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The sweeping tariffs threatened or already imposed by US President Donald Trump risk triggering inflation, market distortions, and even a global recession, China said Tuesday at the World Trade Organization.After returning to office on January 20, Trump hit China, the world’s second-biggest economy, with an additional 10 percent levy on products entering the United States.Trump signed executive orders last week imposing new 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium, due to come into effect on March 12.And he said Tuesday that US tariffs on imported cars would be around 25 percent, providing new information on duties he is expected to unveil around April 2.”The world faces a series of tariff shocks,” said Li Chenggang, China’s ambassador to the WTO, at the first meeting of the year of the global trade body’s decision-making General Council.”The US has imposed or threatened tariffs on its trading partners, including China, unilaterally and arbitrarily, blatantly violating WTO rules. China firmly opposes such measures.”These tariff shocks heighten economic uncertainty, disrupt global trade, and risk domestic inflation, market distortion, or even global recession.”Li went on to say that US unilateralism threatened to upend the rules-based multilateral trading system.- ‘Wrongful’ tariffs -Imposing punitive tariffs on countries with high trade surpluses with the United States has been at the heart of Trump’s economic policy.He paused 25 percent levies against Canada and Mexico for a month after both countries vowed to step up measures to counter flows of the drug fentanyl and the crossing of undocumented migrants into the United States.But Trump went ahead with tariffs on China, which in return imposed retaliatory tariffs targeting US coal and liquified natural gas. Li said: “We cannot lose sight of the root cause of today’s trade turbulence and threats to all members: it is US arbitrary tariffs and unilateral measures.”He urged Washington to withdraw the tariffs and “engage in multilateral dialogues based on equity, mutual benefit, and mutual respect”.A Geneva-based trade official said Washington voiced concerns that China was operating a non-market economic system and habitually breached WTO rules.”The US highlighted the issues stemming from China’s lack of transparency and its disregard for WTO oversight,” the official said.”The US also pointed out that the WTO’s current inability to address China’s market-distorting policies, such as unfair subsidies, significantly diminishes the organisation’s effectiveness.”- ‘Cool heads’ call -WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala urged the WTO’s 166 members to keep “cool heads”, and keep talking to one another.”The world has changed. We cannot come here to continue doing the same things we’ve been doing,” she said.The former Nigerian finance minister urged countries to use the new trade landscape as an “inflection point” to press on with long-sought reforms to the WTO.The WTO is upgrading its tariff analysis database and will launch the new version on March 4.The General Council meeting continues on Wednesday.

Global stock markets held largely steady on Tuesday as top US and Russian diplomats held their first high-level discussions since Russia invaded Ukraine. The talks, which excluded Europe and Ukraine, ended with Moscow and Washington agreeing to appoint teams to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war.”Donald Trump continues to be the dominant force for financial markets,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. “Trump has ripped up the playbook when it comes to dealing with Russia, and the markets are keeping the faith with the US President for now,” she added.While the Dow finished flat, the S&P 500 nudged to a fresh record following a late-afternoon rally.”It was a mostly lackluster day until the final 10 minutes of trading,” said Briefing.com. “There was a positive bias under the index surface even as major indices traded lower, which acted as an upside catalyst and invited more buying in the final moments of the day.”Europe’s main markets were flat or edged higher, with Frankfurt’s DAX index striking another all-time high as elections approach, with investors hoping a ruling coalition better able to act will emerge.”There seems to be a widespread belief that a global recession will not occur and that the trade war is merely a ‘residual risk’,” CMC Markets analyst Konstantin Oldenburger said in a note to clients, pointing out that cash reserves of funds and asset managers have fallen to their lowest levels since 2010.Defense stocks mostly added to gains after having soared the previous day as European leaders held an informal summit to discuss Ukraine and signaled more financial and military support ahead. