THE WASHINGTON POST (USA): What President Trump’s team wants from the rest of the world. While substantial confusion remains over the White House’s objectives, a clearer picture of trade talks is starting to emerge. More natural gas purchases from American firms. Fewer tariffs on U.S. exports. Lower taxes on Silicon Valley tech giants. Pledges to stop China from using other nations to ship its products to the United States. These are just some of the demands the Trump administration is expected to make in negotiations with dozens of countries that are trying to avoid steep levies that were briefly put in place last week before being abruptly delayed. While substantial confusion remains about what precisely the White House will want, a clearer picture of what these bilateral deals could look like is beginning to emerge, according to interviews with more than a dozen people involved in or briefed on the talks, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private deliberations.

KOMMERSANT (RUSSIA): Си Цзиньпин уговаривает страны Восточной Азии не поддаваться диктату США. В разгар торговой войны между США и Китаем председатель КНР Си Цзиньпин отправился в турне по трем странам Юго-Восточной Азии — во Вьетнам, Малайзию и Камбоджу. Его главная задача — донести до государств региона мысль о том, что вторая экономика мира остается предсказуемым торговым партнером в противоположность США, угрожающим всем карательными пошлинами. Однако убедить соседей по региону однозначно занять сторону Китая в торговой войне будет непросто: экспорт всех трех стран сильно завязан на американский рынок, и каждой из них придется балансировать между крупнейшим торговым партнером в лице КНР и важнейшим экспортным рынком в лице США.

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (HONG KONG, CHINA): China launches all-out effort to boost consumption as US trade war boils over. Local authorities roll out more supportive policies as commentators urge officials to “strengthen people’s confidence”. China is scrambling to roll out more measures to boost consumer spending as it strives to offset the worst effects of an escalating trade war with the United States that threatens to rock its export sector. Chinese policymakers need to take further action to “strengthen people’s confidence and willingness to spend”, the state-owned media outlet Economic Daily said in a commentary on Monday.

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN (JAPAN): Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday that U.S. tariffs have the potential to disrupt the global economic order, issuing his strongest warning to date about the damage President Donald Trump’s decisions could inflict on the world economy. But he stressed that Japan will seek common ground with the United States on how the two countries can cooperate on issues ranging from trade and national security. “In negotiating with the United States, we need to understand what’s behind Trump’s argument both in terms of the logic and the emotional elements behind his views”, Ishiba told parliament. Ishiba also said the government is not thinking of issuing a supplementary budget now but stood ready to act in a timely fashion to cushion the economic blow from U.S. tariffs.

AL-AHRAM (EGYPT): America’s recent focus on China may be seen as an effort to realign Europe and other countries against China. This may work to some extent. Mexico has already offered to match US tariffs on China. But much of the self-inflicted damage to US interests has already been done. Even if the EU successfully negotiates with the US, the tariffs and the tensions over Ukraine and Greenland will have a permanent negative effect on Europeans’ faith in America as a reliable economic partner and strategic ally. Frustration with the US will not suddenly make Europe an ally of China. The EU has plenty of complaints against China, especially its flood of electric-vehicle exports and support of Russia in its war against Ukraine. But, by making trade with the US more expensive and unpredictable for everyone, Trump has created a powerful incentive for Europe to deepen ties with the People’s Republic. Moreover, while Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris climate agreement (again), Europe and China both recognize the need for urgent action against global warming. In addition to leading the world in EV and solar-panel manufacturing, China is also the fastest developer of green-energy technologies and nuclear power – an energy option that has gained renewed interest in Europe.

NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA (RUSSIA): Победа США в таможенной войне не гарантирована. Торговая коалиция Европы, Индии и Китая становится сильным противником для Трампа. Китай и Евросоюз создают новую торговую коалицию, которая сможет противостоять таможенным тарифным атакам Дональда Трампа. Пекин и Брюссель должны отстаивать экономическую глобализацию и защищать международный порядок, заявил председатель КНР Си Цзиньпин на встрече с премьером Испании Педро Санчесом в Пекине. Китай готов установить всеобъемлющее стратегическое партнерство с Испанией, заявил председатель Си. Европа может усилить свои шансы в торговых переговорах в случае координации с Индией и Китаем, считают эксперты Всемирного экономического форума (ВЭФ). Позиции Трампа могут существенно ослабнуть уже в 2026 году на промежуточных выборах в Конгресс, прогнозируют специалисты ВЭФ.

