Global shipping bounces back

The pandemic prompted calls for greater self-sufficiency, but global shipping is back to pre-COVID proportions, although fissures in international relations threaten to undermine this recovery.

Australia’s asymmetric advantages in global trade

Australia’s phenomenal resource endowment has once again seen it through a difficult period in the global economy, with supercharged commodity markets siphoning some of the stimulus spending by the world’s major economies into Australian pockets.

Climate cooperation between China and the West may be a mirage

Climate change has emerged as a rare zone of cooperation and civility between China and the West this year, but it remains to be seen if this will last through to, or beyond, the 26th UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November.

China still needs Australian iron ore

It must be galling to Chinese authorities that, notwithstanding their determination to punish Australia for its many perceived sins, their annual imports from Australia are running at near record levels.

An Australian head of the OECD

The appointment of Australian Mathias Cormann as the new Secretary-General of the OECD has important implications for Australia and China.

No easy fix for Australia’s supply-chain dependence on China

Despite China’s trade war against Australia, our dependence on Chinese supplies is so broad that finding alternative suppliers remains a major challenge.

Government funding won’t stop manufacturing’s decline

The federal government sees the revival of Australian manufacturing as a matter of economic sovereignty, yet the annual national accounts highlight the enormity of the task it confronts.

More than ore

Despite current political tensions, Australia’s non-traditional exports to China, including the now-threatened shipments of wine, have enjoyed runaway success since the China–Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) was concluded in 2015.

Don’t underestimate Australia-US trade relations

The idea that Australia faces a tension between its security alliance with the United States and its economic relationship with China overlooks the importance of its economic relationship with the United States.

How Covid-19 infected global trade

The head of the WTO, Robert Azevedo, abruptly announced his resignation on 14 May. He didn’t explain his reason, but as the guardian of the global trade rules, it could well have been despair.

COVID-19, like Spanish flu, will hit poor nations the hardest

Horror videos posted on social media last week underline the extreme vulnerability of emerging nations to the novel coronavirus.

Estimating the economic impact of coronavirus

Just as the course of the virus is uncertain, so too is its likely economic impact; predictions vary wildly and it’s difficult to trace the effects of previous epidemics.