Tariffs Over Greenland, China Hits Growth Target, OpenAI Embraces Ads, and Zurich Moves on Beazley

20th January 2025

Global politics, macro data, Big Tech monetisation, and deal-making collide in today’s major stories. Donald Trump escalates his push to acquire Greenland by threatening sweeping tariffs on key European allies, raising tensions across the Arctic and transatlantic trade. China, meanwhile, posts 5% GDP growth for 2025, meeting Beijing’s target as booming exports mask deeper domestic weaknesses. In tech, OpenAI makes a pivotal shift, announcing plans to test advertising inside ChatGPT for the first time as it looks to fund soaring AI infrastructure costs ahead of a potential IPO. And in insurance, Zurich goes public with a £7.7 billion bid for UK specialty insurer Beazley, underlining renewed consolidation pressure in the sector. All this and more  in today’s Read It And Read!

Major Headlines 

• Trump accelerates Greenland pursuit with fresh tariffs on EU

  
  

President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on European allies, the EU trade bazooka", officially known as the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), until the United States is allowed to buy Greenland, escalating a row over the future of Denmark's vast Arctic island.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said additional 10% import tariffs would take effect on February 1 on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Great Britain,all already subject to tariffs imposed by Trump. Those tariffs would increase to 25% on June 1 and would continue until a deal was reached for the U.S. to purchase Greenland, Trump wrote. Trump has repeatedly insisted he will settle for nothing less than ownership of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.

Leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have insisted the island is not for sale and does not want to be part of the United States. The president has repeatedly said Greenland is vital to U.S. security because of its strategic location and large mineral deposits, and has not ruled out using force to take it. European nations this week sent military personnel to the island at Denmark's request. "These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable," Trump wrote. Reuters

• China’s GDP grows 5% in 2025 as exports offset weak domestic outlook

China’s economy grew 5 percent in 2025, hitting Beijing’s annual target, even as it registered one of the weakest expansions in decades, according to official statistics. The Chinese economy grew in line with official expectations despite United States President Donald Trump’s trade war, as surging exports helped offset weak consumer spending and a prolonged property downturn. Still, despite shrugging off Trump’s tariffs, growth was well below the historical trend of about 8 percent between 2000 and 2025.

The world’s second-largest economy slowed to annualised growth of 4.5 percent in the October-December period, compared with expansions of 4.8 percent and 5.2 percent in the third and second quarters, respectively. “Generally speaking, the national economy sustained momentum of steady progress in 2025 despite multiple pressures, and high-quality development registered new achievements,” China’s National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

Exports drove the Chinese economy’s expansion, with their total value rising 6.1 percent to 26,989 billion yuan ($3.9 trillion), according to the data. China’s trade surplus reached a record high of nearly $1.2 trillion last year, according to official data released last week, as Chinese firms sought out new markets in Asia, Africa, Latin ⁠America and Europe to mitigate the fallout of Trump’s tariffs. Financial Times 

• OpenAI to begin testing ads in ChatGPT for the first time

OpenAI said it would start showing ads in ChatGPT to some U.S. users, ramping up efforts to generate revenue from the AI chatbot to fund the high costs of developing the technology. The ads will be tested with users on the company's free tier and the lower-priced Go plan that it is now expanding globally, OpenAI said on Friday. They will show up in the coming weeks and will be separate from the answers generated by ChatGPT. Users on the more expensive Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise tiers will not have ads. 

OpenAI also said that advertising would not influence ChatGPT's outputs and that user conversations would not be shared with marketers. The move marks a major departure for the company that had so far relied on subscriptions. It shows the pressure OpenAI faces to increase revenue as it spends heavily on data centers and prepares for a widely anticipated initial public offering.The startup plans to spend more than $1 trillion on artificial intelligence infrastructure by 2030, but has not given details on how it plans to fund it.

Analysts said that ads could unlock a significant revenue stream from ChatGPT's 800 million weekly active users, but the move could irk some customers and hurt trust in the product. If ads feel clumsy or opportunistic, users can easily switch to rival chatbots such as Google's Gemini or Anthropic's Claude, Emarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman said. But he added that the move could also pressure rivals "to clarify their own monetization philosophies, especially those positioning themselves as 'ad-free by design'." OpenAI said it would not show ads to users under 18. The company also plans to block ads from appearing in relation to sensitive topics, such as health and politics. "We plan to test ads at the bottom of answers in ChatGPT when there's a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation," the startup said in a statement. Reuters

• Zurich Insurance offers $10 billion for UK's Beazley in latest bid

Zurich Insurance Group (ZURN.S), ‌has made a 7.67 billion pound ($10.3 billion) offer for speciality insurer Beazley (BEZG.L), going public with an improved bid that sent shares in the British company up 40% on Monday. Europe's second‑largest insurer by market value announced the proposal after Beazley rejected several earlier approaches, details of which had not previously been disclosed. 

London-listed Beazley, which on Friday rejected a January 4 proposal that it said significantly undervalued its business, said it had yet to consider Zurich's latest offer. Buying Beazley would give ‌Zurich a bigger foothold in speciality insurance, covering areas such as cyber, marine, aviation and space, and fine art, while ​also expanding in Britain at a time when its exposure to the U.S. and the weak dollar have weighed on its performance and shares. 

Zurich told investors in November it planned to scale up in speciality insurance, and this month it launched a London‑based global unit for the business. Zurich's latest proposal of‍ 1280 pence per share values Beazley at about 7.67 billion pounds, according to Reuters calculations, representing a 56% premium to Beazley's last closing price of 820 pence. Zurich said it would fund the bid with cash, new debt and an equity placing. CEO Mario Greco told the Financial Times on Monday ⁠that Zurich had made five attempts in the past year to buy Beazley. The most recent previous offer was for 1,230 pence ‍per share, Beazley and Zurich said. Reuters

Minor Headlines 

• Tesla poised to be early winner as Canada opens door to Chinese-made EVs Reuters

  
  

• Gold and silver hit record highs as Greenland dispute spurs safe-haven buying Reuters

  
  

• $100B Erased in 12 Hours as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Altcoins Sink in Sudden Crypto Sell-Off source Yahoo.Finance

  
  

• Saudi is gunning for holidaymakers over religious pilgrims in its tourism revamp EnterpriseAM

  
  

• Musk seeks up to $134B in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft Reuters

  
  

• Shell seeks exit from Syria's al-Omar oilfield but US firms show interest, official says Reuters

  
  

• Taylor Swift label UMG inks licensing deal with China's NetEase Cloud Music Reuters

  
  

• Italian fashion designer Valentino dies aged 93 BBC