STI 2026: Examining pathways to trade resilience

Why do economies that sign the same trade agreements see different results for their workers, exporters and environment? The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the USA (AFPC-USA), in partnership with the Hinrich Foundation, will host a live educational program for international correspondents with Professor Arturo Bris, director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center. Trade journalist Jennifer Freedman will moderate.

The 2026 Hinrich-IMD Sustainable Trade Index compares 30 economies across 79 economic, societal and environmental indicators. Drawing on five years of results, Bris and Freedman will explore what lies behind a change in rank and how correspondents can use the data to report on the economies they cover. One starting point is Southeast Asia, where Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia recorded some of the largest gains over the five-year period.

AFPC-USA is solely responsible for the development of this educational program and its content.

What correspondents will learn

  • Read an economy’s overall ranking alongside its economic, societal and environmental scores to identify strengths and weaknesses that the headline number can obscure.

  • Compare indicators such as export concentration, labor standards and energy use, and trace how they change over time.

  • Assess claims about a trade agreement by comparing its member economies and asking which domestic policies or institutions might explain different outcomes.

  • Turn an Index finding into a question for officials, exporters or workers, and identify the local evidence needed to test their answers.

Tuesday, November 24, 2026 | Live on Zoom
9:00–10:00 a.m. EST (New York)

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Arturo Bris

About the speaker

Arturo Bris is Professor of Finance at IMD and has directed its World Competitiveness Center since 2014. His research examines how income inequality and social mobility relate to national competitiveness. Before joining IMD, he taught corporate finance and investment banking at the Yale School of Management.

About the moderator

Jennifer Freedman is a France-based journalist and editorial consultant. She spent nearly 15 years at Bloomberg News, first in Brussels and later in Geneva as a trade correspondent covering the World Trade Organization.

AFPC-USA