Balance of Power

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It didn’t take long for the tech bros assembled awkwardly on the podium for Donald Trump’s inauguration to make their presence felt.

On his first full day at the White House yesterday, Trump unveiled a $100 billion joint venture to fund artificial-intelligence infrastructure including data centers. The plan, led by OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle, aims to raise that amount to at least $500 billion.

Not content with a sum equivalent to more than the entire economic output of Norway, the US president said he’d use emergency declarations and executive action to ease construction projects, including through easier access to energy.

That’s almost certain to mean relaxing requirements for clean energy to supply the massive demand for power: OpenAI has called for 5-gigawatt data centers, large enough to power entire cities.

Trump with Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI’s Sam Altman in the White House yesterday. Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/Sipa/Bloomberg

It’s a big-ticket announcement that bears Trump’s hallmark: putting America first, no matter the cost to the planet.

In rescinding Biden administration safety and transparency requirements for AI developers, Trump also removes the guardrails on a technology whose potential is as threatening as it is revolutionary.

The tech industry welcomed the AI drive.

For all Washington’s focus, it’s yet to be determined whether the US can maintain its lead over China in developing more sophisticated AI systems.

Chinese startup DeepSeek has unveiled an AI model that it says is competitive with OpenAI’s technology. TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance is reported to be investing billions in AI infrastructure, while Huawei is touting its own AI chips.

Europe, meanwhile, isn’t part of the discussion, languishing on the sidelines without a similar AI champion, its efforts to steer regulation looking more antiquated by the day.

With or without Europe’s input, the global race to harness the technology is very much under way.

The question is whether, freed of regulation, AI might end up controlling us. — Alan Crawford

The EVE humanoid robot from 1X Technologies, left, and the GR-1 humanoid from Fourier during the Humanoids Summit in Mountain View, California, in December. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Global Must Reads

Trump widened his tariff threats to include China and the European Union yesterday after he targeted Canada and Mexico. The threats echo comments made throughout his campaign, but the only action taken so far is the call for a review of trade practices that’s due by April 1.

Migrant communities in cities from New York to Los Angeles are on edge after Trump vowed to start mass deportations and issued orders including handing immigration agents power to enter churches and schools, sites that previously were protected. He has pledged to enact the largest deportation operation in US history, targeting an estimated 11 million people who are in the country illegally.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is meeting French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris today as the embattled leaders try to chart a new course for Europe with Trump vowing to upend transatlantic relations. Despite their policy differences and weakened positions, Scholz and Macron will aim to project strength and call for a quick response if the US follows through on threats to impose tariffs on European exports, sources say.

Macron and Scholz in Meseberg, Germany, on May 28. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called for cool heads after Trump’s pledge to impose hefty tariffs sent the peso tumbling as the country emerged as an early target of his administration. Separately, her government will offer greater incentives for companies seeking to relocate their manufacturing operations to Mexico to be closer to the US market.

A fugitive banker accused of orchestrating a $1 billion fraud in Moldova appears to be helping Russian lenders and businesses to continue conducting foreign trade amid payment problems caused by sanctions. Ilan Shor’s activities in Russia are a stark example of the lengths businesses are prepared to go to amid increasing delays in cross-border payments due to Western restrictions.

India is considering a $450 million deal to sell Russian-backed supersonic cruise missiles to Indonesia as the Southeast Asian country looks to bolster defenses, sources say.

North Korea’s state media reported on Trump’s inauguration in its first direct acknowledgement of his return to the presidency, and adopted a neutral tone without referencing his characterization of Pyongyang as a “nuclear power.”

The EU is facing another potential showdown with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over his refusal to sign off on an extension of sanctions on Russia over its war against Ukraine.

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Chart of the Day

The EU is likely to scale back its highly contested ESG reporting requirements, as France prepares to unveil a formal proposal seeking to limit the scope of the regulatory framework. That’s after Germany’s government last month urged the bloc’s executive arm to cut back the directive. Europe’s largest economy shrank for a second consecutive year in 2024, with many business leaders and lawmakers blaming regulations for a loss of competitiveness.

And Finally

Billionaire Victor Pinchuk likes to stay out of the limelight, but he’s given away a fortune advocating for Ukraine and knows Trump from way back. That makes him the right conduit for Kyiv’s interests as the global elite gather in the Swiss Alps at Davos, as this report shows. His Ukraine House has become a fixture at the World Economic Forum, and with potential talks between Kyiv and the Kremlin a hot topic, Pinchuk’s role as the corporate bridge to the West has become even more critical.

Pinchuk in Davos in 2023. Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg

Global Must Reads

Chart of the Day

And Finally

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