Latest news with #Pettis
The Star
18-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Europe warned to change fast or become a ‘shock absorber' of US-China trade war
Senior European Union officials are breathing a sigh of relief over a US-China tariff deal that may delay a diversion of Chinese exports to Europe. But they have been warned that the bloc must reform quickly or become a 'shock absorber' of tectonic upheavals in global trade imbalances. The climbdown in superpower tensions following high-wire talks in Geneva last weekend has led to a mutual reduction in tariffs and a respite in the turmoil that has roiled markets since US President Donald Trump's return to the White House in January. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. It does not, however, meaningfully change a bleak outlook for Europe if it fails to quickly adapt to Washington's efforts to reorder trade with China and the rest of the world, economists said. 'There is talk in Brussels of Europe becoming a 'third pole' in a bipolar world dominated by the US and China,' said Michael Pettis, a finance professor at Peking University. 'But without deeper political integration and better coordination of fiscal and industrial policies, this ambition risks remaining a slogan rather than a strategy.' 'Europe might not become a pole at all, but rather a shock absorber – forced to adjust to the choices of others without shaping the outcomes,' added Pettis, an influential thinker on the changing nature of global trade. 'I say this because of some pretty simple arithmetic,' he continued. 'The US currently represents nearly half of global deficits, and with the UK and Canada they together comprise roughly two-thirds of all deficits.' While last week's deal may not lead to a reduction in America's gaping trade deficit with China, the Beijing-based professor believed it would eventually come down and that Washington would put pressure on others to do the same. Pettis, also affiliated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a US think tank, said 'one of two things must happen'. 'Either global surpluses must come down – and with China accounting for nearly half of global surpluses, this means that China's surplus must come down – or some other part of the world must run the large deficits needed to balance global surpluses, and for all practical purposes this mostly means Europe,' he explained. European governments viewed last week's Sino-American deal as possibly buying them time on what is anticipated to be a wave of diverted Chinese exports to EU ports. 'We are seeing elements of de-escalation on the American side,' said Michal Baranowski, Poland's deputy minister for development and technology. 'The US has begun conversations with China. They reached a sort of an agreement with [the] UK, and that's a good sign,' he added. 'Negotiations with the EU are speeding up.' The minister described the US-China agreement as 'a good first step', saying it was 'good for us as well because Europe is very focused on trade diversion. With US-China tensions de-escalating, we're less likely to see it in Europe'. But observers have warned that this development must not distract the EU from the significant internal reform required to survive in a harsh new world order. The bloc is divided, too, on areas of industrial policies that may afford it better financial means to compete with the US and China, with new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz appearing last week to rule out EU-wide joint borrowing. 'We cannot go into never-ending spirals of debt,' Merz said in Brussels last week. Luis Garicano of the London School of Economics and a former member of the European Parliament urged the EU to shift its focus to reducing barriers within its own 27-member bloc rather than chase free-trade agreements. 'The IMF puts the hidden cost of trading goods inside the EU at the equivalent of a 45 per cent tariff. For services, the figure climbs to 110 per cent, higher than Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs on Chinese imports – measures many saw as a near-embargo,' Garicano wrote in a blog post. 'The [European] Commission may be expanding into new domains, but it's leaving its core mission – the single market – increasingly undefended.' Although EU leaders have acknowledged the need for internal reform, a quick fix is unlikely. Instead, the bloc is expected to adopt a multipronged approach of trying to cut trade deals with partners including India and the Mercosur group of South America as it also negotiates directly with the economic superpowers themselves. Talks with the US continue, with trade chief Maros Sefcovic speaking with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick by phone on Wednesday. A deal has thus far been elusive. 'I think the US and Europe may be a bit slower,' US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this week. 