Another week of 2025 is coming to an end (already!), and with it comes the Diplomat’s weekly news recap. In today’s Sunday Summary, we’ll talk US trade tariffs, the Rubiales trial, and hostage exchanges.
Trump’s Battle to Make Tariffs Great Again
In line with the fierce protectionist stance of his first mandate, Trump is once again embracing his “America first” trade policies by threatening world leaders with increased tariffs on US imports.
According to the White House, the purpose of higher tariffs is to change trade deficits — when one country imports more than it exports — by boosting the local economy: indeed, as prices for foreign goods go up, domestic alternatives become more affordable in comparison. However, what this is really doing, according to Justin Wolfers, an economist at the University of Michigan, is making prices go up for consumers, as companies’ production costs increase. Wait — but has Trump not been elected on the promise that he would “make prices go down”?
Trump’s economic strategy to reduce inflation has been met with strong criticism from numerous economists: his plan for promised deflation, with a widespread and continuous drop in prices, sounds strangely familiar to recession, says Wolfers, which would lead to businesses cutting their prices — a self-sustaining cycle notoriously difficult to break.
But beyond domestic consequences, higher tariffs will have worldwide repercussions, among which the threat of a trade war as world economies retaliate against Trump’s policies. While some have chosen to fight back — such as Canada’s candidate for Prime Minister Mark Carney, who claimed Canada would “stand up to a bully” — others have decided to go the diplomatic route. This was the case of India’s Prime Minister Modi, who came to pay the president a visit on Wednesday. During the meeting, Trump put forward his intention to implement “reciprocal” tariffs on India. The two leaders ended up agreeing to work on a “mutually beneficial trade agreement”, notably by increasing US exports in oil, gas, and military sales to India. They also announced cooperation between the two countries to fight terrorism and develop AI. “ Other people will try to catch us. I don’t know if they’re going to be able to,” concluded the US president.
Former Spanish Football Federation President Sued for Sexual Assault
Remember Spain’s win at the women’s World Cup in Australia, back in 2023? Former Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales was under scrutiny after kissing female player Jenni Hermoso following her team’s victory, an incident which made headlines as questions were raised over the football player’s consent. The video footage shows Rubiales hugging Hermoso and then giving her a kiss, which she recently denied giving him permission for. Rubiales then resigned a month after the incident, following his FIFA suspension and his denunciation of what he called “false feminism.” He was then sued for sexual assault in a trial that ended on Friday. Also sat on the bench of the accused were former coach of the women’s national team Jorge Vilda, and two former Spanish football federation officials, accused of attempting to coerce Hermoso into downplaying the controversial kiss. The verdict and sentencing (or absence thereof) are expected in the following weeks, but Rubiales could be facing a prison sentence of two and a half years.
While he acknowledged having made “a mistake” during the trial, Rubiales depicted the kiss as “an act of affection” for which he was “totally sure” the player gave consent . Hermoso however explained feeling “disrespected” by the non-consensual kiss.
A Successful Exchange of Prisoners Gives Hope for Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Deal
Since the fragile ceasefire deal that began on January 19th, Hamas has released 22 hostages and continued this week with the process of liberating of 3 more captives, in exchange for the 369 Palestinian prisoners freed yesterday. This was the largest release since the beginning of the ceasefire. However, with the release of the prisoners came the stories of their struggles: Palestinian prisoner Amir Abu Radah described “extremely difficult” life conditions in a prison where he spent 18 months after Israeli authorities cut water and electricity, which raised concerns over the treatment of the estimated 2,000 remaining Palestinian prisoners to be freed — some of whom are being held without charge.
Still, Israelis and Palestinians alike described “hope” in the face of the “highly coordinated” exchange — although it did not come without its share of trouble. Earlier this week, Hamas declared Israel was blocking the delivery of medical supplies in Gaza and threatened to delay the next release of captives, a statement which Netanyahu’s office framed as “a fabricated crisis with false claims”.
The second phase of the ceasefire is scheduled to start on March 1st, following the release of more captives — though the details are still to be negotiated.
See you next week for our next Sunday Summary!
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