Trump to announce more details on US-UK trade deal framework
Donald Trump will outline details of the new US-UK trade agreement alongside UK officials at 10am ET from the Oval Office, following a rollercoaster few weeks of trade uncertainty after his administration increased tariffs on several trading partners. I’ll bring you all the key lines from that.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer will also give an update later today, my colleague Andrew Sparrow will cover that over on UK politics live.
Key events
Donald Trump is now speaking at the White House about a new trade deal between the US and the UK.
As part of the deal, there are plans that will bring the UK into the economic security alignment with the US.
“That’s the first of its kind. So we have a big economic security blanket and that’s very important and we feel very, very comfortable with that, because it’s been a great ally,” Trump said.
He went on to add:
“Both countries have agreed that the economic security is national security, and we’ll be working together as allies to ensure that we have a strong industrial base, appropriate export controls and protections for key technologies and industries like steel.”
Bill Gates announces end of Gates Foundation and decries Elon Musk for Doge cuts
Bill Gates announced plans on Thursday to shutter the Gates Foundation in 2045 and also strongly criticized Elon Musk for slashing funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), accusing the Tesla CEO of “killing the world’s poorest children” in new interviews.
In an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday, Gates condemned the sudden funding cuts to USAID by Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), saying the cuts have led to life-saving food and medicines expiring in warehouses, and could result in the resurgence of diseases such as measles, HIV and polio. Gates said:
The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one.
Since Donald Trump took office in January, he and Musk began cutting funding and scaling back operations at USAID, the US government’s foremost international aid agency, once the world’s largest single provider of humanitarian aid. Doge staffers have worked to hollow out and dismantle the agency and have terminated more than 5,600 USAID workers.
Gates, 69, told the FT that Musk had cancelled grants to a hospital in Gaza province, Mozambique, which he said was working to prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to babies, based on the mistaken belief that the US was supplying condoms to Hamas in Gaza in the Middle East. He said:
I’d love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money.
The United States is leading global efforts to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan, Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has told Reuters.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has called Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and stressed on the need for the two countries to work closely to de-escalate their conflict, Sharif’s office said in a statement today.
You can follow our live coverage of the Kashmir crisis here:
Trump to announce more details on US-UK trade deal framework
Donald Trump will outline details of the new US-UK trade agreement alongside UK officials at 10am ET from the Oval Office, following a rollercoaster few weeks of trade uncertainty after his administration increased tariffs on several trading partners. I’ll bring you all the key lines from that.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer will also give an update later today, my colleague Andrew Sparrow will cover that over on UK politics live.
From Trump whisperer to West Wing pariah: What went wrong for lobbyist Brian Ballard – Politico
In this morning’s Playbook, Politico has the story of how, after a March incident at Mar-A-Lago involving cryptocurrency and a Truth Social post, the White House turned on well-known political fixer Brian Ballard.
Ever since Trump’s election, Florida operative Ballard has enjoyed a golden aura as the go-to lobbyist for those seeking to influence Trump world. His firm has added 130 new clients since November (including Chevron, JPMorgan, Palantir, Netflix and Axel Springer, Politico’s owner and parent company), and pulled in $14m in Q1 of 2025 alone.
But there is a chasm between Ballard’s reputation and how he’s currently perceived in the West Wing.
In early March, after Trump greenlit a Truth Social post promoting a “Crypto Strategic Reserve,” the president came away furious and felt like he’d been used. The whole thing happened at the urging of a Ballard employee, and Trump hadn’t realized that Ripple Labs, a company behind one of the crypto tokens, was a Ballard client. Ballard has been persona non grata in the West Wing ever since.
Donald Trump blames air traffic control problems impacting US airports on former transport secretary Pete Buttigieg
“Air Traffic problems caused by the incompetent Biden Administration, as headed by, in this case, a total novice and political hack, Pete B. I WILL FIX IT!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social post this morning, referring to Buttigieg.
Later today his transportation secretary Sean Duffy is set to unveil a multi-billion dollar plan to overhaul the system.
“We are on it. We are going to fix it. We are going to build a brand new system for all of you and your families and the American people,” Duffy said.
