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What's at stake in the US-China trade war
As countries around the world scramble to respond to the Trump administration’s tariffs and renegotiate trade agreements, does China stand to benefit from so much global uncertainty? CNN’s Fareed Zakaria joins Ian Bremmer on GZERO World to discuss the shifting power dynamic as America retreats from its global leadership role. China, he notes, is hitting its stride in international relations. The Chinese have a stranglehold on critical mineral supply and renewable energy technology, and are pitching themselves as a stable, reliable trading partner to the world.
President Xi Jinping has also softened his tone from the aggressive “wolf warrior” diplomacy of years past. Beijing is strengthening alliances with Russia, Africa, and across the Global South. Zakaria warns that China sees opportunity as the United States walks away from the global trade system, and will try to drive a wedge between the Western alliance.
“We cannot have dependence on the Chinese, but that doesn’t mean we need to make everything here. This is the mistake I think we're making.” Zakaria says, “We have these deep connections with Canada, with Mexico, Britain, and Europe. Why don’t we use them?”
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
Are Trump's tariffs the end of the free trade era?
For the last 80 years, America has been a leading advocate of free trade. It built (and benefited from) the rules of the global economic system. But as the Trump administration imposes record tariffs on allies and renegotiates trade agreements around the world, it’s no longer playing by the rules it created. Instead, it's becoming the most protectionist advanced industrial economy in the world. What happens when globalization's biggest backer becomes its biggest critic?
On GZERO World, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria joins Ian Bremmer to discuss President Trump’s tariffs, the rise of protectionism, and US retreat from global leadership, an ideology Zakaria calls the “beating heart” of MAGA. Big economies like China and the EU that rely on trade to maintain growth are increasingly trying to go around the US to make trade deals of their own. But America still has the largest economy in the world. President Trump's trade policies could send shockwaves through the global economic system America has spent generations building. The US has imposed high tariffs on many of its biggest trading partners, and so far, economy appears surprisingly resilient. But is this just the calm before a very big storm?
“The US was the beating heart of the free trade movement, the country that forced all the other countries in the world to open their markets,” Zakaria says, “If you shelter your best companies behind 15, 20% tariff walls, they're just not going to be as competitive.”
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube.Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
The new global trade wars, with Fareed Zakaria
President Trump’s policies swiftly rewriting the rules of global trade. As the United States imposes tariffs on allies and adversaries alike, do we risk losing our edge? On the GZERO World Podcast, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria joins Ian Bremmer to discuss what happens when globalization’s biggest champion becomes its biggest critic. For the past 80 years, the United States has been the beating heart of the free trade movement, the country that forced all the other countries in the world to open their markets. But now, Washington is tearing up the economic playbook—levying historic tariffs and recasting the world as a high-stakes, winner-take-all, zero-sum game.
Zakaria says we are living through an age of backlash to 30 years of globalization and that the next 10 years will be a period of “slowbalization,” where we'll see a much slower pace of growth and a much more political economy. Bremmer and Zakaria break down America’s retreat from global leadership, shifting power dynamics between the US and China, European pressure to become more self-sufficient, and whether the Trump administration’s economic gamble is worth the risk.
“The United States has gone from the leading advocate of free trade to being the most protectionist advanced industrial country in the world,” Zakaria warns, “We’ve always invited competition from the world’s best. If we move to something else, I think we lose that edge.”
Trump's tariffs are already changing global trade
The Trump administration is imposing tariffs on allies and adversaries alike—15% on the EU, 50% on Brazil, 25% on India. America has become the main driver of global economic uncertainty and increasingly seen as an unreliable trade partner. So what can countries do? They adapt. If they can’t trade through Washington, they’ll try trading around it.
On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer breaks down the new global trade map as allies negotiate their own alliances in ways that make them less vulnerable to US chaos. The biggest power play is coming from the EU, which is pitching itself as a steadfast trade partner—reinforcing ties with the UK, Latin America, and Asia, and even floating the idea of an EU-led alternative to the WTO. The US economy is still the largest in the world, it won’t be excluded from global trade entirely. But global supply chains are sticky, and new trade relationships could long outlast Trump’s presidency. As America walks away from 80 years of economic leadership, does it risk being left behind?
