Economics

Ask CFR Experts

Is China still “rising” or has it already “risen”?

Asked by Lauren Billi, from New York University

Both are accurate. China certainly "has risen" to become a global economic power: in only three decades, it has transformed itself into the world's second largest economy, largest exporter, and largest provider of loans to the developing world. At the same time, China is rising: its economic and political system, as well as its foreign policy, is still developing. To state categorically that China "has risen" is to accept that the China of today will be substantially the same as the China of five to ten years from now, and few people in or outside China would accept such a conclusion.

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See more in China, Economic Development

Primary Sources

Obama Administration: Mitigating the Theft of the U.S. Trade Secrets, February 2013

Representatives from U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, State, Treasury, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Office of the United States Trade Representative collaborated to create this strategy, addressing threats to the intellectual property and innovation of the U.S. economy.

See more in United States, Intellectual Property

Primary Sources

Simpson-Bowles's Bipartisan Path Forward to Securing America's Future, February 2013

Authors: Erskine B. Bowles and Alan Simpson

Former co-chairs of the President's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson proposed a new deficit reduction plan on February 19, 2013, through their organization Moment of Truth. Their plan projects reductions by $2.4 trillion over the next decade, with cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and discretionary spending, and ending or curbing deductions and tax breaks.

See more in Financial Crises, U.S. Strategy and Politics

Primary Sources

Joint Statement on U.S.-EU Negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, February 2013

President Barack Obama, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso gave this joint statement on February 13, 2013. It announced the launch of negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, at the recommendation of a report from the U.S.-EU High Level Working Group on Jobs and Growth.

See more in United States, EU, Trade

Primary Sources

Report of the U.S.-EU High Level Working Group on Jobs and Growth, February 2013

Led by EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Unites States Trade Representative Ron Kirk, the U.S.-EU High Level Working Group on Jobs and Growth presented its final report on February 11, 2013. It recommended the launch of trade and investment negotiations between the United States and the European Union, which leaders announced they would do.

See more in United States, EU, Trade

Backgrounder

Germany's Central Bank and the Eurozone

Author: Christopher Alessi

Germany's Bundesbank remains an influential actor in eurozone policymaking, and its recent disagreements with the ECB raise concerns about managing the zone's debt crisis. This Backgrounder explains.

See more in EU, Economics, EU