Geopolitical Economy Report

The dominance of the US dollar as the global reserve currency has been gradually declining for years, but Donald Trump's policies could rapidly accelerate de-dollarization and the transition to a more multipolar international financial order, warn even mainstream American economists like Barry Eichengreen and Kenneth Rogoff. Political economist Ben Norton reviews the evidence. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utvD1JiIgCM Our related article - "Trump advisor reveals tariff strategy: Force countries to pay tribute to maintain US empire": https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/04/10/trump-advisor-miran-tariff-pay-us-empire/ Topics 0:00 Dedollarization 0:43 Trump's policies accelerate dedollarization 3:50 Economist Barry Eichengreen 5:25 (CLIP) Barry Eichengreen on dedollarization 6:54 Gradually, and then suddenly 7:49 Erosion of dollar dominance 9:18 Decline of US economy 11:36 Rise of China 12:50 Gold: why central banks keep buying it 15:42 Western sanctions 17:57 List of reasons driving dedollarization 18:42 Trump's tariffs & US trade deficit 20:10 Trump pressures Federal Reserve 22:58 Why Trump wants low interest rates 24:56 US Treasury market volatility 26:03 Fewer foreigners want US government debt 29:32 US economy: a financial house of cards 30:34 High corporate bond yields 32:26 Reasons driving dedollarization 32:56 Inflation 36:31 Trump fires BLS chief 37:40 Mar-a-Lago Accord plans 38:54 (CLIP) Trump economic advisor Stephen Miran 38:59 Plaza Accord redux 40:30 Century bonds: de facto US debt default 44:46 Private investors de-dollarize too 45:25 Post-US dollar world 47:14 Economist Kenneth Rogoff 48:09 Trump's own Nixon shock 48:51 Multipolar financial world 50:46 Outro

How do China's government, political system, and socialist market economy actually work? How does China see democracy, the USA, and Donald Trump's trade war? Renowned Chinese scholar Zhang Weiwei explains the China model in this interview with Ben Norton. VIDEO with subtitles here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkVyYvWezI0 Topics 0:00 Highlights 1:30 Introduction to Zhang Weiwei 1:51 The China model 3:23 Civilization-state 4:13 Meritocracy 5:01 Socialist market economy 7:52 US capitalism vs Chinese socialism 9:36 Foreign investment in China 11:15 How China sees democracy 13:46 How laws are made in China 15:59 Economic planning 16:59 Debate with Francis Fukuyama 20:11 US trade war on China 23:36 Dedollarization of financial system 28:17 The multipolar future 29:36 Outro

One of the main goals of the US political and economic system is to protect corporate monopolies. Silicon Valley Big Tech corporations fear Chinese competitors, so the US government is trying to ban them. Political economist Ben Norton explains how imperialism works, and what drives Washington's Cold War Two against China. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EVwFJ7sM6c Topics 0:00 US government seeks political monopoly 0:51 Billionaire Peter Thiel defends monopolies 2:53 (CLIP) Peter Thiel: "competition is for losers" 3:18 Cold War Two against China 4:49 Uber's monopolistic business model 9:18 Corporate lobbyists & donors 10:02 Trump admin opposes antitrust cases 12:12 Money buys US politics 13:42 Trump backs billionaire Big Tech oligarchs 15:45 Trump green-lights white collar crime 17:35 Trump promotes bribery & corruption 19:30 USA wants to control global infrastructure 20:03 (CLIP) Trump threatens Panama Canal 20:14 BlackRock buys Panama Canal ports 20:36 (CLIP) Trump boasts of BlackRock deal 21:00 Trump helps BlackRock buy up ports 21:58 Second Cold War on China 22:23 US Big Tech targets TikTok 24:14 DeepSeek & Chinese AI competitors 25:00 OpenAI CEO Sam Altman 26:14 US states ban DeepSeek 26:57 Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei 27:29 US AI companies lobby to ban competitors 28:37 Silicon Valley seeks "unipolar world" 30:23 Biden's chip export restrictions on China 31:09 USA seeks to stop China's innovation 31:57 Biden's tariffs on China 33:55 How imperialism works 34:45 Global value chain (division of labor) 36:20 USA wanted China to stay subordinate 37:50 VP JD Vance wants Global South on bottom 38:45 (CLIP) JD Vance on China & value chain 39:30 Industrial policy: Made in China 2025 plan 41:32 China enters commercial aircraft industry 42:14 US politicians lobby to ban China's Comac 43:58 How Boeing was destroyed by finance bros 45:47 How Jack Welch ran GE into the ground 46:39 Boeing attacked unions & skilled labor 47:56 Boeing CEO was Blackstone exec 48:51 Boeing prioritizes stock buybacks, not R&D 50:17 Private equity is "looting America" 51:22 Goal of Washington's new cold war 52:11 Outro

