Dow and S&P 500 rally following truce in the US-China trade war. Here’s how it unfolded.
DNC moves to void election of David Hogg and Malcolm Kenyatta as vice chairs — 9:46 p.m.
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New York Times
The credentials committee of the Democratic National Committee voted Monday to void the results of the internal party vote that made David Hogg a party vice chair, ruling that the election had not followed proper parliamentary procedures.
The decision — which came after roughly three hours of internal debate and one tie vote — will put the issue before the full body of the Democratic National Committee. It must decide whether to force Hogg and a second vice chair, Malcolm Kenyatta, to run again in another election later this year.
Hogg, 25, an outspoken survivor of the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, has prompted a fierce backlash over his plans to spend up to $20 million through another organization he heads, Leaders We Deserve, on primary campaigns against incumbent Democrats. Ken Martin, the party chair, has said it is inappropriate for Hogg to meddle in primaries while serving as a party official, and has recommended changing the party’s bylaws to force him to sign a neutrality pledge.
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Auction to dine With Trump creates foreign influence opportunity — 8:44 p.m.
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New York Times
The sale of face-to-face access to President Donald Trump using the Trump family’s own cryptocurrency has done more than benefit him financially, although it has certainly done that.
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Trump announced last month that leading buyers of a digital coin that his family is marketing would be rewarded with a private dinner with him at one of his golf courses and that the very top bidders would win a tour of the White House.
The auction, which ends Monday, has set off a spectacle that has drawn bipartisan criticism, triggered a suspicious trading pattern and left a sitting United States president wide open to attempts to corruptly influence him.
Since the announcement, crypto investors around the world have raced to expand their holdings of $TRUMP — a digital currency called a meme coin, which is typically treated more as a novelty investment than an actual currency.
Trump administration welcomes 59 white South Africans as refugees — 7:54 p.m.
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Associated Press
he Trump administration on Monday welcomed a group of 59 white South Africans as refugees, saying they face discrimination and violence at home, which the country’s government strongly denies.
The decision to admit the Afrikaners also has raised questions from refugee advocates about why they were admitted when the Trump administration has suspended efforts to resettle people fleeing war and persecution who have gone through years of vetting.
The Episcopal Church said on Monday that its migration service is refusing a directive from the federal government to help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status, citing the church’s longstanding “commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.”
Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced the step shortly before the 59 South Africans arrived at Dulles International Airport outside Washington on a private charter plane and were greeted by a government delegation.
White House correspondents protest lack of wire reporters on Air Force One — 7:11 p.m.
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Associated Press
The group representing White House journalists said Monday it was disturbed that the Trump administration barred any wire service news reporters from traveling with the president on Air Force One to the Middle East.
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No reporters from The Associated Press, Bloomberg or Reuters was on the plane, where presidents often take questions from traveling members of the press.
“Their reports are distributed quickly to thousands of news outlets and millions of readers throughout the world every day, so all have equal access to coverage of the presidency,” the White House Correspondents’ Association said in a statement. “This change is a disservice to every American who deserves to know what their highest elected leader is up to, as quickly as possible.”
The White House has been fighting in court with the AP, after the news service was blocked from covering smaller “pool” events when it decided not to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, as Trump had called for in an executive order.
In response to a ruling in that case, the White House instituted a new media policy that lumped the wire services in with print reporters in a rotation for space on Air Force One or Oval Office events. A Reuters reporter accompanied the president when he traveled to Pope Francis’ funeral.
Judge refuses to block IRS from sharing tax data to identify and deport people illegally in US — 6:16 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
A federal judge refused to block the Internal Revenue Service from sharing immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the US.
In a win for the Trump administration, US District Judge Dabney Friedrich denied a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by nonprofit groups. They argued that undocumented immigrants who pay taxes are entitled to the same privacy protections as US citizens and immigrants who are legally in the country.
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House Republicans propose $5 billion for private school vouchers — 6:07 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
House Republicans want to set aside up to $5 billion a year for scholarships to help families send their children to private and religious schools, an unprecedented effort to use public money to pay for private education.
The proposal, part of a budget reconciliation bill released Monday, would advance Trump’s agenda of establishing “universal school choice” by providing families nationwide the option to give their children an education different from the one offered in their local public school. Nearly all households would qualify except those making more than three times the local median income.
