Flagship

Trump’s tariff reprieve

Global stock markets surged after US President Donald Trump paused almost all his “Liberation Day” tariffs, sending his trade war into a 90-day limbo. The reprieve followed days of turmoil that saw equities and bonds plummet, and was welcomed by major trading partners including the European Union and ASEAN, which were hit particularly hard by the duties. But Trump raised tariffs on China further, while baseline worldwide duties of 10% remain in force, leading Japan to call for the US to reconsider other levies. Analysts meanwhile, were left scratching their heads, and US stock market futures were slightly lower, suggesting a tempering of euphoria: “President Trump’s surprise pause… upends any pretence that we understand his strategy,” strategists at ING admitted.

Chinese officials mull stimulus

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will reportedly gather his top advisers to discuss injecting additional economic stimulus after Washington ramped up tariffs on China’s goods. US President Donald Trump yesterday raised duties on China to 125%, focusing his trade war on Beijing, which today implemented its own 84% levy on American products. The tariffs came as Chinese authorities said consumer prices fell for a second month, amplifying fears of deflation, while Goldman Sachs lowered its economic growth forecast to 4% this year, from 4.5% earlier. As tensions with the US escalate, China has also let its tightly managed currency weaken, cut purchases of dollars, and warned citizens against travel to America. “Trust has gone,” one Beijing-based expert said.

Trump spooked by bonds

US President Donald Trump’s decision to pause the most extreme tariffs was reportedly triggered by sharply rising bond yields. “Liberation Day” had caused historic stock market drops, but it was the flight from Treasurys — usually considered a safe haven — that spooked Trump, sources told The New York Times. The president later acknowledged that investors “were getting yippy.” His reversal is good news from one perspective, the Financial Times noted: “We now know the market has Trump on a leash,” and have some idea of its length. But the damage caused by the tariffs is still unclear: The bond market is yet to fully recover, and the remaining duties could still fuel inflation, the FT said.

A US (robot) job boom

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs will indeed create American jobs — for robots, Semafor’s technology editor argued. The White House’s prediction that iPhones could be made solely in the US is “ridiculous,” Reed Albergotti said: The devices’ supply chain is spread across the world. Even final assembly, usually carried out in China by young women, is not an attractive job. But the combination of rising prices, tariffs, and deportations depleting the US workforce create “perfect conditions for a robotics boom,” Albergotti wrote. Existing robots could not make iPhones, but that will soon change. Apple is equally skeptical that it could produce iPhones in the US, and reportedly flew five airliners full of the latest model to the US to circumvent tariffs.

Tariffs’ impact on AI

Investors are plowing money into artificial intelligence, but US tariffs on renewable energy equipment could make it harder to meet the new technology’s electricity demand. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is seeking $20 billion for a fund that would back AI startups, according to Reuters, a “colossal step up in scale” for the firm. AI comes with huge power demands — the International Energy Agency said today that data centers’ energy demand will double by 2030 — and those demands may be tricky to meet: High tariffs on China in particular, which provides much of the US’ solar panel supply, will raise energy costs, Semafor’s Tim McDonnell reported.

Tariffs hammer oil producers

Fears of a global recession as a result of rising protectionism have sent oil prices to their lowest level in three years, leaving officials in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest producer, bracing for an economic shock. Washington’s tariffs have pushed crude below the price that major producers require to turn a profit: Goldman Sachs says they could drop to $40 a barrel from about $60 now. The fallout points to the tariffs hammering fossil fuel producers even though oil and gas are exempt from US levies: In Nigeria, the sector accounts for 5-6% of GDP. Meanwhile in Russia, which has relied on oil exports to fuel its wartime economy, plunging prices are driving “a deepening crisis,” The Moscow Times reported.

Germany coalition deal agreed

Germany’s conservative and center-left parties agreed a deal to form a new government, with the soon-to-be-chancellor saying the country is “back on track.” Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union won the most seats in February’s election despite a strong showing from the far-right Alternative for Germany. His deal with the Social Democrats was given extra urgency by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and is headlined by huge new spending on defense and infrastructure. But despite concern over the levies and Germany’s ongoing economic stagnation, the incoming coalition’s reforms look “rather unambitious,” a Deutsche Bank analysis argued, with little effort to fix problems in the pension system or labor supply.

