Axios

President Trump again floated taking over the Strait of Hormuz as a U.S. "territory" on Monday, as the critical waterway remains a main pain point of the protracted Iran war.

The big picture: Trump's comments come at a difficult time for the ongoing conflict, with stalled negotiations for a ceasefire and a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran expiring on Monday.

China's economic weakness and its AI ambitions are putting competing demands on policymakers.

• Reviving the economy means getting households to spend more, but competing with the U.S. in AI means turbocharging an already production-heavy economic model.

Why it matters: China's push to supercharge production even as domestic demand weakens leaves China's producers more reliant on foreign buyers and pressures industries abroad.

Extreme heat is testing Italy's cheese banks, the vaults that hold Parmigiano Reggiano while it ages for years.

Why it matters: It's an 800-year-old industry that employs thousands and generates about $5 billion a year — and it actually has something in common with one of the biggest questions troubling the trillion-dollar AI buildout.

In mid-May, U.S. negotiators trying to reach a deal with Iran to end the war ran into a problem: They couldn't tell if the people across the table actually spoke for the country's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

• So Trump administration officials did something unconventional — they went around Iran's negotiators and reached out directly to IRGC leadership. The person they tapped for the backchannel was Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, who had something very few others do: the trust of both U.S. and IRGC leaders.

Why it matters: The episode, which was detailed by three sources with direct knowledge and has not been previously reported, shows how tricky it's been for the U.S. to negotiate with a country where Washington isn't sure who exactly is in charge. The U.S. and Iran did reach a memorandum of understanding, but it quickly collapsed.

Chinese open-weight models are closing in on U.S. frontier models' ability to find and exploit security flaws — and they could land in the public's hands more quickly.

Why it matters: Cyber-capable AI models can bring huge gains to both defenders and hackers eager to scale up their operations.

Even as U.S. policy has walled off Washington, D.C., from friends across the pond, Americans' travel overseas is reaching new heights.

Why it matters: Much like the resilient consumer, the American tourist keeps riding the post-COVID travel wave, even as debt delays life milestones and global perceptions of the U.S. slip.

The U.S. is projected to become majority-minority in 2046, but hundreds of rural pockets crossed that demographic benchmark years ago, an Axios analysis finds.

Why it matters: The evolving face of rural America, driven both by immigration and increased mobility, has invigorated communities, increased their diversity — and presented new challenges.

White House deputy national security adviser Andy Baker is leaving the administration in the coming weeks.

Why it matters: Baker, who also served as national security advisor to Vice President Vance, was among the staffers most central to the administration's foreign policy and national security decision-making over the last 18 months.

When Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump met in the Oval Office two weeks ago, the president asked the Israeli prime minister how he was doing in the polls ahead of an Oct. 27 election.

• Netanyahu paused. Then one of his advisers piped up: "Mr. President, he is winning," the aide said, according to a U.S. official familiar with the exchange.

Why it matters: Netanyahu is not winning. And so far, Trump hasn't given him the endorsement he hopes for, despite being asked about it repeatedly by reporters.

• The president could still change his mind. But with just 75 days left until the election, time is running short for Netanyahu.

Marco Rubio has three official Trump administration jobs and a fourth unofficial title: Viral meme star.

• He's been featured in countless "Rubio Realizing" images doctored to capture his grim reaction to being "assigned" more jobs, depending on the news of the day or the crisis du jour in the White House.

Why it matters: For his 55th birthday on May 28, White House staffers and President Trump gifted Rubio with a gold-framed collage of their 68 favorite "Rubio Realizing" memes.