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A portrait of former US President Ronald Reagan hangs behind US President Donald Trump as he answers questions from members of the news media in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., USA, on May 28, 2025.
What We’re Watching: Judge jams Trump tariffs, Harvard fight moves into court, Canadian carriers cut US flights
Judges shut down Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs
Donald Trump’s tariff gamesmanship ran into a legal brick wall on Wednesday when the Court of International Trade ruled that he did not have the authority to impose his sweeping “Liberation Day” import duties. The ruling also applies to fentanyl-related tariffs but does not affect sectoral duties on Canadian automobiles, steel, and aluminum. Markets rallied, the White House plans to appeal the ruling, so uncertainty prevails.
Trump’s fight with Harvard moves to court
While the White House lawyers are coping with a setback on trade, they pushed forward with another battle that will test the limits of executive power. In a Boston courtroom today, Harvard University will argue that the Trump administration violated the university’s free speech rights when it revoked international student visas. Expect Harvard, home to one of the world’s highest rated law schools, to make compelling arguments, using the president’s words to show he is on an ideological crusade.
Airlines cut routes as Canadians stay away
Canadian airlines are grounding flights to US destinations as Canadians continue to stay away from the United States in a grassroots reaction to Trump’s threats. In April, return air trips by Canadians fell 20% compared to 2024, Statistics Canada has reported, and automobile trips fell 35%. The decline in visitors is hitting the US tourism industry hard, putting more than 230,000 jobs at risk.
A view of the Business School campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, on April 15, 2025.
HARD NUMBERS: Trump tries to ban foreign students at Harvard, Pensioners revolt in Argentina, Escaped bird ponders long flight home & more
7,000: The White House has scrapped Harvard University’s authorization to enroll foreign students, putting the school’s roughly 7,000 foreigners at risk of having to transfer elsewhere or go home. The Trump administration accuses Harvard of fostering antisemitism and violence, and of “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.” Harvard plans to appeal the move, which could affect a major source of income, as foreigners typically pay full tuition.
331: Dozens of people were injured in a protest by pensioners and activists outside the Argentine Congress on Wednesday. At issue are demands to raise the current pension level of $331 per month. President Javier Milei has opposed pension hikes as part of his “chainsaw” austerity drive.
81: US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says he has gathered 81 co-sponsors for a bill that would impose a draconian 500% tariff on any countries that buy Russian energy. The biggest of those buyers is, of course, China. Trump reportedly told European leaders on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t ready to end the war, although the White House has disputed that account.
344%: The murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., has shined another light on the burgeoning wave of antisemitism in the United States and beyond. Antisemitic incidents across the US have increased by 344% in the last five years. Australia, Belgium and France have experienced similar surges, too.
27: A top Maoist leader was among 27 rebels killed by security forces in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, part of a government crackdown against this far-left insurgency. Nambala Keshava Rao was the highest profile rebel killed in decades. New Delhi has said it wants to end the insurgency in Chhattisgarh entirely by March 2026.
9,000: The Great Escape, bird edition: A juvenile East African crowned crane, known for its distinctive crown of golden feathers, broke out of a zoo in Washington state. If the bird is planning to return to its eponymous home, it will have to travel nearly 9,000 miles.
Does Trump's campus crackdown violate the First Amendment?
The Trump administration says it's defending free speech by confronting liberal bias on college campuses—but is it doing the opposite? On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters explains how the administration’s focus on elite universities has led to sweeping actions that may ultimately restrict speech, especially for foreign-born students. “These are not students who smashed windows or assaulted security guards,” Peters says. “It’s pretty hard to see how the administration can make the case that these people are national security threats.”
And the impact is already being felt. Peters points to advice from university officials telling students to avoid posting on social media out of fear that political expression might jeopardize their legal status. In Trump’s America, he argues, the First Amendment is being selectively applied—and for some communities, the price of speaking out may be higher than ever.
Watch full episode: The battle for free speech in Donald Trump's America
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
Inside the Harvard-Trump showdown
Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hey everybody. Ian Bremmer here and a Quick Take to kick off your week. I'm here at the Kennedy School at Harvard University, with my buddy Steve Walt.
Stephen Walt: Nice to see you, Ian.
