Axios

Boeing is facing a new crisis, this time not of its own making: China has reportedly forbidden its airlines from purchasing any of the company's jets.

Why it matters: Boeing is one of America's most critical manufacturers and exporters, making it an easy target as President Trump's trade war escalates.

A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking a Biden-era migration program for people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Why it matters: It's a blow for President Trump's hardline immigration crackdown and a win for half a million people in the U.S. given temporary legal status under the CHNV Program, who were facing possible deportation after its scheduled end on April 24.

A storied civil rights legal group that helped desegregate U.S. public schools seven decades ago is suing the U.S. Department of Education over its efforts to stop diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in K-12 public schools.

Why it matters: The federal lawsuit by the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) on behalf of the NAACP is the latest challenge to the Trump administration's attempts to end DEI programs and limit discussions of racism in schools.

President Trump held a meeting on Tuesday morning in the White House situation room about the ongoing nuclear deal negotiations with Iran, two sources with direct knowledge told Axios.

Why it matters: The high-level meeting with all of the Trump administration's top national security and foreign policy officials present was focused on discussing the U.S. position in the next round of talks planned for Saturday, the sources said.

Major League Baseball is holding its annual Jackie Robinson Day on Tuesday, but this year, it comes as civil rights and diversity programs are experiencing rollbacks nationally.

Why it matters: MLB faces uncertainty about its diversity initiatives and the immigration status of international players, even while celebrating Robinson's breaking of baseball's modern-day color barrier 78 years ago.

America's escalating trade war with China could choke off demand for electric cars in the U.S.

Why it matters: Simply put, the U.S. can't build EVs without China. Efforts to seed a domestic supply chain, which began under the Biden administration, need more time to mature.

The newfound love affair Argentina has with the American right now extends even to a man who used to be on top of its enemies list.

Why it matters: Just a few weeks ago, it was unthinkable that any Argentine president, even Javier Milei, would ever have anything nice to say about Jay Newman, the former Elliott Management investor who successfully won billions of dollars from Argentina in 2016.

• Yet that is exactly what happened earlier this month.

The big picture: Argentina, which has defaulted on its debt seven times since 1951, has had countless fights with creditors over the years, but the biggest and most painful of those fights was with Elliott.

Zoom in: Milei tweeted out to his 3.8 million followers a Financial Times column by Newman — Milei called it an "excellent article" — that lays out a series of reasons why Argentina should win its $16 billion dispute with Burford, a publicly-traded litigation-finance company.

• Burford spent some $15 million to purchase claims against Argentina related to the 2012 nationalization of oil company YPF.
• In 2023 New York ​judge Loretta Preska ruled that Burford was owed $16 billion, more than 25% of the Argentine budget last year.

Where it stands: Preska's ruling is a real risk to the success of Argentina's IMF latest deal. The fund would never countenance Argentina taking its billions and sending them straight out of the country to foreign vulture investors.

• As Newman noted in 2023: "President-elect Javier Milei is fond of saying "there is no money" to countrymen demanding continued subsidies. If there is no money for Argentines, it goes double for Burford."

Between the lines: Newman's argument is, broadly, twofold.

• First, he says that this case doesn't belong in a New York court at all. "The dispute is purely local," he wrote, notwithstanding the fact that YPF shares were traded in New York when it was nationalized.
• Second, he said any peso-denominated monies due to the plaintiffs should be converted to dollars at the exchange rate on the day the judgment was handed down. That would bring the damages to about $100 million rather than $16 billion.

What comes next: The Second Circuit Court of Appeals is now expected to rule on this case in the coming weeks.

• Even if it upholds Preska's judgment, however, it's highly unlikely that Argentina will pay up. Burford would have to try to convert a judgment into an actual payment, the exact fight that Newman spent years of his life on.
• But Burford wouldn't have the two biggest weapons Newman enjoyed in his case: a waiver of sovereign immunity in bond documentation and a pari passu clause (a guarantee of equal rights) in the same documents.

The bottom line: Burford is unlikely to get paid any time soon, and Milei can now count one more Wall Street type who has moved over to his side.

The White House is happy to pick fights with most of its allies, from Canada to Germany, but on Monday it singled out two Latin American countries — El Salvador and Argentina — for praise and support.

Why it matters: The meetings underscore the way in which the Trump administration likes to reward countries with right-wing leadership.

The Trump administration's abrupt walk back of tariff exceptions for cell phones, computers and chips has Wall Street guessing, but it made sense to those who understand the president's thinking: He doesn't like the "E" words.

• "Exceptions and exemptions are weakness," said a Trump adviser who has discussed tariff policy with him. "Trump is for strength."

Why it matters: President Trump's determination not to appear weak — or wrong — on tariffs and his erratic, real-time tweaking of his policy have confused investors, deflated the dollar and shaken the stock market.

Big Tech is doing a delicate dance as it attempts to sidestep the harshest aspects of President Trump's trade war.

Why it matters: The U.S. tech sector is heavily reliant on cheap imports of smartphones, other consumer electronics and AI chips.

President Trump Monday threatened to send Americans to a notorious prison in El Salvador, asking President Nayib Bukele to "build about five more places."

Why it matters: Sending American prisoners to foreign jails would violate the Constitution's Eighth Amendment, which bars "cruel and unusual" punishments, according to criminal justice advocates.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said Monday he can't return a mistakenly deported Maryland resident and Salvadorian national to the U.S.

Why it matters: The U.S. government accused Kilmar Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13, but he has not been convicted of gang-related crimes. The Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited President Trump to Ukraine during a "60 Minutes" interview broadcast Sunday in which he addressed his fiery White House meeting in February.

The big picture: Zelensky said through an interpreter there had not only been "a shift in tone" in the U.S., but also "a shift in reality" as he suggested Russian leader Vladimir Putin's narrative had cut through to the Trump administration, and he singled out Vice President JD Vance.

President Trump once again accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of starting the war with Russia on Monday, saying "you don't start a war with someone 20 times your size and then hope people give you some missiles."

Why it matters: Trump's comments come a day after a "60 Minutes" interview in which Zelensky suggested the Trump administration was operating in an "altered reality" in terms of the origins of the war.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele is meeting with President Trump Monday as the U.S. has ramped up its deportations to the Central American nation.

The big picture: Bukele — the self-described "world's coolest dictator" —agreed to warehouse migrants and criminals deported from the U.S. in its notorious prison system, solidifying the country as a key ally for the Trump administration.

President Trump's invocation of antisemitism to justify everything from slashing college funds to deporting student protestors risks making Jewish people scapegoats for his policies, community leaders warn.

The big picture: With antisemitism rising in the U.S., Trump's repressive crackdown could stoke further animus against Jews, Lauren Strauss, a professor of modern Jewish history at American University, told Axios.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping said nations need to "safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and open and cooperative international environment" in an article published in China and Vietnam on Monday.

Why it matters: Xi is trying to portray China as a "responsible superpower in the way that contrasts with the way the U.S." under President Trump "presents to the whole world," said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at Singapore's ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, to AP.

Peruvian novelist and Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, a former leftist writer who turned to more conservative causes and once ran for president in Peru, has died. He was 89.

The big picture: Vargas Llosa is the last major surviving member of Latin America's 20th Century literary Boom generation — writers who mostly used magical realism to critique society and often wrote from exile.

President Trump said Sunday he'll announce tariffs on semiconductor chips "over the next week," though he indicated he could offer flexibility to some companies.

Why it matters: The White House indicated on Friday that smartphones and computers would be exempted from the 125% import levies Trump imposed on China, where Apple assembles most of its iPhones.