On May 21st, Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on EU goods and issued a sharp warning to Apple: move production to the U.S. or face penalties. It’s classic Trump; loud, provocative, and deeply strategic. But is it smart policy or reckless power play? This piece unpacks the logic behind the move, weighing its morality, fairness, and real-world impact in a tense moment for global trade and economic diplomacy.
The United Nations faces an existential threat as severe budget cuts, particularly from major donors like the U.S., push it toward potential insolvency. Humanitarian aid, peacekeeping, and global development initiatives are already in jeopardy. Without urgent reforms and diversified funding, the UN risks becoming irrelevant at a time when the world needs it most.
The recently convened BRICS foreign ministers' meeting in April 2025 failed to issue a joint statement on the bloc’s response to the United States’ protectionist trade policies under President Donald Trump. While the grouping has lofty ambitions to credibly represent the Global South, there are lingering doubts whether the organisation is wavering in establishing a unified direction and purpose with an expanded membership.
Standing beside Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Trump beamed before the cameras, grasping the hand of the man once known for his militant ties and battlefield leadership of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)—a group formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda. It was the first direct encounter between a sitting US president and a Syrian leader since...
One can argue that a primary objective of Trump’s visit to the Middle East is to be engaged in Gaza diplomacy to bring about the end of Israel’s operations in Gaza, which has been ongoing since October 2023 and has claimed the lives of up to 50,000+ Palestinians residing in the besieged enclave.
At the 2025 Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, the air was thick not with celebration, but with reckoning. Africa, holding over 30% of the world’s mineral resources, remains plagued by weak trade integration, institutional failure, and structural dependency. Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritania, Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal, and Tiémoko Meyliet Koné – Vice-President of Côte d’Ivoire – offered an unfiltered, brutally honest discussion on the real state of the continent.
Not restricting to a buyer-seller relationship, the shared strategic interests between the two states have carved out a partnership which has increasingly focussed on greater military integration, sharing advanced technologies, innovation, and research and development. A string of key agreements over time has made this expansion and deepening of strategic relations possible.
Not long after his inauguration, Trump announced a plan to place tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China as part of his trade policy. In the case of Canada, Trump placed 10% ad valorem duties on Canadian energy and energy resources as well 25% ad valorem duties on all goods that are not energy related (Allen et.al, 2025). While some can argue tariffs can be used as a leveraging tool to compete against trade competitors such as China and as a coercion tool to force Mexico to deal with migration issues, the reasoning behind placing tariffs on Canadian goods and resources leaves room for numerous questions
Tariffs, once considered a relic of protectionist pasts, returned with brute force under President Donald J. Trump. With the rise of “America First,” a slogan that evolved into a full-fledged economic doctrine, Trump redrew the lines of international trade. His…
President Trump’s “Liberation Day” on April 2, 2025 will be remembered as a day that shook the financial world. American stock markets shed nearly $5.4 trillion within 48 hours of the tariff announcements, causing panic among investors worldwide. Despite receiving multiple calls and messages from people predicting complete financial meltdown and watching the media frenzy