Ian Bremmer:
And kind of ground zero for a lot of things happening geopolitically right now. How does it feel to be an independent variable?
Stephen Walt:
It feels better than it felt two or three weeks ago when many people at the university were worried whether we were going to actually bend the knee, cave in, give the administration what it wanted, do pretty much what Columbia did. And when the administration, perhaps mistakenly, sent that letter last week or so, and the president responded appropriately, I think there was a huge collective sigh of relief in the Harvard community. And the response that Harvard has gotten now, including from people who don't like Harvard, that someone finally stood up and said, "This is unacceptable," has been quite gratifying.
Ian Bremmer:
Harvard, huge endowment, not a poor campus, lots of influence in Boston community and around the world, but we're talking about billions of dollars of funding a year. We're talking maybe about not providing green cards for international students, lifeblood of the Kennedy School. What's at stake here, do you think?
Stephen Walt:
What's at stake is the presence of independent centers of thought in a free society. I mean, ultimately this is an attempt by the administration to bring Harvard, as the world's most prominent private university, under its control. If you read the letter carefully, they were basically wanting to have control over who got hired, control over what got taught, control over content of curriculum, control over admissions, in a variety of different ways. At which point the university is no longer independent. It has to get up every morning, say to itself, "Gee, what does the president think of what we're doing here?" And that means you don't have independent thought.
So two big problems. One is of course this is going to reduce scientific and technological progress in the United States in a whole series of areas.
Ian Bremmer:
Because that's so much of what the funding is actually going for.
Stephen Walt:
That's exactly right. Particularly medical research in particular. But it's also important in a free society you have a wide range of opinions, people who can challenge what's going on, and can challenge it from the right, challenge it from the left. One of my colleagues is one of the people who discovered the China shock, that a bunch of American jobs had gone to China due to previous economic policies. Something that of course Trump has played on, etc. So the point is you want lots of different ideas in a free society. You don't want the government to be able to control what people can teach, control what people can think, because how you get big mistakes. That's how you get Mao's Great Leap Forward because no one could criticize him, no one could challenge it, no one could even report what was happening. So there's actually more at stake than just scientific research here. It's also independent thought. Again, from across the political spectrum.
Ian Bremmer:
Does it feel like a resist moment on Harvard campus right now? Is that the kind of emotion that comes with it?
Stephen Walt:
This isn't a sort of let's go to the mattresses moment. The university did not want to have this fight. I think they were negotiating in good faith to see if they could come to an accommodation that would satisfy some of the concerns, including some legitimate concerns about whether or not a wide enough range of viewpoints was being expressed on campus. So I think they were negotiating in good faith.
The one advantage in the government's letter was it was so extreme that we had really no choice at this point. And I think the university now is going to go about its business. It's going to continue to teach. It's going to continue to do the research we want to do. It's going to have to do it with fewer resources. And I think we're all aware of the fact that there's going to have to be some costs paid by the faculty, unfortunately by our students and staff as well. And I think we're willing to do that.
Ian Bremmer:
And Harvard is well-known, has been ever since I was a kid, as the leading higher education facility in the United States and in the world. Also has gotten itself part of the political tribal fighting going on and we saw the former president basically ousted under that pressure in part. What do you think Harvard needs to do to be seen not just as the place that you want to go to university, but also as a place that is above the political fray?
Stephen Walt:
Well, because universities are islands of thought they're never going to be completely separate from the political fray. But I strongly believe in institutional neutrality, that the university should not be taking public positions on political issues that do not directly affect the university. So yes, we do have a public position on say, student visas. That's important for us. But we don't necessarily have a public position and shouldn't have a public position on the war in Ukraine or what to do about the Middle East or whether affirmative action was a good thing or not. Gay marriage maybe would be one that you'd say. It's not something where the university takes position. Individual faculty can say what they want and should, and they can disagree and they will, and they do. But the president of the university, the board of trustees, et cetera, they don't take a particular institutional position. I very much agree with that.
