Jay Sapsford

Scott Bessent lands in Tokyo today-on his way to Beijing for the Trump-Xi summit. This isn't just a pitstop - the weak yen is very much on the line. Japan - and its weak currency - are no longer a sideshow in global finance. It's the untold story of the moment. 1/10

Looks like Zelensky's latest warnings have scared Lukashenko absolutely to death.. 🇧🇾😂 And honestly, when you look at the map, it’s pretty simple to see why the dictator in Minsk is losing his sleep. Belarus basically relies on just two massive oil refineries for their entire economic survival – one in the north and one in the south. Both of them happen to be well within the striking range of Ukrainian long-range drones, and guess what? They aren't protected by any real air defense at all, since Moscow basically confiscated all their systems for the front lines. 💸🔥 But the most hilarious part is the geopolitics behind it. Even Lukashenko, as clueless as he usually is, can see that Putin's ship is sinking. Zelensky's ultimatum is actually giving him the perfect excuse to start distancing himself from Moscow and slowly back away from the Russian sphere of influence. Just like everyone else is doing right now.. When your last remaining puppet ally is looking for a loophole to dump you, you know you've hit peak performance! 🍿🤷‍♂️ Source: Military intelligence updates and regional political analysis (June 22, 2026) regarding the drone threat to Belarusian energy infrastructure and Minsk's diplomatic shifting.

And so it begins… WARSH: “What’s important for households and businesses to know is that this central bank will deliver on price stability.” Confirms the FOMC will hold rates steady, opens door to possibly higher rates. TRUMP: “It’s hard to believe. It just keeps the country down.”

A measure aimed at defense contractors today could become a precedent affecting a much broader range of companies tomorrow. 5/5 federalnewsnetwork.com/congress/2026/…

For business, the debate is bigger than defense. It raises a fundamental question: Should companies that rely heavily on taxpayer dollars be free to allocate capital as they see fit, or should public funding come with expectations about how profits are reinvested? 4/5

Washington is weighing a proposal in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — the annual bill that sets U.S. defense policy and spending — that could restrict or ban stock buybacks for certain defense contractors. 1/5 cnbc.com/2026/06/17/def…

Q: Did you see the Fed is holding rates? TRUMP: It's alright. Whatever. Q: And it looks like they might even raise them later this year TRUMP: It could happen. I mean, it's hard to believe. It just keeps a country down.

Some countries attract capital. Others repel it. The difference comes down to rule of law. On June 11, our Coalition for the Rule of Law releases the 6th Edition of the Global Rule of Law Dashboard—scoring 149 countries on the conditions shaping commercial confidence. Ahead of the official release, the U.S. Chamber's Neil Herrington joined “The Call” with @Jay_USChamber to unpack what the data shows, and what it means for your operations. Watch: bit.ly/4uMU0Nd

As Cohen frames it: Would you rather have two factories at 40% capacity — or one at 80%? In peacetime, one at 80% wins every budget argument. In wartime? You desperately need those two.

Today we have five or six primary contractors, depending on how you count. And in 2022, Ukraine was burning through our entire monthly 155mm output every single day.

The U.S. defense industry took a month to produce what Ukraine fired in a day. @EliotACohen's stat about U.S. stockpiles of 155mm artillery shells, highlighted this week on the @USChamber's The Call, says everything about three decades of consolidation. 🧵

What's striking from a business risk perspective: the global economy spent decades routing 20% of its oil through a single chokepoint because it was efficient. Iran has now demonstrated that efficiency can be converted into coercion at a time of its choosing. That's the template. Once proven, other actors will study it. This is exactly the dynamic we've been tracking at the @USChamber's Global Intelligence Desk — the moment when optimized systems reveal their hidden vulnerabilities. The Strait is the starkest example yet. We wrote about it here if you want to go deeper: globalintelligencedesk.substack.com/p/efficiency-d…

Iran Update Special Report, April 27, 2026 Iran appears to be attempting to exploit its leverage over the Strait of Hormuz to end the war in a way that removes the US blockade of Iranian ports without Iran having to make nuclear concessions. Iran presented a new proposal to the United States in which it reportedly offered to “reopen” the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, while postponing US-Iran nuclear negotiations to a later date. The Iranian proposal would not force Iran to make concessions regarding its highly enriched uranium or ability to enrich uranium up front, but would rather grant Iran more time to engage in talks about these nuclear issues. It is unclear if Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Major General Ahmad Vahidi and his inner circle support this new proposal. Other Key Takeaways: Iran’s rapidly depleting oil storage capacity likely explains, at least in part, why Iran is pushing for a peace agreement that would lift the US naval blockade. The Wall Street Journal reported on April 27 that the US blockade on Iranian ports has forced Iran to store oil in “disused oil tanks in poor condition” and in “containers” in the cities of Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, and Asaluyeh, Bushehr Province, according to unspecified current and former Iranian officials. An Iranian delegation led by Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi emphasized the importance of Russo-Iranian strategic relations in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on April 27. Russia has facilitated Iranian strikes in the Middle East throughout the war, such as by providing Iran with satellite imagery of US, Gulf, and Turkish military assets in the Middle East. Hezbollah has increasingly used first-person view (FPV) drones to attack Israeli forces in Lebanon since the ceasefire came into effect on April 16. Hezbollah has claimed that it used FPV drones in 12 of its 18 claimed attacks on Israeli ground forces in Lebanon since April 16.

Oh my. The wet spot left behind by Harden was either not cleaned and/or improperly so. Dean Wade wipes out seconds later and the Pistons get a crucial wide open layup as a result.

Pete Hegseth is the first Pentagon chief to ever join a U.S. president on an official state visit to the People's Republic of China.

The U.S. Chamber congratulates Kevin Warsh on being named Chairman of the @federalreserve and looks forward to his leadership. Full statement from our President & CEO Suzanne Clark: bit.ly/4ubNJdP

🚨 Beijing's playbook is clear: to dominate global supply chains and make the world dependent on China. Up to $650 billion in G-7 countries’ manufacturing exports could be at risk by 2030. As Trump meets Xi this week, what's the path forward? Jeremie Waterman of the U.S. Chamber's China Center joins @Jay_USChamber to break down tariffs, tech restrictions & what's at stake for American business. 🎙️ Watch: bit.ly/4dL70fh

The headlines this week will focus on what Trump and Xi say. But it'll be worth watching what each side does in the weeks after. See the full clip: youtube.com/watch?v=RK4BmT… 8/8

As Waterman put it: “We see a tremendous amount of mistrust, evidenced by actions on both sides that are injecting more uncertainty for corporate boards and CEOs as they make their investment and supply chain decisions.” 7/8

Will policy and diplomacy work against each other at the Trump-Xi summit? On the surface, the U.S. and China are entering one of the busiest stretches of leader-level diplomacy in years. That creates a real pull toward stability. And yet... 1/8