Flagship

Trump unveils sweeping tariffs

US President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping reciprocal tariffs Wednesday, announcing baseline 10% duties on all imports, and much higher rates for some nations. Trump singled out major US partners for imposing trade barriers he deems unfair, with India and the European Union facing 26% and 20% tariffs, respectively: “They do it to us, and we do it to them,” Trump said. He announced a staggering 34% tariff on goods from China in his “Liberation Day” speech, railing against “foreign cheaters” and “foreign scavengers.” The announcement represents the largest upheaval in American trade policy in decades — US tariffs will approach levels not seen since the 1930s, Cato Institute experts said.

World is more prepared this time

World powers appear more prepared to respond to US President Donald Trump’s new tariffs than they were in his first term, analysts said. China has learned from its first trade war with Trump that began in 2018, and is increasingly comfortable wielding tools of “asymmetric retaliation,” which go beyond traditional tit-for-tat duties to target American companies, a former US diplomat argued. The European Union will likely seek to de-escalate tensions, Goldman Sachs analysts wrote, but Brussels is now equipped with new, “last resort” policy tools allowing for a range of punishing retaliation like targeting Big Tech. And Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who Trump has dubbed a “tariff king,” is prepping for tricky trade deal talks that could unleash growth, The Economist wrote.

China restricts investments in US

China is moving to restrict companies from investing in the US, giving Beijing a bargaining chip in future trade talks with Washington, Bloomberg reported. China’s economic planning agency was instructed to halt approvals of new US investments, though there is no sign existing commitments or holdings are affected. Beijing has been scrutinizing outbound deals more closely this year, as a rash of capital flight put pressure on the yuan amid slowing economic growth. The latest restrictions could create further headaches for local companies that are already under pressure from the escalating trade war and may want to shift production to avoid US tariffs.

Tesla posts its largest sales drop

Tesla sales fell by the largest amount in the company’s history amid backlash to CEO Elon Musk’s politics. Deliveries last quarter also fell in EV-friendly countries like Norway, The New York Times wrote, reflecting how Tesla’s image has been dented by Musk’s endorsement of Europe’s far-right parties, as well as his role as “Trump’s cost-cutter in chief,” which has sparked global anti-Tesla protests. Musk is on a “losing streak,” Axios wrote — a state Supreme Court race he poured millions into didn’t go his way Tuesday. Tesla shares, however, rose Wednesday after Politico reported that Musk might soon step back from his White House role and shift focus back to Tesla, as administration officials increasingly see him “as a political liability.”

Myanmar junta declares ceasefire

Myanmar’s ruling junta on Wednesday announced a temporary ceasefire in the country’s four-year civil war, amid mounting international pressure to allow aid to reach victims of Friday’s earthquake. The quake’s death toll now tops 3,000, and several of Myanmar’s armed opposition forces had already declared ceasefires. The military is tightly controlling aid access to hard-hit areas — its soldiers fired “warning shots” at a Chinese Red Cross convoy Tuesday — a sign that the junta is on the defensive, one expert said. The rebels could exploit that vulnerability, potentially marking a turning point in the conflict, The Wall Street Journal wrote. But resistance groups could lose support if they appear to prioritize the war over humanitarian aid.

Turkey opposition pushes boycott

A weekslong student-led anti-government movement in Turkey entered a new phase Wednesday with opposition groups calling for a mass commercial boycott. The push to stop shopping for one day follows large-scale protests triggered by the detainment of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s top political rival last month. The turmoil has dented Turkey’s appeal to global investors, and the boycott aims to put further economic pressure on the government. Young people are leading the demonstrations, partly because of their frustration over high inflation and unemployment: “This feels like our last chance,” one protester said. “If we don’t succeed, many of us will have to leave Turkey.”

India is betting on AI agents

India’s businesses are leaning into artificial intelligence tools, though some analysts warn the tech threatens the country’s workforce. A new Deloitte report found 80% of firms are exploring the use of autonomous AI agents, which can perform tasks on a user’s behalf. Economists have been upbeat about India’s prospects given its demographic advantage — 500 million Indians are set to enter the workforce over the next 20 years. But that demographic dividend could be wiped out if AI replaces rather than complements workers. And India’s lack of domestic AI innovation, a contrast to China’s homegrown approach, leaves the country “in a precarious position just as AI threatens to rewrite the rules of global economic competition,” the India Dispatch newsletter wrote.

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO, Uber, 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 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

Fusion plants adopt new tech

Fusion companies are taking important steps toward commercial power generation. One US company began construction of its tokamak, the donut-shaped structure that will eventually contain the superheated plasma that generates power, with planned operations to begin in 2027 — although it will just be a demonstration device, not linked to the grid. And while tokamaks are the most common design, some companies are experimenting with “stellarators,” a more complex but potentially more efficient system that was prohibitively difficult to use before recent advances in supercomputing and artificial intelligence, Science reported. Two companies are planning demonstration stellarators, and computing improvements may erode tokamaks’ advantage of simplicity.

An increase in fungal diseases

Fungal infections are on the rise, driven by climate change, but also medical advances. People with healthy immune systems usually fight off fungal infections, but there are increasing numbers of immunosuppressed people, for example, after transplants or cancer treatments. One treatment-resistant yeast, first detected in 2009, caused 4,500 US infections in 2023, mainly in hospitals, and an estimated 2.5 million deaths worldwide can be attributed to fungus. The problem is exacerbated by poor monitoring, especially in the developing world, and a shortage of antifungal treatments: The World Health Organization this week issued a report saying only four new antifungals had been approved in the last decade, and resistant pathogens are on the rise.

Wordsworth home for sale

The last home of William Wordsworth will be sold, raising concerns that it will no longer be open to the public. The British poet led the Romantic movement, alongside his dissolute friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The Romantics largely created our sense that wild places are beautiful and awe-inspiring: Previously, mountains and such were mainly seen as inconveniences. Wordsworth lived in England’s beautiful Lake District for much of his life, musing on daffodils, and his home Rydal Mount — originally a 16th-century cottage which he extended — has been a museum since the 1960s, but revenues were hit during the pandemic. The house is listed at $3.2 million, with the realtors stressing a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of England’s heritage.”

April 3:

• Services PMI data is released for the US, China, and Japan.
• The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee convenes to consider the nomination of David Perdue for US ambassador to China.
• Good Night, and Good Luck, a play starring George Clooney as journalist Edward R. Murrow, opens on Broadway.

A new biography of Mary, Queen of Scots taps into a freshly decoded trove of letters from the imprisoned monarch that reveal her complicity in a number of cloak-and-dagger schemes meant to win her freedom. Jade Scott’s Captive Queen is a unique success, Allan Massie wrote in The Wall Street Journal, in that, as far as 16th century biographies go, it breaks genuinely new ground: Mary’s letters demonstrate far deeper involvement in espionage than was previously known. And unlike other treatments, it is fair to both her and Queen Elizabeth, whose spymaster implicated Mary in a plot to kill the English monarch, thereby sealing her execution. “A horrible business,” Massie wrote. “But that’s high politics.”

A bipartisan pair of US senators is warning the White House that recent US strikes on the Houthis in Yemen risk “emboldening” the Iranian-backed group.

The letter from Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., shared first with Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant, did not mention the recent headline-grabbing Signal debacle around the strikes. Instead, the lawmakers raised concerns that the strikes flouted the law regarding congressional oversight of military operations.