The WTO Cut Its 2025 Trade Forecast. The Numbers Matter More Than the Headline
April's forecast revision showed merchandise trade contracting — and the gap between container rates and real volumes is where the policy story lives.
Valentina Sokolov
How Economic Sanctions Actually Work
Designations, blocked property, and secondary exposure — the instruments are legal mechanics, not rhetoric, and their enforcement record is mixed.
Gabriela Montoya
How Countervailing Duty Investigations Actually Work
A joint inquiry by two federal agencies decides whether a foreign subsidy justifies a new U.S. tariff — and the process runs on fixed deadlines, not politics.
Henrik LarsenAnalysis & Opinion
How the Fed's Dollar Swap Lines Actually Work
Five central banks hold standing currency-swap arrangements with the Federal Reserve, a mechanism built to move dollars into foreign banking systems during market stress.
How Weekly Jobless Claims Numbers Get Made
The Labor Department's Thursday initial claims figure passes through two separate state filings and a federal seasonal-adjustment step before it reaches markets, and a related rate decides who gets extra weeks of benefits.
Developing Countries' Debt Payments Hit A 50-Year High
Low- and middle-income nations paid $741 billion more in debt service than they received in new financing from 2022 to 2024, the widest such gap in five decades, World Bank data show.
The Legal Mechanics Behind a Government Shutdown
A funding lapse triggers the 1950s-era Antideficiency Act automatically, deciding which federal employees keep working, which are furloughed, and when they get paid.
Economy
More in Economy →How a Central Bank Digital Currency Would Change Payments
A CBDC is central-bank money in digital form — the design choices, not the technology, decide who gains privacy, who loses fees, and who carries the risk.
Lena FischerPolicy
More in Policy →The EU Carbon Border Levy Starts Charging Importers
The definitive CBAM regime began on 1 January 2026, but the threshold, the deductions and the certificate calendar decide who actually pays.
Valentina SokolovAffairs
More in Affairs →The 90-Day Clock Behind US Foreign Deal Reviews
A statutory review-then-investigation timeline, not a blanket veto power, is what actually governs how Washington screens foreign investment — and CY2025 filings show where the scrutiny concentrates.
Christopher LeeGeoeconomics
More in Geoeconomics →How Central Bank Swap Lines Move Dollars Across Borders
Six central banks have kept standing dollar swap lines open since October 31, 2013. The mechanism is two transactions, one exchange rate, and a credit risk that never crosses the border.
Gabriela Montoya