Goldman's Jared Cohen and George Lee on the Unprecedented Shocks in Geopolitics
Listen to Odd Lots on Apple Podcasts
Listen to Odd Lots on Spotify
Subscribe to the newsletter
The first month of the Trump administration has been noisy and novel by basically any measure. But perhaps the biggest shockwaves have been in the realm of geopolitics. Europeans were caught off guard by a recent speech given by Vice President JD Vance in Munich, calling into doubt the future of the Trans-Atlantic partnership. Meanwhile, when it comes to tariffs, the Trump administration has actually been tougher on Mexico and Canada than it has been on China. Then add into all of this the anxiety over AI domination, as a result of the hype around DeepSeek. So how should we understand these novel risks? And how should investors incorporate them into their thinking? On this episode we speak with Jared Cohen and George Lee, the co-heads of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute. They discuss the future of Europe, what they're expecting from the Trump administration, the rise of the Gulf powers, AI, undersea cables, and the opportunities in identifying what they call "geopolitical swing states" like Japan and India.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
5 minutes ago
- The Hill
Newsom: Pentagon lying over LA to justify National Guard deployment
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Monday accused the Defense Department of 'lying to the American people' in justifying deploying National Guard troops to the state to quell Los Angeles protests against federal immigration raids, asserting that the situation intensified only when the Pentagon deployed troops. 'The situation became escalated when THEY deployed troops,' Newsom posted to X, referring to the Pentagon. 'Donald Trump has manufactured a crisis and is inflaming conditions. He clearly can't solve this, so California will.' Newsom was responding to a post from DOD Rapid Response on X, a Pentagon-run account, which claimed that 'Los Angeles is burning, and local leaders are refusing to respond.' President Trump on Saturday deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area amid the ICE protests, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying the decision was made due to 'violent mobs' attacking 'Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations.' While protests have intensified in recent days, devolving at times into violence, the majority of gatherings have been largely peaceful. Still, California National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles on Sunday morning, with some 300 deployed on the ground later that day at three locations: Los Angeles proper, Paramount and Compton. White House officials have sought to highlight images of burning vehicles and clashes with law enforcement to make the case that the situation had gotten out of control. 'The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They're insurrectionists. They're bad people. They should be in jail,' Trump told reporters on Monday. In addition, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has threatened to deploy approximately 500 U.S. Marines to the city, with U.S. Northern Command on Sunday confirming the service members were 'prepared to deploy.' The use of American troops has rankled California officials, who have said the federal response 'inflammatory' and said the deployment of soldiers 'will erode public trust.' Newsom also has traded insults with Hegseth, calling him 'a joke,' and that the idea of deploying active duty Marines in California was 'deranged behavior.' 'Pete Hegseth's a joke. He's a joke. Everybody knows he's so in over his head. What an embarrassment. That guy's weakness masquerading as strength. . . . It's a serious moment,' Newsom said in an interview with podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen. The tit-for-tat continued when chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell then took to X on Monday to attack Newsom. 'LA is on FIRE right now, but instead of tackling the issue, Gavin Newsom is spending his time attacking Secretary Hegseth,' Parnell wrote. 'Unlike Newsom, [Hegseth] isn't afraid to lead.' Newsom, who has formally demanded the Trump administration pull the National Guard troops off the streets, has declared the deployment 'unlawful' and said California will sue the Trump administration over its actions. 'There is currently no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles, and to do so in this unlawful manner and for such a lengthy period is a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation,' David Sapp, Newsom's legal affairs secretary, wrote in a letter to Hegseth on Sunday. 'Accordingly, we ask that you immediately rescind your order and return the National Guard to its rightful control by the State of California, to be deployed as appropriate when necessary.' In the past 60 years, a U.S. president has only on one occasion mobilized a state's National Guard troops without the consent of its governor to quell unrest or enforce the law. That was in 1965, when former President Lyndon Johnson sent Guard members to Selma, Ala., to protect civil rights protesters there.
San Francisco Chronicle
6 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
AP PHOTOS: Trump's new travel ban takes effect, and some protest
President Donald Trump's ban on travel to the United States took effect Monday. Demonstrators outside Los Angeles International Airport held signs protesting the ban affecting citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries. At Miami International Airport, passengers moved steadily through an area for international arrivals. Tensions are escalating over the Trump administration's campaign of immigration enforcement. The new ban applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don't hold a valid visa. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Politico
7 minutes ago
- Politico
California says Trump's deployment of National Guard violates state sovereignty
California will ask a judge to reverse President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles, arguing that the use of the military to suppress immigration protests is an illegal and unconstitutional intrusion on state authority. The state's attorney general, Rob Bonta, a Democrat, unveiled on Monday the basis for the lawsuit, which he said would be filed imminently. The state will ask a federal judge to 'set aside' Trump's Saturday move to 'federalize' California's National Guard troops, part of an order to defend federal property and personnel carrying out Trump's deportation policies. Gov. Gavin Newsom told POLITICO on Monday that federal law requires Trump to coordinate his call-up of the National Guard with the state. 'There was no communication through our office, period, full stop. So, by definition, it's an illegal act,' Newsom, a Democrat, said, adding that the president failed to meet other key prerequisites for the deployment. Bonta alleged that Trump's action violated federal law and the 10th Amendment, the Constitution's provision that protects state sovereignty and rights. At a press conference Monday, the state attorney general said Trump's order 'skipped over multiple rational, commonsense' steps and wound up escalating the unrest while trampling on California's sovereignty. Trump invoked a provision of federal law that gives the president the ability to deploy National Guard troops in limited circumstances, including to suppress 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion' and to help 'execute' federal laws when 'regular forces' are unable to do so. Bonta argued that the provision requires Newsom's concurrence. 'The governor's agreement and consent needs to be part of any calling in of the National Guard. That didn't happen,' the attorney general said. The statute says that a president's order to deploy the Guard under the provision 'shall be issued through the governors of the States.' It does not expressly mandate consultation with or approval by the governor. Newsom contends that the provision requires at least some communication with the governor's office. Trump indicated over the weekend that he warned Newsom prior to Saturday that he intended to send in troops if he deemed Newsom's response to the protests insufficient. Trump has repeatedly described the L.A. protests as stoked by 'insurrectionists' and has vowed to 'liberate' the city. Bonta and Newsom say the streets had been largely calm when Trump's deployment and inflammatory rhetoric reignited the protests.
