The sabre-rattling has never been louder as Donald Trump plots the first foreign tour of his second administration, which begins on Monday with a three-day jaunt in the Middle East. The US president is expected to visit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar while in the region, conjuring up memories of a similar itinerary in 2017. This time, however, Trump will not be including a stop in Israel, which has used the tour as a pretext to demand yet another Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal. Israel’s security cabinet has announced a plan to “capture” Gaza and displace its population if a truce fails to be finalised before Air Force One’s departure back to the US. 

Despite Washington’s bombardment of the Houthis in Yemen this spring, Trump has clearly tired of war. Indeed, just hours after Israel bombed Sanaa’s main airport in retaliation for a Houthi attack on Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, he announced that the US and Houthis had reached a truce. The deal, which doesn’t include Israel, clearly took Jerusalem by surprise. The US has also scheduled yet another round of negotiations with Iran to end its nuclear programme this weekend (likely in Oman) – another red flag for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his hawkish cabinet.

One highlight of Trump’s upcoming Saudi visit will be a summit with leaders of the Gulf Co-operation Council aimed at boosting investment between the sheikhdoms and the US. Such talks, beyond their favourable photo ops, further reinforce the White House’s commitment to co-operation over conflict, at least in the Gulf. Even as Trump continues to talk tough on Tehran and Hamas – including threats of a direct attack on Iran if diplomacy fails – his real objective appears to be peace. 
 
Trump’s most lasting foreign-policy legacy from his first term are the Abraham Accords, a success that established relations between Israel and various Arab nations. The deal, which has miraculously survived the war in Gaza, serves as a bulwark against Iran while furthering regional economic integration. Trade between Israel and the UAE actually grew by 11 per cent in 2024, the year following the Hamas attack on Israel. 
 
But without Riyadh in the mix the Accords remain incomplete — and so does Trump’s foreign-policy legacy. This month’s Gulf visit aims to remedy this, even if US negotiations with Iran fall flat. As with his approach to everything from tariffs to foreign aid, Trump’s true motivations with Iran are as fluid as they are elusive. The president has promised a “very, very big announcement” before he heads to the Gulf. At this point, the world should expect nothing less. 
 
Kaufman is an editor and columnist at the ‘New York Post’. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Three South Korean defence firms have pitched the Canadian government to replace its navy’s ageing submarine fleet, bolster the firepower of its army and spur its defence bases at home (writes Tomos Lewis). It’s an ambitious move that seeks to build on a defence pact signed two years ago with the then-prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and capitalise on recent moves by Ottawa to reduce its reliance on US manufacturers amid ongoing trade tensions. The first proposal would see shipbuilders Hanwha Ocean and Hyundai Heavy Industries join forces to deliver four new submarines to the Royal Canadian Navy by 2035, far sooner than the navy’s own timeframe. The deal, valued at up to CA$24bn (€15.3bn), would involve the construction of maintenance facilities in Canada for the new vessels’ upkeep. Hanwha Ocean’s sister company, Hanwha Aerospace, has also proposed to re-equip the Canadian Army with mobile howitzers and rocket-propelled artillery. This would entail establishing maintenance centres in Canada too – a move endorsed by Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney. As the Trump administration’s trade and defence policies prompt the review of traditional relationships, South Korea senses a great opportunity.

Here’s a round-up of the week’s aviation news, featuring planes of the past, present and future.

Concorde is declared a national treasure
This week the French culture minister, Rachida Dati, elevated the Concorde’s first production model, the 001, to historical-monument status. From 1969 to 2003, the Concorde cut through the skies at twice the speed of sound but was parked largely as a result of staggering operational costs and concerns around noise. It remains, however, a prized jewel of French engineering (the UK was equally responsible) and has rightfully taken its place alongside other national treasures such as Claude Monet’s The Water Lily Pond and Notre-Dame Cathedral.
 
F-18s sink in the Red Sea
The recent signing of a deal worth more than $20bn (€17.6bn) between Boeing and the US military for next-generation fighter jets is welcome news – especially as it seems that the US Navy is struggling to keep its existing jets upright. Last week an F/A-18E fighter jet toppled off the side of the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier and sank into the Red Sea. It was a shocking $60m (€52.8m) mistake – but then the same thing happened again this week, raising concerns about negligence. 
 
Embraer is confident despite market upheaval 
Francisco Gomes Neto, the CEO of Brazilian aircraft developer Embraer, is bullish about the company’s performance even in the face of tariffs. Though it has been a difficult first quarter for most manufacturers, Embraer has reported a 23 per cent year-on-year net revenue increase. Neto has called for the tariffs’ eradication for the benefit of the wider global aviation sector. Yet the third-largest global aircraft company’s CEO has said that its deliverables are on track to be unaffected, particularly in its prospective commercial fleet, which is expected to ship between 77 to 85 jets this year.

“Gold is intrinsically valuable – it doesn’t depend on the government,” says Gregor Gregersen, the founder of the Reserve, Singapore’s newest, largest and most stylish vault for bullion and precious metals (writes Naomi Xu Elegant). “That’s the philosophy that underlies everything here,” adds Gregersen. As we stand in a low-ceilinged bunker in the eastern end of Singapore, every centimetre of wall space around us is taken up by rows of drawers, each containing millions of dollars’ worth of bullion. The Reserve consists of a 17,000 sq m facility that was completed in 2024 and can store up to 500 tonnes (or about €45bn) of gold and 10,000 tonnes (about €10bn) of silver, potentially making it the world’s highest-capacity vault.

But the Reserve is different from other safe-storage sites across the globe. It doesn’t simply offer clients a space to stash their precious metals – it sells them too. “We are the trader, the equivalent of a bank, the vaulting operations and the facility itself,” says Gregerson. “It means there’s a lot more transparency.” The Reserve, sheathed in translucent onyx panels, is also far more conspicuous than a typical vault; the cumulative aesthetic effect of it falls somewhere between Blade Runner and the Batcave. In its aversion to flying under the radar, The Reserve is nothing like a “traditional” vault but, says Gregersen, it checks all the boxes that matter. 
 
To read the full feature on The Reserve, click here.

This year the Finnish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale takes “Architecture of Stewardship” as its theme. Here, its curators, Ella Kaira and Matti Jänkälä, tell Monocle why preserving buildings is about more than just nostalgia.

What does stewardship mean to you?       
Ella Kaira: We often associate buildings with the architect who designed them but their survival depends on a wider circle of people, including builders, restorers and even cleaners. Take, for example, the Finnish Pavilion in Venice. Designed by Alvar Aalto in 1956, it was intended to be temporary but has been preserved thanks to ongoing care. That’s stewardship: collective responsibility for the built environment, carried across generations.
 
Matti Jänkälä: It’s about recognising buildings as something that we don’t fully own. We’re their caretakers. As with nature, stewardship involves moving away from a throwaway mindset to one of long-term responsibility.
 
How should this change the way that we view older buildings?
EK: We’re too quick to dismiss them as outdated or ugly. But every building is part of our cultural fabric. Demolishing them often means losing stories, skills and resources. 
 
MJ: Preservation isn’t just about looking backwards. It’s for future generations too. When we build for the present, we’re being selfish. Tastes change. What seems obsolete today might be loved tomorrow.
 
What does that mean for cities?
EK: Older buildings help to ground us. They’re social anchors. Much like a childhood home, they foster a sense of place and belonging. It’s something that speculative development often overlooks in the race for returns.

As the eligible cardinals assemble at the Vatican, Andrew Mueller explains the expected and unexpected goings on during a papal conclave.