The United States has filed the latest in a series of trade actions against China at the WTO, this one objecting to unfair dumping of subsidized Chinese auto parts. But the relatively limited scope of the action, along with the political context, suggests this is about more than just unfair trade practices. The case brought [...]

The war of wordsbetween China and Japan over a chain of uninhabited islands has the potential to escalate in disturbing ways, and destabilize a region that is central to the world’s economic performance. Some major Japanese brandname firms announced factory shutdowns in China on Monday and urged expatriates to stay indoors ahead of what could [...]

The Republican platform is too large a document and covers too many issue areas for one person to dissect entirely. I covered my core competency by going through the housing plank. But for those who did have the time and resources to do a full overview, the picture becomes clear that this is a pretty [...]

Paul Ryan, like all House Republicans, voted against the stimulus package. Then Paul Ryan, like a bunch of House Republicans, wrote letters to federal agencies requesting stimulus funds for his district. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this – if there’s money on the table, you’re not doing your job as a legislator unless you try [...]

The Romney campaign decided to put its new attack dog, Paul Ryan, out on a foreign policy measure today. Specifically, they had him discuss global trade, and Chinese currency manipulation. Ryan, the GOP vice presidential candidate, was speaking in North Canton, Ohio, on Thursday. “We also need trade that works for us. We come from [...]

The Bank of England, People’s Bank of China and the European Central Bank all cut lending rates or added quantitative easing today, a near-global spurt of monetary stimulus designed to increase economic growth. Because the Federal Reserve hasn’t joined in, the dollar is growing stronger, which is bad news for US exports. China and the [...]

Days after the massacre in Houla, the Syrian government has committed a new round of killings. The United Nations discovered an additional 13 bodies near Deir al-Zour, killed execution-style, with their hands tied behind their backs. UN mission chief Maj Gen Robert Mood said he was “deeply disturbed” by the “appalling and inexcusable act” [...] [...]

Neoliberals and conservatives will get to trot out their favorite phrase, “trade war.” And to be sure, there’s a jobs vs. environment question to be asked about this latest move by the Obama Administration. But the Commerce Department has moved ahead with slapping high tariffs on Chinese solar panels: The United States on Thursday announced [...]

The implosion of Mike Daisey’s Foxconn stories may have, in the short term, returned focus to Apple’s suppliers of their electronic products. Now Foxconn, the notorious Chinese manufacturer, has announced a series of changes to working conditions at the plant. Responding to a critical investigation of its factories, the manufacturing giant Foxconn has pledged to [...]

We’re finally getting over the hoopla of the This American Life retraction of Mike Daisey’s Apple claims, which has led to a new emerging trend that wouldn’t be possible without the false claims Daisey made. I think Daisey did significant damage to raising awareness on labor standards around the world, particularly in China, for political [...]

If you ask people who actually know about Solyndra, they will tell you that the solar manufacturer went out of business due to cheap imports of the same technology from China. This drove down profit margins in the industry, and Solyndra couldn’t compete. Overall, the macro implication of this means cheaper solar panels for the [...]