Philippe Legrain

Why the EU shouldn’t be spending nearly half its budget supporting agribusiness and landowners. Read my new e-brief for the Lisbon Council

China’s latest trade figures show that its imports soared by 66% over the past 12 months, while exports grew by 24%. As a result, China recorded its first monthly trade deficit in 6 years. Contrary to those who accuse China of being a drag on the global economy, it is a leading engine of growth.

The United States imported $2.7bn worth of the steel pipe used in oil and natural gas production in 2008, making it the highest-value US trade injury case on record. But because of slumping demand and US duties already imposed in the case, imports of the product from China fell last year to about $1.1bn. Now [...]

A truly excellent article. Excerpts On currency manipulation: The US treasury has been charged by Congress to assess whether China is a “currency manipulator”. Although President Barack Obama has now delayed for some months when the treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, must issue his report, the very concept of “currency manipulation” itself is flawed: all governments [...]

Patrick Messerlin, one of France’s most perceptive economists, has written an interesting piece in the new issue of Europe’s World about how OECD countries should respond to the rise of China, India and other emerging economies. Brazil, China, India, Korea and Mexico are already playing a key, positive role in the world economy. First, in [...]

Eight years after China’s WTO accession, many US industries complain that they face significant non-tariff barriers to trade… These barriers include, for example, regulations that set high thresholds for entry into service sectors such as banking, insurance and telecommunications . . . and the use of questionable sanitary and phytosanitary measures to control import volumes. Sounds a lot like [...]

Ha-Joon Chang's suggestion that the world needs a dose of protectionism to tide it through the global recession is utterly misguided. Read my new article for Prospect here.

Prospect, April 2009. Ha-Joon Chang’s suggestion that the world needs a dose of protectionism is utterly misguided

After the Omnibus Appropriations Bill signed into law by President Obama scrapped a pilot programme that allowed a small number of Mexican trucking companies to carry cargoes north of the border – as NAFTA requires – Mexico has responded by slapping tariffs of up to 45% on 90 American agricultural and industrial imports. Renault is [...]

The FT reports. Let’s hope the financial crisis doesn’t spur a wider outbreak of protectionism

Gordon Brown’s reshuffle has certainly captured headlines. But what does it mean for the trade and immigration debates? That Peter Mandelson jumped at the chance to leave his job as EU trade commissioner for a non-job as UK business secretary (which has been stripped of the energy and enterprise portfolios) provides further confirmation that the [...]

Philip Stephens has written an excellent article in the FT about why the Doha breakdown matters. He concludes: The collapse of Doha, however, speaks to the failure of both sides to own up to the world as it is. On the side of the rich countries, particularly the US but no less many European nations, [...]

The WTO’s Doha round has collapsed yet again. Like a beaten up boxer, don’t expect it to be back on its feet any time soon.

Washington Post, 6 April 2008. Like it or hate it, NAFTA is not a big deal for the US economy – and renegotiating should not be a priority for the new president

Read my article in the Washington Post here.

World trade talks collapse in acrimony, says the FT. Global trade talks founder, says the WSJ. Latest world trade talks collapse, says the BBC.

The US’s most significant "free-trade agreement" since NAFTA, the first with an Asian country, with "state-of-the-art" chapters and "unique" provisions – the embattled Bush administration was wheeling out the superlatives to describe the bilateral trade deal clinched with South Korea this morning.

I debated the charge that such "sweatshops" are harming
Bangladeshi workers in a debate with John Hilary of War on Want on BBC
Radio 2′s Jeremy Vine show: Listen here

Anti-dumping duties, which unfairly penalise imports that are deemed too cheap, are one of the most pernicious protectionist devices. After all, we ought to be cheering if the cost of imports falls, because it makes the money in our pocket stretch further, not taxing consumers in order to try to prop up less efficient domestic [...]

The Center for International Relations has organised an International Affairs Forum on the future of world trade. They ask: In the wake of the failure of the Doha round, what does the future hold for world trade? What can, and should be done to get negotiations back on track? My reply follows. To read the [...]