Geopolitical Economy Report

Why has Donald Trump consistently attacked the Federal Reserve and its chair Jerome Powell? And was the US central bank ever truly "independent"? Geopolitical economist Radhika Desai discusses with economist Michael Hudson. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fcwg6eFGu4 This is part of the program Geopolitical Economy Hour. You can watch other episodes of the show here: https://youtube.com/pla...

Donald Trump is imposing tariffs and unequal treaties on longtime allies in Europe, Japan, and South Korea, forcing them to pay and move their factories to the US. Meanwhile, BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are building a new multipolar world order based on mutually beneficial trade and investment. Ben Norton is joined by economist Michael Hudson to discuss. VIDEO: https://ww...

The US government has waged economic war on Venezuela for years. The Donald Trump administration is escalating this with threats of military intervention. Ben Norton discusses the history of sanctions and US-backed coup attempts against President Nicolás Maduro, explaining why Washington wants to topple this ally of China, Russia, and Iran, so US oil corporations can exploit the South American nat...

US President Donald Trump claimed he would "un-unite" Russia and China, but the divide-and-conquer strategy failed. Instead, Moscow and Beijing are closer than ever, and they are at the heart of a Global South-led movement to build a new multipolar world order, challenging Western hegemony and imperialism. Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-bq4347Z18 US attacks blow back...

The US government has long tried to divide China, India, and Russia, but Washington's aggressive actions have only brought them together. Donald Trump's tariffs, in particular, angered Indian PM Modi, who visited the Chinese city Tianjin for the 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, where the Eurasian countries deepened their relations. Ben Norton analyzes the important results of t...

The US government has a long history of supporting corrupt, drug-dealing, right-wing oligarchs in Latin America. The Donald Trump administration is threatening to attack Venezuela, accusing leftist President Nicolás Maduro, without any evidence, of leading a cartel, while Marco Rubio defends Colombia's drug-trafficking former leader Álvaro Uribe. Ben Norton documents Washington's imperial hypocris...

The dominance of the US dollar as the global reserve currency has been gradually declining for years, but Donald Trump's policies could rapidly accelerate de-dollarization and the transition to a more multipolar international financial order, warn even mainstream American economists like Barry Eichengreen and Kenneth Rogoff. Political economist Ben Norton reviews the evidence. VIDEO: https://www.y...

How do China's government, political system, and socialist market economy actually work? How does China see democracy, the USA, and Donald Trump's trade war? Renowned Chinese scholar Zhang Weiwei explains the China model in this interview with Ben Norton. VIDEO with subtitles here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkVyYvWezI0 Topics 0:00 Highlights 1:30 Introduction to Zhang Weiwei 1:51 The China m...

One of the main goals of the US political and economic system is to protect corporate monopolies. Silicon Valley Big Tech corporations fear Chinese competitors, so the US government is trying to ban them. Political economist Ben Norton explains how imperialism works, and what drives Washington's Cold War Two against China. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EVwFJ7sM6c Topics 0:00 US governmen...

The US government has tried for years to recruit India for its new cold war on China, but Donald Trump's aggressive tariffs have backfired, encouraging New Delhi to improve its relations with Beijing, strengthening unity in BRICS. Political economist Ben Norton explains the complex history of the foreign relations of the US, India, China, and Russia. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BstijDvJ...

Private equity funds and other Wall Street investors are buying up homes across the US and the West, driving up rent and the cost of living. Economist Michael Hudson explains how these corporate landlords are a result of the system of financialized capitalism, dominated by an unproductive rentier class. He is interviewed by host Ben Norton. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJd0d7Uda2M Transc...

Economist Michael Hudson describes how the Western powers designed the international financial, legal, and political system in a way that benefits North American corporations at the expense of the countries of the Global South. He also proposes ways for the Global Majority to resist US neocolonialism, in this interview with host Ben Norton. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgBUbbTF5Sg Transc...

