Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, national crime cases, illegal immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com
Global stock markets are soaring in the wake of the trade truce between the U.S. and China.
The agreement, announced early Monday, implements a 90-day cooling-off period between the world’s two largest economic superpowers, bringing a temporary end to their tariff war that last month triggered a massive financial market sell-off.
U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, which were jacked to 145% last month as President Donald Trump hiked tariffs on countries around the world, will be scaled down to 30%, with Beijing lowering its tariffs from a retaliatory 125% to just 10%.
‘We both have an interest in balanced trade, the U.S. will continue moving towards that,’ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after talks with Chinese officials in Switzerland.
While the initial agreement brought instant relief to the stock markets, for a president aiming to pass a sweeping agenda through Congress and hold onto his congressional majorities in next year’s midterm elections, it is the potential political payoff that may be of upmost importance.
The truce with China follows days after an initial trade deal with the United Kingdom – which is the first since Trump implemented tariffs last month. The president touted that the agreement with London would be ‘the first of many.’
‘It’s a positive first step,’ veteran Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams told Fox News.
Trump’s approval ratings have been sliding since he returned to power in the White House nearly four months ago and are now underwater in most national polling.
Most, but not all, of the most recent national public opinion surveys indicate Trump’s approval ratings in negative territory, which is a deterioration from the president’s poll position when he started his second tour of duty in the White House in late January.
Fueling the drop in Trump’s poll numbers are increased concerns by Americans over the economy and inflation, which were pressing issues that kept former President Joe Biden‘s approval ratings well below water for most of his presidency.
Trump stood at 44% approval and 55% disapproval in the most recent Fox News national poll, which was conducted April 18-21.
Additionally, getting past the top lines, the president’s approval registered at 38% on the economy and just 33% on inflation and tariffs.
Front and center is Trump’s blockbuster tariff announcement in early April, which sparked a trade war with some of the nation’s top trading partners and triggered a massive sell-off in the financial markets and increased concerns about a recession.
In discussing his tariffs soon after he announced them on what he called ‘Liberation Day,’ the president touted that ‘these countries are calling us up, kissing my a–.’
‘They are dying to make a deal. ‘Please, please, sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything, sir!’’ Trump claimed.
A month later, Trump finally has a chance to show tangible results.
The president touted, ‘NO INFLATION!!! LOVE, DJT’ in a social media post Monday morning.
‘President Trump has argued that his agenda requires time for an adjustment and deal making. He’ll be given a period of time to execute deals to prove that his plans are working and the first major trade deal with a nation like the UK is at least a sign that some of the work has been going on behind the scenes thus and is starting to bear fruit,’ Williams said last week, following the announcement of the deal with the United Kingdom.
Williams added that the president will ‘have to back it up with more, but it is a positive first step for him in securing other deals.’
JERUSALEM — With President Donald Trump set to leave for the Middle East on Monday, talks between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic of Iran concluded a fourth round of negotiations in Oman on Sunday over Tehran’s illicit nuclear weapons program.
A day before the start of talks, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei welcomed chants of ‘Death to America’ in Tehran. ‘Your judgment is right,’ Khamenei told a crowd of supporters who called for the destruction of the U.S.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the nuclear talks were ‘difficult but useful.’ A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations, offered a little bit more, describing them as being both indirect and direct, The Associated Press reported.
An ‘agreement was reached to move forward with the talks to continue working through technical elements,’ the U.S. official said. ‘We are encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future.’
President Trump announced a 60-day time frame to reach an agreement with Iran over its illegal atomic weapons program. The first U.S. negotiating session with Iran commenced on April 12.
Mardo Soghom, an Iran analyst and journalist, noted prior to the start of talks several months ago that Iran’s regime will go to great lengths to preserve its right to enrich uranium—the material required for a nuclear weapon. The Trump administration vehemently opposes a uranium enrichment program on Iranian soil.
