| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, the patron saint of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Gen Z places a lot of importance on having a good "aura." Although that word has been around for decades, the concept of "auramaxxing" — boosting your overall vibe and energy to exude boundless confidence — is a relatively new one. It's typically a male-centric aspiration that goes hand-and-hand with mogging (I'll leave you to Google that if needed), but women can collect aura points, too. Case in point? Claudia Sheinbaum:  Translation: the real "define aura." Source: TikTok Juan Pablo Spinetto says the Mexican president was "all smiles" when she announced her plans to retaliate against US tariffs Tuesday. "If Sheinbaum is feeling the pressure from an atomic bomb hanging over the Mexican economy," he writes, she doesn't show it. Even more impressive, JP says, "The tariff tango she is dancing with Trump has been a boon for Sheinbaum's popularity." An astounding 85% of Mexicans are pleased with her classy-yet-confident approach to politics, up 15% from October:  On TikTok — the birthplace of auramaxxing — the admiration for Mexico's first-ever female president runs deep. With over 8 million followers and counting, Sheinbaum gets praise for being the only woman in the room. Her supporters make fan edits, peddle merch and call her "la patrona de México" — the patron saint of Mexico. Some even say she's "grandma" — "a higher concept of mother." While Trump is probably not jealous of that last nickname — Can you imagine people unironically calling him "grandpa?" — he would probably set Mar-a-Lago on fire if it meant he could achieve Sheinbaum's near-universal likeability. During Trump's first term, he was famously the first president in US history to never achieve an approval rating above 50%. His second term is off to a similarly ugly start. "Compared with her peer in Washington, Sheinbaum has much more political clout and time — Mexico's midterms will not take place until 2027 and her mandate goes through late 2030 — to withstand adversity," JP writes. That makes Sheinbaum one of the most — if not the most — powerful women on Earth right now: "Just imagine what Trump or any other world leader would do with an 85% approval rating, congressional supermajority, allies governing most of Mexico's 32 states, no significant opposition and an incoming reshuffle of the judicial system that will guarantee friendly courts around the country." What's Sheinbaum going to do with all that power? For starters, she's hosting a huge rally Sunday where she plans to hit back against Trump with retaliatory actions that could raise Americans' grocery bills and car prices. If Trump fails to change his mind, she may consider more drastic measures like cozying up to Xi Jinping, a move that Shuli Ren says the Chinese president would welcome with open arms. But ridiculous amounts of aura can only get Sheinbaum so far. "The asymmetrical bilateral economic relationship means Mexico has a lot more to lose from an acrimonious divorce with the US," JP writes. "Her efforts to tighten the screws against narcotraffickers and cut migrant flows at the border together with the goodwill shown in negotiations with Washington in recent weeks confirm she's serious about reaching a deal." Perhaps Sheinbaum can appeal to Trump's vanity — a recurring theme in his joint address to Congress, according to Nia-Malika Henderson — by offering him some tips on popularity. Exorbitantly priced avocados sure aren't going to raise the US president's approval rating. But the end of his highly controversial trade war might do the trick. So, let me get this straight: We've got trade wars. Culture wars. Cyber wars. War wars. When will it ever end? I guess not anytime soon, seeing as though China just said it's prepared for "any type of war." Reading that bone-chilling statement, you'd assume America wouldn't want to destroy a 76-year-old military pact with its closest allies. And yet, James Stavridis is gearing up for a bittersweet goodbye: This is a column I never dreamed I'd be writing, as a former supreme allied commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. But sadly, given all the skeptical and increasingly divisive rhetoric about the venerable alliance emanating from Washington and Europe in the early days of the second Donald Trump administration, it is time to think about what the world would look like geopolitically if the US pulled out. Are we indeed in the last days of NATO? What would replace it, if anything? Or, if it survived, what would NATO look like without the US?
Maybe it'll look like this:  Misery loves company. Photographer: Justin Tallis/AFP/Bloomberg Defense spending was top-of-mind during French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's emergency meeting with European leaders over the weekend. The goal of the confab? Figure out how to end Europe's bloodiest war since 1945. At this point, it's obvious that Trump isn't going to do it: Marc Champion says the president continues to repeat lies about Ukraine's war effort, and his actions — halting military aid and intelligence — suggest stability in Europe just isn't a priority for him. "The EU wants to mobilize a package for as much as €800 billion ($844 billion) to rearm the continent," Marcus Ashworth writes. Germany's chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, is fully on board. He's willing to do " whatever it takes" — even amending its constitutionally enshrined debt brake — to preserve and protect Ukraine. Although Chris Bryant says the German stock market is enjoying a renaissance, Marcus warns the plan is not without its risks: "The knock-on effect for money managers will be profound," he writes. "If investors turn against longer-dated debt, it would curtail the ability of euro-zone governments to extend their maturities further into the future." | 
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