Geoeconomic Competition

In this episode of Geoeconomic Competition, Francesca Ghiretti speaks with Carl Benedikt Frey, Dieter Schwarz Associate Professor of AI & Work at the Oxford Internet Institute, Fellow of Mansfield College, University of Oxford. The episode explores the role of AI in international competition. The conversation covers how innovation and diffusion play different roles in national competitiveness, and offers a frank assessment of how the US, China, and Europe are each positioning themselves i...

In this episode of Geoeconomic Competition, Francesca Ghiretti speaks with Abraham Newman, Professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and co-author together with Stecis Goddard, Betty Freyhof Johnson ‘44 Professor of Political Science and Associate Provost for Wellesley in the World, of Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System. The episode unpacks neo-royalism and its implications for Europe and the world. Wh...

In this episode of Geoeconomic Competition, Francesca Ghiretti speaks with Wendy Cutler, Vice President of the Asia Society Policy Institute, about the upcoming Trump-Xi summit. What are the key issues likely to dominate the agenda? How might the summit reshape the trajectory of US-China trade tensions? What would a successful outcome look like for both sides? And what could be the implications for the rest of the world?

In this episode of Geoeconomic Competition, Francesca Ghiretti speaks with Dr. Jost Wübbeke is Managing Partner at Sinolytics, about the content of China's 15th Five Year Plan (2026-203). What are the new priorities? Does the plan tackles some of China's economic challenges? What about consumption? What does the plan tell us about the trajectory of China's tech self-reliance?

In this episode of Geoeconomic Competition, Francesca Ghiretti speaks with Cory Combs, Associate Director at Trivium, about the intensifying global competition over critical minerals and the strategic responses taking shape in Washington and beyond. The conversation explores how US policy is evolving, how allies are aligning - or diverging - and what this means for China’s central role in global mineral supply chains and the future of economic security.

At the end of January 2026, Qiushi published a 2024 speech by Xi Jinping that, among other themes, underscored the strategic importance of having a global reserve currency. In this episode of Geoeconomic Competition, Gerard DiPippo breaks down China’s evolving ambitions for an internationalised renminbi, and how realistic Beijing’s ambitions are.

With the EU and China reaching price undertakings on Chinese EV imports, this episode features Ágnes Szunomár, Associate Professor at Corvinus University of Budapest, to unpack the scale, motives, and consequences of Chinese investment in Europe’s BEV sector. The discussion probes whether Chinese investments in the sector can become genuine growth poles for European supply chains or remain technologically self-contained enclaves. We examine what Europe gains in terms of strategic know how, in...

On the 18th of December, the leaders of the EU will discuss the much debated reparation loan, a proposal to use the frozen Russian assets to finance the Ukrainian war effort. In this episode, Lucas Guttenberg, Director of the programme Europes Future at Bertelsmann Stiftung unpacks what the reparation loan is, how it works and why this decision is so important for Europe.

In October, the Dutch government took over Nexperia, a Dutch chip maker owned by the Chinese Wingtech. The initial and main reason for the takeover was bad management. In the meantime, tensions between The Netherlands and China have escalated, a Chinese delegation visited Brussels and Trump and Xi met. To understand why this is so important and what is happening with Nexperia, Francesca Ghiretti has a chat with Juidth Huismans, Research Leader at RAND Europe's The Hague office.

This episode is a deep dive into the details of the development of China's export controls, from 2022 to the updates of October 2025. Rebecca Arcesati is Lead Analyst, in the Science, Technology and Innovation Programme at MERICS.

In this episode, Francesca Ghiretti hosts Alberto Rizzi, Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations' Rome office. In his policy brief "Markets, migrants, microchips: European power in a world of demographic change", he tackles an issue at the heart of European ability to compete economically. demographics. What's Europe's demographic situation? What are some best practices that exist in the world and in Europe that we should support and adopt? How important is to think about a...

In this episode, Francesca Ghiretti chats with Iana Dreyer, Founder and Editor ot Borderlex, a magazine specialised in trade. With Iana, we try to understand the implications of the EU-China summit as well as the tariff "deal" between the EU and the US. We touch upon EU resilience and strategic autonomy and what are the options for the EU ahead.

This is the third episode of the Geoeconomic Competition series on new "trade" deals. In this episode, Francesca Ghiretti chats with Reva Goujon, Director at Rhodium Group. What are the tariffs China and the US imposed on each other? How has the Geneva "deal" changed those tariffs? What has happened since then and what can we expect from the coming month - after the pause ends? Are some of the questions analysed in this episode