In March, Xi Jinping quietly wrote to India’s president, testing the waters for warmer ties just as Donald Trump was ramping up tariffs on Beijing, according to an Indian official familiar with the matter. The outreach, passed along to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, marked the start of a cautious thaw after years of deadly border clashes.

Now, with Modi set for his first trip to China in seven years, the two leaders are moving to ease tensions and explore new economic links. For Beijing, India offers a crucial market for its slowing economy; for Delhi, Chinese investment could accelerate Modi’s push to expand manufacturing as US tariffs bite into exports.

The geopolitical stakes are high. Washington long positioned India as a counterweight to China, but Trump’s heavy-handed tactics, including a crushing 50% tariff on Indian goods, have disrupted that balance. By playing hardball with both Asian giants, Trump may have inadvertently driven Xi and Modi into a rapprochement that reshapes the map of Asian power dynamics.—Jui Chakravorty

What You Need to Know Today

Washington floated a plan to skim 15% off Nvidia and AMD’s China chip sales — but Nvidia isn’t biting. The company says there’s no rulebook yet, so no commission checks will be cut. With billions in potential revenue sidelined by shifting export curbs, Nvidia is stuck juggling US politics and China’s market demand — a balancing act that could define its next big growth chapter.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Photographer: Andrea Verdelli/Bloomberg

Meituan’s shares tumbled after it warned of steep losses from a price war with Alibaba and JD.com, erasing a combined $27 billion in market value across China’s internet heavyweights. Profits have evaporated at home as the trio battles for food-delivery dominance, even while Meituan pours billions into overseas expansion from Saudi Arabia to Brazil. The rout highlights how subsidy-fueled competition is hammering margins and rattling investor faith in China’s consumer internet model.

ANZ Group rushed through planned job cuts after an automated email accidentally informed staff of their terminations before managers could. Acting retail head Bruce Rush apologized for the “sensitive news” blunder, but the fiasco has drawn sharp criticism from the Finance Sector Union, which blasted the bank’s new CEO Nuno Matos for forcing through chaotic cost-cutting. The episode adds to mounting culture and compliance woes at the lender as Matos pushes forward with a turnaround strategy.

On London’s western fringe, the Thames Valley has enough empty offices to last half a century at today’s leasing pace. Reading, a key commuter hub tied to the new Elizabeth Line rail link, has nearly five years of vacant supply with 17% of space sitting idle. Global names like Amazon, Apple and Diageo have chosen central London over the suburbs, leaving developers cutting prices or converting gleaming office towers into apartments.

Singapore is escalating its war on vaping by classifying some e-cigarette compounds as controlled drugs — a move that means sellers face up to 20 years in prison and even caning. Users will see fines quadruple, while repeat-offending foreigners risk deportation and permanent bans from the city-state. The crackdown underscores Singapore’s trademark zero-tolerance model as it pivots from treating vapes like tobacco to framing them as a gateway to hard drugs.

Kim Jong Un will travel to China next week for Xi Jinping’s military parade, standing alongside Vladimir Putin in a show of tightening ties among Washington’s top rivals. For Kim, it’s a rare chance to elevate North Korea’s diplomatic standing; for Xi, it’s a delicate balancing act as Pyongyang leans ever closer to Moscow. The moment also lands just as Trump signals interest in reviving his personal diplomacy with Kim.

Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang in June 2024. Source: Contributor/Getty Images

A tanker carrying fuel from a US-sanctioned Russian facility has docked at a Chinese terminal for the first time, signaling Moscow’s continued success in pushing sanctioned energy into Asia. The project is central to Russia’s plan to triple LNG exports by 2030 after Europe slashed pipeline imports. For Washington, the move adds a wrinkle: while Trump slapped 50% tariffs on India over Russian oil purchases, he has so far held off on further tightening measures against buyers of Russian LNG.

What You’ll Need to Know Tomorrow

For Your Commute

One of the world’s most iconic bridges will swap cars for tens of thousands of pounding feet on Sunday morning, as Sydney joins the elite ranks of the World Marathon Majors.

About 35,000 people are expected to toe the start line in Australia’s biggest marathon to date, including the fastest man to ever run the distance, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge. The 42.2 kilometer (26.2 mile) course crosses the Sydney Harbour Bridge and loops through downtown and Centennial Park before ending at the famous Opera House steps.  

Growing from just 5,300 participants in 2022, the race received a surge in interest this year after it became the first southern hemisphere event to be added to the ranks of the so-called Major series which includes the likes of the London, New York, Boston and Tokyo marathons. Marathon Majors are chased by endurance runners worldwide trying to complete the full series.

Participants of the 2024 Sydney Marathon run under the Harbour Bridge. Photographer: Saeed Khan/AFP

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