Trump | Pakistan

US President Donald Trump has shrugged off Elon Musk’s plans for a new political party as “ridiculous” — but the announcement underscored the threat the disaffected former ally poses to US Republicans defending paper-thin congressional majorities. Musk’s weekend launch of the “America Party” came in the wake of Trump signing into law a sprawling domestic policy bill that the tech mogul has slammed overestimates that it will balloon the deficit. Musk has been light on policy detail but is expected to target a handful of House and Senate seats in next year’s midterm elections, where the sitting Republican voted for Trump’s bill after preaching fiscal responsibility. “Elon Musk’s America Party is a wild card that could upend the midterms in 2026, particularly for Republicans,” said political analyst Matt Shoemaker, a former Republican congressional candidate and an ex-intelligence officer. “With bare majorities in Congress, the Republicans should be worried.” Musk, the world’s richest person, had teased the idea...

United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that he was slapping 25 per cent tariffs on Japan and South Korea, in his first letters to trading partners ahead of a deadline to reach a deal with Washington. Trump had said on the weekend that starting from today, he would send a first batch of up to 15 letters to countries informing them that he would reimpose harsh levies that he had postponed in April. In near-identically worded letters to the Japanese and South Korean leaders, Trump said the tariffs would apply from August 1 because their trading relationships with Washington were “unfortunately, far from reciprocal”. Trump warned the countries, both key US allies in East Asia, of an escalation if they responded to the new US tariffs. But he also said he was ready to modify levies “downwards” if Japan and South Korea changed their trade policies. Later, Trump also announced the US will impose 25pc tariffs on Malaysia and Kazakhstan, 30pc on South Africa and 40pc on Laos and Myanmar in letters posted o...

Brics leaders at a summit on Sunday took aim at US President Donald Trump’s “indiscriminate” import tariffs and recent Israeli-US strikes on Iran. The 11 emerging nations — including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — account for about half the world’s population and 40 per cent of global economic output. The bloc is divided about much, but found common cause when it comes to the mercurial US leader and his stop-start tariff wars — even if it avoided naming him directly. Voicing “serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff” measures, Brics members said the tariffs risked hurting the global economy, according to a summit joint statement. Trump fired back at the bloc directly on social media on Sunday night. “Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of Brics will be charged an additional 10 per cent Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Earlier, Brics also offered symbolic backing to fellow member Iran, condemn...

JERUSALEM, July 6: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he believed his discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday would help advance talks on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal that Israeli negotiators resumed in Qatar on Sunday. Israeli negotiators taking part in the ceasefire talks have clear instructions to achieve a ceasefire […]

• Declares America is ‘winning, winning, winning like never before’ • Democrats worry ‘big beautiful bill’ will slash health, welfare support • New legislation poised to add $3.4tr to US deficit over 10 years WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump signed his flagship tax and spending bill into law, capping a grandiose White House Independence Day ceremony featuring a stealth bomber fly-by. “America is winning, winning, winning like never before,” Trump said before signing the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” on Friday, flanked by Republican lawmakers who helped push it through Congress. Trump also played down criticism by Democrats that the unpopular legislation will slash social welfare programmes, saying: “You won’t even notice it.” With First Lady Melania Trump at his side, Trump watched from the White House balcony as two B-2 bombers — the same type that recently struck Iranian nuclear sites — roared overhead, accompanied by F-35 and F-22 fighter jets. The 79-year-old’s victory lap came a day after Repub...

Independence Day becomes monument to plutocracy as Trump’s bill wages war on the poor, planet and future

Move comes after billionaire clashed with Trump over "big, beautiful" tax bill

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had signed 12 trade letters to be sent out next week ahead of an impending deadline for his tariffs to take effect. “I signed some letters and they’ll go out on Monday, probably 12,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that the countries to which the letters would be sent will be announced on the same day. His comments come days before steeper duties — which the president said on Thursday would range between 10 and 70 per cent — are set to take effect on dozens of economies, from Taiwan to the European Union. The tariffs were part of a broader announcement in April where Trump imposed a 10pc duty on goods from almost all trading partners, with a plan to step up these rates for a select group within days. But he swiftly paused the hikes until July 9, allowing for trade talks to take place. With less than a week to go before July 9, Pakistan and the United States concluded a critical round of trade negotiations yesterday, reaching an understanding o...

