Miloš Maggiore is a consultant in the Analytical Products team at New Lines, focusing his analysis on researching the Indo-Pacific and other hotspots for the weekly forecast monitor. Before joining New Lines, Maggiore was a master’s candidate in international relations at Johns Hopkins SAIS. His research has included European security, emerging technologies, and maritime security in the Indo-Pacific. He previously graduated with a master’s in international conflict and criminology from Amsterdam’s Free University. He has worked in NGOs concerned with humanitarian assistance in Greece as a worker in a refugee camp. He was an assistant in a local Amnesty International group in the Netherlands and worked on researching wildlife crimes for a South African start up. He has work experience in finance and think tanks.
The second quarter of 2025 will be headlined by the reverberations of U.S. policy shifts initiated by President Donald Trump’s administration in the first quarter, primarily related to global trade issues and its changing posture to hotspots around the world.
This week, the Hamas/Israel ceasefire collapsed after Israeli forces launched an air and ground assault in Gaza, while the U.S. Navy engaged al-Houthi targets in Yemen. Russia and Ukraine agreed to a 30-day cessation of attacks on energy infrastructure, while Russian missile and drone attacks continued across Ukraine. In the Indo-Pacific, reports emerged that the U.S. Department of Energy designated South Korea as a “sensitive country,” potentially hindering its technology cooperation with the U.S., while the Trump administration tightened sanctions against Chinese importers of Iranian oil.
This week, President Donald Trump suggested the United States could take ownership of Gaza during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while negotiations continued in Doha on the implementation of the next phase of Israel’s cease-fire deal with Hamas. In the Indo-Pacific, China announced several retaliatory measures following Trump’s implementation of 10% tariffs on all Chinese imports. In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would be willing to meet directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while the White House announced preparations to send a delegation to Kyiv. Trump postponed 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada by one month, following assurances from both countries they would commit more resources to monitor their respective borders.
The U.S. should invest more in developing Taiwan’s resiliency against energy import and semiconductor supply chain vulnerabilities.
