Claim OwnershipThe Call by the Global Intelligence Desk
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© 2026 The Call by the Global Intelligence Desk
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Hosted by Jay Sapsford, The Call delivers timely and incisive analysis to help businesses navigate risks and opportunities.
68 Episodes
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Jim Bridenstine, Managing Partner of the Artemis Group, former NASA Administrator, former U.S. Representative (R-OK), and a leading voice in American space policy, joins our guest host for this episode, Neil Bradley, the U.S. Chamber’s Executive Vice President, Chief Policy Officer and Head of Strategic Advocacy, to discuss the new space rce. As early as April, the U.S. will launch Artemis II, its first manned space flight in half a century. The planned launch comes amid a new rivalry that ec...
Suzanne Maloney, Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution and one of Washington’s leading experts on Iran joins host Jay Sapsford for a conversation on Iran, escalation risk, and regional business implications The death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has thrown Iran into its most consequential leadership crisis since 1979, with succession questions now emerging under intense pressure, and amid a relentless attack by U.S. and Israeli forces that shows little ...
Four years in, another round of U.S.-brokered talks have reached no breakthrough. Russia continues to make incremental gains in the east, Ukraine’s energy grid can meet only 60 percent of demand, and Trump is pressing Kyiv for concessions ahead of a June deadline. Ukraine, however, has emerged as a leading innovator in drone and digital warfare, while Russia is increasingly reliant on what Kendall-Taylor calls the “axis of upheaval”: deepening military cooperation among Russia, China, Iran, a...
Mark Esper, former U.S. Secretary of Defense and now a Managing Partner at Red Cell Partners, joins us to examine the implications, risks and opportunities amid the expanding defense spending commitments across the world. The war in Ukraine has reshuffled the deck. The conflict underscores a shift in battlefield logistics, driving an unprecedented pairing of technology with kinetic capabilities across land, sea, air and space. This, combined with U.S. pushing Europe to increase its share of t...
The U.S. incursion into Venezuela, and the deposition of President Maduro while leaving his government in place, sets a new model for a U.S. grappling with hostile governments. It leaves in place an existing governance structure and avoids the chaos of Iraq after the U.S. invasion. Now, many wonder whether Venezuela is a template, a model that might be applied to other hotspots such as Iran, another oil rich nation facing popular uprising stemming from significant economic misman...
The dollar has been volatile and weak, falling by double digits over the past year. Equities are strong, rising to valuations that some see as unsustainable. Prices of key metals and materials – gold, copper - are gyrating amid shortages, while yawning deficits are driving sovereign debt, both in the U.S. and abroad, to levels unseen since World War Two. All of which begs us to ask: Are global markets flashing warning signs? Tim Adams, former Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for Internati...
What will be the U.S. role in the next global paradigm? We invited Robert O’Brien, former National Security Advisor during Trump’s first term, to help us define U.S. success amid a landscape that is shifting, often because of changes emanating from Washington. We delve into the National Security Strategy, the administration’s vision for alliances and trade, and how it sees the global interests of the world’s leading economic power. Most importantly, at a time when the U.S. policy ...
For years, policy planners have operated on a green assumption: oil demand would eventually de-couple from economic growth. Electric vehicles, cheaper batteries, solar, wind -- all would combine to reduce demand and put us on a long glide path away from crude. Some even put a date on it: 2030 as the moment oil demand would “peak.” So, is the ‘Peak Oil’ thesis still a thing? Robert McNally, President of Rapidan Energy Group and former White House energy adviser, joins host Jay Sapsford t...
China enters 2026 targeting 5% growth. But behind the numbers, it grapples with weak domestic demand, a property hangover, high local government debt, and growing external pressure on trade and technology. Beijing’s answer is increasingly framed around expanding ‘new economy’ investments in advanced manufacturing and clean tech. Will that be enough for China to achieve its growth targets? Probably not, says Dan Rosen, co-founder of the Rhodium Group. He joins Jay Sapsford to discuss how these...
