BRAVE MAG

WASHINGTON (AP) — TheSupreme Court decisionstriking down President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs has added a wrinkle to already complicated U.S.-China relations, with both countries navigating shifting ground to avoid an all-out trade war that would disrupt the global economy while stilljostling for a position of strengthin negotiations.

Friday's court ruling would seem to strengthen China's hand, but analysts predict that Beijing will be cautious in exploiting the advantage, knowing that Trump has other ways of levying taxes. Both sides also want to maintaina fragile trade truceand stabilize ties ahead of Trump'shighly anticipated trip to Beijing.

"It will give China a moral boost in their negotiations with Trump's team ahead of the summit, but they are prepared for the scenario that nothing actually changes in reality," said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank.

Furious about the defeat, Trump said first he was imposing a temporary 10% global tariff beforeraising it to 15%as well as pursuing alternative paths for import duties. He made the case for tariffs by pointing to China, which poses the biggest challenge to U.S. economic, technological and military dominance.

"China had hundreds of billions of dollars in surpluses with the United States. They rebuilt China. They rebuilt the army. We built China's army by allowing that to happen," Trump told reporters Friday. "I have a great relationship with President Xi, but he respects our country now."

The White House has confirmed that Trump will travel to China on March 31 through April 2 to meet President Xi Jinping.

China is looking beyond tariffs

Xi is unlikely to "flaunt or brandish" the Supreme Court ruling forcefully when meeting Trump, likely choosing instead to try to strengthen his rapport with the U.S. president, said Ali Wyne, a senior research and advocacy adviser focused on U.S. policy toward China at the International Crisis Group.

The more that Xi can do that, "the more likely it is that the fragile trade truce between the United States and China will take hold in earnest and that Trump will be amenable to security concessions that give China greater freedom of maneuver in Asia," Wyne said.

Asked for comment on the implications of the court ruling, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said only that tariff and trade wars serve neither country's interest. He called for Beijing and Washington to work together to "provide greater certainty and stability for China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation and the global economy."

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The court decision also creates newuncertainty for other U.S. trading partners, in Asia and elsewhere, especially those that havereached trade dealsto calm the initial turmoil from Trump's tariffs.

"I would expect most Asian partners to proceed cautiously, with existing agreements largely holding as both sides work through the implications in the coming weeks," said Dan Kritenbrink, a partner at The Asia Group who served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs in the Biden administration.

He said he would be watching the impact on Japan ahead of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi'splanned visit to Washingtonin March. Japan, a staunch U.S. ally, has seen itsrelations with Beijing deterioratein recent months.

Trump has options

Shortly after Trump returned to the White House early last year, heinvoked an emergency powers lawand slapped 20% tariffs on Chinese goods over what he said was Beijing's failure to stem the flow of chemicals that can be used to make fentanyl.

Trump later invoked the same emergency authority to impose sweeping reciprocal tariffs on many countries, including 34% on China. Beijing retaliated, and the tariffstemporarily soared to triple digitsbefore both sides climbed down.

After several rounds of trade talks and asummit between Trump and Xiin South Korea in October, the two countries agreed to a one-year truce with a 10% baseline tariff. Trump also slashed the so-called fentanyl tariff to 10%, while Beijing resumed its cooperation in restricting the export of more substances that could be used to make the opioid.

Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said she suspected the Trump administration could roll out a Plan B quickly. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has an active investigation into China's compliance with a previous trade agreement and that could be the administration's backup plan, she said. If China is found not to be fulfilling its obligations under the agreement, the U.S. government is allowed under a trade law to impose tariffs.

Rep. Ro Khanna, the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, urged the administration to come up with a new, tougher strategy that "holds China accountable for its unfair trade practices and leverages the collective power of our allies and partners."

Gabriel Wildau, a managing director focused on political risk analysis in China at the consultancy Teneo, said Trump has already shown his willingness to use other legal authorities to impose tariffs on China, as he did during his first term, and Beijing probably assumes that the tariffs could be maintained or re-created "with only modest difficulty."

"But Beijing also holds out hope that they can persuade Trump to lower this tariff in exchange for purchase guarantees or other concessions," Wildau said.

