President Donald Trump has dramatically increased pressure on China to reach a trade deal by announcing he would hike US tariffs on $200bn worth of Chinese goods this week and target hundreds of billions more soon.
The move, announced on Sunday, marked a major escalation in trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies and a shift in tone from Trump, who cited progress in talks as recently as Friday.
The Wall Street Journal reported that China was considering canceling this week’s trade talks in Washington in light of Trump’s comments that took Chinese officials by surprise.
A roughly 100-person Chinese delegation had been expected to accompany Chinese Vice Premier Liu He for the talks, according to one Trump administration official.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin described last week’s round in Beijing as “productive”.
But a less than rosy update from United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, including details that China was pulling back from some commitments it made previously, prompted Trump’s decision and jab on Twitter at Beijing, officials said.
“The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!” Trump said in a tweet.
Trump said tariffs on $200bn of goods would increase to 25 percent on Friday from 10 percent, reversing a decision he made in February to keep them at the 10 percent rate after progress between the two sides.
The president also said he would target a further $325bn of Chinese goods with 25 percent tariffs “shortly”, essentially targeting all products imported to the US from China.
Trump wants to keep some, if not all, of the existing tariffs on China as part of any final trade deal to ensure China lives up to its commitments, a White House official said on Sunday.
Mindful of his 2020 re-election bid, Trump suggested the measures were not leading to price increases for US consumers.
“The Tariffs paid to the USA have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China,” he tweeted.
Tariffs on Chinese goods are actually paid to the United States by the companies importing the goods. Most of those companies are US-based. American businesses, while largely supportive of Trump’s crackdown on China’s trade practices, are eager for the tariffs to be lifted, not increased and expanded.
“Raising tariffs means raising taxes on millions of American families and inviting further retaliation on American farmers,” said Christin Fernandez, a spokesperson for the Retail Industry Leaders Association.
US trade deficit surges to 10-year high despite Trump’s policies
After a quiet night from Joel Embiid, his Philadelphia 76ers teammates want to see more from the All-Star center.
Jimmy Butler discussed the issue after Sunday’s 101-96 loss to the Toronto Raptors, which evened the Eastern Conference semifinals at two games apiece:
NBA TV @NBATV
Jimmy Butler on Joel Embiid: “We just want him to be aggressive. … We’re rocking with Jo.”
“Go show why you’re so dominant night in, night out on both ends of the floor,” Butler added.
Embiid said after the game that he was dealing with a virus that kept him up all night, per Zack Rosenblatt of NJ.com. However, the illness didn’t prevent him from playing 35 minutes, during which he tallied eight rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and two assists.
Scoring was the only area in which he struggled. He finished with 11 points on just 2-of-7 shooting from the field.
Whether or not Embiid is ill, Butler—and likely the rest of the 76ers—would prefer to see many more shot attempts from one of the NBA‘s best big men.
The action comes “in response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings,” White House national security adviser John Bolton said in a statement. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo
The U.S. military is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the Central Command region in the Middle East to send a “clear and unmistakable message” to Iran, national security adviser John Bolton said in a statement Sunday.
The action, confirmed by the Defense Department, comes “in response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings,” Bolton said, and is intended to convey “to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.”
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Bolton added: “The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.”
President Donald Trump abandoned the multinational Iran nuclear deal in May of last year, and the Trump administration is expected to impose even more economic sanctions on Tehran in the coming days. Trump and others in the administration have consistently spoken harshly about Iran.
The Trump administration insists that it is not seeking to topple Iran’s Islamist regime, but that it only seeks to push the government to stop supporting proxy militias and terrorist groups and otherwise change its behavior.
Some of the administration’s critics, however, fear that its actions and rhetoric could provoke the Iranians in a manner that leads to a military confrontation.
According to the Navy’s official website, the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group had departed Norfolk, Va., on April 1 for what was described as “as a regularly scheduled deployment.” Rear Adm. John Wade is commander of the carrier strike group.
The Lincoln is already in the Mediterranean, where it has been conducting a two-carrier exercise with another carrier, the Stennis.
Bolton’s statement came not long after Trump tweeted about the violent situation in southern Israel and Gaza. Hamas — which has links to Iran — has been firing rockets from Gaza into Israel, and Israel has responded with airstrikes. Israel and Iran, of course, are mortal enemies.
“We support Israel 100% in its defense of its citizens,” Trump wrote online.
“To the Gazan people — these terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery,” the president added. “END the violence and work towards peace – it can happen!”
Nahal Toosi, Bryan Bender and Wesley Morgan contributed to this report.
Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler engaged in a Game 4 duel that resembled something out of Terminator 2, and Leonard was the winning machine Sunday afternoon as his Toronto Raptors evened the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 101-96 victory.
No matter how many runs or big shots the Philadelphia 76ers threw at him, the All-Star forward just kept charging forward like a T-1000 absorbing shotgun blasts.
He finished with 39 points, 14 rebounds and five assists. He was 13-of-20 from the field, 8-of-12 from the line and 5-of-7 from deep. His biggest shot of the night, a contested step-back three over Joel Embiid with just over a minute remaining, all but ended Sunday’s action:
“For the shots he took tonight, that was one of the tougher ones.” Leonard’s coach Nick Nurse said, per Rogers Sportsnet’s Michael Grange. “And he made a great shot.”
As seen on Toronto’s timeline, center Marc Gasol added, “You know, he’s really good at basketball.”
Kawhi’s fellow Raptors are almost as understated as he is. What isn’t, though, are the 2014 Finals MVP’s numbers.
This postseason, Leonard is up to 32.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 58.7 percent from the field, 50.0 percent from three and 85.7 percent from the stripe. His box plus-minus trails only Nikola Jokic. His win shares per 48 minutes trail no one.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Kawhi is doing things no other Raptor has ever done:
ESPN Stats & Info @ESPNStatsInfo
With Kawhi Leonard scoring 39 points in the Raptors Game 4 victory, he now has six 30-point games in this postseason, the most in a single postseason in Raptors history. It’s Leonard’s fourth consecutive playoff game with 30+ points, extending his Raptors playoff record https://t.co/eYrOnZjhCr
While this may be new for Toronto, Leonard has been dismantling opponents with robotic precision for years. It’s why he was worth the gamble the Raptors took this summer.
Among players with at least 1,000 career playoff minutes, Leonard trails only LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Chris Paul, Walt Frazier, Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley in career playoff box plus-minus. Each of those players is either in the Hall of Fame or has at least a 99.99 percent probability of getting in.
This postseason alone, Leonard’s box plus-minus is 11.4. It’s the third time he’s had a postseason run with a double-digit box plus-minus. The only players with more? LeBron James (10), Michael Jordan (seven) and Chris Paul (four).
We’re watching one of the greatest playoff performers in NBA history, and every contested jumper he sinks adds to the growing resume. On Sunday, he hit a bevy of them. Butler, Embiid, Ben Simmons. It didn’t seem to matter who was on him. He was giving everyone buckets, pouring them in with his patented lack of emotion.
The one departure? When he had the gall to throw a waist-high fist pump after he hit the dagger three over Embiid.
It was the exclamation point on Kawhi’s series-tying performance. And make no mistake, Leonard is the reason Toronto has two wins. The Raptors are getting obliterated when he’s off the floor, as pointed out by NBA.com’s Micah Adams:
Micah Adams @MicahAdams13
Raptors +7 with Kawhi on and -2 with him off.
Updated net rating this series:
+7.5 with Kawhi on court
-48.7 with Kawhi off court
Swing of 56.2 pts/100.
The raw plus-minus in this series alone is pretty staggering, too. Toronto is plus-26 in the 160 minutes Kawhi has played. It’s minus-34 in the 32 minutes he’s rested. Philadelphia is up only eight points in the aggregate over these four games.
Whenever Kawhi is on the floor, the 76ers are in trouble.
They do have their own robot-like wing, though. And over the last three contests, Butler is doing everything he can to slow down the opposing machine.
In Games 2, 3 and 4, Butler is averaging 27.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks. He’s shooting 49.1 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from three. Philadelphia is plus-36 in his 119 minutes over that stretch.
For all the talk of Embiid and Simmons, Butler has often looked like the 76ers’ most important player this postseason. He may be their only hope against the emotionless production of Toronto’s terminator.
As the series shifts north, this is a duel that could go a long way toward deciding the fate of these franchises.
If Butler can take down the T-1000 in Round 2, Kawhi’s location next season would be entirely uncertain. If the machine can’t be stopped, a trip to the Finals—and maybe even a new contract—would remain in play.
Stevo Pendarovski, supported by the ruling Social Democrats (SDSM), has won the North Macedonian presidency in a run-off vote.
The 56-year-old garnered 51.66 percent of the vote on Sunday, beating nationalist VMRO’s Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova with 44.73 percent. The remaining 3.61 percent of the votes were void.
Sunday’s run-off poll was called after neither candidate received enough ballots for an outright win in the first round of voting two weeks ago.
The victory puts more wind into the sails of the ruling coalition, which expects to get a date to start EU accession talks in June and become the 30th NATO member state next year.
“The victory of this concept brings a future for the republic of North Macedonia and it’s our ticket to Europe,” Pendarovski told reporters after the election results were announced.
Prime Minister Zoran Zaev congratulated Pendarovski and said: “As of today, no one can stand in the way of progress. We showed we are ready for Europe.”
The campaign for the elections was dominated by divisions over a change to the country’s name that was agreed to mollify Greece and open the way for EU and NATO membership.
Greece had, for decades, demanded that the ex-Yugoslav republic change its name from Macedonia, arguing that it implied a territorial claim on a northern Greek province also called Macedonia.
The new name was formally ratified earlier this year. But the accord continues to divide North Macedonians and has eclipsed all other campaign issues.
In contrast to Pendarovski, Siljanovska-Davkova, a university professor, opposes the name change, although she is also pro-European Union. She has accused the government of dragging its feet on economic reforms.
VMRO-DPMNE accused the government of “engineering election”, adding it had information of the ruling coalition bribing voters and threatening them, among other things.
The president holds a largely ceremonial post in North Macedonia but he or she is the supreme commander of the armed forces and also signs off on parliamentary legislation.
The refusal of outgoing President Gjorge Ivanov, a nationalist, to sign some bills backed by parliament has delayed the implementation of key laws, including one on wider use of the Albanian language.
But Ivanov had no authority to block the constitutional amendments passed earlier this year by a two-thirds majority of parliament that enabled the name change to North Macedonia.
Turnout on Sunday was 46.6 percent, above the 40 percent threshold needed for the election result to be valid but still low, which analysts attributed to voters’ disappointment with a pace of reforms.
North Macedonia, Greece boost economic ties after dispute
“[T]hey have stollen two years of my (our) Presidency (Collusion Delusion) that we will never be able to get back,” President Donald Trump wrote online. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Sunday floated the idea of extending his constitutionally limited time in office, complaining online that two years of his first White House term were “stollen” as a result of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“I now support reparations — Trump should have 2 yrs added to his 1st term as pay back for time stolen by this corrupt failed coup,” Jerry Falwell Jr., a conservative religious leader and Trump ally, tweeted in a message reposted by the president.
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Trump echoed Falwell’s sentiment in a pair of tweets an hour later,writing online: “Despite the tremendous success that I have had as President, including perhaps the greatest ECONOMY and most successful first two years of any President in history, they have stollen two years of my (our) Presidency (Collusion Delusion) that we will never be able to get back.”
Headded: “The Witch Hunt is over but we will never forget. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The president’s retweets regarding an extended stay in the Oval Office follow a New York Timesreport on Saturday in which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was concerned that Trump would refuse to give up power in 2020 if he lost reelection by a narrow margin.
The posts also feature implicit contradictions Trump has not hesitated to repeat since Mueller submitted his report to the Justice Department in March: that it was, at once, a partisan document conceived by“18 Trump Hating Angry Democrats,” as well as a“Total EXONERATION” for the White House.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has replaced his canoodling with a less tactile brand of retail politicking marked by selfies and more physical reserve. | Scott Olson/Getty Images
The former veep appears to have gotten the message about his overly familiar touching.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — There‘s been no hair-sniffing. No nose-to-cheek nuzzles. No intimate whispers with strangers.
In his first full week on the road for his 2020 candidacy, Joe Biden is keeping his hands to himself.
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Biden joined the race on the heels of a rough period in which six women publicly complained that Biden’s past touching made them uncomfortable. From his slow response to the controversy and the lack of apology, it wasn’t quite clear if the 76-year-old former vice president could adjust to the realities of campaigning in the #MeToo era — or if the criticism of the overly familiar physical contact even registered.
But after nearly a week on the campaign trail, including nearly a half-dozen events in Pittsburgh, Iowa and South Carolina, it appears Biden got the message. Gone are the episodes of canoodling with voters, replaced by a less tactile brand of retail politicking marked by selfies and more physical reserve than Biden is accustomed to.
Where once Biden was famously photographed in an Ohio diner burying his face in the back of a woman biker’s head, rubbing her shoulders and sitting so close that it initially appeared she was sitting on his lap, the former vice president is now showing signs of deliberately holding back in one-on-one encounters.
“I think part of his evolving as a candidate is making an adjustment, if something’s not working you go for another play,” Antjuan Seawright, a South Carolina-based Democratic strategist who worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016 and is not aligned with a candidate. “It’s growth. You know something is wrong and it didn’t work that way so you just make adjustments and you do it differently. There’s still a way to do retail and not be inappropriate.”
At his first public event, a rally last week in Pittsburgh, Biden took the stage and kissed his wife, Jill, then offered a simple handshake to the woman who introduced him. In other instances, Biden for the most part appeared to take pains tokeep his hands in plain sight.
