Granting the world’s largest trading nation Market Economy Status (MES) is one of the thorniest issues in Europe right now, splitting the continent and dividing public opinion. Critics of awarding China this rather obscure World Trade Organization status argue it would severely impact governments’ ability to slap anti-dumping duties on cheap Chinese imports.
Over 11 million leaked financial documents related to offshore tax havens has shed light on a large network of corruption and embezzlement that involves 12 current or former world leaders and some 130 politicians from around the globe.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, put together at the end of last year and signed at the beginning of last month, has not come into effect yet. Nonetheless, presidential candidates have spared no effort decrying it, turning the issue into a political piñata used to score points.
While the U.S. is inching closer to pre-crisis unemployment and GDP growth figures, the picture across the pond is much, much darker.
In the U.S., any discussion involving climate change tends to deteriorate into an argument between two factions—those who feel that climate change is a very real threat to the planet, and those who say it is nothing but a scare tactic.
Is the Chinese economic model doomed or is the Western business press making much ado about nothing?
With all the attention turned to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), currently negotiated by the U.S. with 12 Asian countries, few seem to notice anymore the equally important Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the European Union and the United States.