WASHINGTON — When the G20 finance ministers and heads of the central banks gather this weekend in Paris, attention will center on some of the major pledges made at the G20 Summit in Seoul—most notably the commitments related to a more market-determined exchange rate system and to policies to address current account imbalances, whether excessive [...]

Read the full story

WASHINGTON — News of its immediate demise is premature: the euro is here to stay, for two very simple reasons. First, no member country can be forced out of the eurozone, and none will choose to leave voluntarily. The consequences would be disastrous — for that country itself, but also for others across the globe. [...]

Read the full story

WASHINGTON–2011 promises to be the year when the European sovereign debt crisis finally comes to a head. Cascading political and financial deadlines in the first third of the year threaten to dramatically accelerate what had heretofore been a slow-motion train wreck. This rapidly unfolding euro calamity is likely to force Germany to assume significantly greater [...]

Read the full story

WASHINGTON — Reflecting on the past year in transatlantic relations, it is tempting to compose a scorecard of successes and failures, or a short list of critical events. Many of these items have been discussed in Transatlantic Take when they were front page news. In truth, 2010 is a hard year to rate in transatlantic [...]

Read the full story

NEW YORK – The current eurozone crisis does not stop at the old continent’s edge. Corporations on these shores are paying close attention to what happens in Greece, Ireland, and the rest of the struggling European economies. And if they aren’t paying attention, they should be. Contrary to prevailing wisdom, Europe remains hugely important to [...]

Read the full story

HAMBURG, Germany — In the spring it was Greece. Now it is Ireland. Last Sunday, Ireland received 85 billion euros ($112 billion) in financial aid. Soon Portugal and Spain will follow, and maybe even Italy. Debtor states are losing borrowing power in financial markets. Higher interest rates—effectively a risk premium–are the consequence. Refinancing is becoming [...]

Read the full story

WASHINGTON — Fintan O’Toole, Ireland’s most articulate left-leaning commentator, wrote in the Irish Times that “[t]here are two international options for dealing with broken and delinquent states: the Versailles option and the Marshall Plan option. … [The] bailout of broken and delinquent Ireland is much more Versailles than Marshall.” His words deliberately tread on two [...]

Read the full story

AUSTIN, Texas — By most objective measures, the Obama administration has experienced a rough few weeks.  The substantial Democratic losses in the midterm elections were followed by an Asia trip of mixed reviews, with its final days dominated by a visible setback on the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement and G-20 discord on global economic [...]

Read the full story

WASHINGTON — The rapidly unraveling Irish debt crisis is stark evidence that the consequences of the 2008 financial meltdown will take years to play out. It is a reminder that the United States has a major stake in Europe’s handling of this problem. It highlights the dangerous mismatch between the reassurances bond purchasers need to [...]

Read the full story

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama finally succeeded in uniting the world – just not the way he intended.  At the G-20 summit in Seoul, countries almost universally rejected America’s ideas for correcting current-account imbalances as well as its second round of quantitative easing (QE2). After an electoral shellacking at home, the U.S. president suffered a diplomatic [...]

Read the full story