Circus AND Circuit: Unraveling Global Trade with Kate Foronda

In the season finale of Circus & Circuit: Unraveling Global Trade, Kate Foronda explores a quiet reality influencing modern commerce: supply chain espionage - a practice that has always existed, but now operates in very different ways.

Inspired by the true story behind The Spy and the legendary Mossad agent Eli Cohen, this episode draws a powerful parallel between classic human intelligence and today’s data-driven trade environment. Espionage is not new. What has changed is how it works. In today’s global trade systems, #intelligence is increasingly gathered through legal data, digital platforms, insiders, and everyday business processes, rather than stolen documents or hacked systems.

Kate breaks down who the “new industrial spies” really are and explains why transparency, efficiency, and system integration have created new strategic risks. She also discusses why many companies slowed or abandoned #blockchain supply-chain projects, how data exposure can quietly break deals, and why visibility without awareness can become a competitive disadvantage.

This episode is not about paranoia. It is about understanding how information moves through global trade systems, what it reveals over time, and how companies can protect themselves without slowing down or sacrificing efficiency.

As Season One comes to a close, this finale brings together the core theme of Circus & Circuit: the intersection where structured systems meet human behavior, power, and strategy. 

Tune in now to discover what’s ahead in the Circus & Circuit of global trade!

Blue Gold: The Coming Trade in Water

Why water is becoming the world’s most strategic resource

Water covers most of our planet, however, it is becoming one of the most limited and powerful resources in global trade. 

In this episode of Circus and Circuit: Unraveling Global Trade, Kate Foronda explores why water, not oil or data, may define the next era of global economics. From food and agriculture to energy, industry, and technology, water is shaping what can be produced, where it can be produced, and who controls global supply chains.

The episode explains why water is still dramatically underpriced in trade models, how countries export water without shipping a single drop through food and manufactured goods, and why water scarcity is already disrupting shipping routes, food markets, and industrial investment. Kate breaks down the concept of “blue gold” and “virtual water” in simple terms and connects them to real-world examples, including agriculture, data centers, power generation, mining, and desalination.

You will also hear how water scarcity is changing trade policy, increasing food import dependence in water-stressed countries, and putting long-term pressure on water-rich exporters. The episode looks at who is investing in water infrastructure, why desalination is not a complete solution, and how the balance between water as a human right and water as an economic resource is becoming one of the most difficult global challenges.

This is not an environmental episode. It is a trade reality check.

If you want to understand how water is quietly reshaping global trade, investment, and power, this episode is for you. 

LISTEN NOW! 

Tune in now to discover what’s ahead in the Circus & Circuit of global trade!

Trade decisions are not made by spreadsheets alone. They are made by people, and people are biased.

In this episode of Circus & Circuit: Unraveling Global Trade podcast,  Kate Foronda explores how behavioral biases quietly shape global trade negotiations, commodity markets, and supply-chain decisions. From anchoring and overconfidence in deal-making to herding, sunk-cost thinking, and recency bias in commodity and logistics markets, this episode explains why even experienced traders and companies make costly mistakes. 

Backed by real research, market data, and real-world trade examples, the episode shows how psychology — not just economics — drives pricing, contract terms, risk perception, and market volatility. Kate also shares a personal story from her own career that illustrates how anchoring bias can derail negotiations, even when the numbers clearly change.

This episode is essential listening for traders, founders, supply-chain professionals, investors, and anyone operating in international markets who wants to make better, more disciplined decisions under uncertainty. 

🎧 Listen now and learn how behavioral discipline can become your competitive advantage. 

@ Katsiaryna "Kate" Foronda 

foronda.us 

Tune in now to discover what’s ahead in the Circus & Circuit of global trade!

Africa is entering a new trade era. The AfCFTA is connecting 1.3 billion people across 54 countries into one historic market. In Episode 21 of Circus and Circuit, Kate Foronda goes inside this transformation and explains how investment, infrastructure, and fintech are quietly rewriting the continent’s trade landscape. She also shares a personal encounter with Sir James Mancham, the founding president of Seychelles, and how that meeting shaped her understanding of African leadership. Africa’s trade revolution is already unfolding — and the world is beginning to pay attention. 

LISTEN NOW! 

