Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland write that sanctions alone are not enough to force North Korea to relinquish its nuclear weapons, but that the United States and other countries can make an impact if they pursue North Korea's international financial intermediaries, such as China.

Chinese exports aren't entirely Chinese--and neither is the U.S.-China trade deficit.

This USIP working paper examines regime stability in North Korea in the framework of "North Korea, Inc." - the state's trading companies and their commericial interactions with South Korea.

Greg Mankiw warns against taking on China's supposed currency manipulation in the name of 'fair trade', in this New York Times op-ed.

A summation of the state of international trade in 2007, with predictions for 2008.

This USA Today article describes how international trade volume has plummeted due to the global economic crisis.

Robert Driskill, economics professor at Vanderbilt University, says economists need to do a better job of explaining the benefits of free trade.

Sino-Gulf trade is booming as the world's two most liquid economies create a host of new alliances that are shifting the world's economic center of gravity

James Surowiecki writes that despite the Democratic presidential candidates' negative rhetoric on free trade, average Americans have generally benefited from free trade with China "in the sense that it's made their dollars go further than they otherwise would have."

The Wall Street Journal says anti-free trade activists and labor unions have pressured Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) into committing to making various pro-labor trade reforms. Business interests are concerned that these new requirements could "make it impossible for the U.S. to sign trade deals with developing countries such as Egypt, Pakistan and India that have growing markets but lousy labor records."

T.A. Frank looks back on his experience as a factory inspector for a "corporate social responsibility monitoring" firm. He wonders if the Democratic candidates' proposals for tougher labor standards in free trade agreements are enforceable.

Many analysts say NAFTA has not had as devastating an impact on the U.S. job market as the Democratic candidates claim, the New Republic reports. Still, John Judis writes, the trade agreement has stressed the U.S. work force by driving up illegal immigration to the United States.

A report to congressional requesters says that increasing globalization of petroleum products markets, tightening refining demand and supply balance, and other trends have implications for U.S. energy supply, prices, and price volatility.

Thomas L. Brewer writes about the rapidly expanding joint climate-trade agenda that arose after the Bali international climate change conference in December 2007.

Tackling climate change will involve fundamental economic restructuring of the world's systems of energy production, of transportation, of manufacturing, of resource extraction and harvesting. The International Institute for Sustainable Development writes a scoping paper for the Trade Ministers' Dialogue on Climate Change.

An article about how the Burmese military junta earns millions on mining and selling rubies that end up in European and Asian jewelers' hands.

In the Chicago Fed Letter, Robert Thompson looks at the costs and benefits of globalization to the United States.

A comprehensive study examines U.S. trade in the context of trade-related employment, concluding that overall, increased trade leads to greater employment in the U.S.

This paper from the German Marshall Fund of the United States looks at Germany’s evolving relationship with the European Union. Growing in stature and, at the same time, sacrificing some of its own interests for the European Union, Germany has guaranteed its fundamental interest: a peaceful co-existence with its neighbours. In the meantime, Germany was also the only state to possess a foreign policy outlook that was both pro-European and transatlantic. However, under the administration of Chancellor Schröder, the tone and substance of Germany's European Policy evolved in two ways. First, within Europe, the "national" or the "German" component was accentuated. Second, during the war in Iraq, Germany made a break with its traditional foreign policy when it stood by France in opposing the United States. The paper explores how this new German orientation will develop during the German presidency of the EU during the first six months of 2007.