Month: March 2025

It is not often that the world’s two superpowers hold state-of-the-nation addresses back-to-back. But thanks to a quirk of scheduling and the magic of time zones, it happened this week. Li Qiang, China’s prime minister, gave his annual report to the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress, in Beijing on March 5th. A few minutes later, President Donald Trump began a fiery speech to a joint session of Congress in Washington. The contrast was instructive. The Economist

WHEN PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP stands before a joint session of America’s Congress on March 4th, no one knows what he will say. Policymaking in the world’s biggest economy has become unpredictable, a swirl of executive orders, social-media posts and congressional wrangling. In recent days, for example, Mr Trump has taken to social media to announce a new 10% tariff on China, on top of a similar levy imposed in February, causing Chinese stocks in Hong Kong to fall by over 3% on February 28th. He has also urged Congress to…