In Monticello, Iowa last week, Biden entered an ice cream shop, shook hands with a male diner and commented “you got a grip, man ” but that was perhaps the most notable physical interaction. For most of his visit, Biden kept a comfortable distance from others in the shop. The bulk of the news photoimages that emerged from the event were of Biden standing alone, one elbow leaning on the shop counter, the other holding his chocolate and vanilla twist cone.
It wasn’t obvious at first that Biden, who was first elected to the Senate in 1972, would have the discipline or the self-awareness to recognize the need to alter his habits.
Critics noted that while he released a video saying he understood that “the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset,” he didn’t offer an apology. And days after saying he took responsibility for his actions, he upset some of his own supporters by seeming to joke at a union event that he asked permission to touch one of the kids in a group that had joined him on stage.
But since announcing his presidential bid, Biden’s approach reflects an understanding of the greater scrutiny of his politicking style — his advisers at one point after the controversy huddled with him to underscore the need to adjust his habits and the need to tell the public that he would be more respectful of people’s personal space.
For Biden, though, reining in his self-described “tactile” politics isn’t necessarily a simple matter. His warm persona and relationships built over nearly a half-century in politics often draws expressions of affection from people he meets at events.
After a Saturday afternoon rally in front of a crowd of more than 500 people in Columbia, S.C. Biden worked the rope line and was swarmed with requests for handshakes, selfies, hugs or autographs. Biden gingerly moved through the crowd, again and again taking a cell phone into one hand, holding it high for a photo, while his other hand rested at his side.
As Biden approached two teen-aged girls, he hugged one and snapped photos with her and her friend. Afterward, the young woman said she didn’t mind the hug; caught in the thrill of the moment of seeing the former vice president to Barack Obama — she asked him for it.
“I just wanted a hug,” a beaming 16-year-old Eleanor Wachtel said. “It made my day.”
On Sunday at the close of the service at a South Carolina Baptist church, while Jill Biden stood nearby exchanging hug after hug, the former vice president himself stood for some time with his arms to his sides, merely shaking hands of congregants.
In one exchange, a male congregant moved to hug Biden — and Biden didn’t hug back, instead stiffening one of his arms. As Biden moved toward the exit of the large venue, a woman powered toward him — and the two engaged in a warm embrace.
“I think he’ll adjust. I’m pretty sure that he’s been told that time and time again and he’ll probably do it,” said Joseph Darby, a senior pastor at Nichols Chapel AME Church in Charleston who’s known Biden for 10 years.
Darby predicted the affectionate exchanges are far from ending — and not because Biden would be one whoinitiates them. “I think folks will probably hug him,” Darby said.
He added that there’s only one appropriate way to respond: “Then you hug back.”
The K-Pop boy band BTS rode the ever-stronger wave of popularity breaking on U.S. shores straight to the Rose Bowl on Saturday. From the looks of their tricked out performance, the boiz gave their mega-fans a night to remember.
BTS kicked off their “Love Yourself: Speak Yourself” tour with a sold-out show at the Pasadena, CA stadium in front of a crowd of 60,000. With a Saturday Night Live appearance and a record-breaking collaboration with Halsey, the group is being hailed as one of the first K-Pop stars to break out in the US.
At the Rose Bowl on Saturday, there were giant panther statues, a bounce house, fireworks, holographic hearts, and a human-sized plastic bubble — along with singing, rapping, dancing, and levitating group members.
THEY HAVE LITERALLY TWO MASSIVE PANTHERS TO OPEN A CONCERT WHEN I SAY NO ONE DOES IT LIKE BTS NO ONE IS DOES IT LIKE THEM PERIOD pic.twitter.com/WvbGNQpDA7
just in case u missed it, this tour has giant panthers, jimin in a bubble, taehyung on a bed, bts in a bouncy castle, and jungkook inventing levitation pic.twitter.com/tU4jkv2zcL
Fans did not take pains to contain their excitement on social media for the wild show that BTS put on.
Namjoon asked us to ‘put our lights up in the air’ and we put up our ARMY bombs but he turned around to the whole stadium and went ‘actually I meant your cellphone lights sorry’ sksdnnd pic.twitter.com/1WBJTuRnix
— 𝖊𝖒 | ROSE BOWL | SPOILERS (@taehyungthugg) May 5, 2019
Even Nick Jonas was in the audience, bopping along from on high. Boy bands gotta support boy bands!
It also caused a fair amount of FOMO and appreciation from afar for people not lucky enough to attend.
George R.R. Mountain
(@beemyhope_) 
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