Flagship

Trump’s first speech to Congress

US President Donald Trump argued “America’s momentum is back” in his first address to Congress, a speech focused on domestic political priorities such as immigration and trade. Trump blamed his predecessor Joe Biden for the country’s “inflation nightmare,” and claimed to have cut billions of dollars in government waste. He was, in effect, giving “marching orders to Republicans,” Semafor’s Burgess Everett wrote, “reiterating his must-haves” of tax cuts and border funding. Trump also made no “pretence of trying to find common ground,” the Financial Times’ chief US commentator wrote, and the chamber was unusually divided, with Republicans cheering while Democrats heckled: One was escorted out after refusing to stop, while others held up signs saying “this is a lie.”

US-Mexico tariffs in doubt

The US commerce secretary said the White House was considering tariff relief on Mexican and Canadian goods after the introduction of levies triggered reprisals and outrage. Though President Donald Trump doubled down on his tariff policies in a speech to Congress, his allies are blanching at their costs: Republicans voiced frustration over the levies, and said the administration would likely need to consider exemptions, while stock markets have given up all the gains they had made since the president’s inauguration. Canada earlier slapped retaliatory tariffs on the US and Mexico’s president promised the same, saying “nobody wins” in a trade war.

The costs of Trump for the US

US President Donald Trump’s transactional foreign policy and economic protectionism will ultimately undermine his country’s strategic goals, two prominent experts argued. Washington’s growing fracture with Europe, and the looming possibility of its withdrawal from — or fatal undermining of — NATO would ensure its transatlantic allies “rapidly split” away, potentially reaching accommodation with China and vying with Washington for trading partners, James Stavridis, the former commander of NATO forces in Europe, wrote for Bloomberg. US trade pressure on friendly nations, meanwhile, will result in a “collapse in trust of the countries that used to share its values,” the Financial Times’ Chief Economics Commentator Martin Wolf wrote, “which will end up very costly for the US, too.”

Germany ramps up spending

Germany’s likely next chancellor pledged to drastically ramp up defense and infrastructure spending. Friedrich Merz, whose center-right party won last month’s general election, announced a deal with his likely coalition partners to relax Berlin’s strict borrowing rules to fund 500 billion euros ($535 billion) in extra infrastructure spending, and hundreds of billions more on defense, a decision Deutsche Bank economists characterized as “one of the most historic paradigm shifts in German postwar history.” A Handelsblatt columnist described the about-face — Merz had presented himself as a fiscal conservative during the election campaign — as “dizzying.” Investors were wary: The yield on Germany’s 10-year bond jumped the most since 2020 on the news.

South Africa budget agreed

South Africa’s cabinet agreed on a long-delayed budget that had threatened to unravel the ruling coalition. The country’s finance minister was forced to postpone unveiling the budget last month after the alliance’s second-biggest party rejected a VAT increase that it said threatened national stability. The coalition has been tested in recent weeks after the Trump administration hit out against new laws it says discriminate against white farmers, suspending US aid and assistance to South Africa. Washington has also criticized Pretoria for pursuing a genocide case against Israel. As a diplomatic crisis roils the country, the budget delay was “an unwelcome complication,” Foreign Policy wrote.

China sets bullish growth target

China’s leaders announced a bullish economic growth target of 5% for 2025 but warned of global uncertainty “unseen in a century.” As tensions rise with the US, Premier Li Qiang vowed to expand government borrowing, court foreign investment, and boost domestic consumption. The growth target — unchanged from 2024, despite severe economic challenges — represents “a show of confidence,” and is a sign that Beijing will likely roll out supportive domestic policies in addition to fiscal stimulus, the scale of which has not yet been fully outlined, ING’s Greater China chief economist wrote. Li’s speech also represented a rhetorical contrast with US President Donald Trump’s address to Congress, which was inward-focused and protectionist, the South China Morning Post’s Beijing bureau chief wrote.

China’s scientific prowess

China is increasingly establishing itself as a scientific powerhouse to rival or even surpass the US. In the race to develop advanced semiconductors vital for artificial intelligence, Chinese-affiliated researchers produced twice as many papers on chip design and manufacture as their US counterparts between 2018 and 2023, threatening to undermine US dominance in the sectors, Nature reported. Chinese universities dominate the highest-ranked institutions in chemical research while US ones have dropped off, and Beijing has stepped up its ambitions in fusion power, Bloomberg reported, announcing aims to begin commercial operations by 2050. China is vying with the US and Europe for dominance in the new sector: A Chinese laboratory recently broke the record for the longest-lasting fusion reaction.