‘Iran is trying to save its enrichment operation at a lower level and also not accepting any pressure to halt its anti-Israel stance. Khamenei’s speech [Saturday] highlighted that second point. But at this point, the main issue is dismantling Iran’s uranium enrichment,’ Soghom told Fox News Digital.
Khamenei also lashed out at Israel during his Saturday speech in Tehran, declaring about Israel’s war campaign to root out Iran-backed Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip that ‘The people of Gaza are not facing Israel alone—they are facing America and Britain.’
Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital that ‘The Iranians, like last round, sound more downcast than the U.S. side, describing talks as difficult.’
In 2018, President Trump withdrew from former President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), because the accord failed to prevent Tehran from building a nuclear weapons device, according to the first Trump administration.
President Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff recently stressed that Iran cannot have an enrichment program during an interview with Breitbart News prior to Sunday’s bargaining session.
Witkoff said ‘First of all, we’re never doing a JCPOA deal where sanctions come off and there’s no sunsetting of their obligations. That doesn’t make sense. That was a mismatched procedure in JCPOA. We believe that they cannot have enrichment, they cannot have centrifuges, they cannot have anything that allows them to build a weapon. We believe in all of that. That was not JCPOA. JCPOA had sunset provisions that burned off the obligations and burned off the sanctions relief at inappropriate times. It’s never going to happen in this deal.’
Brodsky said that ‘All in all, both sides want to keep the process moving. The Iranians will usually say and do enough to earn another meeting as they stand to lose more by this process breaking down than the U.S. government. The negotiating process is as important to the Iranians as the agreement itself as the process offers insulation from the impact of sanctions—with the rial strengthening since talks started—and protection from a military strike.
‘This is why Iran will want these negotiations to continue for as long as possible. They will try to wear out and exhaust U.S. negotiators into concessions, which the Trump administration should reject. As President Trump said in a different context, Tehran does not have the cards here.’
The hot-button issue of uranium enrichment has plagued talks with Iran over the last few decades. The Europeans faced intense criticism when they agreed—independent of the U.S.—to allow the Islamic Republic to enrich uranium during the nascent phase of atomic talks during the early years of this century.
Brodsky said ‘The original sin of U.S. decision-making on Iran’s nuclear program was when the Obama administration changed the U.S. position from zero enrichment to tolerating enrichment at 3.67%. That laid the groundwork for Iran to retain the capability to continue to use its nuclear program to extort the United States and ultimately build a nuclear weapon.’
The nuclear expert noted, ‘That should end today, and recent comments from President Trump, Special Envoy Witkoff, and Secretary Rubio hopefully signal that this era is over. House and Senate Republicans were also very clear on this point over the last week. The Iranians say they want a durable deal. But a JCPOA 2.0—tolerating enrichment at 3.67% and no dismantlement of nuclear facilities—would not be one.
‘The Iranians are engaged in all kinds of gimmicks to dress up a variation of the same concessions they offered to President Obama. That should be unacceptable to American negotiators.’
The anti-American news outlet, Kayhan, that serves as the mouthpiece for Khamenei, published a full-page screed against Trump where it stated, ‘He is a framework based on narcissism, superiority delusions, and threat-based tactics.’
The talks on Sunday ran for some three hours in Muscat, the capital of Oman. Iran’s regime spokesperson, Baghaei, said that a decision on the next round of talks is under discussion.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A measure in President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ aimed at cracking down on federal payments for abortion providers could run into a buzzsaw of opposition from moderate House Republicans.
House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., held a conference call with GOP lawmakers on Sunday night unveiling his panel’s portion of the Republican reconciliation bill.
During the question and answer portion of the call, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., asked for clarity on several aspects, including a provision to make ‘large groups who provide abortion services’ ineligible for federal Medicaid dollars, Fox News Digital was told.
‘You are running into a hornet’s nest,’ Lawler warned his colleagues.
