Need a book? Bookseller Crow excellent indie bookshop proprietor Jonathan is gravely ill and they need all the business they can get. booksellercrow.co.uk They’re on bookshop.org too.

Let me posit that, contrary to what people in Washington think, countries don’t just react to US, they have agency and initiative. I’d wager Modi’s trip to China was planned well ahead of Trump’s tariffs announcement. And its outcome will be independent of any US action. It’s not all about the US.

How can we ensure that #AI is ACTUALLY helpful for the BIG challenges we face, like #ClimateChange and #WorldHunger? We need to listen to the experts who understand these problems best! That's why @aspendigital.bsky.social is surveying people in #FoodSecurity: www.aspendigital.org/event/food-s...

"From 2020 to 2024, the top five foreign automakers in China — Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, GM & Nissan — saw their sales in that market plunge from 9.4M to 6.4M annually Today’s top 5 Chinese automakers saw sales more than double to 9.5M last year from 4.6 million vehicles in 2020" 🚨

Last Friday afternoon in DC, I got a chance to share a stage w/ @eosnos.bsky.social (always a pleasure) to talk about my new book on resistance and repression in Asia and many other subjects, from our past collaborations to the challenges of writing about Xi Jinping www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

1/8 For the US to negotiate point-by-point concessions may satisfy those who think of trade mainly as a set of legal issues, but from an economic point of view it makes little sense to focus on highly specific restrictions and policies. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/w...

For those who don't want to order from Amazon — Bleak House Books in New York still has copies of YOU MUST TAKE PART IN REVOLUTION! They take online orders and ship nationwide! 🔗 www.bleakhousebooks.com CC: @badiucao.bsky.social

The Apple TV series “Your Friends and Neighbors” is really good. Very strong recommend.

"Saving face is uniquely important with the Chinese, but is unimportant anywhere else."

1/5 Chinese exports in March were up much more than expected, by 12.4% year on year, presumably because exporters rushed to deliver before tariffs were implemented. For the first three months of the year, exports in RMB terms were up 6.9%. english.news.cn/20250414/1ba...

2/14 Unfortunately it is also very hard to discuss tariffs in a non-hysterical way. They are neither the panacea that the Trump administration supposes they are, nor are they the instrument of Satan, as most American economists truly believe them to be.

There are non-commercial jets flying over DC. 🤔

Washington sunset.

By far the smartest (and shortest!) read and argument on why some tariffs against China make sense — and why tariffs against Canada and Mexico DO NOT. By former Mexican ambassador to China @jorgeguajardo.bsky.social:

Take a deep breath…

In this OpEd, Secretary Rubio mentions “partners”/“partnerships” four times. Not sure I’ve ever heard President Trump talk about “partnering” with other countries in the hemisphere. www.wsj.com/opinion/an-a...

There’s a heaviness to the tone/cadence of DCA Tower controllers. I cannot imagine their pain. Listening to KDCA Tower on LiveATC.net #liveatc liveatc.net

I live on the landing path of planes coming into DCA. The silence as the airport remains close makes my heart heavy, thinking of the tragedy.

If confirmed as a commercial airliner in the Potomac, this mid-air collision at DCA would be the worst U.S. air disaster since the Colgan Air Q400 crash near Buffalo in 2009.

I’m a former Mexican Ambassador to China who lives in Washington, DC. I’ve seen closely how these three countries interact commercially. My article explains why I am also in favor of tariffs. www.usnews.com/opinion/arti...

Thisis great! www.wsj.com/tech/ai/the-...

The speed at which Chinese disruption happens is mind numbing. One week the USA’s AI industry is on top of the world, the next week they’re having an existencial crisis. Who’s next?

