Trump | Pakistan

When U.S. President Donald Trump called Norway’s finance minister last month to discuss tariffs, he also told him he wanted the Nobel Peace Prize, Norwegian business daily Dagens Naeringsliv reported on Thursday. Several countries including Israel, Pakistan and Cambodia have nominated Trump for brokering peace agreements or ceasefires, and he has said he deserves the Norwegian-bestowed accolade that four White House predecessors […]

United States President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a deal on his war on Ukraine and that the threat of sanctions against Russia likely played a role in Moscow’s decision to seek a meeting. Trump is scheduled to meet with Putin in Alaska tomorrow. The US president said he is unsure whether an immediate ceasefire can be achieved, but expressed interest in brokering a peace agreement. “I believe now, he’s convinced that he’s going to make a deal. He’s going to make a deal. I think he’s going to, and we’re going to find out,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News Radio’s ‘The Brian Kilmeade Show’. Trump also mentioned during the Fox interview that he has three locations in mind for a follow-up meeting with Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, though he noted that a second meeting is not guaranteed. He said staying in Alaska for a three-way summit would be the easiest scenario. “Depending on what happens with my meeting, I’m going to be c...

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened “severe consequences” if Russia’s Vladimir Putin blocked peace in Ukraine but also said on Wednesday that a meeting between the pair could swiftly be followed by a second that included the leader of Ukraine. Trump did not specify what the consequences could be, but he has warned of economic sanctions if a […]

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that if his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin goes well, he would like to have a quick second meeting with Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and himself. “If the first one goes okay, we’ll have a quick second one,” Trump told reporters. “I would like to do it almost immediately, and […]

United States President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that if his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin goes well, he would like to have a quick second meeting between Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and himself. “If the first one goes okay, we’ll have a quick second one,” Trump told reporters. “I would like to do it almost immediately, and we’ll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelensky and myself, if they’d like to have me there.” Trump did not provide a timeframe for a second meeting. He is to meet Putin in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday. Trump also said Russia would face consequences if Putin did not agree to stop the war. “Yes, they will,” he said. He did not spell out the consequences, but he has warned of stiff economic sanctions if no breakthrough can be achieved. Trump spoke after holding talks via telephone with European leaders and Zelenskiy about his meeting with Putin. “We had a very good call. He was on the call. President Zelensky was on the ...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet President Donald Trump during a visit to the United States next month to attend the UN General Assembly meeting, the Indian Express newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing sources. India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An Indian official familiar with the matter said a decision has not yet been taken, and that countries usually reserve slots for the General Debate at the assembly, which is why India’s “head of government” features in a provisional list of speakers on September 26. “The list will go through revisions,” the official said, adding that it had not yet been decided if Modi would be going to the assembly. The General Assembly kicks off on September 9, but the debate, the annual meeting of heads of state and government, will be held from September 23-29. Although the reason for the potential visit will be to attend the UN meeting in New York, a key objective will be to hold talks with Trump and iron out tra...

United States President Donald Trump on Monday ordered a delay in the re-imposition of higher tariffs on Chinese goods, hours before a trade truce between Washington and Beijing was due to expire. The White House’s halt on steeper tariffs will be in place until November 10. “I have just signed an executive order that will extend the tariff suspension on China for another 90 days,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. The truce on steeper levies had been due to expire on Tuesday. While the US and China slapped escalating tariffs on each other’s products this year, bringing them to prohibitive triple-digit levels and snarling trade, both countries in May agreed to temporarily lower them. As part of their May truce, fresh US tariffs targeting China were reduced to 30 percent and the corresponding level from China was cut to 10pc. Those rates will now hold until November — or whenever a deal is cut before then. Around the same time that Trump confirmed the new extension, Chinese state media Xinhua news agenc...

United States President Donald Trump on Monday deployed military and federal law enforcement to curb violent crime in Washington, as he seeks to make good on his campaign pledge to be a “law and order” president. The Republican leader said he would place the city’s Metropolitan Police under federal government control while also sending the National Guard onto the streets of the US capital. The overwhelmingly Democratic city faces allegations from Republican politicians that it is overrun by crime, plagued by homelessness and financially mismanaged — although violent offences are down. “This is Liberation Day in DC, and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump said. Trump — a convicted felon who granted blanket clemency to nearly 1,600 people involved in the 2021 US Capitol riot in Washington — has complained that local police and prosecutors aren’t tough enough. He said 800 DC National Guardsmen — “and much more if necessary” — would be deployed to the city of 700,000. As Trump was speaking at the White H...

