Economic news and analysis

After the discovery of nuclear power, the first application was the atomic bomb, not the power plant. Regulation rarely comes about proactively. Will it take an AI disaster before we put clear international rules in place?

A faster climate transition produces relative winners and losers compared to the baseline scenario. In a slower scenario, there are only losers.

The tariffs that Donald Trump has imposed since his return as President of the United States in January 2025 are intended to reduce the US trade deficit. In the crosshairs: China. Has this tariff policy succeeded in restoring the balance between the US and China? Not really. After all, figures from June 2026 show that the US is still importing on a massive scale from abroad. 

Belgium consistently spends more than it receives. As a result, the budget deficit is growing and public debt is rising. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly expensive to finance this debt. If we don’t take timely action, the financial markets may later force us to adopt much stricter measures.  

There is near-consensus among economists as to what a tonne of CO2 would need to cost in order to bring about a genuine change in our behaviour: somewhere between 50 and 100 dollars. The world pays on average 6 to 8 dollars for this. That’s not just a small gap – it’s a different universe. 

Markets tend to scrutinise confidence surveys closely to assess the economic climate and attempt to predict future trends. However, for some time now, their relevance seems to be waning. The issue at stake: widening income inequalities, which are influencing perceptions of the economic situation.