by Maurice Marchand-Tonel, Honorary Chairman, EACC Paris “Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength” (Donald Trump) “No nation was ever ruined by trade” (Benjamin Franklin) In the current debate on President Trump’s view of his “America First” mantra, “international trade” and “globalization” seem to be treated as one and the same thing. True, the two are obviously interconnected: the Tea Party and the ensuing War of Independence were indeed all about free trade within a global system (the tea and sugar...

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by Pierre-Marc Johnson, 24th Premier of Quebec and Lead Negotiator for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) for the Government of Quebec   Trade among nations has come under attack recently by various opinion currents in populist settings, and the partaking in this movement by governments in the USA, Italy, and other countries. Measures have been initiated by the USA that could lead to long-standing impacts of a “trade war”. Criticism of Trade is concentrated, depending on their origins, from...

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By Pascal Lamy, former Director-General of the World Trade Organization If there is any seemingly permanent feature of the last decades whose future is now uncertain, it is globalization. Globalization – the intensification of international trade that results in the growing diversity of sites to produce goods and services – is enabled by technology that reduces distance frictions and an ideology that rewards opening because more advanced international divisions of labour boost efficiency. However, the system of international trade is suffering...

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by Andrew Chrismer, Lead Editor, EACC Insights What can we make of the state of the global economy today? Who controls it’s many levers, and how can it be regulated or deregulated in a world trade order ever more clouded by protectionism and trade-skepticism? The transatlantic community is dealing with tariffs and redefining friends and foes. Meanwhile, Britain prepares for Brexit and a potential hard landing out of the single market. The tenets of global trade policy set up over...

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