About 55 per cent of India’s merchandise exports to the United States will be subject to the tariff imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration, the Indian government said on Monday. Last week, Trump imposed an additional 25pc tariff on Indian goods as punishment for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil. That raised the total duty on Indian exports to the US to 50pc — among the highest on any American trading partner. The Indian government had taken into account the 25pc tariff that Trump initially imposed on goods while providing Monday’s estimate, Pankaj Chaudhary, India’s junior finance minister, said in a written response to a question from a lawmaker. “The Department of Commerce is engaged with all stakeholders, including exporters and industry, for taking feedback of their assessment of the situation,” Chaudhary added. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday he would not compromise on the agriculture sector, a day after Trump announced 50pc tariffs on Indian goods. New Delhi also put on ...

United States President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was nominating State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations. Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January. In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a “fantastic job” as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump’s Republican Party holds a majority. During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel’s military onslaught on Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory. Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years. She has also authored books like Fear Itself: Exposing the Left’s Mind-Killing Agenda, which ...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday hailed US President Donald Trump’s peace efforts following his role in brokering the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal. A day earlier, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed an initial US-brokered peace agreement during a meeting with Trump, a deal aimed at boosting economic ties between the two countries after decades of conflict. “Pakistan welcomes the historic peace agreement signed between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia at the White House Summit under the auspices of US President Donald J Trump,” the premier wrote in a statement on X. He congratulated both countries on “charting a course for a peaceful future for their region”, stating: “Pakistan has always stood by the brotherly nation of Azerbaijan and we stand with them at this proud moment of their history.” PM Shehbaz continued: “We also appreciate the facilitation role of the United States, under President Donald Trump, in bringing the two sides together and securing an agreement that opens new av...

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to the leaders of China, India and three ex-Soviet states on Friday in a flurry of calls to brief them on his contacts with the United States about the war in Ukraine. Putin met US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Wednesday, after which the Kremlin said a summit between Putin and Trump could take place as early as next week. No venue, date or agenda have been announced. Trump, pressing for an end to the 3.5-year war, had set a deadline that expires on Friday for Russia to agree to peace or face new sanctions on Moscow and countries that buy Russian exports. China and India are the biggest buyers of Russian oil. China’s President Xi Jinping told Putin in a phone call that China is pleased to see Russia and the US maintaining contact and improving ties to advance a political resolution of the Ukraine crisis, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said. China is a major backer of Russia in its confrontation with the West, as well as Russia’s biggest trading...

New Delhi has put on hold its plans to procure new US weapons and aircraft, according to three Indian officials familiar with the matter, in India’s first concrete sign of discontent after tariffs imposed on its exports by President Donald Trump dragged ties to their lowest level in decades. India had been planning to send Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington in the coming weeks for an announcement on some of the purchases, but that trip has been cancelled, two of the people said. Trump on Aug 6 imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods as punishment for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, which he said meant the country was funding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That raised the total duty on Indian exports to 50pc — among the highest of any US trading partner. The US president has a history of rapidly reversing himself on tariffs, and India has said it remains actively engaged in discussions with Washington. One of the people said the defence purchases could go ahead once India had clarit...

US President Donald Trump is expected to sign an order requiring universities to hand over admissions data to prove that they are not engaged in affirmative action efforts, the White House press secretary said in a post on X on Thursday. In her post on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not give details on the order, such as the ramifications universities will face if they do not cooperate. Since taking office for his second term, Trump’s administration has attempted to dismantle affirmative action policies at universities, launching dozens of investigations and threatening to cut off funding to schools that promote diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Trump has particularly taken aim at Harvard University since he took office, calling the institution a “joke” that teaches “hate and stupidity” and going as far as to freeze their government funding. In May, Trump’s administration revoked Harvard’s right to enrol foreign students — more than a quarter of its annual enrollment. Though the m...

