Flagship

Xi courts foreign CEOs

Chinese leader Xi Jinping presented Beijing as a defender of global trade as he courted dozens of international CEOs in an effort to bolster his country’s slowing economy. Xi used a speech in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People to take aim at “individual countries” — a clear swipe at the US — for “politicizing, instrumentalizing, weaponizing” trade. Faced with deflation and faltering growth, Xi’s government has sought to woo back foreign firms after years of crackdowns and harsh COVID-19 restrictions that deterred businesses. Yet while China talks a good game on promoting trade, it has long imposed barriers: A former US trade representative argued in Foreign Affairs that American policy “looks an awful lot like Beijing’s.”

US allies steel themselves

Global investors, US policymakers, and the biggest American trading partners were girding themselves against President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs due to come into effect next week. Money managers the world over are “de-risking their portfolios” by seeking out safe assets, eschewing emerging markets, and holding off on big bets, Bloomberg reported. One Federal Reserve official said “a dense fog has fallen,” comparing levels of uncertainty to the pandemic. And once-close allies like Ottawa and Tokyo appeared ready to take tougher stances toward Washington: Canada’s prime minister said his country’s old relationship with the US “is over,” while Japan warned that in responding to American tariffs, “every option” was on the table.

Arctic militarization threats grow

US Vice President JD Vance leaves today for Greenland on a trip ostensibly focused on visiting American forces, but which has sparked huge controversy after White House threats to annex the Danish-ruled territory. The trip comes amid growing competition over access to, and control of, the Arctic. Surveys suggest the region holds much of the world’s remaining undiscovered oil and mineral reserves: Arctic-facing nations, including Russia, Canada, and the US — along with ones further afield like China — are keen to control them. Russian President Vladimir Putin complained yesterday of NATO countries using “the far north as a springboard for potential conflicts,” while Canada will spend $73 billion over 20 years to boost its Arctic forces.

US pushes revised Ukraine deal

The US is reportedly pushing for control of a huge chunk of the Ukrainian economy, seeking to expand the terms of a previously discussed peace deal. According to Bloomberg and the Financial Times, the revised plans would give Washington first refusal on future infrastructure and mineral investments, granting it significant power over the reconstruction program that will follow the war. The draft agreement will likely fuel Ukraine’s concerns over American mediation efforts: Kyiv is frustrated over Washington offering sanctions relief to Moscow, and potential truces over the Black Sea and energy infrastructure are seen to favor Russia. If nothing else, the Kremlin is enjoying the White House’s protracted dealmaking, scholars argued in Foreign Affairs: “Moscow’s gloating is hard to miss.”

Italy positions itself as a bridge

Italy’s prime minister offered to act as a bridge between Europe and the US, in a nod to the growing gulf threatening the transatlantic alliance. Giorgia Meloni, the only European leader to attend US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, said in an interview with the Financial Times that it was “in the interests of everyone” to patch up fraying ties. Her remarks come as relations have hit a post-war low, with Washington imposing trade curbs on EU goods and the US defense secretary bemoaning European “free-loading,” while European nations question their reliance on American military manufacturers. Meloni was more sanguine: “I like to say that crisis always hides an opportunity,” she told the FT.

Huge quake hits SEAsia

A major earthquake rocked Southeast Asia, with Bangkok declaring a state of emergency and the pariah regime of Myanmar appealing for international assistance. The full extent of the 7.7-magnitude quake was not immediately clear, but dozens were reported dead or missing and one unfinished high-rise building in the Thai capital collapsed, trapping workers inside. The quake could be felt as far as southwest China, while images showed roads cracking and bridges partly collapsed. The damage and toll could be significant: The BBC noted that infrastructure in the region is not typically designed to be earthquake-resistant, and the fact that Myanmar — which usually refuses international cooperation — has asked for help indicates the scale of the destruction.

