Good evening. Trump's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz appears to be working exactly as intended, with no ships making it through US operations in the first 24 hours as tankers either stopped or turned around entirely. The Treasury Secretary is calling the resulting economic disruption a worthwhile trade-off for eliminating Iranian threats to Western capitals, though the IMF warns the UK faces the biggest growth hit among major economies. Trump says new talks with Iran could happen "over the next two days" in Islamabad, with longer-term negotiations planned for Europe.
Meanwhile, China is flooding global markets with heavily subsidized high-tech goods in what's being called "China shock 2.0," cutting through the world's most advanced industries with furious competition and sheer scale. On the political front, JD Vance's influence continues to shrink after recent setbacks, and he's no longer seen as Trump's obvious successor. King Charles and Queen Camilla are planning a four-day state visit to DC, New York, and Virginia, though it comes at a particularly tense moment in US-UK relations following Trump's frequent criticism of the British Prime Minister.