Biden and Trump win Michigan primaries / Apple cancels electric car project / Country Garden's liquidation petition

Plus, EU and NATO allies push back against the idea of sending troops to Ukraine

Inside Daily Brief For February 28, 2024

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Here are today's top news stories:  U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won the Michigan primaries, raising the chances of a rematch in the 2024 presidential election. Apple is canceling its decade-long project to develop an electric car. Chinese property giant Country Garden received a liquidation petition from one of its creditors as China grapples with an ongoing real estate crisis. Thanks for reading! Gregory p/Gregory_Bridgman

1 U.S. President Joe Biden won 81% of the vote in the Democratic Michigan primary despite 13% of voters submitting "uncommitted" ballots to protest his policy toward the war in Gaza. Former president Donald Trump decisively beat Nikki Haley in the state's Republican primary, raising the chances of a rematch with Biden in the 2024 presidential elections.  More: The "uncommitted" vote beat Biden in the cities of Dearborn and Hamtramck, which host the highest concentrations of Arab Americans in Michigan. Trump said the results from the Republican primary were "far greater than anticipated." Trump has won six consecutive nominating contests despite facing 91 felony charges in four criminal cases.  Haley plans to continue her campaign until Super Tuesday on March 5.  Michigan is expected to be a battleground state in the November election. Trump won Michigan by 11,000 votes in the 2016 presidential election and Biden won the state by 150,000 votes in 2020. Zoom Out: The Listen to Michigan group started encouraging Democrats to select "uncommitted" on their ballots less than three weeks ago. Since then, White House officials have expressed regret about how the Biden administration is handling the Gaza conflict, The New York Times reports. Listen to Michigan is organizing supporters in Minnesota and Washington State, which are scheduled to hold primaries in March.

2 What the numbers say: $632B was invested in electrified transportation worldwide in 2023, the most of all energy transition technologies. Renewable energy came in second place, with worldwide investments worth $623B. Countries invested over $1.7T in energy transition technologies in 2023, up 17% YoY. All major world regions set new records in energy transition spending. The global energy transition is necessary to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit global temperature increases to within 1.5°C of pre-industrial levels.

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3 Apple is canceling Project Titan, its decade-long effort to develop an electric car, reports Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. Many members of the team, called the Special Projects Group (SPG), will be reassigned to work on generative AI, one of Apple's major priorities. More: Apple started working on Project Titan in 2014 but made several changes to its strategy and leadership.  The tech giant initially envisaged a car without a steering wheel or pedals but struggled to develop the required self-driving technology. Company executives were concerned that the vehicle, set to be priced at $100,000, would not provide adequate profit margins. The project was still years away from producing a vehicle when it was canceled. Zoom Out: UBS AG forecasts sales growth of electric vehicles in the U.S. to slow to 11% in 2024, down from 47% last year.  Ford and GM have also announced plans to scale back their electric vehicle production targets.

4 GOOD NEWS: The EU parliament voted 329-275 on Tuesday to pass the Nature Restoration Law, which aims to restore all degraded ecosystems across the bloc by 2050. The legislation forms a key part of the "Green Deal" promoted by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.  More: EU states are required to restore at least 30% of habitats covered by the law from "poor" to "good" condition by 2030, increasing to 90% by 2050. Over 80% of European habitats are listed as being in poor condition. The law requires EU states to improve in at least two of three indicators measuring: Population trends of grassland butterflies. Organic carbon stock in cropland mineral soil. High-diversity landscape features Parliament reached an agreement with EU states last year after the European People's Party (EPP) attempted to water down the law's text. A faction of the centrist Renew party joined a last-minute push by right-wing groups to reject the law.  The law will need approval by the European Council, which is considered a formality in this case.

5 Hong Kong firm Kingboard Holdings filed a liquidation petition against Chinese property giant Country Garden for failing to make payments on a $205M loan. The petition may complicate Country Garden's debt restructuring process after it defaulted last year on offshore bonds worth $11B and then failed to make extended payments on its onshore debt. More: The Hong Kong court scheduled a hearing for May 17. Country Garden said it would oppose the petition "resolutely." The developer had $188.9B (1.36T Yuan) in liabilities and 1.43T Yuan in assets in June last year. Country Garden shares fell 11% after it announced the petition on Wednesday. Zoom Out: China faces a real estate crisis that has triggered a series of bankruptcies and affected economic growth. Beijing recently launched a state-backed loan mechanism intended to support the property sector.

6 Six EU states said they would not send troops to Ukraine after French President Emmanuel Macron said in Paris that NATO countries had not "ruled out" the option. Moscow warned on Tuesday that deploying NATO troops to Ukraine would trigger a direct confrontation between Russia and the Western military alliance. More: Poland, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said they have no plans to send troops to Ukraine. The White House said on Tuesday that no U.S. troops would be deployed to serve in a "combat role" there. Macron said his statements were intended to create "strategic ambiguity," and encourage thinking about new ways to support Kyiv. Some "Nordic and Baltic countries" support troops deployments in Ukraine, reports The New York Times citing an unnamed military official familiar with the Paris talks.  Zoom Out: The U.S. and European countries have previously warned that sending NATO troops into the Russo-Ukrainian conflict could trigger a nuclear war.

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Gregory Bridgman Writer / Editor Gregory Bridgman is a politics and e-commerce researcher with a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He also holds a Master of Science from University College London and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Cape Town.  Feel free to follow him on Twitter or drop him an email at gregory@inside.com. This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia

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