Flagship

Court blocks Trump tariffs

A US court blocked President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, a blow against policies that have thrown the global economy into disarray. Judges argued Trump did not have “unlimited tariff power,” noting that levies of the sort he imposed should be agreed by Congress. The White House said it would appeal. The court decision upends ongoing trade negotiations with dozens of countries, as well as interim deals with Britain and China, but may amount to little in the longer term: Trump has plenty of other ways in which he can impose duties, experts noted. “This ruling represents a setback,” Goldman Sachs economists wrote, “but might not change the final outcome for most major US trading partners.”

Musk leaves government

Elon Musk left his role in the Trump administration, ending a period marked by huge government disruption but which fell far short of its ultimate goal. The Tesla and SpaceX chief’s time limit as a “special government employee” was coming to an end and shareholders had called for him to refocus on his corporate responsibilities. Musk has, however, also appeared to grow distant from US President Donald Trump, criticizing Trump’s signature domestic spending program while so far failing to follow through on a pledge to donate $100 million to Trump-aligned groups. And whereas he said he would cut $2 trillion in federal spending, his Department of Government Efficiency claims to have saved $175 billion, itself a figure critics contest.

US targets Chinese students

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged to “aggressively” revoke visas held by Chinese students, further undermining a brief detente between Washington and Beijing. Rubio said officials would focus on those with “connections to the Chinese Communist party or studying in critical fields,” but his statement came in tandem with new Trump administration restrictions on the sale of jet-engine, semiconductor, and chemicals technology to China. Combined with Beijing’s refusal to lift its curbs on the export of rare earths, the announcements suggest a trade war reprieve between the world’s two biggest economies — agreed barely two weeks ago — is withering. Indeed, a top Communist Party journal called for Beijing to “prepare for the worst-case scenario,” the South China Morning Post noted.

China blamed for cyberattack

Prague blamed Beijing-linked hackers for a cyberattack against a government communications network, drawing Western allies together in joint condemnation of China. Czech officials said the campaign began in 2022 and targeted the foreign ministry, though they did not provide details of what damage was caused or if any specific data was taken. Beijing denied the allegations. Western capitals have for years blamed Chinese government-backed groups for such attacks, including two huge hacks in 2023 and 2024 against US telecoms networks and government communications. Beijing, for its part, has accused Washington of conducting its own such campaign, while Britain said today it would expand offensive cyber operations against China.

China spending drive struggles

China’s efforts to bolster domestic spending are largely flopping and, if anything, the authorities appear to be doubling down on shoring up manufacturing, analysts warned. Experts have long said Beijing must raise consumption in order to balance its economy: Investment levels are about double those in the US and Europe, while household consumption is far below, analysts at the research firm Trivium noted. A cash-for-clunkers program has done little beyond boosting short-term activity, and officials reportedly want to maintain manufacturing’s share of the economy through 2030. Chinese leader Xi Jinping “has made clear where the priority is — and will continue to be,” The Wall Street Journal’s chief China correspondent said.

Europe courts Brazil trade

The head of the European Council is due to meet Brazil’s president today as the bloc vies to increase ties with Latin America’s biggest economy in the face of a global tariff war. When multilateralism is challenged, “it is even more crucial that countries like Brazil and the European Union stand together,” the former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said ahead of his trip. Commodities-rich Brazil has emerged as one of the few winners from the international upheaval unleashed by US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, with China and the US both vying for greater trade with the South American nation. Meanwhile officials in Brasília remain hopeful that the EU and Mercosur, a regional trading bloc, will soon agree to a free trade deal.

US uncertainty hits bonds, jobs

The US’ protectionist trade policy and aggressive spending plans are reshaping global bond markets and resulting in economic ripples worldwide. Both Japan and the UK have said in recent days that shorter-term debt will soon make up a growing proportion of their borrowing, citing declining demand from major investors and fast-rising yields for long-maturity bonds. Indonesia may even have to rein in a planned expansion of its social-safety net because of increased borrowing costs, Nikkei noted. The International Labour Organization, meanwhile, downgraded its employment forecast for the year, warning that jobs linked to US consumer demand in dozens of countries worldwide were “increasingly at risk of disruption.”

