Chief-Exec.com

China's Xi promises more trade but warns Trump over Taiwan as summit kicks off in Beijing
Chinese President Xi Jinping warned his US counterpart Donald Trump that the issue of Taiwan could push their two countries into "conflict" if mishandled, a stark opening salvo as a superpower summit set to tackle numerous thorny issues began in Beijing on Thursday. Trump had arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a "great leader" and a "friend" as he predicted that their countries would have "a fantastic future together". But beyond the pomp as he welcomed Trump, Xi used less effusive tones, saying the two sides "should be partners and not rivals" and highlighting the issue of self-ruled democratic Taiwan - which Beijing claims as its territory - straight off the bat. "The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations," Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV … Top of Trump's wish list for the summit will be business deals on agriculture, aircraft and other topics. Xi told a delegation of US business executives travelling with Trump, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Tesla boss Elon Musk, that China would "open wider" to the world. France 24, May 14

UK navy says vessel seized off UAE coast and heading for Iran
The UK’s navy said on Thursday that a ship had been seized off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and was heading towards Iranian waters. The UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre said the vessel was anchored 38 nautical miles north-east of Fujairah, one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE, when it was taken by “unauthorised personnel”. It provided no details about the ship, saying it was investigating the incident. Shipping in the Gulf has been severely disrupted since the US and Israel launched their war against Iran, with the Islamic regime slowing the flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz close to a standstill. The US has imposed its own naval blockade to prevent ships entering or leaving Iranian ports, with the warring parties locked in a stand-off amid a fragile ceasefire. Financial Times, May 14

Ukraine arms maker plans satellite push to cut reliance on US
One of Ukraine’s leading weapons manufacturers says it launched two satellites this year and plans “dozens” more in 2027, as the country seeks to lessen its reliance on the US government and western tech companies. Denys Shtilierman, co-founder and chief designer at Fire Point, told the FT the company was expanding production of cruise and ballistic missiles and developing a “pan-European air-defence shield” to avoid dependence on specific manufacturers. “The idea behind our weapons is that we sell not only weapons and not only security, but independence in security,” Shtilierman said. Ukraine has stepped up its domestic innovation after last year’s Oval Office clash between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which prompted the US to suspend intelligence sharing with Kyiv for a week. The Ukrainian army’s reliance on Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system has also proved a vulnerability at times, notably when it emerged that Russia was using it to guide its attack drones in Ukraine. Financial Times, May 14

UK economy grew at the fastest pace in a year in the first quarter
The UK economy expanded by 0.6 per cent in the first quarter, the fastest pace in a year and a rebound from almost no growth at the end of last year. Official figures showed that gross domestic product accelerated in line with forecasts from City analysts at 0.6 per cent between January and March. It is the best performance since the same quarter last year and a rebound from the 0.2 per cent expansion in the final quarter of the year. The Office for National Statistics said monthly growth was up by 0.3 per cent in March, after a 0.4 per cent jump in February. Economists had expected a 0.2 per cent contraction amid rising energy prices and disruption from the US–Iran war. The dominant services sector, which accounts for more than three quarters of economic output, expanded by 0.8 per cent in the first quarter and was the economy’s best-performing sector. The Times, May 14

London AI office space leases rise tenfold in year
The amount of office space leased by artificial intelligence firms in London has increased more than tenfold in the past year, figures show. Last month, more than 450,000 sq ft of office space was leased by companies whose core business is the creation of AI models, the data from real estate analysts CoStar found. The average across 2025 was 40,000 sq ft. Almost half of deals were done for offices in the areas around King's Cross and Euston stations with good links to Cambridge and London's education providers. Patrick Scanlon, CoStar's senior director of market analytics, said: "It's almost a graduation moment in terms of offices for the sector … This isn't looking like a bubble." He added: "We're hearing from people in the market that there is a lot of latent demand from AI firms in the market." Last month, a City Hall report found at least a million jobs done by Londoners were either "highly or significantly exposed" to the impact of AI. BBC news, May 14

Midsize cities held steady as US population growth declined
Midsize US cities held steady in population over the past year, even as the national population grew at one of the slowest rates in history, according to new numbers released on Thursday by the Census Bureau. Across the country, the growth of large cities was outpaced by that of surrounding midsize cities, defined as municipalities with populations ranging from about 25,000 to 70,000. Fort Mill, S.C., was the fastest-growing city, increasing its population by 6.8 per cent, to 38,673. Its growth outpaced that of nearby Charlotte, N.C., the nation’s 14th-largest city. The new census estimates capture changes in the population from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, a period when immigration declined under the tighter border policies imposed toward the end of the Biden administration and the aggressive enforcement under the Trump administration. The figures also reflected the continuing effects of declining birthrates, as the country’s fertility rate fell to a record low. New York Times, May 14

