Trade

Defiant red graffiti on the white outdoor wall evoked the sounds of war. "The roar of the lions against the roar of the Jewish helicopters," it said in rhyming Arabic, extolling the Hamas fighters who had stood up to Israel. But the dominant sound Friday in Gaza City's Asqula district was the growl of motorcycle engines, a sign that life in the Gaza Strip, battered and bloodied by a 22-day Israeli assault, is edging back to normal.

The Group of 7 finance ministers pledged Saturday to avoid resorting to protectionism as they try to stimulate their economies in the face of the world's worst financial crisis since the 1930s. The meeting marked the international debut of U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, who assured his counterparts that President Obama's $787-billion stimulus plan, approved Friday, would not violate in any way the United States' commitment to free trade.

The tunnel owners sit around the fire, passing cups of sweet tea and talking bitterly about the siege. But on this early February morning they're not talking about the Israeli jets and their occasional airstrikes on the hundreds of tunnels that worm their way from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, slipping in supplies and, some say, weapons.

Businessman Charlie Hsu waited years for easy air travel from his native Taiwan to China. Political tensions between the island and the communist mainland made direct flights impossible. Today it's just a 90-minute hop from Taiwan's capital, Tapei, to Shanghai as relations have warmed. But Hsu has little reason to go. The global financial crisis has delayed his plans to launch a semiconductor-parts plant near China's largest city.

South Korea is close to finalizing what officials here call a hard-won free-trade agreement with the European Union that would do away with most tariffs on trade between the two entities. Now Seoul is setting its sights on Washington, trying to rescue an agreement signed two years ago that is giving U.S. officials second thoughts. The Obama administration is hesitant to seek congressional ratification of the agreement negotiated by the Bush administration.

The 800,000-square-foot warehouse in Rialto has all the proper pedigrees: easy access to the 10, 215 and 60 freeways, state-of-the-art fire control, secured truck court, spacious parking. It's got the kind of neighbors -- Unilever, FedEx, Home Depot, Energizer -- that show it's in the sweet spot of the nationwide cargo distribution system. The only thing it doesn't have is a tenant.

The barges bound for Cuba already glide down the Mobile River from time to time, past James K. Lyons' office and south to the Gulf of Mexico. These days, Lyons, the director of the Alabama State Port Authority, dreams of when the Cuban trade embargo will be fully dismantled. That would mean more barges loaded with even more goods from Alabama.

The slowdown at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is having a ripple effect on the Alameda Corridor, the 20-mile rail route built to speed the flow of cargo from ships to retail shelves. Reacting to a swift erosion in the corridor's traffic and revenue, Fitch Ratings recently placed about $2 billion worth of Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority bonds on a "rating watch negative."

A frequent critic of NAFTA and other trade pacts when he was on the campaign trail, President Obama is now throwing his support behind a trade deal with Panama, courting a potential backlash among his labor supporters. The administration is expected to make its case before a Senate Finance Committee hearing today in Washington, where his team is likely to face sharp questioning about Obama's change of heart on a deal the president now apparently views as a strategic imperative.

As President Obama arrives in Egypt today to deliver a much-anticipated speech on U.S.-Middle East relations, businesspeople on both sides of the world are hoping his trip will pave the way for increased commerce. Egypt is striving to become a trade hub in the Middle East on the strength of its favorable geographic location, purchasing power and consumer culture. The United States is stuck in the worst recession since the 1930s -- worsened by sluggish consumer spending.