How Hong Kong can go from passive trade hub to regional control tower

This year has opened a rare window of relative calm in global commerce. On October 8, the World Trade Organization doubled its forecast for global goods trade growth, from 1.9 to 3.9 per cent. The easing of US-China and Europe-China tensions has given open economies some breathing space. Hong Kong has seized the moment. Its exports rose 42.5 per cent year on year in the first eight months of 2026, with figures from August alone up 53 per cent, driven largely by AI-related equipment and...