Tag - global-economy

 
 

GLOBAL ECONOMY

Diet Coke and Coca-Cola cans are for sale in a shop in New Delhi in April.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2026
The Iran war is coming for your Diet Coke
Almost every one of those electrical devices, however, depends on the same aluminum that’s disappearing from the refrigerators of Indian supermarkets.
A cotton farm worker in the Xinjiang region of China. Trade and human rights experts said U.S. President Donald Trump's new tariff threats would do little to solve widespread issues of abusive employment practices in the global supply chain.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 6, 2026
Trump’s latest tariff salvo no fix for global issue of forced labor
Experts, business groups and some human rights groups say the move could actually make things worse.
The won fell on Wednesday and was a whisker away from 1,536.95 per dollar, the lowest level since 2009.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 4, 2026
South Korea pledges action to curb volatility as won nears 2009 low
South Korea joins authorities in Indonesia and the Philippines in stepping up measures to defend currencies as elevated oil prices hurt the region’s importers.
A screen shows South Korea's benchmark stock index surpassing 8,000 points in a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul on May 15.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 2, 2026
South Korea overtakes India as world’s sixth-largest stock market
Memory chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have powered the country’s equity surge.
Most traders and analysts expect the Strait of Hormuz to reopen relatively soon because the economic consequences of a prolonged closure would be too severe.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2026
What if the Strait of Hormuz didn’t reopen?
History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. So what if something similar were to happen in the Strait of Hormuz? It’s a nightmare few contemplate.
Kevin Warsh, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, shakes hands with President Donald Trump during a swearing-in ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 23, 2026
Trump tells Kevin Warsh to do ‘own thing’ as Fed chair sworn in
Warsh, who has promised the biggest shakeup in decades at the U.S. central bank, was sworn into office Friday in a White House ceremony as the 17th chair of the Fed.
India has appealed to citizens to drop overseas trips and avoid gold purchases to protect a rupee that is among the world's ​biggest losers since war in the Middle East reduced crude supplies.
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
May 22, 2026
Asia’s currencies are flashing the oil shock alarm
Asia buys about 80% of oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, and stress in foreign exchange markets is one of the clearest signs of rising fuel prices starting to hurt growth.
Group of 20 leaders hold a working lunch at the group’s summit in Osaka in June 2019. Japan is facing growing economic and geopolitical challenges as globalization gives way to a more fragmented world. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2026
Japan’s challenge in a world moving beyond old alliances
The emerging world order is likely to be more fragmented, more competitive and more uncertain.
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala during an interview in Tokyo on Monday
BUSINESS
May 20, 2026
WTO chief urges Japan to lead the charge in reforming its rules
As an “important middle power,” Japan should take the lead in reforms for the World Trade Organization, said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, its director-general.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) speaks with Roland Lescure, France's economy, finances and industry minister, prior to a meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors, in Paris on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2026
G7 finance ministers urge action on economic imbalances; some point to China
G7 finance ministers and central bank governors have met in Paris to discuss the fallout from the Iran war and volatility on ​global markets but were light on concrete measures.
The war in Iran is fueling currency crises in energy-importing countries, underscoring the need to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles and renewable energy to shield economies from fossil-fuel shocks.
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2026
The energy crisis is becoming a currency crisis
The biggest losers include the Egyptian pound, the Philippine peso, the South Korean won and the Thai baht.
A truck transports a Maersk container at APM Terminals at the Port of Los Angeles on March 4.
WORLD / Politics
May 18, 2026
G7 finance chiefs seek to tackle imbalances as trade strains unity
The two-day meeting follows a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing that yielded few concrete economic breakthroughs.
Leaders and other officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations pose for a group photo during the opening ceremony of the 48th ASEAN summit in Cebu, Philippines, on May 8.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2026
Why ASEAN chose silence amid the growing Gulf crisis
In Cebu, much of the summit’s energy went into drafting a statement broad enough to avoid offending any member state.
An AI industrial humanoid robot is demonstrated at Foxconn’s annual tech day in Taipei in November.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2026
Will artificial intelligence solve wealthy nations’ debt woes?
If anything, the technology is likely to cause profound — and costly — problems on the way to the halcyon future.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida, on April 6, 2017. Trump informed Xi that night that he had ordered missile strikes on Syria.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2026
Trump’s superpower, unpredictability, has given way to unreliability
It is an open question whether commitments made this week in Beijing will survive the flight home.
A tugboat guides the crude oil tanker Odessa, carrying UAE crude, after passing through the Strait of Hormuz this month.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2026
Is the global financial system making the Hormuz shock worse?
The system is functioning as designed. It was built for a world of episodic shocks and orderly recoveries, not one characterized by persistent, overlapping sources of disruption.
A screen shows news footage of the bilateral meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Busan, South Korea, at a restaurant in Shenzhen, China, on Oct. 30.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 11, 2026
Trump and China’s Xi set for talks spanning Iran, nuclear, trade and AI
The two sides are expected to agree to forums to facilitate mutual trade and investment, but many details are still to be discussed.
The Solaris liquefied natural gas tanker sails near the Himeji LNG terminal in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, on April 22.
JAPAN
May 10, 2026
Japan diversifying shipping routes for Middle East oil
Japan is also trying to diversify oil procurement sources, looking at the United States and Russia, as the Middle East situation remains unstable.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda arrives for a news conference after a BOJ policy meeting in Tokyo last month.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 9, 2026
Japan bets on Washington and BOJ for extra punch in yen battle
The strategy is reliant on a small cast of heavyweights and is aimed less at a dramatic turnaround than at raising the cost of betting against the yen.
An oil refinery in Germany on Thursday. Oil supplies are set to tighten further even if the U.S. and Iran reach a deal to end their war.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
May 8, 2026
Oil supply shock to worsen as inventories fall further even if conflict ends
The rapid depletion of commercial stockpiles and emergency reserves has come at a time when ‌stockpiles are typically ‌built in preparation for the Northern Hemisphere summer.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival