The Economist.

Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer. Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Artificial intelligence has a long academic backstory, in which early promises weren't kept, enthusiasm faded,

and the field entered what was called the AI Winter.

Recently, of course, it resurged, but once again, in the business world, disillusionment is

spreading. And as our subscriber-only series The Prince showed, understanding President Xi Jinping's

background and beliefs is really hard. The host of that series says a new book, all about Mr. C's father, is a startlingly

revealing look into his life. First up, though,

I always say tariffs is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary.

Then I was reprimanded by the fake news.

They said, what about love, religion, and God?

I said, I agree.

Let's put God number one.

Let's put religion number two.

Love, I don't know.

I got to put that number three, I guess, right?

And then it's tariff.

Imported packages tied up with strings, tariffs are one of Trump's favorite things.

It's a revenue source, sure, but we don't have to tell you that the arithmetic doesn't stand up.

More than that, though, Mr. Trump uses them as leverage, a means to secure favorable trade deals.

In February, it was the so-called fentanyl tariffs slapped on America's nearest neighbors,

...