• China reacts to tariffs: China hiked tariffs on US imports to 84 percent Wednesday to counter a U.S. move, then President Trump raised levies on Chinese goods to 125 percent. But even as Beijing vowed to “fight to the end” in a spiraling trade war, it also pointedly left the door open to negotiations. Beijing has just issued a 50-page white paper on China-US economic relations, calling for “equal-footed dialogue” to resolve the trade conflict. “Trade wars have no winners,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said today. Mr. Trump also voiced confidence the two sides will make a deal. – Staff
• Germany forms a government: Friedrich Merz, on track to become Germany’s next leader, sealed a deal April 9 to form a new government that aims to spur economic growth, ramp up defense spending, take a tougher approach to migration, and catch up on long-neglected modernization. The agreement paves the way for new leadership of the European Union member with the continent’s biggest population and economy. – The Associated Press
  • Related Monitor story: If the U.S. pulls back from its traditional role in Europe, Germany will help fill the gap. That means acting boldly. The Monitor’s view.
• Reversal on firings: A federal appeals court cleared the way Wednesday for President Donald Trump’s administration to fire thousands of probationary workers, halting a judge’s order requiring them to be reinstated in a legal win for Trump's effort to downsize the federal workforce. The decision comes a day after the Supreme Court also sided with the Trump administration in another lawsuit filed over mass firings. – AP
• Touting coal: President Donald Trump, citing a “national energy emergency,” moved this week to loosen restrictions on America’s struggling coal industry. Coal, he says, is a key part of American energy dominance. Without it, the president contends, the country cannot meet projected energy demands. Others point out that the United States is producing record amounts of power and has become a net energy exporter. The president blames environmental regulations for coal’s demise. Research instead points to economics: Natural gas and renewables have become cheaper than the fossil fuel. – Staff
• Chinese POWs in Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Chinese citizens are fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine – the first such charge by Kyiv. He posted a video showing two captured Chinese fighters undergoing questioning. That raises questions about China’s proclaimed neutrality in the conflict. China’s foreign ministry said it is verifying the information, and asks its citizens to stay out of war zones. It denied many Chinese are fighting in Ukraine. U.S. officials say Beijing has provided Russia with drones and materials used in producing weapons. – Staff
• More help needed in Myanmar: Myanmar is still in desperate need of assistance, including field hospitals and shelters, Thailand’s foreign minister said, stressing the importance of a coordinated regional relief effort. The 7.7 magnitude quake on March 28 was one of the strongest to hit Myanmar in a century. – Reuters

A week ago, President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on dozens of countries. The move was unprecedented in scope and signaled a stark shift away from a commitment to free trade that was the bedrock of American economic prosperity. Global markets shuddered. On Wednesday afternoon, he abruptly paused much of the plan. “This was his strategy all along,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters. The tariffs may be on hold, but for America’s trading partners, uncertainty is a new norm.

While the transatlantic relationship frays, Europe may be renewing an old friendship. Britain and France seek a “coalition of the willing” to coordinate defense support following the Trump administration’s suspension of military aid to Ukraine. A “reassurance force” including U.K. and EU member troops would mark a healing of the rift after Britain’s exit from the European Union in 2016. London has expressed a willingness to share its nuclear deterrent with the continent – but economic issues such as fishing rights temper enthusiasm on both sides for a broader partnership.

Politics can play a central role on college campuses as young people begin to shape their values and view of the world. At some universities across the United States, one notable trend is growth in participation in conservative student groups. The shift reflects the sensibilities of a younger generation worried about its economic prospects and skeptical of government institutions. President Donald Trump performed well in the last election among a diverse cross section of Generation Z.

Since the start of the war in Gaza between Israel and the militant group Hamas a year and a half ago, student protests have challenged campus leaders to balance free speech with safety and calm. That has led to a spike in civil discourse initiatives at colleges from Harvard to the University of Michigan. The programs nurture the importance of open inquiry and respect. As former Spelman College President Beverly Daniel Tatum told her students, “You can’t solve a problem unless you talk about it.”

When people alter the natural world, animals are forced to adapt. In Florida, manatees have grown accustomed to waterways warmed artificially by nearby power plants. The state’s largest utility now plans to eliminate carbon emissions by 2045. The prospect of a restoration of colder waters has environmentalists looking for ways to help the gentle marine giants adapt once again.

Every childhood deserves a good tree – a sturdy friend with branches that form a ladder all the way to the sky or cast a cool summer shade to rest beneath with a favorite book. For one writer now living in New York, the fig trees of his native Louisiana sweeten childhood memories of his mother’s homemade fruit preserves.

The operators of the world’s largest particle accelerator have a plan to at last unlock the most stubborn mysteries of physics. They’re going even bigger.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, wants to build the largest machine on Earth. The Future Circular Collider would have a circumference of 56 miles, cost $30 billion, and finish construction in 2070. It would be three times larger than what CERN has now, better able to observe the motion of atoms or their parts.

But aside from the logistical hurdles, there’s a bigger, nagging question: Is it even a good idea?

The fact is, physics is in a funk. Quantum mechanics and general relativity theory began to reshape scientists’ view of the physical world more than a century ago. A “theory of everything” seemed near, knitting together the last inconsistencies of science into a single, unified theory.

It has not turned out that way. Intervening years have brought exquisite calibration and confirmation, but few groundbreaking advances.

CERN’s idea is to double down: The answer is out there; we just need to keep pushing. But others are less certain. Maybe blunt-force experimentation has its limits. “It’s a vicious cycle,” wrote physicist Sabine Hossenfelder on her blog. “Costly experiments result in lack of progress. Lack of progress increases the costs of further experiment.”

The real question is how physics reinvigorates itself. CERN will have its proposal for a solution by December. Yet a deeper change appears to be percolating within physics – a growing humility.

It is seen in Dr. Hossenfelder’s call for scientists to step back from their favored theories and think better and more collaboratively. It’s also seen in thinkers such as Brian Greene, who said on a recent Templeton Foundation podcast, “It’s very difficult to answer these questions, of course, and what you find is as a working physicist, you don’t really have to.” Meaning, he added, doesn’t come from science but from the excitement and inspiration we invest in our different experiences.

Emerging from this openness is a recognition that machines matter, but the frontiers of mind perhaps promise more. “The origin of the universe, the origin of life, the origin of mind, are sort of the big three moments” in existence, Dr. Greene noted. “I suspect, and I think many scientists agree, that ... there is a real continuum at work here, and I think that’s pretty important.”

Certainly, a larger particle accelerator might help usher in a new physics renaissance. Larger thinking could do even more.