The present paper focuses on the U.S. direct investment in European countries. To date Europe attracted 60 % of the total volume of US global investment. These ties become more complex, covering a growing number of different fields of activities. The study of this issue implies the analysis of the modern features of outward FDI flows and the main directions of their placement in Europe. New technologies have made noticeable changes in the usual investment pattern. A global presence without significant FDI is becoming the most important trend in the international activities of companies. However, 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which first turned capital outflows negative, and then resolved the tax liability overhang on overseas assets, which have contributed to a jump in cross-border M&A purchases by United States MNEs. Thus, FDI flows have received a powerful impetus, including investment growth opportunities in European countries. The top countries receiving US FDI: аre Great Britain (identical US business conditions), Luxembourg and the Netherlands (minimizing tax bills), Ireland (export platform). France and Germany are also joining these countries. The most important directions in the industrial structure of US FDI are the information, the service sector, the chemical industry, including pharmaceuticals. The increased role of intangible assets forces branches of American companies to increase their attention to R&D. Europe remains one of the most competitive regions in the world in terms of scientific and technical potential.

Israel was the first state in the Middle East to recognize the independence of the PRC, but full-fledged diplomatic relations between the two countries were established only in 1992. Since the beginning of the 1980s, the interaction between the two countries has been in the nature of military-technical cooperation, and in the 1990s it acquired a new dimension. After the conflict between the United States and Israel in the late 1990s and early 2000s, due to the alleged transfer by Israel to the PRC of technical means created on the basis of American technologies, military-technical cooperation between China and Israel stopped. Nevertheless, the cooperation continues to develop. The PRC is beginning to actively invest in high-tech Israeli companies, as well as attract Israeli investors to national innovation (technology) parks in China, which corresponds to the long-term goals of the PRC in the field of scientific and technological development. In addition, the two countries are currently dynamically cooperating in the field of infrastructure investments, which not only improves Israel’s logistics potential, but also creates facilities that in the future will become an integral part of the global Chinese project "One Belt and One Road".

The article is about trade cooperation development between Russia and BRICS in the agricultural sector. Recently BRICS countries have been increasing the volume of trade in international markets. Over the past five years the total volume of agricultural exports of these countries has increased by 12,4 percent. Three of the five BRICS countries are among the top ten world exporters. At the same time, the volume of intra-regional trade is insignificant and amounts to only about $8 billion. The trade in agricultural and food products within BRICS countries was analyzed, as well as trade of Russia with each of the BRICS countries: China, Brazil, India and the Republic of South Africa. Russia has a negative trade balance with almost all BRICS countries. Trade relations with China are developing most dynamically. Russia has the largest trade turnover with this country ($4.9 billion in 2021) and a positive trade balance. The article considers the potential opportunities for the development of trade relations between Russia and each of the BRICS countries. Further expansion of trade relations involves: creating favorable conditions for the development of mutual trade between countries and direct investment; optimization of the structure of foreign trade turnover in food, technical assistance to increase the production and export potential of the participating countries, convergence of the requirements and practices of customs services, increasing the competitiveness of products by improving their quality and reducing logistics costs.

The growing global demand for fat-and-oil products stimulates the production of oilseeds and their processed products in various countries, including Russia. Along with production, exports are also growing. In Russia, fat-and-oil products are among the three leaders of agricultural exports. In the current 2021/22 marketing year (MG), a high sunflower harvest is expected and, accordingly, an increase in the production of its processed products — sunflower oil and meal. Russia can significantly increase the export of sunflower oil and come out on top in this indicator. However, the realization of the country’s export potential for oilseed products is complicated in the context of sanctions pressure from Western countries. The main problem at present is the obstacles that have arisen in the implementation of the international delivery of products intended for export, namely the refusal of foreign sea carriers to work with Russia, the shortage of containers for the delivery of goods by rail, its often low capacity and delays at border checkpoints. In addition, a significant limitation for exports is the current unfavorable situation in the field of international settlements for the payment of shipped products, due to the sanctions imposed on Russian banks and the refusal of a number of foreign banks to transfer funds intended to pay for Russian export products as a result. To solve the problems that have arisen, joint efforts of the state and business are needed in a forced mode.

