European Union leaders’ proclamations of supply autonomy sound great under the spotlight, but don’t hold up under the microscope. The truth may be that China already has won the game with its vice-grip on rare metal exports.

The honeymoon between Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump ended with a war of words on social media. In his six months in the White House, Musk came to see big differences between his own political philosophy and that of die-hard Trump fans.

Global trade is evolving, not ending, as structural limits on U.S. protectionism and the rise of regional agreements beyond U.S. influence sustain economic integration. While the U.S. remains the dominant power, the U.S.-centric trade regime is gradually declining.

The genius of China’s approach is that it never triggers a full-scale crisis. It ensures that American companies and politicians exist in a state of perpetual anxiety. Inventories shrink to manage costs and procurement becomes a game of roulette. Meanwhile, Beijing can modulate the pressure.

Court rulings could weaken the U.S. administration’s tough stance in trade talks and give trading partners more room to maneuver. But policy uncertainty means that high-stakes trade negotiations could go either way.

The United States is moving aggressively to solidify its technological dominance. This has become the core logic behind its efforts to reshape the global order. But the best approach for the world is to develop a model of cooperation rooted in mutual benefits and shared gains.

AI governance is a shared global challenge, and China and the U.S., as major AI powers, face new risks and challenges with Trump's return to the White House, making cooperation neither wholly pessimistic nor optimistic. A transactional "strategic stability dialogue" should be established to build trust, manage competition, rather than direct rivalry, and ensure transparency and rationality in AI governance despite rising tensions.

U.S. restrictions aimed at obstructing China’s technological development have, in practice, accelerated China’s pursuit of technological self-reliance.

Regional trade alliances and economic integration — especially the one emerging between China, ASEAN and countries in the Persian Gulf — are offering stability for a global economy on the edge. The world’s poles are shifting to fill the gap left by an increasingly isolationist United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs – especially the ultra-high “reciprocal tariffs” that he says will be reintroduced on July 8 for any country that has not struck a trade deal with his administration – have sent countries around the world scrambling to respond, adapt, and limit the fallout. ASEAN’s ten members – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam – have been among the most proactive.