'My personal belief is Europe may have a collective action problem; that the Italians want something that's different than the French.' Brussels officials, meanwhile, are awaiting the first assessments of a task force set up to monitor the impact of Trump's tariffs on trade flows. They are ready to deploy safeguard measures that can quickly close the market to sudden surges of products that may harm local industry. Customs statistics suggest that circumstances may have changed even in the short window in which the US and China maintained mutual tariffs north of 120 per cent. Chinese trade data for April showed hefty declines in Chinese shipments to the US and big jumps in shipments to Europe. A 21 per cent drop in China's shipments to the US was mirrored by a 20.44 per cent leap in China's shipments to Germany. At the same time, EU shipments to China are cratering. In April, China's EU imports fell 16.46 per cent, according to the Post's calculations of its official trade data. Bloomberg on Thursday reported that China's trade surplus with the EU reached a record US$90 billion in the first four months of 2025. Amid these shifts, Brussels seeks to convince Beijing to take action that would address the potential trade diversion and China's manufacturing overcapacity. Otherwise, officials say, the EU market will start closing down. But these threats appear to be falling on deaf ears. 'The overcapacity problem is huge, it's growing, it's massive and it goes across the sectors,' Marjut Hannonen, head of trade for the EU delegation in China, told a panel discussion in Beijing on Wednesday. 'Overcapacity is an issue which we don't see China addressing at all,' Hannonen added. 'On the other hand, they are just doubling down on more manufacturing capacity, which is going to make this situation much worse, and this is a global problem.' In a sign that Beijing was playing hardball with Europe, talks between French and Chinese ministers this week failed to yield a deal that would see tariffs lifted on France's cognac imports, French Finance Minister Eric Lombard said following meetings with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng. Yanmei Xie, an independent analyst of China's political economy based in Barcelona, said the EU's efforts to get Beijing to change were likely doomed to failure. 'Europe keeps asking China to do something about it, but this is nothing short of asking China to change its economic system,' said Xie. 'Overcapacity is a feature not a bug in the Chinese model of techno-industrial upgrade through relentless manufacturing scaling.' 'To mitigate the effect of US tariffs, China needs Europe to absorb more Chinese goods while Europe wants China to export less and import more,' she added. 'Their objectives are diametrically opposed.' More from South China Morning Post: For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2025.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bozeman hires former Arnold, Chiles Coach Kevin Pettis
SAND HILLS, Fla. (WMBB) – Deane Bozeman School has hired a new head football coach, bringing over Arnold defensive coordinator and former Chiles head coach, Kevin Pettis. The decision to hire Pettis comes in less than three weeks since Bozeman and former head coach Bronson Sweatt resigned. Bozeman head football coach, Sweatt resigns Pettis served under former Bozeman head coach, Jason Griffin, last season. He helped Arnold turn around from 0-9 in 2023 to 7-4 and a playoff berth in 2024. Prior to Arnold, Pettis had nearly three decades of coaching experience, including 23 years as a high school head football coach. He has coaching stints at Pacelli Catholic High School, Dr. Phillips High School, Deland High School, Crestview High School, Sebastian River High School, and most recently, Tallahassee-Chiles High School. Pettis' stint at Chiles ended in controversy, as he was dismissed following an investigation by Leon County Schools into alleged misconduct. A 24-page investigative report was turned in to Leon County Schools by an independent law firm in Tallahassee, hired by LCS. In part of those allegations, it was accused that prior to a Chiles game with Mosley High School in 2022, Chiles players were instructed to block Mosley players in a potentially dangerous manner, but that allegation was not sustained. The report also addressed allegations of improper living arrangements for student-athletes living outside of Chiles zone who attended the school. One student-athlete was found in violation of the FHSAA policy and the other was not. Following the LCS report and investigation, Coach Pettis denied the allegations called the investigation a 'targeted witch hunt,' and said that LCS did not allow for due process in the investigation. On Tuesday, Deane Bozeman released the following statement regarding Pettis' hiring: 'We are excited to welcome Kevin Pettis to Deane Bozeman School as our new Head High School Football Coach. Coach Pettis brings with him a wealth of knowledge, experience, and leadership, which includes success both on and off the field. We look forward to the positive impact he will have within our school and athletic programs.' Bozeman finished the 2024 season 5-5 and missed the playoffs. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Woman's car left shattered after softball-sized hailstorm in Nebraska: 'Don't break my windshield, please!'
