Month: January 2025

Trump’s External Revenue Service Ruse

It is impossible to predict outcomes of a random walk.  Yet that is the very task that awaits us as we try to make sense of another Trump era. The only point I would dare to venture in these early days is that Trump 2.0 is starting off where Trump 1.0 ended — with...

read more

Trading Places: China’s Misdirected Consumer Stimulus

Stimulating household consumption is now the top priority for Chinese policymakers. As well it should be. That was a key conclusion that came out of December’s CCP Central Economic Work Conference, a focus that is well justified by the current state of play in the...

read more

Beggars As Choosers

By blocking Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion purchase of US Steel, the Biden Administration has turned international economic policy inside out. On this point, the incoming Trump Administration is in rare agreement. Like many conflict-prone moves in recent years, this...

read more
Sign up for Stephen’s Dispatches: