Global Pulse

分类： business

  • World Cup beer sales are hopping. Brewers hope the stout demand outlasts the tournament

    World Cup beer sales are hopping. Brewers hope the stout demand outlasts the tournament

    The 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted across North America has delivered a welcome short-term boost to beer sales in host cities and across the U.S., but industry analysts and leaders remain divided over whether the historic tournament can reverse a years-long global downward trend in beer consumption.

    From packed Boston taprooms to sold-out stadium stands in Philadelphia, the scale of fan demand caught even seasoned industry operators off guard. FIFA organizers confirmed that fans purchased a total of 290,000 stadium beers across the six matches held in Philadelphia, while Boston bars reported scrambling to arrange emergency beer restocks to avoid running dry on high-traffic game days. Jim Koch, founder and CEO of Boston Beer Co., the maker of Samuel Adams, recalled that at the company’s downtown Boston taproom, staff poured a Sam Adams Boston Lager every 12 seconds when Scottish fans flocked to the venue for a match, requiring two emergency deliveries to keep up. What struck Koch most, however, was the return of in-person social connection that has been slow to rebound after the pandemic: “I didn’t see a single soul on their phone. They had a beer in their hand and they were talking to each other. They were doing what beer is meant to do, which is helping people enjoy each other’s company.”

    Official data from the Beer Institute bears out this temporary surge: between the tournament’s opening four weeks, on-venue beer sales at bars, restaurants, stadiums and other public locations rose 14% in U.S. host cities compared to the same period in 2025, with a 4% uptick recorded across the entire country. This open, fan-centric drinking culture stood in stark contrast to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, where alcohol sales were banned inside all match venues. Major brewers leaned heavily into the 2026 tournament to capitalize on the moment: AB InBev, the global brewing giant that owns Budweiser and Michelob Ultra and serves as the tournament’s official beer sponsor, rolled out widespread marketing support for local bars and hosted more than 200,000 public watch parties across 40 countries. Rival Molson Coors boosted its marketing budget for June and July by 60% compared to 2025, and launched a novelty limited-edition soccer ball container that holds 12 cans of Miller Lite to draw in fans.

    For casual fans like Maybell Romero, a Tulane University law professor who watched matches from bars in Mexico City, the World Cup has been a rare opportunity to enjoy beer over all-day viewing events. Romero, who typically favors cocktails, noted that beer’s lower alcohol content makes it ideal for extended match watch parties, a trend that has driven some of the temporary sales growth. But even she acknowledges the bump will likely fade once the tournament wraps: “I might order an occasional beer once the World Cup ends but expects to go back to mostly drinking cocktails.”

    The collective post-elimination lull after Mexico and Brazil exited the tournament already offered a preview of how quickly demand can cool: shares of major brewers AB InBev and Constellation Brands, which holds U.S. rights to top Mexican brands Corona and Modelo, tumbled immediately following the two teams’ eliminations, as investors priced in falling consumer activity across North American markets. Romero confirmed the mood shift on the ground in Mexico City: “The city is collectively depressed. Everything is a lot quieter, and people aren’t going out as much.”

    Beneath the temporary World Cup hype lies a stubborn, long-running decline that has impacted major beer markets across every inhabited continent. Data from the U.S. Craft Brewers Association shows domestic beer consumption has fallen steadily for 10 consecutive years, a trend mirrored in Statistics Canada data for the Canadian market and industry figures from the Brewers of Europe for the European Union.

    Three core shifts are driving the ongoing decline. First, growing consumer focus on wellness has pushed many people to cut back on alcohol consumption: 2025 marked the first time in Gallup’s polling history that a majority of U.S. adults (53%) said consuming one or two drinks daily carries negative health impacts. While non-alcoholic beer sales have grown steadily in recent years, the segment still accounts for just 1% of the total U.S. beer market, according to the Beer Institute, too small to offset declines in full-strength beer sales.

    Second, widespread economic anxiety and affordability concerns have dragged down overall alcohol consumption across categories. Data from beverage industry research firm IWSR shows total U.S. alcohol consumption across beer, wine and spirits fell 5% in 2025, with affordability cited as a primary driver of the decline.

    Third, changing social habits have pulled consumers away from the beer-centric social gatherings that have long driven bulk sales. Craig Purser, president and CEO of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, argues that the rise of at-home streaming entertainment like Netflix and constant smartphone use has encouraged “cocooning” — a trend of staying home and socializing less in public groups, which directly cuts into on-premise beer sales. “If you have this behavior where we’re cocooning and we’re not spending time with other folks, that’s going to affect beer consumption,” Purser explained.

    Despite these headwinds, many industry leaders remain optimistic that large-scale live events like the World Cup can reignite consumer demand for beer over the long term, pointing to a pipeline of major global sporting events coming to North America in the coming years. Purser noted that the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles will offer another massive opportunity to draw crowds back to public gatherings, while expanding sports schedules for college and professional football have already created more regular occasions for group viewing with beer. He added that the growing variety of low- and no-alcohol beer options is also helping widen beer’s consumer base to include more health-conscious drinkers.