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔). GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
Graphic Truth: Where US tariffs stand with key trade partners
After weeks of high-stakes negotiations, US President Donald Trump rolled out sweeping changes to tariff rates on Thursday. Here’s a look at where those tariffs stand for the United States’ principal trading partners, including info on whether these partners have struck deals with Washington so far.
A view of Yarlung Zangbu Grand Canyon, the world's largest and deepest canyon, in Tibet, China, on August 12, 2012.
China’s mega-dam gambit: The $167 billion bet that could reshape Asia
On Saturday, China announced the start of one of the world’s biggest infrastructure projects: a $167 billion mega-dam in Tibet that will, when completed, be the most powerful source of hydroelectricity in history.
The Yarlung Tsangpo dam, located at a hairpin river bend where water plunges 6,500 feet through the Himalayas, will dwarf China’s existing Three Gorges Dam, currently the world’s largest, and will produce 60 gigawatts of electricity, ten times as much as the most powerful American dam, Grand Coulee in Washington State.
“You could power many medium-sized countries with 60 gigawatts,” Eurasia Group energy expert Herbert Crowther explains. “Most nuclear reactors would be around a gigawatt.”
Yarlung Tsangpo, set to be completed by 2035, is meant to stimulate the Chinese economy and boost clean energy, but it will also control waters flowing to hundreds of millions of people in neighboring India and Bangladesh at a time when tensions over water are already high.
Why is China building the dam? Like the Three Gorges Dam constructed in China in the 1990s, this will deliver a significant economic boost while also providing a major new supply of clean energy that may ultimately support the nation’s aim to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060.
“The Chinese government’s favorite infrastructure is a dam,” says Dan Wang, Eurasia Group’s China director. “The electricity generation aspect is less relevant than the massive investment, jobs, and demand for domestic technology such projects can generate.”
Water as a weapon? Downstream nations are sounding alarms, since the Yarlung Tsangpo flows through the state of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India before merging with the Brahmaputra River, which eventually continues into Bangladesh. Both governments are wary of a situation in which Chinese officials control access to their water.
This could trigger competitive dam-building throughout the Himalayas, as each nation scrambles to control its water resources before neighbors do. India has already announced plans to accelerate its own hydropower development near the Chinese border in response, fearing Beijing could weaponize water flows during future conflicts.
The specter of water wars isn’t theoretical — when military tensions nearly boiled over between India and Pakistan back in May, India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty that had governed water sharing between the two nations for decades. With Pakistan being one of China’s closest regional partners, the Yarlung Tsangpo dam adds another layer of complexity to an already volatile triangle of neighbors competing for the same resources..
Graphic Truth: Iran has a rial big problem
Iran’s Supreme Leader faces a number of challenges in the wake of the devastating 12-day war with Israel, and the perennial weakness of Iran’s economy is chief among them. Economic mismanagement, corruption, and strict Western sanctions have sapped output, weakened the currency and contributed to high inflation for years. But the recent spike in tensions with the US and Israel has accelerated the collapse of the Iranian rial, which has halved in value against the dollar since the end of last year. Here is a look at how the Iranian Rial has performed against the greenback since 2022.
Where middle class growth and small business meet
Listen: Small businesses are more than just corner shops and local services. They’re a driving force of economic growth, making up 90% of all businesses globally. As the global middle class rapidly expands, new opportunities are emerging for entrepreneurs to launch and grow small businesses.
In the first episode of “Local to global: The power of small business”, host JJ Ramberg sits down with Shamina Singh, Founder and President of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, and Homi Kharas, Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution and Co-Founder of the World Data Lab. Together, they explore how the spending power of the global middle class is fueling small business growth from Taipei to Toronto and beyond.
The discussion also highlights how digital inclusion, access to finance, and cybersecurity are essential for small business success.
“Local to global: The power of small business” is a new podcast series from GZERO Media's Blue Circle Studios and Mastercard, where we'll look behind the curtain to explore the world of small businesses and why they’re positioned to play an even bigger role in the future of the global economy.