
Russia Touts Trump-Putin Meeting at Major Deadline
China is due to hold a military parade in Beijing on September 3 to mark 80 years since the end of World War Two, and Putin is set to attend.
The parade is a day after Trump's 50-day deadline for Putin to make peace in Ukraine or face much tougher economic sanctions.
Trump set the deadline on July 14, warning Russia that it faced punitive secondary tariffs against those still trading with it if there is no peace.
China is one of the countries that would be hit hardest by a secondary tariff. Beijing has propped up the sanctions-hit Russian economy with large-scale oil purchases.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, said at a press briefing on Monday, July 21, that the Trump meeting could take place in Beijing in September, state news agency TASS reported.
It is not clear if Beijing has invited Trump to the parade, or plans to.
Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had given reciprocal invites for visits to each other's countries during a recent call to break the deadlock in U.S.-China trade negotiations.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
Related Articles
Russia Accuses West of 'Robbery and Looting'Russia's Oil Prices Lag Behind TargetHow Donald Trump's Plan to Arm Ukraine Differs From Joe Biden'sHow Will Putin React to Trump's Ukraine Pivot? Newsweek Contributors Debate
2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


USA Today
7 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump weighs in on American Eagle's Sydney Sweeney ad
President Donald Trump is entering the national debate surrounding American Eagle's Sydney Sweeney ad. In a Newsmax interview Friday, Aug. 1 with host Rob Finnerty, Trump was asked about the "Euphoria" actress starring in the clothing retailer's fall 2025 denim ad campaign that some critics saw as a veiled attempt to endorse eugenics. Eugenics is a highly controversial (and discredited) set of beliefs that the human population can improve or advance itself through selective breeding. "Sydney Sweeney, an actress was in an ad for blue jeans. The ad is doing very well, it's very popular. The jeans have sold out. Does America need to see more ads like that and maybe fewer ads with people like Dylan Mulvaney on the cover?" Finnerty asked, referring to the controversial 2023 Bud Light campaign starring the transgender TikTok star which elicited criticism from certain groups. Trump addresses Diddy pardon decision, but questions remain Trump said that "advertising's a very funny thing," telling Finnerty that "I've done ads where I thought they were lousy, and they turned out to be iconic. And then I've done some that I thought were beauties that were going to be fantastic and they weren't so good, so to each his own." Before addressing his thoughts on advertising, Trump told the conservative cable host earlier in the interview that "I think the Dylan Mulvaney ad was perhaps the most unsuccessful ad in history. It knocked $35 billion off the value of a certain company if you know what I'm talking about." Trump continued: "(The Mulvaney ad) was one of the great disasters of all time. I would say that's probably the most unsuccessful ad, worst ad ever." It is unclear what exact $35 billion valuation the president is talking about, but sales for Bud Light – owned by Anheuser-Busch – tanked after the backlash began. American Eagle breaks silence on Sydney Sweeney jeans ad controversy Why is the 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans' ad sparking backlash? The Sweeney ad has been the subject of both online praise and anger for over a week. On July 23, the brand launched the new campaign starring Sweeney, which American Eagle originally described as "a return to essential denim dressing," with Sweeney sporting 1970s-style flare jeans paired with a denim jacket. In one of several videos for the campaign, Sweeney, clad in a denim-on-denim fit, dabbles in some word-play, telling cameras: "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color." "My jeans are blue," Sweeney said in the video. Each promotional video ends with the tagline, "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans." The Trump comments aired the same day that American Eagle broke its silence on the backlash and doubled down in an Instagram post following days of discourse about the Sweeney ad blitz. "'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way," the statement read. "Great jeans look good on everyone." Contributing: Anna Kaufman, Nicole Fallert

8 minutes ago
Office of Special Counsel says it's opened Hatch Act probe of Jack Smith
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel confirmed Saturday that it has opened an investigation into former Special Counsel Jack Smith and whether he violated the Hatch Act through his criminal investigations into President Donald Trump. The investigation follows a referral from Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas earlier this week that asked the OSC to investigate Smith for his investigative and prosecutorial activities prior to the 2024 election which Cotton argued were intended to harm Trump's political prospects. Both Smith and former Attorney General Merrick Garland repeatedly maintained prior to departing office that none of the actions taken in either the classified documents investigation or the probe of Trump's efforts to subvert his 2020 election loss were driven by politics. A spokesperson for Smith's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday on the OSC probe. The OSC is an independent agency that is not empowered to investigate criminal matters - it is separate from the Special Counsel post that Smith formerly served in under the Justice Department. OSC primarily operates as an agency to assist government whistleblowers in reporting allegations of waste or wrongdoing, and also enforces the Hatch Act which places restrictions of government employees from engaging in partisan political activities. It's unclear what course of action the OSC would even have to take against Smith if its investigation did determine he violated the Hatch Act, given Smith is no longer a government employee. While it could refer its findings to DOJ, the department has already publicly said that it is investigating Smith and other prosecutors who pursued Trump through its so-called "Weaponization Working Group" that is being led by former interim DC U.S. attorney Ed Martin. The announcement of the investigation also comes as the administration has found itself under increased scrutiny over its handling of the release of filings relating to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — with top officials from across the administration appearing eager to change the subject.


