This report from UK think tank the Coalition for Global Prosperity discusses a framework for a more assertive and proactive foreign policy. This project between the Coalition for Global Prosperity and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung UK & Ireland seeks to develop a framework for a centre-right foreign policy better suited to a more fragmented and contested world....

This report from UK think tank Chatham House examines how the EU and UK can respond to Chinese technological supremacy. The global industrial landscape has shifted dramatically since the turn of the century. China’s rise as a manufacturing powerhouse has enabled the country to produce increasingly sophisticated goods at scale and at low cost. This...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House examines why the ‘virtual water’ use hidden in supply chains is critical to sustainability. Water use in the production of minerals represents an underappreciated risk to national resilience in both producer and consumer countries. Unsustainable water practices can cause severe local shortages and environmental impacts, with knock-on...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House studies the water use of the textile life cycle, from raw materials to manufacturing, use, re-use and eventual disposal. This research paper studies the water use of the entire textile life cycle, from the sourcing of raw materials to manufacturing, use, re-use and eventual disposal. Using trade...

This report from UK think tank RUSI analyses the UK's evolving anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing risks ahead of the 2027 FATF mutual evaluation. This paper provides a timely and authoritative analysis of the UK’s evolving anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) risks ahead of the 2027 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) mutual evaluation...

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation explores how Britain lost its trading edge and whether Brexit is to blame. This briefing note unpacks the UK’s export performance in the decade since the Brexit vote. In the five years since 2019, the period in which Britain formally left the EU, UK exports have...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for European Reform examines the impact of leaving the customs union and single market on UK trade. A new CER modelling exercise shows that Brexit has substantially reduced the UK’s trade with the EU, both in goods and services. We find that a customs union with the...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House explores why rules-supporting countries should establish a ‘third pole’ in the global economy, without the US and China. Since Donald Trump took office again in early 2025, his administration’s economic policies – in such areas as trade, energy security, climate change, financial/monetary stability and international aid –...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for European Reform argues that China’s export-driven growth model poses a challenge to Germany’s manufacturing economy. Germany’s industrial model is under mounting pressure from a second China shock – and Berlin can no longer afford to wait for the problem to correct itself. A new study by...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House explores the challenge to improve supply-chain resilience and water security in the context of geopolitical change. Water can be thought of as the ‘forgotten input’ in global trade. Although water is critical to the production and transport of manufactured goods, and to the extraction, processing and transport...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House examines why the ‘virtual water’ use hidden in supply chains is critical to sustainability. When food and agricultural products are traded internationally, the direct and indirect water use associated with that trade results in a ‘water footprint’ – reflecting not only the freshwater needed to grow a...

This report from UK think tank RUSI examines critical minerals crime and the lessons to be learnt from gold mining. The report investigates how to prevent organised crime from infiltrating critical mineral supply chains by applying lessons learned from the "cautionary example" of illegal gold mining

This report from UK think tank Chatham House examines how to strengthen the trilateral partnership and maintain stability in the Indo-Pacific. In August 2023, US president Joe Biden, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol agreed a bold strategic vision for the development of trilateral cooperation between their countries. However,...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for European Reform looks at aligning productivity and security for resilient growth. Europe’s economic model is under increasing strain as productivity growth stalls and geopolitical competition intensifies. A new CER policy brief, ‘Resilient growth: Aligning productivity and security’, by Aslak Berg and Zach Meyers, argues that the...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House examines the key foreign policy challenges for the Lee government. Following the impeachment of former president Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea’s new government faces significant challenges in stabilizing the country’s regional and global engagement – particularly in the context of a transactional US government and increasingly assertive...

The growth and extent of world trade is staggering. In 1950, trade accounted for just 8.6% of world output (GDP). By 2008 it accounted for an astonishing 60% of world GDP, involving $20 trillion in goods and over $5 trillion in services. Despite setbacks — financial crises, wars (including Trump-style trade wars) and even pandemics...