The article examines the problems of the formation of cryptospace in modern Russia, determines the objective prerequisites for the formation of a parallel financial system, which is based on blockchain technology and the idea of cryptocurrency circulation. The author presents the characteristic features of centralized and decentralized financial systems, considering differences in the way to achieve goals, the functioning of regulatory norms of legislation, the degree of financial independence and manufacturability. It is indicated that the very ideology of a free market economy and free circulation of information in the context of digitalization led to the emergence of these phenomena. The objectivity of these phenomena raises the question of the admissibility of their introduction into the financial system of the Russian Federation. The author critically comprehends the provisions regarding the advantages and disadvantages of cryptocurrencies in the context of the development of the financial system. It is indicated that this form of circulation of finance is new and promising, although it carries significant risks for both the financial system and users. At the same time, arguments are given in favor of the legalization of cryptocurrencies in Russia, a model for the circulation of cryptocurrencies is given that considers the interests of all participants in virtual monetary relations, and a promising direction for further research on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology is identified.

The article analyzes the dynamics of economic cooperation between the US and Japan for the period 2009–2021: bilateral trade, export and import, FDI flows. Particular attention is paid to Japanese FDI and activities of Japanese manufacturing companies in the United States. Bilateral economic relations are a part of the broader context of economic integration in the Asia-Pacific, activities of multinational enterprises and their global production networks. A "triangular" model of trade relations has developed between Japan, China and the United States, with significant part of trade going through global value chains (GVCs). Over the past decade, the US foreign trade policy priorities have changed several times: from the attempt to create a free trade area in the Asia-Pacific under the Obama administration to President Trump’s protectionism and to more liberal economic agenda of the Biden administration. The role of Japan in the Trans-Pacific Partnership creation and reformatting after the US withdrawal is shown. The prerequisites for the progress of bilateral relations to a new stage of scientific, technical and economic cooperation in the context of confrontation between the USA and China are analyzed. President Biden’s economic policy priority in the Asia-Pacific is attracting allies to crucial technologies development and increasing global value chains sustainability. Japan is a key partner for the US to secure control over technology transfer, diversify supply sources and strengthen GVCs. Coordination of approaches to promoting economic security is an important priority for the renewed US-Japan alliance, so the two countries can reach a new level of cooperation.

The aggravated energy crisis caused by rising raw materials’ prices significantly reshapes the global chemical industry. The European Union is the second largest market in terms of turnover, lagging only behind the People’s Republic of China. The EU market is dominated by Germany that occupies the leading position in the industry and determines production standards for the entire European community. The industry faces new challenges as it has not yet completely recovered from COVID-19 pandemic. Growing costs for electricity and resources, disruption of supply chains, logistical delays in semi-processed and basic chemicals’ supply as well as diminishing demand lead to crises that are already traceable in the first half of 2022. A fairly capital-intensive, energy-intensive and export-oriented German chemical industry significantly affects adjacent industries such as metallurgy, construction, automobile production, agriculture and healthcare. The given article analyses the current state of the German chemical industry and its positioning on the global markets in the context of geopolitical shifts as well as its adaptation to the rapidly changing conditions. The inability to comply with the strict norms of the European Commission within the framework of the green agenda as well as the insufficiency of energy resources are already forcing companies operating in the industry to take desperate measures and deviate from the original standards. Competition against the rapidly growing Japanese chemical industry in the recent years is forcing Germany to undertake critical measures aimed at protecting its share of the global market. Thus, there is a downward trend in production capacities that has a direct impact on the general state of the industry.

Modern challenges and threats of a biological, political, climatic and other nature create many difficulties and risks in the functioning of all economic units, including agricultural cooperatives. Given the uniqueness of both the organizations themselves and the rural space in which they operate, the experience of their adaptation to such extraordinary situations as the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and climate shocks that have brought significant nuances to rural life and agricultural production is of scientific interest. In the course of the research, the main results of which are presented in this article, various review and analytical methods were used, such as formal-logical, comparative, historical-culturological, expert assessments, which made it possible (1) to generalize the practices of agricultural cooperatives functioning in conditions of environmental fluctuations, (2) to offer the scientific community for discussion some conclusions regarding, firstly, the difficulties faced by cooperatives in connection with the pandemic crisis and its consequences, climate disasters and anomalies, global political tensions, and secondly, the opportunities that have appeared in the countryside for large specialized cooperatives, as well as for small multifunctional cooperative organizations, newly formed to fill the emerging niches in the rural economy. Conclusions related to the peculiarities of business behavior of directly agricultural cooperatives in the new environmental conditions were obtained on the basis of a rigorous study of analytical materials and annual reports of the international dairy cooperative Arla Foods, which attracts a variety of innovative measures and tools to overcome emerging problems, which include organizational innovations, managerial innovations, adaptation of the production structure to the changed architecture of demand for dairy products.