Wars, tariffs and oil tensions: why nothing can (for now) with a bombproof global economy

“Eppur si muove!”, said Galileo Galilei: and yet, it moves. First was the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in 2022, which skyrocketed the price of gas, oil and electricity when the world was still barely raising its head after the pandemic. Few believed that it would be possible to avoid the global recession, but it was achieved. Then came Donald Trump’s return to the White House and his commitment to imposing tariffs left and right. Fears soared again, but the economic collapse did not come. In those, Trump himself—hand in hand with his friend and Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu—declared war on Iran and the disaster ended with the Strait of Hormuz closed. There was no precedent for something like this: a fifth of the oil and liquefied gas that a still addicted world guzzles was automatically out of the game. And yet, the drums of recession once again remained a distant melody. Continue reading