America does not need to stop selling McDonald’s hamburgers in China, but the West does need to think differently about derisking critical supply chains, capital markets, and trade. In this episode, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow and author Michael Sobolik joins Kit Conklin to examine the uneasy balance between U.S.-China economic engagement and strategic competition. From the ongoing trade detente to the Trump-Xi summit and new economic security restrictions, the conversation explores where CEOs should draw the line between pursuing growth in China and protecting the technologies, infrastructure, and industrial capacity that underpins U.S. and Western national security.

Geopolitical intelligence used to live in classified government briefings. Jeremy Dicker took it mainstream and made it enjoyable to read. He spent 14 years as an Australian diplomat, received Peru's Presidential Order of Merit, then co-founded International Intrigue, now read by hundreds of thousands of leaders worldwide, from prime ministers to Fortune 500 CEOs. It's written by ex-diplomats and takes under 5 meme-worthy minutes to read.

Kit talks with Jeremy about why every country is rewriting its trade playbook, how Australia's standoff with Chinese economic coercion changed the game, which countries CEOs should be watching right now, and why "raw brain power" has become one of the most fought-over exports in geopolitics.

America’s 250th anniversary raises a harder question than how to celebrate: what kind of courage does self-government still require?
Rye Barcott, Marine veteran, author of Courage Can Save US, and co-founder and CEO of With Honor, joins Kit Conklin to discuss why trust, service, and durable bipartisan work still matter in national security, biotechnology, shipbuilding, mental health, and national service.
From Stoicism and Socrates to the For Country Caucus, the NDAA, and one five-minute act of civic courage, the conversation makes the case for public service that can withstand political cost.

What You’ll Hear
·      Why Rye defines courage as taking a conscious risk in service of something larger than yourself
·      How veteran leaders are building trust across party lines in Congress
·      Why bipartisan legislation is harder to pass, but more likely to last
·      Where courage shows up in national security, biotechnology, shipbuilding, mental health, and national service
·      A concrete America 250 challenge: thank someone whose courage changed your life

Resources Mentioned
Courage Can Save US: Ten Extraordinary Americans and the Fight for Our Future by Rye Barcott
https://couragecansaveus.com/
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/courage-can-save-us-9798260200582/
With Honor
https://withhonor.org/
For Country Caucus
https://withhonor.org/for-country-caucus/
National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology
https://www.biotech.senate.gov/
America250
https://america250.org/
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
https://www.trlibrary.com/
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2680

Guest Links
You can find Rye Barcott at With Honor: https://withhonor.org/, learn more about his book at https://couragecansaveus.com/, and find the publisher page for Courage Can Save US at https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/courage-can-save-us-9798260200582/. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryebarcott/

Learn More About Exiger
Learn more about Exiger's supply chain AI: https://www.exiger.com/

CEO Matt McKnight joins Exiger Exchange to talk about the next frontier of national security: biology.

He is a Marine Corps veteran, and former CCO of the now publicly-traded Gingko Bioworks. Matt's new business is a unicorn called Perimeter, a company focused on defending against biological threats. In this episode, we discuss why biosecurity is starting to look a lot like cybersecurity did in the 1990s - an untapped market, misunderstood, and about to become essential.

Matt explains how advances in AI and bioengineering are changing the risk landscape, why governments and companies need “bio threat radar,” and how biological intelligence could become a critical input for supply chain resilience, public health, and national defense.

We also cover China’s biotech ambitions, the reshoring of critical medicine supply chains, and why the future of national security may depend on how quickly we can detect, attribute, and respond to biological risk.

Exiger's Kit Conklin sits down with Josh Lipsky, Chair of International Economics at the Atlantic Council, to explore how geoeconomics is reshaping global markets, from sanctions and digital currencies to supply chains, tariffs, and the growing intersection of national security and economic policy.

Exiger's Kit Conklin catches up with Chris Miller (NYT best-selling author of Chip War) about the evolving landscape of AI, semiconductor supply chains, and US-China tech competition, highlighting security risks, policy challenges, and future trends.