It comes after hundreds of flights at Newark Liberty international airport, one of the US’s busiest hubs, were cancelled and delayed, partly due to air traffic control staffing issues.
Last week a tower communications outage left air traffic controllers unable to communicate with or see incoming planes bound for Newark for about 90 seconds.
Ukraine ratifies strategic minerals deal with US
The Ukrainian parliament ratified a milestone minerals deal with the United States on Thursday, Reuters reports.
A total of 338 parliamentarians voted in favor of ratification, and no one voted against, said Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee.
The agreement grants the US preferential access to Ukrainian mineral resources and paves a path for possible new military aid for Kyiv, although it lacks clear security guarantees.
Here’s some background about the deal that Ukraine and the US signed last week from my colleague Andrew Roth.
Lauren Aratani
New York watchdog warns Trump cuts will usher in ‘open season’ for scammers
New York City’s financial watchdog is raising the alarm about the Trump administration’s cull of a key federal agency that oversees consumer financial protection laws, warning it will usher in an “open season” for fraudsters.
Brad Lander, New York City’s comptroller and a candidate for the city’s mayoral race, said the uprooting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will leave many Americans vulnerable to scams and predatory lending as the federal agency’s oversight and regulatory powers have been significantly diminished. Lander is calling on state and local governments to make up for the gap in oversight.
“Without the outreach and investigations, casemaking and prosecutions, I fear it will be open season, and these bad actors will just ramp things up again, knowing they’re not likely to get caught,” Lander said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.
Created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB has recovered more than $17.5bn for consumers in compensation, debt cancellation and other relief measures, along with collecting $4bn in penalties through its enforcement of consumer protection laws.
Republicans have long been critical of the agency, accusing it of regulatory overreach. CFPB is now in the crosshairs of the so-called “department of government efficency” (Doge), which was until recently led by Elon Musk.
The White House has targeted the CFPB for severe cuts, putting nearly 1,500 of the agency’s 1,700 employees on notice for layoffs, which would amount to a 90% reduction of staff. Employees were reportedly told that CFPB would exist “in name only”.
Though the CFPB layoffs have been tied up in court – a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the firings and scheduled a hearing for mid-May – Lander said the agency had already been substantially weakened since Trump took office.
Irish woman detained by US immigration released after 17 days in custody
Rory Carroll
An Irish woman who was detained by US immigration authorities because of a criminal record dating back almost 20 years has been released after 17 days in custody.
Cliona Ward, 54, who has lived legally in the US for decades, emerged on Wednesday from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility in Tacoma, Washington state.
After visiting her sick father in Ireland she had been detained at San Francisco airport on 21 April, causing an outcry in Ireland and the US and a campaign for her release.
Last week a California judge agreed to an application for the original convictions to be formally overturned in a manner that would be recognised at a federal level, paving the way for her release, according to Ward’s lawyers.
The incarceration left Ward traumatised but she was thankful for the support and she is now recuperating, her sister, Orla Holladay, wrote on a gofundme.com page. “Cliona is finally in her own bed and we are all ready for some quiet and reflection.”
Ward had requested food before returning home, Holladay wrote. “The first thing she did was jump on the bed and hug the pillows. She is in shock; filled with emotions, traumatized, full of gratitude, fear for the women she left behind.”
Trump tariffs to hit small farms in Maga heartlands hardest, analysis predicts
Nina Lakhani
The winners and losers of Trump’s first tariff war strongly suggest that bankruptcies and farm consolidation could surge during his second term, with major corporations best placed to benefit from his polices at the expense of independent farmers.
New analysis by the non-profit research advocacy group Food and Water Watch (FWW), shared exclusively with the Guardian, shows that Trump’s first-term tariffs were particularly devastating for farmers in the Maga rural heartlands.
Farm bankruptcies surged by 24% from 2018 to 2019 – the highest number in almost a decade – as retaliatory tariffs cost US farmers a staggering $27bn.
Numbers of farms fell at the highest rate in two decades with the smallest operations (one to nine acres) hardest hit, declining by 14% between 2017 and 2022. Meanwhile, the number of farms earning $2.5m to $5m more than doubled.
Losses from the first-term trade war were mostly concentrated in the midwest due to the region’s focus on export commodities such as corn, soy and livestock that are heavily reliant on China. States with more diverse agricultural sectors such as California and Florida experienced lower rates of insolvency and export declines than in previous years, suggesting the trade war played a role, according to Trump’s Last Tariff Tantrum: A Warning.
President Donald Trump is tapping Dr Casey Means, a physician turned wellness influencer with close ties to health and human services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, as his nominee for surgeon general after withdrawing his initial pick for the influential health post.
Trump said in a social media post Wednesday that Means has “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials” – referring to the “Make America Healthy Again” slogan – and that she will work to eradicate chronic disease and improve the health and wellbeing of Americans, AP reported.
“Her academic achievements, together with her life’s work, are absolutely outstanding,” Trump said. “Dr Casey Means has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History.”
In doing so, Trump withdrew former Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat from consideration for the job, marking at least the second health-related pick from Trump to be pulled from Senate consideration.
Nesheiwat had been scheduled to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday for her confirmation hearing.
Downing Street did not comment on Donald Trump’s claim that the UK had agreed a “full and comprehensive” trade deal with the US.
Asked whether this was the case, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “You’ve got his words and we’ve always been clear that we want to do a deal that’s in the British national interest, and support a substantial UK-US trading relationship.
“Those talks are continuing and we look forward to providing an update later today, when you will have the PM’s words to describe it.”
President Donald Trump has said he would raise the case of jailed Hong Kong activist and former media tycoon Jimmy Lai as “part of the negotiation” with China over trade and tariffs, a move that could further stoke tensions with Beijing.
“I think talking about Jimmy Lai is a very good idea,” Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday. “We’ll put it down, and we’ll put it down as part of the negotiation.”
Top senior US officials are due to meet with China’s top economic official on Saturday in Switzerland, a fledgling step amid a trade war stemming from Trump’s often chaotic tariff policies that have hurt the global economy and roiled markets, Reuters reported.
Trump, however, said he wasn’t willing to cut Chinese tariffs to get Beijing to the negotiating table. Adding Jimmy Lai’s case into the mix – long a diplomatic friction point between the two sides – could bring further complications.
“Look, they [China] want to make a deal so badly. That, I can tell you. But we’ve been talking,” Trump said during the radio interview.
The trial of Lai – a longstanding critic of the Chinese Communist party – has shone a spotlight on a sweeping crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong following China’s imposition of a national security law (NSL) in 2020.
Countries such as the US and Britain have called for Lai’s release and say his trial amounts to political persecution.
Trump calls Powell ‘a fool’ a day after Fed kept interest rates on hold
The president is up early and continuing to rant and rave on his Truth Social website this morning.
Now, Donald Trump has turned his ire back to Jerome Powell, the US central bank’s chair, calling him a “fool”.
He wrote:
‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue. Other than that, I like him very much! Oil and Energy way down, almost all costs (groceries and ‘eggs’) down, virtually NO INFLATION, Tariff Money Pouring Into the U.S. – THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF ‘TOO LATE!’ ENJOY!
The US-UK trade deal announcement comes at a time when the president could do with some positive news on the economy.
The Federal Reserve yesterday kept interest rates on hold and called out growing dangers in the US economy amid Donald Trump’s erratic roll out of an aggressive trade strategy.
Jerome Powell, the US central bank’s chair, cautioned that the president’s tariffs were likely to raise prices, weaken growth and increase unemployment if maintained.
Fed policymakers cautioned that “the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen” as they opted to maintain the benchmark interest rate for the third time in a row. “Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further,” they said in a statement.
With inflation expectations – how consumers think prices will move – rising, Powell, the Fed chair, said the “driving factor” appeared to be Trump’s tariffs.
Meanwhile, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on Wednesday told Fox News’ ‘The Ingraham Angle’ program that he was dismayed that the Federal Reserve has bad economic modeling on what might happen with tariffs.
Britain’s Starmer to make statement on US trade talks after reports of deal
Eleni Courea
Downing Street said the British prime minister Keir Starmer would make a statement on trade talks with the US on Thursday.
The agreement is likely to focus on lowering US tariffs on specific products, such as British steel, aluminium and cars.
