Trump Wrestles With China and Twitter: Weekend Reads

Follow Us Get the newsletter U.S.-China relations plunged to new depths this week after Beijing's proposal to tighten control over Hong Kong compounded disputes over the origin of the coronavirus and Washington's campaign against the Chinese tech giant Huawei. President Donald Trump threatened to throttle social-media companies after Twitter began selective fact checks of his posts on the platform and flagged one of his tweets for violating its rules against glorifying violence. In the U.K., a controversy surrounding one of Boris Johnson's key advisers rocked his government, already damaged by its handling of the pandemic. Dig deeper into these and other topics with the latest edition of Weekend Reads. — Karl Maier An activist known as Grandpa Wong argues with riot police during a protest in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay district on May 27.  Photographer: Lam Yik/Bloomberg Click here for more of Bloomberg's most compelling political images from the past week, and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net. Trump's China Announcement Leaves Room to De-Escalate Tensions Trump's long-touted response to China yesterday for its crackdown on Hong Kong was heated in rhetoric. But as Jenny Leonard, Josh Wingrove and Justin Sink explain, it stopped short of fully escalating tensions between the two nations. U.S.-China Tension Only Set to Get Worse: 'There Is No Off Ramp' With Trump and Xi Jinping both focused on ramping up domestic support in the wake of the pandemic, the bottom is falling out of U.S.-China relations. And few in either Washington or Beijing seem in the mood to stop it. Click on this report by Alan Crawford, Ania Nussbaum and Arne Delfs about how Europe's relations with China are tanking. Twitter-Trump Tension Mounts on Warning Over Shooting Tweet Twitter's decision to flag a Trump post about the unrest in Minneapolis for violating its rules against glorifying violence ratcheted up tensions with the president. Nate Lanxon and Vlad Savov explain that critics accuse the company of unfairly censoring one of its most prominent users.  Trump has said the federal government will assume control of the situation if it's not contained. "These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd and I won't let that happen," he tweeted. He added the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." That quote was originally made by former Miami Police Chief Walter Headley during a December 1967 news conference at a time that city was undergoing racial disturbances, according to The Washington Post. Facebook Ran Multi-Year Charm Offensive to Woo State Prosecutors The social-media giant went to great lengths to develop friendly ties with powerful U.S. state prosecutors who could use their investigative and enforcement powers in ways that could harm its revenue growth. Naomi Nix explains. Election Lawyer's Vote-by-Mail Crusade Meets GOP Resistance As the battle around the contentious issue of voting by mail intensifies five months before Election Day, Erik Larson reports on the progress Marc Elias, the man Trump has called the Democrats' "best Election stealing lawyer," is making on overturning restraints on such balloting. Merkel Is Seizing Her Chance to Revolutionize Germany's Economy The pandemic has given Angela Merkel an opportunity to install a form of state capitalism in Germany that allows officials in Berlin to pick winners and losers and groom national champions. Birgit Jennen and Arne Delfs detail the events at the height of the coronavirus crisis that led to the most dramatic re-engineering of the economy since post-war reconstruction. Keep Cummings and Carry On: How Johnson's Bet Could Backfire Tim Ross explains why Johnson's decision to stick by senior adviser Dominic Cummings, who sparked widespread condemnation for violating lockdown rules, could threaten the prime minister's long-term prospects. World's Biggest Lockdown to Push 12 Million into Extreme Poverty The pandemic's economic destruction will push at least 49 million people across the world into "extreme poverty," and 12 million of them will be in India, Upmanyu Trivedi and Vrishti Beniwal report. People buy commodities in a busy commercial hub, as the country relaxes its lockdown restrictions on May 15 Photographer: Yawar Nazir/Getty Images In Europe the Virus Raises New Walls Between East and West When Andrea Dudik traveled from the Czech Republic to bring her mother, who was recovering from chemotherapy in Austria, back home, she confronted fears that the pandemic was closing borders between East and West Europe and reigniting authoritarian tendencies. Social Unrest Is Lurking in New Latin American Virus Hotspot Chile is reporting new coronavirus cases at a pace comparable to that of Spain at the peak of the virus's spread there. Matthew Malinowski, Philip Sanders and Eduardo Thomson explain how the crisis is highlighting the inequality and poor public services that drove millions of protesters to the streets last October. And finally ... Fatou Fofana used to feed her family by selling spices and stock cubes on the outskirts of Abidjan, Ivory Coast's biggest city. But like millions of Africans, she's been put out of work by restrictions imposed to fight the coronavirus,Katarina Hoije, Agnieszka de Sousa and Mike Cohen report. The continent will account for most of the 265 million people the United Nations World Food Programme estimates will be "acutely food insecure" this year. Fofana with her children in Abidjan. Photographer: Katarina Hoije/Bloomberg   You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Balance of Power newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022