@ Katsiaryna "Kate" Foronda 

foronda.us 

Tune in now to discover what’s ahead in the Circus & Circuit of global trade!

What does it take to keep the world fed? 

In 2023, more than 345 million people faced acute food insecurity. At the same time, global grain movement was repeatedly interrupted by conflict, climate shocks, droughts, and rising transport risks. In Episode 20, Kate Foronda examines how these pressures are changing the very routes that deliver wheat, rice, corn, and other staples to the world’s most vulnerable populations.

This episode explores how nearly 33 million tonnes of grain left the Black Sea corridor during the first year of the UN-backed initiative, with 65 percent going directly to developing countries. It also looks at the consequences of limited water levels in the Panama Canal, which slowed grain shipments between the Americas and Asia, and the effect of attacks in the Red Sea that added 10 to 14 days to delivery times for food-importing nations in Africa and the Middle East.

Kate draws on her academic background in agricultural economics and her field experience supplying wheat and rice to countries such as Haiti and across West Africa. Through these stories, listeners see how quickly prices can double when ports close, how droughts can cut soybean harvests in Argentina by half, and how heatwaves in India forced the government to restrict rice exports that millions rely on. 

The episode also highlights the essential work of global food programs. The World Food Programme assisted 152 million people last year, with more than 28 million receiving nutrition-specific support. Programs like Food for Progress and McGovern–Dole Food for Education depend on the same shipping routes as commercial markets, which means every corridor disruption carries humanitarian consequences. Kate also shares insights from her recent discussion with David Beasley, former Executive Director of WFP, about the future challenges the world must confront. 

Episode 20 brings clarity to the emerging “new geography” of food security. It explains how changing grain corridors, climate risks, and political tensions influence everything from the price of bread to the stability of entire regions.

LISTEN NOW to understand how global food truly moves, and what it takes to keep it moving. 

@ Katsiaryna "Kate" Foronda 

foronda.us 

#CrudeRealities #CircusAndCircuit #KateForonda #GlobalTrade #OilandGas #EnergyTransition #Geopolitics #OPECPlus #EnergyPolicy #Commodities #Sustainability #SupplyChain #ClimateWeek2025 #food #agriculture 

Tune in now to discover what’s ahead in the Circus & Circuit of global trade!

In this episode, Kate Foronda explores the minerals that quietly power our world from lithium and cobalt to aluminium and rare earth elements. These resources drive electric vehicles, renewable energy, and artificial intelligence, but they also carry enormous environmental, social, and geopolitical costs. 

Kate shares insights from her travels across Chile, where she saw how mining has shaped communities from the oil fields of the south to the lithium basins of the north. She unpacks how the demand for critical minerals is transforming trade routes, global alliances, and environmental policies. 

The episode examines who controls the supply chains, why global finance is investing heavily in mineral extraction, and how countries like China, Australia, and Chile dominate this new strategic race. Kate also looks at the risks — from water depletion in South America to labor issues in Africa — and asks whether technology, especially artificial intelligence, can help manage environmental damage or simply make extraction faster and more efficient. 

“Mining the Future” is a reflection on power, sustainability, and accountability in the age of electrification. 

Now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms. 

@ Katsiaryna "Kate" Foronda 

foronda.us 

#CrudeRealities #CircusAndCircuit #KateForonda #GlobalTrade #OilandGas #EnergyTransition #Geopolitics #OPECPlus #EnergyPolicy #Commodities #Sustainability #SupplyChain #ClimateWeek2025 

Tune in now to discover what’s ahead in the Circus & Circuit of global trade!

A few weeks after NYC Climate Week 2025, oil prices are rising again. Another round of global pledges was made — yet tankers, pipelines, and LNG terminals keep expanding. 

We call it decarbonization, but the world hasn’t really de-petrolized. 

In this episode, I take a hard look at the paradox behind our “green transition.” From OPEC+ fall meetings to Aramco’s profits, from Russia’s shadow exports to AI data centers that still run on fossil power — the story is clear: energy might be evolving, but oil still writes the rules of global trade. We’ll talk about:

⚡ The geopolitics driving OPEC+ coordination — how Saudi Arabia, Russia, the U.S., and China navigate power and price. 

