By Stephen S. Roach Published: September 30, 2026 Location: New Haven, Connecticut Introduction: The Illusion of Progress While expectations for the high-stakes summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were exceptionally low heading into the meeting, the reality of the encounter still managed to disappoint. Rather…
Main Facts Mazda is signaling a major strategic shift that could see the Japanese automaker become significantly more reliant on Chinese-built electric vehicles (EVs) to meet global decarbonization targets. While the Hiroshima-based brand has spent years championing a "multi-solution" approach to propulsion—balancing internal combustion engines, hybrids, and limited electrification—regulatory realities…
LONDON — History rarely repeats itself in exact terms, but it frequently rhymes. In the mid-1980s, the global economy found itself strained to a breaking point by towering external deficits, a runaway US dollar, and aggressive protectionist pressures. The resolution required a bold, coordinated act of statecraft: the 1985 Plaza…
LONDON — China’s formidable trade surplus, which has now surged past the staggering threshold of $1 trillion per year, has ignited fierce debates across Western capitals. It has prompted urgent warnings from protectionist lawmakers, spurred new tariffs in Washington and Brussels, and driven a profound rethinking of globalization. These immediate…
By Kai Guo | July 17, 2026 For decades, the prevailing consensus in Western economic circles regarding China’s industrial rise was defined by a singular, persistent variable: the state subsidy. From the solar boom of the mid-2000s to the rapid proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) in the 2020s, the narrative…
It has been five years since the final Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Puebla, Mexico, signaling the end of an automotive icon that spanned over eight decades. For American enthusiasts, the "New Beetle" revival, which concluded in 2019 with the Final Edition, remains a bittersweet memory. However,…