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her government would announce plans later Wednesday for a “massive” rearming of Denmark’s military due to the growing threat posed by Russia.Intel surged 16.1 percent following a Wall Street Journal report that rivals Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. were considering bids to purchase key assets from the chip company. Nike was another big winner, gaining 6.2  percent as it announced a joint venture with Kim Kardashian under the NikeSKIMS brand.But US homebuilder stocks retreated following a survey that showed industry sentiment fell sharply in February due to worry about tariffs.Over in Asia, Hong Kong’s stock market soared Tuesday, thanks to a recovery in Chinese tech stocks. That came after a meeting between President Xi Jinping and China’s top business leaders fanned hopes that a long-running crackdown on the private sector is coming to an end.- Key figures around 2130 GMT -New York – Dow: FLAT at 44,556.34 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 6,129.58 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 20,041.26 (close)London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 8,766.73 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 8,206.56 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 22,844.50 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 39,270.40 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.6 percent at 22,976.81 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.9 percent at 3,324.49 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0445 from $1.0484 on MondayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2608 from $1.2623Dollar/yen: UP at 152.09 from 151.51 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 82.85 pence from 83.04 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.6 percent at $71.85 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.8 percent at $75.84 per barrelburs-jmb/md

The Trump administration has put an “anti-fraud expert” in charge of Social Security, long a politically untouchable entitlement program, the White House confirmed Tuesday after the previous chief resigned in an apparent clash with Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team.The reported departure of acting commissioner Michelle King was the latest abrupt resignation of a senior official confronted with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as the billionaire takes a scorched-earth approach to federal spending.The details of her exit were not clear, but The Washington Post, which first reported the story on Monday, said it came after officials from DOGE tried to access sensitive data at the Social Security Administration.US media said King had been made acting commissioner in January as President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the agency, Frank Bisignano, was vetted for the post. The Trump administration expects Bisignano “to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks,” according to White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields. “In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner,” he told AFP when asked for confirmation of King’s resignation.That expert is Leland Dudek, who previously headed up Social Security’s anti-fraud office, according to an email he sent to staff late Monday that was seen by AFP. “I will lead this agency in an open and transparent manner,” he promised in the email.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said the administration suspects there are “tens of millions of deceased people receiving fraudulent Social Security payments.” Musk has also referred to potential fraud, without providing evidence.Experts have warned that Social Security data is hugely sensitive, raising concerns about Musk taking a sledgehammer to the agency.”SSA has comprehensive medical records of people who have applied for disability benefits. It has our bank information, our earnings records, the names and ages of our children, and much more,” warned Nancy Altman, president of the left-leaning advocacy group Social Security Works.”There is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is. And my understanding is that it has already occurred,” she said.Musk’s DOGE has come in for widespread criticism since Trump took power last month as it rampages through the federal government, slashing staff and programs that it argues are fraudulent and do not align with the president’s agenda.But the drive has run into resistance. Top US Treasury civil servant David Lebryk also resigned in January after refusing to give DOGE access to the department’s vast payments system.And the Post reported Tuesday that a federal prosecutor stepped down after refusing to comply with a White House move to rescind $20 billion in grants for climate and clean energy projects. Republicans have long sought to privatize Social Security and other US entitlement programs such as Medicare, complaining of the massive costs and government oversight involved.But the programs are hugely popular with voters, making any attempts to reform them potential political suicide. 

