After waiting out an early-afternoon downpour, Vice President Joe Biden and the U.S. delegation emerged into the humid heat to tour the $5.2-billion canal expansion. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake snapped pictures with her cellphone. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter beamed with curiosity as he walked and questioned a site supervisor.

Ukraine has rejected draft laws that would allow the release of a jailed opposition leader, suspended plans for a landmark agreement with the European Union and announced it will renew active dialogue with Russia. The Ukrainian parliament's failure to pass the bills on Thursday to grant freedom to the former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, took away the country's last chance to satisfy the EU's condition for stepping towards integration with the 28-member bloc.

There’s been a lot of talk these days that globalization is dead, even reversing — and for good reason. It seems that many of the factors that had been driving globalization have run out of steam. The growth of trade, which has long outpaced the expansion of the world economy, has slowed in recent years. Negotiations to forge a new global-trade agreement, the Doha Round through the World Trade Organization, have been stalled for years.

Last week, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Mexico City Mayor Miguel Mancera entered into a first-of-its-kind city-to-city agreement. This was not a typical Sister Cities cultural exchange pact. The Global Cities Economic Partnership instead plans a series of joint initiatives in trade, innovation, and education to increase employment, expand advanced industries, and strengthen overall global competitiveness.

A week ago, Taiwan enjoyed formal diplomatic relations with 23 countries, largely concentrated in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. As of November 15, that number is down to 22, thanks to a surprise announcement by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh that his country would cut its diplomatic ties to Taiwan. As J. Michael Cole wrote elsewhere on The Diplomat, it’s unclear whether The Gambia will officially establish diplomatic relations with China, and what that would mean for the “diplomatic truce” between China and Taiwan.

It’s a 7-per-cent tax, unseen and insidious. Do business across a provincial boundary and that’s what the federal government estimates you’ll face in extra costs due to the myriad of conflicting regulations, standards, registrations and restrictions. Canada’s Agreement on Internal Trade, a deal struck in the early days of Jean Chrétien’s Liberal government to reduce trade barriers between provinces, will be 20 years old in 2014.

California recently made foreign-policy history by becoming the first sub-national government to sign an agreement with China’s powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which oversees the country’s economic growth. Just as significant is the objective: fighting climate change by circumventing deadlocked decision-making in Washington and Beijing.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan and Canada have agreed to cooperate more closely on shipments of natural gas as the country seeks new energy supplies after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Abe, speaking yesterday to reporters in Ottawa at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said Canada is a stable source of energy and can provide gas at competitive prices. Abe said the two countries will hold “ministerial level consultations,” without providing details.