May 12, 2025 – Donald Trump presidency news

The Trump administration is terminating a form of humanitarian relief for Afghan nationals residing in the United States — a move that stands to impact around 11,700 people.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that it’s ending Temporary Protected Status — which applies to people who would face extreme hardship if forced to return to homelands devastated by armed conflict or natural disasters — for Afghanistan.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem cited “notable improvements” in the situation in Afghanistan and national security to justify ending the relief, according to a notice in the Federal Register.

It’s the latest in a series of moves to end Temporary Protected Status for certain countries that Trump officials argue has been extended too long. Attempts to terminate relief have been challenged in court. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have designated the protections.

Families of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza may meet with President Donald Trump when he visits Qatar this week, two people familiar with the planning told CNN.

The plans are in the works and not yet finalized.

Officials hope Monday’s release of Israeli American Edan Alexander — in a deal struck between the US and Hamas — will pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come to an agreement with Hamas for the remaining 58 hostages, only 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.

“It’s an opening, not a one-off,” said one of the sources, who works with the families. “It puts enormous pressure on the prime minister.”

CNN previously reported that Trump had invited the Alexander family to Doha, but their travel depends on Edan’s condition.

Trump had already planned to stop in Doha on his tour of the Middle East this week. Qatar, along with Egypt, has been a key mediator in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks of the past 19 months.

Adidas shoes are displayed at an Adidas outlet store on April 29 in Petaluma, California.

America’s shoe industry wants the White House to “finish the job” on lowering tariffs.

“We’re encouraged by President Trump and his administration’s progress in the U.S.-China trade negotiations,” Matt Priest, the CEO of trade group Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, said in a statement Monday. “But we’re not across the finish line yet.”

The group represents Nike, Under Armour and other leading shoe companies.

Shoes are highly exposed to tariffs because 99% of all footwear sold in the United States is manufactured overseas. The industry has warned that tariffs could wipe out hundreds of businesses, kill tens of thousands of jobs and raise prices for consumers.

“Some shoes still face duties approaching 100%, and that’s unacceptable,” Priest said. “Our industry needs relief — and so do (US) families.”

If the United States and China are at an impasse following the 90-day pause, the tariffs on Chinese imports aren’t expected to snap back to 145%, President Donald Trump said Monday.

“No, but they would go up substantially higher” than the 30% rate during the pause, he said.

“At 145%, you’re really decoupling, because nobody’s going to buy; but [the duties] got very high because of additional tariffs that were applied because of fentanyl and other things,” he said when asked if the US tariffs would return to 145%. “But no. But they’d go substantially higher.”

“I think you will have a deal, however,” Trump said.

Ahead of his trip to the Middle East this week, President Donald Trump said today he hoped more hostages held by Hamas will be released.

His remarks came after Hamas announced it would be releasing Edan Alexander, the last known living American hostage who was kidnapped during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel while serving in the military.

“We hope that we’re going to have other hostages released, too,” Trump told reporters from the White House. He said he believes about 20 living hostages, not counting Alexander, are still being held by Hamas.

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order that he said promises to crack down on “unreasonable and discriminatory practices” by foreign countries that suppress drug prices abroad.

Trump signed the order during an event in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, where he was joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, among others.

“This is the most powerful executive order on pharmacy pricing and health care ever in the history of our nation,” Oz said.

It’s unclear whether Americans will see lower prices and what authority the US government has to direct drug pricing in other countries.

Some context: The action goes far beyond Trump’s implementation of a “Most Favored Nation” policy in his first term, which was quickly blocked by federal courts for procedural reasons before being rescinded by then-President Joe Biden in 2021.

The initiative will likely face stiff opposition from the pharmaceutical industry, which successfully halted the first iteration.

President Donald Trump on Monday defended the US government’s plan to accept a luxury plane from the Qatari royal family, describing it as a “contribution” and saying the US can’t turn down a free jet.

CNN reported Sunday that the Boeing 747-8 jet would be retrofitted to be used as Air Force One. The plan raised substantial ethical and legal questions about foreign influence over the US government because of the plane’s massive value. Acceptance of the plane would also raise significant security concerns.

