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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
President Trump yesterday threatened to impose an additional 50% tariff on imports from China if Beijing does not withdraw its retaliatory counter-tariff, which would bring the total rate to 104%. China’s commerce ministry described the threat as a “mistake on top of a mistake” and said it would “fight to the end.” Separately, the EU yesterday said it offered a “zero-for-zero” tariff deal to Washington while imposing 25% tariffs on some U.S. imports. Emma Haslett and Charlotte Edwards report for BBC News; Peter Guo reports for NBC News; Philip Blenkinsop reports for Reuters.
The United States and Iran yesterday confirmed they would convene nuclear talks while diverging on the details of the negotiations, with Trump saying the meetings would involve direct negotiations and Tehran’s foreign minister indicating they would be indirect. According to a source, Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff will lead the U.S. delegation for the talks, set to take place in Oman on Saturday. Alexander Ward, Michael R. Gordon, and Laurence Norman report for the Wall Street Journal; Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
The United States’ revocation of visas for all South Sudanese passport holders is based on “an isolated incident” that involved a refusal of entry to an individual who was not a South Sudanese national, the country’s foreign ministry said yesterday, describing the U.S. decision as “unfair.” Deng Machol reports for AP News.
The Trump administration is ending most, if not all, of the remaining U.S. aid for Afghanistan and Yemen, U.S. aid sources said yesterday, adding that aid for Somalia, Syria, and Gaza has also been cut. The U.N. World Food Programme warned the move could be a “death sentence” for millions. Jonathan Landay and Patricia Zengerle report for Reuters.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday discussed tariffs, immigration, and critical minerals engagement with Pakistan’s foreign minister, according to a State Department statement. Kanishka Singh reports for Reuters.
The largest U.S. military shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls Industries, yesterday signed an agreement with South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries that experts say could help the U.S. Navy keep pace with China’s developing naval capabilities. Brad Lendon reports for CNN.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Trump yesterday said he would “like to see the war [in Gaza] stop” and thinks this point “won’t be in the too-distant future” as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. Separately, the French Presidency said that France’s Emmanuel Macron, Trump, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Jordan’s King Abdullah yesterday discussed the situation in Gaza in a phone call. Reuters reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israeli strikes on Gaza overnight into today killed at least 25 people, including eight children and five women, according to Palestinian medics. The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis also confirmed that a second Palestinian journalist injured by an Israeli strike on a media tent yesterday has died. AP News reports.
Witnesses say Israeli forces were seen clearing ground and building watchtowers yesterday in parts of Gaza seized by Israel in recent days during its renewed offensive. Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Hatem Khaled report for Reuters.
The incident in which Israeli troops killed 15 emergency workers in south Gaza occurred “due to a sense of threat,” according to the Israeli military’s preliminary investigation results announced yesterday. The military also claimed it had identified a Hamas presence at the time of the attack and that six of those killed “were identified as Hamas militants.” The Palestine Red Crescent Society has called for an independent international inquiry into the incident. Reuters reports; David Gritten reports for BBC News.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday for the first time publicly acknowledged Ukrainian troops’ presence in Russia’s Belgorod region, saying that Kyiv’s main objective is to protect Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv border regions and “ease the pressure” on the other parts of the front line. Jaroslav Lukiv reports for BBC News.
GLOBAL AFFAIRS
South Korea will hold a snap election on June 3 to choose a successor to former President Yoon Suk Yeol, Seoul confirmed yesterday. Choe Sang-Hun reports for the New York Times.
The humanitarian situation in Haiti is dramatically worsening, with security forces increasingly overwhelmed by gangs, aid group Save the Children said in a statement today. Reuters reports.
Algeria and Mali today banned flights to and from each other’s airspaces amid an escalating diplomatic crisis over an incident involving an armed surveillance drone, the two countries’ governments said yesterday. Reuters reports.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
The Trump administration has fired Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, the U.S. military representative to the NATO Military Committee in Brussels, sources said yesterday. It is unclear if any official reason was given for her dismissal. Chatfield will be replaced by Brig. Gen. Sean Flynn, an Army National Guard officer who had been her deputy, a source added. Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, and Lili Bayer report for Reuters; Dan Lamothe, Ellen Francis, and Missy Ryan report for the Washington Post.
