Live updates: Trump and Xi talk trade amid tariff standoff; Trump travel ban bars entry from 12 countries – NBC News
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived at the White House. He was greeted by Trump before the two went inside.
Trump responded to a shouted question from a reporter about his call with Xi, saying that the call went very well.
Trump announced last night that nationals from 12 countries would be banned from entering the United States starting on Monday.
Trump said that the ban, which primarily targets countries in Africa and the Middle East, was necessary to preserve national security and prevent terrorism in the U.S.
Here’s what to know about the ban.
Read the full story here.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he had a “very good phone call” with Chinese President Xi Jinping that lasted about 1½ hours.
Trump said that he and his counterpart discussed “some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal.”
“There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products,” Trump said in the post. “Our respective teams will be meeting shortly at a location to be determined.”
Trump also said that Xi invited him to visit China, adding that he “reciprocated.”
“As Presidents of two Great Nations, this is something that we both look forward to doing,” Trump said. “The conversation was focused almost entirely on TRADE. Nothing was discussed concerning Russia/Ukraine, or Iran.”
The president added that the administration would share additional details on the “soon to be meeting.”
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Catholic Church-affiliated charitable groups, saying they were wrongly denied religious exemptions from a Wisconsin tax that funds unemployment benefits.
The justices ruled unanimously that the state’s decision unlawfully discriminated against the groups on the basis of religion under the free exercise clause of the Constitution’s First Amendment.
Read the full story here.
The Supreme Court threw out the Mexican government’s lawsuit against U.S. firearms manufacturers accusing them of aiding and abetting gun violence.
The court ruled unanimously that the lawsuit is barred by a 2005 federal law that shields gun companies from legal liability.
Liberal Justice Elena Kagan, who wrote the opinion, acknowledged the gun violence problem, but said Mexico had failed to make allegations that would surmount those liability protections in claiming the companies aided and abetted the unlawful sale of guns.
Read the full story here.
The Supreme Court revived a woman’s claim that she was discriminated against at work because she is straight.
The unanimous ruling could make it easier in some parts of the country for people belonging to majority groups to bring such “reverse discrimination” claims. It overturns precedent in some lower courts that says someone from a “majority group” has to meet a higher bar than someone from a minority group for a case to move forward.
Read the full story here.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he texted with Elon Musk last night and he would be calling him “right now” after speaking with reporters.
Johnson told Bloomberg TV this morning the Tesla CEO is “pretty dug in right now,” and declined to go into details in a post-interview gaggle but said their conversations are “ongoing.”
On reconciliation, the speaker said he spoke to Trump “late last night” on updates and called Senate Majority Leader John Thune this morning.
“There’s lots of different opinions and ideas and thoughts on the other side, just as there were here, but they have a truncated amount of time to work through that,” Johnson said. “We had a much longer period because we began to work a lot sooner. So we can all anticipate what the arguments are going to be, what the concerns are going to be, and hopefully, I think, anticipate where it’ll land. So I think we’re on track.”
Trump’s sweeping bid to deport foreign students who have condemned the war in Gaza has been brought to a standstill by federal judges who have repeatedly ruled against the administration, according to an NBC News review of recent court filings.
First, Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student, was arrested and transported hundreds of miles from his home. Then a graduate student at Tufts University in Massachusetts, Rümeysa Öztürk, was grabbed off the street by masked plainclothes federal agents. A third student, Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University postdoctoral scholar and professor, was arrested at his home, while another Columbia student, Mohsen Mahdawi, was detained at his naturalization interview.
Since then, though, federal judges have rejected the administration’s arguments about court jurisdiction and the continued detention of three of the four students. Federal judges freed Öztürk, Mahdawi and Suri. And a ruling on Khalil’s possible release is expected soon.
Read the full story here.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a phone call this morning as the trade war between the two countries grinds on.
It’s the first known call between the leaders in Trump’s second term, although they spoke in January before Trump’s inauguration.
Chinese state media said that the call happened at the White House’s request. No other information was immediately made public. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the call was ongoing as of 9 a.m. ET.
The White House and the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Trump had posted to social media early yesterday about his frustrations with the state of talks.
Trump will meet with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz this morning, the latest foreign leader to travel to the White House. His trip comes as Trump has repeatedly criticized the European Union over its trade policies and threatened to enact higher tariffs on the 27-country bloc.
Merz was elected chancellor last month. He is part of the Christian Democratic Union, a center-right party.
Trump’s previous meetings with foreign leaders have been publicly confrontational. In May, Trump’s meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa grew tense over comments about white refugees and baseless claims of a white genocide.
In February, Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy devolved after the U.S. leaders berated the Ukrainian president and said he was not grateful enough to the U.S.
Democrats face a huge uphill climb in 2026 to retake Florida’s governorship for the first time in more than two decades, but David Jolly says he is up to the challenge.
Jolly, a former Republican congressman who left the party in large part because of his opposition to President Donald Trump, is announcing today that he is running for governor, making him the first notable Democrat to get into the race.
Read the full story here.
Trump said last night he will deny visas for foreign students trying to come to the United States to attend Harvard University, his latest attack on the prominent Ivy League college.
The administration tried late last month to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students — a move that was swiftly blocked by a federal judge.
In a proclamation, Trump said Harvard failed to present sufficient information about its foreign students to the federal government.
Read the full story here.
Trump yesterday directed a wide-ranging investigation into former President Joe Biden and officials in his administration, accusing his aides of using “autopen” signatures to cover up his “cognitive decline” and assert presidential power.
Trump frequently uses Biden as a political foil and has sought to undo a number of policies from his predecessor’s administration since he returned to office.
Read the full story here.
In a return of one of the most controversial policies of his first term, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation yesterday banning nationals from a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti and the Republic of Congo, from entering the United States.
Trump framed the new restrictions, which primarily target African and Asian countries, as necessary to fortify national security and combat terrorism.
Read the full story here.
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