Latest news for 3 July 2025

UNITED STATES

More power!!!

OpenAI has signed a $30B p/year agreement with Oracle to rent ~4.5 gigawatts of data centre power in the US to power its future growth. (DCD)

Comment: Need some context? The average nuclear reactor is one gigawatt.

UKRAINE

Halt. Give way.

The US has announced it’s halting an arms shipment to Ukraine, citing concerns about its own stockpiles. The halt reportedly includes Patriot interceptors. (NBC)

Comment: The timing couldn’t be worse, as Putin leans on hitting Ukrainian cities from afar as his ground campaign grinds to a crawl. It’s also just days after President Trump flagged he’d investigate the possibility of resuming Patriot sales to Ukraine.

VIETNAM

Deal’s a deal.

After weeks of talks, President Trump has announced a trade deal with Vietnam including a 20% tariff on Vietnamese imports (down from the Liberation Day 46%) and a 40% rate on transhipment (i.e. goods originating from China). (CNBC)

Comment: The White House is trying to walk the line between keeping swing players like Vietnam onside (or at least not offside), while stopping a rival like China from rerouting exports via those same swing players to evade US tariffs.

IRAN

Suspended sentence.

The Iranian president has signed into law a suspension of cooperation with the UN’s nuclear watchdog, following last month’s Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. (Al Jazeera)

Comment: You could argue this just formalises what was already happening — those US and Israeli strikes came after the UN watchdog dropped a report querying Iran’s 60% enriched uranium (20-30x any civilian need), plus its pattern of undeclared activities, which all ramped up after the US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018. Still, Iran might see this procedural step backwards as a source of leverage in any future talks. A commitment to cooperate is one thing. Actual cooperation is another.

SWITZERLAND

Tax the rich.

Swiss citizens will head to the polls in November to decide whether they’ll impose a 50% tax on inheritance and gifts above $56M, in a country long known for its welcoming vibes towards the ultra-rich. Both the government and legislature oppose the idea, but it’s got enough signatures for a plebiscite. (SWI)

EL SALVADOR

Fashion is political.

President Bukele has criticised a Paris Fashion Week show featuring shaved-head models resembling prisoners, which Bukele took as a dig at his supermax facility for gang members and US deportees. Bukele threatened to “ship them all to Paris”, while the Mexican-American designer (who initially welcomed the publicity) said the message was about dehumanisation of people around the world. (NDTV)