When NATO was formed in 1949, it had just 12 members. In the years since, its ranks have grown to 29, with 4 more waiting in the wings. The expansions since the Soviet collapse in 1991 have stoked tensions with Moscow, which views the alliance’s eastward drift as a threat. Here’s how, and when, NATO has grown over the past seven decades.
President Donald Trump speaks as he signs executive orders and proclamations in the Oval Office at the White House on April 9, 2025.
With stock markets plunging and US Treasury yields reaching new heights, Donald Trump finally reneged on parts of his widescale tariff plan on Wednesday, declaring a 90-day pause to the far-reaching “reciprocal” levies that he introduced just one week ago while leaving a 10% across-the-board duty in place. He also escalated the already-burgeoning trade war with China by increasing the tariff on their imports to 125%.
EU and Chinese flags in an illustration.
European leaders have much to worry about concerning trade and economic growth, and they’re exploring their options with China at a time when Beijing has a strategic interest in helping to divide the US from Europe. Demonstrating to EU leaders that China can become a force for stability in global trade at a time when Donald Trumpis waging a trade war on allies and rivals alike would further that goal.
Former Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has announced his return to the country, vowing to halt the rapid advance of the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who have seized significant territory in the country’s conflict-ridden east.
Germany’s leading establishment parties reached a grand coalition deal on Wednesday, bringing Europe’s largest economy a step closer to having a formal government amid severe domestic and global challenges.
The future is being built now. From AI and digital security to infrastructure and resource demands, the next five years will be defined by rapid growth. To thrive, businesses and policymakers must adapt to what comes next. Explore the four megatrends shaping the future in Bank of America’s two-part series.
On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, economist Larry Summers slams the Trump administration’s trade war as “the worst, most consequential, self-inflicted wound in US economic policy since the Second World War.”
Globalization helped make the United States the most prosperous nation in history. But many Americans feel they haven’t benefited from free trade and voted for Donald Trump to “liberate” them from the system the United States built over the past 80 years. He is delivering.
Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado lays out why the Nicolás Maduro regime is anything but a conventional dictatorship.
Listen: For a special edition of the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers to get his economic assessment of President Trump's unprecedented imposition of tariffs, which has sparked an escalating trade war.