MSI

The two Asian neighbors divided by a strip of water but united for thousands of years by history and culture are now criticizing each other about military buildups and “unprecedented … strategic challenges.” That tense discussion is underlied by contested maritime borders and overlapping terri...

The summit meeting of G7 allies (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States) in Évian-les-Bains, France, on June 15-17, 2026, has an unusual agenda of military conflicts weakening their structurally unbalanced economies. A particularly precarious situation is observ...

The world energy market is experiencing declining supplies and a prospect of an unprecedented magnitude and duration of severe energy shortages. The European Union (E.U.) was the first region to face those problems in 2014, after the violent change of Ukrainian government and the ensuing unrest in D...

The 11 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) remain the bright spot in a slowing global economy. It is estimated that they will grow this year at an annual rate of 5 percent while advanced economies continue their slowdown. The four countries accounting for nearly three quart...

American and European monetary authorities are facing sharply rising inflation pressures, widening budget deficits, increasing public debt, slowing economic growth, soaring energy prices, uncontrollable fighting in the Middle East, and an outburst of European military hostilities. The question is no...

A good preview of next week’s U.S.-China summit in Beijing (May 14-15, 2026) is a discussion China’s Premier Li Quiang had on May 7, 2026, with visiting American senators, led by Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana. According to China’s official media, Premier Li told the American delegati...

Bilateral trade and investment flows are the most reliable indications of the current state and likely future directions of U.S.-China relations. Last year, the U.S. trade deficit with China declined 31.6 percent from 2024, with Chinese exports to America falling 29.7 percent and U.S. exports to Chi...

A relative stability of the European single currency over the last twelve months has more to do with the dollar’s weakness than with an appropriate policy mix followed by the European Central Bank (ECB). Based on the trade-weighted exchange rate during the last twelve months, the value of the euro...

Halving its exports to the US in the first two months of this year, while raising total export sales by 22 percent is a result of China’s successful trade diversification policy. The way Beijing has achieved that trade adjustment process deserves particular attention. For the first time, one can s...

Independent monthly business surveys offer the most reliable evidence of the economy’s business cycle position and its short-term growth outlook. Survey data collected by the U.S. purchasing agents about production, sales, inventories, employment, prices and intangibles, such as business and consu...