Policy

WTO paralysis spurs tariffs and subsidies—an industrial policy arms race Replace blanket tariffs with evidence-based, sunset countervailing duties Prioritize resilient skills; publish subsidy math to restore trust By 2025, t

China centralizes iron ore power Simandou adds leverage and options Train procurement to protect budgets In late 2025, China, which accounts for almost three-quarters of the world's seaborne iron ore trade, showed its str

Raise base pay to close gaps and stabilize schools Use low-bias bonuses to retain high-impact teachers in hard posts Pair pay reform with clean screening and clear metrics to lift quality We’re facing a serious probl

Xiangshan Forum is China’s planning room for global governance Beijing fuses hard power and finance to shape rules Education must teach Xiangshan-era governance, standards, and AI/security The Xiangshan Forum, held

Trump 2.0 tariffs: 10% floor, 15% for dealmakers Campus costs climb—labs, AI gear, construction—equity gaps widen Plan for persistence: pool procurement, secure exemptions, fund aid and labs We often hear that tari

Nationalist politics inflates Japan–China business costs, risking $292.6B in trade Controls and bans snarl inputs, travel, and seafood, squeezing factories and SMEs The fix: de-risk, don’t decouple—transparent dashboards, precise licenses, targeted insurance

A Taiwan Strait shock would choke energy, chips, and shipping that keep East Asia learning Japan/Korea: oil-route risks; ASEAN: migrant, logistics, student shocks Protect schools now—fuel, offline kits, spares, regional compact

Capitals dominate because jobs concentrate, not because productivity lags elsewhere Move demand and decision rights to secondary cities to thicken labor markets Align education pipelines and public procurement to reward distributed hiring and retention

Ageing Europe needs an optimal immigration level Set ~0.6–1.0% yearly, adjusted by jobs, housing, and language Link flows to capacity and invest to keep growth and trust Across the EU, the old-age dependency

Closing gender and 60+ gaps offsets ageing Frontiers need more hours; laggards need jobs and childcare Use 5-year targets, neutral taxes, late-career training In 2024, the European Union still had a gender employment gap of 1

LDP hegemony breaks; multipartism rises Japan political diversification is reshaping education Act now: language support, student metrics, local compacts Japan's politics are not just shifting to the right; they are changing dramatic

Aging erodes productivity and growth Migration buys time, not productivity—see Singapore Youthful regions gain only if they scale learning, health, and adoption In the economies from the Baltics to the Balkans,

Asian subsidies—especially in steel—distort prices and trade Make subsidies conditional on training and shared curricula Compete on skills to cut tariffs and lift productivity Two numbers tell the story.

Industrial subsidy wars starve education just as industry needs more skilled workers Rivalry is shifting from price to rules, making compliance and MRV literacy essential Redirect subsidies into a “Skills Safe Harbor” that funds verifiable training and apprenticeships

A 15% global minimum tax cuts shifting and anchors profits to real activity More onshore earnings strengthen in-house finance and level competition; havens shrink The U.S.

Osaka second capital now anchors a fragile coalition Capital shift could widen or rebalance regional education Classrooms can use this debate to teach coalition politics Japan’s new government was formed with two seats short.

Japan–China tensions are now a social problem; deterrence alone cannot steady the region Dedicate a sliver of rising defense spend to history education, exchanges, and crisis literacy Pair hard power with hard learning so classrooms absorb shocks instead of amplifying them

Korea’s strong healthcare still leaves families exposed to severe income loss from serious illness Health shocks cut wages, pushing seniors and students into long-term financial strain Korea must pair universal care with robust income protection to prevent poverty after illness

Russia–North Korea ties and Arctic shipping are reshaping the US–South Korea alliance The Northern Sea Route turns the Arctic into a new strategic front Education and policy must integrate Arctic routes into Korean security planning

China quietly rations rare earths through strict export paperwork, not formal bans Its dominance in mining and magnet production turns bureaucracy into global leverage Schools and policymakers must plan for lasting supply risk and build alternative sources