Geopolitics
War, diplomacy and great-power competition
Top stories
Donald Trump is junking the transatlantic alliance
Europe has been left scrambling after an attack on the partnership that kept the peace for nearly 80 years
How Europe must respond as Trump and Putin smash the post-war order
The region has had its bleakest week since the fall of the Iron Curtain. The implications have yet to sink in
How Vladimir Putin plans to play Donald Trump
The Russian president thinks he is the better poker player
Only Asia can help America counter China’s shipbuilding prowess
But will Donald Trump let it?
The US-Russia dogfight to sell India fighter jets
The Economist witnessed the first face-off between the world’s top stealth fighters
Egypt and Jordan are struggling to make themselves useful to Donald Trump
They no longer offer the promise of stability in a region that has been upended
War in Ukraine
Team Trump wants to get rid of Volodymyr Zelensky
America’s president calls Ukraine’s president “a dictator”
America has just tried to grab Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth
Team Trump’s shakedown diplomacy
Ukraine’s fears are becoming reality, after Trump talks to Putin
A phone call sparks fear and dread in Kyiv and other European capitals
Ukraine fears being cut out of talks between America and Russia
Hours before Trump’s call with Putin, we spoke to an apprehensive Volodymyr Zelensky
War in the Middle East
America’s scheme for Gaza contains much to regret
As well as some hard truths
Instead of luxury condos, Gaza faces a resumption of war
Donald Trump’s chances of a grand bargain in the Middle East are shrinking
Hamas talks a big game but is in chaos
Look beyond the latest bravado and brutality and it is bitterly split
Iran’s alarming nuclear dash will soon test Donald Trump
There is no plausible civilian use for the enhanced uranium Iran is producing
The Telegram
Australia prepares for a lonelier, harsher world
The country has long relied on America for security and China for its prosperity. Those two pillars are wobbling
Allies will not appease Donald Trump for ever
If Trump convinces partners that the post-1945 order really is dead, things will get ugly
A big, beautiful Trump deal with China?
Washington hawks puzzle over calls for China to help in Ukraine, and hints of a possible TikTok reprieve
Trump unmasks American selfishness, say cynics
But sceptics are wrong to call America First business as usual
Latest coverage
By Invitation
Now is the time for Europe to show strength, not division, argues Sanna Marin
Finland’s former leader makes the case for stumping up tens of billions more for Ukraine
International
Australia prepares for a lonelier, harsher world
The country has long relied on America for security and China for its prosperity. Those two pillars are wobbling
International
Will it be Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow?
How Donald Trump’s about-turn in Europe will affect Asia
China
Panama symbolises the Sino-American struggle for influence
The superpowers use soft and hard power
Asia
New Zealand and the Cook Islands fall out over China
That is New Zealand’s second diplomatic dispute in the Pacific this year
Leaders
Countering China’s diplomatic coup
China has turned much of the global south against Taiwan. That could be laying the ground for forced unification
Europe
Can Europe afford to be the world’s last free-trader?
The EU tries to navigate a global trade spat
Finance & economics
Tariff uncertainty can be as ruinous as tariffs themselves
Whatever its geopolitical merits, the “madman theory” transfers badly to economics
International
Allies will not appease Donald Trump for ever
If Trump convinces partners that the post-1945 order really is dead, things will get ugly
Graphic detail
Donald Trump’s tariff threats defy geopolitical logic
These charts show the diplomatic alignments of America’s biggest trading partners
China
Donald Trump’s new trade war with China is also an opioid war
The president claims that drugs are poisoning geopolitics
The Americas
Donald Trump turns an angry gaze south
Relations with Central America are likely to worsen