Saudi Arabia Moves Billions In Video-Game Stock To Subsidiary

Austria’s coalition government has unveiled a new package of tax cuts and subsidies aimed at lowering costs for households and businesses. The move is a direct response to persistent inflation and the rising popularity of right-wing nationalist parties in recent polls.

What's in Austria's New Economic Package?

The government announced on Wednesday that the program will be rolled out over the next six months. The core measures are designed to provide immediate relief from high prices.

Key components of the plan include:

• VAT Reduction: Value-added taxes on staple foods will be cut in half.

• Consumer Energy Relief: Electricity prices for consumers are set to fall by approximately one-third.

• Industrial Power Cap: Industrial electricity users will have their prices capped at €50 ($58.23) per megawatt-hour, a policy that mirrors subsidies introduced by neighboring Germany in November.

"We want to not only slow down inflation in key areas, but also to ensure prices actually fall – for energy and for the most important staple foods," said Vice-Chancellor Andreas Babler, who supports active economic management.

This marks the second time in a month that the coalition—comprising the conservative People's Party, the Social Democrats, and the liberal Neos—has intervened in the market. In December, it passed legislation requiring state-owned utilities to prioritize affordable electricity over maximizing profits for shareholders.

Tackling Inflation Above the Eurozone Average

Since taking office last year, the Austrian government has struggled with inflation rates that have consistently outpaced those in other European Union member states. This has been partly attributed to companies passing on the costs of faster wage increases to consumers.

According to Eurostat, Austria's annual inflation slowed to 3.9% in December. While an improvement, this figure is still nearly double the 2% average across the 21 EU countries that use the euro.

Political Pressure Mounts as Far-Right Gains Ground

The economic measures are also a strategic political move. The far-right Freedom Party has seen a surge in support by focusing its campaign on affordability and migration, and it currently holds a significant lead in polls.

With its mandate scheduled to run until late 2029, the current government is under pressure to address the economic concerns fueling its political rivals.

A Future-Forward Push: €2.6 Billion for High-Tech

Beyond immediate cost-cutting, the package also includes a significant investment in technology to attract high-tech industry. Chancellor Christian Stocker announced that the plan allocates €2.6 billion for strategic sectors, including:

• Artificial intelligence

• Quantum computing

• Photonics

Additionally, the government is expected to pass legislation that will permit autonomous-driving vehicles on Austrian roads, signaling a broader push toward future-focused economic development.

A powerful parable once captured the world's anxiety about a rising China. Today, that same story explains the disruptive behavior of the United States. The metaphor, from strategist Edward N. Luttwak, describes a crowded elevator where the passengers are nations.

Luttwak wrote, "Riders in a crowded elevator cabin into which an extremely fat Mr. China has just stepped in must react self-protectively if he is becoming fatter at a rapid rate, squeezing them against the walls—even if he is entirely unthreatening, and indeed affable."

He noted that the elevator already contained "an even fatter, louder, and frequently violent Mr. America," but his presence was familiar. Everyone had accommodated his bulk over the decades.

Published over ten years ago, this imagery perfectly captured a period of intense nervousness about China's rapid economic transformation. Western countries, led by the US, watched uneasily as China gained on them.

When China's Rise Made the World Nervous

While Luttwak suggested China could be "affable," its actions felt far from unthreatening to its neighbors. The sense of being squeezed was acute for countries like Japan and the maritime nations of Southeast Asia. They felt bullied as China built a blue-water navy to enforce extralegal claims over regional seas.

The advice I offered in my 2017 book, Everything Under the Heavens, was for the United States to remain calm. The country's best path was to keep its own house in order by staying open to the world and investing in its strengths in science and education. Washington was advised not to overreact with aggression but to strengthen its alliances and reinforce international law.

This strategy would have leveraged America's soft power, democracy, and rule of law, compelling China to compete on terms highly favorable to the US. While China has invested heavily in its own strengths like education, it has largely kept its head down diplomatically.