Supporters of private school vouchers say they want to give families assigned to low-performing schools more choices.
House GOP reveals Trump’s tax breaks for tips, overtime and car loans in bill, but costs run high — 5:34 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
ouse Republicans revealed the sweeping tax provisions for President Donald Trump’s big bill Monday, tallying at least $4.9 trillion in costs so far, partly paid for with reductions to Medicaid and other programs used by millions of Americans.
The House Ways and Means Committee named its package ’ ‘THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’’ in all capital letters, a nod to Trump himself. It seeks to extend the tax breaks approved during Trump’s first term — and boost the standard deduction, child tax credit and estate tax exemption — while adding new tax breaks on tipped wages, overtime pay, Social Security benefits and auto loans that Trump promised during his campaign for the White House.
Trump starts Middle East trip with challenges and certainty — 5:14 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
Trump is on his way to the Middle East, where he had intended to focus on pressing wealthy Gulf nations to pour billions in new investment into the United States.
But Trump finds himself navigating a series of geopolitical crises — and searching for glimmers of hope in the deep well of global turmoil.
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Those challenges are casting greater import on his first extended overseas trip of his second term, but the president is brimming with an overabundance of confidence about some of the world’s most intractable problems.
Arrests for illegal border crossings hover near 1960s-era lows — 5:00 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
US Customs and Border Protection said Monday that there 8,383 arrests for illegal border crossings from Mexico in April. That marks a 17% increase from 7,184 in March, but it is down 94% from nearly 129,000 in April 2024. March’s tally was the slowest monthly rate since 1967.
The Border Patrol averaged 279 arrests along the Mexican border in April, down from more than 10,000 a day on the busiest days of Joe Biden’s presidency.
Illegal crossings fell by about half after Mexican authorities increased enforcement within their own borders in December 2023 and by about half again when Biden imposed severe asylum restrictions in June. They plummeted more when Trump took office and effectively banned asylum altogether.
What’s next with Trump’s trade war truce with China — 4:58 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
Trump’s agreement with China to temporarily slash tariffs for 90 days offered the world a bit of welcome relief. But what persists is a sense of uncertainty and the possibility that the damage from the trade war could already be done.
Trump declared the de-escalation of the trade war a victory, saying he would soon chat with Chinese President Xi Jinping about how to preserve the financial relationship between the world’s two largest economies.
Regardless, the tariffs are now elevated from when Trump took office, and the scramble to respond to the White House’s mix of threats and olive branches might leave CEOs, investors and consumers unwilling to take risks.
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Dow leaps 1,100 points and S&P 500 rallies 3.3% following a 90-day truce in the US-China trade war — 4:15 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
Hopes for an economy less encumbered by tariffs also sent crude oil prices higher.
The US dollar strengthened against other currencies, and Treasury yields jumped on expectations the Federal Reserve won’t have to cut interest rates so deeply this year in order to protect the economy.
Analysts warned conditions could still quickly change, as has so often happened in Trump’s trade wars.
House Republicans propose $5 billion for private school vouchers — 3:47 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
A provision tucked in a Republican budget bill could be a financial boon for private and religious schools.
House Republicans are proposing a $5 billion program that would cover the cost of private schools or homeschooling for families that do not want to send their children to public school. It would be funded by donors, who can contribute money or stock and receive a dollar-for-dollar discount on their tax bills.
Backers say they want to provide children ways out from public schools that aren’t working for them. Critics say it would mostly benefit wealthy families by covering private school tuition and offering them tax breaks if they donate to the scholarships.
Trump administration welcomes 49 white South Africans as refugees — 3:36 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
The Trump administration welcomed a small group of white South Africans as refugees, saying they face discrimination and violence at home, which the country’s government strongly denies.
The decision to admit the 49 people also has raised questions from refugee advocates about why the group should be admitted when the Trump administration has suspended efforts to resettle people who are fleeing war and persecution and have gone through years of vetting before coming to the United States.
Homeland Security revokes temporary status for thousands Afghans — 3:03 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that it is terminating legal protections for thousands of Afghans who have been living in the United States for years, setting them up for potential deportation in about two months.
The decision to terminate the Temporary Protection Status for Afghans will go into effect July 12. DHS said about 11,700 Afghans hold TPS, although some of them have already obtained other legal status.