    A recent policy shift has also opened new opportunities for the industry: in May 2026, the NCAA reversed its decades-long ban on alcohol advertising during the March Madness college basketball tournament, allowing beer, wine, spirit and hard seltzer brands to sponsor the event starting in the 2027 season. Koch, for his part, said he is not concerned about the long-term future of the industry, pointing to beer’s 10,000-year history as a core part of human social life. “People worry that the beer business has declined for a few years, and I always remind them that beer has been a part of human society, human civilization, for 10,000 years,” Koch said. “Beer will always be a part enhancing our enjoyment of our lives and the time we spend on this earth.”

  • Dialogue remains key to Sino-US ties

    Dialogue remains key to Sino-US ties

    On a Thursday in New York, over 100 senior business executives, policymakers and academic scholars gathered for a landmark forum focused on resetting the trajectory of US-China economic relations, hosted by the China General Chamber of Commerce-USA (CGCC) and the CGCC Foundation. Titled “The Path Forward 2026: Mutual Benefit, Uncovering New Opportunities for US-China Economic and Trade Relations”, the event brought together cross-sector stakeholders to explore collaborative pathways for the world’s two largest economies, at a time of rising global geopolitical turbulence.

    Against a backdrop of growing strategic competition between Washington and Beijing, participants universally highlighted sustained dialogue as an irreplaceable foundation for productive bilateral relations. Susan Elliott, CEO of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, argued that calls for full economic decoupling between the two nations are neither practical nor beneficial for either side. “We have to figure out how to rebalance our economic ties in a way that supports sustainable growth, systemic resilience and long-term shared prosperity,” Elliott explained. “These adjustments will not be easy; they demand open, honest difficult conversations across all sectors. A healthier, more sustainable bilateral economic relationship will ultimately benefit not just our two countries, but the entire global economy.”

    Elliott emphasized that competition between the two powers does not erase the urgent need for consistent communication, nor should ideological or policy disagreements block progress in areas where both sides stand to gain. “Moving forward requires patience, pragmatic problem-solving, and an unwavering commitment to keep talking,” she added.

    Chen Li, China’s Consul General in New York, outlined the deep, mutually beneficial interconnectedness that still defines the bilateral economic relationship, noting vast untapped potential for both subnational and broad-based commercial collaboration. “US companies have long recognized the immense value of China’s massive consumer market and robust, comprehensive industrial supply chain support,” Chen said. “On the other side of the equation, Chinese firms seek to grow their operations in the United States within a stable, predictable regulatory environment, while simultaneously contributing to local communities and delivering better services to American consumers.”

    Chen called on both governments to uphold the core principle of mutual benefit, ensuring cooperation delivers shared gains rather than one-sided advantages. He urged both sides to approach each other’s concerns with open minds and good-faith judgment, and to maintain momentum for ongoing dialogue and practical collaboration. “Going forward, China will continue to streamline processes for foreign trade and investment, protect the legitimate rights and interests of international businesses operating within our borders, and cultivate a world-class business environment,” he said. “We hope US companies will seize these opportunities and achieve stronger growth by tapping into the momentum of China’s ongoing development.”

    Beyond national-level cooperation, participants highlighted that subnational engagement between cities, states and local business communities delivers tangible, immediate benefits for local economies on both sides. Steven Fulop, president of Partnership for NYC and former mayor of Jersey City, pointed to the decades-long contributions of Chinese international students to New York City’s economic growth. Student demand for housing has sustained local real estate development, while their everyday consumer spending has provided a steady boost to local small businesses and the city’s broader economy, he noted.

    Glori Norwitt, Connecticut’s international engagement envoy at AdvanceCT, added that her state has already built deep people-to-people and commercial ties with China, with enormous room for further expansion. Connecticut is currently home to roughly 80,000 Chinese residents and nearly 2,000 Chinese-owned businesses, ranging from small local startups to large multinational corporations. “We have been actively building these connections, and we strongly encourage these relationships to continue and deepen moving forward,” Norwitt said.

    New data from the latest CGCC Annual Business Survey underscored the resilience of Chinese firms operating in the United States, even amid a generally cautious broader business outlook. The survey found that around one-third of responding Chinese companies reported year-over-year revenue growth in 2025, while 81 percent remained profitable. Most notably, 79 percent of respondents said they plan to reinvest their profits back into their US operations — the highest share recorded in the history of the survey, a clear signal of Chinese businesses’ long-term commitment to the US market.

  • Power of Siberia 2 deadlock belies Russia-China ‘no-limits’ pact

    Power of Siberia 2 deadlock belies Russia-China ‘no-limits’ pact

    Negotiations over the Power of Siberia 2, a flagship cross-border natural gas pipeline designed to connect Russia’s vast Arctic gas reserves to China, have reached an impasse, driven by a yawning gap in price expectations that has led Beijing to formally request Moscow stop pushing for a quick deal. While neither government has officially pulled out of the project, no timeline for a final agreement or the start of construction has materialized, exposing the shifting bargaining dynamics between the two global energy powers.