THE TIMES OF INDIA: China plays rare earth card as US, India dig deep. Dysprosium and Neodymium sound like the names of couple of medications, perhaps cough syrups. In fact, they are two “Rare Earth” elements from group of 17 in the periodic table that are critical for a range of technologies from missiles to wind turbines to EVs, and they made a splash on Monday after China, which has a 90% hold on the field, suspended all exports. The move, one of the cards held by Beijing in the tariff war launched by US, sent shock waves through American tech industry, even as the White House has momentarily relaxed tariffing some electronic imports. Even though the US has gradually dialed down rare earths import from China from 80% in 2017 to around 70% now, its import from other countries also involve Chinese processing because Beijing owns 90% of the world’s refining capacity.

THE NEW YORK TIMES (USA): Trump’s trade war with China could be good for India. But is it ready? While India dreams of becoming a new factory to the world, its manufacturers are struggling to find skilled workers, secure components and overcome red tape. Even when India was staring down the barrel of a 27% tariff on most of its exports to the United States, business executives and government officials saw an upside. India’s biggest economic rival, China, and its smaller competitors like Vietnam were facing even worse. India has been pushing hard in recent years to become a manufacturing alternative to China, and it looked as if it had suddenly gained an advantage. Then India and its smaller rivals got 90-day reprieves, and President Trump doubled down on China, boosting its tariff to 145 percent. The sky-high tax on Chinese imports to America presented “a significant opportunity for India’s trade and industry,” said Praveen Khandelwal, a member of Parliament from the ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a top figure in the country’s business lobby. India, with its enormous work force, has been trying to elbow into China’s manufacturing business for a long time, yet its factories are not ready. For the past 10 years Mr. Modi has pursued a goal he named “Make in India”. The government has paid incentives to companies producing goods in strategic sectors, budgeting over $26 billion, and tried to attract foreign investments in the name of reducing India’s dependence on Chinese imports. One of its goals was to create 100 million new manufacturing jobs by 2022. There have been successes. The most eye-catching one is that Foxconn, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer, has started making iPhones for Apple in India, moving some work from China. Yet the role of manufacturing in India over a decade has shrunk, relative to services and agriculture, from 15% of the economy to less than 13%.

THE KOREA TIMES (SOUTH KOREA): Trump tariffs drive unexpected alliances in steel, car industries. The proverb “Yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend” may describe recent strategies Korean manufacturers have taken to counteract uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies. After the U.S. imposed sweeping 25% tariffs on all imports of steel products and cars under the stated intent of protecting American companies, longtime rivals in the steel, battery and automotive sectors began extending olive branches to each other. POSCO is reportedly considering an investment to acquire a partial stake in Hyundai Steel’s electric arc furnace-based integrated steel mill, scheduled to be built in Louisiana by 2029 and begin production the same year. If the cooperative agreement proceeds, Korea’s two largest steelmakers will join forces in the U.S.

INDEPENDENT (GB): Vice president JD Vance said there was a “good chance” that a trade deal could be reached with the UK, after president Donald Trump insisted he could be “very flexible” when it comes to tariffs. “We’re certainly working very hard with Keir Starmer’s government”, Vance told the UnHerd website. His statement comes after Trump said he doesn’t change his mind, but was flexible “and you have to be”. “You just can’t have a wall, and you’ll only go, you know, sometimes you have to go around it under it or above it”, he told reporters. Meanwhile, Trump claimed Chinese president Xi Jinping’s tour of South-east Asian countries – hit hardest by American tariffs – was intended to “screw” the U.S.

THE JAKARTA POST (INDONESIA): US tariffs spark layoff concerns, risk expanding informal sector. Before the world felt the blow from US tariffs, there were an estimated 80,000 layoffs in Indonesia last year, according to official data from the Manpower Ministry. The ministry also estimated another 18,610 workers were laid off during the first two months of this year. The United States’ tariffs on imports from Indonesia could put more workers at risk of layoffs, economists have warned, adding that an increase in unemployment could also lead to the expansion of the local informal sector, which could hinder economic growth in the long term. Just days after US President Donald Trump unleashed his widespread tariffs on April 2, experts from multiple local industries, including textiles, furniture, fisheries as well as food and beverages, said Washington’s policy could hamper exports and lead to more job losses in the country. The Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) said on April 9, that tariffs would drive up the price of Indonesian goods in the US market, making them less competitive with goods from other countries.

