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Illustration by Dongyan Xu showing Donald Trump in profile wearing a red MAGA hat, with his face forming a wall where small figures climb across American flag-patterned bricks, symbolizing his trade policies and border stance

Trade war blunders: Two Goliaths with black eye

In what amounts to economic mutually assured destruction, the U.S. and China are locked in a spectacular trade standoff that resembles two heavyweight boxers punching themselves in the face to intimidate each other

Satellite image of Eastern China at night, showing Beijing and Tianjin illuminated, highlighting dense industrial and urban networks

Trouble finds the periphery

As the U.S. fires the first salvos of Trade War II, the ripple effects across emerging markets look less like opportunity and more like a systemic test

A realistic collage made from torn newspaper clippings on a textured wall, featuring the bold words “Tariffs,” “Globalization,” and “Working class” in black serif font

Trade policy and tribes

What if trade policy is no longer about economics, but about identity, memory, and the fading promise of middle-class America?

Historic photograph of a 1946 Ford Motor Company assembly line showing workers building postwar vehicles under a large American flag inside a factory hall

Made in America, again? Not quite

Tariffs won’t bring back the factories of yesteryear, and clinging to that fantasy delays serious thinking about the economy we actually have

IR-4 centrifuges lined up in an Iranian nuclear facility, part of the country’s uranium enrichment program

Nuclear expansion of a non-nuclear weapon state

Iran’s nuclear ambitions intensify as uranium enrichment nears weapons-grade levels, geopolitical alliances shift, and regional tensions escalate, placing Tehran at a crucial crossroads between diplomacy and conflict

A 16th-century painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder depicting a desolate battlefield where skeletal figures personify death, wreaking havoc on humanity. Fires burn in the background, gallows stand ominously, and a sea of bodies—nobles, peasants, and soldiers alike—lie lifeless. The painting symbolizes the relentless cycles of power, war, and decline, mirroring the geopolitical tensions of the emerging tripolar world

Paul Kennedy’s vision: The coming tripolar world

British historian Paul Kennedy, in an Engelsberg Ideas interview, analyzes the emerging tripolar world order, where economic strength dictates military power and geopolitical influence