FREMONT, Neb. – With severe weather season in full swing, thunderstorms continue to pound the Midwest with damaging winds and some substantial hail. Horrific storms ripped through Fremont, Nebraska, last Thursday, leaving behind a trail of tornadoes and massive hail. One driver is likely facing a totaled vehicle. Video footage captured by Eric Pettis (seen above) showed the terrifying moment softball-sized hailstones relentlessly pounded his girlfriend's car. "God, don't break my windshield, please!" Pettis' girlfriend is heard saying in the video. Easter Weekend Severe Weather Leaves At Least 5 Dead In Oklahoma As Storms Pummel Central Us Pettis said the couple was en route to a concert when the destructive storm struck. "Once we got on the highway, it started to hail," Pettis said. The video vividly illustrated the intensity of the hailstorm as enormous chunks of ice, some measuring up to 4 inches in diameter, cracked their windshield and ultimately shattered a side window. Pettis said that they believe her car is totaled but have not heard from the adjuster yet. Watch: Drone Video Shows Extensive Damage Following Ef-2 Tornado In Missouri After rounds of severe thunderstorms in the Plains this week, a threat, once again, will return Thursday afternoon in portions of Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. While that threat looks to stay on the lower end, the FOX Forecast Center said, large hail and damaging winds are still likely with any severe storms that do develop. An isolated tornado or two is possible in the afternoon and evening. The threat makes a resurgence Friday with a severe storm risk for Oklahoma and the panhandle region of article source: Woman's car left shattered after softball-sized hailstorm in Nebraska: 'Don't break my windshield, please!'
USA Today
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
That's nuts! Anthony Pettis reveals crazy detail about 'Showtime' kick vs. Benson Henderson
Any true fan of mixed martial arts is very familiar with Anthony Pettis' legendary 'Showtime' kick against Benson Henderson during their WEC 53 lightweight title fight in December 2010, but did you know that Henderson isn't the only man who got kicked by Pettis that night? It turns out that, while he jumped and pushed off the cage with his right foot, Pettis also kicked the cageside cameraman right in the nuts, a detail he revealed during a recent episode of 'The HJR Podcast' (via Instagram): What a legend. And I'm talking about the cameraman, of course. He still got the shot perfectly in frame!
Asia Times
14-04-2025
- Business
- Asia Times
Michael Pettis misleading the American zeitgeist on China
Every so often, an American public intellectual captures the political zeitgeist and sends the nation down decades-long paths, for good or for ill. Ralph Waldo Emerson provided the nation with spiritual rigor and moral fortitude, resulting in the Republican Party, the Civil War and the end of slavery. Francis Fukuyama provided America with a stunning vision of national triumph, resulting in military debacles, a financial crisis, a stratified society and our current insane clown posse politics. While no one in our current cacophony has the stature of Emerson or made an 'End of History' star turn like Fukuyama, the Trump economics team are known acolytes of heterodox economist Michael Pettis, currently teaching at Peking University. Pettis's unconventional ideas and even more unorthodox career path have managed to short-circuit the traditional economics idea-to-policy pathway. Ben Bernanke, Joseph Stiglitz, Larry Summers and Paul Krugman were all PhD economists teaching at Ivy League universities. They had three Nobel Prizes among them, advised dozens (if not hundreds) of PhD students and published hundreds (if not thousands) of academic papers. Their path to the Washington policy world is, for what it's worth, highly credentialed. Pettis was an emerging markets bond trader with two master's degrees, international affairs and an MBA (both from Columbia University). He currently teaches MBA students at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management and, for the most part, does not publish academic research. Pettis has likened himself to a 19th-century pamphleteer, writing mass-market economics books and op-ed articles. What he also does is tweet. And oh does he tweet. He is peer-reviewed, often ruthlessly, but by the Twitter peanut gallery – not credentialed economists. Do public intellectuals shape public opinion? Or does the public elevate obscure academics and thinkers to prominence based on the national mood and its desires? Or is it a pas da deux between thinker and audience, leading and following concurrently, both inseparable parts of the zeitgeist? America was young, still finding its footing, when Emerson wrote his transcendentalist essays, giving the nation a spiritual mission based on individual self-reliance. This expansive philosophy of personal freedom was readily accepted by an exceptionalist nation looking for meaning as it filled its frontiers