TEHRAN TIMES (IRAN): Iran and the United States spoke indirectly in Oman on Saturday, as tensions remained smoldering between the two countries, and the Iranian side approached the talks gingerly and with deep mistrust. The Tehran Times had obtained new information about what went on that day and whether any concrete results could be expected from the first major encounter between the two states in several months. The talks began around 3:00 pm local time at the residence of Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Albusaidi, who acted as a go-between. From the Iranian side, Seyyed Abbas Araghchi and from the American side, Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, were present at the top diplomat’s home. Less than 10 written messages were exchanged, with Araghchi delivering the first one. The two officials accompanying delegations stayed at their hotels. Witkoff arrived in Oman with two individuals accompanying him, one of them a nuclear expert. He exchanged greetings with Araghchi as the two were departing their separate rooms at the end of the session.

THE JERUSALEM POST (ISRAEL): Time for Trump to show his tough rhetoric on Tehran carries results. The president has long taken a hardline stance on Iran, but with Tehran testing the limits of Western resolve, he has an opening to reset the equation. Sunday marked one year since Iran launched its first direct ballistic missile attack on Israel, a moment that marked a dangerous escalation in Tehran’s aggression against the Jewish state. Exactly 12 months later, as Jews up and down the country were celebrating the first day of Passover, Iran’s proxies in Yemen, the Houthis, fired a missile toward Israel that saw citizens of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and everywhere in between fleeing to bomb shelters. The situation remains volatile, and the world is watching. Now, with US President Donald Trump signaling that he will make a swift decision on Iran, he has a critical opportunity to finally enforce real deterrence against the regime in Tehran.

DAILY SABAH (TURKEY): Egypt has received an Israeli proposal for a temporary cease-fire in Gaza aimed at opening the door to talks for a permanent end to the conflict, state-affiliated media reported Monday. “Egypt has passed on the Israeli proposal to Hamas and is awaiting its response as soon as possible”, sources told Egypt’s Al-Qahera News, without giving further details about the proposal. There have been no comments on the report from Egyptian, Israeli, or Hamas authorities as of yet.

ASHARQ AL-AWSAT (GB): The latest round of talks in Cairo to restore the defunct Gaza ceasefire and free Israeli hostages ended with no apparent breakthrough, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said on Monday. The sources said Hamas had stuck to its position that any agreement must lead to an end to the war in Gaza. Israel, which restarted its military campaign in Gaza last month after a ceasefire agreed in January unraveled, has said it will not end the war until Hamas is stamped out. The group has ruled out any proposal that it lay down its arms. But despite that fundamental disagreement, the sources said a Hamas delegation led by the group’s Gaza Chief Khalil Al-Hayya had shown some flexibility over how many hostages it could free in return for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel should a truce be extended.

THE WASHINGTON TIMES (USA): China is using consulting firms, headhunters and think tanks to aggressively recruit current and former U.S. officials as spies, according to a federal counterspy unit. “Foreign intelligence entities, particularly those in China, are targeting current and former U.S. government employees for recruitment by posing as consulting firms, corporate headhunters, think tanks, and other entities on social and professional networking sites”, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center stated in a one-page warning. The warning was echoed by the FBI on X. “China and other foreign intelligence entities are targeting former and current U.S. government employees on social and professional networking sites,” the bureau said in a post. Chinese spies are using sophisticated deception ploys, including job offers and other virtual appeals to target people with government experience who are seeking employment, the counterintelligence notice said.

EL OBSERVADOR (URUGUAY): El Papa Francisco da el primer paso para la beatificación de Antonio Gaudí, el “arquitecto de Dios”. El arquitecto catalán dedicó su vida a la Sagrada Familia, que consideraba una misión divina, y fue conocido por su profunda espiritualidad y devoción religiosa. El Papa Francisco ha declarado venerable a Antonio Gaudí, el famoso arquitecto catalán conocido por su trabajo en la Sagrada Familia de Barcelona, reconociendo sus virtudes heroicas. El título de “venerable” se otorga a las personas fallecidas que han vivido las virtudes cristianas de manera heroica. Este reconocimiento es la primera etapa en el proceso hacia la santidad. En el caso de Gaudí, este reconocimiento resalta no solo su genio arquitectónico, sino también su vida espiritual profundamente comprometida, que dedicó casi en su totalidad al Templo de la Sagrada Familia.

