President Donald Trump announces 25% tariffs on goods from Japan and South Korea beginning Aug. 1.
President Donald Trump on Monday placed a 25% tax on goods imported from Japan and South Korea, citing persistent trade imbalances with the two crucial U.S. allies in Asia. Trump provided notice of the tariffs to begin on Aug. 1 by posting letters on Truth Social that were addressed to the leaders of both countries.
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Planned Parenthood sues Trump administration
Planned Parenthood sued the Trump administration Monday over a provision in the newly signed Republican tax and spending cut bill that would end Medicaid payments to abortion providers for one year.
The lawsuit against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was filed in Boston by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member organizations in Massachusetts and Utah.
They argue allowing the provision to take effect will have devastating consequences nationwide. According to their complaint, many of Planned Parenthood’s 1 million Medicaid patients will lose access to health care altogether, clinics will lay off staff and curtail services for all patients, and a substantial number of clinics will shut down.
The result will be increased rates of undiagnosed and untreated sexually transmitted diseases and cancer, as well as unplanned pregnancies and abortions, the plaintiffs argue.
Displaced Palestinians hope Trump-Netanyahu meeting leads to a truce
Hungry, displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip hope Monday’s meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will lead to a ceasefire.
The two are set to meet as negotiations continue on a plan for a 60-day truce, the release of some hostages held by Hamas and an influx of humanitarian aid.
“Displacement is death,” said Majid Farwana, who lives in a tent camp in central Gaza. “We’re suffering every minute as we try to find food, water and tenting, and we struggle with hot weather.”
Mohammed Abu Awda, who was displaced from northern Gaza, said that if he returns to find his home destroyed, he will set up a tent on the rubble.
The 21-month war, ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and driven around 90% of Gaza’s population from their homes. Hunger is widespread, with aid groups saying they have struggled to bring in food because of Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order.
The tariff letters are finally getting sent
Trump has been talking for a while about ending trade negotiations and sending out letters informing countries about their tariff rates.
On Friday, the president told reporters that “I signed some letters and they’ll go out on Monday, probably 12.” (Two have been released so far.)
The letters, issued on White House stationary, have Trump’s typical flourishes and capitalization.“We invite you to participate in the extraordinary Economy of the United States, the Number One Market in the World, by far,” he wrote to the leaders of South Korea and Japan.
He ends both of the letters by saying, “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Trump sets 25% tariffs on imports from Japan and South Korea
The higher taxes begin on Aug. 1.
The president announced the decision on Truth Social, where he posted copies of letters that he sent to the leaders of each country.
Trump has been eager to escalate tariffs on American trading partners after pausing his plans earlier this year.
Speaker Johnson to meet Netanyahu
Netanyahu is also expected to meet while he’s in Washington with the U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Johnson, a Republican who has aligned the House GOP lawmakers closer to Israel, plans to meet with Netanyahu on Tuesday.
Trump: former Brazilian leader should be left alone after plotting to overturn his 2022 election loss
President Donald Trump posted on social media that Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro is subject to a “WITCH HUNT” and should be left alone by that country’s judiciary.
Trump in a Monday post on Truth Social channeled his own experiences with regard to Bolsonaro, who was charged in February for plotting to stay in power after losing the 2022 election in an ongoing Brazilian Supreme Court Case.
“He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE,” Trump said. “I have gotten to know Jair Bolsonaro, and he was a strong Leader, who truly loved his Country — Also, a very tough negotiator on TRADE. His Election was very close and now, he is leading in the Polls. This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent — Something I know much about!”
Trump last month called for throwing out the corruption trial of Netanyahu, who is visiting the White House on Monday.
Trump administration revokes terrorism designation of new Syrian ruler’s group
The Trump administration has decided to revoke the terrorism designation of the new Syrian president’s group as part of a broader engagement with the new government since the ouster of former leader Bashar Assad.
In a notice to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that he took the step in consultation with the attorney general and treasury secretary.
The brief notice, which was put online in an advance public inspection section of the Federal Register website on Monday, said Rubio signed the revocation of the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation for the al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on June 23.
The decision had not been previously announced but U.S. officials said it would take effect on Tuesday.
Former Librarian of Congress takes on new role in fight for public knowledge
The former Librarian of Congress is back with a new gig after Trump abruptly fired her in May.
