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President Donald Trump, seen here on the South Lawn of the White House in February, is set to unveil his "Liberation Day" tariffs.
T-Day has arrived. On Wednesday afternoon, Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on US trade partners will take effect immediately after a Rose Garden announcement.
The plan remains uncertain: As implementation nears, the exact details, scope, and exceptions are still being debated. The administration is weighing whether to impose different tariff rates on each trading partner, target specific countries, or enforce a blanket tariff — possibly as high as 20%.
The pros and cons: By building a tariff fortress around the world’s biggest economy, Trump is fulfilling a campaign pledge while also seeking revenue to offset tax cuts. US steelmakers and other domestic manufacturing have supported the targeted use of tariffs, citing unfair import competition, but have come out against blanket tariffs or tariffs on Canada – which particularly hurts the auto industry.
Meanwhile, Wall Street fears it could trigger a recession and slow global growth as small businesses and consumers may face rising prices as imports become more expensive. The Yale Budget Lab projects the policy will equate to a 13-point hike in the US effective tariff rate, raising prices by 1.7-2.1% and lowering real GDP growth by $100-175 billion in 2025.
“Markets are bracing for a seismic shift as Trump’s global reciprocal tariffs loom,” says Eurasia Group trade and global supply chain expert Nancy Wei. “The mix of rising inflation and slowing industrial activity signals a precarious balance, with businesses scrambling to front-load inventory and mitigate pricing uncertainty.”
“With demand weakening and costs climbing, companies are navigating an increasingly challenging economic landscape.”
For more insights from Nancy Wei, check out our Viewpoint about “Liberation Day” here.President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a briefing, Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 28, 2025.
But speculation is growing thatZelensky may be changing his mind. Ukraine’s president could promise elections in return for a ceasefire from Putin and move ahead with a national vote as early as this summer. Ukrainian officials have dismissed a recent report fromThe Economist that plans are under active consideration in Kyiv, and the man considered Zelensky’s strongest potential rival, former commander of Ukraine's army and now Ukraine’s ambassador in London, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, has refused to comment.
But a recent poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 69% of Ukrainians say they trust Zelensky, a small rise from the previous month. With Ukraine’s future uncertain as Russia continues to push for new battlefield gains, Zelensky might be as popular now as he’s likely to get.
If elections were held and Zelensky won, the Ukrainian president’s credibility would be strengthened both inside and outside Ukraine, pushing the focus of peace negotiations back onto the Kremlin’s intransigence.
The flag of China is displayed on a smartphone with a NVIDIA chip in the background in this photo illustration.
Chinese tech giants like Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance are buying chips as they race to build AI systems that can compete with American companies like OpenAI and Google. The shortage means these companies might face serious delays in launching their own AI projects, some of which are based on the promising Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s open-source models.
It also comes at a critical time when China is pouring resources into developing its own AI industry despite having limited access to the most advanced computing technology due to US trade restrictions. New shipments are expected by mid-April, though it could mean months of waiting for Chinese firms to go through the proper channels.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervises the test of suicide drones with artificial intelligence at an unknown location, in this photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on March 27, 2025.
This development, which broke late last week, follows trends in militarization around the world, particularly in the United States and China. We’re already seeing them on the battlefield in the war between Ukraine and Russia. AI-powered drones are handling 80% of strikes, according to our recent interview with former Ukrainian defense advisor Kateryna Bondar, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. However, she stressed that humans are still needed in the loop and that we’re a long way away from “killer robots.”
North Korea has traditionally lagged behind the major superpowers on military development, but AI presents another opportunity to level the playing field if it can get access to the right technology and materials.
The logo for Isomorphic Labs is displayed on a tablet in this illustration.
In 2024, Demis Hassabiswon a Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work in predicting protein structures through his company, Isomorphic Labs. The lab, which broke off from Google's DeepMind in 2021, raised $600 million from investors in a new funding round led by Thrive Capital on Monday. The company did not disclose a valuation.
Isomorphic uses artificial intelligence to discover new drugs through its AlphaFold technology, which was at the center of Hassabis’s Nobel win last year. Ultimately, Hassabis wants to do something that’s not exactly simple: He’s vowed to “solve all disease with the help of AI.”
Isomorphic is already working with big pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly and Novartis, inking deals with the two drugmakers last year worth $3 billion. It plans to use the new money to improve its AI tools and to move its drugs toward clinical testing.U.S. President Donald Trump's adviser Elon Musk gives a check to an audience member during a rally in support of a conservative state Supreme Court candidate of an April 1 election in Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S. March 30, 2025.
Today, the US takes its political temperature as voters head to the polls for special elections in Florida and Wisconsin. Here’s what to know:
In Florida, Matt Gaetz’sseat is up for grabs, though it’s expected to stay in Republican hands. Meanwhile, after a leaked poll showed a surprisingly close race to replace Mike Waltz in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, the GOP is scrambling to defend a seat in an area Trump won by 30 points in November. Trump appeared at a town hall with GOP candidate Randy Fine on Thursday, while Elon Musk’s super PAC contributed $100,000 to the Florida races.
Still, even if by a tighter margin, Fine is expected to win the deep-red district. “Randy Fine will be a member of Congress,” said Republican Press Secretary Mike Marinella. “Everything else is just noise.”
In Wisconsin, meanwhile, voters will choose between a liberal and a conservative judge in a race that will determine whether the state’s Supreme Court keeps its 4-3 liberal majority. The contest is drawing national attention and is poised to be the most expensive in history, as the court prepares to rule on abortion laws, voting districts, and collective bargaining rights. Democrats are hoping these cases will turn out their base, and that Musk’s heavy presence in the race – he has held rallies and brought back his million dollar raffle strategy – could hurt the GOP’s candidate.
As the party in power, Republicans may struggle to drive turnout — it’s often easier for the losing side to mobilize voters in special elections. Earlier this year, Democrats flipped Trump-won seats in Iowa and Pennsylvania. While Wisconsin looks like a coin flip, early turnout in Florida’s 1st and 6th districts shows Republicans leading by 19 and nine points, dampening Democratic hopes for a surprise win in the Sunshine State.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known as MBS) appointed Saudi Prime Minister, in a government shuffling announced by a Royal Decree, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on September 24, 2022.
After cutting Saudi oil production from late 2022 to set a floor under slumping global oil prices, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is set to change course. Depressed crude demand from China and greater non-OPEC production, particularly in the United States, have kept prices low, despite the output cut. The Middle East superpower’s move also eroded its market share.
But beginning Tuesday, the Saudis (with seven other members of the OPEC+ group) will gradually pump2.2 million barrels more per day over the next 18 months in hopes of offsetting losses from an even lower oil price by increasing Saudi market share.
For the kingdom, this latest strategy also has drawbacks. The price of Brent crude dipped as low as $68 per barrel in March before closing the month near $75, and the production increase will likely drop the price even further. That matters in Riyadh because the kingdom needs a price of at least $91 per barrel to keep its state budget balanced, according to the IMF. That’s especially important at a time when the Saudis hope to spend big on the Crown Prince’s grandVision 2030 plan, a project in development since 2016.
Vision 2030 is an investment scheme to diversify the Saudi economy away from dependence on hydrocarbon energy exports – and to make the kingdom a more dynamic place to live and work. Last fall, the investment total reached$1.3 trillion, according to real estate consultancy group Knight Frank, but lower oil prices have already forced delays to some real estate projects while downsizing others.