The Week Evening Review
China's warnings on Taiwan, U.S.-Canada relations, and microdosing Ozempic

 
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION

Is the US testing China's 'red lines' on Taiwan?

President Joe Biden is trying to strengthen Taiwan's defenses before he leaves the White House. And according to China's leaders, who consider now-independent Taiwan to be China's territory, the U.S. is undermining "peace and stability" in East Asia as a result.

Beijing believes American leaders are "playing with fire" with the latest round of military assistance to Taiwan, said Politico. The warning came after Biden authorized up to $571 million in defense-related "material and services" to the democratic island. 

China's leadership "regularly protests announcements of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan," said The Wall Street Journal. Its latest pushback comes at a moment of transition, with Donald Trump about to take office.

What did the commentators say?
China is "seeking to set the terms for the U.S.-China bilateral relationship for the next four years," said David Sacks at the Council on Foreign Relations. Beijing's talk of "red lines" is a warning to the U.S. "not to pursue certain policies." China understands the U.S. will probably not abide by those lines under Biden or Trump, but publicly announcing them "gives Beijing the opportunity to put the onus on Washington for heightened tensions." 

The incoming administration "should reject China's red lines as unworkable both in principle and in practice," said Jack Burnham at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. And it's not only Taiwan. Beijing considers efforts to promote democracy in China and U.S. sanctions to limit Chinese trade and technology acquisition to be other "red lines" that American leaders should not cross.

What next?
Taiwan is "buckling up for what could be a far more volatile relationship" with Washington, said CNN. On the campaign trail, Trump argued that Taiwan should pay the U.S. "protection money" while also saying the country had "stolen" America's electronics chip-making businesses. That leaves leaders in Taipei City nervous, said Chen Ming-chi, a former senior adviser to Taiwan's National Security Council. Trump's "unpredictability," he said, means "we don't know if Taiwan will be safer or more dangerous under his second term."

 
 
QUOTE OF THE DAY

'Trump is practically seen as the mascot for the end of the old world order and the demise of the liberal democratic ideology.'

Exiled journalist and author Mikhail Zygar on Russian President Vladimir Putin's apparent eagerness to work with President-elect Donald Trump in his quest to shape a new world order in defiance of the West

 
 
TALKING POINTS

What Trump means for US-Canada relations

Relations between the U.S. and Canada are usually placid. But a second Donald Trump presidency might change that.

The President-elect "appears interested in adding a 51st star to the American flag," Alexandra Sharp said at Foreign Policy. Trump has veered between threatening massive tariffs on Canadian imports to speculating — some would say trolling — about the possibility of absorbing Canada into the U.S.

Trump's provocations have created a "near-existential moment" in Canadian politics, said The New York Times. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was already in "serious trouble" before Trump's election, but now there's a new element of chaos. 

'Make life more expensive'
Trump has focused on America's trade deficit with Canada while threatening tariffs. He complained that "we subsidize Canada to the tune of over $100,000,000 a year." 

That grievance is "nonsense," Zeeshan Aleem said at MSNBC. There is "nothing innately wrong with having a trade deficit," but Trump tends to see international relations as all winners and losers: "You are either ripping someone off or you are the one getting ripped off." In fact, the U.S. "benefits economically from what it imports from Canada."

Canadian officials are preparing export taxes — on commodities like uranium, oil and potash — that would "drive up costs for U.S. consumers, farmers and businesses" as a response to Trump's proposed tariffs, Brian Platt said at Bloomberg. Americans could end up paying at the pump. Canada is the "largest external supplier of oil" to the U.S. A trade war could be messy for both sides. "All it does is make life more expensive," said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. 

'Like cousins or siblings'
Trump is "going after Canada now, but everyone else is next," Stephen Collinson said at CNN. The incoming president's "vindictive behavior" is likely to be the dominant mode in his foreign policy. Canadians are "getting an early taste of what Trump's second term will be like," and "everyone else will soon catch up."

Some Canadian officials are trying to downplay the potential conflict. The U.S. and Canada are "like family, like cousins or siblings," Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., said to Politico. There's "no country in the world that wants a strong America more than Canada, right?" Plus, a "strong Canada is good for the United States." 

 
 

Statistic of the day

103: The age of the world's oldest-living Olympic medalist, Agnes Keleti, who died today. The Hungarian Olympic Committee announced the death of the Holocaust survivor, who won 10 Olympic medals in gymnastics, including five gold medals, in 1952 and 1956. She later became the coach of Israel's Olympic gymnastics team. 

 
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The growing trend of microdosing Ozempic 

To converts sharing tips online, microdosing Ozempic or other semaglutide-based drugs is crafty way to lose pounds without enduring "eggy burps," constipation and other suboptimal side effects of the weight-loss drug, said Harriet Walker at The Times. But some experts are warning against this trend.  

'Massive spikes' in interest 
A growing number of influencers and other users are microdosing Ozempic, taking a tiny amount, as a weight-loss "hack" following "horror stories" about side effects of the standard dose, including "nausea, vomiting" and "intense constipation," said The New York Times. Google Trends keyword analysis reveals "massive spikes" in interest in the practice over the past year, said science news site Futurism.  

Placebo effect
"I microdosed a similar weight-loss drug, Mounjaro," said Walker. "After a week, I had shifted half a stone that I have been trying to lose for as long as I can remember." Jeans that "I hadn't been able to sit down in for a year fit again," and my sciatic pain "is gone."

