World Brief: King Charles pulls no punches
FP's Alexandra Sharp<worldbrief@foreignpolicy.com>
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APRIL 28, 2026 | VIEW IN BROWSER | DOWNLOAD THE APP
By Alexandra Sharp
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at King Charles III’s speech to the U.S. Congress, the United Arab Emirates’ plan to leave OPEC, and parliamentary deadlock over Kosovo’s next president.
The King’s Speech
Britain’s King Charles III is applauded by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance (left) and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson. An American flag is draped in the background.
Britain’s King Charles III is applauded by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance (left) and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson as the king arrives to address a joint session of Congress in Washington on April 28.Henry Nicholls/Getty Images
Britain’s King Charles III gave a historic address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday that included several pointed messages aimed directly at U.S. President Donald Trump. “America’s words carry weight and meaning, as they have since independence,” Charles told U.S. lawmakers. “The actions of this great nation matter even more.”
Although the speech was broadly about celebrating the long-standing ties between the United States and the United Kingdom, Charles carefully laced it with subtle yet unmistakable critiques of Trump and some of his administration’s most contentious policies by highlighting such shared values as diversity, interfaith understanding, checks on executive power, commitments to allies, and the defense of vulnerable nations such as Ukraine.
Charles could have taken the safer path and avoided making comments that might spark the Trump administration’s ire; as a symbolic figurehead, the king is usually kept separate from political squabbles. However, Charles pulled no punches.
After opening with a quote by the Irish poet Oscar Wilde, who was famously imprisoned for homosexual acts, Charles went on to proclaim that “it is the very fact of our vibrant, diverse, and free societies that gives us our collective strength”—a message fundamentally at odds with the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. He stressed the need for increased defense spending, arguing that “unyielding resolve is needed for the defense of Ukraine and her most courageous people” at a time when Washington has been hesitant to provide Kyiv with more aid. And he lamented the “disastrously melting ice caps of the Arctic,” in contrast to the White House’s false claims that climate change is a hoax.
The king also praised the importance of multilateral institutions, including NATO and AUKUS, as well as other joint U.S.-British defense programs—despite Trump’s growing animosity toward such bodies. He championed an “independent judiciary” for resolving disputes on the same day that the White House began pursuing new import tariffs to circumvent a Supreme Court ruling. And he urged Washington to avoid becoming “ever more inward-looking,” in direct opposition to Trump’s “America First” approach.
His speech was met with strong cheers from the audience, including Republicans—which is particularly notable given some of its messages as well as how strongly the president has recently criticized Britain’s political leaders.
The White House has become increasingly frustrated in recent weeks with London’s hesitance to aid U.S. forces in the Iran war. “He ruins relationships,” U.S. President Donald Trump said of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer last month. “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.” The U.S. president has called Starmer a coward for his unwillingness to enter the conflict, belittled the British Royal Navy by characterizing its aircraft carriers as “toys,” and threatened to review U.S. support for Britain’s claim to the disputed Falkland Islands as punishment for its alleged disloyalty as a NATO member.
Charles was the second British monarch and 11th king or queen in history to address a joint session of Congress; the first British royal to do so was Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. According to Buckingham Palace, the official purpose of Charles’s four-day state visit was to “recognize the shared history of our two nations” just a few months before the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary of independence.
Following his Tuesday address to Congress, the king returned to the White House for a state dinner before departing on Wednesday for New York City to continue his U.S. tour. Charles will conclude his visit in Virginia on Thursday with a stop at Arlington National Cemetery.
Rachel Oswald contributed to this report.
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Leaving OPEC. The United Arab Emirates announced on Tuesday that it will leave OPEC to focus on its own needs, marking a substantial blow to the oil-producing cartel. “During our time in the organisation, we made significant contributions and even greater sacrifices for the benefit of all,” the Emirati government said in a statement shared on state media. “However, the time has come to focus our efforts on what our national interest dictates,” the statement added. The withdrawal will take effect on Friday.
The UAE has long floated leaving the influential group, arguing that unfair quotas have curbed its crude exports. Before the Iran war, Abu Dhabi produced around 3.6 million barrels of oil per day—roughly 12 percent of OPEC’s overall production. However, Iran’s chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz and growing U.S. influence in the energy sector have curtailed OPEC’s power to shape global markets at a time when the UAE is seeking to boost investment in domestic energy production.
The loss of the UAE is expected to inject uncertainty into the cartel, as the country is its fourth-largest crude producer. It also comes as OPEC members work to portray a united front to counter increasing global fragmentation. Gulf leaders—several of whom are part of OPEC—convened in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss how the Iran war has targeted energy infrastructure.
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Lack of consensus. Kosovo’s parliament convened three times in less than 24 hours leading into Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to elect a new president and avoid the need for snap parliamentary elections. However, as the country’s midnight deadline ticks closer, lawmakers remain in a deadlock over who should be the appointed candidate.
The Kosovo Constitution requires lawmakers to select a president within a set time frame or be dissolved, triggering new elections. But a lack of quorum on Tuesday has prevented parliamentarians from moving to a vote. At least 80 out of 120 parliamentarians must be present for such a motion to occur, but only the ruling Vetevendosje party and its coalition partners were present for Tuesday’s discussion. Opposition lawmakers staged a boycott this week, arguing that the government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti has failed to adequately build consensus for any one candidate.
Kurti, though, has accused opposition parties of taking “no initiative” to engage in the process or put forward their own suggestions. “I consider that it has been sufficiently clear that opposition has no other goal than a blockade,” Kurti said. The front-runner for president is Feride Rushiti, an activist whose work with survivors of wartime sexual violence earned her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination last year.
U.S. foreign aid. Ghana has rejected a bilateral health deal with the United States, citing Washington’s decision to attach additional terms to the agreement, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Accra’s objections centered on provisions that would require the Ghanaian government to share sensitive health information with the United States. A similar issue also imploded U.S. talks with Zimbabwe earlier this year and forced a Kenyan court to pause the implementation of Nairobi’s own deal.
Under the Trump administration, the White House has significantly reduced U.S. aid to developing countries. In July 2025, Trump finished dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, and in recent months, the United States has shifted away from the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief in favor of individual partnerships with impacted countries. That includes announcing an initiative in September that calls on other nations, such as Ghana, to play a bigger role in fighting HIV/AIDS and other diseases in an effort to eventually stop their reliance on Washington.
Had the U.S.-Ghana deal gone through, the United States would have provided $109 million in health assistance to the country over five years. It is unclear how much money Accra would have been expected to pay. “We continue to look for ways to strengthen the bilateral partnership between our two countries,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters.
Odds and Ends
Four years and 60,000 pieces later, a Colorado grandfather has finally completed the world’s largest commercially sold puzzle. Lou Salas, with help from his now 8-year-old granddaughter, spent more than 800 hours on the massive brain teaser, local media reported on Tuesday. The puzzle, which comes in 60 boxes holding 1,000 pieces each, depicts a complete map of the world. But Salas’s project nearly proved futile when he realized that one piece was missing. “I didn’t sleep that night. One piece ruins the whole thing,” Salas said. Thankfully, Dowdle—the company behind the $600 puzzle—ultimately shipped Salas the missing section.
Unfortunately, FP’s World Brief writer is no longer able to do puzzles at home, as her cat, Pepper, likes to eat the pieces.
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