Power Struggles and Economic Dynamics

On today's podcast:

(1) The US is pushing to control all major future infrastructure and mineral investments in Ukraine, potentially gaining a veto over any role for Kyiv’s other allies and undermining its bid for European Union membership.

(2) Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan Collins said it looks “inevitable” that tariffs will boost inflation, at least in the near term, adding it’s likely appropriate to keep interest rates steady for longer.

(3) Donald Trump has piqued European leaders’ interest in currency markets. After the euro jumped against the dollar, French president Emmanuel Macron quizzed central bank chief Christine Lagarde on the outlook for the exchange rate in private conversations in Brussels last week, according to people briefed on the discussions.

(4) UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves boasted on Wednesday that she had restored her fiscal buffer to £9.9 billion ($13 billion). A day later, she had lost half of it.

(5) Elon Musk, the billionaire running President Donald Trump’s federal cost cutting effort, said he plans to slash $1 trillion in government spending by the end of May.

(5) European leaders are trying to carve out a role for themselves in US-led ceasefire talks over Russia’s war in Ukraine as more than 30 of them gather Thursday for an impromptu defense summit in Paris.

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