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Good morning from The Financial Times.

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Today is Thursday, April 24th. And this is

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your FT News briefing. The

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UK and the EU are teaming up on

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security, and the US apparently

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has some real beef with the

0:16

IMF and World Bank. Mission creep

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has knocked these institutions off course. Plus,

0:20

we'll take a look at what Elon Musk,

0:23

reducing his time in the Trump administration, might mean

0:25

for Tesla. I'm Mark Filipino, and here's

0:27

the news you need to start your day. UK

0:46

Prime Minister Kier Starmer and European

0:48

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

0:50

meet today. They're finalizing plans for

0:52

a defense pact. Sources say

0:54

the deal will accomplish a couple

0:56

of things. Notably, open the door

0:58

for sensitive talks on energy cooperation

1:00

and maybe remove trade barriers for

1:02

food and agricultural products. Starmer

1:04

and Vonderlion are also set to

1:07

announce a rollover of the current phishing

1:09

arrangements between the two governments. There

1:11

is expected to be a

1:13

formal announcement of these deals on

1:15

May 19th. Scott

1:22

Besant had some choice words for the

1:24

International Monetary Fund and World Bank

1:26

yesterday. The IMF and World

1:28

Bank have enduring value. But

1:31

Mission Creep has knocked these

1:33

institutions off course. We must

1:36

enact key reforms to ensure

1:38

the Bretton Woods institutions are

1:40

serving their stakeholders, not the

1:42

other way around. The US

1:45

Treasury Secretary said this during a

1:47

speech at the Institute of International

1:49

Finance yesterday. The IMF

1:51

and World Bank spring meetings are taking

1:53

place all this week. Here with

1:55

me now to discuss this is the

1:57

FT's US economics editor, Claire Jones. Hey,

2:00

Claire. Hi there. Good to have

2:02

you back. So Claire, when

2:04

Besant said Mission Creep by the

2:06

World Bank and the IMF, how

2:08

would you characterize the tone of

2:10

Besant's speech? I think there

2:12

was some quite big bobs there, I

2:14

mean he wanted to say look we're

2:16

not going to do anything drastic, we're

2:18

not going to pull out of the

2:20

fund or the World Bank but we're

2:22

really not happy with the ways in

2:24

which things have been heading. We want

2:27

you to concentrate on the basics of

2:29

the things you were set up for

2:31

and move away from this broader and

2:33

broader ambit of these things like climate,

2:35

gender issues, social issues and really get

2:37

back to basics. The basics

2:39

being financial stability and global

2:41

economic cooperation. Claire,

2:43

what did the IMF and the World Bank say

2:45

in response to this? Anything? So

2:47

we haven't had anything on the record

2:50

from them yet. Later on

2:52

today, we should hear from

2:54

IMF Managing Director, Krystinina Georgaeva, and

2:56

the World Bank as well, I

2:58

think. It hasn't said this officially,

3:00

but I think the general mood

3:03

is they feel as though the

3:05

relationship between the administration is reasonably

3:07

good and that they were already

3:09

moving in the sort of direction

3:11

in which Scott Besend discussed yesterday.

3:14

This speech comes in kind of

3:16

a whirlwind of other economic and

3:18

financial news, Besend. indicated that the

3:20

U .S. may actually ratchet down some

3:22

of the trade tensions with China

3:25

that this tariff war may not

3:27

be sustainable. Trump said on Tuesday

3:29

that he has no intention of

3:31

firing Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell,

3:33

even though prior to that he

3:35

indicated that he does have an

3:37

intention to do so. How does

3:39

Besson's speech fit into all of

3:41

this? I think the

3:43

main concern has been for people

3:46

gathering in DC this week for

3:48

the IMF and World Bank spring

3:50

meetings, is that the US, which

3:52

is the largest shareholder in the

3:54

institutions, could pull out together. That

3:57

was the idea in the conservative

3:59

manifesto project 2025, which some see

4:01

as a playbook for what the

4:03

Trump administration is doing. Now,

4:05

Vescent has made clear that the

4:07

US doesn't intend to do that.

4:09

I think that, along with the

4:11

sense in which Trump has responded

4:14

to markets concerns over the Fed's

4:16

independence, and Besson playing down the

4:18

likelihood of things getting worse between

4:20

US and China on trade, gives

4:22

the sense that even though things

4:24

are pretty bad for the global

4:26

economy and markets right now, they

4:28

could be even worse. Where

4:31

does this leave the IMF and

4:33

the World Bank as the meetings continue?

4:36

For the IMF, there is a

4:38

sense in which the Treasury

4:40

has taken aim at some of

4:42

what have been some of

4:44

the key policies of the IMF

4:46

under Georgieva. You know, she's

4:48

been keen to explain the mandate and

4:50

talk about issues such as climate and social

4:52

topics. It's clear that the

4:54

US really, really doesn't want to do

4:56

that. And it will be very

4:58

interesting to see later on today

5:00

how the IMF manager and director really

5:02

responds to those criticism. I

5:04

think the World Bank will feel

5:06

that this almost gives it wind in

5:08

its sails to carry on pursuing

5:10

the agenda, that it's put in place

5:12

of shifting more to talking about

5:14

things like jobs and away from things

5:16

such as climate. Claire Jones

5:19

is the FT's US economics editor.

