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Markets bullish on trade talks

Markets brightened after major US trading partners voiced bullishness on reaching deals to avoid punishing tariffs. The European Union said it would “fast-track” negotiations with Washington, while Japan expressed hope it would agree a deal for tariff relief ahead of a G7 summit next month, helping drive a rally in government bonds globally and pushing US stock futures higher. Yet major hurdles remain, both for the trade talks and markets. Analysts warned that US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy was unlikely to stabilize, with one expert cautioning investors to “buckle up,” while all-important bond markets will likely refocus their attention on the mammoth US deficit. “While tariff headlines have taken over,” an ING economist noted, “the fiscal trajectory still matters.”

US-China truce spurs trade surge

Businesses raced to take advantage of a temporary hiatus in Washington and Beijing’s trade war to ship goods from China to the US, warning that prices would likely jump soon. Container bookings between the two countries rose to their highest level in more than a year after a truce was agreed this month, as companies that had suspended shipments after the US imposed 145% tariffs on Chinese goods sought to stock up. Yet the 90-day tariff reprieve is set to expire in August, which executives warned did not leave enough time to ward off price rises: “We might be out of stock for a period of time on some critical products,” one children’s goods maker told Nikkei.

S. Africa proposes US LNG deal

South Africa offered to buy liquefied natural gas from the US in a bid to secure a trade deal with Washington and restore fraying ties. The proposal — which would see Pretoria buy US LNG over a 10-year period — came days after a fractious meeting between the countries’ leaders. Pretoria has been under pressure from the Trump administration for months, owing to laws that Washington says discriminate against white South Africans. Regardless, South Africa’s president remains hopeful that a trade pact between the two may be salvaged. Even with a tariff compromise, “renegotiating this crucial agreement… would be better than drift,” Sam Mkokeli wrote for Semafor.

Trump targets Big Tech

The CEOs of Apple and Meta are both facing pressure from the Trump administration, despite Big Tech’s efforts to win the US president over. Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg have taken differing tacks to wooing Donald Trump: While the former was “one of Mr. Trump’s most beloved chief executives” during his first term, The New York Times said, the latter has pivoted more recently to do “everything he can” to enter Trump’s good graces, Bloomberg reported. Cook has been in Trump’s crosshairs over Apple’s manufacture of goods abroad, while the White House has done little to derail congressional efforts to reform Section 230, an online protection seen as critical by Meta.

West boosts Ukraine support

Western powers moved to shore up their support for Ukraine as aerial attacks by both Moscow and Kyiv eroded hopes for peace talks. Germany’s chancellor said his country — along with Britain, France, and the US — had removed range restrictions on weapons sent to Ukraine for use against Russia. The move not only addresses Kyiv’s longstanding complaint that it was being hamstrung in responding to Moscow, but also indicates Washington may be shifting its stance. US President Donald Trump had been pursuing a rapprochement with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, but railed against him over the weekend and may impose new sanctions on Moscow this week, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Netanyahu pressured by allies

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced intense criticism from key international allies over his government’s actions in Gaza and over the Iran nuclear deal. Germany’s chancellor blasted Israel’s latest offensive in the Palestinian territory — some 200 targets have been struck in 48 hours, killing several dozen people — saying it “can no longer be justified”: Berlin is typically Israel’s most supportive partner in Europe and has largely refrained from outspoken remarks like those issued by fellow European powers Britain and France. Israel’s Channel 12 news, meanwhile, reported that Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump held a heated weekend call on confronting Tehran over its nuclear program, part of a broader distancing between the two countries in recent weeks.

Critics fear Argentina spy plan

Argentina’s intelligence agency approved a plan that could allow agents to spy on critics of President Javier Milei. According to La Nación, the agency will be permitted to gather data on journalists, academics, and anyone else who “erodes” public trust in senior government figures. The findings came shortly after authorities limited reporters’ access to executive branch buildings. Despite winning plaudits abroad for curbing sky-high inflation, Milei’s austerity agenda has left many in Argentina dissatisfied, with protests intensifying in recent days as polarization grows. Under Milei, “fraternity, tolerance, and respect are dying,” the archbishop of Buenos Aires said during a ceremony the president attended.

France votes on assisted dying

French lawmakers will today vote on a bill to legalize assisted dying, one of a number of similar legislative efforts across Europe. The Assemblée Nationale has debated the measure for a week, though even if it passes, it will need to be approved by France’s upper house. Britain, too, is considering its own assisted dying bill, while various forms of the practice are now legal in at least six other European countries. France took an unusual approach to devising its bill, randomly selecting a diverse array of 184 citizens for a four-month nationwide convention: “Rather than creating division, the range of backgrounds became a strength,” RFI noted.

Denmark raises retirement age

Denmark raised its retirement age to 70, the highest in Europe. The Scandinavian country ties retirement age to life expectancy, and the new rules will apply to anyone born after 1970. The country is likely to be at the vanguard of a broader shift, with the OECD forecasting that several countries will have to raise their retirement ages to 70 — or more — by 2060. Denmark’s system isn’t universally popular, but has broad buy-in, with the latest increase winning about 80% of votes in parliament. In Washington, by contrast, “nobody wants to take the heat for proposing real reform, so the US keeps barreling toward a cliff while pretending not to notice,” The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board lamented.

Sherpa sets Everest record

A Nepali Sherpa summited Mount Everest for a record 31st time, as fears grow that the world’s tallest peak is becoming increasingly overcrowded. Fifty-five-year-old Kami Rita extended his own record by summiting the almost 9,000-meter mountain more than 30 years after his first ascent. His feat came after a group of British soldiers set a speed record by climbing Everest without acclimatizing, a process traditional mountaineers say is essential to getting the body used to the lack of oxygen. The UK team were aided by xenon gas, shortening their pre-acclimatization period from weeks to days. However experts fear that such approaches may draw less experienced climbers: Nepal last year began reducing the number of permits available for scaling Everest.

• The UK’s King Charles will deliver the “Speech from the Throne” to Canada’s Parliament, which is expected to include a defense of Canada’s sovereignty.
• French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Jakarta, Indonesia, part of a three-country Southeast Asia tour.
• The US Scripps National Spelling Bee, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, begins preliminary rounds.

The share of Syria’s population that lives below the poverty line, according to the United Nations, leading some to turn to prospecting for gold. Decades of kleptocratic rule by the Assad family have left the country’s economy in dire straits and largely isolated from the international community. Now, some in the Arab nation have turned treasure hunters, hoping to unearth artifacts left in the earth by one of the great ancient dynasties that ruled Syria. “Everyone in our region knows some relative who was once digging in their house and found a jar filled with gold,” a Syrian academic told the Financial Times. “It’s part of our region’s mythology.”

Abstraction is Deliverance, the James Brandon Lewis Quartet. The jazz group’s rapport is “more compelling than ever,” while the album’s eight original compositions, a mix of traditional and modernist, “marvel with spiritual consciousness,” Jazz Trail wrote. Listen to the band’s fifth album on Apple Music.

An identity crisis is tearing through the “anti-woke” media, Semafor’s Ben Smith and Max Tani reported.

The Free Press, in many ways the movement’s flagship publication, is emblematic of the schism, as it attempts to walk the thin line between criticizing US President Donald Trump’s excesses and doubling down on its trademark anti-wokism. “It’s perfectly possible to be very anti-woke and very anti-Trump. In fact it’s the only coherent liberal and old-school conservative position,” veteran online journalist Andrew Sullivan told Semafor. “But it’s hard in our tribal age to find an audience that wants to read — let alone support — both.”