The Week Magazine May 9, 2025

Our guide was speeding us to the modern new airport in Siem Reap, Cambodia, along a modern new expressway. “China built this,” the guide told us. “The airport, too.” His smile was rueful. “China gets most of the money for a long time.” Siem Reap–Angkor International Airport opened two years ago after China spent $1.1 billion to construct it under its global Belt and Road Initiative. On a recent vacation trip to Southeast Asia, my wife, Karla, and I heard a similar ambivalence about massive new China-financed developments in Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, and other cities. We don’t trust China, the Vietnamese and Cambodians told us. We know they want control. But we need development, and U.S. investment is limited. During our trip, President Trump threatened Cambodia…

What happened China vowed this week it would “never kneel down” to America in President Trump’s tariff war, as shipments of goods from China to the U.S. plummeted and economists and retailers warned of impending price hikes and empty store shelves. With most Chinese imports facing a 145 percent levy, “essentially all shipments out of China for major retailers and manufacturers have ceased,” said Port of Los Angeles executive director Eugene Seroka. The chief economist of asset management giant Apollo, Torsten Slok, said he expects “empty shelves in U.S. stores in a few weeks” and “Covid-like shortages for consumers.” That slowdown, Slok said, would result in “significant” layoffs in retail, trucking, and other sectors. Trump signaled his readiness to negotiate “substantial” tariff cuts and claimed Chinese President Xi Jinping…

Trump’s levies are being challenged by a raft of lawsuits, said Erik Larson in Bloomberg. Attorneys general from 12 states and legal advocacy groups representing numerous businesses have sued, arguing that Trump’s claiming of emergency powers to impose the tariffs is unconstitutional. This week, the administration asked the U.S. trade court to reject one such suit, saying the plaintiffs are improperly “inviting judicial second-guessing of the president’s judgment.” Meanwhile, China shows no sign it’s ready to back down, said Ryan Hass in Time. With no competitive elections, its leaders believe China’s political system is “more unified, hardened, and disciplined than the Trump administration to withstand a trade war.” And the Chinese have “tools at hand to hit America’s economy where it hurts, including the withholding of critical minerals and…

What happened The Trump administration ramped up its deportation campaign this week, defending recent expulsions of American children along with their immigrant parents and arresting a Milwaukee judge accused of obstructing a migrant’s arrest. In two separate incidents in Louisiana, women checking in for routine immigration appointments with ICE were arrested and deported to Honduras along with their American-citizen children. One of the three children deported, a 4-year-old boy, had been undergoing cancer treatment. Lawyers for both families said the mothers weren’t given the option to leave their children with relatives in the U.S. There is “a strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process,” said Louisiana Federal District Court Judge Terry A. Doughty, a Trump appointee handling one of the cases. Other…

■ Thirty-four years ago, magician Sophie Lloyd fooled London’s male-only Magic Circle club into admitting her as “Raymond Lloyd.” She and her mentor, Jenny Winstanley, concocted the ruse after Lloyd performed in their mime acts as a man. Winstanley trained Lloyd in sleight of hand and helped her create a boyish persona. The club soon let women join, yet expelled Lloyd for deception after she revealed the trick. In April, the Magic Circle gave a show to honor Lloyd and the now-deceased Winstanley, and finally presented Lloyd with membership in her real name. ■ A 4-year-old, 28-pound Flemish giant rabbit has become a San Francisco celebrity. Alex the Great was rescued from a kill farm in 2020 and became a certified therapy animal. Outside of work, he drives a…

Only two months ago, “the world’s richest person seemed unstoppable,” said David Smith in The Guardian. Now Elon Musk is “hanging up his chain saw.” White House chief of staff Susie Wiles confirmed this week that the billionaire is “not physically present as much as he was” during his first months leading President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. And the Tesla CEO recently announced that he’ll spend less time on DOGE as he refocuses on rescuing his car company, which saw profits plunge 71 percent in the first quarter amid a backlash over his gleeful assault on government. But even harder to undo will be the “devastating” human toll of DOGE. The project fired or forced out more than 260,000 federal workers, deleted humanitarian aid for millions of desperate…