I've spent years arguing that Chinese antitrust enforcement is a political instrument wearing a legal costume — that SAMR investigations open when a founder says the wrong thing and close when the right concessions are made, and that the competition analysis is reverse-engineered from a decision already taken upstairs. So let me concede the part that cuts hardest against me. On … [Read more...] about Trip.com’s $765 Million Apology: What the SAMR Penalty Tells Foreign Companies About Doing Business in China
Opinion
Trump’s Section 301 Probe of the EU Tech Fines Is Right, and It Pains Me to Write That
Let me clear the air first, because the rest of this only makes sense if you know where I'm standing. I don't like this president. I think the tariff program he has run for the past eighteen months has been improvised, legally reckless, and expensive in ways his own voters are only starting to notice at the register. The Supreme Court threw out his signature tariffs earlier … [Read more...] about Trump’s Section 301 Probe of the EU Tech Fines Is Right, and It Pains Me to Write That
Trump’s Saudi Nuclear Deal Trades Nonproliferation for a Photo Op
Donald Trump has approved a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia that could hand Riyadh the ability to enrich uranium on its own soil. The deal is expected to run three decades, be worth tens of billions of dollars, and give American firms the lead role in building out the kingdom's nuclear infrastructure. It also appears to exempt Saudi Arabia from the … [Read more...] about Trump’s Saudi Nuclear Deal Trades Nonproliferation for a Photo Op
France’s Social Media Ban Shows Why Europe Keeps Losing the Tech Race
France's parliament has just passed a law barring anyone under 15 from holding a social media account, with new accounts blocked starting September 1 and existing underage accounts to be closed by January 2027. President Emmanuel Macron called it "a major step forward" and said France is "leading the way in Europe." He's right about one thing: Europe is leading the way. Just … [Read more...] about France’s Social Media Ban Shows Why Europe Keeps Losing the Tech Race
Trump’s Greenland Obsession Makes No Sense. Why Not Qatar Instead?
Eighteen months into a fixation that shows no sign of ending, President Trump used the NATO summit in Ankara this month to revive his push to take over Greenland, going so far as to float pulling American troops out of Europe if allies keep resisting. He later softened the tone with praise for the alliance in the same trip, but the pattern by now is familiar: threat, walk-back, … [Read more...] about Trump’s Greenland Obsession Makes No Sense. Why Not Qatar Instead?