U.S. Technologists, Officials Pledge Efforts to Compete With China’s DeepSeek |
U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) firms are examining a new AI model from Chinese start-up DeepSeek after its release triggered a stock selloff. U.S. semiconductor firm Nvidia lost nearly $600 billion in market value yesterday after DeepSeek said it used fewer and less advanced chips to match performance by Western AI chatbots. Nvidia shares began to rebound early today.
Consumers, too, have been downloading and testing DeepSeek’s model, noting its computing ability and refusal to answer political queries about censored topics in China. While the long-term impact of DeepSeek’s progress remains unclear, U.S. President Donald Trump yesterday said “the release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win.”
Trump last week ordered a review of current U.S. government policies on AI, laying out a goal of removing directives “that act as barriers to American AI innovation.” Separately, Trump yesterday pledged tariffs on semiconductors, without providing details. The economy ministry of Taiwan—home to Nvidia’s chip supplier, TSMC—responded that the semiconductor business between the two countries is a “win-win.” (Bloomberg, FT, White House, Reuters)
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“The U.S. export control has essentially backed Chinese companies into a corner where they have to be far more efficient with their limited computing resources,” the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Matt Sheehan tells MIT Technology Review.
“Many advanced democracies will be wary of a Chinese government seen in many ways as inimical to Western interests potentially acquiring leadership in the most transformative technology of our era. Yet some political leaders elsewhere, along with many consumers and developers, may welcome a market that is less dominated by a handful of American companies,” the Financial Times editorial board writes.
“[The U.S. CHIPS and Science Act] matters more than export controls,” former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and incoming CFR Distinguished Fellow Gina Raimondo told the Wall Street Journal. “The only way to beat China is to stay ahead of them…We have to run faster, out innovate them. That’s the way to win.”
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China, India Agree to Resume Direct Flights as Bilateral Thaw Continues |
Direct commercial flights between the countries had been paused since 2020 following the outbreak of COVID-19 and a subsequent border dispute. Both announced yesterday that air service will start back up. India’s foreign ministry also said the countries would streamline issuing of visas for journalists and think tanks and move toward sharing trans-border river data. (CNN, Indian Express)
U.S./China: China will accept its deported nationals from the United States after verification, a foreign ministry spokesperson said. China took back four planes of undocumented migrants from the United States last year, its first such acceptance of flights since 2018, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said. (Bloomberg)
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Trump, Modi Talk Potential February White House Visit |
The February date floated on a call yesterday between the U.S. and Indian leaders would make Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi one of the first foreign leaders to visit Trump’s White House. They discussed the importance of “fair” trade relations and growing military ties, a White House readout of the call said. Trump met several times with Modi during his first term, but has also criticized the Indian government’s tariffs. (Bloomberg, White House)
India: News outlets owned by billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani as well as publications like the Indian Express and Hindustan Times are joining a legal complaint against OpenAI alleging improper use of copyright content. It follows a December 2023 lawsuit against OpenAI by the New York Times that similarly accuses the company of using its articles to train chatbots without permission. Asked to comment about the India suit, OpenAI said it used publicly available data according to fair use principles. (Reuters)
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Middle East and North Africa |
EU Agrees on Gradual Plan to Ease Sanctions on Syria |
European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc’s approach would be “step-by-step,” contingent on policy changes in Syria. While she did not specify the first steps, unnamed European diplomats told Euronews they could include the banking, energy, and transport sectors. (Euronews) The World Next Week hosts Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins talk to guest Deborah Amos about Syria’s new government being “a surprise a day.”
Iraq/Syria/Turkey: Turkish forces killed thirteen Kurdish fighters in Syria and two in Iraq, Turkey’s defense ministry said yesterday. Some of those killed in Syria belong to a militia with which the United States has cooperated in its efforts against the self-declared Islamic State; Ankara has voiced hopes that Washington will reverse that support under Trump. (Reuters)
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DRC Conflict Prompts Kinshasa Protests as Two More Peacekeepers Killed |
Demonstrators in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital of Kinshasa yesterday protested against the Rwandan government’s backing of M23 rebels as Congolese forces tried to push back a rebel advance in the eastern city of Goma. A rebel attack killed three South African peacekeepers yesterday, Pretoria said. (AP)
East Africa: Police alliances Interpol and Afripol arrested thirty-seven suspected terrorists in eight East African countries in November and December, Interpol said. Two were suspected members of the self-declared Islamic State. Upheaval in Syria after the country’s rebel takeover have spurred concerns of a potential ISIS resurgence. (Interpol, Reuters)
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BMW, Tesla Join Suit Against EU for Tariffs on Chinese-Made EVs |
The two major automakers joined Chinese firms in opposing the bloc’s new duties on imported electric vehicles (EVs). Tesla did not immediately comment, while BMW said the EU tariffs don’t strengthen European competitiveness and instead harm “globally active companies.” (Bloomberg) CFR expert Brad W. Setser tackles the question: will China take over the auto industry?
Europe: Hotter temperatures could lead to 2.3 million additional heat-related deaths in European cities by 2099 without “stringent” new preventive measures, an article published yesterday in Nature said. The researchers said their projections debunked assertions that global warming could be a net lifesaver in Europe by reducing cold-related deaths. (FT, Nature)
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Canada, Poland Agree to Cooperate on Nuclear Power |
The countries signed a legal framework to step up their cooperation in the field, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said today. Canadian firms provide much of the technology for Poland’s first nuclear plant. (Reuters)
Venezuela: The government announced it will hold regional and parliamentary elections on April 27. Opposition leader María Corina Machado called for a boycott, potentially splitting the opposition. Machado has led boycotts of past votes, though she supported the candidate in Venezuela’s July 2024 election that the opposition—and the United States along with several other countries—said won. (Bloomberg)
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Trump Administration Puts Dozens of USAID Officials on Leave |
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The officials were suspended with pay for trying to “circumvent the President’s Executive orders,” a new acting USAID administrator said in an email obtained by the Washington Post. After Trump’s order last week to pause most of the United States’ foreign aid, several programs had applied for waivers; yesterday UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for additional exemptions to the freeze. The USAID press office did not comment. (WaPo, UN News)
Last month, then USAID Administrator Samantha Power came to speak at CFR.
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