Trump said the relatively younger Qatari jet was needed to replace an aging Air Force One.

“I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar. I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’ But it was, I thought it was a great gesture.”

Trump said the plane will “go directly” to his presidential library after he leaves office.

“I wouldn’t be using it,” he added.

President Donald Trump said today he may travel to Istanbul for potential peace talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.

“I think you may have a good result out of the Thursday meeting in Turkey between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump during an event about drug prices at the White House.

“I was thinking about actually flying over there,” he added. “There’s a possibility of it, I guess.”

Trump is traveling to the Middle East later today. He continued that he would go “if I thought it would be helpful.”

Trump took to Truth Social over the weekend to urge Zelensky to “immediately” accept the Putin’s offer to hold peace talks in Turkey, something not seen since the early weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

President Donald Trump on Monday said he may “very well relieve” sanctions on Syria as part of an effort to give the country a “fresh start.”

Trump’s comments on sanctions came as he prepares to head to the Middle East today. He was trumpeting his relationships with various world leaders during a press availability this morning.

“We’re going to have to make a decision on the sanctions, which we may very well relieve,” Trump said. “We may take them off of Syria because we want to give them a fresh start.”

He said “the way we have them sanctioned, it doesn’t really give them much of a start.” He added that: “We want to see we can help them out.”

Syria’s economy has long been crippled by western sanctions. According to the World Bank, the country’s economy shrank by more than half between 2010 and 2020.

CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim contributed.

President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on May 12, in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump said Monday he called House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune to urge them to use tariffs and his new drug prices pharmaceutical order to lower the cost of the huge GOP tax bill.

Doing so, he added, would pay for what he calls the “Golden Dome” — his vision for a defense missile system over the U.S. akin to the Iron Dome in Israel.

“It’ll pay for the Golden Dome,” he added. “See, that’ll easily pay for the Golden Dome, and we’ll have a lot of money left over. We need the Golden Dome.”

Trump signed an executive order Monday morning that aims to crack down on “unreasonable and discriminatory practices” by foreign countries that suppress drug prices abroad.

Some context: Earlier this year, Trump proposed a sweeping missile defense initiative aimed at protecting the US from incoming attacks — calling it the “Golden Dome.” CNN previously reported it would likely cost billions of dollars to construct and maintain.

Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system selectively protects populated areas from short-range threats in a country the size of New Jersey; Trump wants a space-based missile defense system capable of defending the entire United States from advanced ballistic and hypersonic missiles.

President Donald Trump, joined by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaks during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on May 12, in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump on Monday told a somewhat meandering story about a friend who he said was able to obtain weight-loss medication at a much lower price in the UK as an example of the disparities between drug prices in the US and overseas.

“Highly neurotic, brilliant businessman — seriously overweight,” Trump described his friend, whom he didn’t name. “And he takes the fat-shot drug.”

Trump said his friend recently called him from London, where he was able to obtain a drug that helps with weight loss for $88, instead of the $1,300 he would have paid in New York.

Trump said he recently relayed this story to a representative from a pharmaceutical company but didn’t say which one or when this conversation took place.

The remarks came before Trump signed an executive order that he said will aim to slash drug prices.

President Donald Trump, joined by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya, speaks during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on May 12, in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump said today that he will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping “maybe” at the end of this week, after the US and China reached a trade agreement over the weekend.

The deal would temporarily reduce the two countries’ tariffs on each other for an initial 90 days, de-escalating a punishing trade war and buoying global markets.

“I’ll speak to President Xi maybe at the end of the week,” Trump said during a news conference in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. “We have some other things we’re doing,” he added.

“They were very happy to be able to do something with us and the relationship is very, very good,” the president continued.

President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference on May 12, 2025, in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump on Monday said he threatened to end trading relationships with India and Pakistan as an impetus to get both countries to accept a ceasefire over the weekend.

“I said, ‘C’mon, we’re going to do a lot of trade with you guys. Let’s stop it. Let’s stop it. If you stop it, we’ll do a trade. If you don’t stop it, we’re not going to do any trade,’” the president said at the White House on Monday.

