Labor, Trade, & Finance Archives - Foreign Policy In Focus

Our Osmotic Border

by Inge Fryklund | Apr 11, 2013

In the U.S. immigration debate, we have thus far focused our attention on the symptom—Mexicans crossing the semi-permeable barrier into the United States—and treated the crossing itself as the problem to be solved. In other words, policy makers have been preoccupied with figuring out how to make the border less permeable. But this is a fool’s errand. It’s time to start looking at the pressures that drive unidirectional movement instead of at the symptom.

America vs China in Africa

by Francis Njubi Nesbitt | Dec 1, 2011

China’s imminent replacement of the West as the dominant international economic and political force in Africa epitomizes the most dramatic shift in geopolitics since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yet the United States and Europe, Africa’s traditional trading partners, seem incapable of responding to the challenge and retaking the initiative. Instead, their response has been to wring their hands in despair and make ineffectual noises about human rights and democracy.

China Forced to Temper Its Mercenary Approach to International Trade

by Russ Wellen | Sep 7, 2011

It’s about time China started factoring into its decisions the impact of its international trade policies on the world.

All Roads Lead Back to China

by Khadija Sharife | Jun 7, 2011

Ghanaian cocoa, Gabonese iron and Congolese oil have been swapped for construction of dams, allowing Chinese corporations such as Sinohydro to capture the bulk of Africa’s hydropower market. The ‘barter system’ thus enables China to export goods and labour, facilitating for China the opportunity to ‘import’ their recycled project capital in addition to African resources. In the process, China has activated arguably the same ‘Western’ capitalist vehicles of engagement

Food Security and National Security

by Jim Harkness | Feb 23, 2011

Sounding the alarm about various threats posed by a rising China has become a cottage industry among pundits and politicians. One of the oldest warnings is that China’s increasing demand for food will wreak havoc on international markets, causing mass starvation in food-importing countries. But this concern ignores the safeguards China has in place for food shortages and the lessons the rest of the world could learn from this approach.

As Chinese Laborers Follow Jobs to Africa, African Traders Flock to China

by Michael Busch | Nov 26, 2010

China’s hostility toward African traders in its midst mirrors its ambivalence over its integration into the world economy.

It’s Time to Step up Diplomacy with Iran

by Mary Slosson | Jun 25, 2010

Things are heating up for Iran. The international community, responding to doubts over the intentions of the Iranian nuclear program, has passed three sanctions packages over the past three weeks.

Global Economy: C

by Sarah Anderson | Jan 21, 2010

Barack Obama raised the hopes of global justice advocates by committing to significant changes in our international economic policies. As president, however, his efforts to implement alternatives have been slow to get off the ground.

Against the Lisbon Treaty

by John Feffer, Steve McGiffen | Jul 30, 2009

There is an idea abroad in North America that the European Union (EU) represents a progressive alternative to U.S.-sponsored neoliberalism. You can find this argument in books such as Jeremy Rifkin’s The European Dream and in numerous articles in left-leaning journals. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

Obama: Renegotiate NAFTA as You Promised

by Manuel Perez-Rocha, Emily Schwartz Greco, Stuart Trew | Jul 27, 2009

Starting my first year in office, I will convene annual meetings with Mr. Calderón and the prime minister of Canada. Unlike similar summits under President Bush, these will be conducted with a level of transparency that represents the close ties among our three countries. We will seek the active and open involvement of citizens, labor, the private sector and non-governmental organizations in setting the agenda and making progress.