Latest news for 15 July 2025

UNITED STATES

Chip U turn?

Nvidia is set to resume selling its slower H20 chips to China after reportedly getting DC’s green light. The US-based chip designer specifically developed (and throttled) the H20 to comply with US chip controls on China, maintaining a foothold in China’s lucrative market until the US yoinked its approval earlier this year. (Nvidia)

Comment: Here’s one way you could look at Nvidia becoming the first firm to cross the $4T valuation mark: the market is betting Jensen Huang’s relentless shuttle diplomacy between DC and Beijing will be enough to keep both capitals happy. And this H20 announcement proves them right, so far.

SYRIA

Can’t we just get along?

Sectarian violence seems to be rocking southern Syria, with claims of government forces siding with Bedouin groups against the local Druze minority, leaving at least 30 dead. Syria says it opposes bandits, not the Druze community, while Israel (with its own Druze minority) just hit several Syrian tanks as a “warning”. (Guardian)

Comment: Nation-building after a drawn-out civil war and decades of dictatorship was never going to be easy, but this is another mark against Free Syria’s pledge to protect minorities. And we’ve already explored how that can quickly go regional.

CHINA

Nice figure.

China’s June export figures rose 5.8% (yoy) last month, continuing a string of surprisingly robust results amid the Liberation Day tariff reprieve. Official figures also suggest the economy grew 5.2% (yoy) in Q2, beating expectations. (CNN)

Comment: We explored yesterday some of the challenges now facing China’s economy, and we wonder whether this resilient export performance might sap Beijing’s urgency to push the kinds of reforms it really needs.

FRANCE

Makin’ it rain.

President Macron has announced France will bring forward his 2017 goal to double defence spending by 2030, pledging to hit it with $75B by 2027 instead. He said it’s the cost to be free in this “age of predators”. (Politico)

INDIA

Check your fuel switches.

The Indian aviation regulator has given local airlines a week to inspect their fuel control switches, after a preliminary report into last month’s fatal Air India crash found the devices might’ve been involved. US regulators have already issued a note advising that the Boeing switches are safe. (BBC)

CUBA

Your turn.

DC has now sanctioned Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel and other senior officials over human rights violations. Marco Rubio announced the measures on the anniversary of widespread anti-government protests in 2021. (AP)

LIBYA

Migrants freed from traffickers.

The local attorney-general says security forces have freed 100 undocumented migrants from a criminal gang holding them for ransom, arresting five suspected traffickers from Libya, Sudan, and Egypt in the process. (The Straits Times)

Comment: Libya’s state apparatus has crumbled, creating the vacuum that’s allowed this trade to flourish. So any kind of enforcement action like this is remarkable.