China: Becoming World’s Biggest Economy?

9 February 2021 China was the only major country to record economic growth in 2020, with GDP expanding 2.3%. Indeed, following three consecutive quarters of expansion, national output is already 6.5% above pre-Covid levels. As we approach Chinese New Year, the IMF optimistically projects 8.1% GDP growth during the year of the Ox. Likewise, I [...]

Biden’s Foreign Policy Reset: Market Impact

28 January 2021 Joe Biden is now the 46th President of the United States, and Anthony Blinken has been confirmed as the new Secretary of State. President Biden has promised substantive changes in American foreign policy, and initial Executive Orders indicate he will act on this pledge. To be sure, American international policy decisions are [...]

Ireland: The Brexit Victor?

13 January 2021 There are no winners in Brexit, or so they say. In the recently agreed EU-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the United Kingdom was able to "regain control" of its immigration policy, to maintain tariff-free access to the EU Single Market (for now at least), to regain the ability to negotiate independent trade [...]

Brexit: Do Markets Think It’s Worth the Price?

4 January 2021 Finally, nearly 1,500 days after the Brexit referendum, the United Kingdom has both left the European Union and signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) outlining its future trading relationship with its largest partner. Political partisans will continue to defend their entrenched positions regarding the merits of this deal. On the one hand, [...]