
Trump embraces ‘tailored’ tariff deals as foreign leaders look to sweeten their offers
CNN
Delegations from Japan and South Korea are en route. Italy’s prime minister will be in Washington next week. And Israel’s “proactive approach” to seeking out new US trade agreements could serve as a model for everyone, according to the White House.
Delegations from Japan and South Korea are en route. Italy’s prime minister will be in Washington next week. And Israel’s “proactive approach” to seeking out new US trade agreements could serve as a model for everyone, according to the White House. A day before President Donald Trump’s new worldwide tariffs are set to take hold, the White House made clear Tuesday the door for new trade negotiations was wide open — even if the exact formula for earning relief from the duties remained unclear. “These countries are calling us up. Kissing my a**. They are dying to make a deal,” Trump told a group of Republicans on Tuesday evening, hours before the tariffs were set to take hold. He described foreign leaders essentially groveling to avoid the new tariffs: “Please, please sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything sir.” As countries scramble to respond to Trump’s sweeping tariff announcements last week, many are receiving advice from US diplomats and sources close to the White House encouraging them to think creatively, beyond the scope of trade, as they prepare to negotiate with the White House. Their message to foreign counterparts seems simple: If they have a unique card to play, they should. Ideas being discussed run the gamut, and include possible action on securing the freedom of Americans wrongfully detained abroad, committing to working with US artificial intelligence companies, buying more US energy or combatting global drug trafficking, according to five people familiar with the brainstorming sessions.

The US military’s strikes in Iran over the weekend prompted a swift response from across the federal government to react to any fallout, but current and former officials say the administration’s DOGE-driven cuts to a host of agencies have made it harder to grapple with the conflict and prepare for potential retaliation.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Wednesday said in a statement that the agency had obtained “a body of credible evidence [that] indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program has been severely damaged” by recent strikes, underscoring a broad intelligence community effort is ongoing to determine the impact of the US strikes on three of the country’s nuclear sites on Saturday.

White House’s DOGE spending cuts request runs into criticism, questions from some Senate Republicans
The head of the White House budget office on Wednesday defended the Trump administration’s push to enact sweeping cuts to federal funding, even as some Republican senators voiced concerns and raised questions about the breadth of them.