- D.C.
- BXL
- Lagos
- Riyadh
- Beijing
- SG
Intelligence for the New World Economy
- D.C.
- BXL
- Lagos
- Riyadh
- Beijing
- SG
View / US’ aid-for-minerals strategy courts controversy
View / Vision 2030’s biggest breakthrough isn’t in the charts
The World at a Glance
Updated 7:21am EDT
1
Trump arrives in Beijing today, but his ambitions for the high-stakes summit with Xi have been pared back from his earlier stance.
2Iran retains access to the majority of its missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, according to US intelligence.
3The prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz has accelerated fears of an impending food crisis in African countries.
4Russia cut its growth forecast by almost a whole percentage point, in the latest sign of strain in the country’s wartime economy.
5The 2024 sinking of a Russian ship headed for North Korea was reportedly carrying nuclear reactors, a CNN investigation found.
6The CIA secretly killed a major cartel boss in Mexico, the latest example of US interference in Latin American security.
Trump’s China ambitions reduced as he meets Xi
In his 2024 campaign, Trump promised to hit China harder with tariffs than any other country, but has ended up more cautious.
Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersFailed 2019 US-Beijing trade deal holds lessons for summit
The 2019 deal halted a trade war, but the commitments were “completely unrealistic,” a prominent economist told Semafor.
Kevin Lamarque/ReutersTrump dives back into the midterms
Six months out, the president is getting more involved in the campaign. But he’s still avoiding some endorsements that could boost his party.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters Warsh has cover to not cut rates — but it won’t matter to Trump
His confirmation as Federal Reserve Chair, expected Wednesday, will start the clock on presidential pressure.
Kevin Lamarque/ReutersWhite House leaves door open to Chinese investment
The potential contours of a deal remain unclear.
Photo: Maxim Shemetov/Pool via Reuters; Banner: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty ImagesNvidia CEO joins Trump in China despite ‘awkward’ politics
The president initially left Jensen Huang out of the CEO delegation to dodge political tensions around chip sales to China.
Leah Millis/Reuters AI tensions loom over Trump-Xi meeting
The meeting comes as both countries race to create and adopt new AI models amid mounting cybersecurity fears.
Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo/Reuters
AD
Politics
Jim Vondruska/Reuters Kevin Lamarque/Reuters Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Data centers are wildly unpopular, poll shows
Seven in 10 Americans say they oppose building data centers where they live.
Jim Vondruska/Reuters Warsh has cover to not cut rates — but it won’t matter to Trump
His confirmation as Federal Reserve Chair, expected Wednesday, will start the clock on presidential pressure.
Kevin Lamarque/ReutersTrump dives back into the midterms
Six months out, the president is getting more involved in the campaign. But he’s still avoiding some endorsements that could boost his party.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters White House leaves door open to Chinese investment
The potential contours of a deal remain unclear.
Senators warn against ‘unilateral changes’ to Taiwan policy
Twelve senators signed the bipartisan letter.
Nvidia CEO joins Trump in China despite ‘awkward’ politics
The president initially left Jensen Huang out of the CEO delegation to dodge political tensions around chip sales to China.
Democrat seeks to strip $1B for Trump ballroom from immigration bill
Sen. Jacky Rosen is proposing a measure to redirect the funds to law enforcement programs.
Senate advances Warsh’s Fed nomination
Senators are on track to confirm Kevin Warsh later this week following a surprisingly bipartisan vote Monday night.
‘Boeing, beef and beans’: Senators shine light on Trump’s China dealmaking
Republican senators who held official meetings in Beijing last week talked about their hopes for the presidential visit.
Trump’s ballroom funding hits Republican turbulence
“The $1 billion dollars? I have questions,” said one Republican senator.
Bessent pays Japan third visit as secretary
Officials are expected to dig into the next phase of Japan’s pledge to invest $550 billion in the US strategic industrial base.
Business
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
More activists rush in to HPE
More activist investors have taken stakes in the tech company.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters Foreign investors pull out of India at record pace
Foreign investors have pulled $21 billion out of Indian stocks in the last two months, putting 2026 on track to be the worst year for outflows since the markets opened to overseas investment in 1993.
Who is, and isn’t, accompanying Trump to China
More noteworthy than who’s making the trip to Beijing with Trump this week is who isn’t.
The Fed’s most powerful economic lever is losing its edge
Whether Kevin Warsh cuts rates or not may matter less than anyone thinks.
The time for an eBay takeover was 10 years ago. Now, it’s better alone.
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen’s bid for the company is perplexing at a time when its stock and profit margins have been growing steadily.
TechnologyLeah Millis/Reuters 
Manuel Orbegozo/Reuters
Nvidia CEO joins Trump in China despite ‘awkward’ politics
The president initially left Jensen Huang out of the CEO delegation to dodge political tensions around chip sales to China.
Leah Millis/Reuters OpenAI’s Altman under scrutiny amid trial, IPO plans
Sam Altman took the stand Tuesday in a trial against Elon Musk who has accused OpenAI of betraying its original nonprofit mission.
Manuel Orbegozo/ReutersSK official proposes AI dividend for citizens, spooking investors
A top South Korean official proposed that citizens should share in the profits of the country’s AI chip boom.
AI tensions loom over Trump-Xi meeting
The meeting comes as both countries race to create and adopt new AI models amid mounting cybersecurity fears.
The time for an eBay takeover was 10 years ago. Now, it’s better alone.
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen’s bid for the company is perplexing at a time when its stock and profit margins have been growing steadily.
AI spending likely higher than suggested
The narrative so far has focused on capex, but an equivalent non-hardware spend is ramping up in parallel, bank economists said.
