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David Dodwell
David Dodwell is CEO of the trade policy and international relations consultancy Strategic Access, focused on developments and challenges facing the Asia-Pacific over the past four decades.
David Dodwell is CEO of the trade policy and international relations consultancy Strategic Access, focused on developments and challenges facing the Asia-Pacific over the past four decades.
Languages Spoken:
English
It’s been years since the US president extolled the virtues of trade wars: how much longer before he recognises tariffs harm the US economy?
While Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Istanbul’s plans are already aggressively ambitious, Saudi Arabia’s extravagant vision seems like something from fantasyland.
The city’s low debt, absence of a need to spend on defence and reliance on services are huge comparative advantages in the world today.
Despite the duress, most countries clearly do not prefer Trumpian unilateralism. But while multilateralism is not dead, it is limping badly.
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A focus on adaptation means a pivot to action on floods, typhoons, heatstroke deaths, wildfire damage – issues of immediate survival.
Given past renovations, Trump’s ballroom hardly sets a precedent. Besides, why should the most powerful nation on Earth make do with a tent?
While the US president’s trip to the region coincided with multilateral summits, he was clearly more interested in bilateral deals.
While the company might have its reasons for the proposed US$1 trillion package, there are less controversial ways to ensure future growth.
The past week has provided a rare insight into the fudging and bullying that goes on behind the closed doors of high-stakes trade talks.
With its vast network of high-speed trains and ability to develop at scale, the country stands above all others in redefining railway travel.
After 25 years of disagreement and procrastination, WTO members have agreed to ratify a deal to eliminate harmful fisheries subsidies.
Bamboo scaffolders offer speed, cost efficiency and sustainability. And the boom in demand will give the ancient craft a much-needed lifeline.
Transparency, good audits, appeal channels and channels for whistle-blowers might provide some checks – but never a foolproof solution.
The city needs to find its voice to defend the global multilateral trading system and the rules that have fostered growth for eight decades.
Outside the US, new consumer markets have been gathering critical mass as their populations have grown and incomes have risen.
From the Soviet Union to Greece, statisticians have been punished for bad news while in colonial Hong Kong, a dearth of data exacted a price.
Tariffs will take their toll, but the damage done by the White House to the World Trade Organization’s core principles could be irreparable.
As the US president’s tariff obsession wreaks havoc, indifference to the workings of global trade will only lead to more catastrophic consequences.
World minus US likely to intensify cooperation and reform across the UN and other multilateral organisations, rather than leave like the US.
Anti-dumping duty recognises China’s control of the carbon mineral and its growing importance in the batteries powering the future.
The dollar peg still does yeoman’s work for the city, while promoting the yuan in trade finance and settlement would enhance what it has built.
Having survived Obama’s opposition, the development bank established by China will soon have a new president in a tricky Trumpian environment.
Amid voter defiance and record debt, anyone who believes the governments will find an extra US$2.7 trillion by 2035 is living in dreamland.
Trump’s supporters seem certain the damage his policies cause will be short-lived, but they may change their minds as the trade wars drag on.
For every traveller open to learning from our differences, there is another impregnably confident in the superiority of his or her culture.
Trump’s Gulf tour and his proposed budget highlight a disproportionate US reliance on its military-industrial complex.
The choice of the Swiss city of Geneva for US-China negotiations was telling, and the breakthroughs achieved are only the start of a long process.
The US president has proposed a 100 per cent tariff on films made abroad, but this is hardly what the entertainment industry needs.
Companies and countries alike are seeing hedging costs hit the roof amid a loss of trust and certainty in the US, the dollar and Treasuries.
