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Год выпуска: March 2025
Автор: The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group
Жанр: Экономика/Политика
Издательство: «The Economist Newspaper Ltd»
Формат: PDF (журнал на английском языке)
Качество: OCR
Количество страниц: 80
AMERICA’S NEW FOREIGN POLICY
- America's bullied allies need a better plan than flattery and concessions: leader, page 9.
- Europe’s leverage: briefing, page 15.
- The old world is in “whatever it takes” mode: Charlemagne, page 43.
- How would Asia fare without America? Page 27.
- Does Donald Trump really want to annex Canada? Page 24.
- Foreign-policy realists will struggle to explain America’s sharp turn: The Telegram, page 51.
The new economics of immigration
- A controversial critique is gaining ground: leader, page 10, and analysis, page 59.
Will the shooting stop in Ukraine?
- The ball is in Russia’s court: leader, page 11.
- By agreeing to a 30-day truce, Ukraine has regained supplies of American weapons and intelligence, page 40.
The real lesson of China’s latest Al
- With the arrival of Manus, Al experimentation has burst into the open: leader, page 12.
- China’s Al boom is reaching astonishing proportions, page 52.
- How Western companies are trying out DeepSeek, page 53.
Jesus Christ: screen saviour
- God is back on the box, page 70.
The world this week Politics
- Around 800 people were killed in four days of sectarian clashes in Syria. Insurgents loyal to the former regime launched a series of attacks across the Alawite heartlands. In response fighters close to Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, along with jihadist factions, advanced into the region. Videos posted online appear to show evidence of atrocities by pro-government fighters. Mr Sharaa said a committee would investigate the violence and report back within 30 days.
- Mr Sharaa signed a deal with the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militia backed by Turkey, to integrate it into state institutions. It could restore central control over Syria’s north-east for the first time in a decade.
- Israel cut off its supply of electricity in Gaza. Eli Cohen, the energy minister, said the country would use all tools at its disposal to ensure the return of the hostages still being held by Hamas and other Palestinian groups in the strip.
- Under pressure from America, Israel and Lebanon agreed to hold talks about their long-contested border. The Israeli government released five Lebanese prisoners in what it said was “a gesture” of goodwill.
- The Solong, a Portuguese-registered cargo ship, collided with the Stena Immaculate, a tanker carrying jet fuel for the American armed forces, in the North Sea. Prolonged fires burned on both vessels. More than 30 crew were rescued, but one person is believed lost. British police arrested the captain of the Solong, a Russian, on suspicion of gross negligence and manslaughter.
- A dispute between Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK and Rupert Lowe, an MP suspended by the right-wing British party, showed no sign of abating. Police confirmed that they were investigating an allegation that Mr Lowe had threatened the party’s chairman. Mr Lowe denies the allegations.
- A federal judge stopped the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who led demonstrations at Columbia University. The green-card holder was detained by immigration authorities in New York. President Donald Trump warned his arrest was the first of many.
Cancel culture
- Marco Rubio, America’s secretary of state, said USAID would cancel 83% of its programmes. The State Department will administer the remaining contracts. Mr Rubio thanked the Department of Government Efficiency for “overdue and historic reform”.
- America’s House of Representatives narrowly passed a funding bill to avert a partial government shutdown. The vote was a victory for Mr Trump who called for Republican unity on the measure. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate minority leader, said his party will not support the bill.
- The Pakistani army rescued more than 300 hostages onboard a train in the province of Balochistan that was hijacked by separatist militants. The army engaged in a day-long stand-off with members of the Baloch Liberation Army who took passengers hostage. At least 21 civilian hostages and four Pakistani military personnel were killed.
- Rodrigo Duterte, a former president of the Philippines, was extradited to the Netherlands to face charges over alleged crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. He awaits trial in prison. When president he urged police to commit thousands of extra-judicial killings as part of his war on drugs.
- South Korea’s top court will rule on whether to impeach the country’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, over his failed attempt to declare martial law in December last year. Police are braced for civil unrest.
- Uganda said it had sent troops to South Sudan to help the government secure Juba, the capital, as regional leaders convened an emergency meeting to address worsening violence in the country.
- A female senator in Nigeria’s upper house was suspended by her fellow lawmakers after filing a petition alleging that Godswill Akpabio, the senate’s president, had sexually harassed her (he denies the allegations). Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only four women in Nigeria’s 109-seat senate, vowed to fight her suspension. The senate leadership claimed she was suspended for “unruly and disruptive” behaviour and not because of her allegations against Mr Akpabio.
- Mark Carney won the race to lead Canada’s Liberal Party in a landslide, with 86% of party-member votes. Chrystia Freeland, a former member of the incumbent cabinet, came a distant second with just 8% of ballots. The former central banker will become prime minister. The 59-year-old will probably call an election soon after. A wave of anti-Trump sentiment has put the Liberals back into contention, after years spent trailing Canada’s Conservative Party.
I’ll think about it
- Russia said it was carefully considering a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. America secured Ukrainian agreement to the idea in principle during talks in Saudi Arabia; it also said it would “immediately” unblock the flow of American weapons and intelligence, which were cut off six days earlier. Donald Trump said an American team would go to Moscow. Vladimir Putin visited the front lines in Russia’s Kursk province dressed in military attire. His forces continued to push Ukrainian troops out of the territory, taking control of the town of Sudzha.
