Semafor World Economy kicks off on Monday in Washington, DC, where more than 500 global CEOs, world leaders, finance ministers, and policymakers are set to speak at the annual gathering, including US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and top executives from firms ranging from Goldman Sachs and Citadel to Hyundai, Eli Lilly, Anthropic, and Total Energy.

The largest-ever US convening of CEOs and government officials comes at a time of deep unease.

The world is essentially holding its breath to see if the tenuous ceasefire US President Donald Trump declared last week will hold with Iran in a war that has already upended global energy markets and injected uncertainty into every sector from airlines to tech to finance.

CEOs were already confronting a period of rapid change thanks to seismic shifts in AI, sustained inflation, and on-again, off-again tariffs, and many are now struggling with how to digest the latest round of developments.

There’s plenty of room for optimism, though. US capital markets remain shockingly resilient, as technology and innovation march forward at the fastest clip in decades. And while navigating Washington isn’t getting any easier, world leaders are starting to lurch out of a wait-and-see mode and chart their own paths to prosperity.