Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and United States President Barack Obama met to discuss joint strategies for dealing with issues involving border crossings, security, and trade for the two countries. An estimated 1.6 billion worth of goods and services and 300,000 people cross the U.S.-Canada border each day. The two nations seek to develop regulations… Read more »

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, trade ministers from the several countries met to renew interest in the current round of multilateral negotiations under the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Doha Round of negotiations began nearly 10 years ago and discussions have been stalled for several years. The governments nearly reached an agreement… Read more »

Public protests that began in Tunisia have now spread to Egypt. The last several days have seen widespread public protests and riots with citizens attempting to oust President Hosni Mubarak and end his 30-year reign. More than 100 citizens may have been killed with clashes with police and the military. President Mubarak seems to be… Read more »

Despite already having the highest interest rates of any major economy, the Central Bank of Brazil raised its Selic base interest rate half a percentage point this week. In an attempt to control quickening inflation, the Central Bank raised the rate for overnight lending to 11.25% from the previous 10.75%. The move is likely to… Read more »

Chinese President Hu Jintao concluded a four-day trip to the United States this weekend. It was a rare visit from the leader of the world’s second largest economy to the world’s largest economy, China and the United States, respectively. The two nations have had increased tension in their relationship over the last year over trade… Read more »

Tunisia’s President, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, fled the country on Friday after a month of increasingly violent public protests. President Ben Ali had ruled the country for more than 23 years but citizens were becoming ever more frustrated with the economic conditions in the nation. Many in Tunisia live in poverty, face high unemployment and… Read more »

China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., the new owner of the iconic Swedish car company Volvo, is evaluating strategic options on how to best position the Volvo brand. The brand, which has long been known for building high-quality, safe automobiles, was sold by Ford to Geely in August of 2010. One strategy under consideration is… Read more »

One of the provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is that the United States is supposed to allow Mexican truck drivers the ability to transport freight in the U.S. as long as the trucks meet certain safety standards. The U.S. has yet to abide by the terms of this provision and in… Read more »

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) seeks to play a more prominent role in regulating cross-border capital flows. The current patchy economic recovery, which has key emerging markets recovering faster than advanced economies, has contributed to an increase of funds flowing from the advanced to the emerging economies. Investors in advanced economies are seeking higher returns… Read more »

The small Baltic nation of Estonia officially adopted the euro as its currency on January 1, 2011 and became the 17th member of the euro zone. Estonia is the first former Soviet state to adopt the common currency. Even though its national debt and deficit levels are among the lowest of the euro-zone members, Estonia will… Read more »