The New York Republican, one of only three GOP lawmakers representing districts that Trump lost in 2024, questioned how those groups were being defined and said the language needed to be ‘looked over,’ Fox News Digital was also told.
Guthrie assured him that certain considerations were being taken in the language.
Lawler also pointed out that the Hyde Amendment already prevents federal dollars from going towards abortion services, Fox News Digital was told.
His concerns were echoed by another person familiar with House GOP discussions on the matter, who was granted anonymity to speak freely.
That person told Fox News Digital that several moderate Republican lawmakers communicated to House GOP leaders that they could oppose the final bill if that provision was included.
‘We’re not fighting a new fight on abortion when that’s kind of calmed down,’ the person recalled of the moderates’ argument.
Fox News Digital first learned of discussions about the potential measure last week. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., alluded to Republicans’ plans in a speech at the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s gala last month.
Johnson said the Republicans’ bill would redirect funds from ‘big abortion’ to ‘federally qualified health centers.’
The legislation itself refers to nonprofit organizations that are ‘an essential community provider…that is primarily engaged in family planning services, reproductive health, and related medical care; and provides for abortions.’
The legislation makes exceptions for facilities that only provide abortions in the case of rape, incest, or threats to the life of the mother.
It’s one of several efforts to rein in spending to pay for Trump’s other priorities via the budget reconciliation process.
House Republicans currently have a razor-thin three-vote margin, meaning they can afford to have little dissent and still pass anything without Democratic support. They’re hoping to do just that, with virtually no Democrats currently on board with Trump’s massive Republican policy overhaul.
The budget-reconciliation process lowers the Senate’s passage threshold from 60 votes to 51, lining up the House’s own simple majority threshold.
Reconciliation allows the party in power to effectively skirt the minority and pass broad pieces of legislation – provided they address taxes, spending or the national debt.
Trump wants Republicans to use the maneuver to tackle his priorities on the border, immigration, taxes, defense, energy, and raising the debt ceiling.
To do that, several committees of jurisdiction are working on their specific portions of the bill, which will then be put together in a massive vehicle to pass the House and Senate.
The Energy & Commerce Committee – which has a broad jurisdiction including Medicare, Medicaid, telecommunications, and energy production – was tasked with finding at least $880 billion in spending cuts out of a total $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion.
Guthrie said the bill released late on Sunday evening includes ‘north of’ $900 billion in spending cuts.
In addition to the measure ending Medicaid funds for large abortion providers, the legislation also finds savings in instilling work requirements for certain able-bodied beneficiaries of Medicaid expansion.
Some Medicaid dollars going toward states that provide taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal immigrants are also targeted.
It would also repeal certain Biden administration green energy subsidies, including the former White House’s electric vehicle mandate.
Fox News Digital reached out to the committee and Lawler’s office for comment on the specific measure.
House Republicans released a sweeping plan late on Sunday to curb who gets Medicaid coverage and roll back former President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate, among other measures.
The Energy & Commerce Committee, which has broad jurisdiction, including over federal health programs, telecommunications and energy, was tasked with finding at least $880 billion in spending cuts to pay for other priorities in President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’
Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., told House Republicans on a lawmaker-only call on Sunday night that the panel had found ‘north of $900 billion’ in savings, however – a significant victory for House GOP leaders who weathered attacks from Democrats about significant cuts to welfare programs like Medicaid.
However, Republicans largely avoided the deep cuts to Medicaid that were sought by some fiscal hawks in the House GOP Conference, a win for moderate Republicans who were more politically vulnerable to Democratic attacks over the issue.
The legislation would put a new 80-hour-per-month work requirement on certain able-bodied adults receiving Medicaid, aged 19 through 64.
It would also put guardrails on states spending funds on their expanded Medicaid populations. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) allowed states to expand Medicaid coverage to adults who make up to 138% of the poverty level.
More specifically, states that provide Medicaid coverage to illegal immigrants could see their federal Medicaid reimbursement dollars diminished, putting more of that cost on the state itself.