“And all of a sudden they said, ‘I think we’re going to stop,’” the president added. Trump said the countries came to the decision “for a lot of reasons, but trade is a big one.”

The president said the United States will “do a lot of trade” with both countries. Negotiations with India are ongoing and negotiations with Pakistan will start soon.

Trump said he believed a nuclear war might have been averted.

CNN previously reported the ceasefire may not lead to a lasting peace as it does not address the fundamental grievances fueling the decades-long dispute over the status of Muslim-majority Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan.

This 2018 photo shows bottles of medicine at a mail-in pharmacy warehouse in Florence, New Jersey.

President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order Monday morning that promises to crack down on “unreasonable practices” by foreign countries that suppress drug prices abroad, a White House official said.

It will apply to a wide range of drugs and to prices in the commercial market, as well as Medicare and Medicaid, and will most likely spark fierce legal battles.

If prices do not come down quickly, the administration will look at various policy levers that can be used to force prices down, the official told reporters Monday. The mandate also calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower prices across all markets. If no progress is made, the agency will implement a rule to impose the “Most Favored Nation” cost for the drug, which would be the lowest price available among peer countries.

The trade war de-escalation with China represents a big win for the US economy and the American consumer, Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council of the United States, told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on Monday.

Hassett said Trump had scored major concessions from China and the United Kingdom in their respective recent frameworks for trade negotiations, announced over the past few days, particularly by opening up the UK market to American beef and potentially paring back some of the barriers China had put in place on American companies looking to do business there.

“We described the non-tariff barriers and tariffs that disadvantaged American workers, and folks are coming to the table and and it’s really stunning how quickly they’re moving and how dramatic the changes are,” Hassett said. “I think it’s really a very historic fresh start in the relationship between the US and China.”

The biggest win for the US economy from this weekend’s stunning agreement with China is likely the drastic reduction of the sky-high tariffs the US had placed on Chinese goods that had all but stopped trade between the two countries. That risked supply chain shocks, higher prices and some shortages. Although Hassett hinted at future agreements that could open up foreign markets more to US goods and services, it’s not clear yet what shape those will take and whether Chinese and British consumers will want those American goods.

Significant damage has already been done by the enormous tariffs put in place between the US and China over the past few months, economists and logistics experts say. Shipments of Chinese goods to the United States fell off a cliff in recent weeks. But Hassett suggested the agreement reached over the weekend should prevent further issues with supply from China.

“A lot of that is cleared up now — the potential for supply disruptions from China,” Hassett said. “All of that stuff is cleared up by this really historic negotiation.”

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One prior to departure from Palm Beach International Airport on May 4.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that the legal details on accepting a Boeing 747-8 jet to replace Air Force One as a gift from the Qatari royal family, are “still being worked out,” but that “any donation to this government is always done in full compliance with the law.”

“The Qatari government has graciously offered to donate a plane to the Department of Defense,” Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News on Monday.

When pressed if she believed this “gift” would require something in return, Leavitt was quick to respond, saying “absolutely not, because they know President Trump, and they know he only works with the interests of the American public in mind.”

President Donald Trump said Sunday night that the Defense Department plans to accept the luxury jet as a “GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE,” on social media.

CNN reported earlier on Sunday that the Trump administration was set to accept the plane from the Qatari royal family that will be retrofitted and used as Air Force One during the president’s second term, according to two people familiar with the agreement.

Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent speaks during a news conference in Geneva on Monday.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday morning characterized the trade war de-escalation that he helped negotiate this weekend with his Chinese counterparts as tough but respectful.

“We were firm, and we moved forward,” Bessent told CNBC from Geneva. “We tried to identify shared interest. We came with a list of problems that we were trying to solve, and I think we did a good job on that.”

Bessent noted that America was negotiating from a position of strength because China needs the United States to buy its products more than the US relies on China for its goods exports. China’s economy is on the ropes, amid a housing crisis and an emerging debt crisis. Consumer spending has fallen, as has factory output. This is a bad time for China to be dealing with a crippling trade war.