THE GUARDIAN (GB): Sudan is suffering from the largest humanitarian crisis globally and its civilians are continuing to pay the price for inaction by the international community, NGOs and the UN have said, as the country’s civil war enters its third year. The UK is hosting ministers from 20 countries in London on Tuesday in an attempt to restart stalled peace talks. However, diplomatic efforts have often been sidelined by other crises, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Two years to the day since fighting erupted in Khartoum between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, hundreds of people were feared to have died in RSF attacks on refugee camps in the western Darfur region in the latest apparent atrocity of a war marked by its brutality and wide-scale humanitarian impact. The consequences for Sudan’s 51 million people have been devastating. Tens of thousands are reportedly dead. Hundreds of thousands face famine. Almost 13 million people have been displaced, 4 million of those to neighbouring countries.

THE ECONOMIC TIMES (INDIA): In 2024, Russia-India relations were marked by high-level visits, including Prime Minister Modi’s post-election trip to Moscow and Minister Jaishankar’s visit. The BRICS summit in Kazan highlighted intentions for a more just international order. Increased economic cooperation was evident through investment forums and business events, fostering interpersonal links and new business connections. As economic cooperation is taking centre stage in Russia-India relations, such active communication is very important – it helps with actualisation of supply and demand, working out mutually beneficial formats of cooperation and with finding solutions to obstacles. It makes it possible to support the trustful political relations between the two countries with much needed interpersonal links and new business connections that will take this bilateral partnership forward in the coming years. This has been captured in a new book India and Russia Enduring trust in a transformational era -- a selection of opinions from Russia and India providing a fresh look at the relationship that is of utmost importance to the people of our two civilisational states, as well as to the world undergoing profound change.

LE FIGARO (FRANCE): “La révolution est progressive mais irréversible”: comment l’intelligence artificielle bouleverse le secteur bancaire. Depuis deux ans, les géants du secteur ont engagé une mue technologique qui transforme les usages à tous les niveaux opérationnels. Deux ans après le “phénomène ChatGPT”, le secteur bancaire n’a pas subi le séisme annoncé par les prophètes de la disruption numérique. Pour autant, les grandes banques françaises semblent engagées dans une mue technologique dont les effets se font déjà sentir à tous les niveaux opérationnels. “Le secteur est hyperconcurrentiel, et il s’agit de ne pas manquer le coche. Partout où c’est possible, l’IA générative se fraie un chemin et redessine les usages”, constate Mathieu Gosselin, associé au cabinet de conseil Bartle. “À ce jour, on recense plus de 850 cas d’utilisation à l’échelle du groupe”, détaille Hugues Even, directeur des activités de données de BNP Paribas. Le premier établissement bancaire français, qui affirme avoir pris le virage de l’IA “dès 2016”, avait alors pour objectif de générer 500 millions d’euros de valeur d’ici 2025. Des ambitions comparables à celles de la Société générale, troisième acteur du marché, qui revendique plus de 300 cas d’usage en production, tous métiers confondus.

FOLHA DE S.PAULO (BRASIL): Inflação faz 58% dos brasileiros reduzirem as compras de alimentos, diz Datafolha. Para 54%, governo tem muita responsabilidade pela alta dos preços da comida; 8 em cada 10 adotam alguma mudança de hábito. Metade dos brasileiros afirma ter diminuído consumo de café após preços mais altos. Com tomate, ovo e café caros, índice de inflação sobe 0,56% no mês de março.

GLOBAL TIMES (CHINA): The General Administration of Customs (GAC) of China said on Monday that the country’s imports have huge room for growth, and the massive Chinese market will always be a great opportunity for the world. China has a population of more than 1.4 billion and more than 400 million middle-income groups, and China has always insisted on expanding high-level opening-up, sharing development opportunities with the world, the GAC said. China is the world’s largest manufacturing country and the second largest consumption market, with a complete range of industries, a complete industrial system, and strong supporting capabilities, a GAC spokesperson noted.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA): Trump says his tariff plan will restore American manufacturing might, but economists are sceptical. In the 1950s, around 35% of private-sector jobs in the U.S. were in manufacturing. Today, there are 12.8 million manufacturing jobs in the U.S., an amount equal to 9.4% of those private-sector jobs. President Trump says his sweeping tariff regime is aimed at bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. Economists are skeptical that tariffs could make that a reality, and worry that the damage they create will outweigh any benefits.

THE GUARDIAN (NIGERIA): The unveiling of the $120 million Afreximbank African Trade Centre in Abuja makes a bold statement on efforts to transform Nigeria into a regional trade hub as well as recalibrate the intra-African trade. After 41 months of meticulous planning, ambitious vision and relentless execution, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has unveiled its $120 million African Trade Centre in Abuja, an initiative that aims to accelerate intra-African trade, deepen regional integration and foster economic transformation across the continent with a potential to advance the country’s ambition of emerging as the regional hub. According to the Afreximbank African Trade Report 2024, the continent recorded a growth rate of 3.2 per cent in 2023, down from four per cent in the previous year and the five per cent average growth achieved between 2011 and 2019. The report also noted that intra-African trade grew by 3.2 per cent in 2023, a significant slowdown from the 10.9 per cent growth recorded in 2022.