Dramatic new footage released on Tuesday showed a passenger plane hitting the runway hard and flipping upside down at Toronto’s airport, as investigations began into the cause of the crash.A fire ball and thick plumes of black smoke engulfed the Delta Air Lines plane as it skidded to a halt on its roof on Monday but none of the 80 people on board were killed.”The crew of Delta Flight 4819 heroically led passengers to safety, evacuating a jet that had overturned on the runway on landing, amidst smoke and fire,” Toronto airport authority chief executive Deborah Flint told a news conference.She said Canada’s Transportation Safety Board has deployed 20 investigators to the site where the Bombardier CRJ-900 crashed.They will be assisted by the US Federal Aviation Administration and representatives from Delta and Mitsubishi, which purchased this line of planes from Bombardier in 2019.Injuries sustained in the crash ranged from “minor to critical, but not life-threatening,” Flint said.  Delta said 21 passengers were transported to hospitals and so far 19 have been released.Paramedic services told AFP on Monday that three people had been critically injured — a child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s.The flight with 76 passengers and four crew was landing in the afternoon in Canada’s largest city after a flight from Minneapolis in the US state of MinnesotaTodd Aitken, the airport’s fire chief, said late Monday it was too early to determine the cause of the crash.”It’s really important that we do not speculate. What we can say is the runway was dry and there was no crosswind conditions,” he said.- Black smoke -The video posted to social media and verified by AFP was taken from the cockpit of another jetliner waiting on the tarmac. It showed the plane coming in for a normal landing before slamming into the runway, then sliding forward in a roll to the right, with its wings sheared off before it stopped on its back.Flames could be seen shooting out of the fuselage and black smoke billowing out.”Oh no no no no no,” the pilot is heard saying in the video that was laced with expletives. Rescue services responded, spraying water at the jet, whose underside was scraped and blackened.Aitkin said rescue teams saw isolated fires when they got to the scene.  “They were able to quickly knock down the spot fires” and enter and search the plane, he told reporters Tuesday. Most of the passengers had already “self evacuated”, he added.Corey Tkatch of the area’s paramedic services said emergency responders dealt with a “multitude of different injuries” including back sprains, head injuries, anxiety and headaches.Passengers reported smelling jet fuel as they exited the plane. Some suffered from nausea and vomiting due to the fuel exposure, he said.In the days prior to Monday’s crash, two massive snowstorms hit eastern Canada, dumping 70 centimeters (more than two feet) of snow, which Flint said was “more snow than we received in all of last winter.” Strong winds and bone-chilling temperatures could still be felt in Toronto on Monday when airlines added flights to make up for weekend cancellations due to the storm.The Toronto crash was the latest in a recent string of air incidents in North America, including a mid-air collision between a US Army helicopter and a passenger jet in Washington that killed 67 people, and a medical transport plane crash in Philadelphia that left seven dead.

The Trump administration has put an “anti-fraud expert” temporarily in charge at the Social Security Administration, long a politically untouchable source of government spending, the White House confirmed Tuesday after the previous chief resigned in an apparent clash with Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team.The reported departure of acting commissioner Michelle King was the latest abrupt resignation of a senior official confronted with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as the billionaire takes a scorched earth approach to federal spending.The details of her exit were not clear, but The Washington Post, which first reported the story on Monday, said it came after officials from DOGE tried to access sensitive data at the Social Security Administration.US media said King had been made acting commissioner in January as President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the agency, Frank Bisignano, was vetted for the post. The Trump administration expects Bisignano “to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks,” according to White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields. “In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner,” he told AFP when asked for confirmation of King’s resignation.The Post and other US media named that expert as Leland Dudek, who had previously headed up Social Security’s anti-fraud office.Trump has directed Musk and DOGE to identify fraud at the agency, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt has said. “They suspect that there are tens of millions of deceased people receiving fraudulent Social Security payments,” she told Fox News. Musk has also referred to potential fraud, without providing evidence.But experts have warned that Social Security data is hugely sensitive, raising concerns about Musk taking a sledgehammer to the agency. “SSA has comprehensive medical records of people who have applied for disability benefits. It has our bank information, our earnings records, the names and ages of our children, and much more,” warned Nancy Altman, president of the left-leaning advocacy group Social Security Works.”There is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is. And my understanding is that it has already occurred,” she said. Musk’s DOGE has come in for widespread criticism since Trump took power last month as it rampages through the federal government, slashing staff and programs that it argues are fraudulent and do not align with the president’s agenda.But the drive has run into resistance. The top civil servant at the Treasury Department, David Lebryk, also resigned in January after refusing to give DOGE access to the government’s vast payments system. And the Washington Post reported Tuesday that a federal prosecutor stepped down after refusing to comply with a White House move to rescind $20 billion in grants awarded by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, for climate and clean energy projects. Republicans have long sought to privatize Social Security and other US entitlement programs such as Medicare, complaining of the massive costs and government oversight involved.But the programs are hugely popular with voters, making any attempts to reform them potential political suicide. 