    First proposed years ago, the pipeline won conditional approval from both governments in September last year. The project plans to transport up to 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Russia’s Yamal Peninsula fields, routing through Mongolia before reaching Chinese consumer markets. According to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, Chinese officials made clear months before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s May visit to Beijing that a deal was unachievable on the terms Moscow had put forward, and asked Russian negotiators to avoid raising the topic during the high-profile summit. The Kremlin has acknowledged that informal discussions are still ongoing at the corporate level, but no substantive progress has been reported.

    The core of the dispute centers on staggering differences in the proposed gas price. China has opened negotiations with an offer of $50 per thousand cubic meters, matching the heavily subsidized domestic rate Russian consumers pay within Russia — a price far below standard commercial export terms. For its part, Russia is demanding roughly $250 per thousand cubic meters, a figure aligned with current global market benchmarks for pipeline gas.

    Publicly available trade data puts this gap in context. China already imports Russian natural gas via the operational Power of Siberia 1 pipeline at a rate between $240 and $280 per thousand cubic meters, while it purchases pipeline gas from Central Asian suppliers at approximately $200 per thousand cubic meters. Before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow sold pipeline gas to European buyers and Turkey at rates between $275 and $340 per thousand cubic meters.

    China’s opening bid has drawn attention for its stark mismatch with Beijing’s public rhetoric of a “no-limits” strategic partnership with Moscow. Chinese policy commentators argue that the hardline negotiating position reflects mounting external pressure on Russia across multiple fronts, which has shifted the balance of power firmly in China’s favor. Ukraine has ramped up long-range drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, while the European Union has passed legislation to phase out all imports of Russian liquefied natural gas by 2026 and implement a full ban on Russian pipeline gas starting in October 2027. At the same time, China has restored large-scale purchases of American LNG, adding another reliable supplier to its energy portfolio. Last week, the first U.S. LNG cargo in 12 months arrived at a Chinese import terminal, following a resumption of purchases after a mid-May meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.

    “In 2025, China paid an average of roughly $258 per thousand cubic meters for Russian pipeline gas, already far below the rates Europe once paid,” wrote Hebei-based commentator Riyue Xhige. “Beijing’s new demand pushes for a far steeper discount. Even Belarus, Moscow’s closest ally, has never received terms this close to Russia’s domestic regulated price.” The columnist added that the gap goes far beyond routine commercial haggling, noting “This reflects a fundamental shift in who holds the power at the negotiating table.”

    Where Russia once operated in a seller’s market when supplying Europe, where buyers had little alternative to Russian gas, that dynamic has completely reversed, commentators note. Today, China holds all the cards as a buyer with a diverse array of energy supply options to draw from.

    China’s diversified energy portfolio is the foundation of its strong negotiating position, analysts point out. Domestic natural gas production hit 262 billion cubic meters in 2025, a 6.2% year-on-year increase that marked the ninth consecutive year of output growth exceeding 10 billion cubic meters. Four existing cross-border pipelines from Central Asian nations — Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan — already have a combined annual capacity of more than 85 billion cubic meters, with additional expansion projects in the planning stages. Offshore, LNG tankers from Qatar, Australia and Malaysia deliver consistent cargoes to Chinese import terminals, leaving Russian gas as one of many available options rather than a critical necessity.

    “China wants to expand energy imports from Russia as part of a broader diversified supply strategy, but that does not mean Russian gas is irreplaceable,” Riyue Xhige explained. “This strategic composure gives Beijing unprecedented leverage at the negotiating table. No matter how Russia adjusts its position, it will have to come back to meet Chinese terms.”

    Jiangsu-based commentator New Day Student summed up the dynamic: “Russia is like a cat on a hot tin roof because of the war in Ukraine, while China has no shortage of gas sources. If Russia does not want to sell, we will simply keep buying from Central Asia, Australia and Qatar.” He noted that the $50 opening bid is simply an opening negotiating anchor, not a final take-it-or-leave-it offer, but emphasized that any final deal for Power of Siberia 2 will require a lower price than the existing Power of Siberia 1 contract.

    The project has faced hurdles long before the current price impasse. After Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy giant, approved a feasibility study in 2021, negotiations over the route created years of tension. Moscow long pushed for a route through Mongolia, arguing it would cut infrastructure construction costs compared to a direct pipeline across the Russia-China border. Beijing resisted the proposal, and its concerns deepened in August 2023 after Mongolia signed an open skies agreement with the United States and began discussing a rare-earth development partnership with Washington. Chinese leaders worried that a transit route through Mongolia could leave the pipeline vulnerable to political disruption that would threaten China’s energy security. Beijing ultimately relented and approved the Mongolia route in September last year, but only on the condition that Moscow agree to substantial price cuts for the gas supply.

    Since that agreement in principle, the global energy landscape has shifted even further in China’s favor. After China resumed U.S. LNG purchases in May, the U.S. Treasury issued a 60-day sanctions exemption in June that allows Iran to sell oil and petroleum products using U.S. dollars, expanding China’s access to affordable crude imports and helping replenish strategic reserves that were strained after earlier disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

    When Putin met Xi in Beijing in May, he found China’s pricing demands remained unchanged. Shortly after the summit, Putin traveled to Kazakhstan to explore an alternative transit route that would send Russian gas to China via Central Asia, bypassing Mongolia entirely. But commentators argue that changing the route will not resolve the core dispute.

