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Inclusion by design: Rebeca Grynspan on AI, inequality & global reform
As AI reshapes the global economy, who gets left behind and how can developing nations catch up?
At the 2025 Abu Dhabi Global AI Summit, UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan warns that without deliberate action, the world’s poorest countries risk exclusion from the AI revolution. “There is no way that trickle down will make the trick,” she tells GZERO Media’s Tony Maciulis. “We have to think about inclusion by design.”
Grynspan stresses that financing and investment, not just aid, are critical: “3.4 billion people live in countries spending more on debt service than on health or education.” She calls for the World Bank and IMF to “assume more risk” to help scale private investment in developing economies.
Despite rising tariffs and trade tensions, she notes trade remains resilient driven by digital services, AI innovation, and the growing need for smarter global cooperation.
This conversation is part of GZERO Media’s Global Stage series, presented in partnership with Microsoft.
Government shutdown and trade tensions test US economy
As the US economy continues to defy expectations, Eurasia Group Managing Director of Global Macro Robert Kahn says the key question is whether a slowdown has been avoided or merely delayed. “The headline here is the impressive resilience of the US, maybe also the global economy over the last six months,” Kahn tells GZERO Media’s Tony Maciulis on the sidelines of the 2025 World Bank–IMF Annual Meetings.
He points to an AI-driven boom and tariff dynamics as major short-term supports, while warning that these trends may not be sustainable. Kahn also highlights deep uncertainty in the US–China trade relationship, describing a “fragile” moment of misunderstanding and escalation. Looking ahead, he flags the uneven nature of US growth and a prolonged government shutdown as key risks that could shift the economic outlook heading into the end of the year.
This conversation is presented by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft. The Global Stage series convenes global leaders for critical discussions on the geopolitical and technological trends shaping our world.
Axel van Trotsenburg reflects on his 37-year career at the World Bank
As the global economy faces uncertainty, Axel van Trotsenburg, Senior Managing Director of the World Bank, warns that “a wait-and-see attitude” is holding back investment and growth, especially in developing countries. Speaking with GZERO Media’s Tony Maciulis on the sidelines of the 2025 World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings, van Trotsenburg highlights human capital and infrastructure as key priorities, with a growing urgency to bridge both the digital and AI divides.
On the role of technology, he stresses the promise of “small AI,” which can empower farmers and small businesses, while cautioning that large-scale AI depends on reliable energy access, a gap Africa must close to unlock opportunity. Reflecting on his 37-year career, he cites the World Bank’s evolution into a truly global institution and the mobilization of resources for the poorest countries as major achievements.
This conversation is presented by GZERO Media in partnership with Microsoft. The Global Stage series convenes global leaders for critical discussions on the geopolitical and technological trends shaping our world.
Is American capitalism still capitalism?
Ian explains why “free market capitalism” looks very different today than in decades past. Recent news that the US government is taking a 10% equity stake in Intel is just one example of Washington moving toward a more state-driven economic model.
While government subsidies for strategic industries like semiconductors may make sense, Ian warns that other industrial policies, like trying to re-shore large-scale manufacturing, risk being backward looking. Ian also argues that much of what passes for capitalism in the US is really oligarchy: corporations using lobbying to secure entrenched advantages and offloading the costs of their business models onto the public.
Meanwhile, China has thrived with state capitalism for 50 years, and the US is increasingly trying to compete by playing the same game. But Ian raises concerns that America’s short political cycles and policy whiplash make it poorly suited for long-term state-led planning, and that the benefits often flow disproportionately to the wealthy.
The bottom line: Ian believes the US needs more capitalism, not less, but it has to be, “capitalism that runs in a competitive environment, where no one gets to capture the political process, and where losses are seen as responsibilities of corporations, just as profits are.”
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.
U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after an announcement of a trade deal between the U.S. and EU, in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain, July 27, 2025.
US and EU strike trade deal
It’s down the wire for countries trying to reach a trade deal with the US before Aug. 1, when President Donald Trump has threatened steep “reciprocal” tariffs. But on Sunday, the United States and the European Union reached a sweeping – and preliminary – agreement that sets new rules for the world’s largest bilateral trade relationship, avoiding a transatlantic trade war that many feared could rattle the global economy.
Trump announced the deal on Sunday after meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, just days before 30% tariffs were set to take effect. “It’s the biggest of all the deals,” Trump said. Von der Leyen called the pact, which affects the world’s largest bilateral trade relationship, a win for “stability” and “predictability.”
Who agreed to what? The US will impose a 15% tariff on most imports from the EU — including automobiles, a major trading category. The rates had hovered in single digits before Trump took office. The 15% rate also applies to pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, which had not previously been subject to tariffs. European steel and aluminum will still be subject to a 50% tariff rate.
In return, the EU has agreed to purchase $750 billion in US energy exports, invest $600 billion in the American economy, and not place tariffs on the US. Brussels had prepared to retaliate with levies on up to $116.2 billion in American products if talks had collapsed.
Not everyone is happy. The euro fell against the dollar on Monday morning, reflecting, in part, concerns that the deal could hurt Europe’s export sector. French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said that the bloc “resigned itself into submission” to the US, complaints echoed by far-right leaders in France and Germany. Critics also pointed out that the UK got a better deal from Trump, going home with just a 10% tariff.
But it is good news for transatlantic ties. The deal follows months of tense back-and-forth, and according to Eurasia Group’s Europe expert Mujtaba Rahman, “should contribute to a broader stabilization of the transatlantic relationship, certainly compared to where things sat earlier in the year.” In May, Trump threatened to impose 50% tariffs on nearly all EU goods, later reducing that to 30%.
“The EU and US have now struck deals on NATO and trade; the only real issue that remains outstanding is the question of Ukraine,” says Rahman.
What’s next: The final 15% figure mirrors a pact the US recently reached with Japan — and may now become Washington’s new baseline for deals with other trading partners like South Korea, Taiwan, and Switzerland, where the White House will now shift their focus before the Friday deadline.