Category: Timely Commentary & Analysis

JEEPA – Japan-EU Free Trade Agreement Leaves the US Out in the Cold

By Cecilia Pan and Ole Moehr

While President Trump is pursuing a protectionist trade agenda – halting negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and threatening trade wars against adversaries and allies – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been doing just the opposite. As part of Abenomics’ third arrow, the Prime Minister is forging global partnerships between Japan and other leading economies to foster economic growth. Case in point, the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (JEEPA) signed on July 17, 2018. This edition of the EconoGraphic will review this ambitious bilateral free trade agreement, assess its impact on the US economy, and explore the consequences of the United States’ retreat from its role as the global leader for free trade.

Bolivia’s role in the energy transition threatened by lithium uncertainty

By Herbert Crowther

Electric vehicles (EVs) will play a central role in any potential global transition away from hydrocarbons and towards a more sustainable energy future. Projections of EV growth are widely bullish: by 2040, Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects 55 percent of new car sales and 33 percent of the global fleet will be EVs, while BP […]

Promoting Economic Growth, Productivity, and Investment: A Conversation with UK Minister Robert Jenrick MP

By Global Business & Economics

On July 27th 2018, the Atlantic Council’s Global Business & Economics Program hosted a roundtable discussion on economic growth and productivity, with particular attention on the UK's economy and transatlantic economic relations. The event featured Robert Jenrick MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury of the United Kingdom and was moderated by Barbara Matthews, senior fellow at the Global Business & Economics Program. C. Boyden Gray, former US Ambassador to the European Union, opened the conversation.

A Discussion on Pakistan’s Election 2018

By Atlantic Council

The coal phase out commission and Germany’s struggling climate leadership

By Ellen Scholl and Peter Freudenstein

This piece is the second in a series examining the opportunities and challenges facing the recently launched “Coal Exit Commission” in Germany. You can read the first piece here. Earlier this month, former vice president and climate campaigner Al Gore delivered a tough message to Germany, calling the country’s narrative of climate leadership “out of […]

Oil and Iran: How renewed sanctions will affect Iran and world markets

By Global Business & Economics Program

On July 18, the Atlantic Council’s Future of Iran Initiative in the South Asia Center, Global Energy Center, and Global Business & Economics Program co-hosted a panel discussion on the likelihood and effect of renewed US sanctions on Iran.