The global workforce is at an inflection point. New tech continues to impact how we work, and managers are struggling as organizations undergo major changes.

Join Semafor for newsmaking conversations in partnership with Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report. Explore new data on how employees and managers are navigating ongoing uncertainty in the global labor market. Experts will discuss key findings on productivity, resilience, and well-being, and examine how leaders and policymakers are responding to shifting workplace expectations.

June 12, 2025 | Washington, DC | RSVP

Tinubu bets paying off

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu marks two years in office today, with initial, painful reforms appearing to begin paying off just as he readies his reelection campaign. Shortly after taking office, Tinubu cut the country’s costly fuel subsidy — sparking decades-high inflation rates — and floated the naira, which rapidly lost value to global currencies. However inflation is now cooling, the central bank is finally able to hold off rate hikes, and the currency is steadying. Tinubu faces other major challenges in his bid for reelection, notably pacifying the country amid militant threats. “As Nigeria’s election cycle edges towards 2027, Tinubu may be tempted to slow the pace of change,” the Financial Times’ editorial board wrote. “That would be a mistake.”

Court rejects Peru climate case

A German court rejected a landmark climate case against energy giant RWE, but said that companies can be held liable for the impacts of their emissions. The case was brought by a Peruvian farmer, who alleged that RWE — for more than a century one of Europe’s biggest electricity producers — contributed disproportionately to climate change, which in turn melted glaciers that now threaten the farmer’s property. Although the court did not consider the threat to the farmer’s property as imminent, the ruling nonetheless represents a tailwind for lawsuits against fossil fuel companies. “It is an immense historic shifting of the dial,” the farmer’s lawyer told DW.

Ronaldo readying Saudi exit

The soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to be readying his exit from the Saudi Pro League, potentially closing a chapter in which he became an unlikely ambassador for the vast transformations underway in the kingdom. The Portuguese striker in 2022 agreed a $227-million contract with Al Nassr FC amid a spending boom that ultimately grew the SPL’s visibility and its sponsorships. The mega-signings were part of largely successful efforts to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy away from fossil fuels: New data showed that non-oil sectors contributed 53% to the kingdom’s GDP in 2023. More recently, Saudi clubs have eschewed big-ticket signings in favor of developing younger talent, a shift that parallels the country’s own changes in spending.

• French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Singapore for the final leg of his Southeast Asia tour.
• Early voting begins for South Korea’s June 3 snap election.
• A full-scale replica of Christopher Columbus’ Nao Santa María ship that he used for his historic 1492 voyage will dock on London’s River Thames.

The number of monuments to former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin that have been erected across Russia since Vladimir Putin became president. None, however, are as visible as a recently unveiled statue in a Moscow metro station, part of a broader campaign by the Kremlin to rehabilitate Stalin, who Putin has said has been excessively demonized at a cost to his country. “The creeping re-Stalinization of the country is dangerous,” a Russian opposition politician told The New York Times. “Sooner or later, repression consumes the government itself.”

Devil on the Cross by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 87. The novel — written on toilet paper while the Kenyan author was imprisoned for criticizing the country’s authorities — “is bold and disquieting and, like most great novels, wonderfully immersive,” the Los Angeles Review of Books wrote. Buy it from your local bookshop.

Between 2011 and 2016, the 10 million-plus Americans watching CBS Thursday nights were given a tutorial on the emerging field of artificial intelligence, courtesy of Jonathan Nolan’s Person of Interest.

“For a very long time, AI has felt like the story of our time,” Nolan told Semafor’s Ben Smith and Reed Albergotti; even a decade ago, “the pieces of it were right there if you cared to look at them.” He started thinking about the subject when he began writing Interstellar in 2006, speaking to luminaries like Elon Musk and DeepMind co-founders Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman for source material. With Westworld, Nolan has influenced the next generation of AI research.