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China sees U.S. trade deal as win for Beijing


China: U.S. should 'completely correct its unilateral tariff practices'

Chinese officials, influencers and state-run media on Monday were casting the initial trade agreement and 90-day tariff pause with the U.S. as a victory and a vindication of Beijing’s negotiating strategy.

They are arguing that their defiant public posture worked and was a major reason they were able to strike a deal with U.S. officials in Switzerland with relatively few concessions.

“China’s firm countermeasures and resolute stance have been highly effective,” said a social media account linked to China’s national broadcaster CCTV.

In the eyes of the Chinese public, negotiators from Beijing appear to have convinced President Donald Trump’s administration to roll back most of the 145% tariff rate that Trump imposed, and slash them to 30%.

In exchange, China pledged to roll back most of the countertariffs it announced against the U.S.

On social media, Chinese users are touting the deal. One hashtag, #USChinaSuspending24%TariffsWithin90Days, already has 420 million views on Weibo.

The line refers to a 24% figure cited near the top of the joint statement Washington and Beijing released.

In total, the 90-day pause drops U.S. import duties from 145% to 30% on Chinese goods, and Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods from 125% to 10%.

Treasury Sec. Bessent: Likely to meet with China again 'in next few weeks' on a bigger agreement

A Chinese social media user, Chun Feng Yi Ran, posted: “Our ancestors didn’t cave in, why should we give up what we have?” The comment now has thousands of likes.

Beijing is also using the trade deal to try to argue to the world that it is a responsible trading partner, even as China’s negotiating playbook has often been a point a frustration for the international business community and trading partners.

Foreign executives and officials complain of “promise fatigue” with Beijing, whose officials often seem content to talk of cooperation, while taking relatively little action.

In keeping with this negotiating playbook, Beijing has said it will work with the Trump administration on a new “consultation mechanism” to maintain dialogue on trade and other economic issues.

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The measures agreed to in Geneva, Switzerland, formally take effect Wednesday, but Beijing has quietly been granting exemptions before the talks for some companies operating locally.

China has also agreed to “adopt all necessary administrative measures to suspend or remove the non-tariff countermeasures.” This includes the latest round of tighter export curbs on rare earths that Beijing imposed. The minerals are crucial to the U.S. industry.

China, however, sent some mixed signals Monday on cooperating on the metals. The Commerce Ministry reaffirmed its crackdown on rare earths smuggling for national security reasons, and said “foreign entities” were partially to blame.

The U.S.-China trade deal has brought temporary relief from the escalating trade war roiling the global economy.

Stock markets across the world surged Monday after Beijing and Washington announced the deal.

In the runup to negotiations in Switzerland over the weekend, Beijing remained firm that it would not cave on its own priorities in order to reach an agreement with U.S. officials.

President Trump: Talks with China in Geneva were friendly

“We will resolutely safeguard our legitimate interests and uphold international fairness and justice,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said before the trade talks.

The commerce ministry on Monday called the trade deal an “important step,” but took a jab at the Trump administration, saying the U.S. should “completely correct its unilateral tariff practices.”

Trump administration officials, for their part, are also characterizing the deal as a “historic trade win” for the U.S.

The two sides are expected to meet again at some point over the next “few weeks” to negotiate a “more fulsome agreement,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

— CNBC’s Eunice Yoon reported from Beijing and Erin Doherty reported from Washington, D.C.

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India and Pakistan Hold Talks Aimed at Extending Cease-Fire

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Indian and Pakistani military leaders held talks on Monday intended to extend a tenuous cease-fire that has halted the most expansive fighting in decades between the two nuclear-armed states.

A sense of normalcy began to return on both sides of their border, two days after a U.S.-mediated truce ended their rapidly escalating military conflict.

Stock markets in both countries jumped on the first day of trading since the agreement was reached. India announced the resumption of civilian flights at over 30 airports in the north of the country, while in Pakistan, the authorities said that all airports were open.

The situation along the two countries’ extensive boundary, however, remained uncertain, with tens of thousands of people still displaced. There were no reports of a major breach on Sunday night, the second evening of the cease-fire. But on Monday, brief drone sightings and explosions were reported in parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

For most of last week, the two countries were engaged in intense fighting that brought cross-border shelling, drone warfare and claims from both sides that they had inflicted damage on the other’s military bases.

