The Call by the Global Intelligence Desk

The rivalry between Washington and Beijing has entered a less predictable phase. Tariffs are no longer simply bargaining tools but structural features of the relationship. Export controls and investment restrictions are accelerating a technological split. China’s industrial overcapacity is forcing governments and companies alike into tough choices over supply chains, market access and national security, and the question becomes how the United States effectively competes with an aggressively state-sponsored economy.

After this week’s well-timed conference, Presidents Trump and Xi will meet at a moment when the costs of miscalculation are rising: Can this summit produce guardrails that matter—or will it simply mark the next turn in a more confrontational cycle? And what should business leaders be watching in the days immediately following the meeting? The U.S. Chamber's own Jeremie Waterman joins Jay Sapsford live from the Chamber's own conference on China to discuss these vital issues.

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The Call is a series of live video conversations featuring expert guests from the U.S. Chamber's Global Intelligence Desk. Live access to The Call is a benefit to the Chamber’s members; however, we are pleased to provide recordings of the calls for wider listening thereafter.

Learn more about the Global Intelligence Desk: https://globalintelligencedesk.com/
Join the conversation on LinkedIn:   / global-intelligence-desk  

Washington and Beijing are engaged in a far-reaching rivalry, spanning trade, capital, development finance, and supply chains—ultimately shaping the global economy. For countries and companies alike, the task is increasingly to navigate between these two centers of gravity.

As global tensions threaten growth, however, our attention turns to the upcoming U.S.-China summit and whether Presidents Trump and Xi could possibly stabilize ties and reassert some measure of cooperation. Hurdles to such an alignment include the trade dispute, the digital rivalry, the Taiwan question, and the war in Iran.  And yet, the search for common ground will be a recurring theme this year as the U.S. hosts the G20 and the U.S. Chamber hosts the B20 – critical venues for coordinating the world’s bid for growth. So as the advance teams in Beijing prepare the red carpets, we ask David Malpass, renowned economic diplomat: Can the U.S. and China reset?

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The Call is a series of live video conversations featuring expert guests from the U.S. Chamber's Global Intelligence Desk. Live access to The Call is a benefit to the Chamber’s members; however, we are pleased to provide recordings of the calls for wider listening thereafter.

Learn more about the Global Intelligence Desk: https://globalintelligencedesk.com/
Join the conversation on LinkedIn:   / global-intelligence-desk  

The U.S. Treasury has announced that it will release what it describes as the “financial equivalent,” of a military campaign on Iran, threatening to cut off any bank, company, or country that continues doing business with the U.S. adversary. Warning letters have already landed on the desks of financial institutions across three continents.  

The move is an example of ‘economic warfare,’ in which the tools of commerce and trade are used as leverage over those running afoul of U.S. and its allies. For global businesses, this means operating legally under another country’s law is no longer sufficient legal protection.  

Our guest Juan Zarate, former Deputy National Security Advisor, spent a decade inside the machine by building the sanctions architecture at OFAC, establishing the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, and leading the global effort to seize Saddam Hussein’s assets. However, he warns guest host Masha Angelova that this powerful tool of statecraft also provides incentives for U.S. rivals to work outside the system, a movement that is growing.  

Raising the question: Should the U.S. Treasury be an agency of national security? 

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The Call is a series of live video conversations featuring expert guests from the U.S. Chamber's Global Intelligence Desk. Live access to The Call is a benefit to the Chamber’s members; however, we are pleased to provide recordings of the calls for wider listening thereafter.

Learn more about the Global Intelligence Desk: https://globalintelligencedesk.com/
Join the conversation on LinkedIn:   / global-intelligence-desk  

A new age of cybersecurity threats has arrived.

Two weeks ago, the world learned about an unprecedented new AI capability that will change the cyber landscape. Anthropic developed Mythos, a powerful corporate security tool specially designed for coding and enterprise defense. But mindful of possible misuse, the tool was released under code named "Project Glasswing" to a handful of trusted users.

