The final pre-election stop on the APAC Advisors Midterm Madness 2026 Tour took place at The Nanson, where our CEO Steven Okun warned that the Blue Wave may not be as big as it looks. Steve's concern is that Elon Musk's millions, together with voter intimidation and suppression efforts led by Musk and President Trump, could turn it into a "Blue Trickle", leaving the Democrats with a narrow majority in the House and the Republicans still in control of the Senate. He then put t

In a new commentary for CNA, our CEO Steven Okun looks at how the US and its trading partners are responding to what many now call China Shock 2.0. President Trump's tariffs and America First trade policy often put the US at odds with its partners, while the "middle powers" work to uphold the rules-based trading system without leaning too heavily on either Washington or Beijing. But Steve argues that when it comes to protecting their domestic markets from Chinese overcapacity

Days before the US midterms, our CEO Steven Okun joined Steve Lai on BBC News to explain why Republican candidates look set to be swamped by a Blue Wave. Steve points to what he calls Trump's terrible trio: tariffs, especially on Canada; a forever war with Iran that is hitting American family finances; and the President's interventions in Senate primaries, which have produced candidates who are badly underperforming in North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas. The Republicans

Two weeks before the US midterms, our CEO Steven Okun went on CNBC this morning with a warning for the business community. His read is that Democrats will take the House and probably the Senate. The coalition that carried President Trump in 2024 is coming apart, and he's now down 20 points with Latino voters and 17 with young men. What Steve wants companies to think about is the anger behind those numbers, because a lot of it is aimed at business. Profits are up while corpora

The last time a US president was this unpopular a month before the midterms, his party lost the House and the Senate. That was George W. Bush in 2006, at 35.6%. Trump is at ~35% today. That's where our CEO Steven Okun started when CNA asked him back this to brief its journalists and producers on the midterms, the third election cycle in a row he's done it. The Senate map is harder for Democrats this time, but the House looks likely to change hands. For a newsroom in Asia, wh

We asked a simple question: what is the Democratic brand today? Peter Goelz answered in three words: "There isn't one." It was a fitting start to our second Midterm Election Series session, where Peter and Thurgood Marshall Jr joined our CEO, Steven Okun, with 30 days to go to the vote. On paper, Democrats should be celebrating. Past wave elections were won with a generic ballot lead of about a touchdown, and Democrats are at 8.4 points today. But a late flood of Republican

US-China relations will likely be as good as it gets for some time, says US politics observer Steven Okun. SINGAPORE: The second summit of 2026 between United States President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping did nothing to address the core tensions in US-China relations. Though the two countries agreed to extend a trade truce until January 2027, the trade war remains, as do all the other areas of contention between Washington and Beijing. US grievances with unfa

Our CEO Steven Okun was on stage at the Asia Financial Markets Forum, organised by Financial Markets Association of Singapore, breaking down what the US midterms mean for markets watching from Asia. A Republican House is close to a done deal, he told the room, but the Senate is a real contest, and the bigger risk sits somewhere less obvious: a contested result, with local officials refusing to certify, tipping into a genuine constitutional crisis. That's the kind of unknown m

The most expensive mistake in politics, according to Greg Schultz, is talking to the loudest voters instead of the most numerous ones. At our first session of APAC Advisors' Midterm Election Series, Schultz — who managed Biden's 2020 primary campaign after running the Obama-Biden re-election in 2012 in Ohio — walked us through a pattern he's watched repeat since 2020: Democratic strategy gets built around a small, vocal, online slice of the electorate, while the unglamorous w

As the American century fades, the Asian renaissance begins. Kishore Mahbubani sat down with our CEO Steven Okun for a fireside chat at the US-ASEAN Business Council's Strategic Business Forum. ASEAN isn't westernizing it's modernizing, on its own terms, shaped for centuries by deep cultural ties to the two giants on its borders, India and China. An image for how the region moves is like a crab: sideways, sometimes backwards, sometimes forwards - never in a straight line, bu

Forget the usual swing voters. The “precariat” is the new voting base shaping the midterms. They're those living with chronic insecurity - unstable work, unpredictable income and few of the safety nets once taken for granted. As part of Steven Okun’s Geopolitical Series at The Nanson, we explored what could shape the midterms and US-China relations, in discussion with Deborah Elms, Damien Ma and Sonal Varma. This insecurity cuts across the US political and economic landscape.

At the The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore (AmCham Singapore)'s Regional Economic Conference, our CEO Steven Okun and Manager Noemie Viterale led Workshop 3: The Imperative for Business to Adapt to Changing Geopolitics. The session covered how public affairs is changing for U.S.-headquartered companies and those doing business with the U.S., where new opportunities are emerging, and why companies need to play the long game. A recurring thread throughout: resilience

President Donald Trump offered voters a quid pro quo, saying elect Republicans and get a $5,000 payout, which he called the Trump dividend. Trump's announcement was met with skepticism, with some seeing it as a desperate attempt to motivate voters and others predicting it will backfire, particularly given the US debt at record levels. “Independents and swing voters will see this as a ploy and not a solution to the their affordability problems. That’s why this will backfire,”

Guest: Steven Okun (CEO), APAC Advisors The US and Canada have one of the world's most deeply integrated trading relationships, but tariff threats and tensions over sovereignty have pushed the two neighbours into an escalating trade war. Steven Okun, Founder & CEO of APAC Advisors, discusses how the negotiations broke down and what this means for the future of USMCA and the world.

Trade, once central to Donald Trump’s political rise, could turn against him and the Republican Party in the 2026 midterms. Tariffs, the war with Iran, and uncertainty over USMCA are moving trade front and center this year, especially in trade-exposed states, potentially helping Democrats reclaim the House and possibly the Senate. Steven Okun and Noemie Viterale “It’s the economy, stupid,” a phrase from Bill Clinton’s winning 1992 Presidential campaign, epitomizes how economi

Current U.S. politics, foreign policy, and global trade dynamics intersect to create complex international ramifications. Steven Okun, founder and CEO of APAC Advisors Singapore, discussed how the fragmentation of global trade is reshaping Asia’s economic and geopolitical landscape.

International Feature: Trump's Family Wealth Soars During His Second Term, Raising Concerns About Using Public Power for Private Gain President Trump's wealth has skyrocketed during his second term, with his companies making numerous overseas investments, sparking a storm of speculation. Although he claims his businesses are now managed by his son, the overlap between policy-making and family interests renders the US's political recusal mechanisms ineffective. When public pow

The Democratic Party bench is deep and an answer to who its nominee is won’t emerge until much later. Steven R. Okun and Thurgood Marshall Jr Published Jun 27, 2026, 05:00 AM Last week, former US first lady Michelle Obama took the stage at the Obama Presidential Library – and within hours, speculation began once more about whether she might finally enter the race for US president. It is a ritual by now. Each rare occasion she gives a speech, Democrats swoon. Few people connec