As called for in the agreement that stopped the armed conflict, military leaders from both sides on Monday discussed “issues related to continuing the commitment that both sides must not fire a single shot or initiate any aggressive and inimical action,” the Indian Army said in a statement.

“It was also agreed that both sides consider immediate measures to ensure troop reduction from the borders and forward areas,” the statement said.

On Saturday, President Trump announced that the two sides had agreed to a cease-fire with the help of U.S. diplomacy, continuing past patterns of outside mediation when tensions rise between India and Pakistan.

The president again addressed his administration’s diplomatic efforts on Monday, saying he had made a threat to both nations in pushing them to cease their hostilities.

“I said, ‘Come on, we will do a lot of trade with you guys. Let’s stop it, let’s stop it. If you stop it, we are doing trade. If you don’t stop it, we are not doing any trade,” Mr. Trump said. “All of a sudden, they said, ‘I think we will stop,’ and they have.”

The halt in the fighting, the president said, averted what could have been a nuclear war that would have killed millions of people.

While the Pakistani side has publicly acknowledged the American role in brokering the truce, the Indian government has insisted in its statements that it was reached only bilaterally with Pakistan. Privately, Indian officials acknowledge the role of U.S. diplomacy but have pushed back against suggestions that trade or anything else was used as pressure.

The Indian government’s sensitivity over the American involvement reflects its efforts for several years to portray its dispute with Pakistan, especially over the contested territory of Kashmir, as a small issue that it can handle directly.

If India’s strongman prime minister, Narendra Modi, were perceived as having caved to American pressure for a cease-fire against a weaker nation, it could cost him politically at home. Mr. Modi’s image rests in part on elevating India into a major power that would easily handle smaller nations in any conflict, and he raised expectations that India would deliver a decisive blow to Pakistan as tensions soared.

Mr. Modi, in his first address to the nation since the terrorist attack last month that ignited the standoff, said on Monday that India had “just suspended” its military strikes and would assess its next steps based on “what sort of attitude Pakistan will adopt.”

The prime minister accused Pakistan of engaging in “nuclear blackmail” and said that India would “strike precisely and decisively at the terrorist hide-outs developing under the cover” of that threat.

He described the initial strikes that his military carried in Pakistan early on Wednesday, which then escalated to a fierce aerial confrontation, as an “unwavering commitment to justice.”

Mr. Modi said that the attendance of senior Pakistani military officers at the funerals of people India had identified as terrorists and targeted in strikes was evidence of “state-sponsored terrorism.” Photographs of the funerals showed the Pakistani officers in attendance.

The recent conflict was set off by a terrorist attack that killed 26 people late last month on the Indian side of Kashmir, a territory claimed by both countries. New Delhi blamed the carnage on groups that it said were receiving support from Pakistan — an accusation Islamabad has denied — and vowed retaliation.

Two weeks after the massacre, which happened near the town of Pahalgam, India bombed what it described as terrorist facilities in Pakistan.

The two countries have fought several wars against each other and have engaged in periodic clashes closer to the line that divides Kashmir between them. But last week’s airstrikes hit the deepest targets that India had struck in mainland Pakistan in at least half a century.

Pakistan retaliated soon after. While the traditional artillery shelling along the border caused the largest number of civilian casualties, the face-off expanded rapidly in the skies, including the heavy use of drones and so-called loitering munitions to target each other’s military bases.

There was optimism in financial markets even before Monday’s announcement on continued military talks. Pakistani stocks soared, with the Karachi 100 index gaining almost 9 percent, a record. But trading was halted because the market rose so fast and by so much. The markets in India, which has an economy about 12 times the size of Pakistan’s, also jumped and more than erased last week’s losses.

The return to normalcy for those living along the line that divides Kashmir will be much more difficult.

People were still mourning the loss of loved ones, with about 20 civilians killed on the Indian side after days of cross-border shelling, and about 30 reported dead on the Pakistan side. Tens of thousands remain displaced from border villages.