United States President Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending bill passed through Congress on Thursday, meaning it was ready to be signed into law by the 47th president. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives earlier launched a final yes-or-no vote on the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ after the chamber’s top Democrat delayed action with a record-breaking speech that lasted more than eight hours. Republicans called the vote after a marathon overnight session in which they cleared a procedural hurdle, setting the stage for final passage. “Now we are finally ready to fulfil our promise to the American people,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said on the House floor. Republicans control the chamber 220-212 and can afford to lose no more than three votes from their side. The bill would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, cut healthcare and food safety net programmes, fund the president’s immigration crackdown and eliminate many green-energy incentives. It also includes a $5 trillion increase in the nation’s debt ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin told United States President Donald Trump in a phone call on Thursday that Moscow wants a negotiated end to the Ukraine war, but will not step back from its original goals, a Kremlin aide said. In a wide-ranging conversation that also covered Iran and the Middle East, Trump “again raised the issue of an early end to military action” in Ukraine, the aide, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters. “Vladimir Putin, for his part, noted that we continue to seek a political and negotiated solution to the conflict,” Ushakov said. Putin briefed Trump on the implementation of agreements reached between Russia and Ukraine last month to exchange prisoners-of-war and dead soldiers, Ushakov said, and told him that Moscow was ready to continue negotiations with Kyiv. “Our president also said that Russia will achieve the goals it has set: that is, the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs, to the current acute confrontation, and Russia will not back down from...

President Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending bill was in limbo early Thursday as Republican leaders in the US Congress scrambled to win over a group of rebels threatening to torpedo the centrepiece of the president’s domestic agenda. Trump is seeking final approval in the House of Representatives for his Senate-passed “One Big Beautiful Bill” — but faces opposition on all sides of his fractious party over provisions set to balloon the national debt while launching a historic assault on the social safety net. As midnight (9am PKT) struck, House Speaker Mike Johnson was still holding open a key procedural vote — the bill’s last hurdle before it can advance to be considered for final approval — more than two hours after it was first called. With no clear sign of the stalemate breaking, his lieutenants huddled in tense meetings behind the scenes with the rebels who had either voted no or had yet to come to the House floor. “We’re going to get there tonight. We’re working on it and very, very positive about...

US President Donald Trump urged Hamas on Tuesday to accept a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, saying that Israel had agreed to finalise such a deal, as its forces also stepped up operations in the Palestinian territory. Nearly 21 months of relentless Israeli bombardment have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations. The civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 14 people today. Trump, in a post on social media, said his representatives had met with Israeli officials about the raging conflict, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington next week. “Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalise the 60-day ceasefire, during which time we will work with all parties to end the war,” Trump wrote. He said representatives of Qatar and Egypt, mediators in the conflict, would deliver “this final proposal”. “I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this...

The Republican-led US Senate approved President Donald Trump’s mammoth domestic policy bill on Tuesday by the narrowest of margins, despite misgivings over delivering deep welfare cuts and another $3 trillion in national debt. Republican leaders had struggled to corral support during a record 24-hour “vote-a-rama” amendment session on the Senate floor, as Democrats offered dozens of challenges to the most divisive aspects of the package. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune was able to turn around wavering moderates to deliver a 50-50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie. The sprawling text now heads to the House of Representatives, where it faces unified Democratic opposition and multiple Republicans baulking at the budget-busting costs, as well as slashed health care and food aid programmes for poor Americans. Trump’s bill proposes a $4.5tr extension of his first-term tax cuts, contentiously offset with $1.2tr in savings mainly targeting the Medicaid health insurance programme, as well as fe...

WASHINGTON DC: The Republican-led US Senate approved President Donald Trump’s mammoth domestic policy bill Tuesday by the narrowest of margins, despite misgivings over delivering deep welfare cuts and another $3 trillion in national debt. Republican leaders had struggled to corral support during a record 24-hour “vote-a-rama” amendment session on the Senate floor, as Democrats offered dozens […]

Donald Trump and Elon Musk reignited their bitter feud on Tuesday, with the US president threatening to deport the tech tycoon and strip federal funds from his businesses for criticising Trump’s flagship spending bill. The world’s richest person was Trump’s biggest political donor in the 2024 election, and became his inseparable ally during his first months back in the White House as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But the Space X and Tesla boss is now threatening to turn his riches against Trump, mulling a rival political party to challenge Republican lawmakers who vote for the president’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”. Trump, 79, reacted vengefully today as he headed to the opening of a new migrant detention centre in Florida dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”. “We’ll have to take a look,” he told reporters when asked if he would consider deporting Musk, who has held US citizenship since 2002. View this post on Instagram Trump also signalled that he could take aim at the huge contracts and subsi...

