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April 29, 1975: Vietnamese refugees line up on the deck of USS Hancock for processing following evacuation from Saigon.

Don Shearer, US Defense Department via National Archives

Saigon’s Last Day: The fall, the flight, and the aftermath of the Vietnam War

April 30 marks 50 years since North Vietnamese troops overran the capital of US-aligned South Vietnam, ending what is known locally as the Resistance War against America. Despite strong US-Vietnam reconciliation in recent decades, US President Donald Trump has forbidden American diplomats to observe the anniversary of this transformative moment — but those who survived the chaos that followed will never forget the trauma echoing down through the generations.

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Saigon, April 29, 1975. For six weeks, South Vietnamese forces have been falling back in the face of a determined communist offensive. American troops have been gone for two years. The feeble government is in disarray. The people are traumatized by three decades of war and three million deaths.

Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” begins playing on radios across the capital.

Some Saigonese know it’s a sign: It is time to run.

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US President Donald Trump returns to the White House from his New Jersey golf club to Washington, DC, on April 27, 2024.

Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

Viewpoint: How strong is Trump’s support 100 days in?

President Donald Trump has claimed a broad mandate to pursue sweeping changes to US institutions and policies since he took office on Jan. 20. He has sought to overhaul the federal government by closing agencies and cutting thousands of jobs, restructure the economy by throwing up a tariff wall to force companies to base more of their operations in the US, reconfigure decades-old foreign alliances, and assert expansive powers in an illegal immigration crackdown.

With a cohesive team in the White House, Republican control of Congress, and a disoriented Democratic opposition, Trump has pushed ahead rapidly on many fronts. But opinion polls in recent weeks have shown a sharp decline in public support for the president, and the courts, financial markets, and other institutions have started curbing his actions. Eurasia Group’s Clayton Allen and Noah Daponte-Smith explain their shared insights on where things are likely to go from here.

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Annie Gugliotta

Graphic Truth: Is Trump’s use of executive orders unprecedented?

All presidents rely on executive orders, but in his second first 100 days in office, Donald Trump has taken it to a whole new level. He has issued 137 executive orders so far — more than triple the 41 Joe Biden signed during the same period, and far surpassing the pace of Trump’s own first term in 2017.

Executive orders are an efficient tool to deliver on “first 100 days” campaign promises (check out this article on where five of Trump’s biggest campaign promises stand). While they offer an immediate way to shape policy, they’re also notoriously fragile — easily reversed by future administrations, as seen on Trump’s first day in office, when he issued 26 executive orders and overturned 78 of Biden’s.

Critics warn that Trump’s flood of orders isn’t just about speed; it’s also raising serious concerns about presidential overreach. Many fear he is using executive actions to bypass Congress altogether and, in some cases, is ignoring Supreme Court rulings instructing him to stop.

A Ukrainian rescue worker sits atop the rubble of a destroyed residential building during rescue operations, following a Russian missile strike on a residential apartment building block in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 24, 2025.

Photo by Justin Yau/ Sipa USA

Kyiv under fire, Trump blasts Putin on Truth Social

At least 12 people were killed and 90 others injured in a large-scale Russian assault on Kyiv early Thursday, prompting Donald Trump to post on Truth Social: “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!”

This strike was among the most lethal of the conflict and marked the worst attack on the Ukrainian capital since July, when Russian missiles hit a children’s hospital. Reports suggest that Thursday’s assault involved missiles provided by North Korea.

The attack occurred just hours after Trump and his senior advisers urged Ukrainian officials to accept a US-backed peace proposal that would effectively legitimize Russian control over all occupied Ukrainian territory.

Despite pushing for a resolution, with his Truth Social post concluding“Let’s get the Peace Deal DONE,” the Trump administration has recently indicated they might pull out of peace negotiations if progress isn’t made soon. While this could just be a threat to force Ukraine to the negotiating table, a round of high-level peace talks originally planned for London on Wednesday was postponed, primarily due to the US opting not to attend.

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on April 23, 2025.

REUTERS/Leah Millis

White House claims win on border security but stays mum on tariffs

When Donald Trump first threatened toslap tariffs on Canada in December, he cited fentanyl and border security as two ostensible reasons for the duties, which followed soon after. Observers have pointed out that very little fentanyl has been found to cross the US-Canada border, but it didn’t seem to change any minds in the White House.
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Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas speaks during a press briefing on the World Economic Outlook during the 2025 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings on April 22, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Photo by Samuel Corum/Sipa USA

IMF downgrades growth outlook

“Just since January, we’ve entered into a new era,” IMF’s Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told the press Tuesday at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. He explained why the IMF had just downgraded global economic growth expectations for 2025, from 3.3% to 2.8%, and global trade growth by more than half, from 3.8% last year to 1.7%.

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Paige Fusco & Ari Winkleman / GZERO Media

The Graphic Truth: The foreigners who hold US debt

The US is the world’s biggest debtor, with more than $35 trillion of securities outstanding.

About a quarter of that is held by foreign investors, a detail which has drawn considerable attention since Donald Trump began walloping the world with tariffs to rebalance US trade ties and military alliances. That’s because if countries upset – or merely uneasy – about Trump’s policies sell those securities in response, the debt servicing costs for the US rise. This is no small matter on $35 trillion worth of paper.

In fact, one widely held explanation for Trump’s abrupt suspension of the “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 9 was that wary bond investors had begun to sell US Treasuries: In the week of April 11, yields on 10-year US treasuries saw their biggest leap in a quarter of a century, a sign that creditors were dropping US sovereign debt fast.

Could countries weaponize US debt more directly? China, Trump’s biggest trade war target, is the second largest foreign US creditor, officially holding more than $750 billion.

A selloff could be devastating. But analysts say it would be hard to find enough buyers for a sale that is both swift and large enough to catch the US off guard.

And even if it were possible, a seller would risk their own financial security as well global economic health by kneecapping the US. In other words: It would be, in financial terms, the nuclear option.

The graphic above looks at which countries hold the most US sovereign debt. Note that the last official data precede “Liberation Day” and that they depend on official reporting. Some countries may hold more than what is listed here via third parties.

An employee checks filled capsules inside a Cadila Pharmaceutical company manufacturing unit at Dholka town on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, April 12, 2025.

REUTERS/Amit Dave

Pharma manufacturers face tariff uncertainty

Donald Trump’s administration announced that it is opening investigations into pharmaceutical and semiconductor supply chains, which will likely result in tariffs that will hurt suppliers in Europe, India, and Canada.

The move shows that, despite stiff political and market resistance, Trump still believes tariffs will benefit his country in the long term by rebalancing trade and boosting manufacturing jobs.

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