trade


China  / United States
Americans Will Pay For Donald Trump’s Tariff War on China
Posted On February 12, 2025
In the first few weeks of his second term, President Donald Trump has resumed his advocacy for a renegotiation of trade deals, namely with Canada, Mexico and China. While the tenor of Trump’s discourse on trade is ideological, the justification for trade protectionism and the subsequent levying of punitive tariffs on imported goods is based on their potential ben efit to American workers, manufacturers, and consumers.However, with the bluster and pace of policy changes combined with a lengthy history from his first term as evidence, were tariffs on China in alignment with America’s national interests? I argue that what is past is prologue.
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China  / India  / Russia
Is BRICS De-Dollarization Program a Step Too Far for India?
October 16, 2024

While at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar commented that New Delhi will not decouple from the US dollar, noting that it was not in his country’s economic interests. While noting that New Delhi was pursuing other means as well, he said: “[India has] never actively targeted the dollar. That’s not part of our economic, political, or strategic policy. Some others may have done so. What I will say is that we have a natural concern.”


Europe  / Myanmar  / Thailand
The Past Holds Clues to Thailand’s Foreign Policy under Pheu Thai
August 1, 2023

Predictions of a foreign policy reset following the upset of Thailand’s long-dominant conservative establishment in the May 2023 election have proved to be premature. The junta-appointed Senate, permitted by the Kingdom’s 2017 Constitution, has stonewalled Pita Limjaroenrat, the Move Forward Party’s candidate for Prime Minister. Pita, a businessman, and leading progressive reformer, had suggested a dramatic foreign policy shift, declaring in June that they would align with previous ASEAN chairs in distancing Thailand from engagement with Myanmar’s junta.


India  / South Asia  / Southeast Asia  / Thailand
Thailand’s relations with India are critical to its interests in the Indo-Pacific
September 28, 2022

When S. Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister visited Thailand in August, he met with then-Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to sign two low-key agreements on healthcare and medical research. It was an important moment marking 75 years of bilateral ties between the two countries. While on the periphery compared to Thailand’s relations with China and the United States, its relationship with India is growing and is becoming essential as the Kingdom extends itself beyond Southeast Asia.The growing ties between India and Thailand are based on pragmatism and mutually-beneficial goals. The relationship focuses especially on security cooperation and trade, as well as a long history of cultural exchanges.


Japan  / Southeast Asia  / Thailand
Kishida’s Golden Week visit sets an important Japan–Thailand agenda
May 3, 2022

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to visit Thailand on his imminent tour throughout Southeast Asia, as part of Golden Week, a series of four Japanese holidays from the end of April to early May.  The trip hopes to strengthen regional cooperation in light of Russia’s weeks-long invasion of Ukraine, the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and increased stress in the Indo-Pacific region due to China’s growing assertiveness and perceived aggression. Kishida’s trip to Thailand in early May will be the latest in a string of diplomatic visits. Most recently, he met with the son of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in Tokyo in February and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March, aiming to enlist their support in the condemnation of Russian action in Ukraine, although with limited success.


India  / Japan  / Ukraine
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida’s India Visit: Economics trumps Geopolitics
April 1, 2022

In his first bilateral visit, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio visited India on the beginning leg of a three-day swing through New Delhi, and later Cambodia. Meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kishida aimed to tighten relations with India, and further promote bilateral ties, as 2022 marks the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Japan holds India in high regard, as iron ore from India contributed to Japan’s post-war recovery and after then-Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi visited India, Japan provided loans to India, constituting its first official development assistance (ODA) package.


Southeast Asia  / Thailand
Inconsistency has marred Biden’s relations with Thailand
December 23, 2021

US secretary of state Antony Blinken almost made it to Thailand. Blinken had planned to visit his counterpart, Thai foreign minister Don Pramudwinai, but a journalist following the secretary tested positive for Covid-19. linken’s Thailand visit was supposed to be the last leg of a tour of Southeast Asia. Instead, it ended up being a microcosm of US inattention to the Kingdom, as well as president Joe Biden’s inability to forge greater relationships with strategic partners as the US looks for ways to contain China.


India
What doomed India’s RCEP entry
December 10, 2020

In mid-November, 15 Asian nations signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the largest free trade agreement, creating the world’s largest trading bloc, covering nearly a third of the global economy. All 10 members of ASEAN, plus Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea became signatories.


Japan  / Thailand
Assessing Japan-Thailand Relations under Abe
August 31, 2020

Japan and Thailand have a storied history that dates back to the 16th Century, although most recall Japan’s invasion of Thailand in 1941 and the Kingdom’s subsequent declaration of war against the United States and Great Britain, which both the monarchy and the Thai Ambassador refused to deliver.