by Editor BGF | Jan 26, 2025 | News
As U.S. President Donald Trump embarks on his second term, the opportunity for a substantial U.S.-India trade deal has never been more promising. This time around, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump should seize the moment to strike a meaningful bilateral agreement.
Contrary to the conventional wisdom in Washington and New Delhi that predicts a potential downturn in the U.S.-India trade relationship during Trump’s second term, the reality is that the two countries have a significant opportunity to expand trade. Furthermore, a realistic path forward exists for achieving this goal.
While U.S.-India economic ties have steadily grown throughout the 21st century, this cooperation has fallen short compared to the extraordinary advances in other dimensions of the bilateral relationship. A well-crafted trade agreement could unlock the untapped potential of this economic partnership and deepen the broader strategic relationship between the two nations.
Discussion Prompt:
What are the key challenges and opportunities in forging a U.S.-India trade deal during President Trump’s second term? How might such an agreement impact the Indo-Pacific economic landscape?
For further context, you can reference the article here: Foreign Policy – U.S.-India Trade Deal
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/21/us-india-trade-deal-trump-modi-economy-indo-pacific/
https://www.vifindia.org/article/2025/january/08/Navigating-the-Future-of-Europe-Impact-of-the-Second-Trump-Administration
by Editor BGF | Jan 26, 2025 | Shinzo Abe Initiative for Peace and Security, News
The strategic competition between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) emerged prominently during Donald Trump’s first administration. Policies such as tariffs and trade restrictions, initially implemented under Trump, were subsequently maintained and expanded under Joe Biden’s administration.
On January 22, 2025, as the makeup of the second Trump Administration takes shape and following the President’s priorities outlined in his inaugural address, the Wilson Center convened its leading experts on China, the Indo-Pacific, Russia, and the Middle East in addition to keynote remarks from Hon. John Moolenaar, Member of the United States House of Representatives.
Moderator: Mark Kennedy, Director, the Wilson Center’s Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition
This event is part of the Indo-Pacific Spark Initiative, a collaboration between the Boston Global Forum and the Wilson Center. Here is the video of the event
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/strategic-competition-second-trump-administration
by Editor BGF | Jan 26, 2025 | Global Alliance for Digital Governance
Mark Kennedy, Wilson Center
America is making a critical mistake in its AI strategy—it is overreaching in playing defense but doing the opposite in playing offense. While Washington is busy building regulatory walls to restrict access to AI compute power (a term encompassing computational resources used to train and run AI models), China is circumventing these barriers and strategically developing asymmetric advantages.
Recognizing that it will take time for China to match the US in high-performance AI compute, Chinese companies have focused on developing more efficient, less expensive AI technologies. They are also seeking to build dominant positions in open-source AI, cloud infrastructure, and global data ecosystems. These strategies enable China to offer cheaper, unrestricted AI access to countries frustrated by US policies, embedding itself into emerging markets in ways that will be difficult to dislodge. This is not just an AI competition—it is a battle for control over the global digital infrastructure today and in the future.
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/americas-ai-strategy-playing-defense-while-china-plays-win
by Editor BGF | Jan 26, 2025 | World Leader for Peace and Security, AI Action Summit, World Leaders in AIWS Award Updates
On February 11, 2025, during the AI Action Summit, the transformative concept of AIWS Government 24/7 will be explored in a special event titled Government 24/7: How AI Might Best Transform Governance. You can watch the introductory video for the event at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRavkWnjNPc&t=185s.
by Editor BGF | Jan 20, 2025 | AI Action Summit, News, Shaping Futures
On the Road to the AI Action Summit in Paris, the Enlightenment in Action Alliance (EAA), a distinguished network of outstanding students from top universities including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, Columbia, UCLA, Georgetown, Chicago, Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris PSL, will engage in a significant dialogue with President Macron and world leaders attending the AI Action Summit. The EAA, mentored and sponsored by the Boston Global Forum, focuses on building the AIWS Government 24/7 and contributing to the creation of a Special Program entitled “Make a New Paris of Enlightenment.”
This program aims to provide solutions to help France leapfrog in AI development and catch up with the world’s leading AI nations. The outcome of these dialogues will be presented at the AI Action Summit in Paris, where the special event “Government 24/7: How AI Might Best Transform Governance” will take place on February 11, 2025, as a special gift to President Macron and the French people.
This collaboration marks a pivotal moment in the global conversation on AI governance, fostering innovative ideas and partnerships to implement AI for a better future.
by Editor BGF | Jan 20, 2025 | Shinzo Abe Initiative for Peace and Security, News
Mark Kennedy
An issue getting scant attention should be among the most pressing concerns for the US. Preserving our innovation and technological edge and leadership is imperative to our economic success and to our national security. Yet that leadership faces significant threats, which are being all but ignored in the national discussion.
