Trump news: Trade war with China escalates as president banishes journalists from White House
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The US and China remain locked in trade negotiations after Donald Trump increased tariffs on more than 6,000 Chinese consumer goods by 25 percent to $200bn (£154bn), prompting Beijing to threaten retaliation.
Mr Trump, Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and chief US trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer dined with vice-premier Liu He on Thursday night and will continue discussions on Friday in the hope of finding a last-minute resolution after the president accused the rival superpower of “breaking the deal” and insisted: “They’ll be paying”.
“Over the course of the past two days, the United States and China have held candid and constructive conversations on the status of the trade relationship between both countries,” Mr Trump tweeted Friday.
“The relationship between President Xi and myself remains a very strong one, and conversations into the future will continue,” he added. “In the meantime, the United States has imposed Tariffs on China, which may or may not be removed depending on what happens with respect to future negotiations!”
The White House has meanwhile carried out a “mass purge” of journalists by revoking press passes and nominated acting secretary of defence Patrick Shanahan to the post full-time.
Mr Shanahan has been leading the Pentagon as acting secretary since 1 January, a highly unusual arrangement for arguably the most sensitive Cabinet position. He took over after Jim Mattis resigned.
“Acting Secretary Shanahan has proven over the last several months that he is beyond qualified to lead the Department of Defense, and he will continue to do an excellent job,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
Moments later, Mr Shanahan spoke to reporters outside the Pentagon, saying he was very excited about the nomination and looking forward to a job he said requires him to “spin a lot of plates.”
“The biggest challenge is balancing it all. For me it’s about practicing selectful neglect, so that we can stay focused on the future,” he said, adding with a grin, “I called my mom. She was super happy.”
Indeed, in Mr Shanahan’s tenure at the department he’s had to deal with a wide array of international hotspots, ranging from missile launches by North Korea to the sudden shift of military ships and aircraft to the Middle East to deal with potential threats from Iran.
The announcement comes close on the heels of an investigation by the Defence Department’s inspector general over accusations that Mr Shanahan had shown favoritism toward Boeing during his time as deputy defense secretary, while disparaging Boeing competitors. The probe appeared to stall his nomination, but the IG wrapped up the investigation rapidly and cleared Mr Shanahan of any wrongdoing.
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
A little round-up of the tweets from "your all-time favourite president" in the last hour.
I'm an FDR man personally but whatever you say.
And surely this is the first time in recorded history anyone's every suggested one might "really rock" to the Consumer Price Index.
Trump has decided Joe Biden is not merely "Sleepy" but "SleepyCreepy".
"Everyone else is fading fast"? Is he Thanos now? I thought buff DJ Carl Cox was the new Thanos.
If you'd like to generate your won Trump nickname by the way, you can do so courtesy of Trevor Noah and The Daily Show here.
We're gearing up for another chaotic day of news out of the White House and Capitol Hill, as Donald Trump launches an angry tweet storm at China, his 2020 opponents and everyone in between.
The press pool has an in-house call time of 9:00am this morning, but the president has nothing listed on his daily schedule until 4:15pm, when he and the first lady will participate in the celebration of military mothers.
As Donald Trump angrily tweets, a House panel has just defied him by approving a massive spending bill for State Department and foreign operations, totaling $56.4bn (£43.3bn).
The bill forbids the Trump administration from using funds to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord and would also reduce the administration’s ability to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.
The House is considering possible fines against members of Donald Trump’s administration who refuse to comply with subpoenas, according to new reports:
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence was interviewed by Fox News this morning, where he stood behind the president’s economic agenda and claimed the “economy is roaring” thanks to Mr Trump:
Donald Trump’s Republican challenger for the White House in 2020 has hit out at the president for looking like a “king” in a new interview with CNN:
Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee investigating Donald Trump, said the president’s son “misled the country” during his testimony on Capitol Hill, hence the Republican led Senate committee also investigating Russian interference in the election issuing a subpoena for him to return:
Mark Warner, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has also spoken out about Donald Trump’s response to Congressional committees investigating the president, saying, “these are not the actions of an individual who thinks he’s in the clear.”
2020 presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has called on William Barr to clarify his initial testimony over whether the White house or president asked for investigations into perceived enemies ‘on the heels of the President's public call for the prosecution of former Secretary of State John Kerry’
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