Situation Reports

Ukraine's top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Russia's 2025 summer offensive failed to achieve its main goals, Reuters reported on Sept. 26.

U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Sept. 25 outlining the "qualified divestiture" of China-based ByteDance's U.S. operations of the social media app TikTok, specifying that a U.S.-based joint venture will oversee the app's data and algorithm.

A Nigerien military airstrike reportedly hit the village of Kourfeye in the Tillaberi region, killing at least 40 civilians at a weekly market, RFI reported on Sept. 25.

China has launched an investigation to determine if the import taxes Mexico plans to impose on goods from countries with which it does not have free trade agreements constitute a trade and investment barrier, El Pais reported on Sept. 25.

The CEO of Ethiopia’s state-owned Ethiopian Electric Power company, Ashebir Balcha, signed an action plan for the planning and construction of a nuclear power plant in Ethiopia with the general director of Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, Reuters reported on Sept. 25.

On Sept. 25, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the federal government to crack down on individuals and groups supporting and carrying out acts of political violence.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on Sept. 25 that effective Oct. 1, the United States would impose a 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture, a 25% tariff on heavy-duty trucks, and a 100% tariff on branded or patented pharmaceutical products, unless the company is building a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in the United States.

The Trump administration is discussing a plan requiring chip manufacturers to produce the same number of semiconductors in the United States that their customers import from overseas producers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sept. 26.

The Group of Seven nations and the European Union have discussed establishing a price floor on rare earth minerals and placing taxes on Chinese rare earth minerals in an effort to promote rare earth production outside of China, Reuters reported on Sept. 24.

U.S. chipmaker Intel approached Apple seeking a potential investment as part of Intel's quest for cash injections, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 24.