Trump tariffs: President vents at China over Boeing as Beijing denies claims of trade deal talks

Beijing called claims of trade talks ‘groundless as trying to catch the wind’ and having ‘no factual basis’ as Trump insisted they were happening

Bessent on possible 'rebalancing' of US-China trade

In a particularly active morning on Truth Social, President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Boeing “should default China” for not taking planes that it had committed to purchase.

The president has alternated between taking a hard line on tariffs targeting Chinese imports, causing markets to plummet, and then having to soothe Wall Street by claiming the U.S. and China are negotiating and progress is being made.

Beijing denied any knowledge of such negotiations, calling his claims “groundless as trying to catch the wind” and having “no factual basis.”

A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “China’s attitude is consistent and clear: if you want to fight, we will fight to the end, if you want to talk, the door is open.”

Meanwhile, a dozen states have sued the Trump administration over its “reckless” and “insane” tariff policies.

The states argued the policy was based on a “whim,” and would be an added burden to consumers.

This came as the president warned he could re-impose higher tariffs he previously paused in as little as two weeks.

Key Points

• Trump maintains U.S.-China talks are happening, despite denial from Beijing
• Trump says Boeing 'should default China'
• Trump administration sued by states over 'reckless' tariffs
• Trump attacks Powell again, after saying he won’t be fired
• Why China holds the edge over the US in Trump’s trade war
• Trump says Russia has made ‘pretty big concession’ to peace by not seizing whole of Ukraine

[24 April 2025 20:44 · Reuters]

DOJ cancels hundreds of grants for police, crime victims

The U.S. Justice Department is terminating grants totaling $811 million for a wide range of services to crime victims, including trauma recovery centers and sign language interpretation, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The grants were worth $811 million at the time they were awarded, which is being reported for the first time, but it was not clear what percentage remained unspent at the time of the cuts.

Reuters previously reported that a total of 365 competitive ongoing grants offered by the Office of Justice Programs were cut. The grants are paid out over the course of three years.

[24 April 2025 20:57 · AP]

NYAG’s lawyer urges DOJ to reject Trump official’s call for criminal probe

A lawyer for New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday urged the Justice Department to refuse a Trump administration official’s request to prosecute the Democrat for mortgage fraud, calling it “improper political retribution."

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the lawyer, Abbe Lowell, also offered evidence that the central accusation against James — that she had falsely told a lenders she intended to use a house in Virginia as her primary residence — is easily disproven by records and correspondence related to the real estate transaction.

Read on...

[24 April 2025 21:07 · Oliver O'Connell]

Trump’s bad day in court: President racks up 3 losses in 90 minutes on DEI, sanctuary cities and voter registration

Three federal judges blocked key parts of Donald Trump’s agenda in courtrooms across the country on Thursday, all within roughly 90 minutes of one another.

Alex Woodward has the details of a bad day in court for the administration.

[24 April 2025 21:16 · Oliver O'Connell]

Trump says Russia has made ‘pretty big concession’ to peace by not seizing whole of Ukraine

President Donald Trump on Thursday said Russia’s failure to forcibly seize and occupy the entirety of Ukraine’s territory amounts to a “pretty big concession” to Kyiv as he continues to push for Russia and Ukraine to come to a settlement to end the war Moscow started three years ago.

Speaking in the Oval Office during a bilateral meeting with Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Trump insisted to reporters that he is putting pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin behind the scenes as reporters asked him what he would ask the Russian leader to give up to match the massive territorial concessions he has asked Ukraine to make as a way to find an end to Europe’s bloodiest conflict since the end of the Second World War.

Andrew Feinberg reports for The Independent from Washington, D.C.

[24 April 2025 21:20 · Reuters]

NATO's Rutte: US, European allies agree Russia is a long-term threat

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte gestures, as he speaks in front of the White House (REUTERS)

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said after talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday that the United States and its European allies agree that Russia is a long-term threat.

"We all agree in NATO that Russia is the long-term threat to NATO territory -- to the whole of the Euro-Atlantic territory," Rutte told reporters outside the White House.

He also said the United States remained committed to NATO, even as Washington increasingly focuses on the Asia-Pacific region.

[24 April 2025 21:23 · Oliver O'Connell]

As his store starts selling ‘Trump 2028’ hats, Trump rehashes third term claims

President Donald Trump poked the third-term bear again on Thursday when his personal store began selling “Trump 2028” hats.

After teasing the media and public about running for president again in 2028, which the Constitution specifically forbids, Trump’s online store launched the new campaign-style hat for $50.

Read on...

[24 April 2025 21:35 · Oliver O'Connell]

'It sucks!': Furious Trump calls for Rupert Murdoch to fire staff at Fox News and the Wall Street Journal

President Donald Trump encouraged News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch to “start making changes” at Fox News and the Wall Street Journal in a furious Truth Social post after the news organizations offered negative coverage of the administration.

In the angry post, the president flexed his influence over the conservative news groups by touting his relationship with Murdoch, the founder and former CEO of News Corp, which owns Fox News and the Journal.

The post comes a day after Fox News released a poll that found that voters are generally displeased with Trump on most issues. The Journal, meanwhile, has released an editorial criticizing Trump’s tariff agenda.

Ariana Baio reports from New York.

[24 April 2025 21:45 · Oliver O'Connell]

ANALYSIS: Trump’s polling plunge continues as he loses ground on immigration and his trade war

John Bowden writes:

Donald Trump’s honeymoon period is over — if it ever existed at all.

The president’s often disjointed efforts aimed at reorganizing the architecture of global trade, coupled with furious (and growing) opposition to the rollout of his mass deportation strategy, have left him in a tight spot. With the House and Senate still just around the halfway point in the months-long budget reconciliation process and yet to cast a final vote on a bill that may need his political capital to get over the finish line, Trump is bleeding support from voters on several fronts.

It’s a rough spot to be in, given the GOP’s ultra-slim majorities in the House and Senate and the continued likelihood that the Republican Party will have to reckon with a fight over Medicaid in the weeks ahead.

A slew of new approval polling this week finds the president underwater with voters in terms of his overall job performance and popularity of his efforts to address individual issues, including immigration — the area where he’s longest held an advantage over Democratic opponents.

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