President Donald Trump and his administration closed the week with a massive trade deal with the UK on Thursday, preparing for trade talks with China over the weekend.
Although the details of certain trade plans with the UK are sparse, the transaction has put an existing 10% tariff on British goods, while removing import taxes on items such as steel and cars.
“The agreement has led the UK to join the United States by asserting that mutual relations and fairness are important and important principles of international trade,” Trump said Thursday. “This transaction includes billions of dollars in market access to American exports, particularly in agriculture, and has dramatically increased access to American beef, ethanol and all products produced by great farmers.”
Trump is interested in securing China a trade deal ahead of Swiss negotiations
President Donald Trump, along with Vice President J.D. Vance and US British Ambassador Peter Mandelson, will be listening third from the left, following the announcement of Trump’s UK trade agreement, hearing British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer speaks at the White House’s oval office on May 8, 2025. (Anna Money Maker/Getty Images)
The deal is the first historic trade negotiations signed after the release date after Trump announced broad tariffs across multiple countries at the April 2nd rate.
The administration later coordinated its first proposal, and announced on April 9 that it would impose a 145% tariff on Chinese products, while also reducing the 90-day mutual tariff to a 10% baseline. China responded by increasing tariffs on US goods to 125%.
Trump also provided some insight into trade negotiations with China, given that Switzerland is scheduled to begin trade negotiations with China on Saturday.
“Scott will go to Switzerland and meet with China,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday. “And they want to do so many deals. We all can play games. Who made the first call and who made them? That doesn’t matter. It’s just the thing that happens in that room. But China wants to do so many deals.
That happened again this week.
Meet the Canadian Prime Minister
Trump also doubled his interest in expanding the US during his Tuesday visit with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Trump regularly says he wants Canada to become a US state and discusses the acquisition of Greenland and the Panama Canal for security purposes. But the Canada issue is not open to negotiations, Carney said.
“I’ve met Canadian owners over the course of the campaign over the past few months, and it’s not on sale,” Carney said Tuesday at the White House. “We’ve never been able to sell to this point, but opportunities are partnerships and what we can build together. We’ve done that in the past, some of which, as the president said, is in regards to our security, and my government is committed to changing the step-by-step investment in Canada’s security and partnership.”
Carney says Canada isn’t selling, Trump responds, “Never say”
President Donald Trump meets Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House Oval Office in Washington on May 6, 2025 (Jim Watson/AFP)
Trump acknowledged Canada is increasing its investment in military security, but he said he would “never say” in response to Canada becoming a different province.
“I had so many things that weren’t feasible and eventually it became feasible,” Trump said.
Trump says he will soon reveal a new pick when he draws the nomination of DC US lawyers
Meeting with ballet dancers released from Russian prisons
Trump also met with Russian-American ballet dancer Xenia Karelina at the White House on Monday. Karelina faced a 12-year sentence in Russian prison for treason in 2024, but the Trump administration negotiated a return to the United States during the US-Russian prisoner swap in April.
Click here to get the Fox News app
Following her release from Russia on April 10, 2025, Sebastian Gorka will take photos of US and Russian ballet dancer Xenia Karelina and her boyfriend, South African boxer Chris van Haierden, in Andrews’ joint Andrews in Maryland.
“Mr. Trump, I am very grateful for you bring me home and for the US government. And I didn’t feel like I’m more blessed with Americans, and I’m so happy to be able to get home,” Carrerina said in a video posted by Deputy Trump Assistant Sebastian Gorka after returning to the US on April 11.
Karelina, a Los Angeles resident born in Russia, was arrested in 2024 while visiting her family in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The Russian Federation Security Agency arrested her after inspecting her phone and finding a donation to a US-based charity supporting Ukraine.
Emma Colton from Fox News contributed to this report.
Diana Stancy is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, covering the White House.
Source link