Warning signs have been flashing red when it comes to technological innovation, particularly in the competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). America’s leadership in this crucial area is at greater risk than any time since President John F. Kennedy’s call to win the space race some six decades ago.
China is now more a peer competitor economically, militarily, and diplomatically than many believe, and technology is driving its advances. Naïve arrogance keeps too many Americans from seeing that the PRC has become a tech powerhouse and, in worrisome ways, a tech threat.
Please see full here:
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/red-flags-tech-race-america-must-act-now-preserve-its-innovation-edge
by Editor BGF | Jan 20, 2025 | World Leader for Peace and Security, World Leaders in AIWS Award Updates
On January 9, 2025, Professor Alondra Nelson, member of the U.S. National Science Board and World Leader in AIWS Award recipient, visited Nha Trang-Khanh Hoa, Vietnam, where she engaged in insightful discussions with local government leaders. During the meeting, the leaders of Nha Trang-Khanh Hoa expressed their profound respect for Professor Nelson’s work and confirmed their support for the AIWS Government 24/7 Initiative, launched by the Boston Global Forum. They also announced their intention to host an annual international conference on AIWS and the AIWS Government 24/7 model starting in 2025, becoming the first government to formally recognize and back this transformative initiative.
This roundtable discussion was part of the “On the Road to the AI Action Summit,” set to take place in Paris on February 10-11, 2025. The meeting came at a crucial time, coinciding with a national conference led by the highest-ranking political leaders in Vietnam. On January 13, 2025, the Secretary-General of the Party, To Lam, chaired a pivotal nationwide meeting to implement the 57 Resolution on Science, Technology, and Digital Transformation, involving key leaders at both the central and local levels.
Later that day, on January 13, Alondra Nelson visited Da Nang, a major hub for Vietnam’s digital transformation. She recommended ideas to help develop science, technology, and digital transformation, engaging in productive discussions with city leaders. This marked the first local government-level discussion in Vietnam on deploying science, technology, and digital transformation under the 57 Resolution. Da Nang also expressed a strong interest in hosting an international conference focused on AIWS Government 24/7.
These meetings and ongoing dialogues highlight the growing support for the AIWS Government 24/7 initiative across Vietnam and underscore the country’s commitment to building the AI World Society (AIWS) to create a better world powered by AI.
by Editor BGF | Jan 20, 2025 | News
President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that he plans to issue an executive order that would give TikTok’s China-based parent company more time to find an approved buyer before the popular video-sharing platform is subject to a permanent U.S.ban.
Trump announced the decision in a post on his Truth Social account as millions of TikTok users in the U.S. awoke to discover they could no longer access the TikTok app or platform. Google and Apple removed the app from their digital stores to comply with a federal law that required them to do so if TikTok parent company ByteDance didn’t sell its U.S. operation to an approved buyer by Sunday.
He said his order would “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect” and “confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.
“Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations,” Trump wrote.
https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-trump-biden-china-bdc79b7ce741a81761f67ea56d410103
by Editor BGF | Jan 20, 2025 | Global Alliance for Digital Governance, AI Action Summit
As global efforts intensify to build the AI World Society (AIWS), nations and organizations worldwide are coming together to support the AIWS Government 24/7 initiative, which aims to reshape governance through artificial intelligence. This historic collaboration was highlighted at the upcoming AI Action Summit in Paris.
USA:
The Boston Global Forum (BGF) and the Wilson Center’s Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition under the leadership of Hon. Mark Kennedy, are pivotal in advocating for the AIWS Government 24/7 model. Their strategic collaboration calls on global leaders to implement AI-driven governance for greater efficiency, transparency, and societal benefits.
Vietnam:
In a landmark move, the Nha Trang Khanh Hoa government became the first to officially endorse the AIWS Government 24/7 initiative, and expressed their readiness to host an international conference on the model. At the Saigon International University (SIU) Prize Computer Science Award Ceremony and the SIU Shaping Futures Conference on “AI for a Better World,” attendees, including SIU Prize Laureates, scientists, and scholars, urged governments, businesses, and academic institutions worldwide to join forces in realizing the AIWS Government 24/7 and the Boston Areti AI (BAI) model.
India:
India, through iSPIRT, is making significant contributions to the technical development of AIWS Government 24/7, providing critical solutions like the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and Citizen Stack to build AI-driven governance.
Japan:
The Shinzo Abe Initiative will also contribute to the AI Action Summit in February 2025, demonstrating Japan’s strong commitment to supporting AIWS Government 24/7 and the ongoing global cooperation to integrate AI into governance.
This collaborative international effort underscores the growing support for AIWS Government 24/7 as a model for a new era of governance, fostering global peace, prosperity, and stability through the power of AI.
