Monday, April 12

· The Treasury Department said in its monthly budget report that the United States’ government budget deficit surged to an all-time high of $1.7 trillion for the first six months of the budget year, nearly double the previous record.

· Secretary of State Antony Blinken named former ambassador to Malta, Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, as the State Department’s first chief diversity officer, a position created to make U.S. diplomats more representative of the country’s demographic makeup.

· Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which coincided with Israel’s sabotage cyberattack on an Iranian nuclear facility. Netanyahu called the Iranian government a “fanatical regime.”

· Senior White House officials met with the executives of 19 major U.S. companies to discuss the global semiconductor shortage that has disrupted the auto and tech industries, which National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said “reflects the urgent need to strengthen critical supply chains.”

Tuesday, April 13

· Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian warned the U.S. to “not play with fire” on issues concerning Taiwan, which China claims as its own, after the State Department updated guidelines the week prior to ease restrictions on meetings between Taiwanese and U.S. officials.

· Defense Secretary Austin said the U.S. will station 500 more military personnel in Germany. Austin’s German counterpart Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer celebrated the decision as a “strong signal” of a healthy relationship between the two countries.

· Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Chuck Rettig told the Senate Finance Committee that tax evasion in the U.S. may total $1 trillion a year, multiple times higher than previous federal government estimates.

· The White House announced it will proceed with a $23 billion weapons sale to the United Arab Emirates initiated by former President Donald Trump and finalized just before Trump left office.

Wednesday, April 14

· President Joe Biden announced his decision to “draw down the remaining troops in Afghanistan and finally end the U.S. war there after 20 years” by September 11 this year, delaying the withdrawal from the previous May 1 deadline negotiated by Trump.

· Biden sent an unofficial delegation of former officials — former Sen. Chris Dodd and former Deputy Secretaries of State Richard Armitage and James Steinberg — to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen and offer a “personal signal” of support for the Republic of China, otherwise known as Taiwan. Tsai told the delegation that Taiwan was willing to work with the U.S. to counter “provocations” from China.

· State Secretary Blinken said the U.S. will work with allies in the North Atlantic Trade Organization on a “coordinated” withdrawal from Afghanistan.

· Climate envoy John Kerry arrived in China for a four-day trip, the first to the country by a Biden administration official, with the object of negotiating cooperation with China on environmental concerns.

Thursday, April 15

· The U.S. cancelled the deployment of two warships to the Black Sea following concerns about a Russian military build-up on Ukraine’s borders. U.S. officials say the deployment was never actually confirmed anyway.

· State Secretary Blinken began an unannounced visit to Afghanistan to brief officials on Biden’s military troop withdrawal plan.

· Biden signed an executive order imposing new sanctions against Russia and expelling 10 Russian diplomats from the U.S. in response to alleged election inference and a hacking campaign that breached federal agencies.

· A White House official said the U.S. is preparing for the possibility that a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot will be needed about nine to 12 months after people are first vaccinated.

· Progressive Democrats released a legislative proposal to allow Biden to nominate four more justices to the Supreme Court, for a total of 13.

Friday, April 16

· Progressive senators urged Biden to back India and South Africa’s appeal to the World Trade Organization to relax intellectual property rules so coronavirus vaccines can be manufactured quickly without being tied up by patent law.

· The U.S. imposed visa restrictions for individuals in Uganda “believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic process” in that country, although specific names were not made public.

· Russian officials said the country would expel 10 U.S. diplomats in retaliation for the U.S.’s expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats Thursday, as well as add eight Biden administration officials to its sanctions list and move to stop U.S. non-government organizations from interfering in Russian politics.

· Biden walked back his pledge to increase refugee admissions in the U.S., which are currently on track to be the lowest this fiscal year for any modern president, and keep in place the Trump administration’s historically low cap of 15,000. Only 2,050 people have been admitted into the country so far according to the International Rescue Committee.

· The Treasury Department removed Vietnam and Switzerland from its list of “currency manipulators,” to which the Trump administration added the two countries in December. It said that they, along with Taiwan, would be under enhanced monitoring, however.

· Biden referred to the crisis of mass shootings in the U.S. as a “national embarrassment” and called on Congress to ban military-style “assault” weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines.

· The State Department’s Office of Inspector General found that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo violated federal ethics rules by using tax-payer-funded resources to carry out personal tasks including pet care and hair salon bookings. No action was recommended to be taken against Pompeo, however.

Saturday, April 17

· Facing backlash from the left, Biden made brief comments promising to raise the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. this fiscal year.

· State Secretary Blinken defended the U.S.’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, saying the “terrorism threat has moved to other places” and that there are other more important items on the agenda like “everything from climate change to COVID.”

Sunday, April 18

· Climate envoy Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua released a joint statement in which they agreed to cooperate with other countries to fight climate change “which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands.”