    “Switching the pipeline route will not solve anything,” said another Hebei-based political columnist. “This is fundamentally a question of price and cost. It is true that Russia needs the Chinese market, and China needs a stable energy supply. But China has plenty of options and no reason to rush. We simply hold the stronger hand.”

    The commentator added that time is running out for Russia, not China, as the EU’s ban on Russian pipeline gas is set to take effect in autumn 2027. “Whether the Kazakhstan route can actually be realized depends on whether Russia is willing to show good faith on price and financing to China. If Moscow still clings to the old thinking of selling its energy at premium prices and passing all infrastructure costs onto buyers, this detour will lead nowhere either.”

    Shandong-based commentator Shan Hai argued that the impasse presents an opportunity for long-term reform of Russia’s energy-dependent economy. “Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moscow has relied on selling energy at high prices to fund government spending, importing most manufactured goods and failing to develop a diversified domestic industrial ecosystem,” Shan wrote. He suggested that Russia could reset its economic relationship with China by agreeing to competitive gas prices for the Power of Siberia 2 project and opening its market to Chinese manufacturing investment. Shan also noted that energy cooperation between the two nations is already becoming more reciprocal: after multiple Ukrainian drone attacks damaged Russian oil refining capacity, several Russian regions have begun importing refined petroleum products from China, expanding the scope of bilateral energy ties beyond Russian raw material exports to China.

  • A simple pair of glasses is helping productivity gains in some Bangladesh garment factories

    A simple pair of glasses is helping productivity gains in some Bangladesh garment factories

    Bangladesh’s $45 billion ready-made garment sector, the second-largest globally behind only China, has uncovered a surprisingly simple, low-cost intervention to boost worker output, reduce waste, and improve quality of life for its 4 million strong workforce: affordable reading glasses. For thousands of frontline sewing operators like Ruma Aktar, this small, $10 tool has already transformed both their daily work and long-term professional stability.

    Aktar’s role demands extreme precision: every worker is tasked with producing thousands of individual garment pieces each day, and even minor missteps can slow entire production lines or result in full batches of rejected product that require costly rework. Before receiving her free pair of reading glasses through the new workplace program, Aktar struggled for minutes to thread a single needle on her machine, a repetitive task that left her with constant headaches and persistent eye strain. Today, she threads needles in seconds, makes far fewer mistakes that require alterations, and works far more comfortably through her full shift.

    “Before I got the glasses, it took me a long time to thread the needle. Now I can thread it in just a short time. I make far fewer alterations than before,” Aktar explained.

    Industry data estimates that roughly one in three Bangladeshi garment workers need corrective vision to do their work properly, yet lack access to affordable glasses, according to VisionSpring, a global non-profit social enterprise dedicated to delivering low-cost eyecare to low-income communities in developing nations. To address this gap, the organization has partnered with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the country’s leading factory industry group, to deliver on-site vision screenings and glasses that cost less than $10 per pair to participating factory workforces.

    Early results from the program have been immediate and striking, according to VisionSpring CEO Ella Gudwin. Workers who receive glasses can consistently meet production and quality targets, and the reduction in common errors like skipped stitches, uneven hems, and misplaced buttons cuts down the hours of rework that factories must schedule to fix flawed products. The program has also revealed that most workers do not report undiagnosed vision problems to management, leaving widespread unaddressed impairment invisible to factory leadership for years.

    That aligns with the experience of Masco Group, one of Bangladesh’s leading garment manufacturers, which has already rolled out screenings to 5,000 of its over 25,000 total employees. Fahima Akhter, a director at Masco Group, told reporters that roughly 30% of screened workers required reading glasses, and the company now plans to expand the program to all remaining employees. For Masco, the initiative is not an unnecessary expense, but a high-return core investment.

    “We don’t consider it a cost. It is an investment. If the workers are working with better vision, their productivity and workplace safety will improve, and eventually this will translate into better productivity and profit for the company,” Akhter said.

    Data from independent academic research backs up that claim. A randomized controlled trial co-authored by Gudwin, focused on sewing operators in India, found that workers who received free reading glasses saw a 6% jump in overall productivity alongside a measurable drop in error rates. The study, published in April in the *British Journal of Ophthalmology*, calculated that every $1 spent on combined vision screenings and glasses generated $3.37 in net productivity gains for employers over just 12 weeks.

    Scaled across the entire global garment and textile industry, researchers estimate that rolling out similar low-cost programs could unlock as much as $27 billion in additional annual global output, a massive gain for an industry that relies on thin profit margins and incremental efficiency improvements.

    Gudwin explained that the issue of unaddressed vision impairment in garment factories has flown under the radar for decades because corrective eyeglasses were incorrectly framed as a personal luxury rather than an essential workplace tool. Many frontline workers, who often develop age-related near-vision impairment in their late 30s and early 40s, assume that glasses will be too expensive for them to afford, so they delay seeking care and continue struggling with impaired vision on the job. Bringing screenings and low-cost glasses directly onto factory floors eliminates the financial and logistical barriers that keep workers from accessing the care they need.

