Flagship

World braces for ‘Liberation Day’

The world is braced for wide-ranging US tariffs ahead of President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement today. Trump has promised levies on imports, but the details remain unclear: The European Union expects a flat double-digit tariff across all goods, though JP Morgan economists warned clients yesterday that “we don’t know what tomorrow brings.” The duties are already reshaping global ties: Canada has said its “old relationship” with the US is “over,” Germany’s chancellor is seeking “independence from the USA,” while longtime rivals China, Japan, and South Korea have agreed to increase trade among themselves. The policies will likely also increase the cost of living for US consumers: “Tariffs only ‘work’ if they make prices higher,” one politics writer noted.

China intensifies Taiwan drills

China intensified a de facto blockade of Taiwan and railed against a US jet fighter deal with Manila, heightening tensions with Washington as economic ties fray. The second day of live-fire drills near the self-governing island, which Beijing claims as part of its territory, involved an aircraft carrier as well as dozens more ships and jets. Chinese officials meanwhile criticized the US for agreeing to sell 20 F-16 fighter jets to the Philippines. Ties between Washington and Beijing are worsening, with a deal for a US investment firm to buy ports near the Panama Canal from a Hong Kong company in doubt and China set to be among those most affected by today’s White House tariff announcement.

Trump weighs TikTok bids

US President Donald Trump will today weigh bids by American firms to take over TikTok ahead of a weekend deadline for its Chinese owners to divest the app. Investment firms Blackstone and Andreessen Horowitz, as well as tech giant Oracle, are among those reportedly looking to acquire a stake in the videosharing platform. Investors have yet to agree on a price tag, according to the Financial Times, while Bloomberg said it was unclear who would ultimately end up with TikTok’s algorithm, seen as crucial to any sale. US national security hawks argue TikTok’s popularity and its Chinese ownership make it a threat, but while Trump previously made that argument, he has since spoken in favor of the app.

Democrat-backed judge wins

A Democrat-supported judge won a key state supreme court race in the US, defeating US President Donald Trump’s choice. Susan Crawford’s Wisconsin victory in the most expensive state court election ever — spending surpassed $100 million, including several $1 million checks handed out by Elon Musk — is part of a spate of negative news for Trump. It came as GOP congressional candidates won two special elections in Florida, but both underperformed: One in particular was a “nail-biter” in a solidly Republican seat, Politico reported. Meanwhile Trump’s national security adviser, already under scrutiny for inviting a journalist into a group chat about military attacks on Yemen, allegedly used Gmail to conduct government business including military conversations, The Washington Post reported.

Mexico crossings plummet

The number of people detained after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border hit a record low last month as both countries crack down on migration. US President Donald Trump, who made halting undocumented migration a priority of his second term, has deployed a raft of measures to clamp down on crossings, including mass deportations — with many of those removed imprisoned without trial — and deploying the army to the border. Meanwhile Mexico has also sent troops in an attempt, likely futile, to avoid the tariffs Trump threatened unless crossings fell. “The entire migration paradigm is shifting,” an expert told The New York Times last month. “Families are terrified.”

Mexico bans junk food in schools

Mexico announced a ban on junk food in schools to combat soaring childhood obesity rates. Schools must phase out foods and beverages with at least one warning logo, a system several Latin American countries have implemented to address a diabetes epidemic. The regional percentage of deaths attributable to obesity was almost double the global average in 2019, despite being a region where undernutrition and malnutrition remain prevalent. The rise in obesity is also having a devastating toll on regional economies: A 2020 study showed diabetes cost Mexico between 2.5% and 5.6% of its GDP annually in direct and indirect costs such as medical treatment and lost productivity.

South Africa budget test

South Africa’s fragile coalition government faces a major test as lawmakers again debate a contested budget which has left the country’s two biggest parties at loggerheads. A power struggle between the coalition partners over control of key sectors in Africa’s most industrialized economy — including a port and rail infrastructure — is central to the dispute, Semafor reported. The leader of the smaller of the two parties, the pro-business Democratic Alliance, said Tuesday that “time is almost up” for the African National Congress to finalize the agreement. “It’s almost unthinkable that a compromise will not be reached,” Semafor’s Sam Mkokeli wrote. “The main players need the coalition too much to let it fall apart.”