Trump's 'Golden Dome' will cost $1.2tn and might not stop all-out missile attack
US President Donald Trump's futuristic "Golden Dome" missile defence system will cost about $1.2tn (£882bn) to develop, deploy and operate over two decades, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates. That figure is significantly higher than the initial sum of $175bn (£129bn) that had been earmarked. And the system designed to shield the US against ballistic and cruise missiles might not even work. The new CBO report warned the Golden Dome could be vulnerable to a full-scale attack by Russia or China. Acquisition costs alone would be ⁠over $1tn, including for the interceptor layers and a space-based missile warning and tracking system, the fiscal scorekeeper said in a new report. BBC news, May 13

US intelligence shows Iran retains substantial missile capabilities
The Trump administration’s public portrayal of a shattered Iranian military is sharply at odds with what US intelligence agencies are telling policymakers behind closed doors, according to classified assessments from early this month that show Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities. Most alarming to some senior officials is evidence that Iran has restored operational access to 30 of the 33 missile sites it maintains along the Strait of Hormuz, which could threaten American warships and oil tankers transiting the narrow waterway. People with knowledge of the assessments said they show - to varying degrees, depending on the level of damage incurred at the different sites - that the Iranians can use mobile launchers that are inside the sites to move missiles to other locations. In some cases, they can launch missiles directly from launchpads that are part of the facilities. Only three of the missile sites along the strait remain totally inaccessible, according to the assessments. New York Times, May 12

Pentagon’s Iran war bill nears $30bn as Donald Trump renews threats
The Pentagon on Tuesday said its cost estimate for the US’s Iran war had risen to $29bn, up $4bn in two weeks, as Donald Trump signalled his readiness to restart his bombing campaign unless Tehran agreed a deal. A senior Pentagon official told US legislators that the war’s new price tag accounted for “updated repair and replacement of equipment costs” and operational costs to keep forces in the conflict zone. “We think it’s closer to $29bn,” Jay Hurst, the defence department’s acting comptroller, testified at a congressional hearing where lawmakers pressed the administration for answers on the increasingly unpopular war. The latest disclosure came as the US president prepared to leave Washington for Beijing, where he said he would discuss his war with China’s leader Xi Jinping. Trump on Tuesday indicated he would be willing to restart the conflict after weeks of fragile ceasefire. Financial Times, May 12

US inflation jumps to 3.8% as Donald Trump’s Iran war sends petrol prices soaring
US inflation jumped to 3.8 per cent in April, its highest level in three years, as President Donald Trump’s war in Iran triggered a surge in petrol prices that has inflamed America’s cost of living crisis. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index has risen sharply since the conflict began. It had already increased from 2.4 per cent in February to 3.3 per cent in March versus a year earlier. Tuesday’s figure was above Wall Street expectations and marks the first time in three years inflation has outstripped wage growth. The last time prices rose this quickly was in 2023 as the country reeled from the energy shock triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The report is the latest indicator of how the Iran conflict is reverberating across the world’s biggest economy, with higher fuel costs increasingly spilling into other sectors. It will pile pressure on Trump, whose popularity is near record lows as the war exerts a heavy toll on American households. Financial Times, May 12

Protections for emperor penguins in focus as Antarctica talks start in Japan
Greater protections for endangered emperor penguins and how to manage growing tourism will top the agenda at talks on Antarctica opening in Japan on Tuesday. The annual meeting comprises the original 12 nations that signed the Antarctic Treaty - which now has 58 parties - as well as 17 others that conduct substantial research activity there. The continent and its abundant wildlife are protected under the 1959 treaty, which designates it as a land of science and peace, while freezing territorial claims. "The discussions taking place here in Hiroshima are especially important at a time when Antarctica is increasingly affected by global challenges such as climate change," Francisco Berguno, executive secretary of the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat, told a news conference in Hiroshima on Tuesday. Berguno warned that the continent "plays a critical role in regulating the Earth's climate and oceans," and urged "long-term thinking, careful management, and international trust". France 24, May 12

US tech giants’ profits buoyed by stakes in private AI companies
Profits at the largest US tech companies are being significantly boosted by an “unusually large contribution” from the values of their stakes in private artificial intelligence companies. According to analysts at Goldman Sachs, Alphabet and Amazon, for example, reported “other income”, or money made from their investments in the AI companies, of $53 billion in the first three months of the year, which accounted for nearly 60 per cent of their total income. The Wall Street bank said that 34 per cent of the profit earned by the five largest cloud computing and platform service providers, also including Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Oracle, was attributable to other income, the highest such split in at least a decade. Analysts at the bank noted that $49 billion of this “other income” was explicitly connected to equity stakes in private companies, such as Anthropic, which have significantly increased in value over the past year. The Times, May 12