LA LIBRE (BELGIUM): Au mois de mars 2025, 905.603 visiteurs d’Europe de l’Ouest sont entrés aux États-Unis, d’après les données préliminaires de l’administration du tourisme, qui fait partie du département américain du Commerce. Il s’agit d’une chute de 17% en glissement annuel, la pire sur un an (hors pandémie) depuis 2009, lorsque les États-Unis entraient dans leur grande récession suite à la crise financière. En ce qui concerne les voyageurs belges, ceux-ci ont été 18.824 à fouler le sol américain le mois dernier, soit 16% de moins qu’un an plus tôt, le recul s’étant accéléré par rapport au mois de février (-9%) et janvier (-3%). Les chiffres confirment ainsi les dires de plusieurs dirigeants du secteur du tourisme, qui observent un net recul des réservations pour des voyages aux États-Unis.

LE TEMPS (SWITZERLAND): Perfides, high-tech et très subtiles, les arnaques sur les plateformes de petites annonces explosent. En parallèle, le laxisme de Facebook face aux fraudes liées aux petites annonces est dénoncé. Publier une petite annonce en ligne, ou répondre à l’une d’elles, s’assimile de plus en plus à un exercice risqué. Les tentatives d’arnaques existent depuis des années. Aujourd’hui, non seulement elles se perfectionnent, mais, en plus, leur nombre explose. L’Office fédéral de la cybersécurité (OFCS) vient de communiquer qu’en l’espace d’un an, le nombre de signalements de ces escroqueries a été multiplié par cinq. Début 2024, le nombre de cas qui lui étaient communiqués par des internautes se situait sous les 50 par mois. Désormais, la barre des 200 cas mensuelle est franchie, avec un pic à 250 pour le mois de février. Une situation jugée “inquiétante” par l’OFCS.

THE MAINICHI SHIMBUN (JAPAN): Japan’s rice prices rose to a record average of 4,214 yen ($29) per 5 kilograms, more than double the level a year earlier, the government said Monday, suggesting that recent stockpile releases have had limited effect in curbing the soaring costs. The government has auctioned off roughly 212,000 tons of its rice stockpiles in two batches to help ensure smoother distribution, with some reaching store shelves in late March. However, the average price of rice sold at supermarkets nationwide between March 31 and April 6 rose by 8 yen from the previous week, marking the 14th consecutive weekly increase and the highest level since data collection began in March 2022.

THE INDIAN EXPRESS: Almonds have always been touted as a source of plant protein, good fat and fibre that make them a key component in a heart-healthy diet. But there have been worries about whether having these nutrient and calorie-dense nuts consistently could lead to a calorie spike and weight gain in those who are already struggling with obesity. A new multi-nation meta-analysis puts paid to such doubts. It shows that almond consumption does not result in weight gain and results in small reductions in LDL (low-density lipoprotein) or bad cholesterol and diastolic blood pressure (the pressure in your arteries when your heart rests between beats or the bottom number in a blood pressure reading, which is typically written as systolic/diastolic, like 120/80 mm Hg). Not only that, it shows that it helps reduce blood sugar in certain populations, Asian Indians being among them. The study is significant because almonds seem to be a superfood which can act as a beneficial dietary tool to manage the burden of non-communicable diseases among Indians. “Our previous studies have shown how pre-loading our meals with almonds cuts blood sugar. Now this scientific paper demonstrates benefits for cardiometabolic health”, says Dr Anoop Misra, co-author and chairman, Fortis C-Doc for diabetes and endocrinology.

RENMIN RIBAO (CHINA): Devoting more than six decades to the preservation and study of the music of the Mongolian ethnic group in China, Wu Lanjie, an 87-year-old Chinese musicologist and educator, has made significant contributions to the inheritance and development of the music, with his important monographs forming a theoretical framework for Mongolian music history. As Wu described it, he has spent nearly his entire life creating an extensive “coordinate system” for Mongolian music, with the horizontal axis representing the timeline of its development from ancient times to the present, and the vertical axis categorizing the various forms of the music—such as folk songs, instrumental music, and epics—thus forming a comprehensive theoretical framework.