Trump’s AI protectionism has come for robotics - MIT Technology Review

Sometimes, anti-free-trade politicians tell on themselves. President Trump and other so-called “America First” Republicans are the clearest examples. When “tariff” is literally your favourite word, it’s pretty clear where you stand. But irresponsible appeals to economic nationalism aren’t always so overt. Indeed, in Canada today, harmful economic nationalism is masquerading as patriotism, and it threatens to undermine a cross-partisan, pro-growth consensus. Prior to the emergence of the 1980s free trade consensus, leaders from across the political spectrum were very comfortable openly arguing for protectionism. This was useful in Canada because it meant that we could have an honest  conversation. Economists, business leaders, and other free traders could make the argument against protectionism when it reared its ugly head, and Canadians could decide. Indeed, such a debate transpired in the years leading up to the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Canadians had a choice—they could choose free trade, or they could choose insularity. They chose well.

Here’s your NYT Strands hint for today, plus the spangram and all of today’s Strands answers for puzzle No. 959 on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. Today’s Strands theme was tricky. It helps to be a runner. Read on for all the answers.

A supply-chain attack involving ConnectWise’s cloud services has exposed Microsoft 365 customers to unauthorized application access, with researchers reporting successful sign-ins across 173 partner and customer tenants. The incident centres on credentials associated with ConnectWise Cloud Backup, formerly SkyKick, and raises concerns about attackers exploiting permissions already entrusted to business software. ConnectWise has confirmed unauthorized access to application identities within its Cloud Backup environment. In an October 17 update on its service-status page, the company said it was shutting off application access, interrupting customer backups while investigation and remediation continued.

Huawei’s next budget phone, the Enjoy 100 Pro, just leaked with a battery above 8,000mAh, a Kirin 8-series chip and four new colors, according to well-known Weibo tipster Digital Chat Station. The Enjoy line is how Huawei sells phones to millions of price-conscious buyers in China, and this leak shows that huge batteries have become a budget feature, while screens may be where costs get cut. Here’s what the leak says, what we think it means, and what to expect before launch.