That capability may be getting out into the world sooner rather than later. Bloomberg is reporting the powerful new tool has been used by a "private online forum," without authorization. Other media outlets are chasing. Anthropic says it is investigating

Are we prepared for this new era? What does this mean for all of us? U.S. Chamber CTO Bill Jewell joins Jay Sapsford for this timely, important discussion, with some advice for how companies can protect against these threats today and in the future.

The developments of the past two weeks underscore the risks as these powerful new tools enter the workplace and add urgency to understanding their implications for enterprise security, governance, and responsible adoption. This isn’t just a conversation for this or that silo but has implications across the operation.

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The Call is a series of live video conversations featuring expert guests from the U.S. Chamber's Global Intelligence Desk. Live access to The Call is a benefit to the Chamber’s members; however, we are pleased to provide recordings of the calls for wider listening thereafter.

Learn more about the Global Intelligence Desk: https://globalintelligencedesk.com/
Join the conversation on LinkedIn:   / global-intelligence-desk  

Talks in Islamabad have collapsed. A U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports is now underway. The Strait of Hormuz, through which passes roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne energy, remains effectively closed, triggering what some have called the largest oil supply disruption in history. Hanging in the balance are the world’s economic growth prospects.

Can diplomacy find an answer?

Ambassador Dennis Ross is one of America's most experienced diplomats, having served across Democratic and Republican administrations alike. Host Jay Sapsford asks him to tap years of experience in the Middle East and help us understand why Iran has proven so resilient, and what pathways remain open for Washington as the conflict turns to a standoff.

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The Call is a series of live video conversations featuring expert guests from the U.S. Chamber's Global Intelligence Desk. Live access to The Call is a benefit to the Chamber’s members; however, we are pleased to provide recordings of the calls for wider listening thereafter.

Learn more about the Global Intelligence Desk: https://globalintelligencedesk.com/
Join the conversation on LinkedIn:   / global-intelligence-desk  

Immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the U.S. and its allies froze roughly $300 billion in Russian central bank reserves. The move shocked the world, signaling that assets – dollar assets – can be seized, setting a frightening precedent for anyone worried about falling out of line with Washington. Joining Jay Sapsford in a special in-person episode live from the U.S. Chamber building in Washington are Josh Lipsky from the Atlantic Council and Edward Fishman from the Council of Foreign Relations.

Our guest Lipsky says we have been living with the repercussions ever since, with implications for cross-border payments, digital assets and a growing distrust of the dollar as world currency: “Every time a country builds a new payment system to work around the dollar, you can trace the decision back to this day.”

Fishman sees the move as a major step toward ‘economic warfare,’ in which countries leverage geography (Iran with Hormuz) or crucial resources (China with rare earths) to vie with rival and pursue interests. As Fishman describes it, the ultimate chokepoint has been the dollar and the U.S. role in cross-border settlements.

All of which raises questions about whether the growing use of sanctions has kicked-started an effort to find a tech-based alternative to the greenback. Or put more simply: Has the seizure of Russian assets undermined the dollar?

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The Call is a series of live video conversations featuring expert guests from the U.S. Chamber's Global Intelligence Desk. Live access to The Call is a benefit to the Chamber’s members; however, we are pleased to provide recordings of the calls for wider listening thereafter.

Learn more about the Global Intelligence Desk: https://globalintelligencedesk.com/
Join the conversation on LinkedIn:   / global-intelligence-desk  

Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, Administrator of the Panama Canal Authority, the man responsible for a waterway offering many shippers an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, joins Jay Sapsford to discuss global trade, energy, and strategic infrastructure.

The Panama Canal already carries 5% of the world's maritime trade and 40% of all U.S. container traffic. Now, the short-cut between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans faces growing demand after the Iran conflict has forced a real-time rerouting of global shipping. And that surge comes just as Panama was already under intense public scrutiny.

Mr. Morales’ team had just addressed a water shortage crisis when a fight broke out between the U.S. and China – its two largest customers - over who operates the terminals on either side of the waterway. Now, the authority is pushing an ambitious expansion to boost its water supply, expand container capacity, and build a new energy pipeline.

