Tag: United States International Relations

Nuclear Energy Revival Puts Westinghouse in Prime Position

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A large investment firm and a Canadian uranium mining and enrichment company made a big bet three years ago on nuclear power by acquiring Westinghouse, an energy company that had fallen on hard times. Now, that wager is proving prescient. Soaring demand for electricity, driven by data centers, and renewed bipartisan and global interest in nuclear power have made Westinghouse a go-to source for nuclear power technology. The prominence of Westinghouse in the development of new nuclear power plants gained international attention Wednesday after the Trump administration announced a broad…

Iran, China, Canada? A Defense of Trump’s Grand Strategy

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Is President Trump’s grand strategy unraveling? The United States is at war with Iran, China is ascendant, Russia and Ukraine are stalemated and American allies are openly questioning our commitment to them. Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, joins me to discuss the state of America’s foreign policy and he makes the case that Trump’s approach to our allies and adversaries is making us stronger. Below is an edited transcript of an episode of “Interesting Times.” We recommend listening to it in its original form for the…

Rubio and Chinese Diplomat Make Plans for Trump and Xi’s Washington Summit

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he spoke with China’s top diplomat on Wednesday about a state visit scheduled for September by Xi Jinping, China’s leader, to Washington, where President Trump intends to try to bolster what he sees as a personal friendship the two men are developing. The fact that the two nations’ top diplomats spent much of a meeting in Manila talking about the visit is the strongest sign yet that the summit is on schedule, despite remarks last week from Mr. Trump blaming China for trying to…

Tariffs Will Long Outlive Trump

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Donald Trump’s most consequential construction project may not be a ballroom or an arch, but his tariff wall. His latest threat to raise tariffs to 50 percent on some Canadian goods, as drastic as it is, is not nearly as significant as what’s coming next. By the end of this month, the administration is expected to introduce major tariffs on dozens of countries intended to ensure what once was a temporary regime lasts well beyond this presidency. Unlike most previous rounds of tariffs, including the ones just threatened on Canada,…

Trump Pushes Chinese Election Threat, but Files Show Russia’s Heavy Hand

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President Trump’s prime-time speech last Thursday was intended to shore up his tenacious lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him and leaned heavily on recycled claims that the Chinese government tried to tip the scales against him. But a trove of intelligence documents that Mr. Trump declassified in hopes that they would bolster his assertions arguably made a stronger case that a different country — Russia — had meddled in the race. Mr. Trump, nonetheless, barely mentioned Russia during his 25-minute address, in keeping with his longstanding aversion…

Russia Bill Broadens Sanctions but Could Fuel Fears Over the Dollar

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A Russia sanctions bill is posing a dilemma for the Trump administration: Lawmakers are pushing to wage further financial warfare just as the administration worries that heavy use of sanctions may erode the U.S. dollar’s supremacy. The bill, which was the brainchild of Senator Lindsey Graham before his death, aims to impose mandatory sanctions on Russia and its allies and potentially broaden the reach of penalties to include tariffs on buyers of Russian energy. The White House has said that the scope of the sanctions could broaden to include Iran…

Trump Pursues a Deeper Bond With China’s Leader, Despite Hostile Speech

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Just two months ago, President Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, strolled together through a garden of the secretive leadership compound in the heart of Beijing, past rows of bright flowers and leafy plants. The U.S. president toasted Mr. Xi as “my friend” at a state banquet during his visit. He declared that he had received a “magnificent welcome like none other” that had helped smooth the way to “fantastic trade deals.” The stage was set, Mr. Trump said, for Mr. Xi to make a reciprocal state visit to Washington…

‘Suddenly, I Was Free’: A Chinese Pastor’s Journey From Jail to the U.S.

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The Chinese police officers hurried the pastor out of the jail cell where he’d been held for 266 days. They hustled him into a van, then onto a train — where he sat surrounded by about two dozen officers, many with cameras trained on him. The pastor, Jin Mingri, who founded one of China’s most prominent underground churches, wondered aloud if he was being transferred to a secret prison. An officer laughed and told him to think more positively. Hours later, Mr. Jin, who also goes by Ezra, had been…

U.S. Presses China to Free American Seismologist Accused of Spying

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An American seismologist who did contract research for the U.S. government related to nuclear tests in North Korea has been detained in China for nearly two years and accused of spying, his family and supporters said. Youlin Chen, who was born in China, was detained by Chinese state security officers at a Beijing airport in November 2024, when he was about to return to home in Boston. Dr. Chen’s family and supporters said they were making his case public for the first time this week in the hope that the…

What Americans Need to Understand About China

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This is an edited transcript of “The Ezra Klein Show.” You can listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts. Since 2012, Xi Jinping has been the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. He has consolidated power to a level very few people ever expected, and under his rule, China has strengthened technologically, diplomatically and militarily. It is now widely understood to be an industrial juggernaut on a scale the world has never seen, in a way the world does not quite know how to respond to. But Xi’s…