The White House imposed 50% tariffs on Brazil and declared it a threat to US "national security". Donald Trump is blatantly meddling in internal Brazilian affairs, trying to undermine left-wing President Lula da Silva and help far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro. The USA's attacks also aim to divide BRICS and discourage more countries from joining. Political economist Ben Norton explains how th...

The one-sided trade agreement that Donald Trump imposed on the EU illustrates how the US empire exploits its "allies" in Europe as vassals to benefit the American oil/gas industry, Big Tech corporations, and the military-industrial complex. This did not start with Trump, but he has accelerated the vassalization of the European Union. Political economist Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: https://www.yout...

As US president, Donald Trump's policies have served the interests of wealthy elites, while hurting average working people and splitting his own MAGA base. Geopolitical economist Radhika Desai discusses with economist Michael Hudson. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cUksS_aN_8 This is part of the program Geopolitical Economy Hour. You can watch other episodes of the show here: https://youtu...

China and Russia help formerly colonized countries in the Global South defend their sovereignty amid constant US meddling and aggression, argues Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua, a Latin American country that has been invaded and militarily occupied by the USA multiple times. Ben Norton reports on the history of the Sandinista Revolution, and the struggle against Western imperialism. VIDEO: h...

Western governments claim to be models of democracy, and demonize their geopolitical adversaries as "authoritarian", but empirical evidence shows that the USA and European countries are oligarchies dominated by economic elites and large corporations. Billionaire Donald Trump is the perfect symbol of this, but he's by no means the only one. Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

The New York Times finally admitted Israel is carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, in an article by an Israeli scholar who studies the Holocaust. A United Nations report detailed how US corporations are profiting from these crimes, although the Trump administration responded by imposing sanctions on the UN expert who exposed it, Francesca Albanese. Ben Norton explains. V...

Close Donald Trump allies like Steve Bannon say "the president is pissed every time he looks at the BRICS de-dollarization effort". The US government fears the Global South's challenge to the exorbitant privilege of the dollar. Trump is trying to make an example out of Brazil, threatening high tariffs to punish Lula da Silva, who promotes a multipolar world and a new global reserve currency. Ben N...

US President Donald Trump has threatened heavy tariffs on BRICS, claiming the organization is "dead", but it is actually growing in size and influence. 10 members and 10 partners participated in the 2025 BRICS summit in Brazil, where they discussed plans for dedollarization, trade and investment in national currencies, and how to create a more multipolar global order. Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: h...

BRICS has expanded to 20 countries - 10 members and 10 partners - after adding Vietnam. BRICS+ now makes up 43.93% of world GDP (PPP) and 55.61% of the global population. Ben Norton explains how the US failed to divide China and Vietnam in the Second Cold War. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZUeShGMarI Sources, links, and downloadable charts here: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/07/04...

Iran has used its status as a leading oil and gas producer to promote dedollarization, rejecting the US dollar and trading with China, Russia, India, and other BRICS members in their national currencies. Ben Norton explains the Western economic war on Iran, and Tehran's response. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ziGNmvOh6k US pressures Saudi Arabia to sell oil in dollars, not Chinese yuan:...

War on Iran is part of the US empire's larger attempt to re-impose its unipolar dominance on the global political and financial system, argues economist Michael Hudson. Washington wants to preserve dollar hegemony and the petrodollar, while disrupting BRICS and Eurasian integration with China and Russia. He is interviewed by host Ben Norton. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DEXReFGb24 Trans...

The US military will "very likely" fight a three-way war with Iran, Russia, and China, predicted Palantir CEO Alex Karp in 2024. American imperial strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski warned back in the 1990s of this Eurasian "anti-hegemonic coalition" that could challenge US global dominance. Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcZJ0eKfWFM Topics 0:00 Trump bombs Iran 0:26 Iran...

To justify war on Iran, the Donald Trump administration is repeating the same disinformation used by George W. Bush to justify the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003, based on false claims it had "weapons of mass destruction" (WMDs). US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard went from condemning Trump as a warmonger and liar in 2020 to helping him manufacture consent for this war, even afte...