TPS allows people already in the United States to stay and work legally if their homelands are deemed unsafe. The program is among those targeted by the Trump administration as officials work to carry out their promises on the largest mass deportation effort in US history.
Explaining the administration’s decision, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said conditions in Afghanistan have improved and no longer warrant TPS. She also said that “is contrary to the national interest” of the US permitting Afghans to remain temporarily in the country.
Young South Africans carry American flags — 2:52 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
Toddlers and other small children — including one walking barefoot in pajamas — held American flags as two US officials welcomed the group of 49 white South Africans to the United States as refugees in an airport hangar outside Washington, D.C.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau told reporters Monday that all of the new arrivals had met stringent vetting standards, including the ability to assimilate into American culture.
Missouri Republican warns colleagues against Medicaid cuts — 2:47 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
Republican Senator Josh Hawley says voters were not calling for Medicaid cuts when they went to the polls in November and urged his colleagues to avoid them as part of a massive tax cut and border security package Republicans hope to get to Trump’s desk this summer.
Hawley, writing in The New York Times, said that if Republicans want to be a working-class party and control the majority “we must ignore calls to cut Medicaid.”
Hawley said the party’s “Wall Street wing” wants Republicans to slash health care benefits for the working poor. “But that argument is both morally wrong and politically suicidal,” he wrote.
State Department official: US rejects persecution by race in South Africa — 2:45 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau says the white South Africans who arrived as refugees had “harrowing stories” of violence that they faced.
Landau said during a news conference after their arrival that by admitting them the US is “sending a clear message” that it rejects the persecution of people on the basis of race in South Africa, where the government has said such allegations are “completely false.” Landau said he spoke to the group about the importance of assimilation in the United States.
Troy Edgar, the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security spoke to the group about how his wife came to the U.S. from Iran.
“The United States has a long history of bringing people over,” Edgar said.
Deputy attorney general who defended Trump in hush money trial named acting librarian of Congress — 2:34 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who represented Trump during his 2024 criminal trial, has been appointed acting librarian of Congress, the Justice Department said. Blanche replaces Carla Hayden, the longtime librarian whom the White House fired last week amid criticism from some conservatives that she was advancing a “woke” agenda.
Trump defends $400m Qatari jet, calls gift a ‘great gesture’ that would be ‘stupid’ to turn down — 2:08 p.m.
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By Alyssa Vega, Globe Staff
President Trump on Monday defended the US government’s plan to accept a $400 million luxury jet from the Qatari royal family to be used as Air Force One, describing it as a “great gesture” and saying that it would be “stupid” to turn down, despite growing ethical concerns over the gift.
The gift was expected to be announced during Trump’s visit to the Middle East this week, which includes stops in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, according to an ABC News report.
During a White House press conference to announce his executive order aimed at lowering drug prices, Trump told reporters that the existing Air Force One jets were old and that replacements from Boeing had been delayed. Trump said the plane was a gift to the Defense Department, not a personal gift to him.
President Trump: “I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar. I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’ But I thought it was a great gesture.” pic.twitter.com/91HfEmrhLJ
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 12, 2025
What is the Emoluments Clause? And how might it apply to Qatar giving Trump a plane? — 1:54 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
President Trump‘s readiness to accept a luxury jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar for conversion into a presidential aircraft has revived the conversations around emoluments and the notion of a president otherwise allegedly profiting off of the office.
“I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer,” he told reporters on Monday, after being asked if Qatar was getting anything in return for the plane. “I could be a stupid person and say, ‘no, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’”
But there are constitutional prohibitions against the president receiving gifts from foreign entities or even domestic ones. It’s a conversation over emoluments, territory that Trump has been forced to navigate, and litigate, in the past.
White South Africans have arrived in the US — 1:26 p.m.
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By the Associated Press
A group of 49 white South Africans arrived in the United States as the Trump administration welcomes them as refugees.
The decision to admit the Afrikaners has faced pushback by a South African government that disputes that description and by refugee advocates who question why the group is being admitted when the administration has suspended refugee resettlement from other countries.
They arrived at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington on a private charter plane and are expected to be met by a US government delegation.
Trump told reporters Monday that he’s accepting them because of a “genocide that’s taking place.” That’s strongly denied by the South African government and has been disputed by experts in South Africa and even an Afrikaner group.