“No shelling has taken place here after the cease-fire,” said Narinder Singh, a resident of Poonch, in Indian-controlled Kashmir. “But the sense of fear is still there. Some people are slowly getting back to their homes. But still, many people are living outside at safe places.”

Suraya Begum, whose family had left her village along the so-called Line of Control to seek shelter in a college building in the city of Baramulla, said they were fed up with how often their lives had been upended by cross-border tensions.

“If they want to fight forever, let them. But compensate us with land somewhere else, so that we can live a peaceful life,” she said. “Why should our children become sacrificial lambs for their politics?”

Alex Travelli contributed reporting from New Delhi, Showkat Nanda from Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, and Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan.



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First female mayor of Omaha concedes in race against likely first Black mayor


OMAHA, Neb. — Omaha’s first female mayor has conceded the mayoral race to a man who will likely become the community’s first Black mayor.

Voters in Omaha were making history Tuesday by either reelecting the city’s first female mayor to a rare fourth term or electing the community’s first Black mayor.

The race between Mayor Jean Stothert and challenger John Ewing primarily revolved around local issues like street repairs and garbage service, but in the final stretch the campaign touched on more national, hot-button issues such as President Donald Trump’s administration and transgender rights.

Stothert was trailing by nearly 5,000 votes in early returns Tuesday night. At her election night event, Stothert said she called Ewing and conceded in the race, KETV reported.

“I called John Ewing and I congratulated him,” Stothert said. “John Ewing is inheriting tonight a great city, and we leave a strong foundation for the city that we love. We are grateful and we are hopeful.”

The winner will lead Nebraska’s largest city, which makes up nearly a quarter of the state’s population.

In campaigning for a fourth term, Stothert has portrayed Omaha as a city on a hot streak with a revitalized riverfront, plans moving ahead on a streetcar line and progress repairing city streets.

“I have plans and can talk about them, and they are working,” Stothert told the Omaha World-Herald.

If reelected, she would have the longest tenure as mayor in more than a century.

Ewing, the county treasurer, said the mayor hasn’t focused enough attention on core issues like filling potholes, hiring more police officers and building more affordable housing.

“People just feel like she’s had her time, and it’s time for somebody new,” Ewing said.

Although the mayor’s office is nonpartisan, the candidates have made it clear to voters that Stothert is a Republican and Ewing is a Democrat. Omaha is among the few spots in conservative Nebraska where Democrats have a reasonable chance of winning elected offices.

Despite a focus on bread-and-butter issues like city services, the candidates have issued more partisan messages as the election neared.

A Stothert TV ad says, “Ewing stands with radicals who want to allow boys in girls’ sports.”

Ewing responded that he hasn’t dealt with such transgender issues as treasurer and told KETV he wouldn’t respond to hypothetical questions.

Ewing has aired ads that connect Stothert to the Trump administration, showing the mayor on a split screen with Trump and saying “Let’s say no to the chaos and elect a mayor who will actually get things done.”



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Democrat ousts incumbent Republican in Omaha mayoral race

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Douglas County, Neb., Treasurer John Ewing Jr. (D) has ousted incumbent Republican Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert in the latest victory for Democrats during President Trump’s second term, Decision Desk …



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Xi Woos Latin American Leaders With Promises of Cooperation on Technology

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China has long tapped Latin America to supply oil, iron ore, soybeans and other commodities, all drivers of growth for many Latin American countries. But also a source of frustration for those that hope to grow their economies and exports with more than mining and farm goods.

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is trying to show that he is listening. He told a gathering of Latin American leaders and officials in Beijing on Tuesday that he wanted to expand cooperation in “emerging areas,” including clean energy, telecommunications and artificial intelligence.

Speaking a day after China and the United States announced a provisional reduction of punitive tariffs against each other, Mr. Xi did not mention President Trump by name in his remarks to representatives from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. But Mr. Xi said China was their most reliable partner in a turbulent world, a theme that he also deployed in a recent visit to Southeast Asian countries and other diplomatic meetings.

“China will increase its imports of high-quality products from Latin American and Caribbean countries and encourage its enterprises to expand investment in that region,” Mr. Xi told the audience, which included President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Gabriel Boric, the president of Chile. Faced with “a surging tide of unilateralism and protectionism,” China stood ready to help, Mr. Xi said.

