Keep pulling the thread on Luke Gromen.
In the first half of 2026, China shifted 1.4 million barrels per day of oil demand to electric vehicles.
China reduced its overall oil demand by 3 to 4 million barrels per day in H1 2026, partly by drawing down its strategic petroleum reserves.
China is using its dominance in solar panels, EVs, and battery arrays to offer countries a way to reduce their oil consumption and dependence on the US dollar.
China's strategic goal is to replace the US Treasury bond with gold as the world's neutral reserve asset, not to replace the US dollar with the yuan.
The Trump administration is shifting the US to a Hamiltonian economic plan, characterized by high tariffs and a neutral reserve asset.
Chinese AI models are beginning to threaten the leadership position of US models at the frontier of the technology.
The US, UK, South Korea, Japan, and Germany have all simultaneously decided to increase borrowing to build out their domestic defense industrial bases.
Ongoing global conflicts will force Western nations to implement some form of yield curve control to manage their bond markets.
The US military has informed the Trump administration that it lacks sufficient weapons to sustain the ongoing conflict in Iran.
Trade volumes on China's International Payment System (CIPS) reached a record high of approximately $2 trillion in May 2026.
Chinese company Z.AI is operating a 1-gigawatt data center that runs entirely on Chinese-made semiconductors, with no NVIDIA chips.
China will likely achieve parity or superiority over US semiconductor technology in terms of both price and performance within the next five years.