Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Backing Trump on tariffs, not on tone
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 17/04/2025
» I'm not a Donald Trump supporter. On the contrary, I dislike the US president for his abrasive behaviour. For Mr Trump, everything is nothing but numbers. Compassion has no meaning in his dictionary.
Trump trade détente chance?
Oped, Stephen Jen, Published on 26/03/2025
» Many investors went into 2025 assuming Donald Trump would use tariffs as a negotiating tool, but this belief has been shaken in recent weeks, generating significant market angst. But Mr Trump's fiscal strategy may yet lead to a benign outcome for the global economy.
Trump, Bitcoin and the dollar
Oped, Carla Norrlöf, Published on 13/03/2025
» In a March 6 executive order, US President Donald Trump established a "digital gold" Bitcoin reserve, to be capitalised with any BTC seized by federal law enforcement. With the supply of BTC capped at 21 million coins, the administration wants the United States to secure a first-mover advantage as a major holder of an emerging store of value. But since it is unlikely that seized BTC alone can achieve the desired scale, the US also may purchase it on the open market.
Two wasted decades in Thai politics
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 20/12/2024
» Now that Thaksin Shinawatra appears actively back in Thai politics, it is demoralising to look back at Thailand's wasted time and opportunities. Once a promising country on the way from democratic transition to consolidation in the late 1990s, Thailand has become semi-autocratic, and its rocky political trajectory over the past two decades is now structural. The traditional institutions of power that grew out of the Cold War have been calling the shots in earlier decades and are just unwilling to let the country move forward in the immediate years ahead.
Monetary policy really needs to tighten in Japan
Oped, Koichi Hamada, Published on 12/11/2024
» Last month, returning to Japan for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, I was struck by how significantly prices had increased. In February 2020, a simple lunch in downtown Tokyo cost about JP¥1,000, then the equivalent of about $10 (324 baht); today, it costs more like JP¥2,000. To some extent, this mirrors the experience in the US, where, even as inflation moderates, prices remain well above their pre-pandemic levels. The difference is that Japan has also experienced a sharp currency depreciation, which benefits foreign visitors: that JP¥2,000 bill translated to just $13.
Overcapacity in China causing global concern
Oped, Yi Fuxian, Published on 18/09/2024
» Chinese overcapacity is raising concerns worldwide. It is easy to see why: China accounts for nearly one-third of the world's value-added manufacturing, and one-fifth of global manufacturing exports. But there is good reason to believe that the decline of China's manufacturing sector is imminent.
The US dollar is a problem for everyone
Oped, Hippolyte Fofack, Published on 20/08/2024
» In 1971, US Treasury Secretary John Connally famously told his counterparts in the G10 that "the dollar is our currency, but it's your problem". Connally was being unexpectedly candid about the fact that, even though the greenback was the world's main reserve currency, its foremost purpose was to advance US interests.
The lasting legacy of Abenomics
Oped, Koichi Hamada, Published on 31/05/2024
» After the 1985 Plaza Accord pushed the yen's exchange rate sharply upwards, Japan's economy suffered a severe slowdown that proved mightily difficult to reverse. In fact, the only prime minister to oversee a period of consistent growth and high employment in the past three decades was Shinzo Abe, during his second term, which began in 2012.
The lethal price of sweatshop development
Oped, Antara Haldar, Published on 19/05/2023
» It has been ten years since an eight-storey commercial building housing several textile factories on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed on April 24, 2013. The collapse of Rana Plaza claimed the lives of 1,134 people and severely injured 2,000 more, most of them women.
Both sides must give peace a chance
Oped, Ploenpote Atthakor, Published on 15/10/2020
» On Wednesday the country narrowly missed a confrontation -- quite possibly violent -- between groups of people with different stances when it comes to the monarchy. But there are no sighs of relief -- just yet.