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear 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

Israel ramps up offensives

Israel struck a Beirut suburb and said it would expand its ground offensive in Gaza, shattering hopes for calm in the region over the Eid al-Fitr holiday. The country’s defense minister announced plans to seize swaths of Gaza in order to create “security zones,” a month into an aid blockade of the enclave. In Beirut, an Israeli air strike killed four people: Israeli officials said a Hezbollah commander was among them, with analysts warning the attack would strain an already-fragile truce with the Lebanese group. The dual offensives point to a militarily ascendant Israel, yet The Economist cautioned that “overextension… risks turning hubris into disaster.”

Colorado says nuclear is clean

The US state of Colorado declared nuclear power to be “clean energy,” opening a path for more reactors in the state. The legislation means future fission plants could access green energy grants and would count towards Colorado’s net-zero goals. The announcement is part of a wider rebranding of nuclear, once feared by environmentalists, as green: The European Union in 2022 declared nuclear to be climate-friendly, overruling German objections. Nuclear energy’s output is reliable compared with intermittent wind and solar, and it is vastly less carbon-intensive than fossil fuels: As a result, many nations have pledged to triple nuclear capacity by 2050.

Japan bets on fandom

Japan hopes that fandom can help revitalize its economy. Oshikatsu — or spending on activities related to the object of one’s adulation, whether celebrities, anime characters, or sports teams — is a growing phenomenon: One survey suggested 11% of Japan’s population engages in it. A fan told Reuters that she might visit a cafe which her favorite boy band once attended; others splash out on smartphone wallpapers or trading cards. People having children later may drive oshikatsu by spending on fandom instead. The boost to the economy may persist: Companies are planning their biggest pay rise in decades, and young workers are in short supply, so may soon have even more money to spend on anime plushies.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Hungary, despite an International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest.
• Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti faces tax trial in Spain.
• Stars attend the premiere of the final season of The Handmaid’s Tale in Los Angeles.

The length of US Senator Cory Booker’s speech on the floor of the Senate, a record. He was unable to leave his desk or sit down: Senators can speak for as long as they like but only if they do so continuously. It was not a filibuster, Vox noted — that is, a speech deliberately extended to block a legislative vote. Instead it was a piece of theater, criticizing US President Donald Trump’s agenda. The senator also had an eye on history: The previous record, 24 hours and 18 minutes, was an attempt to filibuster civil rights legislation. It “really irked me,” Booker said, that the longest speech was “trying to stop people like me from being in the Senate.”

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, dir. Shane Black. Val Kilmer, who has died at 65, had many memorable screen roles, from Tom Cruise’s Top Gun antagonist-turned-wingman Iceman to Jim Morrison. This fourth-wall-breaking, Raymond Chandler-esque, Los Angeles-set black comedy was a box office failure on release, but Kilmer, given a rare opportunity to show off his comic chops in a double-act with Robert Downey Jr., offered a “fantastically entertaining turn,” The Guardian reported at the time. Collider, giving a retrospective on Kilmer’s career, said he and Downey have ”terrific chemistry.” Find where to stream Kiss Kiss Bang Bang here.

Elon Musk’s move to combine the social media company X with his xAI puts an official corporate stamp on a de facto combination in which both companies already shared talent and resources in a drive to catch up in the hypercompetitive AI industry, Semafor’s Reed Albergotti writes.

The all-stock deal valued the firehose of conversation once known as Twitter at $45 billion and the maker of the chat bot Grok at $80 billion, Musk announced on X.

The transaction effectively turns anyone who invested in Musk’s bid for Twitter (it later changed its name), into a shareholder of xAI, which will use the social media company’s data for training AI models and as a distribution pipeline for Grok.