From McDonalds to supermarkets: The slow-motion car crash of Britain’s labour shortages World trade in toys is a highly cyclical business. Every year, just as everyone is putting their Halloween masks away, Chinese exports of toys drop back, and by March the following year they will typically be nearly 60 per cent lower. For the last four years, October’s peak has been getting progressively lower. Since the [...]
While the US and China sneeze, London too risks catching a cold The trade dispute between China and the US has escalated. After Donald Trump tweeted that he was imposing higher tariffs on $200bn of Chinese imports to the US, China predictably retaliated, announcing on Monday that it would impose a further $60bn of tariffs on US goods coming into the country. Much attention has been paid [...]
DEBATE: Could Donald Trump’s trade war be a positive force in reining in Chinese dominance? Could Donald Trump’s trade war be a positive force in reining in Chinese dominance? Alastair Benn, news editor of Reaction, says YES. Two centuries ago, the world experienced something historians call “the Great Divergence”. Pre-nineteenth century, America, Europe, China, and India formed an equilibrium at the heart of the global economy, taking up roughly [...]
DEBATE: Is there any justification for Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel imports? March 5, 2018 Is there any justification for Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel imports? David Vance, a political commentator, says YES. The decision by President Trump to impose a 25 per cent tariff on imported steel is both reasonable and timely. The US steel industry has been decimated over several decades, not least from 2001 [...]