Trump said he plans to make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday as he reiterated criticism of President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to stop the war in Ukraine in an NBC News interview. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a meeting with US and European allies in Rome stoked optimism that Trump will ramp up military aid, including air defense. Trump threatened a 35% tariff on some Canadian goods and raised the prospect of increasing levies on most other countries, ramping up his trade rhetoric in comments that weighed on stocks and boosted the dollar. His plans to impose 50% tariffs on copper imports are set to include the kinds of materials used for power grids, the military and data centers, sources say. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva insisted Brazil can survive without US trade and will look to other partners to replace it, a sharp response to Trump after he threatened 50% tariffs on goods from the South American nation. Trump’s trade threat partly came in response to the legal woes of his populist Brazilian ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is barred from running against Lula ahead of a trial on charges that he attempted a coup. Lula during a news conference at the BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. Photographer: Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg Argentina’s Senate passed three bills yesterday that significantly hike spending on social security and other programs, measures that threaten to derail the austerity drive championed by President Javier Milei ahead of October’s midterm elections. In a speech shortly after senators cast their votes, Milei pledged to veto the legislation and possibly ask courts to intervene. Keir Starmer sealed a “one in, one out” migrant-returns trial with French President Emmanuel Macron that highlighted the limits of the UK prime minister’s efforts to reset relations with European nations after Brexit. While it’s the first time France has agreed to take back small-boat migrants and it may serve as a deterrent, the limited nature of the agreement barely makes a dent in the flows of migrants undertaking the crossing. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting with his Chinese counterpart at a summit in Malaysia today, the first in-person session between the two and a possible prelude to a presidential summit. Rubio with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur today. Photographer: Mandel Ngan/Pool/AFP/Getty Images Tokyo complained to Beijing after Chinese fighter jets tailed Japanese patrol aircraft twice this week, prompting the foreign ministry to express its deep concern and ask China to prevent similar incidents from happening again. The US government asked a group of African nations for help with efforts to deport asylum seekers, according to Liberian President Joseph Boakai, one of five African leaders to meet Trump this week at the White House. Myanmar’s junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, praised Trump in a rare letter and compared his military’s coup to the US president’s baseless claims of election fraud, suggesting both leaders were victims of rigged votes. Don’t miss from Bloomberg Weekend: Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister, discusses US tariffs and China’s tactics in the South China Sea with Mishal Husain, and Marc Levinson looks at why the new US shipbuilding strategy is unlikely to work; subscribe to the Bloomberg Weekend newsletter here. |