China’s top diplomat called on the U.S. to remove tariffs it imposed on Chinese goods for Beijing’s alleged role in America’s fentanyl crisis before holding any talks on the matter, deepening a stalemate weighing on trade ties between the world’s two largest economies.

“If the U.S. side really wants to solve the fentanyl problem, then it should cancel the unjustified tariff increase and engage in equal consultation with the Chinese side,” Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said in an interview with Russian state-run news service RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

Wang’s demand came over a week after U.S. President Donald Trump’s ally Steve Daines met with top Chinese officials and asked Beijing to stop the flow of the drug’s ingredients into the US as a condition for talks. The opposing requests dim the prospect of high-level talks to ease tensions a day before the US president is set to announce his so-called reciprocal tariffs on global trade partners.

Fentanyl has become a flashpoint in U.S.-China relations, with Trump accusing Beijing of having done too little to stop the drugs and their precursors from entering the U.S. China in turn accused the Trump administration of using the issue as a pretext to raise tariffs. Last month Chinese officials said that the U.S. owes Beijing a “big thank you” for its crackdown on the opioid trade. 

“If the U.S. side persists in exerting pressure and even continues to engage in blackmail, China will resolutely counteract it,” Wang said, according to a transcript published by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Wang made the comments during a visit to Moscow where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. During his discussions—taking place just over one month ahead of a planned visit to Russia by Chinese leader Xi Jinping—Wang reiterated the importance of China-Russian ties, describing the two nations as “forever friends and never enemies.” 

He also repeated that China was willing to work with the international community, especially the countries of the Global South, to play a “constructive role” in any peace settlement to end the war in Ukraine. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Opening a Lego set can feel equal parts overwhelming and exciting. With numerous bricks and tiny details laced into each element found in a box, the eagerness to build brick castles, rocket ships, city skylines, and more has attracted kids in droves for 92 years.

Few companies have been able to replicate Lego’s success thus far. Its toys span generations, from adult hobbyists reconnecting with their favorite toys to the next generation.

Since its humble beginnings in 1932 as no more than a carpenter’s passion project, Lego toys have become an indispensable part of childhood. Name the topic, and there’s likely a set for it, whether architecture, anime, racing, or jazz music.  

Over the decades, Lego could very well have been replaced by more addictive and appealing electronic gadgets. But that wasn’t the case—if anything, things couldn’t have been better for the family-owned Danish company. It reported record results in 2024, with a 12% sales growth against the toy market’s 1% decline. 

What, then, is Lego’s secret sauce to keep kids (and, more recently, adults) hooked to its colorful bricks? 

Fortune takes an exclusive look behind the scenes of Lego’s product development and the secret to keeping the iconic brand relevant.

One of Lego’s long-standing themes—space—illustrates what makes its approach unique and helps it stand the test of time. Space was one of the company’s three official categories within which it developed toys (“castle” and “city” were the others) dating back to the 1970s. It was meant to represent the mysteries of the future, much like castles did for the past. Space’s popularity with kids has endured through the years as it has captured kids’ imaginations as a realm of endless opportunities.

“Lego-building is a passion in its own right,” Julia Goldin, Lego’s chief product and marketing officer, told Fortune in an interview last year.

Listening to kids, for kids

Lego realized early on that there was no proxy to understanding what kids want without hearing from them directly. Goldin said the company made this deliberate decision about 10 years ago, and it’s helped the company change how it pursued toy-making. 

“What makes a Lego set unique is, first and foremost, really understanding the audience,” Goldin. “Not just understanding what will be of interest for them, but what are the right dynamics of the experience.” 

The quality of Lego’s bricks is another factor that sets it apart, as sets can get passed from one generation to the next, according to Frédérique Tutt, global toy industry advisor at market research firm Circana. Unlike mindless games, parents think their kids could gain something good from Lego toys, whether that’s engineering abilities or using their creativity. 

“When parents buy Lego for their child, they think it’s going to help them build their brain,” Tutt told Fortune. “They [Lego] try to develop products for anyone and everyone.”

Turning an idea into reality

As a long-time toy maker, Lego has developed a well-oiled machine to help it constantly generate new ideas. The company does a “boost week” once a year—think of it like a rapid brainstorming session typically associated with startups that spur new concepts. Designers come up with fresh ideas or work on existing ones, giving them creative freedom outside their day-to-day schedules. There isn’t a checklist of what needs to be achieved, although the goal is to see what can be turned into a potential Lego set, said Daniel Meehan, one of the brick company’s creative leads. 

The next step is to figure out how “decodable” the models are, including finding elements that tell stories and make them easier to play with, like Lego astronauts or purple collectible crystals.   

In addition to milking ideas from the company’s designated toy developers, the company hears directly from its audience. 

“We play-test stuff as well with kids extensively,” Meehan said. 

The company brings kids together across the world, from Germany to China, to see what they want more of. That process yielded one of the critical elements we see in Lego’s space-themed sets today, said Meehan, who is spearheading the company’s recent space campaign. 

During one of its space “DIY tests,” one of the kids was flying around a vehicle with wheels, collecting aliens along the way—both of which weren’t part of the initial set’s design. 

“We’re very practical, we’re adults … but in the eyes of kids, it was a perfect space flying vehicle. But there was one complaint: he [the kid] said we need more aliens. And we actually did put more aliens in the box as a result of that one kid,” Meehan said.  

The addition of aliens to Lego sets, such as in a Lego space station, adds more layers to what would otherwise be a straightforward set and also marks a common thread that ties sets from other categories together. For instance, Lego aliens can also be found in the space science lab and rover sets. The little green creatures were deliberately designed to look alike as a cue to Lego builders, Meehan tells Fortune.

Lego’s quality and complexity can make its products expensive—sometimes pricier than the latest iPhone. That’s especially true of products pulled out of the market, making them rare. The novelty of its products has made them a collector’s dream and even the object of $100,000 heists in the U.S. The company says it offers sets across different price points so no one feels priced out. Its most simplified products can cost single-digit dollars, just as its 7,500-piece Millennium Falcon set could cost about $960.      

For the love of detail

To be sure, Lego’s care for quality and detail isn’t a new phenomenon. The company’s founder, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, imbibed it strictly to his son, who once tried using two instead of three coats of paint to hasten an order and was reprimanded. 

The company’s penchant for detail applies not just to its space creations or toy development process but also to its business. Goldin, for instance, straddles meetings that look at the company’s present performance while also discussing the pipeline for the next few years.     

So much of the Danish company’s legacy as a toy maker is linked to how it makes play accessible across age groups, interests, and experience levels. The theme of space, Meehan explains, can be aimed at three types of audiences: storytellers, who are mostly kids with a fascination for the subject; enthusiasts, who have an interest in learning about the field; and others, who are generally drawn to all things space, including its artistic side.

“Another strength they have is they appeal to the young children as well as the teenagers or adults with intricate pieces. So, they grow with you,” Tutt said. 

The granular approach also applies to how Lego prices products and designs, and markets sets for its up-and-coming adult fanbase, ensuring there’s a toy for everyone. But one thing is sure: irrespective of the motivations, the company tries not to dial down on details because that gives Lego toys their character. 

Goldin says Lego fans “really notice” the little elements it adds, as they “bring a lot of excitement.”

“It’s much more than a toy because it’s a very immersive experience,” she said.

A version of this story was originally published on Fortune.com on Aug. 25, 2024.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Australian foreign minister Penny Wong urged universities to seek greater research cooperation with partners outside the US following the Trump administration’s threat of funding cuts to the sector. 

At least seven Australian universities are facing a potential reduction in funding after they received lengthy questionnaires from the U.S. government asking how their projects aligned with President Donald Trump’s domestic and foreign policy priorities. Industry group Universities Australia said the change could affect as much as A$600 million ($377 million) in research funding.

Wong said that just as the Australian government was encouraging businesses to broaden their trade markets in response to global disruptions, the education industry needed to follow suit.

“We have to recognize that we live in a different world,” she told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Wednesday. “We will continue to make the case to the U.S. that collaborative research benefits both countries, but I would say making sure we diversify our engagement matters across all our economic sectors.”

Australia, one of Washington’s oldest allies which also runs a trade deficit with the U.S., is bracing for the next round of tariffs due to be unveiled by the Trump administration within 24 hours. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said he will not negotiate on a range of concerns raised by the US Trade Representative in a report released this week.

Universities Australia chief executive officer Luke Sheehy told the ABC last week that Monash University and the University of Technology Sydney were among those exposed to potential US funding cuts. 

“This is really alarming that Australia’s closest ally, someone who funds more than half a billion dollars of research in the Australian system seeking Australian expertise to benefit both countries, is putting all of that at risk,” he said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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