Michael Pettis (@michaelxpettis)

1/7 The NYT on US (and probably EU) over-reliance on China for the chemicals involved in manufacturing drugs. They argue that it is the combination of lower unit labor costs and a greater tolerance for environmental degradation that makes the difference. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes....

1/2 Many analysts seem to think that China's move on rare earths give it a permanent chokehold on critical minerals. That may make it a very exciting story, but I suspect that it will instead mean that in few years, and sooner than we expect, there... <a target="_blank" href="https://open.substack.c...

1/9 Bloomberg's Chris Anstey notes that "the consumer — not the producer — has been the main focus of officials in Washington. By contrast, China’s leadership, drawing on Marxist tradition, of course focused on production." @AnsteyEco <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newslette...

1/6 Good Bloomberg article on why China needs to raise the consumption share of GDP and how Beijing has become increasingly aware of the need to do just that. But for all the rising awareness, it will not be any easier than it has in the past. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/new...

1/8 Bloomberg: "All his decisions will be guided by whether or not they strengthen the competitiveness of German industry, Merz has said." It seems that Merz wants to double down on the very policies that got Germany into trouble. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles...

1/4 According to Reuters, "more than three months after groundbreaking ceremony for the Funan Techo Canal that will link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand, the site of the ceremony on the bank of the Mekong laid abandoned." <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/c...

1/11 Adam Tooze suggests that "If your aim is restoring the competitive position of US industry, a large dollar devaluation would do more than a sprinkling of industrial subsidies." @adam_tooze <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/225cd989-4edb-4b1f-8e76-8605f1fa3922" color="blue">ft....

1/3 Chinese stocks are up 24% in a week. A well-functioning and stable market is one driven by a wide variety of uncorrelated investment and speculative strategies, so that information is interpreted differently by different investors. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/2e3b583f-a7...

1/7 Amy Kapczynski argues that "everywhere you look in Washington today, there are signs that industrial policy is back. The presidential election is a fight not over whether we will have industrial policy, but over what kind we should have." <a target="_blank" href="https://democracyjournal.org/ar...