global trade

Clash on Investment: Global Trade and an Opportunity for Civil Society

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:12:36 -0500

by Sarah Anderson

During the past several months, I spent nearly 30 hours in meetings of a private sector committee tasked with advising the Obama administration on a particular set of international economic policies.

My seat at the table was one of many signs of the new opportunities for advocates of progressive change in Washington. At the same time, my experience was an up-close-and-personal look at how hard corporate lobbyists are fighting to make sure nothing changes.

El Salvador's Gold Fight

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:40:14 -0400

by Michael Busch

As El Salvador transitions from decades of conservative rule to the administration of leftist President Mauricio Funes, the country faces an international showdown triggered by a restrictive free-trade agreement between the United States and Central America. Canada's Pacific Rim Mining Corporation is suing the government for its refusal to allow it to mine gold in El Salvador's rural north. If Pacific Rim succeeds in securing the $100 million settlement it seeks, that would set a troubling precedent.

The Bailout We Owe the Developing World

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:23:04 -0400

by James Ridgeway

One outcome of the G-20 meeting (as I wrote yesterday) was an agreement to earmark as much as $1 trillion for developing countries, where the economic crisis is having a life-threatening impact. This figure is in line with what the United Nations estimates is needed to "buffer the blows of the global downturn on the most vulnerable."

There is No Global Economy

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:24:11 -0400

by Mark Weisbrot

"This is the day that the world came together, to fight back against the global recession. Not with words but a plan for global recovery and for reform and with a clear timetable," said Gordon Brown at the end of the G20 summit last week.

G20: Why support the IMF?

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:49:18 -0400

by Dean Baker

The G20 countries have come to agreement on a number of important steps to foster a recovery from the recession. However, since we always knew that they would come to "agreement", the substance of the deal is not entirely clear at this point.

U-20: Will the Global Economy Resurface?

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:43:20 -0400

by Walden Bello

The Group of 20 (G20) is making a big show of getting together to come to grips with the global economic crisis. But here's the problem with the upcoming summit in London on April 2: It's all show. What the show masks is a very deep worry and fear among the global elite that it really doesn't know the direction in which the world economy is heading and the measures needed to stabilize it.

The Real Economic Crisis

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:05:34 -0400

by Robert Dreyfuss

Today I want to highlight an example of remarkably good and important journalism, namely, a story in the Washington Post by Karin Brulliard that opens the door, a crack at least, on the effects of the worldwide economic crisis on the most vulnerable: people who live in Africa and other "least developed" countries.

The story is called: "Zambia's Copperbelt Reels from Global Crisis."

The G20 Should End Rich-Country Rule

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 07:53:04 -0400

by Mark Weisbrot

The G20 summit meeting in London on 2 April will have a lot on its plate and will certainly fall short of expectations. There is a world recession - the worst in more than 60 years - and the immediate problem of how to get out of it through fiscal and monetary stimulus, as well as possible coordinated action to fix the global financial system. Then there is regulatory reform.

G20 Must Seize the Opportunity for a Green New Deal

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:27:37 -0400

by Larry Elliott

The security clampdown will be the same. The press will gather in droves. The spin doctors will be in full flow, claiming victory for their respective governments. But in every other way the meeting that Gordon Brown will host on April 2 will be different from the last gathering of world leaders hosted by a British prime minister - Tony Blair's 2005 Gleneagles summit.

Biofuels Do Far More Harm Than Good

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:02:07 -0500

by George Monbiot

Is there any trade crazier than the liquid biofuel business? Apart from a handful of cars and vans running on used chip fat, it exists only because of government rules and subsidies. So what social benefits do these buy?

Biofuels are supposed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They do the opposite. Almost all of them produce more greenhouse gases than petrol (gasoline) or diesel, for two reasons: