WASHINGTON DC – MARCH 19: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi looks on during a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on March 19, 2026 in Washington, DC. The two leaders discussed topics such as the current Iran conflict and the threat from China. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Alex Wong | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Hello, my name is Hui Jie from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.
A historically sensitive moment emerged during US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Japan’s Sanae Takaichi, while Israel considers the possibility of adding a “ground element” to the Iran war as the conflict approaches its fourth week.
What you need to know today
When leaders meet, there are some parts of history that are better left untouched. Pearl Harbor would also normally qualify.
But for his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday, US President Donald Trump went there anyway.
Asked why the US did not notify its allies before attacking Iran, Trump said the US wanted to maintain the element of surprise.
And, addressing the Japanese reporter who asked the question, he added, “Who knows best about that? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor? You believe in surprise more than I do.”
Mr. Takaichi looked worried for a moment.
This reference was particularly shocking considering the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, which killed approximately 2,400 Americans and drew the United States into World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the time described this day as “a day that will live in infamy.”
Troublesome history lessons have done little to change current reality. The Iran war shows no signs of ending. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “elements on the ground” may be needed to bring about meaningful regime change in Tehran.
There is no sign that the United States’ involvement will slow down. Undersecretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon’s $200 billion budget request for the Iran war “could move.”
Asked to confirm the numbers at a news conference, Hegseth said, “It costs money to kill bad guys,” underscoring how endless funding can be.
For markets, this message is both simple and unpleasant. Energy prices aren’t going down anytime soon, with Dubai crude hitting a high of $166 a barrel, giving investors a glimpse of where U.S. and European prices are headed if the Strait of Hormuz doesn’t open soon.
U.S. futures prices were recently trading at around $94 per barrel, and Brent crude oil, a global benchmark, was trading at $105.4 per barrel.
— Lim Huijie
And finally…
Jensen fans don’t need a new chip. He needs a new moat.
Nvidia dominated the first era of AI — CEO Jensen Huang is making sure it owns the next.
He is transforming Nvidia from a chipmaker that helps drive market cycles to an operating system for the future of artificial intelligence.
At Nvidia’s annual developer conference GTC, Huang announced NemoClaw, an open-source, chip-agnostic platform for building and deploying AI agents, autonomous software programs at the heart of the industry’s latest advances.
— Deirdre Botha, Jasmine Wu
