Flagship

Trump tariff turbulence

US President Donald Trump’s administration pressed ahead with plans for tariffs on chips and pharmaceuticals even as he floated a reprieve for automakers, underscoring widespread uncertainty over trade policy. Stocks rose on Trump’s suggestion he would “help some of the car companies,” but likely tariffs on semiconductors and drugs are pushing foreign governments to protect their domestic production: South Korea increased funding for its chipmakers to $23 billion, while Japan earlier upped support for a chip startup by billions. The whipsaw nature of US tariff policy could undermine Trump’s hopes to revitalize American manufacturing, experts said. “You don’t move manufacturing overnight,” one top trade lawyer told Politico, while an economist added: “These tariffs might not be around forever.”

White House freezes Harvard funds

The White House will freeze $2.2 billion in funding for Harvard after the university refused to comply with its demands. President Donald Trump had insisted universities remove diversity programs and screen students for antisemitism, among other requirements, or lose their “financial relationship” with the federal government. A Stanford academic warned in an op-ed in Nature that broad cuts to academia since Trump’s accession “put the entire US research enterprise at risk.” The US has been “unrivalled as the world’s leader in scientific discovery” since World War II, thanks in part to the relationship between government and universities, but just as the UK lost its earlier research primacy, American dominance could crumble.

Trump blames Zelenskyy for war

US President Donald Trump blamed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy for starting the war with Russia, a day after Moscow’s air strikes killed 35 people. “You don’t start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles,” the US president told reporters. Trump’s frustration with Zelenskyy — with whom he had an Oval Office clash soon after his inauguration — and apologism for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion comes as a far-right philosopher nicknamed “Putin’s brain” gains popularity among Trump supporters, The Wall Street Journal noted: “As Trump and Putin move their countries closer in the realm of geopolitics, [Alexander] Dugin is trying to do the same on a cultural level.”

Vance again criticizes Europe

The US vice president criticized Europe once again, saying the continent should not “be the permanent security vassal of the United States.” JD Vance’s remarks, in an interview with UnHerd, were less fiery than prior comments lambasting what he described as rampant illegal immigration and an erosion of free speech in Europe. Yet they highlight the widening gulf between the transatlantic partners, which remain profoundly divided over trade and support for Ukraine. US President Donald Trump’s “foreign-policy style and process have already done lasting damage to [economic and strategic] relations that will be very difficult to repair,” two experts warned.

China links US spies to hack

Chinese police named three alleged US spies they said carried out cyberattacks on the Asian Winter Games, which China hosted in February. Authorities in the northern city of Harbin also argued that two American universities were involved in the apparent hack, in the latest in a series of tit-for-tat espionage accusations between the US and China. Beijing tacitly acknowledged late last year that it was behind a number of huge cyberattacks on US infrastructure including utilities and ports, The Wall Street Journal reported. “China wants US officials to know that, yes, they do have this capability, and they are willing to use it,” a cybersecurity expert said.

BYD’s Brazil inroads

Chinese electric-vehicle giant BYD bought a Brazilian manufacturing plant formerly owned by Ford, the latest example of Chinese firms outmuscling US rivals across Latin America. The Shenzhen-based carmaker has vowed to make its Brazilian factory the biggest outside of China as sales have soared in the South American nation: EV sales jumped 84% in Brazil last year, with seven out of every 10 cars sold having been made by BYD. US President Donald Trump has vowed to crack down on China’s influence in the region. The two superpowers’ battle for control in Latin America has left leaders struggling to pick sides. “It’s likely going to be a bumpier road going forward,” an expert told Bloomberg.

UAE to use AI to make laws

The United Arab Emirates will use artificial intelligence to create laws. The new system will allow for more rapid lawmaking thanks to AI’s ability to take in large amounts of data, as well as easier monitoring of existing laws. The UAE wants to be seen as forward-thinking on technology, appointing a “minister for AI” in 2017. And it has certain structural advantages: Its access to finance and cheap energy mean it can more easily pay for and power the data centers that drive AI. Authoritarian countries also find it easier to get hold of user data, an academic noted in Le Monde last year, but unlike China, the UAE has access to cutting-edge US chips.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will join top global leaders at Semafor’s 2025 World Economy Summit, taking place April 23-25, 2025, in Washington DC. As the first major gathering since the new US administration took office, the summit will feature on-the-record discussions with more than 100 CEOs.