The bill would also require states with expanded Medicaid populations to perform eligibility checks every six months to ensure the system is not being abused.
Guthrie told House Republicans on a Sunday night call that the legislation was ‘ending’ the former Biden administration’s EV mandate. He said $105 billion in savings could be found in ending the mandate to have EVs account for two-thirds of all new car sales by 2032.
Other savings are found in rescinding unspent funds in a variety of Biden green energy tax programs established via the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
It is not a full repeal of the IRA, however, as some conservatives had been pushing Republicans to do.
That had been another point of contention ahead of the bill’s release, with GOP lawmakers who have businesses in their districts that have benefited from the green energy subsidies pushing back on significant cuts.
On the other end of the energy divide, the bill would also boost Trump’s non-green energy goals by establishing a fast-tracked natural gas permitting route. The permit applicant would be required to pay $10 million or 1% of the project’s cost to be on the expedited track.
There is also a victory for social conservatives in a measure that would make certain large abortion providers ineligible for Medicaid funding. That measure was pushed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., himself, and was backed by anti-abortion groups like Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
However, it could run into opposition from moderate Republicans – Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., called the provision ‘problematic’ and warned colleagues they were ‘running into a hornet’s nest’ on the matter in the Sunday night call.
The legislation does provide exceptions for places that provide abortions in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is at stake. It’s not necessarily clear, however, if providing voluntary abortions would disqualify those locations.
The Energy & Commerce Committee’s legislation accounts for the bulk of Republicans’ $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion spending cuts they are hoping to find in the budget reconciliation process.
House Republicans currently have a razor-thin three-vote margin, meaning they can afford to have little dissent and still pass anything without Democratic support. They are hoping to do just that, with virtually no Democrats currently on board with Trump’s massive Republican policy overhaul.
The budget-reconciliation process lowers the Senate’s passage threshold from 60 votes to 51, lining up the House’s own simple majority threshold.
Reconciliation allows the party in power to effectively skirt the minority and pass broad pieces of legislation – provided they address taxes, spending or the national debt.
Trump wants Republicans to use the maneuver to tackle his priorities on the border, immigration, taxes, defense, energy and raising the debt ceiling.
To do that, several committees of jurisdiction are working on their specific portions of the bill, which will then be put together in a massive vehicle to pass the House and Senate.
GOP leaders hope to have that final bill on Trump’s desk by Fourth of July.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino shared a detailed update Saturday about the bureau’s operations, making clear the agency is focused on removing dangerous criminals and protecting children.
In a post on X, Bongino outlined several priorities and took aim at what he called misleading media coverage of the FBI’s work.
‘The workforce has been working overtime on task force operations to remove dangerous illegal aliens from the country. The work continues,’ Bongino wrote. ‘If you came here illegally to prey on our citizens, your days here are numbered.’
He said these operations are only getting started and will ramp up in the coming weeks.
‘These removal and incarceration operations will dramatically change the crime landscape in the country when combined with the administration’s laser-focus on sealing the border shut,’ he added.
Bongino also pointed to a new initiative focused on protecting children from predators.
‘Crimes against children are a priority for the workforce. Operation ‘Restoring Justice,’ where we locked up child predators and 764 subjects, in every part of the country, is just the beginning,’ he said. ‘We are going to take your freedom if you take away a child’s innocence.’
He promised more enforcement efforts to come and warned those targeting children to ‘think twice.’
Bongino addressed the FBI’s efforts to respond to Congress and the public about several high-profile cases. These include the attack on Rep. Steve Scalise, the Nashville school shooting, the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and the origins of COVID-19. He also mentioned the ongoing work with the Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein case.
‘There are voluminous amounts of downloaded child sexual abuse material that we are dealing with,’ he wrote. ‘There are also victims’ statements that are entitled to specific protections. We need to do this correctly, but I do understand the public’s desire to get the information out there.’