That doesn't mean the university won't be political and it won't be politicized as well. I think first of all, we need to reaffirm that, that our business is doing independent research and doing teaching, that we are open to a wide range of opinions, that we care about rigor and honesty and research. We can disagree. You can even be wrong. Scholars are wrong all the time. But they can't be dishonest. So we have very high standards and we're not advancing a particular agenda other than the pursuit of truth for the benefit of society as a whole.
Ian Bremmer:
So broader point before we close this down. State of democracy in the United States right now. What worries you most and where do you see the most structural strength and resilience?
Stephen Walt:
What worries me the most is the inability of a set of institutions that I would've thought 20 years ago were pretty rock solid to impede what looks to me like an authoritarian grab for power.
Ian Bremmer:
Are you talking about the judiciary?
Stephen Walt:
I'm talking about in part the judiciary.
Ian Bremmer:
Or Congress?
Stephen Walt:
And Congress and the fact that they've been willing to essentially suspend most of their checks and balances roles in recent years.
I am encouraged, unfortunately, by the degree to which opinion seems to be shifting as to whether or not the direction of the Trump administration is the right course for the country.
Ian Bremmer:
Specifically on trade at this point?
Stephen Walt:
Trade, one, economic effects.
Ian Bremmer:
Yeah.
Stephen Walt:
I think people are starting to be uncomfortable with the idea that we're gutting the engine of scientific progress that has driven American technological and scientific leadership for decades. That that's going to have consequences sooner rather than later. And I think people are nervous, not everybody, but people are nervous about turning what have been some of our closest friends in the world into adversaries or enemies. I mean, when you pick a fight with Canada, the greatest bit of geopolitical good fortune the United States ever had, having Canada as a neighbor. When you turn them into an adversary, that's not going to end well.
Ian Bremmer:
Steve Walt, always good to see you, my friend.
Stephen Walt:
Nice to see you. Take care.
- Larry Summers has a few thoughts about Trump's trade war ›
- Trump announces more changes to the Education Department ›
- Why is America punching below its weight on happiness? ›
- Hard Numbers: Harvard’s books, A whistleblower’s tragic end, Broadcom’s boom, Getting brainworms ›
- Free speech in Trump's America with NYT journalist Jeremy Peters and conservative scholar Ilya Shapiro - GZERO Media ›
- Trump targets Harvard: What's at stake for US education & international students? - GZERO Media ›
Harvard University President Claudine Gay testifies before a House Education and The Workforce Committee hearing titled "Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 5, 2023.
Hard Numbers: Gay resigns, Danish Queen steps down, #FreeMickey, and a Calmer New Years’ Eve in Paris
2: Claudine Gay, Harvard’s first Black president, stepped down on Monday, almost a month after her counterpart at Penn, Elizabeth Magill, resigned in the wake of their Congressional testimony last month on campus antisemitism. Gay has also faced mounting allegations of plagiarism, and her departure means two of the three presidents who testified have now stepped down. That sound you hear? MIT President Sally Kornbluth counting her blessings.
52: In a surprise move, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark — the longest-serving monarch in Europe — has decided to abdicate the throne after 52 years in power. The 82-year-old royal says she wants to leave the responsibility to “the next generation.” (Who knows, maybe the final season of “The Crown” got her thinking?). She will be succeeded by her eldest son, the famously climate-friendly Crown Prince Frederik.
95: Oh Mickey, you’re so fine. And thanks to US copyright law, now you’re free. As of Jan. 1, early versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse from the 1928 short film “Steamboat Willie” are now public intellectual property. The reason: The US caps character copyrights at 95 years. Hollywood wasted no time in dropping the trailer for a new slasher film starring Mickey on a murderous rampage. Ron DeSantis has been trying to warn us …
10: The notoriously ... impassioned French public had a calmer New Year’s celebration than usual earlier this week. According to authorities, overnight arrests and vehicle fires in Paris were both down about 10% from the year before. This is good news for French law enforcement officers, who vowed to tighten security during a time of heightened terror threats in hopes of inspiring confidence in the country’s security apparatus ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
Harvard course teaches rich millennials how to do good - and make money
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS (BLOOMBERG) - On a crisp morning last October, a few dozen students with wildly diverse backgrounds and expertise filed into the red-brick building of Harvard University's Kennedy School. Three things united them: they were young, they wanted to do good and they were all staggeringly wealthy.