Morales speaks to what all of this means for the companies that move goods through a consequential 50-mile stretch of water, and what business leaders should expect from one of the world's busiest chokepoints.

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The Call is a series of live video conversations featuring expert guests from the U.S. Chamber's Global Intelligence Desk. Live access to The Call is a benefit to the Chamber’s members; however, we are pleased to provide recordings of the calls for wider listening thereafter.

Learn more about the Global Intelligence Desk: https://globalintelligencedesk.com/
Join the conversation on LinkedIn:   / global-intelligence-desk  

The Trump-Xi summit was supposed to take place in the days ahead. It's been delayed -- and sidelined -- by the war in Iran war, which has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, rattled oil markets, raised the risks of inflation and forced a reassessment of a slew of assumptions about the state of play between powers great, medium and small.

The under-appreciated player in this global contest is China, hugely dependent on Middle East energy, even as it negotiates trade ties to the U.S. For business leaders, the Iran conflict compounds the high levels of uncertainty that already haunted the relationship between Beijing and Washington, and the world’s two largest economies.

Our guest, Robert "Bob" Hormats, Visiting Lecturer at Yale and Former United States Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, having advised Henry Kissinger on the original opening to China, has engaged with Beijing at the highest levels across five decades, and as such, is one of the world’s most seasoned voices on the U.S.-China relationship in the world. He discusses this turbulent situation with host Jay Sapsford and gives his take on what happens next.

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The Call is a series of live video conversations featuring expert guests from the U.S. Chamber's Global Intelligence Desk. Live access to The Call is a benefit to the Chamber’s members; however, we are pleased to provide recordings of the calls for wider listening thereafter.

Learn more about the Global Intelligence Desk: https://globalintelligencedesk.com/
Join the conversation on LinkedIn:   / global-intelligence-desk  

A few weeks into the War with Iran, it is clear the conflict will hit more than the market for crude. The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz has significant implications for the price – and availability – of petroleum intensive products affecting agriculture, logistics, manufacturing, defense and a slew of other core industries. 
 
 Scott Lincicome, Vice President of General Economics at the Cato Institute, one of the most cited voices in the national debate over U.S. trade policy, joins host Jay Sapsford to discuss recent moves to ease both Russian sanctions and the Jones Act. They also talk about what the war – and its focus on Hormuz, a vital chokepoint - says about our highly interdependent global economy.  

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The Call is a series of live video conversations featuring expert guests from the U.S. Chamber's Global Intelligence Desk. Live access to The Call is a benefit to the Chamber’s members; however, we are pleased to provide recordings of the calls for wider listening thereafter.

Learn more about the Global Intelligence Desk: https://globalintelligencedesk.com/
Join the conversation on LinkedIn:   / global-intelligence-desk  

Jim Bridenstine, Managing Partner of the Artemis Group, former NASA Administrator, former U.S. Representative (R-OK), and a leading voice in American space policy, joins our guest host for this episode, Neil Bradley, the U.S. Chamber’s Executive Vice President, Chief Policy Officer and Head of Strategic Advocacy, to discuss the new space rce.

As early as April, the U.S. will launch Artemis II, its first manned space flight in half a century. The planned launch comes amid a new rivalry that echoes the Cold War contest with the USSR. This time, however, the race is with China, with immediate national security implications. And the U.S. is relying more heavily on venture capital and private business.  

So we will launch the discussion with this frame: What drives the ‘New Space Race?’

Bridenstine and Bradley break down the convergence of the China rivalry, military space dominance, satellite technology, and commercial expansion, and what it means for companies operating in defense, telecommunications, logistics, and beyond.

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The Call is a series of live video conversations featuring expert guests from the U.S. Chamber's Global Intelligence Desk. Live access to The Call is a benefit to the Chamber’s members; however, we are pleased to provide recordings of the calls for wider listening thereafter.

Learn more about the Global Intelligence Desk: https://globalintelligencedesk.com/
Join the conversation on LinkedIn:   / global-intelligence-desk