But, as the saying goes, no one wins in a trade war. US consumer sentiment fell off a cliff in recent months as inflation-weary Americans grew anxious about the prospect of rising prices and shortages. Shipments to the US from China were all but halted, rattling corporate America. And investors had braced for a recession, as economists said the US economy could get hit particularly hard by the trade war.

The detente, though welcome by Wall Street, consumers and businesses, represents a remarkable shift for a Trump administration that only days ago had said the trade standoff with China was necessary to restore America’s lost manufacturing prowess. Trump had said last week that zero trade with China put America in a stronger position, because that meant it was no longer “losing money” to the Chinese.

Bessent said the deal didn’t represent a major policy shift, however.

“This is just a pause,” he said. “The April 2 tariff level for China was 34%, so we have moved that down from 34% to 10%.”

President Donald Trump took to social media this morning to preview an executive order aimed at lowering drug costs that he is expected to sign later today.

The president announced yesterday that he plans to resurrect a controversial policy from his first term that aims to reduce drug costs by basing payments for certain medicines on their prices in other countries.

His prior rule, called “Most Favored Nation,” was finalized in late 2020 but blocked by federal courts and rescinded by then-President Joe Biden in 2021, as reported by CNN.

Containers are stacked at a port in Nanjing, in eastern China's Jiangsu province on Monday.

Analysts welcomed the announcement that the United States and China will slash tariffs on each other’s goods for a 90-day period on Monday, but warned against overoptimism on the trade spat between the world’s two largest economies.

“This is a substantial de-escalation,” said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at consultancy Capital Economics, chiming with others. But he noted that US tariffs on China remain much higher than on most other major economies and that America “still appears” to be trying to rally other countries to introduce restrictions of their own on trade with China.

Economists at Commerzbank, a big German bank, also pointed out that, compared with the situation before President Donald Trump returned to the White House, tariffs applied by the US and China to each other will still be significantly higher.

Neil Wilson, a strategist at investment platform Saxo, also argued Monday that, despite comments from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the US does not want to economically “decouple” from China, “the US is absolutely trying to decouple.”

That separation could take the form of a dramatic fall in trade between the two nations.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, left, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer speak to the media after talks between senior US and Chinese officials ended on Sunday.

The US and China have agreed to massively roll back tariffs on each other’s goods for an initial 90-day period, de-escalating a global trade war.

The announcement comes after a weekend of marathon trade negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland by officials from the world’s two largest economies.

Major breakthrough: The substantial, if temporary, agreement was unexpected. Just last week, Bessent sought to manage expectations by suggesting that his goal for the talks was “de-escalation” of tension and not “a big trade deal,” as the US and China had been at a virtual stalemate since President Donald Trump imposed his tariff policy.

The speed of the talks’ progress seemed to surprise even US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer:

Trade Representative Li Chenggang had hinted at the tariff cuts when pressed by a reporter on Sunday for more detail about today’s announcement:

Beijing’s upbeat and positive tone stands in stark contrast to its previous statements about the trade conflict with the US. For weeks, Chinese officials had struck a defiant tone, demanding the US remove all tariffs on China before agreeing to come to the negotiation table.

Vice minister of Finance Liao Min, left, gestures toward a journalist at a news conference at the Chinese mission to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, on Sunday, alongside Vice Premier He Lifeng and Li Chenggang, vice minister of commerce.

Brief relief: There had been a tit-for-tat escalation between the US and China since April, when Trump tacked 34% reciprocal tariffs on Chinese goods and upped that rate to 145% days later. China retaliated with 125% on US goods.

Economists have said 50% is the make-or-break threshold for the return of somewhat normal business between the US and China.

Scramble to secure deals: White House officials have made clear they view the China talks as an entirely different endeavor than broader efforts to seal trade agreements with dozens of other nations. Those negotiations are on the clock after Trump’s decision to pause the April 2 “reciprocal” tariff rates for 90 days.

The deal Trump announced with the UK last week has maintained a 10% tariff rate but had some carve-outs for British cars, planes, steel, aluminum and beef.

Workers sew clothing at a company in the textile industrial in Shaoxing, China, on Friday.