Other leaders also made indirect references to the tariff threats and other pressure from the Trump administration. “We are here to reaffirm that multilateralism and dialogue, not unilateral impositions, are the way to address the challenges facing humanity,” Mr. Boric told the meeting.

Mr. Xi did not give much detail in his lofty speech, which — in a sign of his interest in China’s heritage — also proposed “collaborative studies” of ancient civilizations in China and Latin America.

At the same meeting, Mr. Lula said that Chinese demand and investment had been a valuable economic driver for Brazil. But he also suggested that Brazil wanted to climb the technology ladder.

“The digital revolution cannot be allowed to create a new technology divide between nations,” Mr. Lula said. “Development of artificial intelligence should not be the privilege for a few. A just transition to a low-carbon economy also needs broad access to clean-energy technology.”

On Monday in Beijing, Mr. Lula claimed some success in attracting Chinese investors to Brazil. Chinese companies announced plans to invest about $4.7 billion there in projects including expanded automotive manufacturing and renewable energy like wind and solar power, according to Mr. Lula’s office. He also highlighted a proposed Brazil-China partnership to launch low-orbit satellites so Brazilians in remote areas can connect to the internet. The proposal would be a potential rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink in these areas. Huawei, a Chinese telecom giant, is already a big presence in Brazil.

Chinese officials have been “a bit taken aback by how assertive the Trump administration has been in Latin America,” said Ryan Berg, the director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has visited at least eight Latin American and Caribbean countries since taking office, and has said the region will be a priority for him, including countering Chinese influence there.

Mr. Trump has accused China of controlling the Panama Canal. Under pressure, a Hong Kong company sold off its two port facilities on the canal, drawing criticism from Beijing. Mr. Xi did not mention the controversy — except, it seemed, in an oblique reference.

China supports Latin American and Caribbean countries in “defending their sovereignty and independence and in opposing external interference,” Mr. Xi said. “In the 1960s, mass rallies took place across China to support the Panamanian people in reclaiming sovereignty over the Panama Canal.”

Ana Ionova in Rio de Janeiro and Sabrina Duque in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed reporting.



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Trump administration cuts an additional $450 million in Harvard grants


Harvard sweatshirts are displayed for sale in a school store window on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachussetts, on April 15, 2025.

Joseph Prezioso | Afp | Getty Images

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it is cutting an additional $450 million in grants to Harvard University through eight federal agencies, on top of the $2.2 billion already frozen last week.

“Harvard University has repeatedly failed to confront the pervasive race discrimination and anti-Semitic harassment plaguing its campus,” the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said in a statement.

The task force went on to call Harvard a “breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination.”

It’s the latest funding hit for the elite university, which has been a target of the Trump administration over the last several weeks. The Trump administration and Harvard have been engaged in a high-profile legal battle.

Harvard did not immediately respond to the latest funding cuts. University President Alan Garber previously issued a statement defending its constitutional rights after filing a lawsuit against the administration to halt the funding freeze.



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Pete Buttigieg addresses 2028 speculation during Iowa visit

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CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA – Pete Buttigieg pushed back against criticism from President Donald Trump on the job he did as transportation secretary in former President Biden’s administration and declined to say if Biden experienced cognitive decline during his final years in the White House, as he took questions from reporters on Tuesday night.

Buttigieg, speaking with reporters after headlining a town hall with veterans in this eastern Iowa city that sparked more speculation that the 2020 Democratic presidential contender is mulling another White House run in 2028, told Fox News that ‘right now I’m not running for anything.”

Buttigieg won the 2020 Iowa presidential caucuses and came in a close second in the New Hampshire presidential primary before Biden surged to claim the party’s nomination and later the White House.

While Iowa’s caucuses for half a century kicked off both major political parties’ presidential nominating calendars, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) demoted the Hawkeye State on their 2024 schedule, and it’s unclear if Iowa will regain its early state status in the 2028 calendar.