A US federal judge ordered the Trump Justice Department to appear in court Wednesday to explain its extraordinary decision to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, a move that triggered a wave of protest resignations.US District Judge Dale Ho, who is presiding over the case, ordered the embattled mayor of the largest US city and Justice Department prosecutors to attend a 2:00 pm (1900 GMT) hearing in Manhattan to discuss the reasons for dismissing the charges.In asking last week for the case against Adams to be dropped, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said the prosecution was restricting the Democratic mayor’s “ability to devote full attention and resources to illegal immigration and violent crime.”The unusual request prompted allegations that it was a quid pro quo in exchange for Adams agreeing to enforce Republican President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown — a claim denied by the mayor.”I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered — nor did anyone offer on my behalf — any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case,” he said.Adams, who pleaded not guilty in September to charges of fraud and bribery, has been under growing pressure to resign.On Monday, the head of New York’s city council called on the mayor, who is facing reelection in November, to step down and four deputy mayors announced that they were resigning.Governor Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from office, was meeting with “key leaders” on Tuesday to discuss what she called a “path forward with the goal of ensuring stability for the City of New York.”- ‘Fool’ or a ‘coward’ -Danielle Sassoon, the acting US attorney in Manhattan, a Trump appointee, and assistant US attorney Hagan Scotten who brought the case against Adams, resigned last week along with several Justice Department officials in Washington to protest the order to dismiss the charges.Scotten, the lead prosecutor, in a blistering letter to Bove, said only a “fool” or a “coward” would comply with the Justice Department demand to drop the case.In ordering Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Ho, citing previous rulings, noted that the government has “broad discretion” in deciding which cases to prosecute. But the court, in considering a request for dismissal, “must have sufficient factual information supporting the recommendation.”The Justice Department, which Trump has accused of unjustly prosecuting him, has been the target of a sweeping shakeup since the Republican took office and a number of high-ranking officials have been fired, demoted or reassigned.More than 800 former federal prosecutors released an open letter Monday condemning recent actions by Trump’s Justice Department that are not based on “the facts and the law” but appear intended “to serve solely political purposes.”Among those who signed the letter was Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought two now-abandoned criminal cases against Trump — for conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden and for mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House.

US director Richard Linklater and long-time collaborator Ethan Hawke have teamed up again for “one-scene” musical drama “Blue Moon” which premiered at the Berlin film festival on Tuesday.Set in 1943, it sees Hawke play love-lorn and troubled Broadway writer Lorenz Hart, whose credits include “The Lady Is a Tramp” and the song that gives the film its title. The dense, lyrical script sees Hawke take centre stage for almost the entire 100-minute movie, which unfolds like a theatre production inside a hotel and bar on the opening night of the musical “Oklahoma!”.”It’s basically filmed as one scene. It starts and all the dominoes fall in one gesture,” Hawke told journalists in Berlin on Tuesday alongside on-screen love interest Margaret Qualley (“Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”).Linklater said he had “always loved this period so much — the 1930s and 40s musical theatre, the craftsmanship of it”. The aim had been to produce a film that echoed the songs written by Hart and his composer partner Richard Rodgers, played in the film by Irish actor Andrew Scott (“Fleabag”, “All of Us Strangers”).”Our goal with this movie was if it could be like a Rodgers and Hart song too. If it could be beautiful and kind of sad and funny, all at the same time,” Linklater said. The 64-year-old director is back at the Berlinale festival 11 years after winning the silver bear award for Best Director, the second-top prize, for his epic “Boyhood” film, which also featured Hawke.- Politics -The duo shot to fame with their work together on the 1995 romantic drama “Before Sunrise”, the first instalment of their “Before” triology.   “Blue Moon” is one of the most star-heavy contenders in the main competition at this year’s Berlin film festival, which showcases independent arthouse movies and documentaries from across the world.Last year’s event was overshadowed by a political row in Germany caused by criticism from actors and directors of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.The festival’s new director, Tricia Tuttle, vowed beforehand that the Berlinale would not “shy away” from current events but she hoped the news agenda would not eclipse the on-screen stories.The jury, helmed by US director Todd Haynes, is set to hand out its awards on Saturday evening.The day after, Germany goes to the polls for a national election, with the far-right AfD surging in the polls and earning enthusiastic backing from Donald Trump’s US administration. In an interview with AFP this week, Haynes urged Hollywood to resist Trump and warned about the danger of being “contaminated” by the radical changes underway in the United States.”It is an appalling moment that we’re in right now, that will take every bit of energy to resist and revert back to a system that, flawed as it is, is something that we’ve taken for granted as Americans,” he said.

