>>12413613 (OP)(Black)Rock n roll
When the world’s biggest investment fund speaks, you gotta listen. Or not. You do you. But when that fund weighs in on its biggest geopolitical risks? Yes, we tend to listen.
So when the $12.5 trillion BlackRock dropped its latest Geopolitical Risk Report, we dusted off our most cat-shaped sticky notes, pinkest highlighters, and a mechanical pencil that’s so pretentious we got a job offer from Apple.
Here are the report’s five key quotes:
“Uncertainty and volatility have become fixtures of the geopolitical landscape, with rapidly evolving US policy as an animating force”
Sometimes in government, things are highly classified not because of what’s being said, but who’s saying it. And that kinda applies here: it’s not news that Trump 2.0 is upending many of our world’s assumptions. That was his platform! No more business as usual, folks.
But what is interesting is who’s saying it: Wall Street royalty, aka BlackRock.
The so what here is interesting, too: after three quarters of a century playing a stabilising role for the very post-WWII system it ushered in, it’s jarring for many capitals to see DC now playing a de-stabilising role, whether across trade, tech rules, or beyond.
And of course, the president’s supporters would see this destabilisation as the exact medicine the US (and the broader world) needs, particularly when it comes to ties with…
“Military tensions may be poised to escalate, especially in the event of an accident or miscalculation”
While many folks focus on the economic fallout of the (ahem) conscious uncoupling between Beijing and DC, the BlackRock analysts warn that the probability of US-China tensions escalating over Taiwan or the South China Sea is “high”.
“We think AI and its associated hardware, data and tech clusters will increasingly be treated as national security assets”
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