WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump hosted an unusually long meeting with House Republicans at the White House on Thursday, turning over prime workspace for them to hammer out differences over the size, scope and details of their multi-trillion plan to cut taxes, regulations and government spending.
Trump set the tone at the start of the five-hour session, lawmakers said, then left them alone for a meeting that ran so long that Speaker Mike Johnson missed his own one-on-one at the US Capitol with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who instead met with Democratic leaders and other lawmakers as the speaker’s office scrambled to reschedule.
“Very positive developments today,” Johnson said once he returned to the Capitol. “We’re really grateful to the president for leaning in and doing what he does best, and that is put a steady hand at the wheel and get everybody working.”
House and Senate GOP leaders have been desperately looking to Trump for direction on how to proceed on their budget bill, but so far the president has been noncommittal about the details — only pushing Congress for results.
The standoff is creating frustration for Republicans as precious time is slipping and they fail to make progress on what has been their top priority with their party in control in Washington. At the same time, congressional phone lines are being swamped with callers protesting Trump’s cost-cutting efforts led by billionaire Elon Musk against federal programs, services and operations.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the president and lawmakers were discussing “tax priorities of the Trump administration,” including Trump’s promises to end federal taxation of tips, Social Security benefits and overtime pay. Renewing tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017 also was on the agenda, she said.
“The president is committed to working with Congress to get this done,” Leavitt said.
Johnson, despite the slimmest of majorities, has insisted Republicans will stay unified and on track to deliver on his goal of House passage of the legislation by April.
The chair of the House Budget Committee, Texas Rep. Jodey Arrington, returned from the meeting saying his panel will hold hearings on the package next week.
But as Johnson’s timeline slips — the House was hoping to start budget hearings this week — the Senate is making moves to take charge. GOP senators are heading to Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club on Friday for their own meeting.
Republicans led by Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota have proposed a two-step approach, starting with a smaller bill that would include money for Trump’s US-Mexico border wall and deportation plans, among other priorities. They later would pursue the more robust package of tax break extensions before a year-end deadline.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, announced late Wednesday that he was pushing ahead next week with hearings to kickstart the process.
The dueling approaches between the House and Senate is becoming something of a race to see which chamber will make the most progress toward the GOP’s overall goals.
The House GOP largely wants what Trump has called a “big, beautiful bill” that would extend some $3 trillion in tax cuts that expire at the end of the year, and include a list of other GOP priorities, including funding for the president’s mass deportation effort and promised US-Mexico border wall. It include massive cuts from a menu of government programs — from health care to food assistance — to help offset the tax cuts.
The smaller bill Graham is proposing would total some $300 billion and include border money and a boost in defense spending, largely paid for with a rollback of Biden-era green energy programs.
Graham, R-S.C., said that would give the Trump administration the money it needs to “finish the wall, hire ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents to deport criminal illegal immigrants.”
“This will be the most transformational border security bill in the history of our country,” Graham said.
House Republicans are deeply split over Graham’s approach. But they are also at odds over their own ideas.
House GOP leaders are proposing cuts that would bring $1 trillion in savings over the decade, lawmakers said, but members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus want at least double that amount.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said he’s looking for $2.5 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, or $250 billion annually, as part of that plan, compared to a $1 trillion floor over 10 years that some in GOP leadership have discussed.
Roy and other members of the Freedom Caucus are interested in Graham’s approach, which is seen as a down payment on Trump’s immigration and deportation plans, while the party continues work on the broader tax and spending cuts package.
But Arrington, the House Budget Committee chair, has previously said the $2.5 trillion in spending reductions was a “stretch goal.”
Johnson, R-Louisiana, needs almost complete unanimity from his ranks to pass any bill over objections from Democrats. In the Senate, Republicans have a 53-47 majority, with little room for dissent.
Trump has repeatedly said he is less wed to the process used in Congress than the outcome of achieving his policy goals.
