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Alan Beattie

Senior Trade Writer

Alan Beattie writes Trade Secrets,  a newsletter on trade and globalisation, every Monday, and an opinion column each Thursday. Based in London, he was previously the FT's international economy editor and world trade editor and has been based in Washington and Brussels. He is the author of False Economy (Penguin, 2009) and Who's In Charge Here? (Penguin, 2012).

Email Alan Beattie @alanbeattie  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)
Email Alan Beattie @alanbeattie  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)

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  • Monday, 21 November, 2022
    Trade Secrets
    Supply chain crunch easing, but ports as bad as ever Premium content

    Weakening world trade has reduced logistics snarl-ups, though poor infrastructure remains

  • Thursday, 17 November, 2022
    Trade SecretsClimate change
    Trade should play its part in saving the planet

    Mutual mistrust hampers ability of free-traders to help environmentalists attain their goals

  • Monday, 14 November, 2022
    Trade Secrets
    Business (and trade frictions with partners) as usual in Washington Premium content

    Joe Biden’s brand of trade policy doesn’t have much to do with Congress

  • Thursday, 10 November, 2022
    Trade SecretsProtectionism
    America’s deep suspicion of globalisation makes it an outlier

    The victory of radical leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is better news for open trade than US Republican gains

  • Monday, 7 November, 2022
    Trade Secrets
    Oh, what a lovely subsidy war Premium content

    US doesn’t need international approval to shell out trade-distorting cash for green tech

  • Thursday, 3 November, 2022
    Trade SecretsGlobal trade
    The good luck that’s still needed to avoid a world food crisis

    Official efforts to increase grain exports despite the war in Ukraine have only had a marginal impact

  • Thursday, 20 October, 2022
    Trade SecretsUS-China trade dispute
    Biden goes it alone in his trade assault on China

    The US is taking a big risk in imposing semiconductor export controls without allies on board

  • Monday, 17 October, 2022
    Trade Secrets
    Governments are facing a stormy world economy alone Premium content

    There’s not much policy co-ordination going on, and countries are using trade and finance links as geopolitical weapons

  • Wednesday, 12 October, 2022
    US trade
    How to head off a new transatlantic trade war

    An EU-US bargain over green subsidies can stop electric vehicles becoming the new Airbus-Boeing dispute

  • Monday, 10 October, 2022
    Trade Secrets
    Why the untangling of global supply chains isn’t good news Premium content

    An anticipated slump in demand is undoing the worldwide cargo congestion of the past two years

  • Wednesday, 5 October, 2022
    Trade SecretsUK agriculture
    Deregulation is no short-cut to creating world-class industries

    The Netherlands’ amazing success in high-tech farming shows complying with EU rules can be a competitive advantage

  • Monday, 3 October, 2022
    Trade Secrets
    The UK’s global excuses for its homegrown problems Premium content

    Pointing at the febrile nature of bond markets is not a substitute for fessing up to bad decisions on tax

  • Wednesday, 28 September, 2022
    Trade SecretsItalian politics
    The Italian populists won’t be mindlessly destructive on trade

    Despite repellent views on immigration and nationalism, the European hard right isn’t generally all-out protectionist

  • Monday, 26 September, 2022
    Trade Secrets
    The dollar that Washington doesn’t yet want to weaken Premium content

    An international consensus that the US currency is too strong seems some way off

  • Thursday, 22 September, 2022
    Trade SecretsUK trade
    Liz Truss’s growth ambitions have little credibility on trade

    The UK economy still is too heavily influenced by the EU to be truly independent

  • Tuesday, 20 September, 2022
    Trade Secrets
    Leveraging up the World Bank to fund a global rescue Premium content

    The obsession with maintaining multilateral development banks’ credit ratings might be counterproductive

  • Thursday, 15 September, 2022
    Trade SecretsGerman economy
    Cutting Germany’s risky trade dependence on China

    Moves to diversify and rebalance Berlin’s export-industrial complex are welcome

  • Monday, 12 September, 2022
    Trade Secrets
    China’s emergency lending threatens to undo progress on debt relief Premium content

    Plus: the late Queen Elizabeth’s brief, bold foray into trade policy on behalf of the Commonwealth

  • Wednesday, 7 September, 2022
    Trade SecretsEU economy
    The wartime economic interventions that risk losing the peace

    A statist overreaction to an energy shock will cause long-term damage

  • Monday, 5 September, 2022
    Trade Secrets
    Trade policy will not determine the future of globalisation Premium content

    Economic shocks, climate change and collateral impact from other government actions are more important

  • Wednesday, 31 August, 2022
    Trade SecretsEnergy crisis
    National self-sufficiency isn’t the answer to the energy shock

    Diversifying among different fuels, modes of supply and trading partners is the way for governments to create resilience

  • Tuesday, 2 August, 2022
    Trade SecretsUS trade
    The US ‘friendshoring’ experiment risks making enemies

    Favouring political allies when constructing supply chains is expensive, tricky and possibly self-defeating

  • Wednesday, 27 July, 2022
    Trade SecretsEurozone economy
    The euro’s drama is not an existential crisis

    The currency has become more resilient with every trauma it has survived

  • Monday, 25 July, 2022
    Trade Secrets
    The year so far in trade: nasty shocks, smart companies, mediocre policy Premium content

    Globalisation has so far withstood the China lockdown and the Ukraine war, but even tougher times are coming

  • Wednesday, 20 July, 2022
    Trade SecretsSovereign bonds
    The world isn’t prepared for a wave of sovereign debt defaults

    Many emerging markets will need painful bond writedowns from China and private creditors

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