A FINANCIAL TIMES ECONOMICS BOOK OF THE YEAR 'An excellent book' VINCE CABLE | 'A must read' JO JOHNSON | 'A fascinating read' BILL DUDLEY A timely manifesto on how digital currencies will win the New Cold War and the struggle for geopolitical supremacy in the twenty-first century. A New Cold War is underway. Whereas the first Cold War was dominated by the threat of nuclear conflict, the new front line is economic and financial, but still dominated by technology. Who controls its future will help decide the outcome of the geopolitical struggle between China and the US. Since the end of the Second World War, the US dollar has been the global reserve currency, which has ensured American dominance of the world economy. But no longer. More than a hundred countries are developing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), digital equivalents to cash that will utterly transform how we do business at home and abroad. China was the first country to recognise the potential of this new money. The West's media focused on the new currency's role in China's surveillance state, creating widespread concern about all CBDCs. But they have largely overlooked a more important aspect of its existence: as a tool through which to 'de-dollarise' the developing world at the speed of light. When China's President Xi Jinping officially launched the digital yuan in February 2022, he also agreed a pact of 'limitless co-operation' with Russia. Within days, Russia launched its war on Ukraine, secure in the knowledge it could bypass US sanctions. Urgent, clear-eyed and groundbreaking, Smart Money shows us how CBDCs are going to impact all of our futures in ways that most of us have failed to even consider. If the West is to compete, it needs to act fast to develop its own global digital currencies that reflect the values of liberal democracies.

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Trump’s Tariffs Are Part of a ‘Tectonic Plate Shift’ in the Global Economy

After a week of market chaos, President Trump pulled back from the brink. But he didn’t pull that far back. He left a 10 percent tariff on most of the world and launched a trade war with China. It’s unclear what he will do after this 90-day pause or what countries need to do to satisfy him. But one thing that is very clear now is that our economy is subject to one man’s whims. How are businesses supposed to adapt to this new reality? What is this new reality? Peter R. Orszag is the chief executive and chairman of Lazard, one of the world’s largest asset management and global financial advisory firms. He also served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Barack Obama, so was a policymaker during a financial crisis. And over the past few months, he’s been talking to lots of C.E.O.s and corporate board members as they try to process these changing policies. I wanted to ask him what he’s been hearing and how he sees the volatility of this moment.

Books recommended:

• 📕  Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy by Henry Farrell, Abraham Newman
• 📘  Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare by Edward Fishman
• 📗  Smart Money: How Digital Currencies Will Shape the New World Order by Brunello Rosa, Casey Larsen
• 📙  The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life's Deepest Secrets by Thomas R. Cech
• 📕  KAPUT by Wolfgang Münchau

Peter Orszag April 11, 2025 5 books recommended

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