Trump meets with congressional Republicans as GOP lawmakers argue over tax and spending cuts
https://arab.news/jy7xm
Trump meets with congressional Republicans as GOP lawmakers argue over tax and spending cuts
- The standoff is creating frustration for Republicans as precious time is slipping and they fail to make progress on what has been their top priority
Trump says reciprocal tariffs will target all countries
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that his reciprocal tariffs to be announced this week will include all countries and not a more limited number.
‘Pissed off’ at Putin, Trump threatens tariffs on Russian oil if Moscow blocks Ukraine deal
- “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault," he said on NBC News
- Putin on Friday suggested Ukraine could be placed under a form of temporary administration to allow for new elections that could push out Zelensky
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was “pissed off” at Russian President Vladimir Putin and will impose secondary tariffs of 25 percent to 50 percent on buyers of Russian oil if he feels Moscow is blocking his efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump told NBC News he was very angry after Putin last week criticized the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s leadership, the television network reported, citing a telephone interview early on Sunday.
Since taking office in January, Trump has adopted a more conciliatory stance toward Russia that has left Western allies wary as he tries to broker an end to Moscow’s three-year-old war in Ukraine.
His sharp comments about Putin on Sunday reflect his growing frustration about the lack of movement on a ceasefire.
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault ... I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” Trump said.
“That would be, that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States,” Trump said. “There will be a 25 percent tariff on all oil, a 25- to 50-point tariff on all oil.”
Trump said he could impose the new trade measures within a month.
There was no immediate reaction from Moscow. Russia has called numerous Western sanctions and restrictions “illegal” and designed for the West to take economic advantage in its rivalry with Russia.
Trump, who spent the weekend at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, told NBC News he planned to speak with Putin this week. The two leaders have had two publicly announced telephone calls in recent months but may have had more contacts, the Kremlin said in video footage last week.
The White House had no immediate comment on when the call would take place, or if Trump would also speak with Zelensky.
Trump has focused heavily on ending what he calls a “ridiculous” war, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but has made little progress.
Putin on Friday suggested Ukraine could be placed under a form of temporary administration to allow for new elections that could push out Zelensky.
Trump, who himself has called for new elections in Ukraine and denounced Zelensky as a dictator, said Putin knows he is angry with him. But Trump added he had “a very good relationship with him” and “the anger dissipates quickly ... if he does the right thing.”
Growing pressure to end war
Trump’s comments followed a day of meetings and golf with Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Saturday, during Stubb’s surprise visit to Florida.
Stubb’s office on Sunday said he told Trump a deadline needs to be set for establishing a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire to make it happen and suggested April 20 since Trump would have been in office then for three months.
US officials have been separately pushing Kyiv to accept a critical minerals agreement, a summary of which suggested the US was demanding all Ukraine’s natural resources income for years. Zelensky has said Kyiv’s lawyers need to review the draft before he can say more about the US offer.
Trump’s latest tariff threats would add to the pain already facing China, India and other countries through trade measures imposed during his first two months in office, including duties on steel, aluminum and cars. More duties on imports from the countries with the largest trade surpluses are slated to be announced on Wednesday.
William Reinsch, a former senior Commerce Department official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the haphazard way Trump was announcing and threatening tariffs leaves many questions unanswered, including how US officials could trace and prove which countries were buying Russian oil.
Trump set the stage for Sunday’s news with a 25 percent secondary tariff imposed last week on US imports from any country buying oil or gas from Venezuela.
His remarks to NBC suggest he could take similar action against US imports from countries that buy oil from Russia, a move that could hit China and India particularly hard.
The US has not imported any Russian barrels of crude oil since April 2022, according to US government data. Before that, US refiners bought inconsistent volumes of Russian oil, with a high of 98.1 million barrels in 2010 and low of 6.6 million in 2014, according to a review of EIA data since 2000.
India has surpassed China to become the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian crude, which comprised about 35 percent of India’s total crude imports in 2024.
Trump on Sunday also said he could hit buyers of Iranian oil with secondary sanctions if Tehran did not reach an agreement to end their nuclear weapons program.
