US export controls on its most advanced AI models leave allies with no risk-free path on AI, Western investors turn to Brazil for ex-China rare earths, funding cuts threaten Taiwan’s pivot to asymmetric drone defence, and Thailand cracks down on local proxies fronting for foreign owners.

China’s softer oil demand eases supply pressure from the Hormuz shock, AI export surges mask industrial decline across East Asia’s advanced economies, an empowered Iran accelerates the Gulf’s defence buildout, and European alarm bells are ringing over Chinese industrial expansion into Morocco.

ASEAN manufacturers are reeling from the Iran War’s second order effects, AI is threatening India’s massive IT sector and compounding pre-existing job creation challenges, and China’s RMB internationalisation efforts accelerate amidst relief to sanctioned oil producers.