9 Items

Stock prices are displayed at the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019.

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Analysis & Opinions - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

The Geoeconomic Superstorm Threatening the Globe’s Three Financial Hubs

| Sep. 30, 2019

While New York, London, and Hong Kong will continue to play outsized roles in international business, their current privileged status may be more precarious than it seems.

Dollar bills

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Analysis & Opinions - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

The Consequences of Weaponizing the U.S. Dollar

| July 22, 2019

Should INSTEX itself be sanctioned, it would be a powerful signal to the rest of the world. In this scenario, critical dollar-denominated trade not currently facing sanctions, but at potential risk of being sanctioned in the future, could migrate to third party currencies, transferred through sanctions-resistant entities to an INSTEX-like body.

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a news conference

AP Photo/Jason Lee

Analysis & Opinions - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

The Silk Road and the Gulf: A New Frontier for the RMB

| Mar. 14, 2019

Many view the Belt and Road Initiative as the most geoeconomically significant infrastructure project since the Marshall Plan. Promising alternative trade routes, abundant capital flows, and advanced infrastructure to the developing world, the program has scaled significantly since its inception in 2013. Standing at the crossroads of Eurasia, the Gulf States and broader Middle East are an important link between the economies of East Asia and Western Europe.

Saudi Arabia Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping

AP Photo/Rolex Dela Pena

Analysis & Opinions - The Hill

In the Gulf, China Plays to Win but US has Upper Hand

| Mar. 12, 2019

A surge of U.S. oil production has reduced Washington’s need for imports, leaving China as the world’s largest purchaser of crude in global markets. Meanwhile, Beijing has become the largest trading partner of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman, as well as Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Lebanon. Now, with synergy between Xi Jinping’s One Belt, One Road and Vision 2030, the stars seem aligned for a Saudi-Sino alliance to displace American influence in the Gulf.

The European Central Bank by the river Main in Frankfurt, Germany.

AP Photo/Michael Probst

Analysis & Opinions - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Too Big to Evade: The Costs of Europe Sticking with Iran

| Feb. 20, 2019

In spite of initial hopefulness, the Europeans will eventually face a reckoning with the facts: Washington’s financial leverage over Brussels has, arguably, never been greater since the establishment of the euro in 1999. The power of the U.S. Dollar and weaponization of the U.S. financial system cannot be challenged successfully by Europe at this moment.

 

A worker holds a sign promoting a sale for Huawei 5G internet services at a mobile phones retail shop in Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong province, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. The chairman of Huawei challenged the United States and other governments to provide evidence for claims the Chinese tech giant is a security risk as the company launched a public relations effort Tuesday to defuse fears that threaten its role in next-generation communications.

(AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Analysis & Opinions - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

The Future Financial War with China

| Jan. 02, 2019

The detention of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wangzhou last month has electrified Sino-American tensions, making 2019 a portentous year for debt markets. Her employer, Huawei, has been the target of China hawks’ ire dating back to the early 2010s, amid scandals tied to sanctions evasion in Iran and possible concerns about espionage. Yet in the buzz about its ties to the People’s Liberation Army, the company’s deep and extensive dollar exposures have received little coverage.