Convening over three days in Washington, DC, the World Economy Summit 2025 is dedicated to advancing dialogues that catalyze global growth and fortify resilience in an uncertain, shifting global economy. This week, we’re announcing our world-class program and the opening of delegate registration. Twelve sessions over three days will focus on the dynamic forces shaping the global economic and geopolitical system, and each session is designed to inspire transformative, news-making dialogue to shape a more prosperous economy. Apply to be an in-person delegate or sign up for a virtual pass to watch every session live.

Apr. 23-25 | Washington, DC | Learn More

RFK’s measles response

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr responded to the first US measles death in almost a decade by extolling the virtues of vitamins and good nutrition, but did not explicitly recommend vaccination. Writing in Fox News, Kennedy said vaccines should be accessible for “those who want them,” and that they had saved lives, but that immunization was a “personal decision,” a stance that drew criticism from public health experts. The new US administration is increasingly in opposition to mainstream scientific positions: Researchers tracking changes to federal websites noted that the word “climate” had been removed more than 200 times from the disaster response agency’s website, and the White House is expected to cancel leases for several major climate-forecasting organizations.

Italy plans return to nuclear power

Italy moved to overturn a 40-year ban on nuclear energy. Rome placed a moratorium on new reactors after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, and its last nuclear power stations were shut in 1990. But with the country now facing much higher energy bills thanks to overreliance on gas imports, public opinion has shifted. The legal framework to build new small modular reactors should be in place by 2027, and the government wants nuclear to supply 20% of Italy’s electricity by 2050. The global shift to embrace nuclear as a source of reliable low-carbon energy has seen Japan overturn a years-long ban, several countries pledge to triple nuclear output by 2050, and tech firms move to use small reactors to power data centers.

No cancer for old sharks

The mystery of why Greenland sharks can live for 400 years without getting cancer may have been solved. The slow-moving, deep-sea sharks measure up to 18 feet long, weigh more than a ton, and are believed to be the world’s longest-lived vertebrates: One caught in 2016 may have been a contemporary of William Shakespeare. They seem rarely to get cancer, which is surprising since tumors occur because of errors in cell division, and cells in big, long-lived animals must divide a lot of times. Genetic research suggested that their immune systems respond more fiercely to threats than those of shorter-lived sharks, New Scientist reported: Similar genes can be seen in a kind of sea urchin which lives for over a century.

• French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a national address on “this moment of great uncertainty.”
• A Peruvian farmer suing the German energy company RWE over its role in driving climate change departs for Germany as part of the case.
• Egypt’s Al-Azhar University holds a charity iftar for thousands of students.

Ben and Max break down the most interesting moments from the Innovating to Restore Trust in News summit in a special bonus episode of Mixed Signals. They discuss Gallup’s findings on the worsening trust in news media, New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn’s acknowledgment that Donald Trump is good for business, and FCC chair Brendan Carr’s plans to go after liberal media. Plus, Ben responds to Megyn Kelly’s take on what she called a “tense interview.”

The number of points LeBron James has scored in his career, making him the first NBA player to surpass the 50,000 mark. The league’s most prolific scorer is also on track to become its longest-serving player, a record he could achieve next year by playing in his 23rd season. “I’m super blessed to be able to put up that many points in my career in the best league in the world and against the best players in the world,” James said after his record-setting game. “It’s pretty special.”

The Study: The Inner Life of Renaissance Libraries by Andrew Hui. The home study, a book-lined sanctum with a lamp on the desk and an easy chair, has “a lineage running back centuries,” Hui argues in this “delightful, wide-ranging work,” according to The Wall Street Journal, starting with the “ancient tradition of the spare monastic cell” and heading through Montaigne, Shakespeare, and the room in which “Jane Austen’s Mr. Bennet read letters and avoided his wife.” Buy The Study from your local bookstore.

The company that makes Tasers is looking to arm CEOs’ security teams with its “less lethal” weapons as executives beef up protection following the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, Semafor’s Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson reported.

“Our customers are rethinking the money they’re spending on legacy programs that may be defunct or may not be working as well,” said Josh Isner, president of Axon Enterprise. “And to me, that presents an opportunity for companies like us and Palantir and Anduril.”