    Akhter added that Bangladesh’s garment sector should formalize the practice by making on-site vision screening and affordable glasses a standard mandatory workplace benefit. For the millions of workers who power the country’s biggest export industry, clear vision is no longer a luxury—it is a basic work necessity that benefits both employees and employers.

  • Asian shares sink, with Tokyo down nearly 5% as slumping AI stocks drag world markets lower

    Asian shares sink, with Tokyo down nearly 5% as slumping AI stocks drag world markets lower

    BANGKOK – Global financial markets faced significant downward pressure on Friday, led by a sharp sell-off across Asian exchanges that was triggered by plummeting valuations in artificial intelligence-linked stocks and amplified by growing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

    Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 bore the brunt of the selling, closing down 5.8% at 62,945.97, a drop of more than 5 percentage points that saw AI and semiconductor stocks leading the decline. While South Korean markets were closed for trading Friday, Taiwan’s key index also fell by more than 5%, mirroring the downward trend across East Asian financial hubs. Other major Asian indexes also recorded notable losses: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 2% to settle at 24,514.29, mainland China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 1.6% to 3,818.59, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.7% lower to close at 8,775.70.

    The sell-off in AI-related equities is not an isolated one-day event. For weeks, the sector has faced growing downward pressure as investors increasingly question the stretched valuations that have propelled AI stocks to historic gains over the past year. Core concerns center on whether the explosive rally in chipmakers and AI infrastructure providers is justified, with market participants weighing the risk that projected demand for semiconductors, memory chips, and AI processing hardware may not hold up if the sector fails to deliver the outsized profits and productivity gains that have been widely promised to investors.

    The market downturn was compounded by a sharp spike in global crude oil prices, which climbed to near one-month highs Friday amid intensifying military conflict in the Middle East. Fears are growing that escalating tensions involving Iran could disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint through which a large share of global crude oil exports from the Persian Gulf pass. A closure or disruption to shipping through the strait would cut off global supply and push energy prices even higher. On Friday, international benchmark Brent crude rose 1.1% to settle at $85.13 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 1.3% to $79.95 per barrel. U.S. stock futures also edged lower in pre-market trading following the Asian session.

    The downward momentum for AI stocks carried over from Wall Street’s previous trading session. On Thursday, the Nasdaq Composite, which is heavily weighted toward technology and AI stocks, dropped 1.5% even as a majority of S&P 500 components recorded gains. The S&P 500 overall fell 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2%, despite better-than-expected quarterly earnings from roughly three-quarters of the large U.S. companies that reported results this season.

    Industry giant Nvidia, the biggest single driver of the global AI stock rally over the past two years, fell 2.4% on Thursday, making it the largest single drag on the S&P 500 and erasing some of the stock’s stellar year-to-date gains. Other major semiconductor and memory chip firms also suffered steep losses: Micron Technology dropped 5.6%, pulling its 2024 gain below 199%; Western Digital sank 9.2% but remains up 171% for the year; and SanDisk plummeted 12.6%, even with its year-to-date gain still holding at 494%.

  • Trump Media to sell early access to key social posts

    Trump Media to sell early access to key social posts

    Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social, has announced plans to launch a premium paid service set to go live on August 1. The new offering will provide Wall Street financial institutions with low-latency, real-time access to posts from the platform’s most high-impact and influential accounts, filling a long-unmet gap for market participants who rely on timely social media content to inform trading decisions.

    For years, market-moving statements shared on Truth Social — particularly posts from Donald Trump himself, which have repeatedly triggered sudden volatility across global equity, currency and commodity markets, especially when touching on trade policy and tariff announcements — have forced trading firms to rely on manual monitoring of the platform. Even a delay of a few seconds in accessing critical updates can result in millions of dollars in lost trading opportunities for large financial institutions, a cost that the new paid feed is designed to eliminate. Unlike the manual tracking process currently used by banks and trading houses, the new service will push real-time updates from key accounts directly to paying subscribers, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week to cover global trading sessions around the clock.

    Kevin McGurn, interim chief executive of Trump Media, framed the new offering as a pathway to consistent recurring revenue for the currently unprofitable company. “Markets already move on Truth Social posts,” McGurn noted, emphasizing that the official data feed will lock in steady profit streams for the firm long-term. The announcement also called out an ongoing problem for the company: a number of financial firms have been scraping Truth Social user data without authorization for months, reaping the benefits of the platform’s content without compensating the company. McGurn warned that Trump Media will imminently block these unauthorized data access methods, pushing non-compliant firms to purchase a subscription to the official feed instead.

    While the sale of user data and real-time post feeds is a standard practice across major established social media networks, this new venture draws unique attention to the overlapping intersection between Donald Trump’s private business interests and his public profile as a leading U.S. political figure. As of the announcement, the company has not confirmed whether former President Trump’s own posts will be included in the premium paid feed, leaving market participants waiting for further clarification on the service’s core offering.

