As technology amplifies the capability of governments and companies to probe the lives of citizens and consumers, surveillance has become a global commodity, and a booming business for the world’s biggest maker and consumer of communications and audio-visual equipment: China. In the first 10 months of 2019, China exported USD 320.1 billion worth of high-tech…

When Britain joined the European Union in 1973, freer trade was the union’s primary purpose. After World War Two wrecked the continent, EU nations badly needed liberalized economies to rebuild and prosper. As the UK leaves the EU on Jan. 31, partly as a populist reaction to Brussels expanding its powers beyond its original remit,…

Hong Kong, a beacon for free trade for 200 years, is catching a cold from the ill winds afflicting global trade around the world. Much of the focus on the densely packed territory of 7.4 million this year has centred around pro-democracy protests and opponents of a plan to extradite criminal suspects to mainland China.…

China and Europe have long been twin pillars of global trade. Renaissance London, Bruges and Rome imported porcelain, silk and tea. The original Silk Road connecting ancient China and South Eastern Europe and the Middle East dates to before Christ. Beijing’s ongoing struggles to forge fresh terms of trade with a more protectionist US administration…

The trade war between Washington and Beijing has cast a spotlight on China’s export juggernaut, a result of one of the most remarkable economic transformations in recorded history. Under the administration of President Trump, the US has imposed, or plans to impose, tariffs on nearly all Chinese imports into the country – worth USD 539.7 billion in…

The world’s population has more than tripled since 1950, to almost eight billion. By 2050, it’s expected to reach 9.7 billion. All those people need to eat, and farms must keep fueling higher yields. That’s heated up global trade in the stuff that helps plants grow — fertilizers. By improving soil nutrition, fertilizers boost yields of key crops…

The US-China trade war is catalyzing investments in third countries where executives know they’ll be able to manufacture and export with fewer import tariffs on the goods they’re making. One of the countries benefiting the most is Vietnam, whose economy is undergoing one of the most remarkable booms anywhere this century. After pushing itself through…

Kenya and Ethiopia’s growing garment exports signal a new phase of development in East Africa and underscore how China-backed investments in infrastructure are helping to reshape economies. For decades, Kenya and Ethiopia’s main shipments to rich markets in Europe and the U.S. have been niche agricultural products such as coffee, tea, sesame seeds, and fresh…

The push of government subsidies and pull of consumer demand are driving new markets for electric vehicles, which run on electric batteries instead of carbon-based fuel, with widespread repercussions on shipping, trade and supply chains. Electric vehicles, which include cars, trucks and bicycles, are still less than 10% of the global $2 trillion auto market,…

The epicenter of the world’s burgeoning trade in electric cars is Norway, which is drawing record shipments of Teslas and other models from the U.S., South Korea and transshipment ports like Antwerp and Rotterdam, according to import and export statistics published by Trade Data Monitor. The Nordic nation of 5.3 million imported $3.8 billion in…

As China relaunches its Belt and Road Initiative, an analysis of trade statistics for 10 key BRI economies suggests that the BRI has increased trade with Beijing and fueled China’s trade surplus and underscores the project’s vulnerability to financial crisis in individual countries. When president Xi Jinping announced the endeavor in 2013, it was intended…