“They’ve agreed to open up China,” US president Donald Trump claimed at a press convention on the White Home on Monday morning, having spent months escalating tensions with Beijing by ratcheting up tariffs on the nation’s exports.
Chinese language duties on US items will probably be lowered to 10%, whereas the US tax on Chinese language items will probably be lowered to 30%. The latter is as a result of US tariffs embrace 20% beforehand imposed by Trump blaming China for the US’s fentanyl crisis.
In the meantime, at Dulles worldwide airport outdoors Washington DC, dozens of white South Africans have been met by US deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, and deputy secretary of homeland safety, Troy Edgar, after the president declared the Afrikaners victims of a “genocide”.
Listed below are as we speak’s key tales at a look:
Markets rally after US and China agree 90-day commerce struggle pause
Donald Trump hailed a “complete reset” in relations between China and the US after the international locations agreed a 90-day pause to the deepening commerce struggle that has threatened to upend the worldwide economic system, with tariffs to be lowered by 115 share factors.
Wall Road rose sharply after the announcement, with the benchmark S&P 500 leaping 3.2%, the Dow Jones industrial common climbing 2.6% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gaining 4%.
White South Africans arrive in US as ‘refugees’
The primary group of white South Africans granted refugee standing by Donald Trump’s administration has arrived within the US, stirring controversy in South Africa because the US president declared the Afrikaners victims of a “genocide”.
The Afrikaners, a minority descended from primarily Dutch colonists, have been met at Dulles airport by US deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, who stated: “It’s such an honour for us to obtain you right here as we speak … it makes me so glad to see you with our flag in your palms.
He invoked his household’s historical past, saying: “My very own father was born in Europe and needed to go away his nation when Hitler got here in … We respect what you’ve gotten needed to take care of these previous couple of years.”
Democrats struggle towards ‘wildly unlawful’ Trump jet present
Prime Democrats within the US Senate are pushing for a vote on the ground of the chamber censuring Donald Trump’s reported plan to just accept a $400m luxurious jet from the royal household of Qatar to be used as Air Power One and later as a fixture within the Trump’s private presidential library.
4 Democratic members of the Senate overseas relations committee stated on Monday that they might press for a vote later this week. They stated that elected officers, together with the president, weren’t allowed to just accept massive items from overseas governments until licensed to take action by Congress. One described the present as “wildly unlawful”.
Trump hails launch of final residing US citizen held in Gaza
Hamas has freed the final residing US citizen it held in Gaza, soldier Edan Alexander, in a unilateral transfer Donald Trump described as a “good religion step” in the direction of ending the struggle and bringing dwelling all remaining hostages.
The discharge of 20-year-old Alexander, a twin nationwide serving within the Israel Protection Forces who spent 584 days in captivity after he was seized from his base on 7 October 2023, was agreed with little Israeli involvement beyond practical coordination on the ground.
Trump indicators order aiming to slash US drug costs
The White Home is unveiling an aggressive drug pricing technique focusing on pharmaceutical companies, promising to dramatically lower prescription drug prices for American customers.
Writing earlier on Fact Social, the president stated the plan would cut back prescription drug and pharmaceutical costs within the US “nearly instantly” by “30% to 80%”.
Senator says Republicans have Medicaid ‘identification disaster’
Josh Hawley, the influential US senator from Missouri, has warned that his Republican celebration is affected by an “identification disaster” over whether or not it stands for working People or wealthy company executives, signaling a worsening break up amongst Donald Trump’s congressional troops over the president’s plans for deep Medicaid cuts.
Trump reportedly fires head of US copyright workplace
The Trump administration reportedly fired the pinnacle of the US copyright workplace over the weekend – inside days of the dismissed official having printed a report about how the event of artificial intelligence (AI) expertise might run afoul of honest use legislation.
The sacking of Shira Perlmutter because the register of copyrights and director of the copyrights workplace on Saturday, as reported by the Washington Put up and NBC News, got here two days after Donald Trump fired the librarian of Congress, who oversees the copyright workplace.
People delay main life occasions on account of Trump, ballot suggests
People are reconsidering main life occasions together with marriage, having kids and shopping for a house amid financial anxiousness within the opening months of the Trump presidency, in line with an unique ballot for the Guardian.
Six in 10 People stated the economic system has affected a minimum of certainly one of their main life targets, in line with the Harris ballot, citing both lack of affordability or anxiousness across the present economic system.
What else occurred as we speak:
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 11 May 2025.