The US government has tried for years to recruit India for its new cold war on China, but Donald Trump's aggressive tariffs have backfired, encouraging New Delhi to improve its relations with Beijing, strengthening unity in BRICS. Political economist Ben Norton explains the complex history of the foreign relations of the US, India, China, and Russia. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BstijDvJT8Y Topics 0:00 Donald Trump's contradictory policies 0:39 (CLIP) Trump threatens BRICS 1:05 Brazil pushes back 1:40 USA tries to use India against China 3:58 Goal of Trump's tariffs on India 5:34 (CLIP) EU chief on US trade deal 5:52 India buys Russian oil 7:46 Europe buys Russian oil - from India 9:10 India's trade surplus with USA 9:48 (CLIP) Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro 9:57 US trade with China 11:18 China restricts rare earth exports 12:03 US trade with India 13:35 India improves relations with China 15:41 Vietnam moves closer to China 16:35 BRICS expands to global majority 17:28 History of US-China relations 19:40 Kissinger's triangular diplomacy 20:47 Kissinger: divide Russia & China 21:21 (CLIP) Trump: divide Russia & China 21:37 Closest Russia-China relations ever 22:30 India-US-China relations 24:07 India: 3rd-largest economy on Earth 25:41 India & Non-Aligned Movement 27:03 India-USSR/Russia relations 28:39 India moves toward USA 29:50 Rise of Narendra Modi, BJP, RSS 31:22 US-India relations grow closer 32:59 Modi allies India with Israel 33:40 Modi: from banned to loved in USA 34:49 Trump's India policy 35:50 India's role in BRICS 37:59 India's foreign policy 38:52 India opposes dedollarization 42:21 BRICS' internal contradictions 45:05 Outro

Private equity funds and other Wall Street investors are buying up homes across the US and the West, driving up rent and the cost of living. Economist Michael Hudson explains how these corporate landlords are a result of the system of financialized capitalism, dominated by an unproductive rentier class. He is interviewed by host Ben Norton. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJd0d7Uda2M Transcript: https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/corporate-landlords-rent-michael-hudson Part 1 of this interview: https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/world-us-financial-colonialism-economist-michael-hudson Read Michael's article "How the Global Majority can free itself from US financial colonialism": https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/07/17/michael-hudson-global-majority-us-financial-colonialism/ Michael's website: https://michael-hudson.com/ Topics 0:00 Cost of living crisis in West 0:30 Blackstone: largest US landlord 1:07 Blackstone CEO is Trump donor 1:49 Investors buy up US homes 2:36 Wall Street buys single-family homes 3:54 Wall Street buys up neighborhoods 5:31 Homelessness rises in USA 6:06 Blackstone buys up homes in Spain 7:34 Introduction to Michael Hudson 9:12 Highlights 10:43 Interview starts 11:58 Feudalism, capitalism, & rentier class 16:58 Adam Smith, David Ricardo, & Karl Marx 19:10 Difference between value, price, & rent 21:33 Bankers, industrialists, & landlords 27:34 Theory of comparative advantage 28:20 Problems with economics education 30:57 Profits vs rent 32:48 Financialization and GDP 37:21 Adam Smith in Beijing 38:47 Peter Thiel defends monopolies 40:20 China's reform and opening up 43:06 China's public ownership of finance 44:25 Need to tax land rent 50:45 China's industrialization 53:54 Passive income (ie, rent seeking) 56:01 Mainstream "junk economics" 59:07 Outro