Energy
Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo/Reuters
Chen Aizhu/File Photo/Reuters
China widens lead in global clean tech
An analysis of $1.1 trillion in global clean energy manufacturing investments between 2019 and 2025 found that more than half were made by Chinese companies.
Maxim Shemetov/ReutersEnergy executives brace for prolonged spike in jet fuel prices
Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopened immediately and crude oil prices stabilize, it will take “months” for refineries to catch up, S&P Global Energy analysts wrote.
Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo/ReutersChina’s oil market stands up to Trump
The vast scale of China’s oil buying power will help Beijing undermine one of Trump’s favorite trade tactics.
Chen Aizhu/File Photo/ReutersGulf
The Umayyad mosque in Damascus. Yosri Aljamal/Reuters.
UAE makes major investment pledges in Damascus
The pledges signal Abu Dhabi’s growing comfort with Syria’s new leadership.
The Umayyad mosque in Damascus. Yosri Aljamal/Reuters.UAE delivers on US investment pledge
More than $100 billion in investment and trade deals between the US and the UAE have been announced since Trump’s visit to the Middle East a year ago.
Kuwait arrests Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps members
Four men arrested in Kuwait have confessed during interrogation to being affiliated with Iran’s IRGC.
Mubadala-backed M42 pitches genomics capabilities to the world
The healthcare firm has gathered a large database of the UAE’s gene pool, which it is using for personalized care.
Vision 2030’s biggest breakthrough isn’t in the charts
The kingdom’s real achievement — curbing corruption — barely appears in its annual review, even though it made all the rest possible.
ChinaKevin Lamarque/Reuters 
Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/ReutersEvelyn Hockstein/File Photo/Reuters
Failed 2019 US-Beijing trade deal holds lessons for summit
The 2019 deal halted a trade war, but the commitments were “completely unrealistic,” a prominent economist told Semafor.
Kevin Lamarque/ReutersA US-China currency war is simmering
The yuan hovered near a three-year high against the dollar Tuesday, buoyed by expectations of stronger US-China ties ahead of this week’s meeting between the countries’ leaders.
Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/ReutersAI tensions loom over Trump-Xi meeting
The meeting comes as both countries race to create and adopt new AI models amid mounting cybersecurity fears.
Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo/ReutersAfrica
Hereward Holland/Reuters
Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters
US’ aid-for-minerals strategy courts controversy
While the strategy has appeared callous to some, Washington says it’s not as new as it appears.
Hereward Holland/ReutersTelecoms giant Airtel Africa’s revenues soar
Airtel operates in 14 sub-Saharan African countries and experienced a 10% rise in its customer base in the year to March.
Afolabi Sotunde/ReutersEV imports to Africa from China surged in 2025
African countries imported more than 44,000 electric vehicles from China last year, according to China’s commerce ministry, up from more than 19,000 in 2024.
South Africa arrests intelligence chief on corruption charges
Feroz Khan faces charges including corruption and the illegal possession of and dealing in precious metals.
Africa-France summit unlocks $50B in investments
French President Emmanuel Macron co-hosted the two-day summit with Kenyan President William Ruto.
South Africa’s Ramaphosa turns to courts to stall impeachment
The South African leader pledged to challenge a decision by the country’s top court, which revived an impeachment inquiry against him.
Security
Ints Kalnins/Reuters
Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via Reuters
Stringer/Reuters
Spain calls for creation of EU army amid US unreliability
The call is part of a broader shift toward European sovereignty.
Ints Kalnins/ReutersPutin says Ukraine war is ‘coming to an end’
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he believes the Ukraine war is “coming to an end,” hours after vowing victory over Kyiv at a pared-down Victory Day parade devoid of its usual military hardware display.
Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via ReutersTrump rejects Iran’s latest peace offer
Donald Trump rejected Iran’s response to Washington’s latest peace proposal, prolonging the countries’ uneasy stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz.
Stringer/ReutersMedia
Mike Blake/File Photo/Reuters
Paramount seeks to calm California’s creatives — and a litigious attorney general
Paramount is racing to reassure Hollywood that its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, with its HBO streaming service, isn’t aimed at killing movie theaters.
Mike Blake/File Photo/ReutersHollywood appears to avoid Cannes Film Festival
Only two American entrants are competing for the Palme d’Or, both relatively small and financed outside the US.
Weiss deputy says CBS owners are ‘independent of the news operation’
“The convention in American journalism is that the owners are independent of the news operation, and that’s the case at CBS,” Charles Forelle told Semafor.
Behind the Pulitzer Board’s Epstein reporting plaudits
The Miami Herald episode shows how the prize is struggling to keep up with both public sentiment and shifting media consumption.
With ‘Morning Joe’ and ‘Squawk Box,’ Versant looks to market its influential audience at the upfronts
Versant’s decision to pair the two shows for advertisers suggests that its most valuable properties don’t have to be the ones with the largest reach.
CEO Signal
Reckitt Benckiser/Handout via Reuters 
Courtesy of Government of Dubai/Joey Pfeifer/Semafor
Reckitt’s Kris Licht on moving at ‘China speed’
The CEO behind Lysol and Durex ‘pivoted hard’ for a new era of TikTok-driven commerce.
Reckitt Benckiser/Handout via Reuters Dan Schulman’s plan to get Verizon back in the fight
“If somebody’s going to punch me, I’m going to punch back,” Verizon CEO Dan Schulman says in this episode of The CEO Signal.
How Dubai’s Hadi Badri builds confidence in a crisis
The Dubai Economic Development Corp. CEO says data, proactive engagement, and long-term goals can turn the Iran conflict into a “speed bump.”
Courtesy of Government of Dubai/Joey Pfeifer/SemaforAD