Trump says ‘total reset with China’ achieved after agreement reached to pause trade war – live

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“It’s just a redistribution of wealth,” says Trump. “Europe and the rest of the world is going to have to pay a little bit more, and America’s going to pay a lot less.”

Trump says he just spoke to House speaker Mike Johnson and Senate majority leader John Thune telling them to “score” that his tariffs and this pharma announcement will have save them “hundreds of millions of dollars”.

Trump says US drug prices could drop 90% due to executive order

“We’ll slash the cost of prescription drugs,” says Trump, adding the price could come down by from 59% to 80 or 90%.

On to the main announcement, Trump says the US “will no longer subsidize the healthcare of foreign countries”.

He says the US will also “no longer tolerate profiteering and price gouging from big pharma”.

Trump welcomes the news of a potential meeting between Russia and Ukraine on Thursday. “I think good things can come out of that meeting,” he says.

China agreed to work very hard to stop fentanyl, Trump says. “I take them at their word,” he says.

Edan Alexander is due to be released later today, Trump says.

China will also suspend and remove all non-monetary barriers to trade with the US, Trump says. But he adds his administration needs to get this “on paper”.

“They’ve agreed to fully open China,” Trump says.

Trump to speak with Xi Jinping 'maybe' end of this week

Trump says he will speak to Chinese president Xi Jinping “maybe at the end of the week”.

“We have some other things we’re doing,” he says.

Trump says 'total reset with China' achieved after trade war pause

Trump says the US “achieved a total reset with China” after “productive” talks in Geneva.

He says the agreement, which lowered US tariffs on China to 30% for 90 days, “doesn’t include that are already on … on cars, steel, aluminum … or tariffs that may be imposed on pharmaceuticals”.

'We helped a lot': Trump says trade was big reason behind India-Pakistan ceasefire

Trump says his administration helped broker “what may be a permanent” ceasefire between India and Pakistan, claiming trade was a big reason behind it.

We helped a lot.

Trump says he told the two countries:

Come on, we’re going to do a lot of trade with you guys. Let’s stop it. Stop it. If you stop it we do trade. If you don’t stop we don’t do any trade. People have never used trade the way I use it.

And all of a sudden they said I think we’re going to stop … Trade was a big reason.

Netanyahu speaks with Trump after meeting US officials, Israeli leader's office says

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Donald Trump today after meeting with the US president’s Middle East envoy and ambassador to Israel, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Netanyahu thanked Trump for his assistance with the expected release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, the statement said. Trump reiterated his call for close cooperation with Netanyahu, it said.

“Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last night.

Trump is set to visit Qatar this week, which has played a key diplomatic role in talks between Israel and Hamas, as well as Saudi Arabia and the UAE during his upcoming trip to the Middle East, but he is not going to visit Netanyahu in Israel.

You can read more about this on our Middle East blog:

A marker of continued GOP infighting over enormous and highly contentious cuts to Medicaid – which covers almost 80 million Americans – to fund Trump’s proposed massive tax cuts, Republican senator Josh Hawley has written a New York Times op-ed out this morning (paywall) arguing against slashing the popular social safety net program.

It’s safe to say the Trump coalition was not pulling the lever for Medicaid cuts in November. [M]any of my House and Senate colleagues keep pushing for substantial cuts, and the House will begin to hash out its differences in negotiations this week … Republicans need to open their eyes: Our voters support social insurance programs. More than that, our voters depend on those programs.

Politico reports that new mandates proposed for the megabill “would likely force states to revamp how they finance their programs or cut benefits”.

Energy and commerce committee chair Brett Guthrie told committee Republicans on a call on Sunday that the package will create more than $900bn in savings, according to two people granted anonymity to describe the private discussion to Politico.

The health provisions also include new work requirements that are expected to lead many people to lose coverage, as well as a new cost-sharing requirement for some beneficiaries in the program, not to exceed 5% of a patient’s income.

The energy and commerce plan also hits on hot-button social issues — proposing, for instance, to cut federal funding for groups like Planned Parenthood and ban the use of Medicaid dollars for gender-affirming care for youth. It also scales back funding from states that use their own funds to offer coverage for undocumented people.

Trump set to sign executive order aimed at lowering US drug prices

As has been trailed, Trump will sign an executive order today directing his government to take actions against “discriminatory” policies in foreign countries that suppress drug prices aboard, Reuters reports that a White House official said this morning.

Briefing reporters, the official said the Department of Health and Human Services will impose “most favored nation” pricing via rule-making if adequate progress is not made with the drug industry.