Trump said on Wednesday that he was preparing to announce “a major trade deal with representatives of a big and highly respected country”. In a post on Truth Social, he promised it would be the “first of many”.
A No 10 spokesperson said:
The prime minister will always act in Britain’s national interest – for workers, for business, for families.
The United States is an indispensable ally for both our economic and national security.
Talks on a deal between our countries have been continuing at pace and the prime minister will update later today.
It is unclear whether further talks will be needed or whether any reduction in tariffs will be temporary or permanent. The deal is not expected to be a comprehensive trade agreement.
Trump confirms ‘full and comprehensive’ trade deal between UK and US
Donald Trump has announced a trade deal between the UK and the US, saying the agreement is a “full and comprehensive one”.
He wrote on his social media website Truth Social:
The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come.
Because of our long time history and allegiance together, it is a great honor to have the United Kingdom as our FIRST announcement.
Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!
Hugo Lowell
A team of senior British trade negotiators landed in Washington on Wednesday as talks over a deal between the two countries gathered pace.
Officials from the UK business and trade department were attempting to get an agreement signed before a planned UK-EU summit on 19 May.
UK officials have previously said they were targeting tariff relief on a narrow range of sectors in order to get a deal agreed before they begin formal negotiations with the EU over a separate European agreement.
Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, has ruled out reducing food production standards to enable more trade of US agricultural products, as officials prioritise signing a separate agreement with the EU, which is likely to align British standards with European ones.
The Trump administration had imposed bruising tariffs on a number of trading partners on 2 April – on what the president dubbed “Liberation Day” – before partially reversing course after a sharp downturn in the US equity and, later, the bond markets.
The UK was not hit with reciprocal tariffs because the US has a trade surplus, where it sells more to the UK than it buys. But the UK has been affected, like every other country, by the 10% global tariff and the 25% tariff on foreign steel, aluminium and automobiles.
Trump expected to announce framework of UK trade agreement
Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
Donald Trump is expected to announce the framework of a trade agreement with the UK, according to two people familiar with the matter, after teasing a major announcement with a “big and highly respected, country.”
The specifics of any agreement were not immediately clear and there was no comment from the White House or the British embassy in Washington on whether an actual deal had been reached or if the framework would need further negotiation. Any agreement would mark the first such deal for the administration since it imposed sweeping tariffs against trade partners last month.
In a post on Truth Social previewing the announcement, Trump was vague and did not disclose the country or the terms.
“Big news conference tomorrow morning at 10:00am, the Oval Office, concerning a MAJOR TRADE DEAL WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF A BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY. THE FIRST OF MANY!!!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
There was uncertainty about what exactly Trump would announce from the Oval Office, at the event scheduled for 10am ET (3pm BST), given the president does not have unilateral authority to enter into trade agreements and needs to secure approval from Congress.
The US has been in talks with the UK for weeks as both sides sought to reach a quick deal, discussing lowering British tariffs on US cars and farm products, as well as lowering British taxes on US technology companies, the person said.
Timothy Brightbill, an international trade attorney at Wiley Rein, told the New York Times that the announcement would probably be “just an agreement to start the negotiations, identifying a framework of issues to be discussed in the coming months.”
To read our full report on this story, see here:
In other news:
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A federal judge blocked the government from deporting migrants to Libya, amid reports that the US military planned to fly detained immigrants there this week.
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Donald Trump withdrew his nominee for surgeon general, Fox News contributor Dr Janette Nesheiwat, one day before her confirmation hearing. Later in the day, he nominated a wellness influencer close to RFK Jr to take her place.
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Columbia University called in the NYPD to clear a Gaza solidarity sit-in at a campus library, resulting in about 75 arrests.
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The Federal Reserve refused to lower interest rates as questions around the global economic outlook mount amid Trump’s erratic rollout of an aggressive trade strategy.
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Trump said there would be more information in the next day on a potential new proposal for a hostage release deal and ceasefire in Gaza.
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Stockholm’s city council rejected a “completely bizarre” demand from the US embassy in Sweden to abandon the city’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
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Voice of America, the US-funded broadcaster, will now run video provided by One America News, an openly partisan, virulently pro-Trump, far-right broadcaster.