Chicago Tribune
37 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
It's Trump's economy now. The latest financial numbers offer some warning signs.
WASHINGTON — For all of President Donald Trump's promises of an economic 'golden age,' a spate of weak indicators this week told a potentially worrisome story as the impacts of his policies are coming into focus. Job gains are dwindling. Inflation is ticking upward. Growth has slowed compared with last year. More than six months into his term, Trump's blitz of tariff hikes and his new tax and spending bill have remodeled America's trading, manufacturing, energy and tax systems to his own liking. He's eager to take credit for any wins that might occur and is hunting for someone else to blame if the financial situation starts to totter. But as of now, this is not the boom the Republican president promised, and his ability to blame his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, for any economic challenges has faded as the world economy hangs on his every word and social media post. When Friday's jobs report turned out to be decidedly bleak, Trump ignored the warnings in the data and fired the head of the agency that produces the monthly jobs figures. 'Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can't be manipulated for political purposes,' Trump said on Truth Social, without offering evidence for his claim. 'The Economy is BOOMING.' It's possible that the disappointing numbers are growing pains from the rapid transformation caused by Trump and that stronger growth will return — or they may be a preview of even more disruption to come. Trump's aggressive use of tariffs, executive actions, spending cuts and tax code changes carries significant political risk if he is unable to deliver middle-class prosperity. The effects of his new tariffs are still several months away from rippling through the economy, right as many Trump allies in Congress will be campaigning in the midterm elections. 'Considering how early we are in his term, Trump's had an unusually big impact on the economy already,' said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist at Firehouse Strategies. 'The full inflationary impact of the tariffs won't be felt until 2026. Unfortunately for Republicans, that's also an election year.' The White House portrayed the blitz of trade frameworks leading up to Thursday's tariff announcement as proof of his negotiating prowess. The European Union, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and other nations that the White House declined to name agreed that the U.S. could increase its tariffs on their goods without doing the same to American products. Trump simply set rates on other countries that lacked settlements. The costs of those tariffs — taxes paid on imports to the U.S. — will be most felt by many Americans in the form of higher prices, but to what extent remains uncertain. 'For the White House and their allies, a key part of managing the expectations and politics of the Trump economy is maintaining vigilance when it comes to public perceptions,' said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist. Just 38% of adults approve of Trump's handling of the economy, according to a July poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. That's down from the end of Trump's first term when half of adults approved of his economic leadership. The White House paints a rosier image, seeing the economy emerging from a period of uncertainty after Trump's restructuring and repeating the economic gains seen in his first term before the pandemic struck. 'President Trump is implementing the very same policy mix of deregulation, fairer trade, and pro-growth tax cuts at an even bigger scale – as these policies take effect, the best is yet to come,' White House spokesman Kush Desai said. The economic numbers over the past week show the difficulties that Trump might face if the numbers continue on their current path: 'The economy's just kind of slogging forward,' said Guy Berger, senior fellow at the Burning Glass Institute, which studies employment trends. 'Yes, the unemployment rate's not going up, but we're adding very few jobs. The economy's been growing very slowly. It just looks like a 'meh' economy is continuing.' Trump has sought to pin the blame for any economic troubles on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, saying the Fed should cut its benchmark interest rates even though doing so could generate more inflation. Trump has publicly backed two Fed governors, Christoper Waller and Michelle Bowman, for voting for rate cuts at Wednesday's meeting. But their logic is not what the president wants to hear: They were worried, in part, about a slowing job market. But this is a major economic gamble being undertaken by Trump and those pushing for lower rates under the belief that mortgages will also become more affordable as a result and boost homebuying activity. His tariff policy has changed repeatedly over the last six months, with the latest import tax numbers serving as a substitute for what the president announced in April, which provoked a stock market sell-off. It might not be a simple one-time adjustment as some Fed board members and Trump administration officials argue. Of course, Trump can't say no one warned him about the possible consequences of his economic policies. Biden, then the outgoing president, did just that in a speech last December at the Brookings Institution, saying the cost of the tariffs would eventually hit American workers and businesses. 'He seems determined to impose steep, universal tariffs on all imported goods brought into this country on the mistaken belief that foreign countries will bear the cost of those tariffs rather than the American consumer,' Biden said. 'I believe this approach is a major mistake.'