The Weekly Leaf - April 4
- The Aspen Strategy Group
- 17 hours ago
- 5 min read
The Weekly Leaf
This week, President Trump announced “Liberation Day” tariffs, South Korea’s Constitutional Court upheld President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, Marine Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement and banned from running for office for five years, and Myanmar’s ruling junta announced a temporary ceasefire.
Read more below.
This Week's Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Nicholas Burns and moderator Rana Mitter at the Harvard Kennedy School: “The U.S. and China: Navigating the World’s Most Important Bilateral Relationship”
Condoleezza Rice quoted by Chloe Casdorph for Southern Methodist University’s The Daily Campus: “Tate Lecture Speaker Condoleezza Rice Talks Foreign Policy, Job as Secretary of State”
Chris Coons interviewed by Martha MacCallum for Fox News: “Democratic Senator States He ‘Does Not Believe’ DOGE Is Tackling Waste in Federal Agencies”
Michael Froman interviewed by Joe Kernen, Becky Quick, and Andrew Ross Sorkin for CNBC: “You Can’t Raise $6 Trillion of Revenue From Tariffs & Reindustrialize America”
Susan B. Glasser, Peter Baker, Shane Harris, Laura Barrón-López, and moderator Jeffrey Goldberg for PBS: “Washington Week with The Atlantic”
Michael J. Green interviewed Victor Cha for The Asia Chessboard podcast: “South Korean Tumult and Strategic Direction”
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “Trump’s War on Big Law Is a Dangerous New Development”
Dina Powell McCormick quoted by Lydia Moynihan for the New York Post: “Dina Powell Believes Gen Z Is in Need of ‘One of the Most Transformative Experiences’ of Their Lives”
Joseph S. Nye, Jr. for Project Syndicate: “How World Order Changes”
David Petraeus and moderator Max Boot at The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University: “Warfare Strategy and Leadership: A Conversation with Gen. David H. Petraeus”
Jack Reed interviewed by Gene Valicenti for NBC: “Sen. Jack Reed Comments on Cory Booker, Elon Musk, and Democratic Leadership”
Susan E. Rice for The New York Times: “What Happens When There’s a Real National Security Crisis?”
Robert B. Zoellick, Mark DiPlacido, Ha-Joon Chang, and Willy Shih interviewed by Paul Solman for PBS: “Examining Trump’s Claims That Tariffs Will Revitalize American Manufacturing”
Tweet of the Week
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Leila Abboud for the Financial Times: “Marine Le Pen Goes on the Offensive After 5-Year Ban”
Graham Allison for The National Interest: “To End the Ukraine War, Trump Should Think Like Ike”
Rebecca Beitsch and Filip Timotija for The Hill: “Trump Fires NSA Director and Deputy After Loomer Meeting”
Jacqueline Charles for the Miami Herald: “Thousands March Against Gangs in Haiti as Vatican Is Notified of Murder of Two Nuns”
Abbie Cheeseman and Louisa Loveluck for The Washington Post: “Israel Expands Military Operations to ‘Seize Large Areas’ of Gaza”
Jason Douglas and Tom Fairless for The Wall Street Journal: “Trump Tariffs Aim to Bring Down Curtain on Era of Globalization”
Euronews: “Hungary Announces It Will Quit International Criminal Court as Netanyahu Visits Budapest”
Nelly Keusch, Ruth Fulterer, and Jasmine Rueegg for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung: “The UAE’s Spy-In-Chief Is Turning His Country Into a Global AI Power”
Yian Lee for Bloomberg: “China Simulates Port Strikes in Second Day of Taiwan Drills”
Nell Lewis for CNN: “Africa’s First ‘AI Factory’ Could Be a Breakthrough for the Continent”
Jung Min-kyung for The Korea Herald: “Yoon Suk Yeol: From Star Prosecutor to Ousted President”
Nicholas Phillips for Commonplace: “How to Think About Liberation Day”
Barbara Plett Usher for BBC News: “BBC Finds Fear, Loss and Hope in Sudan's Ruined Capital After Army Victory”
Sebastian Strangio for The Diplomat: “Myanmar Junta Announces Ceasefire to Aid Earthquake Recovery Efforts”
Anton Troianovski and Edward Wong for The New York Times: “Top Trump Aide Hosts White House Meeting with Kremlin Envoy”
Roger Wicker for The Washington Post: “We Must Beef Up Our Defenses Now — And Fix the Pentagon, Too”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on President Trump’s trade strategy from the
William Reinsch, Senior Advisor and Scholl Chair in International Business, CSIS
Susan Schwab, Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland
Rufus Yerxa, President, National Foreign Trade Council
Moderator: Stephanie Ruhle, Anchor, MSNBC
Book of the Week
By David McCormick and Dina Powell McCormick
“Unleash the power of transformative mentorship. You can change somebody’s life—and that can change the world. During the pandemic, Dina Powell McCormick and David McCormick watched as many Americans—including their six teenage daughters—were left feeling devoid of human connection and without the advice and guidance of mentors.
Recognizing the need in front of them, Dina and Dave interviewed successful leaders who stood on the shoulders of their mentor giants—people who saw something in them they may not have seen in themselves—and helped them find and achieve their purpose in life...
Who Believed in You unpacks the four critical elements of transformative mentorship—mutual trust, shared values, meaningful commitment, and the importance of instilling confidence—and offers guideposts and powerful illustrations from actual mentorship journeys that both show the way and inspire.”
Featured Partner Event
May 7 - 8, 2025
This summit is for defense capabilities and tech thought leaders and forward-thinking acquisition experts. Join senior defense and acquisition officials, industry experts, private capital funders, tech innovators, agile defense suppliers, congressional thought leaders, policymakers, think tanks, and media representatives. Together, we will craft a roadmap for a transformative acquisition ecosystem—built for speed, innovation, and warfighter effectiveness.
Podcast of the Week
Ha-Joon Chang, Marc Sumerlin, and Judy Shelton join Mary Childs and
Greg Rosalsky for NPR's Planet Money podcast:
“Tariffs: What Are They Good For?”
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