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The best of
Asia Society every week.
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POLICY
U.S.,
China Reach a 'Light' Deal on Trade. What's Next?
It
isn’t a grand bargain that will bring an end to the U.S.-China trade
war. But it’s something. Last week, Beijing agreed
to purchase $40 to $50 billion worth of U.S. agricultural
products (timeframe unspecified) and to address some American
concerns over intellectual property protection and currency
management, details to be provided. In exchange, Washington agreed not
to apply tariff hikes scheduled to go into effect this week.
President Donald
Trump referred to the verbal agreement as a “very
substantial phase one deal” — but the two sides are far
from resolving fundamental differences over issues like
Chinese support for strategic industries and state-owned enterprises.
Asia Society Policy Institute Vice President Wendy Cutler
told
Bloomberg that the contours of the agreement were similar
to previous deals negotiated by the Trump administration that the
president had rejected.
“It looks more like a ‘light’ deal than a ‘substantial’ deal,” she
said.
What to look for next: President Trump is expected to meet Chinese
leader Xi
Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic
Conference on November 15-16 in Santiago, Chile. Among other things,
the fate of the scheduled December 15 U.S. tariff increases is still
unresolved.
Photo by: Win
McNamee/Getty Images
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POLICY
Kevin
Rudd, Other Former World Leaders Warn That Trade War Threatens Global
Economy
Asia
Society Policy Institute President and former Australian Prime
Minister Kevin
Rudd co-authored an
op-ed in The
New York Times along with nine other former presidents
and prime ministers from center-left and center-right governments
around the world arguing that the U.S.-China trade war is the single
greatest threat to global economic growth.
“ ... we see global growth in trade lagging behind general economic
growth for the first time in decades,” Rudd and his co-authors wrote.
“In part, this is the product of the expanding trade war between
America and China, the world’s two largest economies. In part, it is
because of a more general outbreak of protectionism around the world.
Both these factors threaten continued global prosperity.”
“The tariff war has been creating economic uncertainty, depressing
international investor confidence, compounding downward pressure on
growth and increasing the risk of recession,” they continued. “The
disruption of global supply chains is already profound, and it may
continue until a final deal is reached.”
The others in the group of 10 are former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark,
former Swedish Prime Minister Carl
Bildt, former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon,
former Canadian Prime Minister Joe
Clark, former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta,
former Netherlands Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, former
Mexican Presidents Felipe
Calderon and Ernesto
Zedillo, and former South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo.
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CHINAFILE
What the
Recent NBA Controversy Says About China
When
Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted his
support for Hong Kong’s ongoing protests earlier this month, he
probably didn’t expect to spark an international crisis. But that’s
precisely what happened when the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA)
announced it would suspend cooperation with the Rockets, forcing the
National Basketball Association (NBA) to express regret for the
incident lest its multi-billion dollar business in China be placed in
jeopardy.
The controversy over the NBA is only the most recent example of
how China’s censorship apparatus now extends beyond its borders. The latest
ChinaFile
Conversation considers the implications of this change,
and how American companies and citizens can balance freedom of
expression with the imperative of doing business in China.
Photo by: Kevin
Frayer/Getty Images
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CURRENT
AFFAIRS
A Plan
for Fixing Democracy
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WHAT
WE'RE READING
How
Sophia Chang Conquered the Music Business
Asia
Society’s C.
Nana-Oye Addo-Yobo recommends an
interview with the one and only Sophia Chang:
“Sophia Chang, self-described “music business matriarchitect,” is the
former manager of RZA,
GZA,
and Ol’
Dirty Bastard of the Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called
Quest and Q-Tip,
D’Angelo,
and Raphael
Saadiq (to name a few). Here she tells her Asian
American/Canadian story and her personal and unique journey as an
architect of the golden era of hip-hop.”
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UPCOMING EVENTS
October
24: The sixth annual Asia Game Changer Awards are almost here! This
year, Asia Society celebrates a remarkable all-female group of
honorees at a dazzling ceremony in New York. Learn more — and get your ticket today.
October 16: Top columnists and editors from The Financial Times
and Nikkei Asian
Review will gather at Asia Society New York for a panel
discussion and Oxford-style great debate on the U.S.-China race for
technological supremacy. Learn
more.
October 17: The annual U.S.-China Cultural Investment Forum returns
to Asia Society New York for a full day of presentations and panel
discussions. Find
out more here.
October 21: Nicolas
Berggruen discusses his new book Renovating Democracy with
Asia Society Southern California Chairman Dick Drobnick
in Los Angeles. Learn
more.
October 21: Authors and physicians Azra Raza and Siddhartha Mukherjee
discuss humanity’s quest to cure cancer at Asia Society New York.
This program will be available free via live webcast. Details
here.
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