The passenger plane that crashed in Toronto appeared to hit the runway hard before bursting into flames and flipping upside down, new video showed Tuesday. A fire ball and thick plumes of black smoke engulfed the Delta Air Lines plane as it skidded to a halt on its roof, but none of the 80 people on board were killed.The airline said in a statement on Tuesday that “21 injured passengers were initially transported to local hospitals. As of Tuesday morning, 19 have been released.”Paramedic services told AFP on Monday that three people had been critically injured, including a child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s.The flight with 76 passengers and four crew was landing in the afternoon in Canada’s largest city, having flown from Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota.Todd Aitken, the airport’s fire chief, said late Monday that it was too early to determine the cause of the crash.”It’s really important that we do not speculate. What we can say is the runway was dry and there was no crosswind conditions,” he told a news conference.The video posted to social media and verified by AFP was taken from the cockpit of another jetliner waiting on the tarmac.It showed the moment the Delta plane hit the ground. “Oh no no no no no,” the pilot is heard saying in the video that laced with expletives. The aircraft came in for what looked like a normal landing when it slammed into the ground, bounced and slid forward in a roll to the right, with its wings sheared off before it stopped on its back.Flames are seen shooting out from the fuselage the moment it hit the ground, along with billowing black smoke.Rescue services quickly responded, spraying water at the jet, whose underside was scraped and blackened.Toronto airport authority chief executive Deborah Flint said the incident did not involve any other planes.A massive snowstorm hit eastern Canada on Sunday. Strong winds and bone-chilling temperatures could still be felt in Toronto on Monday when airlines added flights to make up for weekend cancellations due to the storm.Canada’s Transportation Safety Board has deployed a team of investigators to the site of the crash.They will be assisted by the US Federal Aviation Administration, which also sent a team to the scene, according to US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy.Officials at the airport were expected to provide an update on Tuesday.

Lofty rhetoric and frank acknowledgements of a new world order have not been in short supply from European leaders since the new American administration of Donald Trump took office, but it will take an immense leap to translate such sentiments into reality, analysts and observers say.Trump spoke over the heads of not only Europe but also Ukraine by declaring he was ready to negotiate with Russia to end the three-year war, while his Vice President JD Vance left seasoned policymakers dazed with a withering attack on the European Union at the Munich Security Forum.”It’s really a ‘make or break’ moment,” said a European source, asking to be named, adding: “while the war continues, (…) things bigger than Ukraine are at stake in Ukraine, starting with our security.”The shock switch in policy from the United States prompted European leaders to vow to ramp up defence capacities through higher spending and even to consider sending troops to Ukraine to enforce an eventual ceasefire.Emergency talks of key European leaders called Monday by French President Emmanuel Macron were aimed at showing a united front, but immediately exposed tensions with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying he was “a little irritated” by suggestions, from the likes of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, that troops should be deployed.In the most concrete sign that the United States has brought Russia back from the cold, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks with American counterpart Marco Rubio in Saudi Arabia later Tuesday.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters in Paris: “Everyone at this meeting is aware that transatlantic relations, the NATO alliance and our friendship with the United States have entered a new phase.”NATO chief Mark Rutte said the Europeans were “ready and willing” to step up, while EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen called for a “surge” in defence.- ‘Clock ticking’ -The chairman of the Munich Security Forum Christoph Heusgen, after the annual conference was shocked by Vance’s speech, went as far as to say: “We have to fear that our common-value base is not that common anymore”.As if to emphasise his point, some accounts on social media edited his speech to show him weeping when he said this, although in fact his emotion came after he thanked his team over his last year in charge.”This unfortunately shows again how the mechanisms of disinformation work,” Heusgen later said on social media.Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, said that while the west is “perilously close to the worst-case scenario on Trump and Ukraine”, Europe should have seen the trouble coming.”The European reaction seemed stunned — which is just as worrying,” he said.For Alberto Alemanno, professor of EU law at the HEC Paris business school, the Paris meeting showed “major differences” among European countries over committing peacekeeping troops to Ukraine and funding a massive defence investment push. “At least the debate is now in full swing across capitals and beyond but the clock is ticking,” he said.The potential challenge of finding unity within the EU were underlined by the stance at the Elysee Palace meeting of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni who arrived conspicuously late and echoed concerns about troop deployments.Sending troops was “the most complex and the least effective” way of securing peace in Ukraine, she said according to reports confirmed by an Italian government source to AFP.Meloni, who revels in her cordial ties with Trump and his advisor the X and Tesla owner Elon Musk, also said the meeting should not be an “anti-Trump” initiative, the source added.- ‘Question of political will’ -Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics, whose country shares a border with Russia, said that since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there had been much talk in Europe about increasing defence spending, but “our capabilities are not enough”. “I’m afraid that, after a couple of days, after strong statements, we will somehow relax, will relax again, and we will go back to business as usual,” he said after the Munich meeting.While the informal Paris talks were not aimed at forging an accord, many leaders agreed that one key step for the European Union was to relax its strict fiscal rules to allow higher defence spending by member states.For former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who was present in Munich, the United States is “no longer happy to be the main guarantor of security in Europe” and “does not see the EU as it once did”.”Europe is technically fully able to adapt and rise to this challenge, but the question remains one of political will, or the lack of it. Indecision will lead in only one direction, and it won’t be pretty.”