and confronted its demons. Fukuyama did his star turn in an established America at its moment of greatest triumph. The Soviet Union had just crumbled, the Japan bubble was bursting and China was still a backwater. A happily bewildered America latched onto kid Fukuyama – who effortlessly juggled Marx, Hegel and Tocqueville – and floated off into exceptionalist bliss. History has not been kind to the man who dared to declare its end. Singapore's ex-foreign minister Kishore Mahbubani publicly stated that Fukuyama's book gave America collective brain damage. Perhaps harsh, but Fukuyama does not come out looking much better in the alternative scenario – the kid who could juggle Marx, Hegel and Tocqueville with one hand was just a grifter. In the heady days after the Soviet Union dematerialized, 'The End of History and the Last Man' just about wrote itself. America was looking for flattery and the Japanese American kid who can quote Hegel and Tocqueville wins. Where does Pettis fit into all of this? This eccentric thinker issuing expositions by Twitter thread has amassed a substantial following. He has unfortunately become the nexus of China economic thought in mainstream Western media, which, Han Feizi believes, has caused significant brain damage to China analysis and now threatens to cause irreparable economic damage to America as his acolytes formulate policy around his follies. While a triumphant America looked to Fukuyama for flattery, an anxious America latches onto Pettis for affirmation. And it appears the favor was returned. For two decades, Pettis has told the Western world that China was overinvesting and under-consuming and that growth will collapse to 2-4%. China grew two to three times as fast. Unsurprisingly, his ideas are now more popular than ever, worming their way into the minds of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors Stephen Miran. In recent Twitter posts, Michael Pettis appears beside himself at the feckless design and implementation of Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs, writing: It is hard to see much systemic thinking in the new round of tariffs, and because trade can only be resolved on a systemic basis, and not on a bilateral basis, this means that they are unlikely to be very helpful. Pettis seems aghast at what Trump has done, viewing it as a perversion of his belief that the global trading system needs to be systematically rebalanced: The new tariffs don't really address the real US problem. One obvious reason is that the tariffs are largely bilateral, and while bilateral imbalances may impress those who don't understand trade and capital flows, they are, in fact, pretty useless. Han Feizi has written extensively about China's economy in ways which challenge Michael Pettis's heterodox views (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Fundamentally, Pettis believes that America runs persistent trade deficits because Asia has implemented policies that incentivize production at the expense of consumption and is externalizing those imbalances onto the US, the 'consumer of last resort.' His preferred set of policies would involve taxing capital flows, targeted tariffs and industrial subsidies that even out the playing field. Han Feizi believes this framing is erroneous and Pettis's policies, even correctly implemented, will result in years of suboptimal growth, impoverishing the US for decades. America runs persistent trade deficits because that's what happens when asset-rich economies trade with labor-rich economies. Yes, China has implemented industrial policy to marshal its abundant labor but, at the same time, the US has implemented policies to better harness its abundant assets (e.g. mortgage market, agency bonds, derivative market etc.), allowing them to be financialized and traded. Yes, China took advantage of the US's open market for growth and employment. At the same time, the US took advantage of its massive asset endowment and China's productivity also for growth and employment. The concern that Pettis displays for China's put-upon consumers does not hold water. In the past few decades, under this system, China has increased household consumption faster than any other economy, all 194 of them. And not by a little. China grew household consumption twice as fast as second-place South Korea. And the US has increased household consumption faster than all major developed economies. Graphic: Asia Times Disturbing this organic trade between an asset-rich economy and a labor-rich economy is not only economically inefficient, it is highly destructive in the short to medium term. America's labor force is set up for asset sales. It does not have the skills for manufacturing. The two most dangerous ideas promulgated by Pettis are 1) China's economy is wasteful, inefficient and on the cusp of stagnation, and 2) consumption creates value. Both of these ideas are not only wrong, they could not be further from the truth. It is highly likely that belief in these two ideas misled the brain trust (or lack thereof) surrounding