But users "don't typically get weight loss if we go to such a low dose," Mir Ali, the medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center in California, said to Women's Health. Some experts believe those who do lose weight by microdosing, essentially taking an amount that's subtherapeutic (less than the amount required for treatment), may be "super responders" who are especially sensitive to the effects of the drug, said The New York Times. And the loss may also be the result of a placebo effect that encourages them to make other changes to their lifestyle.  

Getting the dose right "requires complicated maths and conversions," Dr. Alexandra Sowa, the author of "The Ozempic Revolution," said to Women's Health. Prolonged use of tiny amounts of medication also increases the risk of consuming it after the use-by date.

 
 

Good day 🏅

… for Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson. President Joe Biden is honoring the pair, who led the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, with the second-highest civilian medal. The former Republican congresswoman for Wyoming and Democratic congressman for Mississippi are among the 20 people to which Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal at a White House ceremony.

 
 

Bad day 🚗

… for Tesla. Global vehicle deliveries for the electric car maker fell in 2024, for the "first time in more than a decade" after a "surge of promotional deals in the fourth quarter failed to stimulate sales enough to top the prior-year results," said The Wall Street Journal. The company delivered 495,570 vehicles in the fourth quarter, falling short of the roughly 515,000 vehicles it needed to sell to top its 2023 performance.

 
 
Picture of the day

Bread line

Aymara Indigenous people celebrate the Roscasiri festival with a parade in Pomata, southern Peru. Participants of the tradition, which marks the changeover of local authorities, adorn themselves with bread and fruit to represent abundance in the new year.
Connie France Calderon Martel / AFP / Getty Images

 
 
Puzzles

Test your general knowledge with The Week's daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes sudoku and codewords

 
 
The Week recommends

The big-deal holidays have come and gone. But you still need to cook over the coming winter months, even if the season of high partygoing has ended. For comfort of both the edible and literary kind, these releases will satiate.

'Nature's Candy: Timeless and Inventive Recipes for Creating and Baking with Candied Fruit'
Jams and jellies get much of the love when it comes to preserving fruit. Candied fruit are a comparatively unsung arm of sweet transformations. In what might be the first cookbook on the subject, Camilla Wynne encourages taking the time to cajole pears, pineapple and even jalapeños to sweeten themselves. (out now, $30, Amazon)

'Preserving the Japanese Way: Traditions of Salting, Fermenting and Pickling for the Modern Kitchen'
This tome was first published in 2012 in the States, and its fans bemoaned it going out of print some time later. Nancy Singleton Hachisu's book is about to be available to the masses again, in no small measure thanks to a growing interest in Japanese foodways in the U.S. (Feb. 25, $45, Amazon)

'Mother Sauce: Italian American Family Recipes and the Story of the Women Who Created Them'
Italian wedding soup, chicken Parmesan, tiramisu — Iconic Italian American dishes that are so well-known they seem to have always existed. Lucinda Scala Quinn has reverse-engineered those storied dishes, unearthing the women who invented the versions now known across much of the U.S. Buried history is rebirthed, with an array of solid recipes. (March 11, $35, Amazon)

 
 

Poll watch

More than six in 10 Americans (65%) say they limit their consumption of political media due to information fatigue, according to an AP-NORC survey. The poll of 1,251 adults found that many also limit their consumption of other news topics, including 51% who limit media on overseas conflicts and 45% who limit media about the economy. 

 
 
INSTANT OPINION

Today's best commentary

'Food tourism is dead, but something more interesting is emerging' 
Brian Lee at The New York Times
People can now "observe food cultures develop in real-time, shaped by migration and internet connectivity," says Brian Lee. The "old model of chasing cultural cachet by traveling to specific destinations for 'authentic' local cuisine is fading fast," and the "real cutting edge of culinary exploration lies not in destination traveling but in the next wave of third-culture cuisines." The "world's next great cuisine" is "being created right now, in the spaces where cultures, traditions and technologies mingle."

'Adoption changes lives. We owe it to families to make it easier and less expensive.'
Mandi Genord at USA Today
Adoption is a "daunting dollar amount for many families," but politicians can "help alleviate this adoption deterrent by making the adoption tax credit refundable," says Mandi Genord. This "would help kinship and fixed-income families in particular afford adoption and care that often comes post-finalization." It's "time for lawmakers to alleviate some of the financial pressure involved in adoption and encourage more families to welcome children into their home, instead of allowing children to languish in institutions."

'India is shooting itself in the foot on trade — again' 
Mihir Sharma at Bloomberg
The "real problem with India's trade policy lies in a seemingly innocent administrative procedure that doesn't sound half as dangerous as tariffs," says Mihir Sharma. Most Indians "don't complain about import taxes so much as they do about nontariff barriers to trade." If India "actually wanted to protect consumers, then it would, like many other nations, simply exempt goods from this requirement that had cleared regulatory and quality barriers in tightly monitored markets."

 
 
WORD OF THE DAY

astroturfing

Manufacturing opinions or comments online that appear to come from ordinary individuals but are actually from a company or organization. After "It Ends with Us" costar Black Lively accused him and his PR team of astroturfing in a retaliatory smear campaign, Justin Baldoni and his publicists sued The New York Times on Tuesday, claiming it defamed him in an article about her allegations. 

 
 

Evening Review was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Joel Mathis, Summer Meza, Chas Newkey-Burden and Anahi Valenzuela, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images; Jim Lo Scalzo / Pool via Bloomberg / Getty Images; Aprott / iStock / Getty Images; Penguin Random House / HarperCollins / ‎Ebury Press