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A Tale of Two Elections
May 5, 2025
Last week's elections in Australia and Canada show that Trump 2.0 is increasingly unpalatable in Western democracies. This will undermine the White House’s international agenda by empowering anti-Trump figures in previously US-aligned countries and pushing these countries to be more cooperative with China
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The Dreaded Costed Plan
April 28, 2025
Built on Sand: Why Both Carney and Poilievre’s Plans Could Crumble
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Trump vs. Harvard
April 21, 2025
The administration’s threatened funding cuts to major schools risk gravely damaging the country’s world leading higher education and research sectors.
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Trump Blinks, Twice
April 14, 2025
Trump has abruptly shelved his package to remake the global trade system. While economic nuclear winter might be on hold, the US economy still faces a double shock of high tariffs and cratering business and investor sentiment over the president’s erratic policies.
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Off the deep end: Trump goes nuclear on tariffs
April 7, 2025
Liberation Day may well be successful in achieving Trump’s goal to rewire global economic order, but not in ways that he will expect or like.
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Witkoff's Fading Star
March 31, 2025
Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East and Russia pointman Steve Witkoff achieved some big early diplomatic wins for the president. However, his recent comments on Hamas and the Kremlin raise serious questions about his expertise and suitability for the role.
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Canada’s Knife-Edge Election
March 24, 2025
Trump's economic blackmail and Carney's emergence onto the Canadian political scene has injected uncertainty into a contest that was previously a foregone conclusion.
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MAGA, Markets, and the Recession: A Marriage on the Rocks
March 17, 2025
The social contract between Trump and Wall Street is coming under strain
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China’s Stimulus: Too Little, Too Late?
March 10, 2025
The CCP is talking seriously about raising household consumption in China's investment-driven economy. But without bold measures to make people more willing to spend, the country is likely to remain dependant on non-productive investment to meet its GDP target.
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Disaster in the Oval Office
March 3, 2025
Friday’s car crash meeting is a new nadir for relations between Washington and its European partners. Salvaging a US-Ukraine mineral deal may be the only means of keeping the Trump administration engaged in European security.
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DOGE’s Chaotic First Month
February 24, 2025
DOGE’s opaque operations, shaky constitutional authority and ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ approach to budget responsibility risk doing serious damage to the functioning of the US government without delivering substantial savings.
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Mark Carney - Canada’s Economic Saviour?
February 18, 2025
Carney’s sober, details-oriented pitch comes amid a surge in populist, anti-incumbent sentiment in the country. But despite his glittering CV, Carney's biggest challenge will be to differentiate himself from Trudeau on both policy and style.
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Who is Stephen Miran, Trump’s pick for top economic advisor?
February 10, 2025
Trump’s pick for top economics advisor is at first glance uncharacteristically conventional. But while he may be free of the scandal and inexperience that has weighed on some of Trump’s other cabinet picks, Miran is not a mainstream economic thinker.
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Trump plays hardball over the Panama Canal
February 4, 2025
Trump’s tough approach with US partners may yield short term concessions, but it raises serious questions about the future of the US-led globalised world order.
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California's Perilous Future
February 3, 2025
The LA fires are a harbinger of a hotter, more perilous future. If California’s insurers, regulators, and policymakers fail to adapt quickly, the state’s economy will continue to burn long after the flames have been extinguished.
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Are tariffs good?
January 27, 2025
While politically appealing, tariffs will not fix the US trade deficit, attract foreign investors, create jobs or make American manufacturing great again.
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