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday pledged a $1 trillion defense budget proposal, a sum that would amount to the highest Pentagon budget in history. Separately, a request for proposals posted online last week suggests the Trump administration may be seeking to spend as much as $45 billion on setting up the machinery to expand the U.S. immigrant detention capacity in the next two years. Paul McLeary, Joe Gould, and Connor O’Brien report for POLITICO; Allison McCann, Alexandra Berzon, and Hamed Aleaziz report for the New York Times.
The CIA is reviewing its authorities to use lethal force against drug cartels in Mexico to understand what kinds of activities it could legally undertake and what the potential risks would be across various options, according to a U.S. official and other sources. Katie Bo Lillis, Natasha Bertrand, and Zachary Cohen report for CNN.
The Homeland Security Department yesterday confirmed speculation about an incoming staff overhaul by informing employees of an impending workforce reduction across its agencies, according to an email seen by POLITICO. Thomas Frank reports.
The Trump administration may fine migrants under deportation orders up to $998 a day if they fail to leave the United States and seize their property if they do not pay under plans set out in documents reviewed by Reuters. Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke report.
The Trump administration is expected to roll back a range of Biden-era gun control measures, including a policy that strips the federal licenses of gun dealers who repeatedly violate federal laws and regulations, sources say. Glenn Thrush reports for the New York Times.
One of Trump’s advisers suggested to the Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft law firm that it signs a deal to provide tens of millions of dollars in pro bono legal services to causes favored by the Trump administration, an indication the firm may be the next target of a Trump executive order if it refuses, sources say. Maggie Haberman, Ben Protess, and Michael S. Schmidt report for the New York Times.
The Justice Department was preparing to send U.S. marshals to the home of Elizabeth Oyer, a former DOJ pardon attorney to deliver a letter invoking executive privilege to dissuade her from testifying about allegations she was fired for opposing a recommendation that actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights should be restored, Oyer’s attorney said. Oyer testified before lawmakers yesterday. Rebecca Beitsch reports for the Hill; Devlin Barrett reports for the New York Times.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Families of the victims killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack yesterday sued Bashar Masri, a prominent Palestinian American businessman, in a Washington state court, alleging he supported Hamas by operating hotels and an industrial site in Gaza that enabled the militant group to “construct and conceal” tunnels used to store weapons. Masri denied the allegations. Adam Goldman reports for the New York Times.
The Senate yesterday voted 53-39 to advance the nomination of Elbridge Colby, Trump’s pick to serve as the Defense Department Under-Secretary for policy. Alexander Bolton reports for the Hill.
The U.S. Army has reenlisted more than 23 soldiers who were discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. The action gives effect to Trump’s order that they be rehired and given back pay, officials said yesterday. Lolita C. Baldor reports for AP News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court yesterday vacated a lower court’s order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 as the legal basis for the deportation of immigrants, ruling that the case should have been brought as a habeas petition where the detainees were located, Texas. The Court stated that the Act can be relied on in future only if the deportees are provided with an opportunity to contest their deportation in court before being removed. Separately, Chief Justice John Roberts yesterday issued a brief stay of a deadline for the Trump administration to return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, hours after DOJ lawyers appealed the Friday decision that ordered the government to return the man. Rebecca Beitsch and Zach Schonfeld report for the Hill; Adam Liptak reports for the New York Times.
A federal appeals court yesterday split 7-4 to reinstate Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the National Labor Relations Board, and Cathy Harris, the chair of the federal Merit Systems Protection Board, to the jobs from which Trump removed them. The government is likely to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, setting up a potential challenge to a decades-old limit to presidential power to fire the leaders of independent agencies. Lauren Kaori Gurley reports for the Washington Post.
An appeals court yesterday declined to lift an order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from fast-tracking deportations of people to countries other than their countries of origin without first allowing them to show they may face a risk of persecution or torture. Nate Raymond reports for Reuters.
The Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management can now share some of the sensitive personal data they hold with DOGE after an appeals court agreed to stay an order prohibiting them from disclosing their records to the DOGE team. Although the Treasury Department was also included in the appeal court’s order, a separate injunction continues to block it from sharing its data. Ella Lee reports for the Hill.
The Maine Attorney General yesterday challenged the Agriculture Department’s (USDA) recent decision to withhold federal funds from the state over its refusal to comply with the Trump administration’s ban on transgender athletes’ participation in girls’ and women’s sports. Brooke Migdon reports for the Hill.
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