The trade war has already affected the US and Chinese economies.

America’s gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the US economy, showed its first quarterly contraction since early 2022, as importers raced to bring in goods before punishing tariff rates kicked in.

As for China, its exports to the US fell sharply last month, impacting the country’s enormous manufacturing industry.

Chinese factory activity contracted at its fastest pace in 16 months in April, adding urgency to Beijing’s efforts to roll out fresh economic stimulus.

On Friday, US port officials told CNN that not a single cargo vessel had left China with goods for the two major West Coast ports over the past 12 hours. That hasn’t happened since the Covid-19 pandemic.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, right, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer hold a news conference in Geneva on Monday.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reiterated that the US does not want to economically decouple from China, but seeks more “balance” in trade.

“The consensus from both delegations is neither side wants to be decoupled, and what have occurred with these very high tariffs…was an equivalent of an embargo, and neither side wants that. We do want trade. We want more balance in trade,” he said at a Monday press conference in Geneva.

Last week, Bessent told Fox News: “We don’t want to decouple; what we want is fair trade.”

Global investors are cheering a thaw in the trade war sparked by US President Donald Trump’s massive tariffs, which have roiled financial markets, disrupted supply chains and stoked recession fears.

Stock markets around the world rose Monday after the United States and China agreed to drastically roll back tariffs on each other’s goods for an initial 90-day period.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 3.4% late afternoon local time.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX index and France’s CAC were 1.2% and 1% up respectively early in the trading session. London’s FTSE index rose 0.3%.

US futures were also up. The Dow was set to open 2.1% higher, while futures in the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq were trading 2.7% and 3.6% higher respectively.

The US dollar strengthened early Monday following the breakthrough in trade talks. The ICE dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of major currencies, rose 1.3% to $102.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 2.8% higher.

“This is buying time for a more comprehensive deal – allows for time for the process and ‘mechanism’ in the words of Treasury Secretary Bessent to take place,” Neil Wilson, a strategist at investment platform Saxo Markets, wrote in a note Monday.

Container trucks make their way past shipping containers stacked high at the Port of Los Angeles on April 14.

The United States and China have agreed to drastically roll back tariffs on each other’s goods for an initial 90-day period, according to a joint statement from the two countries released Monday.

The announcement comes after a weekend of marathon trade negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland by officials from the world’s two largest economies.

The tariff revisions will be imposed by May 14. US President Donald Trump’s 20% fentanyl-related levies on China, imposed in February and March, will stay. However, each side has agreed to lower “reciprocal” tariffs on the other by 115 percentage points for 90 days.

That effectively means the US will temporarily lower its overall tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%, while China will cut its levies on American imports from 125% to 10%, according to the joint statement.

The two sides also agreed to establish “a mechanism to continue discussions about economic and trade relations,” led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, according to the statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House on May 6.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke separately with his British counterpart and Germany’s Chancellor late on Sunday, reaffirming that the US position on Russia’s war in Ukraine remains “an immediate ceasefire.”

In a separate call, Rubio and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz discussed a recent meeting between European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and “our shared goal of ending the war in Ukraine,” according to a State readout.

The calls come as the British Foreign Minister David Lammy is set to host European delegations in London on Monday for critical talks on Ukraine and the future of European security. And as Russian President Vladimir Putin ignores calls from Ukraine’s major European allies to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire by Monday or face “massive” new sanctions.

US President Donald Trump urged Ukraine to “immediately” accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer for direct talks on Thursday in Istanbul, dropping his demand for Russia to agree to a ceasefire.

Zelensky said he is prepared to meet Vladimir Putin. However, Ukraine’s allies have stressed that no further talks should be held before Putin agrees to an unconditional truce.

And Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, said in an interview with local media published Monday that the first step to any negotiations to end the war in Ukraine still rests on whether Russia will agree to a 30-day ceasefire.

Representatives from France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland and the EU are expected to attend the talks hosted in London on Monday, according to Britain’s foreign ministry. Lammy plans to announce further sanctions targeting actors supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the ministry said, according to Reuters.