He also responded to what he described as false stories being spread by some in the media and came to the defense of FBI Director Patel.
‘He spends anywhere between 10 to 12 hours in the office attending meetings with everyone from foreign heads of law enforcement to our counter-terror teams,’ Bongino wrote. ‘Any assertion otherwise is a verifiable lie designed to stop our reforms and fracture your trust. I will die on this hill. You are being clearly lied to by people with an agenda, and it’s not your agenda.’
He closed by thanking the public for its attention and encouraged Americans to keep watching the FBI’s progress.
‘God bless America, and all those who defend Her,’ he wrote.
Dan Bongino began his law enforcement career with the New York Police Department in 1995. He joined the United States Secret Service in 1999 and later served on the elite Presidential Protective Division for presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
After leaving government service, Bongino ran for office as a Republican in Maryland and Florida. Bongino also hosted a Saturday night show on Fox News Channel from 2021 to 2023.
He is the author of several books, including ‘Life Inside the Bubble,’ a memoir about his time in the Secret Service.
The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
President Donald Trump and his administration inked a major trade deal with the U.K. Thursday, and closed the week gearing up for trade talks with China over the weekend.
Details of the specific trade plan with the U.K. are sparse, but the deal keeps the existing 10% tariffs in place against U.K. goods while removing some import taxes on items like steel and cars.
‘With this deal, the U.K. joins the United States in affirming that reciprocity and fairness is an essential and vital principle of international trade,’ Trump said Thursday. ‘The deal includes billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture, dramatically increasing access for American beef, ethanol and virtually all of the products produced by our great farmers.’
The deal is the first historic trade negotiation signed following Liberation Day, when Trump announced widespread tariffs for multiple countries April 2 at a range of rates.
The administration later adjusted its initial proposal and announced April 9 it would immediately impose a 145% tariff on Chinese goods, while reducing reciprocal tariffs on other countries for 90 days to a baseline of 10%. China responded by raising tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%.
Trump also shed some insight into trade negotiations with China, given that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to kick off trade negotiations with China in Switzerland Saturday.
‘Scott’s going to be going to Switzerland, meeting with China,’ Trump told reporters Thursday at the White House. ‘And you know, they very much want to make a deal. We can all play games. Who made the first call, who didn’t make them? It doesn’t matter. Only matters what happens in that room. But I will tell you that China very much wants to make a deal. We’ll see how that works out.’
Here’s what also happened this week:
Trump also doubled down on his interest in expanding the U.S. during a Tuesday visit with Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney.
Trump regularly has said he wants Canada to become a U.S. state, and has discussed acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal for security purposes. However, the matter of Canada isn’t open to negotiation, Carney said.
‘Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign the last several months, it’s not for sale,’ Carney said at the White House Tuesday. ‘Won’t be for sale ever, but the opportunity is in the partnership and what we can build together. We have done that in the past, and part of that, as the president just said, is with respect to our security, and my government is committed for a step change in our investment in Canadian security and our partnership.’
While Trump acknowledged that Canada was stepping up its investment in military security, he said, ‘Never say never’ in response to Canada becoming another state.
‘I’ve had many, many things that were not doable, and they ended up being doable,’ Trump said.
Trump also met with Russian-American ballet dancer, Ksenia Karelina, at the White House Monday. Karelina faced a sentence of 12 years in a Russian penal colony for treason in 2024, but the Trump administration negotiated her return to the U.S. during a U.S.-Russian prisoner swap in April.
‘Mr. Trump, I’m so, so grateful for you to bring me home and for (the) American government. And I never felt more blessed to be American, and I’m so, so happy to get home,’ Karelina said in a video posted by Trump deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka on April 11 upon her return to the U.S.
Karelina, a resident of Los Angeles who was born in Russia, was arrested in 2024 during a trip to visit family in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Russia Federal Security Service arrested her after inspecting her phone and finding a donation to a U.S.-based charity that supports Ukraine.
Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Something extraordinary happened on Friday, but you likely didn’t see it in the headlines.
In Washington, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) quietly approved a $2.3 billion bailout package for Pakistan. On the surface, it was just another financial deal. But beneath the surface, this vote tied together three of the most pressing foreign policy theaters in the world: India-Pakistan, Ukraine-Russia, and U.S.-China.
And the common thread?
President Trump’s return to ‘Art of the Deal’ diplomacy.
The $2.3 billion IMF package included a $1 billion tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and $1.3 billion under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). But many experts were surprised this vote even happened, let alone passed.
Just last year, Pakistan’s IMF bailout was contingent on its assistance in rearming NATO during the Ukraine war. The Biden administration leaned heavily on Pakistan to support weapons transfers, using routes like the Nur Khan Airbase to send munitions to Europe.
This time around, the vote looked shaky. The Trump administration has made it clear it wants to end the war in Ukraine—and all wars that bleed U.S. taxpayers without clear gain. Meanwhile, India was lobbying both the IMF and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to block funding to Pakistan, citing terrorism financing concerns.
And then came the vote.
India abstained. So did China and Russia. The ‘yes’ votes came from the United States and the United Kingdom.
If you’re wondering why the U.S.—under Trump’s second term—would back a loan to a terror-linked state in the middle of a war, here’s the answer: because the deal was far bigger than Pakistan.
Let’s unpack what likely happened.
India’s abstention puzzled many. It had taken a strong stand against the IMF loan, arguing that it violated basic principles of counter-terror financing. For India to let it slide signaled something else was in play.
Trump’s first major diplomatic focus post-inauguration was reworking America’s global trade deals, and India was high on the list. The president had long called India the ‘tariff king,’ and negotiations had been underway to reduce agricultural and industrial tariffs. In fact, Vice President JD Vance had been dispatched to New Delhi—not a low-level envoy.
There were signs a deal was close. But the momentum was disrupted by a major terrorist attack in Kashmir, which India blamed on Pakistan-based groups. The India-U.S. trade deal went into a holding pattern.
Now, India’s IMF abstention appears less like inaction and more like a trade-off: a quiet concession, in return for favorable terms in the broader trade agreement with the U.S.
Pakistan, for its part, was running on empty. It reportedly had only four days of ammunition left and faced near-total economic collapse. Though some NATO members had sent emergency aid, the U.S. itself has been moving to reduce entanglements with NATO and phase out military support in Ukraine.
But here’s where it gets more interesting.
The United States has long had an internal debate over Pakistan. During the Cold War and the war on terror, some intelligence factions saw Pakistan as a necessary partner—even when it meant funding terror groups like the Mujahideen. In more recent years, others have shifted toward India as the natural counterweight to China.
This division within U.S. security circles matters, because it means that the fight over Pakistan is both internal and external.
And yet, the Trump administration pushed the vote through.
Why?
One likely condition: a ceasefire in the India-Pakistan conflict.
But there may have been another condition—one that had China’s fingerprints all over it.
If there’s one country that stands to gain from Pakistan’s financial boost, it’s China.
Pakistan is deeply indebted to China through Belt and Road infrastructure deals. And more to the point, most of its military imports come from Chinese manufacturers. Any fresh IMF cash would likely end up buying Chinese weapons.
So why did China abstain from voting on Pakistan’s loan?
Simple: Because Trump likely barred it.
Sources close to the matter suggest that strict terms were placed on the loan—stipulating that IMF funds cannot be spent on Chinese or Russian weapons systems, only American ones. That alone would have removed China’s incentive to back the package.
Add to that the increasing chatter over Chinese versus Western arms systems in the India-Pakistan conflict—and China’s abstention begins to make a lot of sense.
By pushing this IMF package forward under strict conditions, the Trump administration appears to have pulled off a remarkable maneuver:
All in one vote.
There were no headlines. No press briefings. No declarations of success.
But that’s often how real power operates.
