Alex Lo

1 week ago | scmp.com | Alex Lo

I bought more Chinese stocks via the Tracker Fund ETF in Hong Kong this week. It’s not because I am particularly wise, brave or knowledgeable about equities – rather the opposite. But then, I realised it was betting against the forecasts of the likes of Benedict Rogers and Gordon Chang. So I have slept like a baby the past few nights. That’s thanks to commentaries by the two perennial “China must die” diehards, both having been published within two days of each other, in The Telegraph of London.

1 week ago | scmp.com | Alex Lo

During his widely ridiculed visit to Greenland, US Vice-President J.D. Vance took aim at Denmark for not doing “a good job” and failing to allocate sufficient resources to “keep the people of Greenland safe”. It’s hard to know what exactly he meant by that. Development economists generally agree that the world’s largest island enjoys living standards and free health and education systems comparable to other developed nations on the OECD membership list.

2 weeks ago | scmp.com | Alex Lo

More than 50 countries have already agreed to settle with the United States after President Donald Trump declared tariffs against them. But not everyone has caved so easily. Canada and China are two noticeable cases. For different reasons, both have decided to call Trump’s bluff. Canada was not targeted in the latest round, but that’s only because the White House had already slapped a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods and 10 per cent on energy, with some exemptions, last month.

2 weeks ago | scmp.com | Alex Lo

If America wanted to convince Southeast Asia to side together against China, Donald Trump’s “universal” tariffs have just shot the nation in one foot. If the idea was to militarise the South Pacific – by pressuring those tiny island states to go along – with help from Australia under the Aukus military alliance – America has blown off its other foot. I can imagine Xi Jinping quoting Napoleon, who famously told his generals to hold their horses during a major campaign.

2 weeks ago | scmp.com | Alex Lo

When Donald Trump says he is imposing universal tariffs, he really means it. The US president is not just targeting most trading partners of the United States, which are by and large nations and economies made up of humans. He is, as confirmed by the White House, also going after territories full of penguins, seals, seabirds, crustaceans or other wildlife, but with few or no humans. There may be ecology but no economy to speak of. Seriously, I am not making this up.