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Inside Out & Outside In

Inside Out & Outside In
In wide-ranging columns appearing twice a week, David Dodwell, executive director of the Hong Kong-Apec Trade Policy Group, strives to understand and describe the distinctive characteristics at the heart of Hong Kong's continuing competitive advantages. It promises to be a fascinating journey as he seeks to understand and describe the forces that have shaped and are changing Hong Kong, and the role it is playing for China and in the region as we move steadily closer to 2047.
Hong Kong is not immune to global geopolitical and economic headwinds, but it has reasons to be grateful. Photo: Shutterstock
Hong Kong economy

Outside In | 3 overlooked economic strengths that will serve Hong Kong well

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.

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United States

Outside In | Trump’s G20 boycott sums up a year of US attacks on multilateralism

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Climate change

Outside In | Takeaway from Cop30: climate action needs to be up close and local

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United States

Outside In | On giving the White House a big beautiful ballroom, Trump may be right

Given past renovations, Trump’s ballroom hardly sets a precedent. Besides, why should the most powerful nation on Earth make do with a tent?

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US President Donald Trump points to a model of the White House and proposed ballroom as he speaks during a ballroom fundraising dinner in the East Room of the White House on October 15. Photo: TNS
United States

Outside In | Trump’s unilateralism in Asia makes ‘world minus one’ clear

While the US president’s trip to the region coincided with multilateral summits, he was clearly more interested in bilateral deals.

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Tesla

Outside In | Elon Musk’s proposed payout shows far reach of the ‘genius myth’

While the company might have its reasons for the proposed US$1 trillion package, there are less controversial ways to ensure future growth.

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Rare earths

Outside In | Trump may be realising he has less leverage over China than he thought

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.

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Officials led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (second from left), US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer (third from left), Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (second from right) and Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang (right) meet to discuss trade in Madrid on September 14. Photo: United States Treasury/Reuters
Diplomacy

Outside In | Trump has the megaphone but WTO deal shows multilateralism not dead

After 25 years of disagreement and procrastination, WTO members have agreed to ratify a deal to eliminate harmful fisheries subsidies.

Northern Metropolis

Outside In | To speed up Northern Metropolis construction, get in bamboo scaffolders

Bamboo scaffolders offer speed, cost efficiency and sustainability. And the boom in demand will give the ancient craft a much-needed lifeline.

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Hong Kong society

Outside In | Big bucks in government procurement makes it a honeypot for corruption

Transparency, good audits, appeal channels and channels for whistle-blowers might provide some checks – but never a foolproof solution.

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Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu (centre) chairs the first meeting of the Task Force on Review of Government Procurement Regime on August 21. Photo: ISD
China trade

Outside In | Why Global South holds winning trade cards despite Trump’s bluster

Outside the US, new consumer markets have been gathering critical mass as their populations have grown and incomes have risen.

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From left, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping attend a family photo ceremony before the Brics summit plenary session in Kazan, Russia, on October 23, 2024. Photo: Reuters
Banking & finance

Outside In | Why ending US dollar peg isn’t the answer Hong Kong needs

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.

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Banking & finance

Outside In | Having funded Asian infrastructure for a decade, what next for the AIIB?

Having survived Obama’s opposition, the development bank established by China will soon have a new president in a tricky Trumpian environment.

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European Union

Outside In | Europe’s vow to Trump to push defence budget to 5% rings hollow

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.

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Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte and US President Donald Trump posing for photos with other Nato leaders during the summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25. Photo: Reuters
United States

Outside In | As costs of Trump’s chaos become clear, expect him to shift the blame

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.

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US President Donald Trump speaks as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) and then Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick listen as Trump prepares to sign an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on February 3. Photo: AP
Hong Kong economy

Outside In | Mark Twain was wrong. Travel is not as fatal to prejudice as hoped

For every traveller open to learning from our differences, there is another impregnably confident in the superiority of his or her culture.

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United States

Outside In | How sustainable is a US economy heavily dependent on arms sales?

Trump’s Gulf tour and his proposed budget highlight a disproportionate US reliance on its military-industrial complex.

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US-China relations

Outside In | China’s message on trade deals is clear: multilateral is the only way

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.

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US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent speaks to Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 10. Photo: Handout via Reuters
United States

Outside In | Trump’s ‘make Hollywood great again’ script may not have a happy ending

The US president has proposed a 100 per cent tariff on films made abroad, but this is hardly what the entertainment industry needs.

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United States

Outside In | Uncertainty unleashed by Trump 2.0 will exact a high price

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.

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Pope Francis

Outside In | Why the next pope may be Asian or African

The centre of faith is moving away from the West, a shift that could add impetus to the late pope’s reforms.

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Pilgrims and visitors queue at St Peter’s Square to enter the St Peter’s Basilica and pay their respects to the late Pope Francis in the Vatican on April 23. Photo: AFP
China economy

Opinion | Cities power growth. China has more megacities than anyone else

Many Chinese cities have country-sized economies. Places some Westerners haven’t heard of would have UN seats if they were countries.

A drone view of an eco-industrial park in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. Few people distant from China properly recognise the awesome size and diversity of China’s economy. By some counts, the city of Wuxi alone has an economy comparable to New Zealand’s. Photo: Xinhua
United States

Outside In | Real threat posed by Trump’s tariffs worse than a global recession

The US president cannot be allowed to replace world’s hard-won multilateral compromise and cooperation with bullying bilateralism.

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Donald Trump

Outside In | Outraged by Trump, Canada scrambles to define what makes a nation

Threatened with annexation, Canadians reluctant to be absorbed nevertheless find it hard to say what distinguishes them from Americans.

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United States

Outside In | Like the Cheshire Cat, US reciprocal tariffs are hard to pin down

The countdown to April 2 begins. Amid the gargantuan complexity of tariff calculations, US clarifications only serve to obfuscate.

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President Donald Trump smiles after signing three executive actions in the Oval Office on January 28, 2017, during his first term in office. Photo: AP
United States

Outside In | Elon Musk and the worrying political reach of the super-rich

This unprecedented empowerment of the US ‘political donor class’ risks jeopardising the proper functioning of democracy.

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Elon Musk speaks at US President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting in Washington on February 26. Photo: Reuters
United States

Outside In | America turning rogue is bad for the world but worse for itself

Trump’s dogmatic commitment to his tariff-driven policy will force others to adapt – by reducing their reliance on, and engagement with, the US.

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Climate change

Outside In | Why isn’t Hong Kong a test bed for China’s green energy innovations?

The city should take advantage of China’s burgeoning edge in alternative solar cell technologies to become a hub for renewables.

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