Trump has previously toured the plane his administration is preparing to accept from the Qatari royal family, which is so opulent it is known as “a flying palace”, while it was parked at the West Palm Beach international airport in February, according to ABC News’s report. Semafor has photos of the jet’s luxurious interior.

From ABC News’s report: “Sources told ABC News that attorney general Pam Bondi and Trump’s top White House lawyer David Warrington have concluded it would be “legally permissible” for the donation of the aircraft to be conditioned on transferring its ownership to Trump’s presidential library before the end of his term.

“The sources said Bondi provided a legal memorandum addressed to the White House counsel’s office last week after Warrington asked her for advice on the legality of the Pentagon accepting such a donation.” It’s also worth noting that Bondi used to work as a lobbyist for the Qatari government.

The plan has drawn criticism from even those most loyal to Trump, including – as we reported earlier – far-right activist Laura Loomer. Just to remind you of her comments:

This is really going to be such a stain on the admin if this is true. And I say that as someone who would take a bullet for Trump. I’m so disappointed.

As Politico notes: “There were plenty of Maga faithful posting similar messages all over X. And who can blame them? The optics of accepting a $400m luxury jet while cutting Medicaid is only one part of it. And there’s a reason why the constitution says explicitly that ‘no person holding any office’ may ‘without the consent of the Congress’ accept a gift ‘of any kind whatever from any King, Prince, or foreign state’. It’s because people generally don’t hand over $400m gifts for no reason.”

Democratic senator Chuck Schumer wrote on X:

Nothing says ‘America First’ like Air Force One, brought to you by Qatar. It’s not just bribery, it’s premium foreign influence with extra legroom.

Senator Adam Schiff cited the constitution’s “No Title of Nobility” clause, writing:

The corruption is brazen.

He later added:

While the cost of air travel continues to go up for average Americans, Donald Trump gets a half-billion dollar “air palace” from a favorite Emir. Trump’s corruption makes him richer. You get poorer. Same old story.

And Independent senator Bernie Sanders said:

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but NO, Donald Trump cannot accept a $400 million flying palace from the royal family of Qatar. Not only is this farcically corrupt, it is blatantly unconstitutional. Congress must not allow this over-the-top kleptocracy to proceed.

Analysis: Trump might claim China tariff victory – but this is Capitulation Day

Donald Trump will inevitably claim Monday’s temporary truce in the US-China trade war as a victory, but financial markets seem to have read it for what it is – a capitulation.

Stocks were up and bond yields were higher after the US treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s early morning press conference in Geneva, where he has been holding talks with China.

Tariffs on Chinese goods will be cut from 145% to 30% – initially for a 90-day period. In return, China has cut its own tariffs on US imports to 10%, from the 125% it had imposed in retaliation against the White House.

That still marks a big shift in the terms of trade between the two countries since before Trump came to power, but falls far short of what was in effect a trade embargo.

The two sides have pledged to keep talking, but there was no reference in the White House’s statement to other gripes it has previously raised about China, including the weakness of the yuan.

Instead, the statement hailed “the importance of a sustainable, long-term and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship”. The language was rather different to Trump’s Liberation Day speech, about the US being “looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far”.

In other words, the president has caved. He may have been swayed into tactical retreat by market wobbles but it seems more plausible that dire warnings from retailers about empty shelves – backed up by data showing shipments into US ports collapsing – may have strengthened the hands of trade moderates in the administration.

Trump and RFK Jr to hold news conference

Donald Trump and his health and human services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, are due to hold a news conference at the White House in about an hour, with Trump expected to sign his executive order on lowering medicine costs before boarding a flight to Saudi Arabia. I’ll bring you all the key lines from that.

Further to the comments we just reported, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News this morning: “Any donation to this government is always done in full compliance with the law, and we commit ourselves to the utmost transparency, and we will continue to do that.”

Asked if the White House was worried that Qatar might want something in return, Leavitt said: “Absolutely not. Because they know President Trump, and they know he only works with the interests of the American public in mind.”

A source briefed on the matter told Reuters yesterday that Trump’s administration intends to accept a Boeing (BA.N) 747-8 plane as a gift from the Qatari royal family that would be outfitted to serve as Air Force One.

Democrats and good government advocates said it was unethical and probably unconstitutional for Qatar to make such a gift.

The luxury plane, which would be one of the most expensive gifts ever received by the US government, would eventually be donated to Trump’s presidential library after he leaves office, the source told Reuters. A new commercial 747-8 costs approximately $400m.

Trump is set to visit Qatar, which has played a key diplomatic role in talks between Israel and Hamas, during a trip to the Middle East this week.