ChinaTalk Are We Cooked? Q1 2026
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Jan 7, 2026 
Join Peter Harrell, former Biden administration official and host of the Security Economics podcast, Kevin Xu, a keen observer of AI and geopolitics, and economist Matt Klein, author of Trade Wars Are Class Wars. They dive into the challenges of allied scale against China's economic might. The trio discusses Europe's manufacturing woes, U.S. trade tactics, and the complexities of AI coopetition. They analyze the UAE's evolving data center landscape and question America's supply chain resilience, concluding that while the U.S. isn't 'cooked,' it faces significant hurdles ahead.
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Allied Scale Needs Cooperation Not Coercion
- Allied scale requires political alignment, not just summed GDP or markets.
- Trump's coercive approach risks alienating allies and undermining scale needed to compete with China.
European Distrust Undermines Integration
- Europe may view the U.S. as its biggest threat on security issues, complicating alignment.
- That political distrust undermines forming a joint U.S.-Europe industrial strategy.
UAE Trip Shows Rapid AI Infrastructure Push
- Kevin described an American think-tank delegation to the UAE focused on AI infrastructure, hosted by the UAE embassy.
- He observed large planned data-center builds and close labor ties with South Asia.