“Mexico braces for a trade war with Washington,” headline in the Financial Times, Jan. 31, 2017. Let’s hope not, because a trade war triggered by President Trump would be an act of pure economic aggression, unjustified either by the United States’ economic and political interests or by Mexico’s behaviour. It would be the economic equivalent of Russia’s seizure of …

  Most Indians are getting a tax break, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s botched demonetisation program. A halving of the tax bill for the lower middle class and a 5 percentage point rebate for most companies should go some way to help steady consumption and employment, both of which were hurt by the 8 November ban on high-denomination cash. …

  Iran’s recent test of a medium-range ballistic missile is an early indicator that it doesn’t fear the bellicose rhetoric of Donald Trump any more than it did the passive approach of Barack Obama. Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s immediate response — National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said the US is “officially putting Iran on notice” — seems straight out of …