The US accused China of harassing and detaining #Panama-flagged ships after the Central American nation struck down contracts with a Hong Kong conglomerate operating ports on both sides of the Panama Canal. https://t.co/l49JKUezz4
They’ll hold a meeting, realize they can’t open it if the US couldn’t, & then just agree to pay Iran in CNY… …and the easiest/only way to secure CNY is by buying physical gold in USD and selling that gold to...

Factoring in gold, I estimate Turkey has intervened to the tune of $40 bn in March 2026 to defend the Lira. That's the same as in March and April 2025 after the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, an episode that ended...
Trump knows the market stops overreacting given enough time to digest Happened with the tarrifs too - as 'Liberation Day' grew 4+ weeks old... the market became indifferent and started going up anyway So far, it's happening again with the Iran War
"Pace yourself. The Iran War and Hormuz closure is a marathon, not a sprint." https://t.co/BU5JGk7A7w

Devastating frontpage for America. 1/ Iran preparing for prolonged war 2/ UK leaning away from US alliance 3/ strength in China's bond market due to the Iran war What a disaster. https://t.co/XMURlfO7uv
Iran’s ‘Tollbooth’ Tightens Grip on Hormuz as Ships Offered Safe Passage—For a Price. Will this be the “peace” of the war? https://t.co/cD3EleDx1i

#TurkeyWatch 🇹🇷: President Erdoğan warned prolonging the war risks triggering a broader regional conflict, saying any new fronts would serve Israel’s “bloody strategy,” and vowed Turkey will act “without hesitation” to ensure peace. https://t.co/dy6Disl4Q7
Pretty simple, the fundamentals go like this: "Iran will be sent back to the Stone Age, where they belong." Trump, last night. Me, on repeat: Iran Risk Is Not Priced In https://t.co/pIYOLN90wD
French President Emmanuel Macron says it is "unrealistic" to think the Strait of Hormuz can be reopened through military means. "We must be able to reopen this strait because it’s strategic [...] but it can only be done in consultation with...
Exclusive: Russian oil output cuts are unavoidable as drone attacks shrink exports, sources say https://t.co/5XWsLO71R7

In the days after the Iran war started, Erica Downs and I wrote @ForeignPolicy about why despite large oil and imports through the strait, China could be a counterintuitive winner. This week’s @TheEconomist captures the dynamic well, far beyond...
In this, some pushback against the view born of speculation or political prejudice that China is the biggest winner of the Iran war, innit? The args are warnings and poss serious but there is much to weigh b4 jumping to...
China has become a major engine of the global economy since joining the WTO in 2001, with its share of global production rising from 2% in 1995 to 16% in 2018 & as growing source of final demand. China accounted...

April 2, 2026, 4:50 AM, website comment for subs on geopolitics and markets. Link in reply below 👇 https://t.co/tWw5e5VWPG
Interesting Caixin article on China’s intensifying crackdown on the consumer lending and loan-facilitation business, with regulators summoning major platforms for talks and pressing the industry to sharply curb borrowing costs. https://t.co/BIv3i5trGx
Yicai: "Beijing's expenditure on science and technology is expected to break through CNY400 billion (USD58 billion) for the first time in 2026, with a greater emphasis on basic research, as the country ramps up funding to drive innovation and strengthen...

China imports the most oil via the Strait of Hormuz but is also one of the best placed to weather its closure. EVs are part of that story. Five years ago China targeted 20% of new vehicles in 2025. They...
PODCAST: Great to be back at "Odd Lots" with @tracyalloway and @TheStalwart. Lots to discuss linked to the US-Iran war: why oil prices will go much higher to destroy demand, but why expensive fertilizer doesn't mean a food crisis is coming. https://t.co/UoHIl2cOqk

This was never a local conflict. What looks regional is built on years of preparation, alignment, and strategy. Different actors. Shared objectives. Long-term planning. And the focus isn’t just confrontation — it’s disruption at scale: energy flows, shipping routes, and global systems. That’s what makes this different. Not short. Not...
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗔𝗜 𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘀. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘁𝘁𝘀. And right now, one country is moving faster than everyone else. China is not just “going green.” It’s building scale most economies can’t match. What stands out to me is...
Will Beijing throw its weight behind Iran negotiations? That is a key question we tried to answer in our China Macro Watch report released yesterday. While markets and diplomats anticipate a more proactive Chinese role in mediating the Iran conflict,...
India’s new emissions-reduction plans offer significant investment opportunities in sectors related to grid upgrades and storage batteries, according to one of the country’s largest climate-focused funds https://t.co/JLBiDWCCaC

In this article, “how the Gulf’s war is becoming Asia’s crisis too,” The Economist magazine analyzes the three main transmission channels: “prices, debt and scarcity.” #economy #asia #middleeastwar #growth #inflation #debt @theeconomist
Hormuz disruption deepens global economic strain across trade, prices and finance Latest @UNCTAD report on Hormuz 1⃣Energy corridor halted: The Strait of Hormuz remains “practically closed,” disrupting a critical share of global oil and gas flows. 2⃣Trade losing momentum: Global merchandise trade is...
President Trump removes Delcy Rodriguez, the head of the Venezuelan government, from the U.S. sanctions list https://t.co/TUZyRVdQUV
Former British Diplomat Alastair Crooke on Iran's position in the war: "Iran is seeing these events... as an opportunity to change the whole geopolitics of West Asia. To invert it completely, to remove the US... and its whole infrastructure of finance...
How will Trump’s “mistake” affect his meeting with Xi? What does it mean to the agenda, expectations, and outcomes? Starting with trade, supply chains, and logistics. Taiwan?

