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The United States and Germany have much in common: advanced industrial economies, high living standards, first-class universities, and leading companies. They also share the same pressures from globalization — trade competition, technological change, movement of people and ideas — around which to innovate and adapt. But the data makes it clear that Germany has better maint...
In the 1930s, the Great Depression reversed a long trend towards globalization: Borders were shut, trade was halted, and tariffs imposed. After the 2008 financial crisis, it initially seemed that this would not occur again. But free trade is now stirring strong political passions, with politicians and voters of all stripes blaming trade for rising unemployment. So are we h...
The China-US relationship appears to have arrived this year at two inter-related flashpoints, on trade and technology, as President Trump’s administration enters a trade war that has destabilized world markets and has gone to war too against China’s tech giant Huawei. What’s really at the core of the trade dispute—and just how dominant is China’s lead on next-generation 5G...
In 2018, economic activity was accelerating in almost all regions of the world. One year later, much has changed. The escalation of US-China trade tensions, credit tightening in China, and macroeconomic stress in key G20 economies have all contributed to a weakened global expansion. As the US trade war with China deepens, what are the biggest risks at this delicate moment?...
How fast can the world really move off hydrocarbons, and are we underestimating deep macroeconomic analyses of the energy transition in our policymaking? Two financiers delve into the complex dynamics surrounding the global shift toward more sustainable energy, including why Middle East economies that invest in renewable energy continue to depend on a robust oil trade, and...
In this new Aspen Ideas format, all attendees gather each morning to kick off the day by exploring a current issue of deep complexity. With heightened political tensions and an ongoing trade war, some experts argue that new ways of thinking about America’s relationship with China are necessary. Business leaders point out that we are deeply invested in China, such that n...
What do today's Republicans believe America's role in the world should be? The GOP's presumptive nominee for president, Donald Trump, has some very different ideas than the Republican foreign policy establishment about the global alliance system, free trade, and the current nuclear order. Senator Tom Cotton, a leading figure in Republican defense and foreign policy circles...
Globalization ushered in an era of free trade, fluid borders, and unparalleled corporate profits. For its proponents, the global integration of states and their economies was a political and economic win that created a wealth of opportunities for workers and consumers around the world. But in the United States, jobs are disappearing in construction zones, clerical offices,...
Many would argue that some of the same forces that propelled Donald Trump to victory in 2016 also fueled Britain’s Brexit vote that same year. Both countries are still grappling with the results of those elections, facing new questions about trade, security, and to some extent, national identity. For decades, the special relationship between the United Kingdom and the Unit...
In the summer of 2018, President Trump sang praises about the country’s economic conditions, tweeting, “In many ways this is the greatest economy in the HISTORY of America.” But just how much of the upswing can be attributed to White House policies? Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says very little. He disagrees with Trump on trade, tariffs, and the rethinking of...
Under Xi Jinping, China has become more authoritarian at home and more aggressive overseas. As China becomes increasingly economically dominant, what are the economic, political, and military realities of America’s most important “frenemy”? Panelists with unique insights into the world’s most populous country give us an in-depth look.
The US government misjudged the rise of China over the last decade — as the country has grown in economic power, it's become more rambunctious internationally, not less. Its Belt and Road Initiative is winning over countries that used to be US allies. It’s expanding its military power and reach in the South China Sea, attacking US companies in cyberspace, and advancing in...
Former US Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, who led the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2015 to 2019, and Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass analyze the United States’ role in the world — how our relationships, responsibilities, entanglements, and motivations, have shifted in recent years and what’s at stake in the months ahead.
World order is never in stasis for too long. And indeed, we seem to be witnessing a historic shift now. The relatively stable decades after World War II saw gains for global democracies, rapid economic growth fueled by globalization, and the birth of the Internet. But they also saw the speeding of global warming, widening inequality, and the scourge of transnational terror...