00:00 Speaker A
One of the other things you highlight that’s really interesting that’s sort of related to tariffs, because tariffs have been used as a tool in this way, is scarcity of various um resources, whether those resources are critical minerals, which have been at the center of some of the tariff and trade back and forth, or talking about things like water as well, which has become, you know, it’s not only vital for life, but also has become important for things like data centers and cooling in some um cases. So how is all of that going to play out and what do people need to pay attention to?
00:52 Speaker B
Yeah, absolutely. So we do see geopolitical competition for either kind of the continued control of those resources or for greater access to those resources, really being a key story in 2026 and will drive a lot of the policies from governments, as well as as a lot of the implications for for companies, both in terms of risks as well as opportunities to expand in certain areas. So, certainly freshwater, you mentioned critical minerals, both of those are really key to data centers, to electricity production. Uh so those are two really critical types of of resources that we see, uh governments that will really sort of ramp up their their competition in that area. and we could see some sort of going it alone, others trying to reach out to to allies and partners to really build those critical supply chains.
02:26 Speaker A
Um now here in the US, Courtney, um looking at another one of the things that you’re watching, here in the US rates are trending lower, but we’ve not necessarily seen rates in the market trend lower. And what is happening with the sort of borrowing cost um atmosphere and environment around the globe and what should what should we be watching for in 2026 there?
03:08 Speaker B
Yeah, absolutely. This is another one of those scarce resources broadly defined that we point to in terms of capital. So, what we’re seeing is a lot of geopolitical competition around access to capital and the growing politiczation of capital allocation within different economies around the world. So, we think this will really continue to to reshape or refine the global financial system. So, you know, there’s, you know, sovereign debt issuance at an all-time high, debt servicing costs do continue to grow though. Uh and so we could see some some fiscal pressures in certain countries. Um and how this sort of plays out in terms of the private sector’s access to capital and and the the cost of capital, I think remains to be seen but but bears watching closely as the year progresses.
04:18 Speaker A
Courtney, as you know, AI has been like the theme of this year. Um what are you watching with reference from your from your perspective, what’s important about AI next year?
04:31 Speaker B
Yeah, absolutely. I think the the buzzword this year has certainly been sovereign AI and I expect that to continue next year. So, we are seeing governments around the world really trying to accelerate the development of AI value chains and algorithms within their own economies, uh because that is seen as critical to economic security and national security going forward. So, we’ll see governments really focus across the AI value chain. Uh it’s not just about those algorithms, it’s also about the critical minerals uh that go into the semiconductors, uh that power the data centers, and of course, data itself is a critical resource as well.