March 4 2025

US Pauses Military Aid to Ukraine

Trump’s 25% Tariffs Hit Mexico, Canada Today; China Faces 10% More

Obesity to Affect Half of Adults Worldwide by 2050

Conflict Bubbles as RFK Jr. Targets Soda while Trump Sips Diet Coke

Egypt’s Presents Gaza Plan to Counter Trump

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1. US Pauses Military Aid to Ukraine

The U.S. will pause all military aid to Kyiv until President Trump determines that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is making a good-faith effort toward peace negotiations with Russia, according to a White House official. “The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” a White House official said in a statement. The White House didn’t announce under what conditions the U.S. would resume military aid, which drew from U.S. stockpiles, or whether it would be at the same pace. While there isn’t a clear understanding of what Washington wants from Kyiv, the move was the most demonstrative shift yet from Ukraine’s once top ally. A senior administration official said all of Trump’s top national security advisers agreed with the decision to pause the aid after several meetings on the issue. Trump, enraged by Zelensky’s comments that he thought the end of the war was far away, felt the need to show he was serious about getting Ukraine to the peace table. “The Ukrainians didn’t think we were serious,” the administration official said. “We had to make a demonstration.”
Source: WSJ

2. Trump’s 25% Tariffs Hit Mexico, Canada Today; China Faces 10% More

President Trump’s 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada took effect first thing Tuesday. Canada responded with plans to rapidly impose 25% tariffs on nearly $100 billion of U.S. imports. The U.S. also introduced an extra 10% tariff on Chinese imports overnight, adding to a 10% levy imposed a month ago, and other existing duties. China swiftly announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S. food and farm goods, and other measures against American companies. U.S. stocks fell Monday after Trump confirmed that the tariffs would go ahead. Global stock markets largely fell Tuesday, while U.S. stock futures were muted. Economists say American importers and businesses will likely pass along the cost of tariffs to consumers, meaning individuals are likely to see higher prices at grocery stores and car dealerships.

Editors note: markets/I don’t anticipate the Canada/Mexico tariffs to be long-term. I think the China tariffs will be left in place.
Source: WSJ

3. Obesity to Affect Half of Adults Worldwide by 2050

More than half of adults and a third of children and young people worldwide will be overweight or obese by 2050, posing an “unparalleled threat” of early death, disease and enormous strain on healthcare systems, a report warns. Global failures in the response to the growing obesity crisis over the past three decades have led to a staggering increase in the numbers affected, according to the analysis published in the Lancet. There are now 2.11 billion adults aged 25 or above and 493 million children and young people aged five to 24 who are overweight or obese, the study shows. That is up from 731 million and 198 million respectively in 1990. Without urgent policy reform and action, the report says, more than half of those aged 25 or above worldwide (3.8 billion) and about a third of all children and young people (746 million) are forecast to be affected by 2050.
Source: Guardian

4. Conflict Bubbles as RFK Jr. Targets Soda while Trump Sips Diet Coke

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calls it “poison.” President Trump has multiple cans of it every day. Welcome to the 2025 soda wars. At both state and federal levels, the Kennedy-led Make America Healthy Again movement is backing efforts to prevent people from spending food-aid benefits on sugary, carbonated beverages. Now, they are gaining momentum with an administration led by a man who enjoys soda so much that he had a red button installed on his desk for a valet to bring him a Diet Coke.
Source: WSJ

5. Egypt’s Presents Gaza Plan to Counter Trump

A plan for Gaza drawn up by Egypt as a counter to U.S. President Donald Trump's ambition for a Middle East Riviera would sideline Hamas and replace it with interim bodies controlled by Arab, Muslim and Western states, according to a draft seen by Reuters. The Egyptian vision for Gaza, which is due to be presented at an Arab League summit on Tuesday, does not specify whether the proposal would be implemented before or after any permanent peace deal to end the war triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. Trump's plan, which envisioned clearing Gaza of its Palestinian inhabitants, appeared to back away from long-standing U.S. Middle East policy focused on a two-state solution and sparked anger among Palestinians and Arab nations. Who will run Gaza after the conflict remains the great unanswered question in negotiations over the future of the enclave. Hamas has so far rejected the idea of any proposal being imposed on Palestinians by other states. Cairo's plan does not tackle critical issues such as who will foot the bill for Gaza's reconstruction or outline any specific details around how Gaza would be governed, nor how an armed group as powerful as Hamas would be pushed aside.
Source: Reuters

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Sources

1. https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-hitting-brakes-on-flow-of-arms-to-ukraine-980a71d1?mod=hp_lead_pos1
2. https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/trump-tariffs-canada-mexico-china-stock-market-today-03-04-2025
3. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/03/more-than-half-of-adults-worldwide-obese-by-2050-report-says
4. https://www.wsj.com/health/rfk-jr-and-his-allies-target-trumps-beloved-soda-8f65b234?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1
5. https://www.reuters.com/world/egypts-alternative-trumps-gaza-riviera-aims-sideline-hamas-2025-03-03/