  • Why the US economy stays strong despite Trump’s shockwaves

    Why the US economy stays strong despite Trump’s shockwaves

    Against widespread expert predictions that the U.S. would cede its economic growth lead following the 2025 implementation of sweeping global tariffs and the 2026 outbreak of conflict with Iran, new GDP data confirms the American economy has maintained a substantial performance gap over the European Union. Five-year average annual national income growth hits 3.3% in the U.S., compared to just 2.6% for the EU. Most recently, year-on-year first quarter 2026 GDP growth reached 2.6% in the U.S., while the EU recorded only 0.7% expansion.

    Economists have identified a handful of core structural and policy factors that explain this ongoing U.S. economic resilience, starting with far more expansionary fiscal policy. While most European governments run modest budget deficits, the U.S. consistently maintains much wider gaps between government spending and tax revenue. In 2025, the average EU deficit stood at 3.1% of GDP, while the U.S. deficit hit 5.8% of GDP – delivering a far stronger demand stimulus to the economy. By injecting more income into households through public payrolls and into suppliers through government procurement, U.S. fiscal policy has lifted aggregate demand, supported output growth and kept unemployment lower than European levels.

    A second, equally critical driver is the U.S.’s far larger investment in innovation and emerging technology. As early as 2021, the EU spent 270 billion euros less than the U.S. on research and development, with most European innovation spending concentrated in long-established legacy sectors such as traditional automaking rather than next-generation technologies. Since 2025, U.S. investment has been heavily focused on artificial intelligence, allowing the country to solidify its dominance over global digital platforms and cutting-edge tech. The widespread adoption of AI across U.S. industries has widened the U.S. lead in labor productivity growth: since 2019, U.S. output per hour in professional services has jumped more than 18%, compared to just 5% across the EU.

    These economy-wide productivity gains have translated into modest but consistent growth in U.S. inflation-adjusted real wages, sustaining steady consumer demand while also driving strong corporate profit growth that has pushed U.S. stock markets to repeated record highs. By contrast, average EU real wages have barely expanded over the past two decades, and European corporate profits remain muted.

    This U.S. tech leadership does face headwinds, however: the Trump administration’s strict immigration clampdown, which includes restrictions on skilled scientists and international students, has shaved an estimated 0.8 percentage points off annual U.S. GDP growth compared to pre-2025 net immigration trends. Still, the U.S. retains a key structural advantage for tech growth: looser regulatory frameworks for emerging innovation, compared to the EU’s stricter oversight and China’s state-directed innovation model. Even though the EU produces a similar number of early-stage tech startups as the U.S., most European scaleups relocate to the U.S. to access capital and a more permissive business environment as they expand.

    A third major advantage for U.S. industry is substantially lower energy costs than in Europe. The U.S. produces far more fossil fuels than the EU and applies lower tax rates to energy, while also rapidly scaling cheap renewable energy capacity despite the current administration’s public skepticism of solar and wind power. While this reliance on fossil fuels creates long-term climate-related economic vulnerability, it has delivered an immediate cost advantage that has supported U.S. manufacturing regeneration and allowed American firms to capture a large share of global demand for data-intensive services such as e-commerce and generative AI.

    The final, often-overlooked driver of U.S. economic outperformance is what former French finance minister Valéry Giscard d’Estaing famously called the U.S.’s “exorbitant privilege” as the issuer of the world’s primary reserve currency. Like most large growing economies, the U.S. runs a substantial current account deficit, as it consumes more goods and services than it produces domestically, requiring continuous borrowing from global creditors to cover the gap. For most economies, this persistent deficit would trigger currency devaluation, higher inflation, or a forced period of slower growth to rebalance the country’s international position. But because the U.S. dollar dominates global commodity trade and is seen as a safe haven asset even during global shocks – including conflicts triggered by U.S. foreign policy – global investors consistently move capital into U.S. assets to finance the deficit, keeping borrowing costs low and growth supported.

    To date, efforts to challenge the dollar’s dominance have made little headway. The EU’s plans to unify its fragmented financial markets to strengthen the euro’s global role have progressed slowly and were set back significantly by the UK’s 2016 Brexit withdrawal, which stripped the bloc of its largest global financial center. Meanwhile, alternative reserve currency initiatives from China, Russia and major oil-exporting nations have failed to gain widespread traction. Even so, the dollar’s exorbitant privilege carries downsides for the U.S.: strong capital inflows that appreciate the dollar make U.S. exports less competitive globally, and the Federal Reserve must account for global spillovers when adjusting interest rates, complicating domestic inflation control. Paradoxically, however, the large spending power of U.S. consumers and businesses, sustained by this global financing system, often leaves the U.S. acting as a global engine of growth for other regions during periods of slowdown.

    Despite the consistent strong economic growth that has defied post-2025 predictions, the performance gap has not translated into political gains for the Trump administration. Just as the steady 2021-2024 expansion failed to boost the political standing of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, the continuing growth trend has left Trump with a record-low approval rating of just 36%. This disconnect stems from the uneven nature of U.S. growth: driven by large fiscal deficits and rising corporate profits, the expansion has only delivered marginal wage gains for most American households, who still struggle with persistent high prices and growing affordability pressures for everyday living costs.