Russia, US start talks on rare earth metals projects in Russia, RIA agency reports
Moscow and Washington have started talks on joint rare earth metals and other projects in Russia, Russia’s special envoy on international economic and investment cooperation told the Izvestia media outlet in remarks published on Monday.
“Rare earth metals are an important area for cooperation, and, of course, we have begun discussions on various rare earth metals and (other) projects in Russia,” Kirill Dmitriev, who is also the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, told Izvestia.
Putin, following negotiations between the US and Ukraine over a draft minerals deal, has offered the US, under a future economic deal, to jointly explore Russia’s rare earth metal deposits.
Dmitriev, who was part of Russia’s negotiating team at talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia in February, said some companies have already shown interest in the projects. He did not name any companies and did not reveal further details.
Izvestia reported the cooperation may be further discussed at the next round of Russia-US talks that may take place in mid-April in Saudi Arabia.
Rare earths and other critical metals, essential for high-tech industries, have gained global attention in recent months as US President Donald Trump spurred efforts to counter China’s dominance in the sector.
Tesla chargers torched in France arson attack
- There have been a number of anti-Telsa actions in the US and Europe since Elon Musk became Trump’s adviser and backed European far-right parties
SAINT-ÉTIENNE, France: Twelve Tesla electric superchargers were targeted in an arson attack in the carpark of a supermarket in central France, a police source told AFP on Sunday.
The fire broke out overnight Wednesday to Thursday in the town of St-Chamond in the Loire department, the source said, confirming a report in the regional newspaper Le Progres.
Two of the chargers, each worth tens of thousands of euros, were completely destroyed, while the others were damaged.
“Anti-Tesla campaign born to burn” was found painted in white on the car park floor.
The police source said it was “the first act targeting the business of billionaire American Elon Musk” in the Loire.
An investigation for “damage and destruction by fire” has been opened but no arrests had been made, the source added.
There have been a number of anti-Telsa actions in Europe since Musk became US President Donald Trump’s adviser and backed European far-right parties.
Earlier this month, a dozen Teslas were torched in an attack on a dealership near the southern city of Toulouse, leaving eight vehicles burnt out.
Another four cars were badly damaged.
A recent spate of attacks on Tesla property in the United States have been described by Attorney General Pam Bondi as “nothing short of domestic terrorism.”
EU open to ‘compromise’ on US tariffs, says Scholz
- Trump has announced sweeping tariffs on the United States’ allies and adversaries, including a 25-percent levy on auto imports starting next week
BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday said the EU would respond firmly to tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump but stressed the bloc was also open to compromise.
“It is clear that we, as the European Union... will react clearly and decisively to the United States’ tariff policy,” Scholz said ahead of the opening of a trade fair in Hanover.
But the bloc was “always and at all times firmly prepared to work for compromise and cooperation,” he said.
“I say to the US: Europe’s goal remains cooperation. But if the US leaves us no choice, as with the tariffs on steel and aluminum, we will respond as a united European Union,” Scholz said.
Trump has announced sweeping tariffs on the United States’ allies and adversaries, including a 25-percent levy on auto imports starting next week.
A 25-percent US tariff on steel and aluminum from around the world came into effect in mid-March, with EU countermeasures set to begin in April.
As a major car manufacturer and exporter, Germany could be hit particularly hard by the auto tariffs and they were the subject of a visit to Washington by Finance Minister Joerg Kukies last week.
Germany has vowed a tough response to the tariffs, with a government spokesman insisting that “nothing is off the table.”
However, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni struck a more conciliatory tone on Saturday, calling for a “reasoned” approach to the escalating dispute.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen also previously said she “deeply” regretted the US auto tariffs and the EU would “continue to seek negotiated solutions.”
Scholz on Sunday also insisted Canada was an independent country, responding to repeated comments by Trump that it should become the 51st US state.
“Canada is a proud, independent nation, Canada has friends all over the world and especially here in Germany and Europe,” he said at the Hanover trade fair.
Canada is a special guest at the event, which officially opens on Monday.
