State Department role not limited to diplomacy

Mar 13, 2018
International reaction to President Trump’s firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been muted. One of the few public statements today came from Germany’s deputy foreign minister, who said it would not improve ties with his country. The State Department will face some tough challenges globally in the months ahead — everything from North […]

What a baseball game has to do with the NAFTA negotiations

Mar 21, 2017
Carla Hills of the U.S. and Michael Wilson of Canada helped broker what Hills calls the 'premier trade agreement for its time.'
“Thirty-five states in the United States have as their No. 1 export market Canada. Nine million jobs in the United States are dependent on that trade relationship,” said Michael Wilson. He was the minister of trade when he participated in the NAFTA negotiations.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

What would a trade war between China and the U.S. look like?

Mar 15, 2017
President Donald Trump has promised to take a tough line with China over bilateral trade. Now word comes that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said at China’s National People’s Congress that China does not want a trade war, but that if it did happen, the U.S. could be hurt. Neither the U.S. nor China has taken […]

Global trade growth is lackluster, so why all the controversy?

Oct 31, 2016
Kai Ryssdal talks with Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times about why global trade isn’t on the rise any more.
An inflatable Trojan horse is seen as people demonstrate outside the European Union headquarters in Brussels, on September 20, 2016 to protest against huge transatlantic trade deals linking Europe with Canada and the United States.
JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images

What happens when banking becomes alchemy?

Mar 17, 2016
If that is the case, then should we be worried?

Will China's new 'free trade zone' live up to the hype?

Sep 24, 2013
This week, the Chinese government will open the country's first 'free trade zone' in Shanghai.