Welcome to CFR’s Daily News Brief. Today we’re covering European talks to shore up support for Ukraine, as well as...
Israel and Hamas’ disagreement over the next truce phase A U.S. startup’s moon landing Impending U.S. tariffs on Chinese, Canadian, and Mexican goods
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European leaders held a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday to prepare a peace strategy for the Russia-Ukraine war. The planned visit took on new urgency after U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance clashed with Zelenskyy at the White House Friday, threatening to pull U.S. support for Ukraine if a peace deal was not reached. United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted the summit, which included leaders of more than a dozen European countries as well as envoys from Canada and Turkey. Starmer said he had spoken to Trump and believes the diplomatic efforts would yield a “positive outcome.”
The latest from Europe. European countries discussed forming a “coalition of the willing” to help end the war and secure peace in Ukraine, Starmer said. -
European allies agreed to keep military aid flowing to Ukraine, while some like the UK committed to a more direct role in helping guarantee a peace deal, said Starmer.
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France proposed an initial one month truce “in the air, at sea, and on energy infrastructure,” French President Emmanuel Macron told Le Figaro newspaper. UK Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard said that “no agreement has been made on what a truce looks like,” however.
- Once France, the UK, Ukraine and others land on a plan to “stop the fighting,” they would discuss it with the United States in a pitch for U.S. backing, Starmer added.
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In light of Trump’s hesitance to provide security guarantees for Ukraine, European countries also discussed plans to increase their military budgets on Sunday.
Lingering uncertainties. The severity of the on-camera acrimony between Trump, Vance, and Zelenskyy sowed doubts about the future of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. -
Zelenksyy left Washington on Friday without signing a mineral rights deal that would give the United States an economic interest in Ukraine. However, he told the BBC yesterday he was ready to move forward with signing it.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Pentagon to stop offensive cyber operations against Russia, unnamed current and former U.S. officials told the New York Times. Those orders were given before last Friday, and are part of a “larger reevaluation of all operations against Russia,” according to the paper.
- The Kremlin said Sunday that Washington’s foreign policy changes appear to “largely align” with Moscow’s vision.
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“If [Trump] continues with the message that the United States, in seeking peace, has to cut off its aid to Ukraine, this will be one of the biggest shocks of his presidency to date. It will reorient the United States in the war. It will reorient American policy toward its allies. It will restructure America’s relationship with the rest of the world and put us into completely uncharted territory,”
CFR expert Stephen Sestanovich said in
this YouTube short. |
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The Trump administration’s approach to Russia could bring changes regarding the war in Ukraine and beyond. For CFR’s Transition 2025 Series, Emma M. Ashford, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, CFR expert Stephen Sestanovich, and Celeste A. Wallander unpack the implications with Ian Bremmer. |
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Israel’s block on Gaza aid. Israel announced a freeze on all aid flowing into Gaza yesterday, saying Hamas had not accepted a new U.S. proposal to extend phase one of their cease-fire. That proposal would see Hamas release half of its remaining hostages at the start of a seven-week extension. Hamas accused Israel of “blackmail” and of attempting to evade the original cease-fire agreement; negotiations on its second phase have barely started. Mediators Egypt and Qatar said Israel was violating humanitarian law, while a U.S. National Security Council spokesperson said Washington supports Israel’s decision on next steps.
Impending U.S. tariff deadline. Trump’s thinking remains “fluid” about the level of tariffs set to take effect tomorrow on Canadian and Mexican goods, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said yesterday. A 10 percent duty on Chinese goods also scheduled for tomorrow is “set,” he added. Separately, on Saturday Trump ordered a probe of suspected dumping of lumber imports, potentially opening the door to higher duties. Lumber from Canada, the biggest exporter to the United States, is already subject to a 14.5 percent tariff.
Iranian leadership shakeup. Iran’s Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif offered his resignation, state media said today; the move comes after Iran’s legislature impeached and removed Economy and Finance Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati yesterday. Lawmakers blamed Hemmati for inflation and depreciation of the national currency. Zarif, who helped negotiate the 2015 nuclear deal, wrote in a social media post that the judiciary head suggested his resignation to ease pressure on reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian.
PKK cease-fire. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) declared a cease-fire with Turkey following an order from their jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan to disarm. Their clashes with Turkish authorities date back more than forty years. The PKK said it was ready to attend a conference to dissolve their group if Öcalan could “personally direct and lead it.”
Election mission in Guinea-Bissau. A delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) spent a week in Guinea-Bissau discussing a roadmap for elections this year, then said they left after President Umaro Sissoco Embaló threatened to expel them. A spokesperson for Embaló did not immediately comment. Early last November, Embaló postponed elections that were scheduled for the end of that month.
U.S. startup’s moon landing. Firefly Aerospace became the second-ever private company to achieve a soft landing on the moon yesterday. NASA paid the firm to transport equipment that will carry out tests; a top official said the mission affirmed the agency’s approach of working with private companies. U.S. astronauts are planning to travel to the moon in 2027.
Austria’s new government. The New Austria and Liberal Forum (NEOS) party approved a coalition deal that allowed the government to take office today—five months after elections that saw a far-right party receive the most votes. The coalition blocks the far right from the government. It agreed to implement new restrictions on seeking asylum.
Wildfire in Japan. Firefighters are working to contain the country’s largest wildfire in more than thirty years in the coastal city of Ofunato. At least one person was reported dead, and the government ordered several thousand people to evacuate. Last month was the driest February in Ofunato in more than two decades.
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The United States should commit to revitalizing its leadership in outer space amid a changing commercial, technological, and national security landscape, a CFR Task Force report argues. Space is both an essential security domain and a strategic vulnerability, its authors write. |
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Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons begin a weeklong meeting in New York.
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The European Union and Central Asian countries hold a ministerial meeting in Turkmenistan in preparation for their first joint summit.
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Mobile telecoms conference MWC kicks off in Barcelona with U.S. Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr among the speakers.
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The United States’ relationship with China is at a new low, but Trump has a chance to redefine bilateral relations by locking China into the U.S.-led global system, CFR expert Zongyuan Zoe Liu writes for RealEcon. |
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