President Donald Trump signed on Monday an executive order terminating a US sanctions programme on Syria, allowing an end to the country’s isolation from the international financial system and building on Washington’s pledge to help it rebuild after a devastating civil war. The move will allow the US to maintain sanctions on Syria’s ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, his associates, human rights abusers, drug traffickers, people linked to chemical weapons activities, the Islamic State and ISIS affiliates and proxies for Iran, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a briefing. Assad was toppled in December in a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels and Syria has since taken steps to re-establish international ties. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said Trump’s termination of the Syria sanctions programme would “open door of long-awaited reconstruction and development,” according to a post by the foreign minister on social media platform X. He said the move would “lift the...

Iran-linked hackers have threatened to disclose more emails stolen from US President Donald Trump’s circle, after distributing a prior batch to the media ahead of the 2024 US election. In online chats with Reuters on Sunday and Monday, the hackers, who go by the pseudonym Robert, said they had roughly 100 gigabytes of emails from the accounts of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan, Trump adviser Roger Stone and porn star-turned-Trump antagonist Stormy Daniels. Robert raised the possibility of selling the material but otherwise did not provide details of their plans. The hackers did not describe the content of the emails. US Attorney General Pam Bondi described the intrusion as “an unconscionable cyber-attack”. The White House and the FBI responded with a statement from FBI Director Kash Patel, who said: “Anyone associated with any kind of breach of national security will be fully investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” “This so-called cyber ‘attack’ is ...

US President Donald Trump branded the winner of New York City’s mayoral Democratic primary a “pure communist” in remarks that aired Sunday, an epithet the progressive candidate dismissed as political theatrics. Zohran Mamdani’s shock win last week against a scandal-scarred political heavyweight resonated as a thunderclap within the party, and drew the ire of Trump and his collaborators, who accused Mamdani of being a radical extremist. The Republican’s aggressive criticism of the self-described democratic socialist is sure to ramp up over the coming months as Trump’s party seeks to push Democrats away from the political centre and frame them as too radical to win major US elections. “He’s pure communist” and a “radical leftist … lunatic,” Trump fumed on Fox News talk show ‘Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo’. “I think it’s very bad for New York,” added Trump, who grew up in the city and built his sprawling real estate business there. “If he does get in, I’m going to be president and he is going to ha...

US President Donald Trump said in a Fox News interview aired on Sunday that he found a buyer for the TikTok social media app, which he described as a group of “very wealthy people” whose identities he will reveal in about two weeks. Trump made the remarks in an interview on Fox News programme ‘Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo’ and said that the deal he is developing would probably need China’s approval to move forward, predicting that Chinese President Xi Jinping would likely approve it. The US president earlier this month extended a deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest the US assets of TikTok to September 17, despite a law that mandated a sale or shutdown without significant progress. A deal had been in the works this spring that would have spun off TikTok’s US operations into a new US-based firm — majority-owned and operated by US investors — but it was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump’s announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods. “We have a b...

The Republican-controlled US Senate narrowly advanced President Donald Trump’s, sweeping tax-cut and spending bill on Saturday, during a marathon weekend session marked by political drama, division and lengthy delays as Democrats sought to slow the legislation’s path to passage. Lawmakers voted 51-49 to open debate on the 940-page megabill, with two of Trump’s fellow Republicans joining Democrats to oppose the legislation that would fund the president’s top immigration, border, tax-cut and military priorities. Trump on social media hailed the “great victory” for his “great, big, beautiful bill”. After hours of delay, during which Republican leaders and Vice President JD Vance worked behind closed doors to persuade last-minute holdouts to support the measure, Democrats demanded that the megabill first be read aloud in the chamber — a task that could delay the start of the debate until Sunday afternoon. Democrats say the bill’s tax cuts would disproportionately benefit the wealthy at the expense of social progr...