Some assert that U.S. tariffs on China may benefit it in the long-term since Beijing may be forced to bolster consumption if there are large pressures on exports as driver of growth. Ultimately, the only losers are American businesses and consumers. cbsnews.com/news/trump-chi…

Dear friends, I have not posted on this site in some time, but I would like to share now the podcast I just did with Jeremy Hobson on The Middle.  The topic is the abysmal state of US-China relations in the new Trump administration.

Pleased to say that the paperback edition of my book, Empires of Ideas, is just out, and with a new preface on the state of higher education in the United States. amazon.com/Empires-Ideas-…

The U.S. is experiencing budding conflict between the state and #universities. How can examples from around the world provide useful parallels and insights amid current tensions?⤵️ news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/… Sven Beckert Laura Jákli Sugata Bose William C. Kirby

This is how universities die.  It can happen here, too. shorturl.at/qpHR4. bostonglobe.com/2025/06/01/opi…

"For history shows that universities can die, and nations will decay." Harvard’s fate is a test for all of American higher ed. William C. Kirby traces how Berlin and Beijing lost their academic leadership—and warns the same could happen in the U.S. #Harvard harvardmagazine.com/2025/06/how-un…

Universities outlast regimes. Peking and Tsinghua survived imperial collapse, invasion, and even Mao Zedong. If you can survive Mao, you can survive anything. American universities will endure Trump-and whatever comes next, but the damage may not be small. youtu.be/Sr8DVMQsyxs

Nice to talk to RadioNorthernBeaches in Australia yesterday on how great universities die, often taking the country with them. mixcloud.com/michael-lester…

It was a pleasure speaking with Dina Temple-Raston about Qian Xuesen, the brilliant scientist who helped launch China’s missile and space programs. He might have stayed in the U.S. if McCarthy-era paranoia had not forced him out. Are we making the same mistake again?