The false promise of friendshoring
America, China and Europe appear to be trading less with their geopolitical rivals
Each year the 193 member states of the United Nations General Assembly vote on dozens of resolutions, earnestly setting the world to rights. Last month, for example, they voted in favour of reducing space threats, eradicating rural poverty and combating dust storms, among other things. The votes count for little. The assembly’s resolutions are not legally binding. Its budgetary powers are small. And it has as many military divisions as the pope.
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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Opening gambit”
Finance & economics January 27th 2024
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- As China’s markets suffer, what alternatives do investors have?
- Investors may be getting the Federal Reserve wrong, again
- What Donald Trump can learn from the Big Mac index
- Why sweet treats are increasingly expensive
- How American states squeeze athletes (and remote workers)
- The false promise of friendshoring
From the January 27th 2024 edition
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How China will strike back at Trump
Xi Jinping has set out his tariff red lines. What if America crosses them?
Russia’s plunging currency spells trouble for its war effort
Supplies from China are about to become more expensive
The great-man theory of Wall Street
Why finance is still dominated by bold individuals
Hong Kong’s property slump may be terminal
Demographics and geopolitics will make a recovery harder
Why everyone wants to lend to weak companies
An unanticipated side-effect of Donald Trump’s election victory
American veterans now receive absurdly generous benefits
An enormous rise in disability payments may complicate debt-reduction efforts