Carla Hayden joined the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Monday as a senior fellow, the humanities grantmaker exclusively told The Associated Press.
Her duties include advising the country’s largest philanthropic supporter of the arts on efforts to advance public knowledge through libraries and archives. Hayden noted existing threats to “the free exchange of ideas” in a statement.
“Together, we will work to strengthen the public knowledge ecosystem and ensure that the transformative power of information remains accessible to all,” she said.
China says BRICS isn’t about targeting any specific countries
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson says that the “BRICS mechanism is an important platform for cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries.”
“It advocates openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation and does not engage in bloc confrontation or target any specific country,” the spokesperson said Monday.
The comments come after Trump said, in a post on his social media platform late Sunday, that any country that aligns itself with what he termed “the Anti-American policies of BRICS” would be levied an added 10% tariff.
The second of the BRICS summit continues Monday in Rio de Janeiro.
Tesla shares tumble as Trump-Musk feud heats up yet again
Tesla shares tumbled 6.5% overnight as the feud between CEO Elon Musk and Trump reignited over the weekend.
Musk, once a top donor and ally of Trump, announced that he was forming a third political party in protest over the Republican spending bill that passed late last week.
Trump followed by criticizing Musk in a social media post, saying that the CEO had gone “off the rails” in recent weeks. Trump suggested Musk’s disappointment in the bill was over the termination of an “electric vehicle mandate,” which Trump says Musk knew was coming.
Investors fear that Musk’s companies, which receive significant subsidies from the federal government, could suffer further if his feud with Trump continues to fester.
Tesla shares have been extremely volatile since Musk went all-in for Trump in the run-up to last year’s election.
Rubio heads to Asia this week
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make his first official trip to Asia this week to attend a regional security conference in Malaysia.
It comes as the Trump administration moves ahead with its intent to focus more heavily on the Indo-Pacific and blunting China’s increasing influence there.
The State Department announced Monday that Rubio, who also will be making his first solo trip abroad since taking on the added job of national security adviser, will travel to Kuala Lumpur for the annual Association of Southeast Nations Regional Forum from Tuesday until Friday.
He will take part in a series of bilateral and multilateral discussions expected to be dominated by defense, maritime safety and security and trade issues.
The Trump administration has vexed a number of allies with demands for increased defense spending and threats to impose massive tariffs on their exports to the U.S.
Treasury secretary says his mailbox is full with trade offers ahead of tariffs deadline
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Monday TV interview that the Trump administration would announce “several” trade frameworks over the next 48 hours.
“What President Trump is concerned about is the quality of the deals, not the quantity,” Bessent said on CNBC.
The treasury secretary said his “mailbox” was filled with new trade offers in response to the risk that countries could “boomerang” back to the higher tariff rates that President Donald Trump announced on April 2.
A financial market selloff led to Trump imposing a 90-day negotiating period during which goods from most countries would be taxed at 10%, a period that is set to end on Wednesday.
The president plans to send out letters over the next few days with new tariff rates that would start being collected on Aug. 1.
Pressure from Trump for trade deals before Wednesday deadline
The Trump administration is stepping up pressure on trading partners to quickly make new deals before a Wednesday deadline, with plans for the United States to start sending letters Monday warning countries that higher tariffs could kick in Aug. 1.
That furthers the uncertainty for businesses, consumers and America’s trading partners, and questions remain about which countries will be notified, whether anything will change in the days ahead and whether President Donald Trump will once more push off imposing the rates. Trump and his top trade advisers say he could extend the time for dealmaking but they insist the administration is applying maximum pressure on other nations.
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Trump would decide when it was time to give up on negotiations.
Trump signs tax breaks and spending cuts into law on Fourth of July
Trump signed his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law Friday in front of Fourth of July picnickers after his cajoling produced almost unanimous Republican support in Congress for the domestic priority that could cement his second-term legacy.
Flanked by Republican legislators and members of his Cabinet, Trump signed the multitrillion-dollar legislation at a desk on the White House driveway, then banged down a gavel gifted to him by House Speaker Mike Johnson that was used during the bill’s final passage Thursday.
Against odds that at times seemed improbable, Trump achieved his goal of celebrating a historic — and divisive — legislative victory in time for the nation’s birthday, which also was his self-imposed deadline for Congress to send the legislation to his desk. Fighter jets and stealth bombers streaked through the sky over the annual White House Fourth of July picnic.
The Associated Press
