The briefing for Friday, March 20.

Three men, including a senior vice president of Super Micro Computer Inc., were charged Thursday with conspiring to smuggle billions of dollars worth of computer servers containing advanced Nvidia AI chips to China. Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw, 71, and contractor Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun, 44, were arrested in California, while sales manager Ruei-Tsang "Steven" Chang remains a fugitive in Taiwan. The indictment alleges the men violated U.S. export control laws by diverting high-performance servers assembled in the U.S. to China between 2024 and 2025.

According to prosecutors, the scheme involved fabricated documents, staged equipment for audits, and a pass-through company in Southeast Asia to conceal the true destination and clientele. The indictment says at least $510 million worth of Super Micro servers were diverted to China, with orders totaling $2.5 billion placed through the intermediary company. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton stated that such schemes "pose a direct threat to U.S. national security."

The case highlights the ongoing competition between the U.S. and China over artificial intelligence technology. Nvidia's processors have become critical infrastructure for AI data centers, prompting both the Biden and Trump administrations to maintain restrictions on sales of the most powerful chips to China. Super Micro Computer issued a statement saying the alleged conduct contradicts company policies and that it has been cooperating fully with the investigation. The company itself was not indicted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated Thursday that Israel "acted alone" in attacking Iran's South Pars gas field, following conflicting statements from President Trump about whether he was informed in advance. The strike on South Pars, part of the world's largest natural gas field, prompted Iranian retaliation against Qatar's Ras Laffan industrial area and other Gulf energy targets. Trump later posted on social media that he had not known about the Israeli attack beforehand, raising questions about coordination between the two allies.

Reuters reported that three unnamed Israeli officials said the South Pars attack had been coordinated with the U.S. in advance, though they expressed no surprise at Trump's public reaction. At his news conference, Netanyahu denied that Israel had "misled" Trump or dragged the U.S. into war, but confirmed that Trump had requested no further attacks on energy infrastructure. The Israeli leader also claimed Israel was inflicting massive damage on Iran's military capacity, including strikes on Iran's navy in the Caspian Sea.

The attacks on energy infrastructure triggered immediate market reactions, with UK gas prices briefly spiking to nearly 183 pence per therm before settling at 154.8 pence, an 11.3% increase from the previous day. Qatar announced that about 17% of its LNG export capacity would be affected by the Iranian strike on Ras Laffan. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that Iran would show "zero restraint" if its infrastructure was struck again, while about a fifth of the world's daily oil consumption typically transits through the Strait of Hormuz along Iran's coast.

The Education Department announced Thursday it will transfer management of approximately $180 billion in defaulted student loans to the Treasury Department, marking the first major step in shedding the government's $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio. Under the agreement, Treasury will immediately take over loans where borrowers are months behind on payments, representing about 11% of all federal student loans. A second phase with no set timeframe will eventually transfer all non-defaulted loans to Treasury "to the extent practicable."

The move represents the most significant action yet toward fulfilling President Trump's order to dismantle the Education Department, which he issued nearly a year ago. Education Secretary Linda McMahon described the agreement as "an intentional and historic step toward breaking up the Federal education bureaucracy." Trump administration officials justified the transfer by claiming the Education Department is "ill-equipped" to handle such a large loan portfolio and cited data showing fewer than half of borrowers are currently making payments, with nearly a quarter in default.

The transfer is likely to face legal challenges, as federal law requires student loans to be overseen by the Education Department. Trump officials believe they have found a workaround by framing it as a partnership, with some policy components remaining at Education. Student loan advocates condemned the move, warning it adds confusion for borrowers. The National Consumer Law Center's Kyra Taylor stated that "any errors in loan collection would have devastating effects on families." Borrowers will continue working with the same loan servicers and making payments the same way during the transition.

Two dozen states, along with more than a dozen cities and counties, filed suit Thursday against the Environmental Protection Agency, challenging the Trump administration's repeal of a 2009 scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. The endangerment finding had been the legal foundation for nearly all U.S. climate regulations under the Clean Air Act, covering motor vehicles, power plants, and other major pollution sources. The EPA finalized the repeal last month, eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks and potentially opening the door to broader rollbacks of climate regulations.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, is the second major legal challenge to the endangerment repeal following an earlier suit by environmental and public health groups. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the case alongside attorneys general from Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut, stated that "the Trump administration has chosen denial, repealing critical protections that are foundational to the federal government's response to climate change." The suit was joined by 24 states, 10 cities, and five counties, all led by Democrats.

EPA spokeswoman Brigit Hirsch defended the repeal, saying the agency "carefully considered and reevaluated the legal foundation" of the 2009 finding in light of recent court decisions, including a 2022 Supreme Court ruling limiting how the Clean Air Act can regulate power plant emissions. The Supreme Court ruled in 2007, in Massachusetts v. EPA, that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are "air pollutants" under the Clean Air Act, and courts have uniformly rejected challenges to the endangerment finding since then. The dispute is expected to eventually reach the now more conservative Supreme Court.

Danish soldiers deployed to Greenland in January were prepared to blow up key airport runways over fears that President Trump could invade the Arctic island, according to Denmark's public broadcaster DR. Citing 12 sources in the Danish government and military, plus European allies in France and Germany, DR reported that blood supplies were also brought in to treat potential casualties. The Financial Times confirmed the report with two European officials, while the Danish defense ministry declined to comment.

The deployment followed Trump's repeated statements about wanting to annex Greenland during his second term, which intensified concerns in Copenhagen after the U.S. military operation in Venezuela. According to DR, a high-ranking Danish security source stated: "When Trump keeps saying he wants to take over Greenland, and then what happened in Venezuela happened, we had to take all scenarios seriously." Denmark reportedly sought political support from France, Germany, and Nordic nations, requesting demonstrations of European solidarity and joint military activities in Greenland.

The contingent sent to Greenland included Danish, French, German, Norwegian, and Swedish soldiers, with a follow-up deployment featuring Danish elite forces and French troops trained for cold mountain warfare. Danish aircraft and a French naval vessel were also dispatched toward the North Atlantic. While publicly presented as Operation Arctic Endurance, a routine joint military exercise, the real purpose was preparation for possible U.S. invasion, DR reported. A Danish defense source told the broadcaster that "the cost to the US would have to be raised," though acknowledged troops would likely be unable to repel a full U.S. attack. Trump has since said he is seeking "immediate negotiations" to find a compromise and defuse tensions.