Good morning. In late January, Rwandan President Paul Kagame placed a call to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham asking him to help stop the White House from imposing sanctions on his country for breaking a peace deal brokered by President Trump.

• Senator intervenes: Graham obliged—arguing that Rwanda was a reliable U.S. partner and sanctions could alienate it. The White House shelved the sanctions, according to several officials familiar with the matter.
   
• Conflicted approach: The events, which haven’t been reported before, point to divisions within the U.S. government over how to handle Rwanda, whose actions via armed proxies have reignited the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
   
• Trump’s dealmaker role: The renewal in recent months of one of the world’s longest-running armed conflicts and biggest humanitarian disasters is calling into question one of Trump’s diplomatic accomplishments as he presents himself as a global dealmaker who has ended several wars.
   
• What happened? After the renewed escalation, officials at the U.S. State and Treasury Departments readied a sanctions package against senior Rwandan and M23 officials, in a bid to salvage the peace agreement. Kagame, a longtime U.S. partner in east-central Africa despite concerns about his human-rights record, caught wind of the sanctions package and called Graham, who he believed had the ear of Trump, according to officials and Congressional aides. 
   
• An overriding of concerns: Senior administration figures halted the rollout of the sanctions package, overriding the objections of some Treasury and State Department officials. The sanctions are now paused indefinitely, according to officials and congressional aides.

Walmart agrees to $100 million FTC settlement over driver pay.

Walmart has agreed to pay $100 million to settle Federal Trade Commission claims that the retailer misled delivery drivers about the pay and tips they could earn.

The FTC alleged Walmart caused drivers with its delivery service, Spark, to lose tens of millions of dollars worth of earnings by showing them inflated figures for what they could expect to earn from pre-tips selected by customers at checkout, base pay and special incentive earnings opportunities.

U.S. Treasury proposes severing a Swiss bank from the U.S. financial system.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday said it’s proposing to sever a Swiss bank from the U.S. financial system over alleged illicit ties to Russia and Iran.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said MBaer Merchant Bank, based in Zurich, has funneled over $100 million through the U.S. financial system on behalf of illicit actors tied to Iran and Russia. If the Treasury proposal is finalized, U.S. financial institutions will be barred from opening or maintaining a correspondent account for MBaer.

• The Labor Department proposed a rule to make it easier for employers to classify their workers as independent contractors, the latest salvo in a long-running tug of war between Democrats and Republicans over the status of gig workers.
   
• The U.S. placed sanctions on officials in charge of Nicaragua’s telecommunications and military and financial intelligence agencies for allegedly enabling political repression by the country’s government, Risk Journal reports. 
   
• Instagram said it would alert parents if their teens repeatedly search for terms related to self-harm or suicide, stepping up efforts to protect minors as several governments weigh social-media bans for younger users.
   
• The Securities and Exchange Commission has ended its investigation into LPL Financial’s cash sweep program, the company disclosed in its annual 10-K report filed Tuesday.
   
• Vanguard Group agreed to pay several U.S. states $29.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it conspired with other index-fund managers to pressure coal companies to reduce their output.
   
• An unidentified, naturalized U.S. citizen agreed to pay $3.8 million to settle 20 violations of Syria sanctions for managing Syrian real-estate companies between 2018 and 2021, reports Risk Journal, in an enforcement action the Treasury Department said demonstrates violations remain punishable even after sanctions are lifted.
   
• OpenAI made a series of pledges Thursday to Canadian officials to bolster safety protocols following the fatal shooting in British Columbia in which the suspect interacted with OpenAI’s chatbot.
   
• The U.K. gave the Druzhba oil pipeline an exemption from sanctions despite designating its operator PJSC Transneft as it announced its largest Russia sanctions package since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
   
• Børge Brende, president and chief executive of the World Economic Forum, said he would step down from his role after the organization conducted a review into his past connections with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Big Oil is urging Trump to stop battle on offshore wind.

Big Oil has an unusual ask for President Trump: Please stop your battle against offshore wind.

Oil lobbyists have made the case to Trump officials in recent weeks that his attacks on wind farms off the U.S. coast risk derailing congressional efforts to speed up permits for energy projects, according to people familiar with the matter. The oil-and-gas industry fears missing out on a huge opportunity to ship more of its products to markets via new pipelines.

• U.S. Power-Plant Pollution Rose Sharply in 2025

Spurned by Trump, Canada’s Carney is seeking new friends everywhere.

For years, Canada and India have had bitter relations, expelling diplomats and stalling trade talks. Now, Prime Minister Mark Carney wants New Delhi as his newest friend as he travels the world building alliances with so-called middle powers.

Carney’s goal: Underlying the trip is Carney’s call for closer partnerships among countries that have struggled to stand up on their own to China and the U.S. under President Trump. In a speech that drew a standing ovation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, Carney said middle powers such as Canada had to work together to counter the rise of hard power.

• Canada Steadfast in Avoiding Travel to U.S., Buying More Domestic Goods

• Block, the payments company founded by Jack Dorsey that includes Square and Cash App, said Thursday that it plans to lay off 40% of its workforce, or more than 4,000 employees. Dorsey alluded to artificial-intelligence tools as the reason for the cuts in a letter to shareholders.
   
• President Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs netted at least $130 billion in the 10 months they were in effect. For businesses, getting a refund could take far longer.
   
• The latest round of talks over Iran’s nuclear program wrapped up Thursday without a deal and both sides still far apart on key issues, as the U.S. raised the pressure by presenting tough demands and sending more jets and warships to the region.
   
• An alternative policy mix in the U.S. could achieve the Trump administration’s goals while avoiding negative repercussions, the International Monetary Fund says.
   
• Confidence among firms in the eurozone fell unexpectedly in February amid fresh uncertainties surrounding Europe’s political and economic relationship with the U.S.
   
• Kim Jong Un, offering closing remarks at a twice-a-decade party conclave, left the door open for talks with the U.S. while presenting an ultimatum: accept North Korea as a nuclear state or descend into permanent confrontation.
   
• U.S. farmers are receiving more help from the Trump administration this year, but for many, it is simply not enough.

Join us in New York on March 4 for the Dow Jones Risk Journal Summit. Speakers include Kaitlin Asrow, acting superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services; Erika Brown Lee, head of global data privacy legal, Citi; Beth Collins, chief compliance officer, Walmart; Indrani Franchini, chief compliance officer, IBM; and Kevin O’Connor, general counsel, Lockheed Martin.

Request a complimentary invitation here using the code COMPLIMENTARY. Attendance is limited, and all requests are subject to approval.