President Trump, believing that the US had the upper hand in a trade war against China. Han Feizi has written extensively about how erroneous the China collapse/stagnation view is (see links above). If Bessent, Howard Lutnick and Stephen Miran were not stuck in the Western media echo chamber, they would figure out that the United States was about to start a trade war with an economy 2-3 times its size – not 36% smaller as reported nominal GDP would suggest. This is the Jaws, 'We're going to need a bigger boat' moment. But perhaps more pernicious is this economic fallacy that consumption creates value and that China's factory workers need American consumers more than American consumers need China's factory workers. Pettis has been trafficking in this fallacy for decades – the idea that consumption, especially US consumption, is a public service of some kind. This fallacy has high purchase in America because it appeals to what Americans have become – shoppers. It has also resulted in unfortunate economic formulations like 'supply of demand.' As in the US economy is accomplishing great feats by supplying demand to needy Asian factory workers. As if supply and demand were not useful enough economic concepts, we now have supply of demand. Which, of course, begs the question, what about demand of supply? Or supply of supply of demand? Or demand of supply of supply? Or supply of demand of supply of supply? Capiche? This is all nonsense. There is no such thing as supply of demand. American consumers are not supplying their demand in exchange for Nikes from Vietnam. American demand has no value to the Vietnamese. American consumers are trading American assets for Nikes from Vietnam. That's what the Vietnamese want. The liquid dollars which can be turned into Treasuries, Freddy Mac bonds, Apple stock or Malibu mansions. The wants and desires of American shoppers, as wonderful as they may be, are worthless to the Vietnamese. They, and everyone else, want New York City apartments overlooking Central Park. Similarly, the Pettis MO is to take something conventional– efficiency gains drive wage growth – and flip it on its head in a way that soothes American anxiety. High wages drive efficiency! The whole thing is then wrapped with a sprinkle of virtue signaling, 'The stereotype of high-saving Asians is racist!' and fed to status-anxious Americans who then think that they've been granted some secret knowledge. Dealing in economic hogwash to sooth American angst is just as big of a grift as Fukuyama dropping that perfect Tocqueville quote in the heady days of American triumph. Pettis and Fukuyama have their grift. It's easy, Americans want to be fooled. It is hard to even blame them. In any other time, they may have just been obscure academics backstabbing colleagues for a low-paid professorship. But the American zeitgeist made them stars. For those who don't know, Han Feizi is American – but destined to occupy a tiny niche in the American zeitgeist. Emerson I will never be, although I gave it a shot (see here). We all saw what happened to Vivek Ramaswamy. He brown gaffed – an Indian American accidently told white Americans the truth – and was quickly shuffled off the stage. Here are some numbers. There are 45 times as many highly able (top few percentiles in the US) math students in China as there are in the US. Nine of the top 10 research universities, according to the Nature Index, are now in China, up from zero 25 years ago. Out of 64 technology verticals tracked by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, China now leads in 57. Two decades ago the US led in 60 out of 64 technologies. These trends are accelerating and have about 25 more years to go. Graphic: Asia Times And let me be more frank with my fellow Americans. 60% of those who score in the 99th percentile on the math portion of the SATs are Asian Americans who make up 5% of the population. Math skills at the American 99th percentile are table stakes in Asia. 20-30% of Chinese high schoolers would likely score in the 99th percentile on the US math SAT. When Chinese American families contemplate moving to China, the biggest hurdle is the fear that their children cannot keep up with local students – these are PhD families. All the tariffs, taxes on capital flows and industrial subsidies will amount to a hill of beans if Americans do not fix their education system and lift their game. The Ivy League should not be 25% Asian. Silicon Valley should not be 50% Asian. Even Wall Street should not be 16% Asian. As America had been led down the disastrous 'End of History' path after its moment of triumph, we fear the zeitgeist is now leading the nation down a nonsensical 'supply of demand' economic path during its age of anxiety. The nation certainly should not be starting an economic war with delusional strategies like, 'They need our consumers.' The first humiliations are already in with Trump caving on certain tariffs. Han Feizi fears that when the returns all come in, the final American humiliation will be psychologically unbearable.