Macron calls for writer’s release

French President Emmanuel Macron called for the release of an award-winning French Algerian writer jailed under controversial anti-terrorism laws. Boualem Sansal was imprisoned in Algeria for five years for “undermining national unity” after saying in an interview that France had drawn the borders between Algeria and Morocco in the former’s favor. The subject is a vexed one in Algiers after France recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over a disputed region of the Sahara Desert last summer: Relations between Algeria and its former colonial ruler worsened after Algeria refused to take deportees from France. The 76-year-old reportedly has cancer, and Macron called on authorities to have the “good sense and humanity” to give him back his freedom.”

US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum will join top global leaders at Semafor’s 2025 World Economy Summit. Taking place Apr. 23–25, 2025, in Washington, DC, this will be the first major gathering of its kind since the new US administration took office.

Bringing together leaders from both the public and private sectors — including congressional leadership, finance ministers, and central bankers — 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.

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

US scientists look to Europe

The age-old Europe-to-US brain drain may be reversing in the wake of President Donald Trump’s funding cuts and research restrictions. Several major US research institutes face the risk of losing federal funding, and DW noted that “the uncertainty… is so great that many researchers want to leave”: A Nature poll found that 75% of US-based scientists are considering emigrating, likely to Canada or Europe. German institutions are trying to lower the bureaucratic hurdles to hiring them, while research institutes in France are offering positions to American scientists who lost their jobs in the cuts, and academics in Britain are urging their government to do the same.

mRNA research under threat

The White House’s growing curbs on mRNA research could chill one of the most promising areas of medicine, a prominent science commentator noted. mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives during the pandemic, and the technology is making progress in other areas: Notably, an experimental vaccine to fight notoriously hard-to-treat pancreatic cancer showed promise in early trials in February. But US scientists are being told to remove references to “mRNA” from grant applications, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr called COVID vaccines the “deadliest… ever made.” Whether or not funders actually stifle mRNA research matters little: If researchers believe the government will “pull the rug from under them,” Anjana Ahuja noted in the Financial Times, “the damage is done.”

Century-old shape puzzle solved

A 122-year-old geometrical puzzle has finally been solved. Henry Dudeney, a British writer, amateur mathematician, and puzzle-setter, asked in a newspaper column in 1902: What is the smallest number of pieces into which you can cut an equilateral triangle so that they can be rearranged into a square? A reader managed it with four, and no one has ever bettered that, but nor have they answered Dudeney’s question by proving that four is the minimum, until recently. Scientific American — which itself ran a piece in 1958 by its great mathematical columnist Martin Gardner discussing why it is so hard to put the apparently simple puzzle to bed — reported that a Japanese mathematician had proved that “Dudeney’s Dissection Is Optimal.”

• US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives in Japan following a visit to the Philippines.
• Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrives in Vietnam as part of an Asia trip.
• New rules prohibiting junk food in schools in Mexico come into effect on Saturday.

US President Donald Trump’s winning margin among men in last November’s election. Democrats have a man problem, and are eyeing possible solutions. Two lawmakers told The Atlantic’s John Hendrickson that the Democrats need to be less squeamish, and to offer a more positive message, “embracing rather than scolding masculinity,” by acknowledging the value of traditionally male attributes such as risk-taking, protectiveness, and physical labor. Others thought that the problem is downstream of class: That the Democrats have abandoned blue-collar America, and that they could make up ground with men by boosting working-class job prospects. But, asked Hendrickson, the question is: “Even if Democrats can settle on a message, will voters believe they really mean it?”

45 Pounds by YHWH Nailgun. This debut album from a New York-based experimental rock group is “tough, impressive, astonishingly good,” according to Pitchfork, with a distinctive drum sound and dark, industrial tones. For a first release, it is “so synchronized and fully formed,” but still unpredictable. Listen to 45 Pounds on Spotify.

Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett called her state’s wheelchair-bound Republican governor “Hot Wheels” during a fundraising dinner — a comment that the GOP is amplifying in their bid to cast the Democrat as “a one-woman left-leaning gaffe machine,” Semafor’s David Weigel and Kadia Goba reported.

Republicans are working to neutralize Democrats’ strategy to build opposition around Elon Musk and DOGE, by linking attacks on Tesla cars — what they label as “terrorism” — with anti-Musk figures like Crockett. Depending on how she handles the fallout from her recent comment, Crockett might be flirting with a new, riskier level of stardom.