Institute for International Economics

The Biden administration recently made a flawed claim that an expanding US economic lead over China demonstrates the success of US policy.
The calculation is based on nominal GDP growth rates in both countries. After adjusting for inflation in each country, China's economy continues to grow faster. The supposed expanding gap between US GDP and China's since Biden came into office is almost entirely due to elevated US inflation and the high US interest rates. Prices (measured by the GDP deflator)... Читать дальше...

China's current stimulus plan is still unfolding. The monetary easing announced by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) in late September has already been carried out, but the fiscal part of the plan still lacks details. While the Ministry of Finance has already unveiled how the upcoming fiscal package will be used, its size will not be known until China's top legislators meet and approve the plan in early November. Reportedly, Beijing is now considering announcing a RMB10 trillion fiscal package over... Читать дальше...

Chinese export controls on gallium, germanium, and graphite were intended to hit US green energy and semiconductor supply chains where it hurts by starving them, or at least complicating the sourcing, of these critical minerals. But as blows in the emerging US-China tech war go, so far, they have been closer to a jab than a haymaker. Analysis of US Customs data indicates that China's shares of total US imports of these commodities haven't moved much, if at all.
The export controls were announced... Читать дальше...

I am pleased to join this distinguished panel to discuss a crucial subject—how trade and economic reforms can contribute to peacebuilding. There is no case better than that of Somalia to illustrate the challenges posed by conflict and fragility, and the promise of a better future that can be delivered in part by trade.
The current situation 
The US Commerce Department describes the business environment in Somalia as an emerging market with unexploited natural resources and investment opportunities... Читать дальше...

Free trade and open markets have become negative concepts in current debates in the United States and parts of Europe. Trade agreements are considered a thing of the past, and the general consensus is that countries should instead focus on themselves and decouple, friendshore, and derisk. But is this really an effective strategy?
While politicians in the past have tended to sometimes overplay the importance of a free trade agreement, today they do the opposite, denying the advantages of trade liberalization... Читать дальше...

The Trump administration imposed large new tariffs on US imports from China starting in 2018. The Biden administration has essentially maintained those tariffs, while extending a few and adding some technology-based restrictions. Former president Donald Trump has since said that his stance brought hundreds of billions of dollars “pouring into our Treasury from China when no other US president had gotten even 10 cents.” The data paint a different picture.
First, the United States collected tariff... Читать дальше...

The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) joins the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the 2024 Public Forum live from Geneva for a high-level panel with PIIE trade experts and welcome remarks by WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Trade as well as the WTO have been criticized in the largest economies as national security concerns. For billions of citizens of third nations, trade remains a source of opportunities, jobs, and peaceful development. How can these other member states move global trade and the WTO forward? Читать дальше...

Gary Gensler, chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delivers a speech entitled "The public good of disclosure by financial institutions, particularly in the context of the restructuring of a large financial institution" at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, followed by a fireside chat with Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., PIIE board member and immediate past president and CEO of TIAA, and a discussion with the audience.
SPEAKER
Gary Gensler Chair, US Securities... Читать дальше...

My congratulations to the Director General, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, to the authors, Victoria Donaldson and Willy Alfaro, with thanks to Ambassador Dacio Castillo for his guidance to this project, this first of its kind report on how the secretariat can best contribute to taking the WTO to a new level.
For the WTO to fulfill its promise, it must be the premier place where members have full access to available knowledge on trade, where the members can confer on trade matters, where trade negotiations take place... Читать дальше...

The United States is undergoing a “manufacturing renaissance” driven by a steady increase in investment in chip manufacturing as a result of the US Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act signed into law by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in August 2022. Since its enactment, the United States has been on track to add more construction for computer and electronics manufacturing in 2024 alone than it did during the 20 years before the CHIPS Act.
This chart is... Читать дальше...