  • Trade uncertainty complicates supply-chain planning

    Trade uncertainty complicates supply-chain planning

    Amid shifting U.S. trade policy that has left global business leaders without the policy clarity they need to map long-term investments and supply chain strategies, top trade and logistics experts are warning that persistent uncertainty will reshape cross-border commerce for years to come. Douglas Irwin, a Dartmouth College economics professor, outlined the risks to business planning during a Wednesday media briefing hosted alongside Gene Seroka, Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, where the pair discussed evolving tariffs, shifting global trade dynamics, and ongoing U.S.-China trade relations.

    When asked about the trajectory of ongoing U.S.-China dialogue and potential tariff adjustments, Irwin emphasized that policy predictability is non-negotiable for companies making medium- and long-term capital commitments. “Businesses absolutely need that predictability of the business environment to make medium-term and long-term investments,” he told reporters.

    The current state of uncertainty traces back to 2025, when the second Trump administration imposed sweeping new tariffs on Chinese goods that sent U.S.-China trade tensions soaring. While both sides have since taken incremental steps to de-escalate friction and keep diplomatic channels open, doubts about the future of trade policy have yet to fade. Irwin characterized the current bilateral trade relationship as relatively stable but deeply fragile, describing it as “an uneasy truce” with no guarantee it will hold in the long term.

    Companies have no clear visibility into whether Washington will keep existing tariff levels in place or ramp up pressure on Beijing after it concludes ongoing trade reviews, including the upcoming update to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). This ambiguity is already driving decisions to shift sourcing away from China, Irwin explained, with many businesses relocating supply chains to Vietnam and other Southeast Asian economies, or expanding nearshoring to Mexico to reduce exposure to policy risk. With no end to uncertainty in sight, companies have little option but to diversify their supply base and build hedges against future policy shifts, he added.

    Irwin noted that former and current President Trump has remained the central architect of U.S. trade policy across both of his administrations, consistently framing tariffs as a key tool to advance broader economic and political priorities. “For the next two years, at least, we still have to keep our eye on what the president believes about trade and how he might act,” Irwin said.

    New proposed trade measures are adding another layer of uncertainty for global importers. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has floated new Section 301 tariffs tied to other nations’ enforcement of forced labor goods bans, with proposed rates ranging from 10% to 12.5%. As of the briefing, the measures were still under formal review. Irwin also advised importers to closely watch what policy will replace temporary Section 122 tariffs when they expire, explaining that the Trump administration is seeking to replace parts of the temporary tariff regime with new Section 301 measures. This framework would preserve most of the current tariff structure while leaving companies guessing about which countries and product categories will ultimately face new duties. “This is sort of the environment we’re going to be in for the next two years: uncertainty about USMCA, uncertainty about the China relationship, and then uncertainty with these Section 301 tariffs,” Irwin added.

    Shifts to rules for low-value shipments have created new burdens for small and medium-sized importers as well. The U.S. has recently suspended duty-free de minimis treatment for most packages valued at $800 or less, while implementing new complex customs processing requirements. Irwin explained that the changes will ramp up compliance and administrative costs for small importers that have long relied on simplified customs procedures for small, low-value mail-order shipments.

    Seroka echoed that observation, noting that the impacts stretch beyond individual online consumers to small, family-owned businesses that depend on small-batch imports. He recalled meeting with independent retailers along Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue and in West Hollywood that built their business models around regular small shipments, only to face sudden, unaffordable tax hikes that threaten their operations. “Then suddenly they were hit with tax hikes that were almost insurmountable based on the size of their business,” Seroka said. “It’s going to be a big deal for us coming up.”

    Looking ahead to future U.S. administrations, Irwin predicts that any future White House, whether led by a Republican or Democratic president, will prioritize greater trade policy stability but is unlikely to reverse the shifts of recent years and return to the pre-2025 tariff framework. “I think there will be a settling down after the Trump administration,” he said. “Any new administration, whether it’s Republican or Democrat, will still be concerned about trade policy in a big way, but want more stability.” Even so, Irwin noted that once tariffs are implemented, companies adjust their supply chains and domestic industries build political support for retaining the protection tariffs provide, meaning policy changes that happen quickly are rarely reversed quickly. “That doesn’t mean we go back to where we were in, say, 2015 with respect to trade policy,” he said. “What tends to go up quickly sometimes comes down slowly.”

    U.S. trade policy is not the only source of market disruption for cargo moving through the Port of Los Angeles. Seroka added that ongoing conflict in Iran and related disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have driven up fuel costs for all modes of cargo transportation, from ocean vessels to overland trains and trucks. The immediate impact has already shown up in higher prices for bunker fuel for ships, as well as elevated diesel and gasoline costs for transportation providers and end consumers.

    While there were widespread concerns that disruptions to Middle East-bound cargo would create bottlenecks at major Asian ports, Seroka said recent visits to ports in Shanghai, Singapore and Yokohama confirmed that terminal operators have successfully rerouted and separated affected cargo flows. “Our cargo is flying through the market as best it can without impacts from what’s going on with the war in Iran,” he said. The next expected impact will be new or increased fuel surcharges that shipping lines will pass along to importing and exporting companies, he added. “You’ll see a bump there,” Seroka said. “When prices go down, usually that surcharge remains elevated and it lags for some time before it gets back to a price point that’s a little more reflective of what we see today.” Even if the conflict were to end immediately, damaged energy infrastructure and disrupted global energy supply networks will take months to repair, Seroka noted. Despite these headwinds, he emphasized that trans-Pacific trade volumes remain strong and continue to move efficiently through the port.

