The Call by the Global Intelligence Desk

Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development is the lead author of the EBRD’s landmark new report, “Brave Old World,” which lays out one of the defining long-term challenges of our time: the demographic reversal. Populations are aging, fertility rates are falling, and fiscal systems, whether in high-income economies or the global south, are coming under strain. 

This week on The Call for our final episode of the year, Jay Sapsford  asks Beata how governments can manage this transition, what an economy built on a shrinking workforce means for growth, how developed and emerging markets should prepare differently, and whether expectations for technology to fill the widening gap are realistic. As Javorcik notes in the report, “Meeting this challenge will require courage.”

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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  

America’s alliances - and the businesses that bind those partnerships - are recovering from the strain of this year’s trade tensions. Amid the rise of China, uncertainties remain over how best to pursue our immediate economic goals while also pursing less tangible, long-term strategic interests.  Jay Sapsford asks Ambassador Rahm Emanuel: As alliances evolve, can Washington and its friends effectively deter Beijing? 

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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  

Traffic at America’s ports is one of the most underappreciated indicators of economic prospects - and at the Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest, traffic is slowing. That begs a question: Is the slowing port traffic a red flag? Few people see real-time demand, supply chain stress, and geopolitical pressure points as clearly as Gene Seroka, Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles. Jay Sapsford talks with Gene about what the slowdown means for trade and growth.

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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  

Seven years ago, economists at Capital Economics, an independent macro-economic consultancy, issued a paper entitled The Coming Slowdown in China. At a time when much of the world was convinced China would overtake the U.S., they argued that tailwinds were already turning into headwinds.
 
Our guest on this episode of The Call is Mark Williams, Chief Asia Economist at Capital Economics, and co-author of the firm’s provocative report. We ask Williams to revisit his firm’s thesis today, seven years on, against a very different backdrop, including an escalating U.S.-China rivalry amid sluggish growth.

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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  

Adam Posen, in the most recent issue of Foreign Affairs, published a stark argument that has generated buzz here in DC: The U.S., in his telling, has leveraged its role as a ‘global insurer’ underwriting the risks of the world’s economic system, to extract ever richer premiums from allies, demanding more and more as the price of U.S.-led security.
 
At a time when the world was already undergoing significant changes, Posen joins the Call to raise significant questions about the role of the U.S. in the years ahead: What will be the U.S. role in a chaotic new era? Will it continue to offer security and a financial haven? Or is the U.S. now a source of turmoil, leveraging uncertainty for economic gain?

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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  

From autonomous systems to AI-driven targeting, warfare is being redefined by innovation. This week’s guest, former Defense Under-Secretary Michèle Flournoy, argues that America’s ability to deter and win wars, now, depends less on troop strength and more on its capacity to out-innovate its rivals through cutting-edge research, skilled talent, and fast investment. She will outline how deterrence is shifting as defense innovation accelerates worldwide, and allies modernize their military -- and what policy changes, industrial partnerships, and investment priorities should come 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  

With the U.S. and Chinese leaders meeting on the sidelines of APEC this week, the stakes are high: renewed tariff threats, tighter tech and minerals controls, allies under pressure to align, and a security backdrop that refuses to stay quiet. Supply chains, investment plans, and boardroom risk maps all hang in the balance. The question on our mind this week: Can Trump and Xi Find a New Normal? The Chamber's own Charles Freeman joins The Call to explore what a “new normal” could look like: What are the needs of each side? Is there space for deal-making? Might we see more escalation of trade tensions?

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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  

Japan has made history by electing Sanae Takaichi as its first female prime minister, but her Liberal Democratic Party was forced to shift rightward after centrists lost the premiership. Having just secured Japan’s top post, Takaichi has only days to prepare to meet with President Trump and will have to navigate a slew of difficult issues with a famously unpredictable U.S. leader.
 
 David Boling, former Hill staffer, USTR trade negotiator, and currently Director, Japan and Asian Trade at Eurasia Group, helps us unpack a full Japan-U.S. agenda: Japanese defense spending, policy coordination with an increasingly assertive China, and – above all - Japan’s promised investments in the U.S. resulting from recent trade deal signed by Takaichi’s predecessor.

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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  

As the dust of the IMF Annual Meetings settles, the world is now defined by uncertainty.  The weaponization of trade, the steep price of resilience, and debt levels set to reach 100% of global GDP by 2030 – all combine for difficult terrain to navigate.  This brings forward our question: Who leads in a fragmented world? 
  
 Robert Zoellick, Chairman of Americas, at Temasek, Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, former President of the World Bank, U.S. Trade Representative, and Deputy Secretary of State, joins The Call to unpack the next phase of our increasingly fragmented global economy and what it means for business strategy, resilience, and U.S. leadership.  

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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  

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas joins the Call live from the IMF meetings in Washington., which is happening amid surging public debt levels, growing trade restrictions, and technological advances that promise to reshape labor and productivity.

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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