LESS THAN FOUR WEEKS INTO TRUMP’S SECOND TERM, DEMOCRATS ALREADY EYEING 2028 PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Buttigieg on stage in Iowa

Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg headlines a veterans town hall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on May 13, 2025. Buttigieg’s appearance sparked speculation he may make another presidential run in 2028. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

But Buttigieg’s visit, along with his announcement in March that he would pass on a 2026 run for a Democrat-controlled open Senate seat in battleground Michigan, his adopted home state, are seen as signals of his interest in a potential 2028 national run.

Buttigieg told a Substack author in a live interview hours before the town hall that when it comes to 2028, he would consider “what I bring to the table.”

But asked by Fox News if the trip to Iowa – where he also gathered with staffers from his 2020 campaign and was followed around by a videographer from his political group Win the Era – was the beginning of an assessment period, Buttigieg said “right now, I’m not running for anything and part of what’s exciting and compelling about an opportunity like this is to be campaigning for values and for ideas rather than a specific electoral campaign. So that’s what I’m about.”

Told that audience members who said they voted for him in 2020 and would be interested in backing him again if he runs in 2028, Buttigieg said “of course it means a lot to hear that people who supported me then continue to believe in what I have to say.”

The Cedar Rapids event was hosted by VoteVets, a progressive group that represents veterans and military families in the political process. The group told Fox News that 1,800 people attended the event.

WATCH: TRUMP TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY LAYS OUT NEW PLAN TO UPGRADE AGING AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM

The trip by Buttigieg came as he’s faced incoming fire in recent days from Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy over a surge in flight delays and cancellations at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport, which is one of the three major airports that services the New York City metropolitan area.

Duffy blames his predecessor at the Department of Transportation and the Biden administration for what he claims was a failure to upgrade the busy airport’s air traffic control system.

And Trump, last week, also chimed in, claiming that during his tenure as transportation secretary Buttigieg “didn’t have a clue. And this guy is actually a contender for president?” Trump added. “I don’t think he’s going to do too well.”

The president’s jabs came a few days after Buttigieg, pointing to Trump’s underwater approval ratings in national polling, said in a social media post that “Donald Trump is the most unpopular 100-day-mark president in modern American history.”

The Trump administration argues that Buttigieg oversaw a rocky transition of the Newark airport’s airspace to the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (Tracon) last July.

And Duffy, who earlier this week unveiled a major plan to overhaul the nation’s aging air traffic control system, claims the Biden administration is to blame for the recent problems, including air traffic control equipment outages.

“Maybe when you work from home, or maybe when you work from Michigan as a secretary, maybe you’re not focused on the real issues that are taking place throughout the airspace,” Duffy said, as he took aim at Buttigieg, who lives in Michigan.

Buttigieg, responding, told reporters on Tuesday night that “when you’re the secretary of transportation, you have a tough job and your responsibility is to fix tough problems. You don’t have time to indulge in trying to point fingers or blame other people.”

“What I can tell you is we inherited a shrinking air traffic control workforce. We turned it into a growing air traffic control workforce,” he added. “My successor is, of course, not asking for my advice, but my advice would be to making sure that it grows and actually delivering the technological change that’s needed.”

Biden speaking with his hands raised

Then-President Joe Biden speaks at the State Department, during the closing days of his presidency, on Jan. 13, 2025. (AP)

Buttigieg’s Iowa trip also came on the same day that excerpts from a new book offered details on Biden’s supposed mental and physical decline during his last two years in the White House.

Asked whether Biden experienced cognitive decline, Buttigieg would only say that “every time I needed something from him from the West Wing, I got it.” 

“The time I worked closest with him in his final year was around the Baltimore bridge collapse. And what I can tell you is that the same president the world saw addressing that was the president I was in the Oval with insisting that we do a good job, do right by Baltimore. And that characteristic of my experience with him,” he added.

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But he said “maybe” when asked whether the Democratic Party would have been better off if Biden had not run for re-election in 2024. “Right now with the benefit of hindsight, I think most people would agree that that’s the case.”

Biden dropped out of the race last July, one month after a disastrous debate performance with Trump sparked a chorus of calls from fellow Democrats for the then-81-year-old president to end his re-election bid. He was replaced at the top of the ticket by then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who ended up losing in November to Trump.



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