Harvard president calls Trump administration’s funding cutoff an ‘unlawful attempt’ to exert control — 12:52 p.m.
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By Mike Damiano Globe Staff
Harvard president Alan Garber told Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in a letter that they “share common ground” on some “critical issues” facing the university, such as antisemitism and open inquiry. But he denounced the Trump administration’s methods for addressing those issues as “an unlawful attempt to control fundamental aspects of our university’s operations.”
Garber delivered that message to McMahon in response to a letter she sent to Harvard last week in which she accused the Harvard of “disastrous mismanagement” and said that researchers at the university would no longer be eligible for new federal grants.
‘Neither side wants a decoupling’: US and China linked by trade despite intense rivalry — 12:26 p.m.
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By Larry Edelman, Globe Columnist
Breaking up is hard to do.
The news: Confronting the very real risk of throwing their countries into recessions, the United States and China agreed over the weekend to a 90-day cease-fire in their trade war.
The two sides will roll back most of the tariffs they imposed on each other, backing away — at least for now — from a complete divorce of the world’s two largest economies.
“The consensus from both delegations this weekend is neither side wants a decoupling,” said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who led the Americans in two days of negotiations with Chinese officials in Geneva.
The truce “serves the interests of both nations as well as the common interests of the world,” China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement.
Trump en route to the Middle East on the first major foreign trip of his second term — 11:57 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
Air Force One took off from a military base outside of Washington at 11:39 a.m.
It will refuel at a military base in the United Kingdom before arriving in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday morning local time.
Trump is also stopping in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates before landing back in the United States at the end of the week.
The president made a quick trip to Rome at the end of April to attend the funeral for Pope Francis, but the Middle East swing was always meant to be the first major foreign trip of his return to office.
Trump signs sweeping executive order for lower Rx drug costs — 11:51 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
Trump has signed a sweeping executive order setting a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the US or face new limits over what the government will pay.
The order the Republican president signed calls on the health department to broker new price tags for drugs.
If a deal is not reached, a new rule will kick in tying the price of what the US pays for medications to lower prices paid by other countries.
Public health agency leaders will start meeting with drug companies to offer new prices over the next month. Drugmakers argue threats to their profits could impact research to develop new drugs.
Trump floats the idea of Turkey detour for Ukraine-Russia talks during Mideast trip — 11:15 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
The president said he’s optimistic about Thursday’s expected talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Istanbul on finding an endgame to Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Trump, who is expected to be in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, suggested that he could make a detour to Turkey, if he thinks his presence might be helpful.
“I was thinking about flying over. I don’t know where I am going be on Thursday,” Trump said. “I’ve got so many meetings … There’s a possibility there I guess if I think things can happen.”
Trump added there is “the potential for a good meeting” between Putin and Zelenskyy.
Trump said he’s weighing removing sanctions on Syrian government — 11:08 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
“We may want to take them off of Syria, because we want to give them a fresh start,” said Trump, adding that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged him to do so.
The comments were striking change in tone from Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
Al-Sharaa took power after his Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led an offensive that toppled former President Bashar Assad in December.
The Trump administration has yet to formally recognize the new Syrian government. Sanctions imposed on Damascus under Assad also remain in place.
Trump says he’s allowing white South Africans to come to US to avoid ‘genocide’ — 11:05 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
Trump said that he’s allowing white farmers from South Africa to come to the United States as refugees because of the “genocide that’s taking place.”
Trump said that in a post-apartheid South Africa that white farmers are “being killed” and he plans to address the issue with South African leadership next week.
Trump said he doesn’t care whether the South African farmers are “white or Black” or “about their height, their weight.”
But at a time when the administration has sought to halt refugee admissions from many other countries undergoing political upheaval, Trump said the US has “essentially extended citizenship” to South African farmers to escape from the violence.
Trump defends Qatar’s gift of a plane as a ‘gesture of good faith’ — 11:03 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
Trump says the leadership of Qatar knew that Boeing has encountered delays building the next generation of the Air Force One aircraft and wanted to help by giving a plane to the US government.
He said, “I could be a stupid person and say we don’t want a free plane” but that the gift from Qatar “helps us out” because the models he currently flies on are decades old.
“This was just a gesture of good faith,” Trump said.
News of the $400 million gift prompted criticism from some Democrats and Trump allies.
Trump said the plane would ultimately be decommissioned and go to his future presidential library. He said he would not fly on it after he leaves office.
Senate Democrats denounce Trump reportedly accepting Qatari plane for official, personal use — 10:54 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
Democratic Senator Cory Booker, Chris Coons, Chris Murphy and Brian Schatz issued a joint statement contending that Trump would engage in “a clear conflict of interest” if he accepted a $400 million luxury plane from Qatar.
Multiple news outlets on Sunday reported that Trump was set to be gifted the plane, which would be used as Air Force One during his term and then transfer to a foundation for personal use.
The senators called on their colleagues to reassert that lawmakers cannot take gifts from foreign governments without congressional approval.
“Air Force One is more than just a plane — it’s a symbol of the presidency and of the United States itself,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Any president who accepts this kind of gift, valued at $400 million, from a foreign government creates a clear conflict of interest, raises serious national security questions, invites foreign influence, and undermines public trust in our government.”
Drug price negotiations to begin, Oz says — 10:50 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, says he and other top health officials will begin talks with drugmakers to discuss lowering prices over the next 30 days.
“They’re patriotic Americans,” Oz said. “They want what’s right.”
The executive order being signed by Trump on Monday gives the administration 30 days to negotiate lower drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry.
If there is no deal, the US will tie domestic drug prices to the lower rates paid abroad, which is the so-called “most favored nation” policy.
By the Associated Press
The president is signing an order meant to try and lower drug costs for American consumers.
Trump says he’s directing his administration officials to investigate foreign countries that “extort” drug companies.
The order, according to a White House official, also sets a 30-day deadline for the health department to broker new price tags for drugs.
If a deal is not reached, a new rule will kick in that will tie the price of what the US pays for medications to the lowest price paid by other countries.
“Starting today the United States will no longer subsidize the health care of foreign countries which is what we were doing,” Trump said.
Homeland Security says it’s targeting California over benefits to immigrants — 10:36 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
The Department of Homeland Security says it is opening an investigation into a California program that pays money to some immigrants.
The Department said Monday that it had issued a subpoena to California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants to obtain records.
That California program was created when Congress in 1996 took away federal Supplemental Security Income assistance for legal immigrants in a welfare reform law.
According to the program’s website, it pays money to elderly, blind and disabled people in California who are not citizens.
The website says the program is entirely paid for by California.
Trump says EU is ‘nastier’ than China regarding trade — 10:31 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
Fresh off a 90-day tariff rollback to hold talks with China, Trump says that on trade issues, the “European Union is in many ways nastier than China.
The US president insisted that America has “all the cards” in trade talks with Europe because of the vehicles it buys from the continent’s automakers.
Trump said his executive order on pharmaceutical drug prices would mean that Europeans will have “to pay more for health care, and we’re going to have to pay less.”
The US has a separate negotiating period on trade in which goods from the EU are being charged 10 percent import taxes.
Trump cheers special envoy for Edan Alexander’s expected release from Gaza — 10:26 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
Trump said that the US-Israeli citizen was expected to be released by Hamas in the “next two hours” or “sometime today.”
“He’s coming home to his parents, which is really great news,” Trump said shortly before he was scheduled to depart for a whirlwind visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
Trump credited his special envoy Steve Witkoff in helping win the release of Alexander, 21.
Trump plans to speak with Xi after agreeing to tariff reduction for 90 days of talks — 10:08 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
Trump says he will likely speak with China’s leader Xi Jinping “maybe at the end of the week.”
That’s after negotiators from the US and China meeting in Switzerland this weekend agreed to reduce tariffs for 90 days of talks.
The import taxes on China imposed by the US would still remain higher than when Trump took office at 30 percent.
Trump says the reduced tariff rates didn’t include tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum as well as the potentially upcoming import taxes on pharmaceutical drugs.
Trump suggests promise of trade with US was factor in India-Pakistan ceasefire — 10:06 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
Trump says the countries ended hostilities for a lot of reasons “but trade is a big one.”
Speaking at the White House, the president said the US is already negotiating a trade deal with India and will soon start negotiating with Pakistan.
India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all military actions on land, in the air and at the sea Saturday in a US-brokered ceasefire to stop the escalating hostilities between the two nuclear-armed rivals that threatened regional peace.
Watch live: Trump, RFK Jr. hold press conference — 9:37 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
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S&P 500 jumps 2.9% after China and the U.S. announce a 90-day truce in their trade war — 9:35 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
Bessent expects next US-China meeting in a few weeks — 9:00 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent praised the progress made in in trade talks with Chinese officials over the weekend and said he expects another meeting in a few weeks. The US and China announced a 90-day pause on tariffs after the weekend talks in Geneva.
“We had a plan, we had a process and now what we have with the Chinese is a mechanism to avoid an upward tariff pressure like we did last time,” Bessent said on CNBC.
Trump’s medication pricing plan faces opposition — 8:59 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
President Trump’s plan to change the pricing model for some medications is already facing fierce criticism from the pharmaceutical industry.
Trump has promised that his plan — which is likely to tie the price of medications covered by Medicare and administered in a doctor’s office to the lowest price paid by other countries — will significantly lower drug costs.
But the nation’s leading pharmaceutical lobby calls it a “bad deal” for American patients. Drugmakers have long argued that any threats to their profits could impact the research they do to develop new drugs.
Trump looking to expand legal power on deportation — 8:49 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller says Trump is looking for ways to expand its legal power to deport migrants who are in the United States illegally.
To achieve that, he said Friday the administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus, the constitutional right for people to legally challenge their detention by the government.
Such a move would be aimed at migrants as part of the Republican president’s broader crackdown at the US-Mexico border.
The White House releases President Donald Trump’s schedule for Monday — 8:08 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
The White House has released President Donald Trump’s schedule for Monday. Trump is scheduled to hold a press conference with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the White House at 9:30 a.m.
Shortly after, Trump will begin his weeklong trip to the Middle East.
Trump visiting Gulf Arab states while crises flare in Gaza and Iran — 8:06 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
On his trip this week to the Middle East, Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, though his most pressing regional challenges concern two other countries: Israel and Iran.
After ending a ceasefire two months ago, Israel is intensifying the war in the Gaza Strip, where a blockade on food, medicine and other supplies is worsening a humanitarian crisis. And Iran, an enemy of Israel and a rival of Saudi Arabia, stands on the cusp of being able to develop nuclear weapons.
Yet Trump will focus his attention on three energy-rich nations home to existing or planned Trump-branded real estate projects — places where he aims to leverage American economic interests to do what he personally revels in: making business deals.
But Trump won’t be able to avoid altogether diplomacy on Gaza or Iran: The Gulf countries hosting him are also interested in easing the regional tensions that emanate from these two places.
Trump defends the prospect of Qatar gifting him a plane to use as Air Force One — 8:05 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
President Trump is ready to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar during his trip to the Middle East this coming week, and US officials say it could be converted into a potential presidential aircraft.
The Qatari government said a final decision hadn’t been made. Still, Trump defended the idea — what would amount to a president accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign government — as a fiscally smart move for the country.
ABC News reported that Trump will use the aircraft as his presidential plane until shortly before he leaves office in January 2029, when ownership will be transferred to the foundation overseeing his yet-to-be-built presidential library.
The gift was expected to be announced when Trump visits Qatar, according to ABC’s report, as part of a trip that also includes stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the first extended foreign travel of his second term.
Three ways Trump’s second term has been a study in irony — 5:18 a.m.
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By James Pindell Globe Staff
The second Trump administration is quickly becoming a study in irony. A movement rooted in grievance, defiance, and anti-elite fury is now embracing the very systems it once vowed to dismantle. Whether it’s due process, economic populism, or foreign entanglements, President Trump’s return to power is defined less by disruption than by contradictions of his own making.
School construction costs are already skyrocketing. Tariffs could drive them higher. — 5:03 a.m.
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By Christopher Huffaker, Globe Staff
School construction costs have risen sharply in recent years, with inflation and rising interest rates helping to push prices for major projects to eye-watering numbers, such as $493 million for Revere High School and as much as $700 million for Boston’s Madison Park.
But at Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School and other projects around Massachusetts, another increase is looming: tariffs. Particularly for steel and lumber, two critical components of school construction that often come from Canada, soaring import duties are disrupting carefully assembled budgets that combine local and state funds.
Leaders at the Franklin-based school are awaiting delivery from Canada of the steel frame of their new building and hoping to be spared an unexpected $2 million surcharge on the already-expensive project. Thanks to the regional school’s multiple-town structure and the state’s rigid financing system, the only option to pay for that tariff and others is to cut costs elsewhere, said Brian Mushnick, the project‘s building committee chair.
‘An attack on science’: Trump’s cuts to research threatens R.I.’s budding life sciences sector — 4:47 a.m.
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By Steph Machado, Globe Staff
Amy Nunn nearly fell out of bed watching President Trump’s State of the Union address in 2019.
Trump announced he would seek to eradicate HIV within 10 years, promising to bring together Democrats and Republicans to get it done.
“I never expected President Trump would announce the first plan to end the epidemic,” said Nunn, a social scientist.
But six years later, things have changed. On March 20, the Trump administration shut down Nunn’s large-scale study at the Rhode Island Public Health Institute that was seeking to decrease the spread of HIV among gay Black and Latino men, who contract the virus at higher rates than white men.
As Trump targets Harvard, Greater Boston’s economy is in the crosshairs — 4:35 a.m.
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By Diti Kohli, Globe Staff
In ways big and small, money loops through the ornate gates of Harvard University into Cambridge and beyond.
Students buy romance novels at Lovestruck Books and $5 Narragansetts at Charlie’s Kitchen. Postdoctoral researchers pay for groceries with paychecks from Harvard labs. Professors buy homes with university-backed mortgages. Tourists fly across the globe to rub John Harvard’s foot. And startups are born in quiet classrooms.
Harvard is the point of origin for hundreds of successful companies, a magnet for ambitious people, and a crucial piece of the innovation economy that has powered Massachusetts’ growth in recent decades.
Now much of that ecosystem feels at risk. As the Trump administration pressures Harvard to rework everything from admissions to academics, threatening billions in federal funding, the prosperity of Boston itself is in the crosshairs.
US Trade Representative Greer says US and China to roll back most tariffs — 4:23 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
US and Chinese officials said Monday they had reached a deal to roll back most of their recent tariffs for 90 days and keep talking to resolve their trade disputes.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the US agreed to drop its 145 percent tariff rate on Chinese goods by 115 percentage points to 30 percent, while China agreed to lower its rate on US goods by the same amount to 10 percent.
Trump visiting Gulf Arab states while crises flare in Gaza and Iran — 2:05 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
On his trip this week to the Middle East, President Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, though his most pressing regional challenges concern two other countries: Israel and Iran.
After ending a cease-fire two months ago, Israel is intensifying the war in the Gaza Strip, where a blockade on food, medicine, and other supplies is worsening a humanitarian crisis. And Iran, an enemy of Israel and a rival of Saudi Arabia, stands on the cusp of being able to develop nuclear weapons.
Yet Trump will focus his attention on three energy-rich nations home to existing or planned Trump-branded real estate projects — places where he aims to leverage American economic interests to do what he personally revels in: making business deals.
House Republicans unveil Medicaid cuts that Democrats warn will leave millions without care — 1:02 a.m.
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By the Associated Press
House Republicans unveiled the cost-staving centerpiece of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” late Sunday, at least $880 billion in cuts largely to Medicaid to help cover the cost of $4.5 trillion in tax breaks.
Tallying hundreds of pages, the legislation is touching off the biggest political fight over health care since Republicans tried to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, during Trump’s first term in 2017 — which ended in failure.
While Republicans insist they are simply rooting out “waste, fraud, and abuse” to generate savings with new work and eligibility requirements, Democrats warn millions of Americans will lose coverage. A preliminary estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the proposals would reduce the number of people with health care by 8.6 million over the decade.
As Trump and Kennedy reach into family life, will they face blowback? — 12:20 a.m.
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By The New York Times
The prices of strollers and car seats are skyrocketing as companies race to adjust to President Trump’s tariff policies. Federal support for a major campaign to promote safe infant sleep habits appears to have been cut. Measles outbreaks are terrifying parents of young children, even as the nation’s health secretary undermines vaccines.
The Trump administration’s policies are reaching ever deeper into the lives of American families, transforming routine and apolitical parts of some parents’ days — trips to the pediatrician, conversations at swim classes, chatter on online baby gear forums — into scenes of anxiety and anger.
For a Democratic Party still searching for its strongest message amid the upheavals of the second Trump term, the politics of parenting offer a telling test case: Can Democrats persuade voters that this White House is making their lives harder?