American factory construction continued declining in official data released today as CHIPS Act projects finish, IRA projects get cancelled, and tariffs weigh on nearly all industries Total US factory construction is down 30% from its 2024 highs and 20% over the last year alone

A characteristically sharp read from @himself.bsky.social that picks up on my argument on AI hyperregulation and traces how national security tools have become instruments of domestic political control. You cannot build sweeping discretionary powers abroad and then be surprised when they come home.

The problem for European carmakers is as much that they prefaced future growth and profits on sales in the Chinese market which are rapidly evaporating: "cheaper, domestically produced electric vehicles have been gaining share at the expense of the premium cars" that BMW and Porsche specialize in.

A fun one from research for my book project, CLIMATE GEOPOLITICS. Lighthizer arguing that protectionism is the authentic tradition of Republicans in 2008. For Lighthizer, conservatives from Hamilton to Lincoln and Reagan embraced a pragmatism that led them to reject free trade dogma.

Cathal Kelly on Canada’s 6-0 celebrations 😂

They can't seem to end this war can they.

How to tell you’re getting beat by someone with more strategic flexibility than you

War is warring; electrotech is rising.

no we do not hegemon.substack.com/p/do-we-have...

They did not choose this strategy, but they got it done! COYG!!!

Love Saka’s mirror neuron hop to match Kai’s climb. One-nil to the Arsenal!

The combination of far too many peer review requests & an explosion of frankly mediocre papers in my field of EU industrial policy/geopolitics = hard agree. The academic publishing model is broken. One upstream answer: make hiring/tenure/promotion REALLY & EXPLICITLY about quality not quantity. 👇

Unless they’re tracking Chinese clean tech export data - which I think only Ember does consistently? - all the energy scenarios models etc are just plain wrong.

On the importance of manufacturing, beyond its direct gdp and employment impact…

Excited to be heading to Oxford this week to attend this public event and the associated workshop on industrial policy. You can register for the online event here: www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/events/indus.... Give me a shout if you’re in Oxford and want to get together.

Writing a paper and just really feel like I am nailing the prose. Is my writing getting better as I get older, or does anything actually written by a human just sound better than AI syntax?

Space mission industrial policy

Seconded

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

We need to see FIDs, but Trump’s attacks on Canada may have formally ended the Biden & earlier era of 🇨🇦 allegiance to the North American business model of ICE SUVs and trucks, with a fast transition towards the global trend to Chinese based transnational EV makers.

Whether or not you think Fortress North America was a good idea, Canada tried pitching it in the early months of Trump II, got cross-border economic warfare in return, and here we are.

“Electrification will be the shock absorber” Dr. Tim Sahay and the @nzpolicylab.bsky.social in the NYT today.

One of those things that just would not be happening without Trump. Biden had closed ranks on China, but with chaos in the WH, countries like Canada look to hedge.

Time to check in on American Hegemony

Jensen Huang: US robotics industry will have to rely on China’s supply chain: “... because their microelectronics, motors, rare earth and magnets – which are foundational to robotics – are the world’s best. So ... our robotics industry relies deeply on their ecosystem and their supply chain”

For a granular view of who is poised to win and lose in this new order, dig in to our Clean industrial capabilities explorer: cice.netzeropolicylab.com

The central faultline of the emerging post-liberal international order will be a geopolitical struggle over what metabolic-industrial system will dominate the 21st century — with smaller powers struggling to avoid total alignment with either bloc. My latest: foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/23/c...

A new world order

So far so good

If I was Arsenal I would just win all the remaining games.

Where should nations invest in clean energy industries? The Clean Industrial Competitiveness Explorer from the Net Zero Industrial Policy Lab, which ROSEI's @bentleyallan.bsky.social is co-director of, helps identify where nations can compete. #HopkinsEnergy energyinstitute.jhu.edu/a-new-compas...

With the Strait of Hormuz almost entirely closed, fertilizer producers face major disruptions during a critical time of planting season. @noahjgordon.bsky.social and Lucy Corthell break down the potential strain on the global food system: carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...

Catherine Goldberg and I have a new piece on the New Energy /Industrial Strategy Center's substack on what my lab's flagship project--the Clean Industrial Capabilities Explorer--reveals about the global race for clean energy manufacturing. 🧵

time for a drink

This week Secretary Hegseth gave an object lesson in the folly of hyper-masculine overconfidence: the administration claimed all week that it controls the war and Iran‘s destiny without boots on the ground. They forgot we live in an asymmetric world in which small acts have big economic impacts.

My Trade Secrets today. Latest superpower energy offers to emerging markets: China - cheap green tech to wean you off hydrocarbons. US - coercion into trade deal to buy US fossil fuels, then huge chaotic war creating global oil shock. WHICH MESSAGE WILL RESONATE? 1/2 as.ft.com/r/8b8df69a-5...

Where do oil prices go now that Iran counterattacks w missiles all across the Gulf. A literal trillion dollar question Insurance → shipping costs → oil prices → a global inflationary shock. reporting @leeharris.ft.com ft.com/content/2dc1...

Despite being a late entrant to the space industry, South Korea has rapidly caught up thanks to a combination of mutually reinforcing factors. @darciedraudt.bsky.social examines these developments and explores how this momentum can be sustained: youtu.be/eVXH0EL22Xs

Drone manufacturing is about the tight integration of forward innovation, flexible manufacturing, and scaling. The countries that win have modular, AI enabled manufacturing platforms. This is now the basis of physical security and economic competitiveness.

A quick hit to help make sense of Trump's tariffs

European defence heads still stressed about building xUS tech sovereignty. An example in the article, Canadian-made frigates using a version of the Aegis system, reveals the complexities. The system is built on Lockheed 🇺🇸 hardware, but uses Canadian software from Lockheed 🇨🇦. 1/3

The WSJ reports that the Trump admin is considering national security tariffs on a broad group of goods. Many of these probably won’t stand up in court as falling under 232 (think steel). Either way, raising the price of grid equipment when energy prices are skyrocketing is a terrible idea.

This is the key dilemma in integrating AI into university education. All the 'innovative' tactics - critiquing AI generated content, using AI to reproduce good writing - assume skills will develop in the interaction, but it's like expecting food photographers to cook tasty meals

An emerging narrative around AI is that the judgment of individuals matters more in this new world. That sounds right, as far as it goes, but it ignores a fundamental truth about judgment—it is forged in experience. So if we delegate too much, we may be unable to exercise judgment.

Wait what theconversation.com/the-worlds-2...

Oh, Canada www.castanet.net/news/BC/6001...

BESS cheaper ➡️ BESS boom ➡️ Renewables cheap ➡️ Renewables boom ➡️ BESS cheaper 🔄

Seems like a good time to re-up this Bloomberg piece pointing out that tariffs were likely *hurting* not helping U.S. manufacturing. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...