[Andy Mukherjee] Harley, Trump and Thailand’s $51 billion trade gamble

Democracies look to voters for validation of their economic policies. For Thailand’s military junta, the affirmation is coming from Beijing, bankers and the likes of Harley-Davidson.　Harley’s decision to build a new Thai factory to supply Southeast Asia should be reassuring to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha. The former army chief, who ousted a civilian government in a 2014 coup, has a $51 billion, five-year plan to mold the country’s eastern seaboard -- already a large manufacturing hub -- int

July 18, 2018

[Noah Smith] If you love capitalism, worry about small business

Capitalism has lost some of its luster in the US. The percentage of Americans aged 18 to 29 who say they support capitalism checks in at only 39 percent.　Other polls find similar results, and anecdotes seem to support the story. Meanwhile, openly socialist candidates are winning primary elections in the Democratic Party.　Why is this happening? The fading memory of the Cold War might be part of it. Young people also might simply be more idealistic than adults, and less accustomed to the business

July 17, 2018

[David Fickling] BASF playing China matchmaker should worry US

If you want a look at how China is playing the economic diplomacy of its simmering trade war with the US, consider BASF SE.　The world’s most profitable listed chemical company agreed on July 9 to spend as much as $10 billion on a giant plant in Guangdong province, at a ceremony in Berlin attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.　The announcement was the centerpiece of a series of paper partnerships between Chinese companies and pillars of German industry last we

July 17, 2018

[Michael Abramowitz and Sarah Repucci] Americans still want their government to support democracy abroad

A flood of commentaries concluding that Americans are more inward-looking, indifferent to international engagement and skeptical about the country’s obligation to influence change in repressive environments might lead us to believe Americans are cooling on democracy.　These perceived signs of neo-isolationism have been reinforced by a president who uncritically lauds leaders like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un while picking fights with democratic allies like Angela Merkel and Justin Trudeau. And

July 17, 2018

[Tyler Cowen] What’s holding Mexico’s economy back

With the election of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as president of Mexico, the perennial question resurfaces: Might Mexico see a higher rate of growth? Its economy has grown at a rate of about 2 percent per year for about a quarter century, about half the pace of other emerging nations. 　The sad reality is that the new Mexican regime probably cannot improve its economic performance unless it can address basic problems with education and productivity.　Mexican economic policy gets many things wrong,

July 16, 2018

[Scott Cowen] Is Trump an “effective leader”?

No matter how much chaos and disruption US President Donald Trump causes -- to trade, business, and even America’s core alliances -- his supporters regularly insist that Trump is a leader who gets things done. While Arkansas Sen. and almost-CIA director Tom Cotton regards Trump as an “active, engaged and effective leader,” former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Newt Gingrich has gone so far as to describe Trump as “stunningly effective.”Given these accolades, I was curious about what

July 16, 2018

[Ramesh Ponnuru] Trump’s four rules for conducting a trade war

New tariffs on Chinese imports went into effect only on July 6, so it is too early to say how the trade war is going and which country, if any, will win it. Even the most die-hard free trader should admit that in theory it is possible that the threat of tariffs can induce other countries to make concessions that leave us (and possibly them) better off. Lose-lose scenarios are, however, also all too possible.　What we can say with certainty is that we are learning four rules for conducting a trade

July 16, 2018

[Editorial] No promoting NK

The Seoul Metropolitan Government provided leftist civic groups with a venue for a joint event where some participants echoed North Korea’s arguments and effectively advocated its nuclear weapons. The Seoul mayor even delivered a congratulatory address.The groups ran a contest of opinions on the April 27 South and North Korean Summit, and the award ceremony took place in the municipal government building on July 7. In the ceremony, prize winners presented their works. Most of the winners were in

July 16, 2018

[K. Ward Cummings] Judging a president by his staff

For as long as there has been a Capitol Hill, a secret list has circulated informally among staffers there bearing the names of the most difficult members of Congress to work for. Any staffer today who has worked on the Hill long enough is familiar with the list and the names that perennially appear there. They are exchanged in hushed whispers over coffee in Rayburn Cafeteria, they bounce and skip along backbenches during committee hearings, and they are discreetly shuffled across table tops in

July 15, 2018

[Therese Raphael] Trump isn’t getting the Brexit he wanted

The UK’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union represented a moment of vindication and hope for Donald Trump. No wonder he sounds worried now, as he arrives in the UK for his visit.　It’s not the protestors waiting at every stop, or even the giant orange Trump Baby balloon floating over London that’s likely to irk the thin-skinned president most. It’s the fact that a great, populist juggernaut that so closely prefigured his own rise to power is sputtering.　Trump is certainly bothered. He declared

July 15, 2018

[Ferdinando Giugliano] Emmanuel Macron gets a lesson in hubris

Emmanuel Macron can’t complain about the historical figures to whom he’s been compared since his election to the Elysee Palace. From Louis XIV to Charles de Gaulle, they show how much he embodies France’s return to the global center stage after the underwhelming presidency of Francois Hollande.　But after a shining start, the golden boy of French politics has hit a rough patch. In June, he failed to achieve the meaningful reform of the eurozone that he’d advocated. His attacks on Italy’s new popu

July 15, 2018

[Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay] Will Trump choose Russia over NATO?

For once, it seems like President Donald Trump isn’t interested in winning. Everything is in place for a great NATO summit -- defense spending is up, deterrence in Eastern Europe is strong and a united alliance will set a firm tone for Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Everything seems set. Everything, of course, except that last part.　 While Trump could use a successful NATO summit to hold Putin to account for his misdeeds in Ukraine and US election interference, he appears

July 12, 2018