• Tariff retaliation: President Donald Trump’s trade war drew immediate retaliation from Mexico, Canada, and China. He imposed 25% taxes on Mexican and Canadian imports, though he limited the levy to 10% on Canadian energy, and doubled the tariff he placed last month on Chinese products to 20%. – The Associated Press
• Violence in Serbia’s parliament: At least three lawmakers were injured, one seriously, after smoke bombs and flares were thrown March 4. Lawmakers were scheduled to vote on a law that would increase funding for university education. Monthslong anti-corruption protests have rattled Serbia’s populist government. – AP
  • Related Monitor coverage: Who will end government corruption? In Serbia, it may be the students.
• Gas prices set to climb: New tariffs imposed by the Trump administration will raise the cost of energy imports, according to traders and analysts. They have already triggered a surge in wholesale gasoline prices in the U.S. Northeast. – Reuters
• Cuts at Department of Education: Secretary Linda McMahon on March 3 said she would lead an “overhaul” that would profoundly impact staff, budgets, and agency operations. – Reuters
  • Related Monitor coverage: Trump campaigned on a promise to disband the Department of Education.

In his first speech to Congress since retaking office, President Donald Trump touted his accomplishments on the border and going after waste in government. On the economy, he cautioned that there might be “a little disturbance.” His speech was lighter on the laundry lists of policy proposals that often characterize such addresses, and more focused on political score-settling. Mr. Trump was at the podium for just under 100 minutes, the longest joint session or State of the Union in modern history.

The first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, which has now expired, allowed Palestinian residents to return to communities in Gaza’s rubble-strewn north to literally and figuratively pick up the pieces of their lives. The United Nations estimates the Gaza Strip is now blanketed by around 51 million tons of rubble from the war. But cleaning up is far from easy: A shaky peace framework, little equipment to move the rubble, and a war of words between Hamas and Israel that continued Tuesday have complicated matters and left civilians caught in the middle.

If Mexico is responsible, as the White House argues, for drugs and migrants crossing the border into the United States, do U.S. arms manufacturers bear responsibility for the guns going the other way? In an unusual case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, Mexico is arguing that U.S. gun manufacturers are the underlying cause of its crime and migration problems, with an estimated 70% of weapons used in crimes in Mexico traceable to the U.S.

Many law enforcement agencies across Colorado are in regular communication with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Yet Sheriff Jason Mikesell of Teller County and other frustrated sheriffs in this “sanctuary” state say they want a bigger role in helping remove from their communities immigrants who commit, and recommit, crimes. How all this shakes out in Colorado could inform similar situations across the United States.

Spring promises rebirth. After a long winter of political fighting, social strife, and economic woes, the world got a lift, delivered high up in an eagle’s nest above Big Bear Lake in Southern California. Just before midnight on Monday, a tiny chick pecked its way into the world, followed at 4:29 a.m. by another hatching. One more egg to go for the bald eagle couple Jackie and Shadow, who have become a global phenomenon, showing their parental dedication to tens of thousands of viewers via a solar-powered webcam, and offering a reminder of the power of hope and nature’s mission of renewal.

A growing number of women are fans of Formula One, thanks to shows like “Formula 1: Drive To Survive.” The Monitor talked to rising star Lia Block, who won the 2023 two-wheel-drive American Rally Association championship by drifting a Subaru BRZ through forests and off-road tracks. After becoming the youngest winner in ARA history, she promptly threw herself into an entirely new league: the F1 Academy. “I think F1 Academy is a great way for girls to start and then move up and start racing with everybody because we can obviously do it,” she told the Monitor. “I want to keep going in that way, and wherever my opportunities take me, I just want to keep climbing up the ladder.”

Last July, the president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., received a standing ovation from lawmakers in Manila when he announced a ban on gambling operators that cater to offshore clients – and that also run online scams and launder money illegally.

“The grave abuse and disrespect to our system of laws must stop,” he said. Government raids then led to more than 20,000 of these foreign operators fleeing the country.

That step, in addition to other reforms aimed at ending the Philippines’ reputation as a haven for “dirty money,” helped push the Southeast Asian nation into a special status: Last month, it was taken off a “grey list” of countries that fail to do enough in preventing money laundering, including the financing of terrorism, weapons sales, child sexual exploitation, and other crimes.

The Philippines is now one of many places trying to rely on honesty and transparency in its financial and trading system – or norms set by a global body, the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force.

In the last 12 years, the Paris-based FATF has seen a marked rise in the number of low- and middle-income countries removed from its grey list. They are now in technical compliance with the body’s standards, although full implementation of reforms is mixed.

“There are fewer dark spots on the map,” stated a December report from the Basel Institute on Governance.

Most of the progress has been in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The countries on the FATF “black list” are Iran, North Korea, and Myanmar. These countries’ peoples are subject to the severest restrictions in international banking, trade, and investment.

An estimated 2.7% of the global economy passes through illicit money flows. But as FATF President Elisa de Anda Madrazo told Money Laundering Bulletin, she has lately seen countries “have better development, have better investment, have less corruption, and can put the money where it’s more needed.” 

In other words, integrity pays.