We all get dazzled by the growth of Asian Tigers, China, etc., etc., particularly in terms of their trade performance (don’t get distracted by short term gyrations — I’m talking medium to long term…). Because they appear to be economies “on the way up” we all want to cosy up to them and sell them our goods and services. But as I point out in my latest column for the Globe’s Economy Lab feature in the ROB, that neglects an equally vital and perhaps even more important trading relationship between nations — the international market for quality corporate assets, otherwise known as Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). And here it is not the Asian countries that lead the world, but the major industrialised economies, with the biggest relationship in the world being between the US and the UK. This increasingly tightly integrated trans-Atlantic business relationship is poised to lead the world. Don’t count out the Anglosphere yet! And Canada should be doing more to follow this lead….
