Commentary

"Agreements are to be kept" is a maxim dating back to Roman times. It lays the foundation for contra

WHEN RYUTARO HASHIMOTO was chosen to head Japan's government last week, he became the country's eigh

Rene Preval will be inaugurated as the new president of Haiti on Feb. 7, succeeding Jean-Bertrand Ar

WASHINGTON has long clamored for a level playing field in international trade. It's now getting it.

A blizzard transformed this city, largest in America, into a tiny village. The Jan. 7-8 bliz

FORESEEN DAYS IN ADVANCE, the Blizzard (One?) of '96 left much of the East Coast helpless when it ar

ON THE PRESIDENCY: * "In a time when people can subscribe to 25 special interest magazines a

As a manager of exchange rates, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin has few peers. For the forme

What do the tragic crash of American Airlines Flight 965 in Colombia, the president and CEO of Ford

SHOULDER-LENGTH HAIR appears to be all the rage among South Korean women, but to one economist it is

Although 1995 was not a banner year for trade, it was not for lack of substance in the U.S. trade ag

RAIL WORKERS KNOW HOW TO BARGAINThe recent tentative agreement between rail carriers and rai

DESPITE THE HEADLINES and the eulogies, the Interstate Commerce Commission didn't really die on Dec.

YEVGENY PRIMAKOV's appointment as Russia's new foreign minister is bad news for the West. It's bad n

Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, Southeast Asians have been voting with their feet for the West.

WITH THE DEATH of Francois Mitterrand, France has lost one of its most significant post-World War II

The British government could collapse at any time after the dramatic political events of the past co

SIX NEW COUNTRIES officially entered the ranks of developed nations this month, graduating from econ

"Daddy, what was the government?" ''That was something they had before you were born. Everyb

A senior U.S. official publicly attacks the "shortsighted" trade laws of a close ally. The official

JACK KEMP'S National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform reports to Congress Tuesday, and i

One year ago, the New Year in Mexico brought a fiscal crisis and a devaluation of the peso. This yea

Labor insiders say AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is pushing hard to persuade the trade federation's

As the weather has turned colder since Quebec's Oct. 30 secession vote, so have relations between En

SLOVAK PREMIER Vladimir Meciar, the bete noire of East European politics, is upping the stakes in hi

THE COLLAPSE of a $1.4 billion investment in Russia's telephone monopoly by an Italian firm reveals

Bolivia has a long history of providing the world with its mineral wealth. Its Cerro Rico/Potosi sil

As with so much in Washington these days, the increasingly ludicrous budget impasse has come down to

PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK'S appointment of an economist and veteran administrator to form Egypt's new

Faced with budget cuts, foreign-aid bureaucrats continue to insist that U.S. assistance is vital to

NEVER LET IT BE SAID that Eastern Europeans aren't creative capitalists. Poland, like other

DESPITE A YEAR-LONG economic crisis, Mexico has honored its key commitments under the North American

The Interstate Commerce Commission, America's oldest regulatory agency, died Dec. 31, at age 108. Eu

MERCOSUR IS NICE, BUT IT DOESN'T WORKIn your Dec. 26 article, "Hong Kong Sees Growing Busine

The plan was to wrap up in this space what Congress and the administration jointly achieved in inter

Gregory N. Austin of Brighton, Mich., is mad, and he is not going to take it any more. Mr. Austin, a

THERE ARE DISQUIETING SIGNS from the Clinton administration of an election- year detour from its goa

WITHOUT MUCH FANFARE, the World Trade Organization's agreement on government procurement went into e

Last month, representatives of the United States and 109 other nations met in Vienna and agreed to f

Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo owes a huge debt to the Salinas clan for diverting attention from