“Global warming is the opposite of Kanye West: we want to pay attention but we don’t.” Brilliant phrase! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

I'll speak about my book on China, "At the Edge of Empire," at Mt. Pleasant Library in DC at 6:30 pm on Thursday Jan. 23. The first 20 attendees get a free book, with more for sale. I'll sign copies. A top non-fiction book of 2024 — Washington Post. Info: dclibrary.libnet.info/event/12529311

1/9 Reuters: "China is not seeking a trade surplus and is willing to import more competitive and high-quality products and services to balance trade, Ding Xuexiang, the country's vice premier, said Tuesday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos." www.reuters.com/world/china/...

My hometown, Monterrey, Mexico.

A case in which the person writing the headline clearly did not read the article, which goes on to say precisely the opposite. @wsj.com

“…allowing a trusted non-Chinese party such as Elon Musk…” If this was said of anyone else, they’d be immediately dragged in front of a congressional panel. www.wsj.com/tech/china-o...

5/7 A rising dollar is like a negative import tariff. It subsidizes consumption while imposing a tax on production and so, not surprisingly, this puts pressure on US consumption to rise relative to US production, forcing down the US saving rate. bsky.app/profile/mich...

sadly cruel censorship did not allow me to use the best quote I got on background for this, "we're existentially fucked" foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/07/c...

Two auto plants in Mexico that are often in the News: 1) Tesla—announced investment, acquired land, brought suppliers, but everyone considers it dead. 2) BYD—has not announced investment, has not picked site, but everyone considers it imminent. 🤔 Neither will happen.

“Made by China is the new Made in China,” says Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China. www.economist.com/the-americas...

This interview proves there is such a thing as too much media training. He was so careful with what he said that he forgot to say anything. Not a single takeaway from the interview. www.wired.com/story/big-in...

People seem surprised at how much Trump likes tariffs - and he does like them a lot! - but I think it's worth noting that many US politicians like tariffs, and in fact tariffs were widely used even in the so-called free trade "neoliberal" era. (Anti-dumping cases pay for some nice Palm Beach condos)

Lightning and thunder in Washington, DC! Ominous.

Yes, it's just about 2025, but I took the final hours of 2024 to write up another holiday list of my favorite reading a year late. Come for the dystopian real-life tech, stay for the presidential biography, and forgive me for the professional victory lap. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/best-books...

So thrilling to see advance copies of my book out in the wild!! Launch date is this coming March www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/724947...

Regulation to encourage the development of a technology.

What I wrote about Jimmy Carter when he went into hospice two and a half years ago, in @theatlantic.com : www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv... What I wrote just now, after being in Panama, about Carter's management of the Canal treaties: fallows.substack.com/p/panama-is-...

Another fucked up aspect of the H-1B visa is the H-4 dependent visa. A spouse can accompany the H-1B sponsored worker, but has to be totally financially dependent and can't work.

My list of books read in 2024.

Reading is not a competition. It is not an endurance test, a triathlon. Reading should be a pleasure. Doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you enjoy it. I, too, love audio books. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/be...

Most frustrating thing about reading world news in US media is that every action in every country is portrayed as a reaction to the US. It ignores domestic constituencies and political pressures, and assumes foreign governments only act or react in accordance with the US. Huge blind spot.

The failure of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which raised U.S. tariffs across a variety of imports, tells analysts very little about the effect that tariffs would have on the United States today, argues @michaelpettis.bsky.social.

What I read this year (* is good, ** very good):

I took a chance on this novel despite it having won the Booker Prize. It is NOT a holiday reading. It takes place in Ireland, but made me think of Gaza or the US Southern border. Gut wrenching. (I consider the Booker to be to books what the Palm d’Or is to movies).

I'm thankful to the China experts who put my book #AtTheEdgeOfEmpire atop the list of best China books of 2024, compiled by @chinabooksreview.bsky.social and Alec Ash. Veteran journalist Jane Perlez has great insights here. The book makes a great gift: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/602734...

Spot the trend in today’s WSJ.

I’d wager that if the PRC’s leadership were granted one wish by a genie allowing them to take and use anything they see in the US, they’d pick this. They’d do anything to be able to have this population growth in China. www.wsj.com/us-news/cens...