It took just 11 days for South Korean lawmakers to impeach former PresidentYoon Suk Yeolafter hedeclared martial lawand threatened to unravel decades of hard-won democracy.

Now, 14 months after thatill-fated announcement,which led to lawmakers forcing their way past soldiers and police to enter parliament and security forces deployed to the election commission's offices, Yoon has been convicted of leading an insurrection and sentenced to life in prison.

Yoon's reckoning is the result of South Korea's mammoth push to hold a head of state accountable for almost tearing up his nation's democratic institutions.

Though his snap decree only lasted six hours, the crisis threw the country into months of political chaos. Investigators have since alleged the depth of the brazen plot extended tosending secret drone flightsinto North Korea to try to provoke a conflict with arch-rival Kim Jong Un and justify martial law.

Indeed, when news of Yoon's address began pinging across her group chats at about 10:40 p.m. on December 3, 2024, Song Hwa said she prepared for the worst.

"At first, I thought there was a war," Song, 35, who runs an online apparel business, told CNN Wednesday. Her husband Heo Woojin said, "As soon as I saw the news, I just felt this huge, invisible pressure that I had to do something."

Yoon was accusing the country's main opposition party of sympathizing with Pyongyang and of "anti-state" activities. The military decree meant all political activities and protests were banned, troops could arrest people without a warrant, and news media was muzzled.

Those draconian measures were never fully enforced. But for older South Koreans the decree brought back dark memories from years of terror underoppressive military rule.

On the night of the decree, the couple, who live in Seoul, hastily fed their cat Mango and jumped in the car with one aim: get to the National Assembly – South Korea's parliament and seat of democracy in the heart of the capital.

"I had screenshotted the constitution," Song said. Specifically, the part where it says the National Assembly can request the lifting of martial law with a quorum vote.

Heo said they took a longer route than normal, thinking the major highways across the Han River that snakes through the capital, or leading to the state broadcaster, would be blocked by security forces.

But their path was clear. At about 11:30 p.m. they parked their car near the legislature as helicopters buzzed overhead.

"The chopper noise was really loud and it was sleeting. It felt like a scene in a movie," Heo said.

Hundreds of people were already gathered at the front gate of parliament in the freezing December night, they said. Meanwhile, on the steps of the assembly building, protesters and lawmakers were facing off against troops who had blocked the entrance.

Lawmakers forced their way inside to reach the inner chamber, where they could vote down the military decree. Outside, one politiciangrabbed a soldier's riflein what became one of the defining images from that night, saying that she felt like the "last line" of defense preventing security forces from accessing parliament.

Others piled up furniture to barricade the doors.

At around 1 a.m., 190 lawmakers, including several from Yoon's own conservative party, voted unanimously to lift martial law. Yoon lifted the decree about three hours later.

Song said she believes it was the people of South Korea who stopped martial law that night.

"I think it was the citizens… who came together to protect our democracy," she said.

"There's a quote I really like," said Heo. "'Courage isn't the absence of fear, but acting in spite of it.' The strength of the citizens who acted even when they were afraid was truly incredible."

A strike at the heart of democracy

Yoon's extraordinary decree was the first time a South Korean leader had imposed martial law in 44 years, sinceChun Doo-hwanseized power in a military coup, inaugurating an eight-year period of iron-fisted rule.

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Chun was similarly convicted of insurrection, though he was later pardoned.

South Korea has spent the four decades since shaping itself into a robust and scrappy democracy, with a political system that in many ways mirrors that of the United States: a presidential system with a strong executive branch. The presidential residence is even called the Blue House.

Certain alleged parallels between Yoon and the current US president have also been noted by South Korean academics and even Yoon's conservative die-hard supporters, whose American flags and"Stop the steal" signs– inspired by Donald Trump's MAGA base – remain permanent fixtures at pro-Yoon rallies.

"Both have very little regard for the truth. Both have little respect for long-standing customs and traditions that underpin democratic institutions. Both have little time for political cooperation," said Cho Hee-koung, a law professor at Hongik University in Seoul.

"(And) both have touted stolen elections and have spread fake news," added Cho.

