THE WEEK AHEAD
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau set to meet his counterparts in Asia,
What will the world think of Justin Trudeau?
The new PM’s global coming out is more rapid even than that of U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009-10, when the latter had fences to mend with allies.
Besides attending the G20 summit in Turkey this past weekend, Justin Trudeau is in Manila starting Monday for the annual four-day AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, where topics include the pending and contentious Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which Trudeau supports. Expect South Korea, Indonesia and, to a lesser extent, China — the three largest non-TPP participants — to show signs of interest in joining the TPP. And expect more than the usual global media interest in Canada, represented by the newest and youngest of the major-economy leaders.
Will Iran win sufficient goodwill in its coming out?
On Monday, Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, is in Paris to meet President François Hollande and address UNESCO, the UN agency that promotes education and freedom of expression. Rouhani will be fulsome in his assurances that Iran will live up to its end of the bargain in the nuclear accord reached earlier this year. But a hostile U.S. Congress, heavily lobbied by an antiaccord Israeli government, will need much more persuading that Iran actually will give up its nuclearweapons ambitions. Meanwhile, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency will report Tuesday on Iran’s compliance with the accord.
How serious is Catalonia about independence?
The Catalonian cabinet meets in Barcelona Tuesday to respond to a recent ruling by Spain’s highest court that the region cannot legally separate from Spain. Artur Mas, Catalonian president, has rejected the ruling.
But it’s not yet clear if Catalonian legislators will adopt drastic measures to press the issue. If Mas’s cabinet does adopt radical steps, Madrid will respond in kind in its continuing attempt to block Catalan sovereignty. Whatever the outcome, separatists from Belgium to the Chechens, from Colombia to the northern Philippines, will be watching closely.
Will Brazil’s lawmakers blow up the continent’s largest economy?
Congress meets in Brasilia Tuesday to vote on overriding President Dilma Rousseff’s vetoes of spending bills that would greatly increase an already unmanageably large Brazilian federal deficit. At 9 per cent of GDP, Brazil’s federal deficit is well into the danger zone. But populists in Congress will push to overturn, for instance, Rousseff’s veto of 78per-cent pay hikes for judicial workers.
Will the U.S. crack down on outrageous drug pricing?
Both Congress and the House of Representatives are probing abrupt hikes of as much as 500 per cent in the prices of old drugs recently acquired by the likes of Montrealbased Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., whose strategy is to acquire overlooked but life-saving drugs and immediately boost their prices. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services holds a forum Friday to hear from regulators and patients-rights groups on drug-pricing practices. Earnings reports this week Monday: Urban Outfitters Inc. Tuesday: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Home Depot Inc., TJX Cos. (Winners, TJ Maxx). Wednesday: Target Corp., Lowe’s Cos., Staples Inc., Keurig Green Mountain Inc. Thursday: Best Buy Co., Gap Inc.