China is not merely moving more goods; it is exporting a new, ruthlessly efficient production model powered by automation, AI, and state-guided industrial optimization. The question now is whether firms in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere will be able to keep up.
When politicians try to muzzle universities by ousting their leaders, interfering with their research and teaching, and cutting off their funds, the writing is on the wall. As the US careens toward autocracy, President Donald Trump has set his sights on other independent institutions as well.
While European countries have pledged to boost defense spending, they remain strategically reliant on the United States, an increasingly unreliable ally. As the US threatens disengagement, political leaders still refuse to ask the only question that matters: Can Europe ensure its security on its own?
The coming cuts to Medicaid under the Republicans’ budget bill will yield thousands of premature deaths in the US as individuals lose health coverage, rural hospitals close, and nursing homes are squeezed. But the cuts themselves are the direct result of bipartisan scaremongering over deficits and debt.
Despite the obvious importance of ocean processes and systems to planetary health and the global economy, humanity is not investing nearly enough in ocean sustainability. To ensure that we do, public- and private-sector leaders will need to collaborate on widening the appeal of critical projects.
When Americans and Europeans talk about globalization, they are not talking only about trade volumes or manufacturing job losses, but also about institutions, social resilience, and political narratives. Keeping this broader picture in view is essential to guide responses to economic change in an unstable world.
Markets were once understood as the crucible of morality, not the site of depravity and dissolution, where souls get bought and sold, as the left still seems to think. To be sure, “the market” remains hallowed ground, but it has become contested terrain – which a new book helps us navigate.
By stoking fear and division and undermining every check on his power, President Donald Trump has brought the United States to the brink of major civil disorder. As democratic norms erode and polarization deepens, political violence could surge ahead of the 2026 midterms and reach crisis levels by 2028.
High borrowing costs mean that African governments often must choose between making debt payments and investing in health. This November’s G20 summit – the first to be held in Africa, and the second with the African Union as a permanent member – represents a critical opportunity to create better options.
Donald Trump’s reckless, capricious, and antagonistic behavior is designed to overwhelm and distract. Countries attempting to reach trade deals with his administration must remain patient, think strategically, and, where possible, bring mutually beneficial offers to the table.
