Germany, for example, is thinking of preventing such funds from buying local companies in sensitive sectors.
The Lisbon scorecard VII: Will globalistion leave Europe stranded?
01 February 2007
Globalisation and the rapid integration of China and India into the international economy present huge opportunities for the European Union.
Transatlantic trade: walk before you run
01 December 2006
Ever since the EU forged its plans for a single market, in the late 1980s, there has periodically been interest in the idea of establishing a transatlantic single market – removing not only tariffs, but also non-tariff barriers to trade and investment.
Issue 51 - 2007
24 November 2006
- If Turkey and the EU break up..., Katinka Barysch
- Time to get tough on carbon emissions, Simon Tilford
- Transatlantic trade: walk before you run, Aurore Wanlin
What future for free trade in services?
03 April 2006
The controversy that has engulfed the Commission’s draft services directive is hardly surprising: the establishment of a single EU market in services was always going to generate more opposition than the liberalisation of trade in goods.
Issue 47 - 2006
24 March 2006
- A new European approach to China, Mark Leonard
- What future for free trade in services?, Simon Tilford
- How to build a better EU foreign policy, Charles Grant, Mark Leonard
Ditchley conference note - The future of the European economy
21 March 2006
In November 2005, the CER took more than 40 of Europe's top economists, policy-makers and commentators to the Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire to discuss 'The future of the European economy'. Participants included Graham Bishop, Jean-Philippe Cotis, Daniel Gros, Will Hutton, DeAnne Julius, Anatole Kaletsky, John Kay, Mart Laar, Richard Layard,...
Easing the pain of trade liberalisation
01 December 2005
This year’s textiles crisis shows what can happen if the EU and the US are ill-prepared for competition from emerging Asia. The integration of China and India into the world economy means that manufacturing and low-cost services in the West will have to adapt rapidly.
The Doha trade round: What hope for Hong Kong?
01 December 2005
The Doha round of trade talks, launched in the Qatar capital in 2001, is in trouble. The members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have little time left to meet their ambition of helping developing countries trade their way out of poverty.