USA - Of all the questions hanging over world trade this year, none loom bigger than President Trump. For decades, the US was the biggest driving force behind moves to stimulate more international trade. Now it's the most important sceptic. So for 2018, the big question has to be: what can we expect from him, and other forces around the world that share his doubts about trade?
Perhaps the biggest single issue looking ahead is President Trump's hints that he might revert to his previous more confrontational approach to trade relations with China. During the election campaign Mr Trump spoke aggressively on trade, about US agreements and about some of the country's trading partners. He made an early start on his agenda after taking office.
One of his first acts was to withdraw the US from a trade agreement that had not come into force, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He has started the renegotiation of another, the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) with Canada and Mexico that took effect in 1994, although he has so far stopped short of earlier threats to pull out of it altogether. Another proposed agreement that was under negotiation between the US and the European Union has gone into the deep freeze, perhaps permanently.
He also has serious doubts about the World Trade Organization. The United States' lack of enthusiasm was a central factor behind a lacklustre outcome at the WTO's conference in December. It ended without new deals or even the usual agreed declaration of commitment to the system that the WTO manages.
“Just what is an APOSTLE?”
Today we find the Church of God in a “wilderness of religious confusion!”
The confusion is not merely around the Church – within the religions of the world outside – but WITHIN the very heart of The True Church itself!
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