Global Economy
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…
Economic diplomacy: Trade deals for a fast-growing family
Worker vs worker vs student
Almost five million Kiwis have always been at least cousins. And Scott Morrison’s distinctive contribution to regional security has been his embrace…
Coal’s decline is underway, no matter what Australia’s politicians say
It would have been so easy. In response to the G7 resolution “to achieve an overwhelmingly decarbonised power system in the 2030s” with focus on stopping investment in traditional…
New push for WTO trade reform
With the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha Round of negotiations stalled nearly 20 years after its launch, it takes an optimist to see the prospect of the multilateral rules…
Russia’s energy sector: Accumulating effects of Western sanctions
Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and incursion into eastern Ukraine, the West imposed targeted sanctions on Russia’s energy sector, the most revenue-generating part…
Economic diplomacy: Under the doona, Australian investors dump China
Departure call
While Australian exporters were shocked by the pace and extent of China’s trade sanctions last year, it now appears that investors were more quietly making their…
Nord Stream 2: Assessing Russia’s “serious geopolitical victory”
Europe doesn’t appear likely to reduce its dependency on Russian energy any time soon. The much-discussed, much-debated construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline…
Patent waiver for vaccines is a plus, but no panacea
The United States has thrown its support behind demands from developing countries to temporarily waive intellectual property (IP) rights for Covid-19 vaccines. Other rich…
London and Hong Kong: Financial centres in parallel peril
There is a curious parallel between Hong Kong and London as financial centres in potential decline due to the recent loss of a unique position.
Historically both cities were…
Economic diplomacy: Patent politics and trade deal twists
Biden’s jab
First it was new carbon emission cuts, and then a global minimum corporate tax. But it is hard to beat the Biden administration’s move to shaft the pharmaceutical…