- Calin Georgescu, a pro-Rus-sian candidate, was barred against running in Romania’s presidential elections in May. Mr Georgescu’s previous victory in the first round in November was declared void amid concern over Russian interference. He tried unsuccessfully to appeal against the ban.
- Portugal’s government collapsed after the prime minister lost a confidence vote after allegations of a conflict of interest with his family business. Luis Montenegro, who denies any wrongdoing, has led the centre-right minority government for 11 months. A snap election is expected to take place in May. It will be the country’s third election in less than four years.
- The centre-right Democrats won Greenland’s election in a surprise victory with around 30% of the vote. The party, which favours a moderate approach to independence from Denmark, will enter into coalition talks. The election was dominated by talk of independence after Donald Trump said he wanted to buy the Arctic island.
The world this week Business
- American share prices were heading towards their fourth consecutive week of losses, with markets spooked by Donald Trump’s erratic protectionism and the prospect of slowing economic growth. The S&P 500 index has fallen by 9% since a peak in February. Investors are seeking shelter elsewhere: over the same period, Europe’s Stoxx 600 has risen by 2% in dollar terms, as has Hong Kong’s Hang Seng.
- It was another turbulent week for trade policy. Mr Trump imposed new 25% levies on all steel and aluminium products imported into America. Similar tariffs implemented during Mr Trump’s first term had a lower rate for aluminium and exemptions for several trading partners; the new ones do not. Canada’s Ontario province retaliated with a 25% surcharge on power exports to America; Mr Trump hit back with an additional 25% charge on Canadian metals. Both were cancelled in short order. Canada then announced tariffs on $21bn-worth of American goods that remain uncancelled.
- The European Union responded with its own tariffs on American exports worth €26bn ($28bn) per year. They include levies of up to 50% on bourbon whisky, jeans and Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The new charges are due to come into force in April.
Time to cool down
- America’s jobs report showed its economy had added 151,000 jobs in February—more than in January, but fewer than forecasters had expected. Its inflation release, meanwhile, showed consumer-price rises had slowed to 2.8% in the year to February, suggesting the Federal Reserve maybe able to cut interest rates sooner than expected. Jerome Powell, the Fed’s chairman, said it is not “in a hurry” and that America’s economy is “in good shape”.
- China’s consumer-price index fell by 0.7% in the year to February, the first time it had registered such deflation in 13 months. The figures may have been distorted by the lunar new year holiday, during which prices tend to increase, and which fell earlier than usual.
Goodbye, widowmaker
- Traders are increasingly confident that Japan has broken out of its long deflationary slump. The yield on ten-year government bonds rose to nearly 1.6%, a level it last reached in 2008.
- The Bank of Canada lowered its policy rate by 0.25 percentage points, to 2.75%. It was the central bank’s seventh rate cut in a row, and came after annual inflation had reached 1.9%. Officials, however, worried about the impact of American tariffs and warned that “monetary policy cannot offset the impacts of a trade war”.
- Northvolt, a Swedish batterymaker, filed for bankruptcy after failing to agree on a new financing package with investors. The firm was founded in 2016 and was once Europe’s best-funded startup, touted as the continent’s champion in an industry dominated by Chinese firms.
- OpenAl, the designer of ChatGPT, struck a deal worth $12bn with CoreWeave, a cloud-computing firm originally set up in 2017 to “mine” cryptocurrencies. CoreWeave will supply OpenAl with computing power to train and run its artificial-intelligence models for the next five years. The deal is part of OpenAl’s efforts to reduce its dependence on Microsoft, its biggest partner. Google DeepMind unveiled its new “Gemini Robotics” Al model, which aims to help robots navigate complex, real-world environments.
- Elon Musk had a trying week. X, his social-media website, suffered a cyber-attack that disrupted its service. Mr Musk claimed, without much evidence, that it came from “the Ukraine area”. Tesla’s share price fell by 15% on March 10th and is nearly 50% below its peak in December. A launch attempt by SpaceX, Mr Musk’s rocket company, ended with the Starship rocket exploding—the second such failure in a row. But there was a silver lining: SpaceX forged deals with Airtel and Jio, two telecoms firms, to run its satelliteinternet service in India.
- Rheinmetall, a German arms-maker whose share price has doubled since November, reported its financial results for 2024. Its operating profit was €1.5bn, a new record and 61% higher than that for the previous year. The company made €iobn-worth of sales, around 30% of which were to the German Bundeswehr. Business will probably continue to boom as Europe rearms and Germany plans to relax its restrictions on borrowing for defence. Rhein-metall expects sales to grow by as much as 30% this year.
- Intel appointed Lip-Bu Tan as its new chief executive, replacing Pat Gelsinger, who left abruptly in December. Mr Tan himself had quit Intel’s board in August. He faces a battle to rejuvenate the struggling chipmaker, which has laid off thousands of employees and seen its share price plummet.
скачать журнал: The Economist - 15 March 2025
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