Economic history, financial data, and major events for every country — 1900 to 2026
Final preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup—scheduled for June-July 2026 across 16 cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico—proceeded despite trade war tensions among the co-host nations, with FIFA confirming the expanded 48-team format. The tournament is expected to be the most watched sporting event in history.
By early 2026, leading AI companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft had deployed autonomous AI agent systems capable of completing multi-step complex tasks with minimal human oversight across software engineering, scientific research, and business processes, with millions of AI 'workers' augmenting or replacing human roles. Governments scrambled to develop regulatory frameworks for autonomous AI agents.
The US administration announced sweeping tariff changes affecting multiple trading partners, prompting retaliatory measures and reshaping global trade relationships.
Multiple central banks including those of China, Saudi Arabia, India, and others continued record gold purchases, diversifying reserves away from any single currency.
Convention, 15 - 17 January 2025 in Mexico City
second Wikisource conference held in Sanur, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, in 2025
2025 conference organized by the 22nd Century Initiative
knife attack occurred on 22 February 2025 in Mulhouse, France
Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th US President on January 20, 2025, and within hours signed a record number of executive orders reversing Biden administration policies including on immigration, climate, DEI programs, and withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and WHO. The sweeping first-day actions signaled a radical policy reversal across domestic and foreign policy.
TikTok went dark in the US on January 19, 2025, after a law requiring Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest the app took effect, but was restored within hours after President-elect Trump indicated he would not enforce the ban and would seek a deal. The saga highlighted tensions between national security concerns and free speech over Chinese-owned social media.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek released its R1 reasoning model on January 20, 2025, claiming performance comparable to OpenAI's o1 at a tiny fraction of the training cost, sending NVIDIA shares plunging 17% in a single day and erasing nearly $600 billion in market value in the largest single-day loss for any company in history. DeepSeek's efficiency challenged the assumption that US chip export controls would prevent China from competing in frontier AI.
The Trump administration engaged Ukraine in negotiations over a minerals partnership deal that would give the US access to Ukraine's rare earth metals and other natural resources, framed by Trump as partial repayment for US military aid. The negotiations caused friction as Trump pushed Ukraine toward a ceasefire with Russia on terms many Ukrainians found unacceptable.
The Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, began sweeping layoffs and buyouts of US federal workers in February 2025, targeting agencies including USAID, the Education Department, and the IRS, with claims of identifying trillions in potential savings. Courts issued multiple injunctions against specific actions as civil servant unions filed legal challenges.
A ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas took effect on January 19, 2025, mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, with Hamas releasing hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a pause in fighting. The deal was the first sustained ceasefire in the 15-month Gaza war, though its long-term prospects remained uncertain.
A highly publicized confrontation between President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Ukrainian President Zelensky at the Oval Office on February 28, 2025, captured global attention as Trump and Vance publicly berated Zelensky for not showing sufficient gratitude for US support and for rejecting ceasefire terms. The meeting ended abruptly with the suspension of US military aid to Ukraine.
President Trump imposed 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico on March 4, 2025, citing illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking, disrupting the USMCA free trade agreement both countries had negotiated in his first term. Canada and Mexico both announced retaliatory measures, threatening major disruptions to North American supply chains.
The Trump administration suspended military assistance to Ukraine in early March 2025, following the breakdown of the Oval Office meeting with Zelensky, leaving Ukraine without US intelligence sharing and weapons deliveries during ongoing Russian attacks. European allies scrambled to increase their own support to compensate.
President Trump announced sweeping 'reciprocal' tariffs on April 2, 2025, imposing a 10% baseline tariff on all imports with much higher rates for specific countries—including 34% on China (on top of existing tariffs), 20% on the EU, 24% on Japan, and 46% on Vietnam—in what he called 'Liberation Day.' The announcement triggered the worst global stock market crash since the COVID-19 pandemic.