The world’s trade negotiators cannot seem to agree on much these days, but on one thing there is near-unanimity: the United States is responsible for the collapse of the WTO’s Doha Round. Peter Mandelson, the EU’s trade commissioner, told the FT: “If the US continues to demand dollar-for-dollar compensation in market access [cutting agricultural tariffs] [...]
Posted 27 Jul 2006 in Blog, Europe, India, Trade, United States
Prospect, August 2006. Higher energy prices are likely to mean rising inflation and slower growth. Plus the misguided populism of EU commissioners
Posted 26 Jul 2006 in Business, Europe, Global Economy, Prospect, Published articles, Trade
Robert Wade of the LSE wrote an article in July’s issue of Prospect alleging that Globalisation Isn’t Working. I have written a response to this, which is published today on Prospect‘s website, and which I am also publishing on here. Needless to say, globalisation is working.
Posted 26 Jul 2006 in Blog, Globalisation
Prospect, August 2006. Contrary to Robert Wade’s arguments, countries that open up their economies tend to prosper. We need to help more of them reap globalisation’s benefits
Posted 26 Jul 2006 in Globalisation, Prospect, Published articles
The WTO’s Doha Round has collapsed. After the failure of negotiators to break the deadlock in the world-trade talks over the weekend, the Round has been indefinitely suspended. The WTO now risks going the way of the League of Nations in the 1930s and becoming an ineffective sideshow. There would be preferential trade instead of [...]
My argument that Britain should prevent Gazprom, the Russian gas company that is in effect an arm of a potentially hostile Kremlin, from getting a hold on its gas market was widely criticised. But if you don’t believe me, listen to Andrei Illarionov, a former Kremlin adviser who fell out with President Putin’s team. He [...]
G8 summits rarely live up to their exalted billing, but on the sidelines of this weekend’s meeting in St Petersburg, the US, the EU and the leaders of China, India, Brazil and Mexico all gave their backing for reaching an ambitious and balanced framework Doha Round agreement within a month. The deadlock may finally be [...]
Hurrah! My new book finally has a title: it is "Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them". I finished writing it in February, but the wheels of publishing houses turn slowly if you are not fortunate enough to be J.K. Rowling. I should be getting proofs back early next week, and once I have corrected them I [...]
Posted 12 Jul 2006 in Blog, Immigration
As supposedly final deadlines come and go and the Doha Round staggers on, commentators like myself risk sounding like the boy who cried wolf. But July is surely the last chance for WTO members to agree the outlines of a deal – remember that the boy who cried wolf was eventually right. (Despite the high [...]
Intelligent articles about immigration are few and far between. Jenni Russell’s article in today’s Guardian is an exception. I don’t agree with everything she writes, but it is still a breath of fresh air to read something positive and realistic about global migration.
Posted 10 Jul 2006 in Blog, Britain, Immigration
An admission and an apology: I have been spending my spare time watching the World Cup instead of writing my blog. After Ghana beat the Czech Republic, who were ranked second in the world by FIFA, I thought about trying to link my two passions by writing about the beneficial impact of globalisation on football: [...]
