International Trade and World Market

China Has Leapfrogged the U.S. in Key Technologies. Can a New Law Help?

In the weeks before the House and the Senate ended 13 months of arguments and passed the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act, China’s main, state-supported chip maker cleared a major technological hurdle that delivered a bit of a shock to the world. Experts are still assessing how China apparently leapfrogged ahead in its effort […]

As Fed Prepars to Raise Rates, Global Economy Sinks Deeper Into Turmoil

Jason Furman, an economist at Harvard University, said many forecasters had been doing what investors sometimes refer to as “pricing to perfection”: assuming that everything is going to go well, even if that is not the most likely outcome. “You can look at the individual items: There’s been a lot of, what if inflation in […]

What’s at Stake for the Global Economy as Conflict Looms in Ukraine

That means an invasion could have a dual effect — slowing economic activity and raising prices. In the United States, the Federal Reserve is already confronting the highest inflation in 40 years, at 7.5 percent in January, and is expected to start raising interest rates next month. Higher energy prices set off by a conflict […]

The Real Reason America Doesn’t Have Enough Truck Drivers

Every truck stop is like a shrine seeking to ward off the demons of fatigue. Refrigerated display cabinets are stocked with supercaffeinated energy drinks whose brand names attest to the trading of long-term health for a short-term jolt: Red Bull. Java Monster. Bang. “It’s a deal with the devil,” says Mr. Graves, who sticks with […]

Collateral Damage of China’s Virus Policy: Fruit

HANOI, Vietnam — At Pham Thanh Hong’s dragon fruit orchard in Vietnam, most of the lights are turned off. All is silent except for the periodic thud of the ripe pink fruit falling to the ground. Mr. Pham, 46, is not bothering to harvest them. The farmer watched dragon fruit prices plummet by 25 percent […]

A Normal Supply Chain? It’s ‘Unlikely’ in 2022.

With the havoc at ports showing no signs of abating and prices for a vast array of goods still rising, the world is absorbing a troubling realization: Time alone will not solve the Great Supply Chain Disruption. It will require investment, technology and a refashioning of the incentives at play across global business. It will […]

I.M.F. Forecasts U.S. and China Slowdowns Will Hold Back Growth

The pandemic has changed the way people in many parts of the world spend their money, shifting funds that might have been used for dining, travel and entertainment to goods they can play with, sit on or consume at home. That increased demand, combined with persistent difficulties in moving goods from one city or continent […]

Rapid Inflation Fuels Debate Over What’s to Blame: Pandemic or Policy

The price increases bedeviling consumers, businesses and policymakers worldwide have prompted a heated debate in Washington about how much of today’s rapid inflation is a result of policy choices in the United States and how much stems from global factors tied to the pandemic, like snarled supply chains. At a moment when stubbornly rapid price […]

China’s Economy Is Slowing, a Worrying Sign for the World

BEIJING — Construction and property sales have slumped. Small businesses have shut because of rising costs and weak sales. Debt-laden local governments are cutting the pay of civil servants. China’s economy slowed markedly in the final months of last year as government measures to limit real estate speculation hurt other sectors as well. Lockdowns and […]