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It comes as Trump has defended reports the Qatari royal family will gift a $400 million Boeing jet to the president to use as the new Air Force One.
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The United States and China have struck a deal to slash tariffs for at least 90 days as both countries seek to end the trade war.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that “both countries represented their national interest very well” in the meetings in Geneva, and that reciprocal tariffs would come down by 115 percent.
The trade war between Washington and Beijing rapidly escalated in April after President Donald Trump announced he was lifting levies on Chinese goods to 145 percent. China responded by increasing its tariffs on US goods to 125 percent, accusing the U.S. of bullying behavior.
But recently both sides made it clear that they wanted an off-ramp from the trade war which had made financial markets anxious.
It comes as Trump prepares to cut prescription drug prices by signing an executive order on Monday to reduce thir cost by up to 80 pecent “almost immediately”.
Trump has also defended reports that the Qatari royal family will gift a $400 million Boeing jet to the president to use as the new Air Force One.
President Donald Trump, hailing a successful U.S.-mediated ceasefire between India and Pakistan on Saturday, brought flashbacks to his inauguration day address and desire to be seen as a “peacemaker.”
In his January 20 address, he said: “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be, a peacemaker and a unifier.”
On the surface, an admirable mission statement, but underneath lies a personal motive and related gripe. President Trump has made no secret that one thing he really desires is a Nobel Peace Prize.
Read US Reporter Oliver O’Connell’s analysis of whether Trump is likely to achieve that wish below:
The President says there is “no inflation” as he prepares to sign an executive order to cut the price of prescription medication.
Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “DRUG PRICES TO BE CUT BY 59%, PLUS! Gasoline, Energy, Groceries, and all other costs, DOWN. NO INFLATION!!! LOVE, DJT”
Inflation in the U.S. was 2.4 percent in the year to March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but fell 0.1 percent over the month.
Gas prices fell 6.4 percent, while food inflation rose by 0.4 percent over the month.
Inflation figures for April will be published on Tuesday.
Donald Trump has welcomed the news that Hamas will release the last living American captive, Edan Alexander.
“EDAN ALEXANDER, AMERICAN HOSTAGE THOUGHT DEAD, TO BE RELEASED BY HAMAS. GREAT NEWS!” he wrote on social media on Monday morning.
White House envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Israel on Monday ahead of Alexander’s release.
Witkoff spoke to Alexander’s parents and told them about Hamas’ release plans, Axios reports.
A source familiar with the deal told The Independent it was a “good will” gesture after direct talks between the militant group and the U.S.
Read the full report on Alexander’s expected release below:
Danish shipping giant Maersk has welcomed the 90-day pause on high tariffs between China and the U.S. as a step in the right direction.
“We hope it can lay the foundation for the parties to also reach a permanent deal that can create the long-term predictability our customers need,” the company said in an emailed statement.
“Right now, our customers have gotten 90 days of clarity with reduced tariffs, and we are working hard to help them make the best use of this window,” it added.
Donald Trump has defended reports that the Qatari royal family will gift a $400 million Boeing jet to the president to use as the new Air Force One.
“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump wrote on social media.
“Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!!”
Qatari officials said the deal was yet to be finalised, and was still under consideration by the defense departments of both countries.
“No decision has been made,” Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s Media Attaché to the US, told Politico.
Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order today which he claims will reduced the cost of prescription medicines by up to 80 percent “almost immediately”.
Trump said in social media post that it was “very embarrassing” that Americans were paying much more for prescription drugs than “in any other nation”.
“I will be signing one of the most consequential Executive Orders in our Country’s history. Prescription Drug and Pharmaceutical prices will be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%,” he wrote on TruthSocial on Sunday.
The president said he would be instituting a “most favored nation’s policy” in which the U.S. would pay the same as the country that pays the lowest price anywhere around the world.
Americans do tend to pay more for prescriptions than people in other wealthy nations, ProPublica reports.
Drug companies face few restraints on what they charge for their products in the U.S, whereas other countries tend to set prices for treatments based on their benefits and the prices other nations charge.
Financial markets have been buoyed by the news of the cuts in tariffs between the U.S. and China.
The tariff dispute brought nearly $600 billion in two-way trade to a standstill, disrupting supply chains, sparking fears of stagflation and triggering some layoffs.
Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management in Hong Kong said the deal was “better than I expected”.
“Obviously, this is very positive news for economies in both countries and for the global economy, and makes investors much less concerned about the damage to global supply chains in the short term,” Zhang said.
Before the deal was detailed, Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets for Hargreaves Lansdown, said hopes were high for a “significant deal”.
“With more details about the outcome expected later, there’s optimism around that the spat between the world’s two largest economies won’t inflict as much damage globally as had been feared,” she said.
Following the weekend of negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, the U.S. and China have released a joint statement outlining the new agreement to slash tariffs.
Beyond agreeing to reduce tariffs by 115 percent for 90 days, both sides agreed to “establish a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations”.
Those discussions will continue between China’s vice premier He Lifeng and U.S representatives Scott Bessent and Jamieson Greer, and will be conducted in China, the United States, or a third country.
Earlier, Bessent said one of the issues that led to the escalating trade war was a lack of a mechanism to hold these sorts of trade discussions.
Earlier, U.S. treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the countries had agreed to slash tariffs by 115 percent.
That means tariffs on U.S. goods exported to China have been reduced to 10 percent.
For goods being exported to the U.S. from China, tariffs have now been cut to 30 percent.
But the agreement is for a 90-day pause, to allow Beijing and Washington to continue negotiations.
China says negotiations with the U.S. over the weekend to reduce cripling tariffs were constructive, and it was a step to increasing the “pie of cooperation”.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Chinese vice premier He Lifeng led the Beijing delegation in the Swiss meetings.
“The two sides conducted in-depth, candid and constructive communication on implementing the important consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries on Jan. 17, and reached a series of major consensuses,” Lin said.
“The two sides have agreed to establish an economic and trade consultation mechanism to maintain communication on their respective concerns in the economic and trade fields.
“China and the US should find proper solutions to the problems through equal dialogue and consultation, explore more potential for cooperation, extend the list of cooperation, and make pie of cooperation bigger.”
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Trump – live updates: US strikes trade deal with China as tariffs slashed for 90 days – The Independent
