Search
AI-powered search, human-powered content.
scroll to top arrow or icon

Graphic Truth

The G7 countries – the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Japan – will convene this weekend in Kananaskis, a rural town in the mountains of Alberta, Canada. High on the meeting’s agenda are tariffs, artificial intelligence, and international security, with special focus on Russian sanctions and Israel’s recent attacks on Iran.

While the G7 was originally formed as an informal grouping of the world’s wealthiest democracies, the BRICS – composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa – have sought to challenge their dominance of the global agenda.

Here’s a look at how the share of the global economy held by G7 and BRICS nations has evolved over time.

The Trump administration wants to slash the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US’ main medical research institution, by 40% for the next fiscal year.

The move would bring funding levels back to those of the early 1990s, before a huge post-Cold War push to increase non-military R&D nearly doubled the NIH budget.

The current, Trump-appointed NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya reaffirmed his agency’s commitment to addressing “the health needs of all Americans” before the senate on Tuesday. At the same time, more than 300 current and recently terminated NIH employees have accused the director of suspending federal grant funding for ideological reasons.

Here’s a look at how Trump’s proposed cuts stack up against NIH funding over the past 30 years.

The World Bank projects global economic growth will slow to 2.3% in 2025, down from the 2.7% clip forecast in January, as a result of trade wars launched largely by the US. While the global economy will avoid recession, the report also warns that economic growth is on track for its weakest decade since the 1960s. Here’s a look at three key figures from the report.

In the first quarter of 2025, Saudi Arabia reported a budget deficit of $15.7 billion—the highest figure since 2021. A big part of the reason is that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is investing substantial financial resources in Vision 2030, a sweeping, decade-old development initiative designed to diversify the nation’s economy away from hydrocarbons.

However, with slumping oil prices and even higher spending, Saudi Arabia may have to scale back some of its more ambitious investment plans. In April, reports surfaced that the kingdom was drastically cutting its plans for Neom—a $1.5 trillion infrastructure project aimed at constructing a utopian megacity in the desert.

Here’s a look at how global oil prices have stacked up against Saudi Arabia’s fiscal breakeven price—the level needed to balance the state budget—since 2008.

Elon Musk's political donations 2020-2024

Luisa Vieira

During his public spat with Trump on social media, Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed credit for the Republicans’ electoral victories last year, writing, “without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.”

While Musk has indicated that he will pare down his political spending, he certainly possesses the financial power to tip the scales in campaign financing – he was the GOP’s largest donor last year. Here’s a look at where Musk, who publicly converted from Democrat to Republican ahead of the 2024 election, has put his money in the last two electoral cycles.

Paige Fusco

Just as President Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail, the House-passed tax-policy bill will end taxes on tips. However, only a small proportion of Americans will actually benefit from this policy, as this Graphic Truth shows. Even among Americans in the bottom quartile of household income, just 5% have a tipped occupation. The “no tax on tips” policy has faced criticism for an entirely separate reason: Hedge fund managers could exploit the bill to limit their own tax liability, the left-leaning Center for American Progress warned. The policy was a winner on the campaign trail, but that might change if it becomes law.

Riley Callanan

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned that the House-passed Republican tax and spending bill (the “Big, Beautiful Bill”) would add $2.4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, raising concerns it will further exacerbate the US’s debt issue. Senate Republicans do plan to revise the bill: some push for deeper tax cuts – which would increase the cost of the bill – while others seek to scale back Medicaid and clean-energy benefits, which offset some of the costs.

Subscribe to our free newsletter, GZERO Daily

GZEROMEDIA

Subscribe to GZERO's daily newsletter

Most Popular Videos