Trade and Economics

President Obama makes his first trip to Asia to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Singapore this month. The president will begin his trip in Tokyo on November 12 and 13 and then travel to Singapore for the APEC meeting that runs from the 13th to 15th. From Singapore he will travel to China from the 15th to the 18th and finally visit Seoul on the 18th and 19th.

The current economic crisis has hit China hard. China's high savings rate is a significant deterrent to boosting domestic consumption, and with little sign of a resumption of global demand for Chinese exports, the leadership recognized early in the crisis that it needed to take aggressive action to ensure growth from alternative sources.

The European defense market is undergoing profound changes. Four distinct trends are altering the landscape of European defense acquisition, with some of them underscoring the shift of defense matters from national capitals towards the European Union (EU). First, participation in international operations is substantially affecting acquisition priorities.

Amid the fallout from the global financial crisis, much has been written about whether the United States can continue as the world's predominant economic power and whether the emerging BRIC economies, particularly China, are poised to challenge the current financial and economic architecture. In recent months, speculation has focused on the future of the U.S.

Most of the U.S. population got an education during the past two years about what exists in the real world. Before then the dominant dogma exemplified a narrow ideology that leaves no room for the preventive and corrective roles of government when making economic policy.

In 1949, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru donated an Indian elephant named Indira to the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. He hoped that Indira would bring joy into the lives of Japanese children, still suffering from the aftermath of World War II. That gesture is typical of the exchanges between these two Asian nations.

As President Obama and G20 leaders convene in Pittsburgh, their toughest challenge will not come from the threat of financial collapse or climate change, but from the most resilient and challenging threat of all—domestic politics that could neuter critical international efforts.

Q1: What are the stakes at Pittsburgh for President Obama and world leaders?