Left: "Much of Beijing's current strategy toward the US was laid down in 2002, when the CCP concluded China faced an unprecedented 20-year 'period of strategic opportunity' [due to] the GWOT distracting US leaders." Right: Cover of this week's The Economist...
Ships paying Iran for transit thru the Strait. In yuan. Not dollars. An indicator of a coming currency battle? And roiling supply chains and maritime?
“Markets are forward looking, and they’re just looking forward to a future when the Strait of Hormuz is no longer closed.” Aren’t we all. https://t.co/U9K3hLC2zT
The way out of this mess, according to our geopolitics guy: The TACO was trailed by yesterday's talk about leaving others to free up the strait. Trump's latest burp today hardens this somewhat when, in answer to his own claim that...
It might be. But this overlooks chinas dependence on trade. Iran and the gulf sell oil, at any price. They are critical inputs. China’s much larger trade by a country mile is about open sea lanes, no choke points, and...
Good Setser thread on a recent report on global imbalances. By the way, if the RMB is indeed 20-30% undervalued, that is the functional equivalent of a 25-43% tariff on all imports and a 20-30% subsidy on all exports. The Trump...

"The global economy turns out to be more resilient than we had feared" [ed. note: not all of us] "global trade in goods, the products targeted by the tariffs, has been strikingly robust" "While its direct exports to the US came under...
Petrodollar (or lack of them) update: Saudi 2025 balance of payments data is out, and the Saudi "current account" break even oil price (based on ~ 7 mbd in exports of crude/ product) is still right around $100 a barrel 1/

Ah, well, nevertheless: "The US and Israel’s war on Iran is expected to help China’s exporters gain global market share from rivals in countries hit harder by high energy prices and supply chain shocks" https://t.co/FzaZnRiklq https://t.co/oA3t3jaaS4
Military conflicts and oil shocks are nothing new. We’ve been through this many times. Yes, they create uncertainty and shake things up, but historically oil has come back down within a few months, and stocks often start moving higher not...
Trump Says U.S. May Exit Iran War Soon and Threatens to Quit NATO, as Oil Crisis Escalates. A global economic mess ahead? Is Putin smiling if US leaves NATO? https://t.co/wbm30dgf7R

Crazy March trade surplus for Korea ($25b a month, $300b annualized) Strong chip exports continued. And presumably a bunch of expected tankers didn't arrive so fuel demand was met out of inventory 1/2 https://t.co/NGcasg9i4v
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 In my latest interview on @ndtv , India's leading English-language business news channel, I break down 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚'𝐬 90% 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥: 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. China builds...
Great new @ForeignAffairs essay by @ColumbiaUEnergy’s @ProfessorKaren about how post-war, the historic “oil for security” relationship is no longer tenable, & US needs to update its approach to Gulf states that are rapidly diversifying their economies https://t.co/Nmszm8a5bu
How China can survive without the Strait of Hormuz The world’s largest importer of oil through the Strait of Hormuz is, paradoxically, also one of the best placed to weather the waterway’s closure. https://t.co/YczOlt8T4v
Iran war gives Chinese exporters chance to grab global market share Ample oil reserves and renewables growth make manufacturing sector more resilient than rivals https://t.co/Zm287YiQYa via @ft

The capital markets are being driven by hope that the Middle East war ends shortly. Markets are anticipatory. Still, they do not always get it right. Ahead of POTUS speech tonight, consolidation may be most likely scenario. https://t.co/6peh5F9uHH https://t.co/aae8efFiPO

South Sudan’s government hasn’t produced RELIABLE MONEY SUPPLY DATA since October 2024. SOUTH SUDAN = NO RELIABLE DATA = FLYING BLIND https://t.co/nPGh0aY8rq
China is moving to stabilize Hormuz without the U.S.—using Pakistan as a diplomatic bridge. Power shifts to whoever restores the flows. https://t.co/3LW8TIyS65 #OilMarkets #Geopolitics #China
After a 7-year hiatus, India is about to import its first Iranian oil. At ~$100 a barrel. Quite the achievement in Washington for the long-term strenght of the economic and financial sanctions regime.

If usa friendly regime takes control of strait of Hormuz it will be very bullish., https://t.co/bpWTMUPjFa

The divergence is striking. China’s GDP per capita grew more than 10x since 2000. India and Russia followed with strong gains. At the same time, Japan saw a decline. This isn’t just growth. It’s a redistribution of economic momentum. Some economies are accelerating rapidly. Others are stabilizing or stagnating. The...