WPR Daily Review

"China's economic vibe shift" and "The power struggle in Senegal."

Views expressed in this geopolitical news and analysis are those of the reporters and correspondents.  Accessed on 23 December 2025, 2335 UTC.

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Russ Roberts (https://trendsingeopolitics.blogspot.com).


December 23, 2025

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Hello, everyone. Today at WPR, we’re covering the juxtaposition between China’s dominance of global manufacturing and its weak economic fundamentals at home, and the power struggle in Senegal that’s threatening the country’s status as an oasis of stability in West Africa.

Programming note: WPR is shifting to a reduced publication schedule for the holidays. The Daily Review newsletter will be off the rest of this week and will be delivered intermittently during the week of Dec. 29. We’ll be back at full steam starting Jan. 5. We wish you all a restful and joyful holiday period!

China enters 2026 enjoying a “vibe shift” in terms of its economic confidence. Much of this relates to Beijing’s ability to emerge victorious in Trump’s tariff showdown, but it has also wielded its outsized market power elsewhere, especially against Europe. Even as it has thrown its economic weight around, however, the fundamental domestic challenges to China’s economic growth—primarily weak consumer demand—have not gone away. And it is unclear whether the country’s outward-facing bravado will filter down to affect household confidence, which remains exceptionally low, and boost spending, Mary Gallagher writes.

China’s Economic Vibe Shift Cuts Both Ways

China has been throwing its economic weight around with trading partners, but it also faces weak economic fundamentals at home.

www.worldpoliticsreview.com/china-economy-exports-domestic-demand

 

Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko made a dramatic declaration recently that underscored a deepening rift between him and the country’s president. “I don’t work for Bassirou Diomaye Faye, I work for Senegal,” he told lawmakers on Nov. 28. It was only the latest in a series of public statements indicating a falling-out between Senegal’s two most powerful figures, who had joined forces to win decisive victories in presidential and legislative elections last year. Now, however, their public spat risks derailing the government’s efforts to address a spiraling debt crisis, Jessica Moody writes.

A Power Struggle at the Top Threatens Senegal’s Governance and Growth

A bitter falling-out between the prime minister and president is damaging Senegal’s position as an island of stability in West Africa.

www.worldpoliticsreview.com/senegal-power-struggle-sonko-faye

 

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U.S. Bans All New Foreign-Made Drones

The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the use of radio frequencies in the United States, announced Monday that it will ban new foreign-made drones, citing national security concerns. The FCC’s review was mandated by a defense authorization bill that Congress passed last year.

Uncrewed drones were initially for military purposes only, and for years U.S. and Israeli companies were their main suppliers. However, when the commercial drone market took off in the early 2010s, Chinese firms quickly came to dominate it. As the war in Ukraine has demonstrated the importance of drones for military applications, the West’s reliance on Chinese drones and drone parts has come to be recognized as a severe vulnerability, Ulrike Franke wrote in WPR in February. “This dependency is particularly concerning in light of the growing geopolitical competition between the West and China, and reports of ever-closer Sino-Russian cooperation,” Franke wrote. The FCC’s decision will likely spur new U.S. entrants into the sector, as drones are widely used for civilian applications like farming, filmmaking and law enforcement.

 

China’s Domination of the Drone Supply Chain Is a Vulnerability for the West

Ukraine and Russia have together used hundreds of thousands of civilian drones on the battlefield. Most of them are from China.

www.worldpoliticsreview.com/ukraine-russia-drones-china

 

Miners March to Oppose the End of Bolivia’s Fuel Subsidy

Bolivian miners and some members of other trade unions marched in La Paz on Monday to protest President Rodrigo Paz’s scrapping of fuel subsidies. Many trade groups did not participate in the march and some union leaders said they would not oppose the elimination of the subsidies, according to the Associated Press. 

The centrist Paz took office in November after winning a runoff election against Jorge Quiroga, a conservative former president. Paz took over from the Movement Toward Socialism party, which had governed the country for two decades but underperformed in this year’s elections as voters rejected infighting and corruption among its leadership. In a report from La Paz in late October, Thomas Graham chronicled the election that had just taken place amid a dire economic crisis. “On the campaign trail, Paz was ambiguous about how he would solve the crisis,” Graham wrote. But Paz did promise to end Bolivia’s “ruinously expensive fuel subsidy, which cost about 4 percent of GDP in 2024.”

 

Bolivia Voted for Change. Can Its New Centrist President Deliver?

Rodrigo Paz, Bolivia’s president-elect, will face a dire economic crisis and a fragmented political system.

www.worldpoliticsreview.com/bolivia-election-mas-paz

 

The paid edition of today’s newsletter includes the following additional On Our Radar items:

  • Head of Tunisia’s Most Powerful Trade Union Resigns Amid Political Crisis

  • Portuguese Far-Right Party’s Campaign Posters Ruled Discriminatory

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