Trump & Great Power Watch

• Economic coercion escalates: China deploys trade embargoes, lawfare, and potential port blockades, as demonstrated in 2025 PLA exercises around...

Federal courts are calling Trump's bluff at the Kennedy Center, where a judge ruled only Congress can rename the memorial and blocked his unilateral...

The AI boom has triggered chipflation, with soaring memory prices driving companies like Apple to Chinese suppliers.

US experts now urge Washington...

CIA Director John Ratcliffe's unannounced Moscow visit likely carried warnings against NATO attacks or Ukraine escalation, with the intelligence...

Trump dismissed key pre-war warnings that regime change would install harder-line leaders, close the Strait of Hormuz, and provoke strikes on U.S....

Jiangsu Jingchuang Electronics kept supplying Russia with dual-use controllers after the 2022 invasion by routing sales through a Kyrgyzstan...

• China's lifeline: 60-80% of its energy imports transit the Strait, creating the "Malacca Dilemma".
• Hormuz trigger: Recent blockade has renewed...

US officials frame Operation Economic Outcast as the toughest sanctions ever, aiming to isolate Iran and force Hormuz access after military efforts...

China is mounting a two-track response to US secondary sanctions threats over Iran trade: firm diplomatic rejection paired with quiet financial...

Japan's security strategy centers on expanding minilateral arrangements to prevent China from concentrating military pressure on East Asia in any US-China G2 scenario.

President Trump declared the Strait of Hormuz fully demined in international waters, warning any Iranian vessel re-mining would be destroyed. Space...

Treasury Secretary Bessent unveiled Operation Economic Outcast, threatening sanctions on entities trading with Iran—including Chinese banks—and...

Taiwan contingency would push China-Japan relations into their most difficult phase since 1972 normalization, as US-Japan security cooperation...

Chas Freeman warns that Israel's push to disarm and control post-Assad Syria is colliding with Turkish arms supplies to Damascus, creating a major...

Taiwan is expanding its defense budget by 18 percent to over NT$1 trillion for drones and missiles, while the National Security Council quietly steers...

China commands the world's largest fishing armada—roughly 500,000 vessels, including up to 16,000 distant-water ships—making it the top offender in...

Allies spend over $1.1 trillion on defense—three times China's $336 billion—yet fragmentation across separate commands and priorities limits...

After nearly six months of military conflict, Trump is shifting to a “crushing economic operation”, calling on allies for the greatest coordinated...

• Costly decoupling: EY-Parthenon pegs $23.6 trillion bill by 2050 for US, eurozone and UK to rebuild China-dependent supply chains, yet security...

In a fragmenting international order, geopolitical risks increasingly affect trade relationships supplying equipment, materials and functional inputs for energy.