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company unveiled on Monday the latest version of its chatbot, Grok 3, which the billionaire hopes will find traction in a highly competitive sector contested by the likes of ChatGPT and China’s DeepSeek.The launch comes as the world’s richest man is deploying the enormous powers granted him by US President Donald Trump to restructure and dismantle federal agencies.The unprecedented cost-cutting drive has raised conflict-of-interest questions, given that many of those agencies have regulatory oversight on elements of Musk’s sprawling business empire.”Grok is to understand the universe,” Musk said at the start of the Grok 3 launch presentation.”We’re driven by curiosity about the nature of the universe — that’s also what causes us to be a maximally truth-seeking AI, even if that truth is sometimes at odds with what is politically correct.”Musk has promoted Grok 3 as “scary smart,” with 10 times the computational resources of its predecessor that was released in August last year.The flagship product of his xAI company was trained on synthetic data and employs self-correction mechanisms that avoid errors –- known as “hallucinations” -– that plague some AI chatbots and lead them to process false or misleading data as fact.”Grok 3 has very powerful reasoning capabilities, so in the tests that we’ve done thus far, Grok 3 is outperforming anything that’s been released, that we’re aware of, so that’s a good sign,” Musk said in a video call last week with the World Governments Summit in Dubai.Grok 3 will be made available first to Premium+ paid subscribers of X — formerly Twitter, which Musk acquired in 2022 — before rolling out to other users.The upgraded chatbot enters a crowded field with countries racing to introduce more sophisticated — and cost-effective — AI products.Chinese startup DeepSeek shocked the global AI industry last month with the launch of its low-cost, high-quality R1 chatbot — a direct challenge to US ambitions to lead the world in developing the technology.Grok 3 is also going up against OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT – pitting Musk against collaborator-turned-arch rival Sam Altman.Musk and Altman were among the 11-person team that founded OpenAI in 2015. Created as a counterweight to Google’s dominance in artificial intelligence, the project got its initial funding from Musk, who invested $45 million to get it started.Musk left three years later, and then in 2022 OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT created a global technology sensation — one that did not feature Musk at its center and which made Altman a star.Their relationship has become increasingly toxic and litigious ever since, with Open AI’s board last week rejecting a Musk-led offer to buy out the company for close to $100 billion.- Trump and tech -Trump has put technology front and center of his new administration. Tech billionaires featured prominently at his inauguration and he has announced a number of major AI infrastructure initiatives from the White House.Musk has become a key figure in the administration, as one of Trump’s closest advisers and the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has begun a radical overhaul of the US government bureaucracy.Critics warn that Musk’s proximity to the president poses a major conflict of interest as he guides Trump on laws and regulations around artificial intelligence –- just one sector in which he has a substantial commercial stake.According to Bloomberg, xAI has been canvassing potential investors for a roughly $10 billion funding round that would value the company at about $75 billion.Musk, who also acts as boss of SpaceX and Tesla, launched the xAI company in July 2023, shortly after he signed an open letter calling for a pause in the development of powerful AI models.