Even in a digital age, trading services often requires people to move too, says Sam Lowe The internet makes the world feel smaller. Gone are the days when sending documents overseas took months, or paying for a 20-minute call to a supplier in the Philippines required taking out a second mortgage. Yet services trade is still constrained by geography – a 10% increase in distance between countries tends to reduce services …
Continue readingThe right Canadian model for Brexit Britain
Britain has much to learn from Canada’s modest realism in negotiating with a neighbouring economic giant By Jack Graham “Britain clings to imperial nostalgia as Brexit looms” (Washington Post). “Whatever form Brexit eventually takes it is a rearward step into an imagined past” (Globe and Mail). “With Brexit, [Britain] seems to be embracing an introverted irrelevance” (New York Times). Having moved from the UK to Toronto last summer, I’ve been struck by the fact …
Continue readingThe new global talent race
With Trump’s America and Brexit Britain turning away talented migrants, Canada and Australia are well placed to capitalise By Jack Graham From tech gurus to top scientists, every country says it wants to attract the best brains. Highly-skilled workers are increasingly mobile, and help to stimulate innovation, enterprise, jobs and growth. But while the global competition for talent is nothing new, the contest has recently changed. Two of the leading …
Continue readingWeekly report featuring Dayton, Jersey, Italy and refugees
America’s Rust Belt. Old industrial towns in the north of England. France’s northern Hauts de France region. Eastern Germany. The places that have suffered from industrial decline in recent decades often focus their anger on immigrants. But what if newcomers could actually help regenerate such areas? After its economy suffered and its population slumped, the city of Dayton, Ohio has put that theory to the test. Its innovative “Welcome …
Continue readingThe threats to migrants’ right to stay
Plus: France’s asylum reforms The 3 million EU citizens who have made their lives in the UK are understandably concerned about their post-Brexit residency rights, as are the 1 million or so UK citizens who have settled in the EU. While there is a broad political consensus that they should be able to stay and the prospect of legal certainty in the UK’s EU exit agreement, the uncertainty is still deeply unsettling. So …
Continue readingThere’s nothing more patriotic than wanting your country to be better
By Jack Graham Reactionary nationalists like to portray themselves as the only true patriots, but wanting the best for your country ought to mean embracing openness and progress Nasty nationalism is back in force in Western politics. Since the Brexit vote, government ministers have attacked Remainers – those who wish Britain to remain in the European Union (EU) – and sceptical journalists for being unpatriotic. In the US, Donald Trump …
Continue readingLeaked UK immigration proposals could wreck hopes of a Brexit deal
It’s been a bad week for those of us who believe in open societies. Donald Trump cancelled an Obama-era programme that shields from deportation undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US as children. And leaked UK immigration proposals set out harsh terms for EU citizens after Brexit that threaten to scupper the already deadlocked Brexit negotiations. It is morally wrong to threaten to deport young people who basically know only the US, have done nothing wrong and should not be held responsible …
Continue readingRenegotiating NAFTA: “fair” or foul?
By Marta Bengoa Amid all the controversies surrounding President Donald Trump, the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Canada and Mexico – which starts tomorrow – may seem relatively unimportant. But think again. The US’s NAFTA partners spend some $600 billion a year on American goods and services, making them its biggest export market. As the US’s neighbours, the future of their trade relations …
Continue readingWhy the French elections matter, plus skilled immigration
Hi French people vote tomorrow in the first round of presidential elections that could do grave harm to Europe’s open societies – or strengthen them. With polls too close to call, four candidates stand a chance of making it into the run-off on May 7th. The far-left candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, is ostensibly open towards refugees. But despite his internationalist talk, he is essentially a nationalist, argues Natalie Nougayrède in the Guardian. He is a …
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