Is America under Trump Good for Business? | Inside Story

'America First' has long been one of the most common refrains of Donald Trump's administration.

The US President first used the phrase in his inauguration speech, and he's repeated it over the past year in reference to political and economic policies. Then, it's no surprise that the phrase resurfaced in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday. But this time with the caveat, saying 'America First' does not mean 'America alone'.

So, can the man who's promoted projectionist policies and scrapped trade deals, convince the world the US is open for business?

Presenter: Richelle Carey | Guests: Ann Pettifor - Director of the UK based think-thank, Prime Economics; Michele Geraci - Head of the China Economic Policy Research Programme with Nottingham University; Mark Farha - Economics Analyst and Assistant Professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies

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US-Saudi Business Forum Gets Under Way in Chicago
Minister of Commerce and Industry Abdullah Zainal Alireza, standing third from left; Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade Abdullah Al-Hamoudi, standing extreme left; Chairman of Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry Abdul Rahman Al-Jeraisy, standing extreme right; with senior US business leaders and officials at the first Saudi-American Business Opportunity Forum in Chicago on Wednesday. Photo: Arab News
ARAB NEWS: CHICAGO: On the banks of the sparkling green Chicago River, overlooking the vast expanse of Lake Michigan, the Sheraton Towers Hotel, venue of the first Saudi-American Business Opportunity Forum, was literally bursting at the seams and the action was as much in the corridors and lobbies as in the meeting halls.

In the lull between plenary sessions, in harmonious counterpart to official presentations, friends and colleagues gathered, relationships were forged or renewed, all in an atmosphere of palpable excitement. These spontaneous exchanges were not a distraction from formal program but rather the embodiment of the forum's primary theme: The commitment to a vital and enduring partnership between the two countries.

A notable aspect of the event was the turnout: over 1,000 attendees (many of whom braved skies tainted with ash and smoke in order to make it to Chicago).

The Organizing Committee had expected something close to 400. The overwhelming response on the part of both the US and Saudi delegates is testament to the sense of how vitally important this relationship is.

When asked about his initial reaction to the event, Omar A. Bahalwa of the Committee for International Trade said, "Marvelous! This event is unique. The number of registrants means that this is the largest-ever forum in the history of our two countries. And for the first time, we're targeting small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs. When someone said large crowds and a jam-packed schedule were 'bad news,' David Chaudron, representing Organized Change, laughed and added, 'It's absolutely wonderful that the bad news is the good news!'"

While the forum's theme of "The US and Saudi Arabia: A New Economic Order" was elaborated through a variety of lenses and business perspectives, the subtext of each panel's presentations was the recent global financial crisis and how the messages of that catastrophe have served to catalyze the need for increased communication and cooperation. >>> Peaco Todd, Arab News | Thursday, April 29, 2010

Big Business Wants Immigrants
MAIL ONLINE: The Tories were today forced to defend their manifesto before it was even launched after a stinging assault on immigration policy.

Just hours before David Cameron unveils his make-or-break election blueprint, plans to curb the number of migrants were savaged by business leaders.

London First, the City lobby group that represents many of London's biggest companies and banks, claims the move would threaten British competitiveness at a time when the economy is still in the early stages of recovery.

In a separate attack, the party had to defend itself against accusations it had played the 'race card' by pledging to reduce immigration to levels last seen in the mid-1990s.

Baroness Jo Valentine, London First's chief executive, said members feared the proposals had been put forward to 'appease the populist vote' with little thought for the longterm consequences.

'How we build our links with the Far East and the Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies is absolutely fundamental to London's future,' she told The Financial Times.

'Irritating the Chinese and Indians would not be clever.' Tories forced to deny playing 'race card' amid business chiefs' stinging attack on immigration policy >>> James Chapman | Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Globaloney
DEFENDING AMERICA FOR KNOWLEDGE AND ACTION (DAFKA): There is something surreal about the spectacle of President Bush touring the Persian Gulf. It calls to mind the signature line of Mad Magazine's mascot, Alfred E. Neuman: "What, me worry?"

Mr. Bush's trip is, after all, premised on the notion that the Arab leaders he is courting there are reliable allies. Such a proposition should be subjected to the closest of critical scrutiny by Congress, the press and the American electorate since a number of highly debatable, and increasingly portentous, policies are predicated on this assumption. These include:

--Saudi Arabia and the other, smaller desert principalities are "moderates" who are as opposed as we to the totalitarian political agenda of fanatical ideologues such as Osama bin Laden.

--The Gulfies share our concern about the rising power of Iran and therefore can be counted upon to join us in countering that region's would-be Islamofascist superpower. It follows not only that we can safely provide these autocracies with an array of advanced weapons, but we must do so.

--The Arab regimes in the Persian Gulf will help broker a peace between Palestinians and Israelis — if only the United States pressures the Jewish State to make territorial and other concessions that may imperil the latter.

--And the willingness of the Gulf's potentates to recycle the immense wealth they have accumulated in recent years — primarily through oil sales at exorbitantly inflated prices — to purchase big stakes in U.S. companies and capital markets is a welcome development. Such investment is to be encouraged, and those who say otherwise should be condemned as "Chicken Little xenophobes" in the words of former General Electric Chairman Jack Welch and his wife, Suzy.

In fact, the Welch tag-team used a Jan. 21 Business Week column to admonish a letter-writer worried about Arab and other sovereign wealth funds buying up American corporations: "In trying times, U.S. companies always attract opportunistic, activist shareholders. Sometimes they look like Carl Icahn or Nelson Peltz. Sometimes they look like shiny-faced hedge fund managers just out of Wharton or Harvard Business School. And sometimes — like now — they look Chinese or Saudi or whatever. It doesn't matter. They're all after the same thing: the opportunities in America's capitalistic market."

Unfortunately, this confidence in the inexorable forces of "globalization" is as misplaced in the case of the so-called "pro-Western" Arab states as are the other assumptions driving American policy towards the region at the moment. Globaloney >>> By Frank Gaffney (from The Washington Times)

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