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An employee checks filled capsules inside a Cadila Pharmaceutical company manufacturing unit at Dholka town on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, April 12, 2025.

REUTERS/Amit Dave

Pharma manufacturers face tariff uncertainty

Donald Trump’s administration announced that it is opening investigations into pharmaceutical and semiconductor supply chains, which will likely result in tariffs that will hurt suppliers in Europe, India, and Canada.

The move shows that, despite stiff political and market resistance, Trump still believes tariffs will benefit his country in the long term by rebalancing trade and boosting manufacturing jobs.

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Collage of Ian Bremmer, Donald Trump, and other world leaders.

Jess Frampton

American backsliding, Trump-Xi standoff, Iran bombing, and more: Your questions, answered

If you feel like you're drowning in the 24-hour news tsunami lately, you're not alone. Headlines are moving at the speed of light, massively consequential policies are being announced (then rolled back) via social media, and longstanding global alliances seem to shift with each passing day. It's hard enough just trying to keep up, let alone separate the signal from the noise.

Because a weekly long-form column often can't do justice to everything happening simultaneously across our increasingly chaotic world, I invited readers to ask their most pressing questions on all things political and geopolitical. You wanted to know about everything from the contents of Donald Trump’s heart to the risk of a Taiwan invasion to the future of the dollar and, yes, whether I'd ride Moose like a moose jockey given the opportunity.

Below is the first batch of answers, with questions lightly edited for clarity. If you have something you’d like to ask me, submit your questions here and I’ll take as many as I can in the upcoming weeks.

Let's dive in.

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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media on board Air Force One on the way to West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., April 13, 2025.

REUTERS/Nathan Howard

The art of the repeal? Trump scraps China tech tariffs - for now

When it comes to tariffs, US President Donald Trump is proving more, er, flexible than some thought. Case in point: late Friday, US Customs quietly published a list of tariff exemptions, and buried in the jargon was code 8517.13.00.00. If you know your customs codes, that’s the digital alias of… the smartphone.

Trump’s new 145% tariffs on Chinese goods will now (mostly) spare the devices, as well as laptops, memory chips, solar cells, and semiconductors.

Why the walkback? Eighty percent of iPhones sold in the US are manufactured in China. The full weight of the tariff would have sent sticker pricessoaring north of $2,000, torched Apple’s margins, and further spooked Wall Street.

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Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney during Carney's Liberal Party election campaign tour, in Brampton, Ontario, Canada April 10, 2025.

REUTERS/Carlos Osorio

Canada celebrates tariff reprieve

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Carneycalled Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs “a welcome reprieve for the global economy.”
It was indeed a welcome reprieve for Canada, which appeared to be at risk of being hit with an additional10% US tariff. As things stand, Canada is subject only to the 25% tariff on goods that are not compliant with existing free trade agreements, and a 10% rate on noncompliant energy and potash exports.

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Map of the US-Canada border.

Jess Frampton

The Captain Canuck effect: How a new nationalism is helping Canada

The United States and Canada have long prided themselves on sharing the world’s longest undefended border, a frontier routinely crossed by millions of people every year for work, visits with friends, shopping, or vacationing.

But that special relationship is now being tested by Donald Trump’s tariffs and his unprecedented threats to annex Canada by “economic force.”
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Orania town sign in front of local shopping centre is pictured in whites-only town of Orania, South Africa, April 1, 2025.

REUTERS/Sisipho Skweyiya

Hard Numbers: South African separatists appeal to Trump, India passes controversial Muslim charity bill, Russia knocks on Jehovah’s Witnesses, Portugal probes massive IT scam, Deadly school strike in Gaza

3,000: The 3,000 residents of Orania, an all-white separatist enclave in South Africa, are calling on Donald Trump to help their cause. Representatives of Orania, which formed in opposition to the end of apartheid 30 years ago and already enjoys some local autonomy, recently visited Washington, DC, to drum up support. In February, the Trump administration blasted the current South African government for what it said was discrimination against white South Africans.

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Trump and Khamenei staring at eachother across an Iranian flag.

Jess Frampton

Will Trump’s Iran strategy actually prevent war?

The United States is ramping up its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

In a letter sent to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in early March, President Donald Trump gave Tehran an ultimatum: reach a new nuclear deal with the US within two months or face direct military action – “bombing the likes of which they have never seen before,” as he told NBC News’ Kristen Welker on Sunday.

The letter proposed mediation by the United Arab Emirates (whose emissaries delivered the missive in question) and expressed Trump’s preference for a diplomatic solution. “I would rather have a peace deal than the other option, but the other option will solve the problem,” the president said.

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Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) speaks during a marathon address from the US Senate floor on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.

US Senate TV via CNP/Sipa USA via Reuters

Hard Numbers: Booker sets record for longest Senate speech, Israel expands latest Gaza offensive, Netanyahu and Orbán defy the ICC, Oz universities cut off Confucius, Argentina’s poverty plunges

25+: The Democrats may not have the White House or a majority in Congress, but one thing they do have, still, is words. Lots and lots of words. Words for days, even, as Democratic Sen. Cory Booker showed by taking to the podium on Monday with a broadside against Donald Trump that lasted more than 25 hours. The veteran lawmaker from New Jersey, a former football player, had vowed to stay up there as long as he was “physically able.” Before yielding the floor on Tuesday night, Booker broke the record for the longest Senate floor speech, surpassing one set in 1957 by the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, who filibustered against civil rights.

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