There is no doubt that China, an increasingly competitive economic power, represents an economic challenge to the EU. However, the European leaders' discourse goes far beyond the economic challenge. Now China is described as a military threat. Among the most hawkish China-haters are EU President Ursula von der Leyen, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. It remains a mystery what they want to achieve.

Trump has easily rolled over his allied vassal states as the EU, Japan and several smaller countries. He says he has rolled over India too, even if that claim looks a bit dubious. But with China he finally met somebody that could give he some real resistance. First round was 1-0 to China. There are several more rounds to come. Good luck, Mr. Trump!

The US president Donald Trump has steam-rolled friends and foes alike with tariffs and threats of more tariffs if they don’t accept a deal on terms dictated by the US. Some, as the EU, have capitulated without a fight, making themselves the laughingstock of the world. But other countries are resisting these bullying tactics. To the Trump team’s surprise, one of these is India.

Life was easier in politics during the 40 years of neoliberal globalisation, as it would set strict limits for what the politicians could do. Whatever they proposed, they had to argue that the markets, and in particular the hyper-mobile international capital, would accept it. With the demise of neoliberal globalisation we have a new situation.

After being the dominant policy globally for 40 years, the neoliberal globalisation has been discretely ditched by the advanced economies. However, this doesn’t mean a general abandonment of neoliberalism, but rather a modification of how globalisation works. The main other elements of neoliberalism are still intact, but there may be some new opportunities for policies in favour of common people. Maybe. Or maybe not.

Is the Chinese economy bigger than that of the US, or is it the other way round? Both statements are repeatedly seen in the headlines of the media. The answer boils down to whether you look at GDP in market prices or you correct for what you can buy for the money (purchasing power). But there are also other ways to measure the relative strength of the two economies and the result is the same. China inevitable comes out at the top.

After China in December 2022 suddenly changed course from zero-Covid to total termination of all restrictions, all the usual Western China bashers were rejoicing. See, it was a failure! We handled the epidemic the right way, while Xi’s China bungled it! But if we make a comparison of the performance of the leading Western powers with China’s, it is hard to justify this rejoicing.

In the UN, Russia has been condemned for its war in Ukraine by an overwhelming majority of nations. Despite this, very few countries outside NATO+ are joining the sanctions against Russia. How come that the Global South is unwilling to support the sanctions? And will it be possible for the US to twist the arms of these unwilling countries to get them to align?

Whether there will be a technological and trade decoupling between China and NATO+ is not up for discussion any longer – it is already ongoing. What we still don’t know, is how far it will go, and how fast. A vicious political circle may imply that it will go very far, and very fast, at least if the US is to decide. Whether China will be able to prosper despite this technology war, is anybody’s guess. My guess is that it will.

Many countries build up reserves of gold and foreign exchange to hedge against sudden adverse events. As the currencies such as the US dollar and the Euro are not linked to any physical asset (as e.g., gold), their value is based on trust (called fiat money). However, the increasing politicization of the international financial system is eroding this trust. This may have far-reaching repercussions as some countries are now looking for alternatives.