How Trump Flipped the Geopolitical Script

Two things have fundamentally changed since Luttwak wrote his parable. First, the world has grown accustomed to China's economic weight; its growth is now seen as a matter of fact, not a mind-blowing shock. Second is the astonishing behavior of the United States under President Donald Trump.

Over his terms, Trump has pursued policies that are the opposite of the calm, alliance-focused approach once recommended. In recent weeks, his administration's hyperaggressive actions have brought the elevator parable powerfully back to mind, but with the roles reversed.

With actions in Nigeria, Syria, and Venezuela—where Trump declared himself "acting president" after ordering the abduction of Nicolás Maduro—and threats against Iran, it is now the United States squeezing other countries against the elevator walls.

While China’s expansion was primarily economic, the US under Trump has pursued a different path reminiscent of the imperial age: territorial aggrandizement. The result is almost unimaginable. Today, it is often China, not the United States, that appears to be the global status quo power.

The most glaring example is Trump's escalation of claims to Greenland, with rhetoric vowing to get it "one way or another." This language echoes gangster films more than diplomacy and threatens to break Washington's relationship with Europe, turning a wary alliance into something far more distant.

The Global Reaction: Hedging Against An Unpredictable America

When one passenger in the elevator becomes aggressive, disregarding conventions, the others eventually have no choice but to push back. This is the reality the world is facing after Trump declared he has no use for international law, limited only by his own "morality."

This pushback doesn't necessarily mean mirroring the aggression. Instead, countries seek strength in numbers, forming coalitions to protect their interests. In international relations, this strategy is called hedging. It’s what nations do when long-standing partnerships are cast into doubt. We can expect to see much more of it.

Two key examples are already visible:

• Europe's trade deal with South America: A long-belated agreement finalized as a clear hedge against deteriorating transatlantic relations.

• Saudi Arabia's strategic pivot: Despite being heavily courted by Trump, Saudi Arabia has held talks to acquire Chinese fighter jets and has struck a mutual defense pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan. Even with access to America's most advanced weapons, Trump's erratic behavior has made the Saudis nervous.

America's Flawed Pivot to its Own Hemisphere

The urge to hedge is an ominous sign for the United States. The current administration is pursuing a foolhardy geopolitical shift, weakening commitments to allies in Europe and Asia for the fantasy that dominating the Western Hemisphere will make America better off.

This strategy is sheer folly. Latin America cannot compare to traditional allies like NATO, Japan, and South Korea in wealth, innovation, technology, or manufacturing. While reinvesting in Latin America is a worthy goal, abandoning established, powerful partnerships for a new hemispheric focus is a strategic error.

Furthermore, by throwing its weight around in Venezuela, and threatening to do so in Colombia, Mexico, and Cuba, the United States is ensuring that this balancing behavior will eventually come to its own backyard. It is only a matter of time.

Switzerland’s Federal Council announced on Wednesday it has adopted a final mandate to launch formal negotiations for a legally binding trade agreement with the United States.

The decision from the country's highest executive body paves the way for direct talks, following extensive consultations with parliamentary foreign affairs committees and Switzerland’s cantons.

Building on a Framework to Lower Tariffs

This move builds on a non-binding "framework" agreement established on November 14 between Switzerland, the U.S., and Liechtenstein. That preliminary understanding was aimed at reducing U.S. tariffs on Swiss imports as a precursor to a comprehensive agreement.

Under the terms of that framework:

• Washington set a 15% ceiling on country-specific tariffs for Swiss imports, down from a previous high of 39%. The reduction was applied retroactively from November 14.

• In return, Switzerland agreed to lower its duties on a selection of U.S. products, including fish, seafood, and agricultural goods considered non-sensitive.

Final Mandate Clarifies Negotiating Goals

The Federal Council had previously adopted a draft mandate on December 5, identifying its main goal as solidifying tariff relief for Swiss goods and stabilizing bilateral trade relations.

According to the Wednesday update, the final mandate has been slightly clarified based on feedback. A key adjustment strengthens the internal consultation process. The Swiss government has now committed to actively consult—rather than merely inform—parliamentary committees and the cantons if new topics emerge during the negotiations.

Source: Reuters

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