Balance of Power

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The prospects for peace in Gaza look increasingly bleak.

Israel is ramping up air and ground attacks across the Palestinian territory of 2.2 million. Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a “shifting of gears” as he increases pressure on Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages it holds. Israeli intelligence thinks 24 of them are still alive.

Netanyahu’s government says it will seize land within Gaza — creating more buffer zones — and is urging hundreds of thousands of civilians to move, yet again, away from battle areas.

The death toll is mounting. Hundreds of people have been killed since a ceasefire collapsed last month, taking the total since the war started in October 2023 to more than 50,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Shortages of food and medicine are worsening, with Israel having blocked supplies.

Negotiations over a new truce continue, mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt. While Hamas is taking big losses, with Israel killing senior commanders and destroying its weapons stockpile, it remains the most powerful Palestinian entity in Gaza and is unwilling to surrender.

When thousands of protesters gathered in Gaza last week to demand that Hamas relinquish power, some saw the start of an uprising against its 18-year rule.

Yet the unprecedented demonstrations fizzled within two days, following reports of a violent crackdown, coupled with Palestinians focusing on simply trying to make ends meet after 18 months of a destructive war.

Netanyahu is in Hungary this week, meeting counterpart Viktor Orban, a fellow right-winger and ally of US President Donald Trump. The two will likely rail against the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu in November. Despite Hungary being an ICC signatory, Orban will ignore it.

Israel’s leader will also use the trip to tout his military successes against Hamas and other Iran-backed militias as well as in Syria, which Israeli forces continue to bomb.

He’s adamant he won’t stop until Hamas lays down its arms and cedes power in Gaza. There’s a good chance that won’t happen soon. — Fares Alghoul

Palestinian protesters during a demonstration against Hamas in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, last week. Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg

Global Must Reads

Trump imposed the steepest American tariffs in a century, stepping up his bid to reshape the global economy and triggering a selloff in markets around the world. The president announced across-the-board 10% tariffs and went beyond that for China and other countries, with charges based heavily on other nations’ trade surpluses with the US. He again signaled forthcoming duties on sectors like drugs, semiconductors, lumber and copper.

International reaction was swift, with the European Union, the largest US trading partner, vowing to retaliate if negotiations with the Trump administration to reduce the levies fail. China urged Washington to “immediately cancel” the tariffs and resolve trade differences through dialog, and pledged to “resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests.”

Trump slapped India with some of the highest tariffs imposed on any major US trading partner, despite his close personal ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The new duties are a setback for Modi’s government and come even as the two sides are negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with an aim to conclude it by the fall of this year.

Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House on Wednesday. Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen put her trust in attorney Rodolphe Bosselut, a politically independent deputy mayor of a town in the Pyrenees, instead of more high-profile lawyers as she unsuccessfully battled embezzlement allegations that got her barred from running for president in 2027. With her appeal hearing potentially being concluded by mid-2026, political heir Jordan Bardella must walk a fine line between supporting his mentor and preparing his own candidacy.

South Africa’s ruling coalition risks unraveling after a dispute deepened between its main members on proposed tax increases. Tensions were already running high because of disagreements over a series of contentious laws and exploded after budget plans were approved, splitting the African National Congress and its partner, Democratic Alliance, which opposes the tax hikes and is debating whether to leave the government.

Myanmar’s military announced a unilateral ceasefire in its fight against rebels until April 22 to expedite relief and reconstruction efforts after last week’s devastating earthquake that killed at least 3,000 people.

Days before an April 5 deadline for TikTok to find a buyer for its US operations or get shut out of its biggest market, Amazon became the latest big name to jump into the fray, submitting a bid to the White House to buy out a business once valued at $60 billion from Chinese parent ByteDance.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde called for an overhaul of EU decision-making, proposing that majority voting should be embraced to dilute the veto powers of single countries and help make the bloc more competitive.

On the latest episode of Trumponomics: Host Stephanie Flanders is joined by Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times. Trump reckons the current global trade system is unfair to the US and tariffs are the tool to balance the scales. But how did the world arrive at this point? Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Chart of the Day

Business leaders have pledged at least $1.6 trillion in US spending since Trump was elected to a second term as president, with at least 426,000 jobs promised, according to a Bloomberg analysis of announcements made since the election. The vast majority of these either reference the new administration, or Trump has gone out of his way to take credit for them. That’s more than the capital spending of all of the companies in the entire S&P 500 Index in the last calendar year. But many of the spending plans aren’t new and, if history is any guide, not all of them will materialize.

And Finally

Dubai chocolate has been around since 2021, when Sarah Hamouda layered sweet-salty pistachio cream with tahini and crispy shredded phyllo dough with chocolate for her company, Fix Dessert Chocolate. Demand has been so strong that it affected the Turkish pistachio industry, with the nation boosting shipments of Syrian nuts to stabilize prices of pastries such as baklava. US demand is so fierce that knockoff versions have proliferated, and it’s blowing up in the UK, thanks to belated efforts by retailers offering their own pistachio-chocolate bars.

Bars from Dubai-based Fix Dessert Chocolate. Source: Fix

Global Must Reads

Chart of the Day

And Finally

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