| Trump said he still intends to apply tariffs to phones, computers and popular consumer electronics, downplaying a weekend exemption as merely a procedural step in his overall push to recalibrate global trade. The dollar’s decline resumed, with the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index down about 0.3% after earlier tumbling to its lowest level since October. The gauge has slumped almost 6% this year. President Xi Jinping’s first overseas trip of 2025, taking in Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, was meant to showcase China’s clout in South East Asia. Trump’s tariff threats have turned it into a push to keep leaders in the region from cutting deals at Beijing’s expense. Meanwhile, the European Union is racing to clinch trade deals to diversify away from the US as officials worry that the transatlantic relationship has been irreversibly damaged. Ecuador’s electoral authority declared President Daniel Noboa the winner of yesterday’s runoff ballot, 16 months after he took over as interim leader, giving him more time to tackle the Latin American country’s endemic problems of drug gangs and nationwide blackouts. While presidential candidate Luisa González declined to concede, Noboa’s lead suggests he’ll now have a full term to try and rein in cocaine-linked violence and economic turmoil. Argentina has started dismantling foreign-exchange controls after securing a $20 billion International Monetary Fund program just six years after the country’s record financial bailout collapsed. This is the 23rd time the Washington-based IMF is coming to Argentina’s rescue in the past seven decades, with the big difference that the troubled South American nation’s economy is now under the leadership of libertarian President Javier Milei. Iran and the US said their first formal talks about Tehran’s nuclear program since Trump’s return were “constructive,” and agreed to meet again in Rome in a week. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US special envoy Witkoff met briefly and spoke after the talks, the first top-level discussions since 2022, marking a renewed effort to resolve years of standoff. South Africa’s biggest political party, the African National Congress, is set to back down from a plan to increase value-added tax after parties both within and outside the government of national unity indicated they won’t support it, according to a newspaper report. Gabon’s military leader, Brice Oligui Nguema, cemented his grip on power by winning the country’s first presidential election since he overthrew the government two years ago.  Nguema casts his ballot in Libreville on Saturday. Photographer: Nao Mukadi/AFP/Getty Images Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is stable in intensive care after undergoing intestinal surgery to remove bowel obstructions and rebuild his abdominal wall, according to a statement from the Brasilia hospital where he’s being treated. Cuban migrants have long enjoyed exceptional privileges in the US regardless of who was in power. Now Trump is attacking those benefits and recent arrivals are being told their path to legal immigration is no longer valid. | 
