Financial Times (January 19)
“Trump’s bizarre designs on Greenland and his willingness to inflict financial pain on allies” mean that “the U.S. has squandered its most valuable financial asset: trust. It risks paying a heavy price for this for decades to come.” The U.S. remains the only market “big enough to absorb” giant capital flows so this “is not about ‘sell America.’” Europe is not going to sell its $8 trillion worth of Treasuries overnight. Rather, Trump’s latest move provides “a big incentive for investors to buy more bonds and stocks from elsewhere over time…. to spread things a little more globally.”
Tags: $8 trillion, Allies, Asset, Bizarre, Bonds, Capital flows, Europe, Financial pain, Greenland, Heavy price, Incentive, Investors, Risks, Sell America, Squandered, Stocks, Treasuries, Trump, Trust, U.S., Valuable
Washington Post (March 21)
“The aim of setting the cap on Russian crude at $60, roughly 20 percent below the main international benchmark price, was to whittle away at Russia’s cash hoard while still providing it with sufficient incentive to maintain exports and keep global oil markets stable. It is now time to lower the Western cap further, in increments, to $40 per barrel or less.”
Tags: $40, $60, Aim, Barrel, Benchmark, Cap, Crude, Exports, Incentive, Oil markets, Russia, Stable, Sufficient, Western
Bloomberg (December 18)
“The U.S. launched yet another broadside at China’s technological ambitions this week by blacklisting more than 60 Chinese companies…. While the action will be painful, over the longer term it could be a shot in the arm.” The restrictions may very well “help make China great again.” Under this “massive pressure, Chinese tech giants finally have an incentive to use and improve local suppliers.”
Tags: Ambitions, Blacklisting, Broadside, China, Incentive, Painful, Pressure, Restrictions, Suppliers, Tech giants, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (January 7)
“Trump can’t afford to lose.” He has the “biggest incentive” to dig into his position with “more to lose than the Democrats do. This shutdown was neither necessary nor inevitable…. It was the president who delivered the ultimatum: Fund the wall, he demanded, or he’d be “’proud to shut down the government for border security.’” Without an “outright victory,” Trump will lose “a fight that he picked. He’d end the shutdown weaker than he started. And some of his most ardent supporters could well turn on him for selling them out on his signature issue, affecting his re-election in 2020.” Still, “none of this guarantees a Trump victory.”
