Every day, U.S. policymakers are faced with choices that will determine the future of American leadership in Asia. One such set of choices involves the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) currently being negotiated. The TPP is a set of trade and investment negotiations among the U.S., Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and…
It has been a bad half-decade for American foreign economic policy. The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Doha round was mortally wounded in 2008. The last three bilateral trade agreements were stalled and then renegotiated. The next one is not even on the radar screen. While the 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and a possible agreement with the 27-nation European…
Abstract: The Heritage Foundation has been tracking and ranking trade freedom around the world since 1995. The rankings have consistently shown a correlation between trade freedom and improved lives for people around the world—and vice versa. The latest rankings, in the forthcoming 2013 Index of Economic Freedom, once again confirm that connection. For that reason, it is…
Testimony before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Relations July 19, 2012 My name is Derek Scissors. I am Senior Research Fellow for Asia Economics at The Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are my own and should not be construed as representing any official position of The Heritage Foundation. …
The Senate recently passed the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, which repeals a set of wasteful and antiquated commodity programs. Yet it supplants those program cuts with a costly new subsidy—the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) program. The House draft farm bill also gets rid of the so-called direct payments and replaces them with a similar new subsidy. …
Abstract: Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) will put U.S. companies at a disadvantage with their global competitors unless Congress first exempts Russia from the application of the Jackson–Vanik Amendment, a tool from the 1970s designed to promote human rights that no longer advances that goal. Russia admittedly suffers from weak rule of law and…
Abstract: The 2012 rankings of trade freedom around the world indicate that trade freedom in the world has remained constant or regressed slightly since 2011. The lack of improvement is regrettable because countries with the most trade freedom have the highest per capita gross domestic product, the lowest incidence of hunger, and the cleanest environments. The U.S. needs…
Abstract: There is great concern in the U.S. about Chinese currency policy costing American jobs. But over two decades, there has been no evidence that a weak yuan causes high American unemployment. What American policymakers should focus on is other Chinese actions that do harm the U.S. and the entire global economy, particularly China’s market-distorting and…
Abstract: The scheduled autumn visit of China’s next Communist Party General Secretary, Xi Jinping, to Washington is a good opportunity for the U.S. to re-examine its often mismanaged economic diplomacy with China. Policymakers from both parties frequently point to the seemingly exceptional importance of China to the American economy, yet have created an…
Abstract: Chinese investment in the rest of the world, especially in the United States, continues to be a controversial topic. It is important for policymakers to understand the scope of China’s investments, and unless there is a specific national security consideration, market principles should guide the American policy response. Heritage Foundation China and…
Perhaps the most prominent reaction to progress in trade and investment talks between China and Taiwan is that the dialogue is long overdue. From Taiwan's perspective, such an assessment turns out to be exactly right--cross-straits economic liberalization is overdue. In pure economic terms, it would have been far better for Taiwan if liberalization had occurred 15 or so…
In the opening chapter of the 2010 Trade Policy Agenda and 2009 Annual Report, President Obama unveiled a trade agenda that aims to double U.S. exports within five years and create jobs.[1] Prominent on Obama’s trade to-do list is the implementation of the National Export Initiative (NEI), which will be directed by a new export promotion cabinet. This cabinet will…
Abstract: The 2010 rankings of trade freedom in countries around the world, developed by The Heritage Foundation as part of its annual Index of Economic Freedom, show many countries moving ahead on their own to lower tariffs and cut other barriers to trade. However, multilateral efforts at the World Trade Organization and elsewhere have ground to a halt. Global…
It seems like Vietnam has been the next big thing for quite a while. Vietnam did very well in the 1990s and through the turn of the century. For the past two years, however, despite all the advantages it possesses, the Vietnamese government has managed only to destabilize a promising economy. And now, on top of that, the default of state-owned shipbuilder Vinashin and the…
Heirs to the ancient traders of the Silk Road, rejoice! If all goes according to plan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and...…
On August 22, after almost 20 years of negotiations, Russia became the 156th member of World Trade Organization (WTO)....…
Earlier this month, Ecuador’s National Assembly passed legislation that would nationalize the country’s private credit...…
Trade policy is once again in the spotlight with President Obama’s announcement this week of a new suit against China...…
The presidential debate yesterday moved to trade with China, with the usual rhetorical suspects—including "outsourcing"...…
Earlier this year, over protests from the country’s communist party, Russia agreed to join the World Trade Organization...…
Last week, Pascal Lamy, chief of the World Trade Organization (WTO), gave a stark warning that rising protectionism is a...…
Yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved H.R. 6156, the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal Act of...…
Yesterday and today, the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee held hearings on Russia’s abysmal...…
Today, the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously approved the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act...…