Free Trade

Reverse colonialism? India and Britain’s free trade agreements
Reverse colonialism? India and Britain’s free trade agreements
As elections loom, India is in free trade agreement mode. Hot on the heels of announcing the signing of a “landmark” deal with a group of non-EU European countries, India has also…
Economic diplomacy: To market, to market, with China
Economic diplomacy: To market, to market, with China
Trading up Australia’s international economic engagement kicked off in 2003 with then foreign minister Alexander Downer telling his Cabinet colleagues that he was set to claim…
A return to old-school mercantilism?
A return to old-school mercantilism?
Talk is cheap. In the international system, states closely monitor each other’s actions and rhetoric becomes secondary. With the acceleration of great power competition, states…
Choosing openness in the international economy
Choosing openness in the international economy
The Covid pandemic was good for isolationists and xenophobes, and bad for globalisers and internationalists. Yet since the agricultural revolution, one of the keys to prosperity…
EU in the driver’s seat on Indo-Pacific trade deals
EU in the driver’s seat on Indo-Pacific trade deals
Australia’s long-running free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with the European Union seem to be emerging from the hiatus they were plunged into by the Morrison government’s…
India’s trade policy needs to prioritise the region
India’s trade policy needs to prioritise the region
Over the last few months, India has signed two trade agreements – a comprehensive economic parternship agreement with the United Arab Emirates and an “early harvest” scheme with…
Australia sweeps the table in the UK trade deal
Australia sweeps the table in the UK trade deal
Australian trade negotiators often enter talks with difficult demands and a comparatively weak hand. Agriculture, where they seek concessions from the other side, is politically…
Business, government must engage on international trade policy
Commentary
Business, government must engage on international trade policy
Originally published in The Australian.
The World Trade Organization: An Optimistic Pre-mortem in Hopes of Resurrection
Analyses
The World Trade Organization: An Optimistic Pre-mortem in Hopes of Resurrection
At a time when stability and predictability are needed most, the body at the heart of the rules-based trading system — the World Trade Organization — is reeling from far more than…
The economics of national security in Hong Kong
The economics of national security in Hong Kong
In the late hours of Tuesday evening last week, China’s new national security law for Hong Kong came into force. Seen by many as a response to the pro-democracy protests that…