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What Makes a High Performer?
The World Bank puts immense effort into its Container Port Performance Index. The index, compiled annually with the help of S&P Global Market Intelligence, ranks ports based on how much…
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The Population Bust
The notion that demographic change will slow the flow of trade in manufactured goods met some resistance when I suggested it a few years ago in Outside the Box. Some…
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Piling On
If there’s one thing the political types in Washington can agree on today, it’s this: let’s go after China. Just about everything is seen as part of a nefarious Chinese…
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More than Cheap Labor
It’s been no secret that Chinese companies have been building factories in Mexico to protect their access to the United States market in the face of high U.S. tariffs on…
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Misguided Missiles
I’ve received several inquiries from journalists asking my thoughts about how the attacks on commercial ships off the coast of Yemen are likely to affect trade and shipping. There’s no…
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China’s Intangible Future
China, as everyone knows, is a manufacturing powerhouse: it accounted for nearly one third of manufacturing globally in 2022, according to United Nations data. Factories were responsible for 28 percent…