🌍 Europe’s post-Ukraine reality — where energy security now outweighs environmental idealism. 

🛢 The rebranding of legacy fuels — oil and gas positioning themselves as partners, not enemies, of the clean-energy transition. 

🌐 A global economy in denial — why the next era of trade won’t be post-oil, but post-illusion.  

Now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms. 

@ Katsiaryna "Kate" Foronda 

foronda.us 

#CrudeRealities #CircusAndCircuit #KateForonda #GlobalTrade #OilandGas #EnergyTransition #Geopolitics #OPECPlus #EnergyPolicy #Commodities #Sustainability #SupplyChain #ClimateWeek2025 

Tune in now to discover what’s ahead in the Circus & Circuit of global trade!

Can pollution really be traded like oil, wheat, or gold? In this episode, Kate Foronda takes you inside the complex world of carbon credits — where one ton of emissions becomes a tradable unit on global markets.

We’ll explore: 

• How carbon credits work, from cap-and-trade systems in the EU ETS, California, and China, to voluntary offsets verified by standards like Verra and Gold Standard.
• Real-world examples, including Standard Chartered’s forest credit deal in Brazil’s Acre state, cookstove projects in Kenya and Uganda, Shell’s forestry offsets in Peru, and Delta Airlines’ offsets in Liberia. 
• The speculative side of carbon markets: hedge funds bundling credits, and crypto experiments like the Toucan Protocol and KlimaDAO, which collapsed when low-quality credits flooded the system.
• Updates from NYC Climate Week 2025, where initiatives like the Carbon Data Open Protocol (CDOP) and VCM+ coalition aim to bring integrity and standardization to these markets.
• Why critics call the system “carbon colonialism” — with the Global South supplying offsets while corporations in the Global North keep emitting.

From phantom forests to blockchain tokens, carbon credits show both the Circuit — a structured market that could finance real climate solutions — and the Circus — speculation, greenwashing, and global inequity.

Listen now! 🎧

@Katsiaryna (Kate) Foronda 

foronda.us 

Tune in now to discover what’s ahead in the Circus & Circuit of global trade!

The US Open is more than a tennis tournament - it’s a global business machine. Each year, the event generates over $1.2 billion in economic impact for New York City, attracts visitors from every continent, and turns Flushing Meadows into a hub of international commerce.

In this episode of Circus & Circuit: Unraveling Global Trade, host Kate Foronda takes you behind the matches to explore:

• How 100,000 tennis balls, uniforms, and merchandise reflect global supply chains.
• Why the Honey Deuce cocktail is more than a drink—it’s a branded product with millions in revenue.
• The role of sponsors like Grey Goose, IBM, Ralph Lauren, and American Express in shaping global brand strategy.
• How Industrial-Organizational psychology helps explain the teamwork, adaptability, and motivation behind such a massive event.

From tennis balls to champagne, from luxury suites to global branding deals — the US Open shows us how trade, psychology, and human performance intersect on a world stage. Whether you’re a sports fan, a business professional, or simply curious about how global trade plays out in everyday life, this episode will change the way you see major events. 

🎧 Listen to the full podcast on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your shows.

🔗 Learn more at: foronda.us 

Tune in now to discover what’s ahead in the Circus & Circuit of global trade!

In this episode of Circus and Circuit: Unraveling Global Trade, host Kate Foronda explores one of the most urgent questions of our time:

Can law keep up with the machine?

This episode examines the growing AI policy gap, and how it threatens to create more than just legal headaches — but real friction in cross-border commerce, environmental responsibility, and digital sovereignty. 

🎧 Topics include:

– The EU AI Act, U.S. light-touch regulation, and China’s state-driven approach

– Export controls, chip wars, and trade weaponization

– Data localization, digital borders, and AI-powered customs

– Environmental concerns and the carbon cost of AI

– Why global trade needs shared rules for intelligence 

🎧 Listen to the full podcast on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your shows.

🔗 Learn more at: foronda.us 

#AI #GlobalTrade #AIPolicy #Commodities #DigitalSovereignty #TechRegulation #ExportControls #Customs #CarbonEmissions #TradePodcast #KateForonda

Tune in now to discover what’s ahead in the Circus & Circuit of global trade!