Amid a dramatically shifting global environment, Europe enters 2026 with pressure coming from every direction: security threats from Russia, economic threats from China, political fragmentation, a lagging digital sector, energy insufficiency, rapid aging, surging public debt, and a stagnant economy suffocating in red tape. The stakes for business will be significant, given the trade flows across the Atlantic, by some measures the biggest bilateral economic relationship in the world. U.S. dema...
Washington policymakers will again navigate a dramatically shifting playing field in 2026, not least because of the midterm elections in November. We can think of no better guide than our very own Neil Bradley to help us understand not only the stakes of the election, but what to expect across the issues that matter most for business. In this conversation, amid the continued uncertainty, we step back and ask: What will the world actually see out of Washington in 2026, and ...
Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development is the lead author of the EBRD’s landmark new report, “Brave Old World,” which lays out one of the defining long-term challenges of our time: the demographic reversal. Populations are aging, fertility rates are falling, and fiscal systems, whether in high-income economies or the global south, are coming under strain. This week on The Call for our final episode of the year, Jay Sapsford asks ...
America’s alliances - and the businesses that bind those partnerships - are recovering from the strain of this year’s trade tensions. Amid the rise of China, uncertainties remain over how best to pursue our immediate economic goals while also pursing less tangible, long-term strategic interests. Jay Sapsford asks Ambassador Rahm Emanuel: As alliances evolve, can Washington and its friends effectively deter Beijing? - The Call is a series of live video conversations featuring expe...
Traffic at America’s ports is one of the most underappreciated indicators of economic prospects - and at the Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest, traffic is slowing. That begs a question: Is the slowing port traffic a red flag? Few people see real-time demand, supply chain stress, and geopolitical pressure points as clearly as Gene Seroka, Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles. Jay Sapsford talks with Gene about what the slowdown means for trade and growth. - The Call is a seri...
Seven years ago, economists at Capital Economics, an independent macro-economic consultancy, issued a paper entitled The Coming Slowdown in China. At a time when much of the world was convinced China would overtake the U.S., they argued that tailwinds were already turning into headwinds. Our guest on this episode of The Call is Mark Williams, Chief Asia Economist at Capital Economics, and co-author of the firm’s provocative report. We ask Williams to revisit his firm’s thesis today, se...
Adam Posen, in the most recent issue of Foreign Affairs, published a stark argument that has generated buzz here in DC: The U.S., in his telling, has leveraged its role as a ‘global insurer’ underwriting the risks of the world’s economic system, to extract ever richer premiums from allies, demanding more and more as the price of U.S.-led security. At a time when the world was already undergoing significant changes, Posen joins the Call to raise significant questions about the role of t...
From autonomous systems to AI-driven targeting, warfare is being redefined by innovation. This week’s guest, former Defense Under-Secretary Michèle Flournoy, argues that America’s ability to deter and win wars, now, depends less on troop strength and more on its capacity to out-innovate its rivals through cutting-edge research, skilled talent, and fast investment. She will outline how deterrence is shifting as defense innovation accelerates worldwide, and allies modernize their military -- an...
Japan has made history by electing Sanae Takaichi as its first female prime minister, but her Liberal Democratic Party was forced to shift rightward after centrists lost the premiership. Having just secured Japan’s top post, Takaichi has only days to prepare to meet with President Trump and will have to navigate a slew of difficult issues with a famously unpredictable U.S. leader. David Boling, former Hill staffer, USTR trade negotiator, and currently Director, Japan and Asian Tr...
As the dust of the IMF Annual Meetings settles, the world is now defined by uncertainty. The weaponization of trade, the steep price of resilience, and debt levels set to reach 100% of global GDP by 2030 – all combine for difficult terrain to navigate. This brings forward our question: Who leads in a fragmented world? Robert Zoellick, Chairman of Americas, at Temasek, Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, former President of the World Bank, U.S. Trade Represe...
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas joins the Call live from the IMF meetings in Washington., which is happening amid surging public debt levels, growing trade restrictions, and technological advances that promise to reshape labor and productivity. - The Call is a series of live video conversations featuring expert guests from the U.S. Chamber's Global Intelligence Desk. Live access to The Call is a benefit to the Chamber’s members; however, we are pleased to provide recordings of the calls for wider ...
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