Executive Summary: Introduction: Following recent legislation and proposed regulations that look to reduce Medicare or other state-funded spending to that of other similarly situated countries, these reforms may overlook the key differences of the drivers of each nation’s individual health care marketplace. While – international comparisons can sometimes be helpful, comparing the price, reimbursement, and … Continue reading
Category Archives: Foreign Policy
Trade Barriers and Tariff Schedules: How the United States Risks Chinese Dominance in the Indo-Pacific
Executive Summary Indo-Pacific Trade Agreements The Indo-Pacific’s premier trade agreement is RCEP, which includes 15 countries spread throughout Southern Asia, Eastern Asia, and Oceania. RCEP is the world’s largest trade agreement on many fronts, boasting a 28 percent share of global goods trade in 2020. Source: Congressional Research Service RCEP’s primary goal is establishing a deeper … Continue reading
BRICS and Currency Diversification Challenge the Dollar
Executive Summary Introduction Since the inception of global trade, there has always been a dominant, trusted currency used to facilitate transactions between parties to avoid the double coincidence of wants associated with bartering. The U.S. dollar (USD) has been the premiere global currency since the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 where it was crowned in … Continue reading
“Strategic Autonomy”: Macron Splinters on Western Relations with China
Executive Summary Introduction On April 6th, 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen met with Chinese President Xi Jingping in his hometown of Guangzhou, China to discuss the bilateral relationship of Europe and China. The conversation centered on Sino-European trade relations, climate change and global solutions, the Ukraine war, and … Continue reading
The Windsor Framework: Tackling “Troubles” in post-Brexit Trade in Northern Ireland
Executive Summary Introduction Three years after Brexit, United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced the Windsor Framework. The plan would modify the Northern Ireland Protocol, the current trade rules that were agreed upon in the Brexit withdrawal agreement. The Protocol established EU compliant custom checks for products … Continue reading
China and Latin America: forging new economic ties in United States backyard.
China experienced explosive economic growth in the past few decades that helped it rise to the position of the second-largest economy in the world. It now aims to transform itself from a regional to a global hegemon, effectively challenging the US in its backyard, Latin America. The country’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) facilitated its … Continue reading
Potential Benefits and Costs of US Backed Nuclear Power Plants Abroad
Last month the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) announced its reversal of a legacy policy that banned the financing of nuclear power projects abroad[1]. The decision, currently in the public notice and comment period, was lauded as a victory by the energy, environmental, and national security spheres[2][3] but raises several concerns around carbon emissions, … Continue reading
Who is WHO?
Just about every newsletter in the past week or so, has had some mention of the mysterious coronavirus originating from Wuhan, China. Named the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), this upper-respiratory virus has caused more than 80 deaths and left more than a thousand ill according to the CDC and China’s National Health Commission– as of … Continue reading
Trump States Will Be Hit by Chinese Pork Tariffs
Yesterday, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce imposed retaliatory tariffs on 128 U.S. products totaling $3 billion “in order to safeguard China’s interests and balance the losses caused by the U.S.” The tariffs, initially threatened in March, are the Chinese response to the Section 232 measures on steel and aluminum imposed by President Trump earlier that … Continue reading
Hold My Beer: Aluminum and National Security
Background Beer is good , beer is american. To protect the interests of beer drinkers and beer producers everywhere, primary aluminum must be excluded from the Section 232 investigation, otherwise it risks endangering the business of local brewers, packagers, and raises prices for consumers. On April 26, 2017 Department of Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, initiated … Continue reading
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