WORLD ROUNDUPTrump’s Trade War Returns America to the 1930s | The French Far Right’s Financial Catch-22 | What Will Happen to the West Bank If Palestine Becomes a State?, and more

Trump’s Trade War Returns America to the 1930s  (Melissa Lawford and Hans van Leeuwen, The Telegraph)
The president’s tariffs have hammered U.S. small businesses and fueled uncertainty.

America Will Be the Chief Victim of Trump’s Tariffs Rampage  (Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Telegraph)
The U.S. economy will bear the brunt of the president’s destructive trade war.

Terrorist Set to Be Freed “Told Inmates He Masterminded 7/7”  (Charles Hymas, The Telegraph)
Haroon Aswat could be released from secure hospital unit despite “grave concerns” about the security risk.

What Will Happen to the West Bank If Palestine Becomes a State?  (Richard Spencer, The Times)
With the eyes of the world on Gaza, Israeli settler violence has increased in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.

Transnational White Supremacy: Digital Violent Extremism from West to East  (Sonia Sarkar, GNET)
In February, an 18-year-old Singaporean, Nick Lee Xing Qiu, was detained for planning to attack Malays and Muslims after being radicalised by violent far-right extremist ideologies. According to Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs, Lee was inspired by white supremacists in the US. Lee was allegedly radicalised online by extremist content, leading to his violent and hostile attitudes towards Muslims. Lee came across anti-Muslim content owing to the “online algorithms” on social media that recommended “far-right extremist material” to him. Despite being a Singaporean of  Chinese ethnicity, who believed in the superiority of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese ethnicities, he supported white supremacy as he considered Islam to be a threat to “white culture.” 
This Insight discusses and analyzes how violent white supremacist and far-right extremist networks from the West have been influencing the homegrown non-white extremists in different Asian countries. These non-white extremists draw symbols, terms, and ideology from white supremacists and neo-Nazis, and express violent anti-migrant, antisemitic, and anti-Muslim rhetoric in relation to the local context. 

The French Far Right’s Financial Catch-22  (Victor Goury-Laffont, Politico)
On a sunny July morning in the French capital, a pair of investigating judges and some 20 law enforcement officers in bulletproof vests stormed into the unassuming headquarters of the National Rally, wedged between a frozen food store and a building cloaked in scaffolding. France’s far-right powerhouse had found itself in the crosshairs of the French justice system, which was probing allegations the party had funded several campaigns in part through illegal loans. Those runs included Marine Le Pen’s presidential bid and legislative elections in 2022; the 2024 European election, led by party president and rising star Jordan Bardella; and the surprise snap elections that followed.

How the New Generation of Neo-Nazis Is Organizing Itself  (Luisa Gehring, Amadeu Antonio Stiftung)
Right-wing extremist youth groups are currently experiencing an increase in popularity rarely seen in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, the development of a broader following consisting of children, adolescents and young adults is by no means accompanied by a moderation of positions and actions. Young neo-Nazis disrupt CSDs, attack political opponents and carry out attacks on youth centers, queer bars and alternative housing projects. They show solidarity with right-wing extremists and sometimes present themselves on social media with their real names, without masks, but with the Reich flag, white power gestures, on hikes and martial arts training sessions. The images are bursting with right-wing extremist self-empowerment and the staging of strength.

Far-Right Extremists Using Games Platforms to Radicalize Teenagers, Report Warns  (Libby Brooks, Guardian)
Far-right extremists are using livestream gaming platforms to target and radicalize teenage players, a report has warned. The new research, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, reveals how a range of extremist groups and individuals use platforms that allow users to chat and livestream while playing video games to recruit and radicalize vulnerable users, mainly young males.

Musk, a Social Media Powerhouse, Boosts Fortunes of Hard-Right Figures in Europe  (Erika Kinetz and Aaron Kessler, AP)
Hard-right commentators, politicians and activists in Europe have uncovered a secret to expanding their influence: engaging with Elon Musk. Take the German politician from a party whose own domestic intelligence agency has designated as extremist. Her daily audience on X surged from 230,000 to 2.2 million on days Musk interacted with her posts. She went on to lead her party to its best-ever electoral showing.

Trump’s Long-Promised Tariffs Upend Global Trade  (Keith Johnson, Foreign Policy)
It’s a new reality for a country, and a planet, whose post-World War II prosperity was ushered in by a decades-long effort to dismantle trade barriers.