Washington, DC

1. Trump’s China guests
2. Ceasefire in limbo
3. Gas tax holiday?
4. Bessent’s Japan pit stop
5. CBS’ independence

Circle shares ▲ 16% over blockchain project optimism and as Senate moves toward a crypto bill.

Apple, Goldman CEOs prepare to join Trump in China

Several top American executives — including Tesla’s Elon Musk and Apple’s Tim Cook — have been invited to tag along on President Donald Trump’s trip to China later this week. The invite list also includes Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, and Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, according to a White House official. Not everyone invited is attending: Cisco’s Chuck Robbins declined due to earnings. Some companies, like Exxon and Nvidia, were also left off the invite list despite earlier signals they would be asked to join. The trip is expected to focus heavily on trade and investment, with likely deals for Beijing to purchase more Boeing airplanes and US soybeans. Indeed, Semafor’s Ben Smith wrote earlier today that Trump invited companies “that would benefit, broadly, from an open door to China.”

Trump: Iran ceasefire on ‘massive life support’

Today Trump called the Iranian response to a US peace framework a “piece of garbage,” and said that the current ceasefire is on “massive life support.” The president was scheduled to discuss further military action today with top officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, and CIA director John Ratcliffe. This morning the Navy advertised the arrival of a nuclear-armed submarine in Gibraltar, widely interpreted as a warning to Tehran. The Treasury Department, meanwhile, levied another round of sanctions designed to crack down on the sale of Iranian oil to China, in an effort to choke off funding for the regime. The sanctioned entities include several based in Hong Kong, further pressuring Beijing days before Trump meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Republicans race to slash gas tax after Trump endorsement

Trump and his allies are settling on their solution for lowering gas prices: suspending the federal gas tax. But Republican leaders don’t seem totally convinced. Today Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, suggested ethanol is the “answer” to high gas prices, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune said opening the Strait of Hormuz would do the most to “normalize” prices. Still, after Trump endorsed the idea today, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., announced plans to introduce bills to temporarily ax the 18.4 cent per-gallon federal levy — which some Democrats endorsed doing two months ago. Suspending the gas tax would further hamper the Highway Trust Fund, which is already underfunded because the federal gas tax hasn’t increased since 1993. “There are things we have to consider and take a look at,” Thune said.

— Burgess Everett

Bessent pays Japan third visit as secretary

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is making a pit stop in Japan ahead of Trump’s Beijing visit later this week, signaling an effort to shore up the countries’ relationship amid talks with China. Officials are expected to dig into the next phase of Japan’s pledge to invest $550 billion in the US strategic industrial base after the country signed its first loan earlier this month, sending $2.2 billion to projects in Texas, Georgia, and Ohio. They’re also likely to discuss monetary policy, given Japanese bond volatility that continues to spook US investors, a topic that could turn contentious: Though Bessent has urged Japan to calm markets by embracing tighter monetary policy, Tokyo reportedly recently intervened in the foreign exchange market to prop up the yen instead. That’s likely to draw criticism from Bessent, whose hedge fund track record in Japan has so far translated into a more assertive approach.

— Eleanor Mueller

View: Weiss’ deputy on CBS’ independence

“Everybody here is owned by somebody,” CBS News managing editor Charles Forelle told me at the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing conference in Philadelphia on Friday. “The convention in American journalism is that the owners are independent of the news operation, and that’s the case at CBS,” he said. “And [owner David Ellison] said that, and he said quite clearly that that would be the case no matter what.” I was pressing Forelle, a former Wall Street Journal editor who is Bari Weiss’ deputy at CBS News, on the perception — encouraged by Trump — that the new CBS regime was installed for more sympathetic coverage. How does CBS get out from under that? “We do all the stuff that journalists do, and we hope that people who are the self-appointed criticizers and assessors of that perception see that.”

Congress

• A bipartisan group of senators urged President Trump to formally announce $14 billion in arm sales to Taiwan ahead of his China summit, but Trump said today he plans to discuss the potential sale with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
• The House Ethics Committee announced the panel investigating allegations against Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., has authorized more than 20 subpoenas and collected thousands of documents.

White House

• The Trump administration is planning to lower tariffs on steak and ground beef as red meat prices reach a record high. — WSJ
• President Trump is pressing advisors on why US efforts to tip Cuba’s regime into collapse haven’t succeeded yet. — NBC
• The price tag for painting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has jumped from $1.8 million to $13.1 million. — NYT

Courts

• The Supreme Court extended a pause on a lower court ruling curtailing access to the abortion drug mifepristone until at least Thursday.
• Former President Joe Biden plans to ask a judge to block the release of tapes of his conversations with his ghostwriter.
• The suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner attack pleaded not guilty.

Health

• Eighteen Americans who disembarked the cruise ship struck by a hantavirus outbreak were transported today to a quarantine center in Nebraska.

Economy

• Home sales were flat in April as high mortgage rates, high home prices, and inflation fears plagued buyers.

World

• Jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi was transferred to a hospital in Tehran for treatment after her health deteriorated.
• US allies in Europe are growing concerned that American weapons shortages from the war in Iran will lead to delayed arms for Ukraine. — WaPo

— Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz during a maternal health event in the Oval Office.

Laura McGann, editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor, and Morgan Chalfant, Washington briefing editor

Graph Massara and Lauren Morganbesser, copy editors

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, Nicholas Wu, David Weigel