Am on an audiobook binge rn and am *finally* getting around to reading @edconway.bsky.social‘s wonderful book Material World! Highly recommend. Making me very jealous of all his trips to mines… amzn.eu/d/476P6ZJ

Fascinating on the boom for rare earths companies, by @jamiesmythft.bsky.social and Camilla Hodgson www.ft.com/content/755d...

Where are Islington Council's conservation officers when you need them

"Two other people familiar with the situation said the US was considering requiring companies exporting any software to China to obtain a license, which could have a dramatic impact on Chinese industries." www.ft.com/content/fbc5...

The Dutch government seized control of chipmaker Nexperia after Washington warned the company would not be removed from its export control list if its Chinese CEO Zhang Xuezheng remained in charge by @andybounds.bsky.social @benhallnews.bsky.social & Ryan McMorrow www.ft.com/content/db01...

China's exports to the US plunge... and pop up elsewhere www.ft.com/content/8dc3...

The European Commission is claiming its steel tariffs will be WTO compliant. How? By telling other members they can renegotiate their trade commitments. This fascinating piece explains why lawyer types probably still won't be happy... ielp.worldtradelaw.net/2025/10/gues...

Super news for @brownuresearch.bsky.social and all. Let us all appreciate growth-openness link. Aghion at the news conference said he is worried about the protectionist wave and warned against obstacles for growth such as deglobalization and tariffs! He said openness is a driver of economic growth!

The not-a-Nobel-but-we're-gonna-treat-it-like-a-Nobel in economics goes to Joel Mokyr "for having identified the prerequisites for sustained growth through technological progress" Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt "for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction"

"Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia" by @andybounds.bsky.social, Ryan McMorrow and Demetri Sevastopulo www.ft.com/content/605e...

Fascinating piece on how US tariffs are affecting its auto industry, by @guychazan.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/55d7...

The latest escalation between the US and China means that former US officials are pulling out the popcorn... "Trump talks tough with China but holds out hope of truce in trade war", by Demetri Sevastopulo, @aimewilliams.bsky.social and Joe Leahy www.ft.com/content/b509...

Fab "Lunch with the FT" with none other than former USTR, Amb. Robert Lighthizer. Glad @aimewilliams.bsky.social got him on to the topic of economists... 1st 300 clicks free to read... on.ft.com/42BOj8Z

1/ New rare earth restrictions mark escalation in China’s weaponization of interdependence — adopting US extraterritorial permission structures. This is not just an export ban but regulated how global firms use Chinese equipment and material. www.reuters.com/world/china/...

The benefits of US government owning a piece of you... "Inside Intel’s big bet to save US chipmaking — and itself" www.ft.com/content/e4b1...

Hooo boy this is going to mean a lot of bureaucracy (if - *IF* - it is fully enforced) China unveils sweeping rare-earth export controls to protect ‘national security’ www.ft.com/content/c4b2...

A curse on everyone putting [Figure 1] in the text and then batching all the charts at the end. Not cool.

How much revenue is on the line as the Supreme Court deliberates over the IEEPA tariffs? from @bloomberg.com

Tariff exemptions mean that applied rates are below the headline. Whereas 94% of US goods imports from China face duties, for imports from Canada the share is just 10%. From @tobyn.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/c8f0... And the NY Fed libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2025/10/a-co...

EU pushes new AI strategy to reduce tech reliance on US and China www.ft.com/content/ea3d...

Trump is effectively bullying the UK to pay more for its drugs www.ft.com/content/dd11...

Fascinating interview with Shanghai University's Yao Yang, from the excellent Sinification substack open.substack.com/pub/sinifica...

Is China really the GOAT of engineering? From @s1moncox.bsky.social, jumping off Dan Wang's book Breakneck.* Though while China maybe isn't exactly an outlier, its share of engineers does seem *quite* high by international standards. * Just finished the book, would recommend!

Eeee the cover for the UK edition of How to Win a Trade War is out! Pre-order your copy here... www.amazon.co.uk/How-Win-Trad...

Why China's surplus might be ok, by @martinsandbu.ft.com Tho- "China has failed to persuade trade partners that its surpluses are good for their growth, largely because it has not shown enough interest in making those surpluses contribute to the importers’ growth potential." tinyurl.com/4cn5ecp5

*URGENT RECOMMENDATION* Anyone visiting or living in London HAS to go see the Benjamin Button musical. It’s only on for a few more weeks and it is SO GOOD. (I just saw it *for the second time*)

Anyone else have OCD about paragraph lengths? As in they must all span six lines, no more, no less? Just me...? (send help)

On the one hand, so many abstracts are truly terrible On the other hand, this will almost certainly throw up many *many* howling errors On the other hand, as someone who wouldn't rely on the AI summary, and assuming many others would, this could give me some kind of competitive advantage?

Writing a book called "How to Win a Trade War" and we might need a chapter called "Stuff We Didn't Think We Would Have to Say Was a Bad Idea But 2025 Here We Are"

cool cool www.ft.com/content/10a2...

Column 🫵

As a former resident of wonk-land, this made me snort www.economist.com/britain/2025...

Just finished the really excellent book "Apple in China", by @patrickmcgee.bsky.social - highly recommend! www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Apple-...

Especially cos we only have *lovely* things to say about her economic management

How very rude

A positive productivity shock

Have you ever taken an IQ test? Do you think of your creative heroes as geniuses? Have you ever looked at a work of "genius" and thought "I could do that"? Then... read "The Genius Myth" by @helenlewis.bsky.social - I enjoyed it a lot! www.penguin.co.uk/books/442983...

PODCAST RECOMMENDATION: New series of "The Secret Life of Songs", an award winning podcast that nerds out about your favourite hits... podfollow.com/the-secret-l...

If you hate ABBA, have a listen. If you love ABBA, have a listen. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Pal if you can share the secret of how to control a group of 3yos that’ll make you more cash than any AI project

my husband just told me off for squinting at my computer screen...

The most important story in the world right now.

SCOOP: We have figured it out! @soumayakeynes.ft.com and I are getting the Trade Talks team back together - not to podcast, but to write a book explaining HOW TO WIN A TRADE WAR Look for it at your local bookstore in April 2026, or pre-order it here or wherever you get yours a.co/d/d4qPo3p

**** SOME NEWS **** The old Trade Talks team is back together... but instead of podcasting, @chadpbown.com and I are writing a book! It's called "How to Win a Trade War" and it'll be out next Spring. UK pre-order link: amazon.co.uk/dp/103509018X/ US: www.simonandschuster.com/books/How-to...

Yesssss

**** SOME NEWS **** The old Trade Talks team is back together... but instead of podcasting, @chadpbown.com and I are writing a book! It's called "How to Win a Trade War" and it'll be out next Spring. UK pre-order link: amazon.co.uk/dp/103509018X/ US: www.simonandschuster.com/books/How-to...

Cos they’re waiting to buy an SUV amirite

A gif of my head hurting

"Real academics don't hallucinate like ChatGPT does"