A former prosecutor, Yoon was a political newcomer when he took office in 2022, winning the presidential election by a razor-thin margin. He was a conservative firebrand and staunch US ally, tough on China and North Korea.

But he faced plummeting approval ratings over economic issues and a series of scandals involving his wife and political appointments that prompted calls for him to resign. Months before the martial law order, his party suffered a bruising defeat in elections and opposition parties took control of the National Assembly. Yoon later claimed electoral fraud, but the allegations were never substantiated.

Yoon said martial law was the only way he could break a months-long political stalemate in which the main opposition Democratic Party had used parliament to impeach key cabinet members and hold up legislation.

"The National Assembly brought about the national crisis and there was no other way but to awaken the people," he said in closing statements during his trial, arguing that as president he was exercising his constitutional authority.

"At the time, many thought that Yoon had failed in his auto-coup attempt because he was incompetent," said Cho. "But we are now finding out that this had been in the planning for much longer and in much more detail than we had thought and it was by the skin of the teeth and much luck, bravery of ordinary citizens, civil disobedience by some members of the military that saved us."

Presiding judge Ji Gwi-yeon ruled Yoon's deployment of troops to parliament and attempt to arrest political opponents, including current President Lee Jae Myung, who was then head of the opposition, were acts of insurrection.

A defiant Yoon

Yoon has fought every legal action against him and his lack of remorse was part of the prosecution's push for the death penalty – a largely symbolic move as South Korea hasn't executed anyone in decades.

Throughout proceedings, Yoon refused to answer summonses by investigators and engaged in a weeks-long showdown with authorities trying to detain him at his residence, telling supporters he would "fight to the end."

Though it's not uncommon for former South Korean presidents to face legal trouble, Yoon'seventual arrestwas the first time such an action has been taken against a sitting leader.

Yoon described the insurrection charge as "a delusion and a work of fiction" and a political conspiracy. Following the verdict, his legal team said, "we will never yield to distortion and lies."

Former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun was sentenced to 30 years in prison, and four other leaders in the military and police received sentences of between three and 18 years for aiding the insurrection. Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is already serving a23-year sentence.

Yoon has the right to appeal, though he still faces multiple othercriminal trials.

"By and large, our democratic institutions have withstood a full-frontal attack," said Cho. "At the same time, this real-life stress testing has really shown where the weak links are and what needs to be repaired."

Song and Heo say South Korean democracy was ultimately safeguarded by the power of its citizens.

"To people who wonder, 'Does doing this really change anything?' I want to say that if you fight the world does change," said Heo.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Nurses at a big New York hospital system approved a new contract Saturday, voting to enda major nursing strikeafter more than a month.

More than 4,000 nurses in the privately run NewYork-Presbyterian system went on strike Jan. 12. They are now due to start returning to work in the coming week. The union, called the New York State Nurses Association, said 93% of its members at NewYork-Presbyterian voted to ratify the three-year contract.

Two other big private hospital systems, Montefiore and Mount Sinai, ended their nurses' walkout earlier this month byinking contract agreementswith the same union.

"We are so happy with the wins we achieved, and now the fight to enforce these contracts and hold our employers accountable begins," union President Nancy Hagans said in a statement Saturday.

NewYork-Presbyterian said that it looked forward to its nurses' return and that the contract "reflects our respect for our nurses and the critical role they play as part of our exceptional care teams."

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Both sides had said Friday that they hadreached a tentative deal. Union members voted on it Friday and Saturday.

Provisions included staffing improvements, raises topping 12% over three years and safeguards on the use ofartificial intelligence, according to the union.

The union has said the strike initially involved about 15,000 nurses overall at Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian. It affected only some facilities within the three systems and didn't involve any city-run hospitals.

During the strike, Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian brought on thousands of temporary nurses, transferred some patients and canceled some procedures. The hospitalsinsisted they were smoothly deliveringcare, including complex surgeries. But some vulnerable patients and their families said someroutine tasks took longer.

The strikers complained of unmanageable workloads and accused the hospitals of trying to chip away at health benefits. The hospitals contested those claims and said the union's demands were exorbitant.

Nurses at some Mount Sinai and Montefiore hospitals alsowalked out in 2023. That strikeended in three days.