By Phil Eskeland Last night’s debate between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and businessman Donald Trump highlights trade as a top tier political issue in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. In past general election presidential debates, trade was barely mentioned. This time, trade was front and center. With recent polling showing more Americans, particularly…
September 27, 2016
By Phil Eskeland Last week, we looked at the Republican Party platform. This week, the Democratic Party is meeting to nominate its candidate for president and vice president. Part of the agenda for the convention includes formal approval of the party platform. As mentioned in the previous post, candidates are not bound by the platform,…
July 26, 2016
By Phil Eskeland There has been much discussion in recent weeks regarding the policy implications of the respective party platforms of the Republican and Democratic parties. Most of the focus has been on U.S. domestic issues, such as jobs and taxes, but both party platforms contain significant sections on foreign policy, defense, and international trade.…
July 21, 2016
By Phil Eskeland Economic sanctions to achieve foreign policy objectives do not have a long track record of success. One analysis of 174 case studies going back to just prior to World War I by the respected Peterson Institute for International Economics concluded that economic sanctions succeeded just 34 percent of the time. However, the…