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New sanctions on Syria and a trade plan with China announced

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

Three pieces of news came out of a briefing with pool reporters in Florida Friday afternoon:

  1. Syria sanctions: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the U.S. will announce new sanctions on Syria soon "as part of our ongoing effort to stop this kind of activity."
  2. China trade plan: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also announced there is a 100-day action plan on trade with China, which he said would include "weigh-stations of accomplishment." Ross added it "may be ambitious, but it's a very big sea change in the pace of discussion."
  3. Trump will visit China this year. But the dates aren't announced yet.

Go deeper

Rebecca Falconer
Updated 3 hours ago - World

Mexican President López Obrador tests positive for coronavirus

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during a press conference at National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico, on Wednesday. Photo: Ismael Rosas/Eyepix Group/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced Sunday evening that he's tested positive for COVID-19.

Driving the news: López Obrador tweeted that he has mild symptoms and is receiving medical treatment. "As always, I am optimistic," he added. "We will all move forward."

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Alayna Treene, author of Sneak Peek
3 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Sarah Huckabee Sanders to run for governor of Arkansas

Sarah Huckabee Sanders at FOX News' studios in New York City in 2019. Photo: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will announce Monday that she's running for governor of Arkansas.

The big picture: Sanders was touted as a contender after it was announced she was leaving the Trump administration in June 2019. Then-President Trump tweeted he hoped she would run for governor, adding "she would be fantastic." Sanders is "seen as leader in the polls" in the Republican state, notes the Washington Post's Josh Dawsey, who first reported the news.

Felix Salmon, Stef W. Kight
4 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus has inflamed global inequality

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

History will likely remember the pandemic as the "first time since records began that inequality rose in virtually every country on earth at the same time." That's the verdict from Oxfam's inequality report covering the year 2020 — a terrible year that hit the poorest, hardest across the planet.

Why it matters: The world's poorest were already in a race against time, facing down an existential risk in the form of global climate change. The coronavirus pandemic could set global poverty reduction back as much as a full decade, according to the World Bank.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow