China Balancing Act A diplomatic spat between Seoul and Beijing has relations between these two East Asian neighbors quickly souring. Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping is turning up the heat on Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kushida by mentioning the Japanese island of Okinawa and its supposed historical relationship with China. He referred to the as them as the Ryukyu Islands, a historically Chinee name. Okinawa is in a strategic location in the East China Sea and technically harder for Tokyo to defend. But all this saber rattling could be reduced. After three years of diplomatic tough talk, Beijing now says it wants to seek common ground with Australia and build a long-term relationship. After some initial pushback, it appears...
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) enters its mandated six-year review on 1 July. The original intent of the review is outlined in Article 34.7, which obligates members to: Provide recommendations and decide on appropriate actions. Extend the USMCA for another 16 years and meet aga...
Key Market Insights Geopolitical Limbo: Geopolitical risk remained a key driver across global commodity markets today. President Trump stated that the Iran memorandum of understanding is not yet final and warned that military action could resume if negotiations fail. Both sides continue w...
From WPI Consulting
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.