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 Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven’t yet, sign up here. President Donald Trump obviously relished the applause of world leaders in Egypt celebrating his achievement in getting phase one of his Gaza plan over the line. The question now is whether he might develop a taste for such diplomatic triumphs. It’s already clear that Trump sees himself as a president endowed with a singular ability to make breakthroughs that have eluded others. After all, he routinely claims to have ended seven wars.  Trump in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on Monday. Photographer: Suzanne Plunkett/Getty Images Long-term resolutions to those conflicts mostly lie on quicksand, and the way forward in Gaza remains clouded in uncertainty. But it’s also true that Trump can bring the power of the US presidency to effect change if he so chooses. So when he tells long-term US rival Iran that “the hand of friendship and cooperation is always open,” as he did on Monday, it’s worth listening. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy may be the first to discover whether this is a changed US leader when he visits Washington on Friday armed with a wishlist of air-defense and other measures. Zelenskiy can now point to Russian President Vladimir Putin — currently prosecuting the largest land war in Europe since World War II against Ukraine — as rowing against the tide of history by ignoring Trump’s demands for a ceasefire. Equally, some governments may try to play on Trump’s sense of his own geopolitical genius to capitalize on the moment. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a pariah in the West subject to US and European sanctions, is eager to reshape relations with Washington, the Belta state news agency in Minsk reported him as saying yesterday. Another test of whether Trump now has a zeal for peaceful diplomacy is Venezuela, where US forces are amassed off the coast. Still, with the US striking another boat of alleged narco-traffickers yesterday, Nicolás Maduro may not want to bet on it. — Alan Crawford  A vessel right before a US strike from a video posted to Trump’s Truth Social account yesterday. Source: Truth Social Global Must ReadsTrump said he might stop trade in cooking oil with China in retaliation for its refusal to buy US soybeans, injecting fresh tensions into the dispute between the two biggest economies. Meanwhile, government officials and business executives from Brazil and India — two of the nations hardest hit by Trump’s tariffs onslaught — are converging this week in New Delhi, seeking to forge new relationships and triple the countries’ $12 billion commercial partnership. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu won crucial parliamentary backing from the Socialist Party, significantly improving the chances of his new government surviving two no-confidence votes tomorrow. The Socialists, who hold leverage in the National Assembly, said they won’t vote to topple the government after Lecornu proposed suspending a pension law that raises the retirement age. Stocks rallied. Yuichiro Tamaki was fighting to retain the leadership of his party less than a year ago amid reports of an extramarital affair. Now, the collapse of Japan’s ruling coalition has catapulted the 56-year-old into a position where he could become prime minister. The heads of the three main opposition parties are today expected to discuss picking a candidate for the premiership, with Tamaki in pole position. China showed off a new uncrewed submarine the size of a semi-truck in September that’s meant to keep tabs on US vessels and seafloor cables, highlighting Beijing’s investment in undersea operations. The US submarine industry, meanwhile, is struggling to get out of drydock after years of delays, rising costs and a weakened industrial base, as it seeks 100,000 skilled workers over the next decade to meet growing demand for vessels.  The US Navy’s 25th Virginia-class submarine, Massachusetts, completed initial sea trials this month. Photographer: Ashley Cowan/HII Trump suggested the $20 billion lifeline the US is planning for Argentina could be contingent on libertarian President Javier Milei’s success in Oct. 26 midterm elections, sending fresh jitters through the currency market even as Economy Minister Luis Caputo sought to reassure investors. Meanwhile, the US leader told Milei he’d be very upset if there was any Chinese military activity in the South American country. Army officers in Madagascar took control of the country following the impeachment of President Andry Rajoelina, who went into hiding at an undisclosed location after soldiers joined youth-led anti-government protests demanding his resignation. Kenyan politician Raila Odinga, who was at the forefront of the nation’s politics for more than three decades and made five unsuccessful runs at the presidency, each time alleging that he was cheated of victory, has died aged 80, according to local media reports.  Odinga at a campaign rally in 2022. Photographer: Ed Ram/Getty Images Pakistan and Afghanistan claimed they killed dozens of each other’s soldiers in clashes overnight along their shared border, continuing deadly skirmishes that began at the weekend and prompted Trump to suggest he was willing to mediate. The UK and Canada will join a European Union plan to tap a portion of the almost $300 billion in Russian central-bank assets held by Group of Seven nations, in an effort to ramp up their financial support for the government in Ukraine. Sign up for the Washington Edition newsletter for news from the US capital and watch Balance of Power at 1 and 5 p.m. ET weekdays on Bloomberg Television. Chart of the Day Singapore has broken into the top tier of an annual global pension index for the first time, while the Netherlands held on to the No. 1 spot. Iceland, Denmark and Israel make up the rest of the five countries that scored an A rating in this year’s Mercer CFA Institute ranking. The report evaluates 52 retirement systems based on grades for their adequacy, sustainability and integrity. And FinallyShortly after the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, Zafar Khashimov headed to England from his native Uzbekistan to study at university. While there, he would frequent a local Sainsbury’s supermarket. He now runs the central Asian country’s largest retail chain by revenue, and has just opened the region’s biggest food-distribution center after raising $100 million from foreign investors. Uzbekistan is undergoing a transformation after opening up its economy, with investors from China, Turkey and the Middle East pouring in, and Americans and Europeans waiting in the wings.  More from Bloomberg
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