Critics may scoff at the idea that Trump is capable of high-level diplomacy. But for those tracking the architecture of global influence—this vote was not noise. It was signal.
It was a reminder that American power, when wielded with strategic clarity, doesn’t need to announce itself loudly.
It just needs to move the board. Quietly. Completely. Effectively.
And if you were watching this one closely, you saw just that.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday promised to increase trade with India and Pakistan after the two nations agreed to a ceasefire to end the conflict with each other.
‘While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great Nations,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘Additionally, I will work with you both to see if, after a ‘thousand years,’ a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir. God Bless the leadership of India and Pakistan on a job well done!!!’
The fragile ceasefire was holding on Sunday after several days of intense fighting, with dozens killed as missiles and drones were fired at each other’s military bases. The deal was reached after diplomacy and pressure from the U.S., but artillery fire was witnessed in Indian Kashmir within hours of the agreement.
Attacks were witnessed in cities near the border under a blackout, as was the case in the previous two evenings.
The fighting began on Wednesday after 26 men were killed two weeks prior in an attack targeting Hindus in Pahalgam in Kashmir. Both countries rule part of Kashmir but claim full control.
Late on Saturday, India accused Pakistan of violating the agreement to stop firing and that the Indian armed forces had been told to ‘deal strongly’ with any continued firings.
Pakistan blamed India for violating the truce and said it was committed to the ceasefire.
The fighting and explosions reported overnight had quieted on both sides of the border by dawn on Sunday.
‘I am very proud of the strong and unwaveringly powerful leadership of India and Pakistan for having the strength, wisdom, and fortitude to fully know and understand that it was time to stop the current aggression that could have lead to to [sic] the death and destruction of so many, and so much,’ Trump said in his post.
‘Millions of good and innocent people could have died! Your legacy is greatly enhanced by your brave actions. I am proud that the USA was able to help you arrive at this historic and heroic decision,’ he added.
In the Indian border city of Amritsar, a siren sounded Sunday morning to resume normal activities.
Officials in Pakistan said there was some firing in Bhimber in Pakistani Kashmir overnight, but there was no fighting anywhere else and no casualties were reported.
The two countries have gone to war three times, including twice over Kashmir.
Reuters contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump on Friday morning said that an ‘80% Tariff on China seems right!’ adding on Truth Social that the final number would be up to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
An 80% tariff on Chinese goods coming into the U.S. would be nearly half of the current 145% tariff on the Asian country.
Minutes earlier, he posted: ‘CHINA SHOULD OPEN UP ITS MARKET TO USA — WOULD BE SO GOOD FOR THEM!!! CLOSED MARKETS DON’T WORK ANYMORE!!!’
It was the first time the president has put out a specific number, after previously suggesting the tariff could be lowered.
Trump’s suggested lower tariffs come ahead of weekend talks between Bessent and chief trade negotiator Jamieson Greer and Chinese economic tsar He Lifeng in Switzerland.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a press briefing Friday, ‘That was a number the president threw out there, and we’ll see what happens this weekend,’ adding that Trump wouldn’t unilaterally lower the tariff and China would be required to make ‘concessions.’
Earlier this week, Trump said that China is eager to make a deal with the U.S.
‘Scott’s going to be going to Switzerland, meeting with China,’ Trump told reporters Thursday at the White House. ‘And you know, they very much want to make a deal. We can all play games. Who made the first call, who didn’t make them? It doesn’t matter. Only matters what happens in that room. But I will tell you that China very much wants to make a deal. We’ll see how that works out.’
The Trump administration announced widespread tariffs for multiple countries on April 2, following criticism that other countries’ trade practices are unfair towards the U.S.
The administration later adjusted its initial proposal and announced on April 9 it would immediately impose a 145% tariff on Chinese goods, while reducing reciprocal tariffs on other countries for 90 days to a baseline of 10%. China responded by raising tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%.
Fox News’ Diana Stancy contributed to this report.