Options when in the eye of the storm

As Typhoon Trump sweeps over trading partners and foes alike, and even as US stock markets are breaking record highs, there is an eerie feeling that one is trapped inside the eye of the hurricane, with no guidance on what to do and where to go.

- ANDREW SHENG

There is misinformation and disinformation everywhere, since we have no objective and independent verification on the real casualties and devastation in the Ukraine and Gaza wars, nor whether Trump can deliver a truce with Putin, or rein in the Israel-Iran conflict before it becomes nuclear.

Reality is today stranger than even the most speculative science fiction. Who would have predicted a month ago that Trump would impose 50 percent tariffs on India or that unlisted start-up Perplexity, with an estimated valuation of $18 billion, would bid $34.5 billion for the app Chrome from Google/Alphabet, which has a market cap valuation of $2.4 trillion—130 times larger than Perplexity? Lions are trying to swallow elephants, such as the United States taking on China and now India, the next superpower with a population (1.4 billion) 4.2 times that of the United States, but a GDP of $3.9 trillion, or only 13.3 percent of the USA. Nevertheless, India's real GDP is growing at 6.2 percent in 2025, more than double the 2.7 percent growth for the United States. India has the second largest pool of STEM graduates at 2.55 million in 2020, compared with 3.57 million in China and only 820,000 in the United States.