United States trade partners such as Switzerland, Brazil and India were still scrambling to get a better deal on Thursday as President Donald Trump’s higher tariff rates on imports from dozens of countries kicked in, raising the average US import duty to its highest in a century. The US Customs and Border Protection agency began collecting the higher tariffs of 10 per cent to 50pc at 12:01am EDT (09:01am PKT) after weeks of suspense over Trump’s final tariff rates and frantic negotiations with major trading partners that sought to lower them. The leaders of Brazil and India vowed not to be cowed by Trump’s hardline bargaining position, even while their negotiators sought a reprieve from the highest tariff levels. The new rates will test Trump’s strategy for shrinking US trade deficits without causing massive disruptions to global supply chains or provoking higher inflation and stiff retaliation from trading partners. After unveiling his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April, Trump has frequently modified his plan...

United States envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Wednesday, two days before the expiry of a deadline set by US President Donald Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions. Witkoff flew to Moscow on a last-minute mission to seek a breakthrough in the three-and-a-half-year war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Russian state TV showed a brief clip of him shaking hands with Putin at the start of their meeting. Russian news agencies said the talks ended after about three hours, and Witkoff’s motor convoy was seen leaving the Kremlin. Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who earlier greeted Witkoff on arrival and strolled with him in a park near the Kremlin, posted on social media: “Dialogue will prevail.” There was no immediate statement from either side on the substance of the talks. Later, Trump called the meeting “highly productive” in a post on Truth Social. “Great progress was made!” the US president wrote. “...

United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods, citing New Delhi’s continued imports of Russian oil, sharply escalating tensions between the two countries after trade talks collapsed. The new measure raises tariffs on some Indian goods to as high as 50pc, among the steepest faced by any US trading partner. The move is expected to hit key Indian export sectors, including textiles, footwear, and gems and jewellery and marks the most serious downturn in US-India relations since Trump returned to office in January. In an executive order issued from the White House, Trump said: “I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil. “Accordingly, and as consistent with applicable law, articles of India imported into the customs territory of the United States shall be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25pc.” Trump said he determined it “necessary and appropriate...

United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would increase the tariff charged on imports from India from the current rate of 25 per cent “very substantially” over the next 24 hours, given India’s continued purchases of Russian oil. “India has not been a good trading partner, because they do a lot of business with us, but we don’t do business with them. So we settled on 25pc but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil,” he told CNBC in a televised interview. “They’re fuelling the war machine, and if they’re going to do that, then I’m not going to be happy,” Trump said, adding that the main sticking point with India was that its tariffs were too high. He did not provide a new tariff rate for India. Trump last week said he would impose a 25pc tariff on goods imported from India and added that the world’s fifth-largest economy would also face an unspecified penalty, but gave no details. Later, Trump mou­nted a sharp attack and said:...

United States President Donald Trump said on Monday he will substantially raise tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil. Trump last week said he would impose a 25 per cent tariff on goods imported from India and added that the world’s fifth-largest economy would also face an unspecified penalty, but gave no details. Later, Trump mou­nted a sharp attack and said: “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.” Over the weekend, two Indian government sources told Reuters that India will keep purchasing oil from Russia despite Trump’s threats. In turn, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller had accused India of effectively financing Russia’s war in Ukraine by purchasing oil from Moscow. In a post on Truth Social today, Trump assailed New Delhi for buying Russian oil and then selling it. “India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian oil, they are then, for much of the oil purchased, selling it on the open market for big prof...

Russia urged caution on Monday after United States President Donald Trump said he would deploy two nuclear submarines following an online row with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. Trump said he had ordered the deployment in response to what he alleged were highly provocative comments by Medvedev, saying the submarines would be positioned in “appropriate regions”. Trump did not say whether he meant nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines. He also did not elaborate on the locations, which are kept secret by the US military. “Russia is very attentive to the topic of nuclear non-proliferation. And we believe that everyone should be very, very cautious with nuclear rhetoric,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including from AFP, on Monday. The row between Medvedev and Trump erupted against the backdrop of the US leader’s ultimatum for Russia to end its military offensive in Ukraine or face fresh economic sanctions, including on its remaining trading partners. Medvedev — one of Russia’s m...