  • Chip giant TSMC pledges another $100bn to expand US production

    Chip giant TSMC pledges another $100bn to expand US production

    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s leading manufacturer of cutting-edge semiconductors, has announced a staggering additional $100 billion investment to expand its U.S. manufacturing footprint in Arizona, a move set to reshape the American semiconductor landscape and deliver major job gains for the domestic economy. This new injection of capital lifts the firm’s total pledged investment in U.S. production to $265 billion, with TSMC CEO CC Wei confirming the expansion will likely add four new fabrication plants to the eight facilities already planned or under construction across the state. No fixed timeline for the new buildout has been released, with Wei noting progress will be aligned with evolving global market conditions. The announcement comes on the heels of a blowout second-quarter earnings report, which saw the chipmaker’s net profit surge 77% year-over-year to $22 billion, up from $12.4 billion in the same period last year. This explosive growth is largely fueled by skyrocketing global demand for advanced chips that power artificial intelligence data centers and smart connected devices, a trend that has pushed TSMC to become Asia’s most valuable publicly traded company. Year-to-date, its share price has climbed more than 55%, bringing its total market capitalization to roughly $2 trillion. As the primary production partner for leading tech firms including Nvidia and Apple, TSMC’s expanded U.S. capacity represents a major win for the Trump administration’s ongoing policy push to onshore advanced semiconductor manufacturing, a priority that emerged after widespread supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical vulnerabilities in U.S. reliance on overseas chip production. The Trump administration has framed this latest investment as a direct outcome of its trade negotiations with Taiwan, which included a January 2025 agreement to cut tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15% in exchange for large-scale semiconductor investment commitments. President Trump has previously credited tariff threats against Taiwan and the global semiconductor sector for encouraging TSMC’s earlier rounds of U.S. expansion. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick celebrated the announcement, emphasizing that the administration’s pro-manufacturing policy leadership is driving global firms to invest in domestic production. “TSMC’s announcement of an additional $100 billion investment following our historic deal on trade and investment with Taiwan will create tens of thousands of American jobs and bring advanced semiconductor manufacturing back to America,” Lutnick said in a statement. Wei echoed this sentiment, noting that the expanded investment will not only create thousands of high-paying, high-skilled American jobs but also strengthen the regional semiconductor supply chain and nurture the long-term growth of the U.S. tech manufacturing ecosystem.

  • Aer Lingus proposes cutting 500 jobs under savings plan

    Aer Lingus proposes cutting 500 jobs under savings plan

    Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus has launched a sweeping cost-reduction initiative that includes proposed cuts to 500 full-time positions and a major reshuffle of its transatlantic and European route network, after reporting a steeper-than-expected €103 million loss in the first quarter of 2026.

    The airline, which currently employs roughly 6,000 workers across Ireland, confirmed that the headcount reductions will be spread across three core operational areas: 290 roles at its Dublin Airport headquarters, 140 cabin crew positions, and 70 pilot jobs are currently marked for elimination.

    Alongside workforce adjustments, Aer Lingus will implement a 6% overall cut to flight capacity by axing low-performing routes that have failed to meet financial targets. A phased rollout of network changes will begin in late September 2026 and continue through summer 2027, with four full long-haul transatlantic routes permanently ending service: Denver, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, and Split. Three additional European routes – Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Malta – will be scaled back to seasonal summer-only operations, as will the transatlantic route to Seattle.

    As a result of the capacity reduction, six aircraft will be taken out of regular operation for peak summer 2027: two wide-body A330 jets and four narrow-body A320 aircraft. The carrier has assured customers already holding bookings for canceled routes that it will reach out directly to offer either alternative flight re-accommodation or full refunds for unused tickets.

    Aer Lingus leadership has framed the restructuring as a necessary response to mounting industry headwinds, including a persistently challenging global macroeconomic environment, rising jet fuel prices, and intensifying competition on high-traffic transatlantic routes between Europe and North America. The ultimate goal of the cost-cutting plan is to boost the airline’s operating margin to a target range of 12% to 15%, a threshold the company says is required to attract new capital for long-term growth and expansion.

    “The transformation we are undertaking today is designed to set Aer Lingus up for sustainable success for decades to come,” said Chief Executive Lynne Embleton in a prepared statement. Embleton added that the adjustments will position the carrier to deliver on its core ambition: becoming the preferred airline for travel between Europe and North America, while continuing to deliver significant economic benefits to Ireland as a whole.

    A company spokesperson emphasized that the upcoming stakeholder consultation process will prioritize minimizing mandatory redundancies where possible, with a focus on identifying voluntary solutions and aligning operational needs to secure future investment in the business. “The more cost efficient and productive we are as an organization, the more we will be able to deliver on our long-term network and growth ambition,” the spokesperson added.