Bringing together leaders from both the public and private sectors — including congressional leaders and global finance ministers — the three-day summit will explore the forces shaping the global economy and geopolitics. Across 12 sessions, it will foster transformative, news-making conversations on how the world’s decision-makers are tackling economic growth in increasingly uncertain times.

April 23-25 | Washington, DC | Learn More

Sudan peace talks in London

The foreign ministers of 19 countries will meet in London today to encourage nations that have backed either side in Sudan’s civil war to support a ceasefire. Khartoum last week accused the United Arab Emirates of complicity in atrocities carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The meeting comes just days after more than 400,000 were displaced from a refugee camp in eastern Sudan after it was taken over by the RSF: The United Nations said more than 300 civilians were killed in the fight with the Sudanese army for control of the Zamzam camp. The two-year conflict has led to tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of nearly 15 million people.

Iraq sandstorms hospitalize hundreds

Huge sandstorms in Iraq have caused hundreds of people to be hospitalized with breathing difficulties. At least 700 people are suffering “suffocation,” an official said, as the storms reduced visibility across the country to less than a mile. Many desert nations have poor air quality, thanks to fine sand particles, but the situation in Iraq is particularly bad in part owing to deliberate mismanagement: Dictator Saddam Hussein drained much of the country’s marshes in the early 1990s as part of his campaign against Shia rebels, desertifying large areas. In recent years the wetlands had started to return, but climate change and alterations to river flows resulting from dams in neighboring Turkey have left the country vulnerable to sandstorms.

Sainthood sought for Antoni Gaudí

The Vatican is seeking sainthood for Antoni Gaudí, the architect behind Barcelona’s Sagrada Família church and much of the rest of the city. The intricate, pastel-colored basilica remains unfinished, nearly a century after Gaudí’s death and 140 years after he began work on it, but it remains one of Barcelona’s biggest tourist attractions. Gaudí himself was a devout Catholic: Campaigns to have him sainted argue the church’s beauty has converted many to the religion. In a statement Monday, Pope Francis recognized his “heroic virtues,” the first step towards sanctification. It would be ironic if it took time: Gaudí himself said to critics of his own slow work that “my client is not in a rush.”

• Bank of America and Citigroup release their Q1 results.
• Germany marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by British troops.
• North Korea marks the birthday of its first leader, Kim Il Sung.

The length of one day on Uranus, according to new measurements made using the Hubble Space Telescope. That’s 28 seconds longer than previous estimates, taken using observations from Voyager 2 in the 1980s. The planet’s surface is nearly featureless, making it almost impossible to see how often it rotates. The Voyager mission observed radio waves generated by the planet’s magnetic field, but the new study looked at emissions from its auroras, like the Earth’s Northern and Southern Lights. The technique could make it easier to measure day-lengths even on far-distant planets, such as those around other stars.

Binti by Lady Jaydee. This album, an “ode to young Tanzanian women,” is more than two decades old but remains resonant, according to Africa Is A Country: The early 2000s saw significant changes in the gender politics of Tanzania, and Lady Jaydee, aka Judith Wambura, documented them. Her lyrics drew on Swahili poetry, and the album “cautioned, encouraged, and confided in an audience of young women.” Listen to Binti on Spotify.

John Barrasso keeps a leather whip in his Senate leadership office, though he hasn’t needed it to corral Republican votes — yet, reports Semafor’s Burgess Everett.

“When he needs to be tough, he’s tough; when he needs to be soft, he’s soft,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. Barrasso isn’t a nationally known figure like Ted Cruz or Rand Paul, but his role is vital to clinching Trump’s agenda — and when a final tax bill comes to the Senate floor, it will be Barrasso’s job to find 50 votes.