February 4 2025

1. Trade War: China Retaliates with New US Tariffs, Google Probe
2. Rubio Plans Major USAID Restructuring, Possible Abolition
3. Trump Orders 10-to-1 Deregulation Initiative
4. Trump orders creation of US sovereign wealth fund, says it could buy TikTok
5. Russia, China Escalate Arctic Military Presence
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1. Trade War: China Retaliates with New US Tariffs, Google Probe

China has announced tariffs on a swath of US imports and opened an antitrust probe into Google in retaliation against Donald Trump’s new tariffs. Beijing unveiled additional tariffs of between 10 and 15 per cent on US liquefied natural gas, coal, crude oil and farm equipment, which it said would take effect on February 10. China will also impose tariffs on some car imports from the US and additional export controls on rare metals. The measures were announced as Trump’s new levies on China, an additional 10 per cent tariff that the US president has described as an “opening salvo”, came into effect after midnight on Tuesday in Washington. Beijing’s move was “not an escalatory response”, said Chris Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal. “They’re clearly aiming for negotiations and a deal.”

Article Source: FT

2. Rubio Plans Major USAID Restructuring, Possible Abolition

Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled plans Monday to restructure and potentially abolish the U.S. Agency for International Development, moving swiftly against a department that has emerged as a chief target in President Donald Trump’s drive to reshape the federal government and refocus spending at home.  In a letter to senior lawmakers from both parties, Rubio cited USAID activities he described as “conflicting, overlapping, and duplicative” with the State Department and noted what he said were “systems and processes [that] … often result in discord in the foreign policy and foreign relations of the United States.”  “In consultation with Congress, USAID may move, reorganize, and integrate certain missions, bureaus, and offices into the Department of State, and the remainder of the Agency may be abolished consistent with applicable law,” Rubio said. At the same time, the chief diplomat assumed more direct control of USAID, taking on the role of acting administrator and naming a Trump loyalist, Peter W. Marocco, to oversee an agency review and potential cuts. But Rubio stopped short of confirming that USAID — as has been widely rumored among aid officials in recent days — will be collapsed into the State Department.

Article Source: WaPo

3. Trump Orders 10-to-1 Deregulation Initiative

Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to unleash prosperity through deregulation. The Order requires that whenever an agency promulgates a new rule, regulation, or guidance, it must identify at least 10 existing rules, regulations, or guidance documents to be repealed.  It requires that for fiscal year 2025, the total incremental cost of all new regulations, including repealed regulations, be significantly less than zero.

Article Source: White House

4. Trump orders creation of US sovereign wealth fund, says it could buy TikTok

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday ordering the creation of a sovereign wealth fund within the next year, saying it could potentially buy the short video app TikTok. If created, the sovereign wealth fund could place the U.S. alongside numerous other countries, particularly in the Middle East and Asia, that have launched similar funds as a way to make direct investments with government dollars.

Article Source: Reuters

5. Russia, China Escalate Arctic Military Presence

Things in the Arctic have never been hotter. In the past year, Russian nuclear submarines have practiced firing cruise missiles near NATO members Norway, Finland and Sweden. That drill followed Arctic wargames by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that included amphibious assaults in the frigid seas.  The U.S. and Russia are only 53 miles apart across the Bering Strait, near the Arctic Circle. Geopolitically, they are more distant than in decades.  The Arctic has warmed nearly four times as fast as the rest of the planet in recent decades, according to researchers, who call the phenomenon Arctic amplification.  Sea-ice cover in the Arctic has shrunk from an annual minimum of 2.7 million square miles in 1979 to 1.7 million square miles in 2024, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. That represents the loss of an area the size of Argentina in less than 50 years.  As the sea-ice has retreated, the number of high-latitude voyages taken by ships through the region has advanced.  During the Cold War, both sides deployed some of their most powerful weapons and surveillance systems in the region.  After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the U.S. shrank its bases in Alaska, and Russia’s Arctic forces decayed. The two countries cooperated on issues including the environment, fisheries and maritime safety. Now, rising animosity is prompting Russia and NATO to renew military deployments in the region because it offers each side prime territory from which to strike, said Rob Huebert, the interim director of the University of Calgary’s Center for Military, Security and Strategic Studies.  China, whose northernmost point is more than 900 miles from the Arctic Circle, sent three polar icebreakers to the region last year. China has long sought a greater role in the Arctic, where the country’s leadership believes melting ice will open up economic opportunities but also increase security risks. In 2018, China declared itself a “near Arctic” nation and an “important stakeholder in Arctic affairs.” Security is now joining commerce at the forefront of Russia-China Arctic cooperation. The Chinese Coast Guard and the Russian Border Guard in October staged their first joint patrol in the Arctic. The U.S. Coast Guard, which monitored the two Chinese and two Russian ships by air, said it was the farthest north that ships from the Chinese Coast Guard had ever been spotted. In July, two Russian and two Chinese bombers flew together near Alaska, where they were intercepted by U.S. and Canadian jet fighters. The bombers came about 200 miles from the Alaskan coast and didn’t enter U.S. or Canadian airspace. U.S. officials said it was the first time the two countries had carried out such a joint patrol near Alaska. In 2023, ships from the Russian and Chinese navies jointly patrolled near Alaska, which was considered the largest such flotilla to approach American shores, although they never entered U.S. territorial waters. China and Russia now have “comprehensive” Arctic cooperation, said Liu Nengye, an associate professor at Singapore Management University, who researches polar law. “It’s resources, it’s shipping, it’s scientific research, it’s military drills,” he said.  

Article Source: WSJ

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Sources

2. https://on.ft.com/4gpOaJN

3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/02/03/usaid-rubio-trump-musk/

4. https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-launches-massive-10-to-1-deregulation-initiative/#:~:text=The%20Order%20requires%20that%20whenever,and%20estimation%20of%20regulatory%20costs.

5. https://www.reuters.com/markets/wealth/trump-signs-executive-order-create-sovereign-wealth-fund-2025-02-03/

6. https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/russia-china-artic-sea-nato-2ca1ea10?st=ERpChD&reflink=article_copyURL_share