It is a big challenge to keep the international financial and trading systems working as the world changes rapidly -- they are two of the basic frameworks of the global economy. The financial system has been shaken by a series of crises in the past decades, while China's initiatives, including the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, are seen as a challenge to the old U.S.-dominated system.
In the field of trade, free trade agreements and other regional economic cooperation efforts have increased after the stalling of multinational trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization since the 1990s. Now, the world faces a threat of rising protectionism following the U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union, or Brexit, and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president last year.