5:21

Thanks, Claire. Thanks a lot. Boeing

5:29

announced its earnings yesterday and things

5:32

are looking better than expected. The

5:34

aircraft company reported a net loss

5:36

of $31 million for its first

5:38

quarter. I know what you're thinking,

5:41

that might seem like a lot,

5:43

but it's significantly lower than the

5:45

$355 million loss it reported the

5:47

same time last year. Boeing

5:49

saw an increase in aircraft deliveries

5:52

and is forecasting positive free cash

5:54

flow for the latter part of

5:56

the year. Revenue's last quarter rose

5:58

18%. Investors liked all that. Boeing's

6:00

share price ended the day up

6:02

more than 6 % higher. Now

6:11

we've got another big earnings story

6:13

for you. Tesla reported its lowest

6:15

quarterly profits in years earlier this

6:17

week. The results seemed grim enough

6:19

to force CEO Elon Musk to

6:21

reconsider how much time he's focusing

6:23

on government. He said during

6:25

Tuesday's earnings call he'll be reducing his

6:27

time in Washington and retaking the wheel

6:29

at the electric car maker. Here

6:32

to talk to me about the prospects for

6:34

the company going forward is my colleague Stephen Morris

6:36

in San Francisco. Hey Stephen. Hello.

6:39

So Stephen, we talked about the

6:41

top line numbers in yesterday's show. Tesla's

6:44

reported net income dropped a

6:46

staggering 71 % in the

6:48

first quarter. How much of that

6:50

can we attribute to Musk's role with the

6:52

Trump administration? Well,

6:54

even before Elon Musk became one

6:56

of the most divisive US political figures

6:58

of modern times, Tesla was in

7:00

kind of a tight spot. It

7:03

faces increasing competition from

7:05

increasingly sophisticated Chinese competitors,

7:07

both in terms of the technology of the cars

7:10

and also the batteries and range. And

7:12

it has failed to develop and launch

7:14

a new mass market model, excluding the Cybertruck,

7:16

of course, which I don't think qualifies

7:18

for that for many years. And now on

7:20

top of all of that, it's facing

7:22

a consumer backlash in Europe and the US

7:24

from Musk's politics. And now

7:26

it has contend with tariffs and

7:28

consumer nervousness as the US

7:31

economy may tip into recession. What's

7:34

Elon Musk saying about these concerns and

7:36

criticisms? Does he have something up his sleeve

7:38

to make investors feel better about the

7:40

company? Well, investors and

7:42

analysts and online fans have been

7:44

calling for him to spend much more

7:46

time at the carmaker considering the

7:48

precipitous decline in shares and sales. And

7:51

he finally caved to this pressure. In

7:53

response, Tesla has said that it

7:55

is going to continue with sort of

7:57

a stripped down model Y, the

7:59

top selling car in the world, and

8:01

start putting that out to consumers

8:03

later on this year, which could juice

8:05

sales figures somewhat. But

8:08

Musk's bet on Tesla is much bigger

8:10

than just releasing new cheaper cars. He's

8:12

bet the entire company on AI and

8:14

robotics. And there are certain people

8:16

that believe he can pull that off as he has

8:19

many other improbable things in his career. And there

8:21

are other people that think, Tesla just needs

8:23

to focus on doing what it actually was set

8:25

up to do, which is make cars. And that's

8:27

why we're seeing such divided opinions on the stock.

8:30

Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned the stock price.

8:32

It really shot up when Musk said

8:34

he'll be taking a very stripped back role

8:36

in government, but it's still down more

8:38

than 30 % this year. Do you

8:40

think that this news is enough

8:42

to change investor sentiment towards Tesla? Tesla

8:44

stock is going to continue. going

8:47

up and down with the vagaries

8:49

of what Musk says and the

8:51

performance of the sales. But remember,

8:53

over the last five years, this

8:55

is a stock that has increased

8:57

423%. And if we do start

8:59

to see autonomous driverless cybercaps on

9:01

the roads of Austin in Texas

9:03

and potentially San Francisco, and we

9:05

start seeing real world applications for

9:07

these AI powered robots that can

9:09

see and interact with their environments

9:11

in real time, then there is

9:13

a potential for huge upside. Now,

9:16

of course, Musk is renowned for

9:18

over -promising and under -delivering, so

9:20

I think there's still a huge amount of

9:22

uncertainty about not only the rest of this year,

9:24

but the next five years of Tesla in

9:26

general. What are you looking at

9:28

long -term for Tesla? Well, the

9:30

biggest headwind at the moment is what

9:32

happens through the rest of the Trump

9:34

administration. When Musk was

9:36

asked about Trump tariffs, protectionism, supply

9:38

chains on Tuesday on the earnings

9:41

call, he just led out a

9:43

deep sigh and said that he

9:45

was going to continue to advocate

9:47

for free trade globalization with the

9:49

president but he doesn't know whether

9:51

he will listen. I do think

9:53

this is going to be one of

9:55

the major factors about whether Tesla is successful

9:57

over the next few years along with

9:59

every other automaker in the world probably every

10:01

other company. Tesla builds more

10:03

of its cars in the

10:05

US than any other manufacturer,

10:07

but it impossible to disentangle

10:09

its supply chains of rare

10:11

minerals, various components from China

10:14

and various other places. So,

10:16

So, the older days in investing is

10:18

never bad against Elon Musk, so I'm loath

10:20

to say that this is a stock on the

10:22

decline, but there is certainly more uncertainty about

10:24

it than there has been in any of the

10:26

previous five years. That's the

10:28

FT, Steven Morris. Thanks, Steven. Thank

10:31

you. You

10:33

can read more on all these stories for free when

10:35

you click the links in our show notes. This has

10:37

been your daily FT News briefing. Check back tomorrow for

10:39

the latest business news.