The World Economy Summit 2025 is bringing together the decision-makers who are shaping the future of global economic policy. The three-day summit, taking place from April 23–25, 2025 in Washington, DC, will focus on ways leaders across business, finance, tech, and beyond are navigating the complexities of tariffs, shifting trade dynamics, and evolving policy landscapes.

Featuring on-the-record conversations with Carlos Cuerpo, Minister for Economy, Trade and Business, Spain; Jan Jambon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finances and Pensions, Belgium; Jörg Kukies, Federal Minister of Finance, Germany; Éric Lombard, Minister of Economy and Finance, France; Hon. John Mbadi Ngongó, Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury & Economic Planning, Kenya; Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, United Kingdom, and more, the summit will facilitate in-depth discussions on how countries are adapting to these challenges and building resilience in a rapidly changing world.

April 23-25 | Washington, DC | Learn More

US mulls troops for Panama

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested US troops could be sent to Panama to “secure” the canal, an idea the Central American country rejected. Speaking during a visit to Panama, Hegseth said he would look to “revive” a base which was shuttered after the US withdrew its troops from the country in 1989. Washington is seeking free passage for its navy ships, which US President Donald Trump says are “severely overcharged,” claiming the canal has come under the sway of China. Beijing has hit back, accusing Hegseth of trying to sabotage its cooperation with Panama. “Everyone knows who wants to control the Panama Canal,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said.

Swiss target men to cut crime

Switzerland is seeking to reduce reoffending with a trial program that offers young men convicted of crimes increased freedom while keeping them in a prison-like environment. Globally, men commit most crimes, and the more violent the offense, the more male-dominated it is, with crime peaking around age 18. The Swiss project, which is focused on offenders with developmental disorders such as ADHD, gives them increased freedom as they show responsibility. Offenders must engage in therapy, take vocational training, and address their crimes. Putting them in prison, the program’s director said, risks that someone will go in “with a green belt in criminality, and come out with a black belt.”

A Masters anniversary

This week marks 50 years since the first Black golfer took part in the Masters. Lee Elder played Augusta in April 1975: The club had resisted allowing Black golfers for years, with its chairman allegedly saying “As long as I’m alive, all the golfers will be white, and all the caddies will be Black.” But that year the tournament changed from invitation-only to allowing any winner of a PGA Tour event, and “Elder seized the opportunity,” The Washington Post reported. With the 2025 Masters beginning today, several Black golfers have followed Elder’s path — notably Tiger Woods, as well as Harold Varner III and Cameron Champ — although the sport remains predominantly white.

• Argentina’s largest union holds a 24-hour general strike to protest against austerity measures.
• New Delhi hosts the Global Technology Summit.
• A new season of Black Mirror drops on Netflix.

All six of the world’s best airports are in Asia, according to a new report by air travel consultancy Skytrax. Singapore’s Changi, Doha’s Hamad, Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda, Seoul’s Incheon, and Hong Kong International led the ranking, with some of them having become travel destinations in themselves. Changi allows passengers to check bags as much as 48 hours in advance, encouraging travelers to stay — and shop — in its mammoth 10-story mall. But the airport, which houses museums, a cinema, and the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, is not resting on its laurels: Changi is investing more than $2 billion on improving its facilities, CNN Business reported.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This great work of the US Gilded Age was published 100 years ago today, on April 10, 1925. It has been adapted repeatedly since a first film version came out in 1926; there have been plays, musicals, TV series. But the novel itself, “tightly constructed and brilliantly expressed,” is still as relevant as ever, a professor of literature argued in The Conversation, hitting on themes — of socioeconomic and cultural transformation in the face of new technologies, and people’s desperation to cling to the past — which remain vital and universal today. Buy The Great Gatsby from your local bookstore.

At their rallies and protests, in interviews and Senate speeches, Democrats are pivoting to offering themselves as defenders of American democracy and tradition — a new Tea Party rebelling against a new mad king, Semafor’s David Weigel reported.

“Arguing that the current administration is not just wrong, but tyrannical, had been fairly effective for conservatives as they resisted Barack Obama and Joe Biden,” Weigel wrote. “Democrats are now very comfortable with that script.”