Latest news with #CeaseFire
AllAfrica
19-06-2025
- Politics
- AllAfrica
Trump made clear he does not fit in with G7, nor does he want to
Working alongside western democratic allies has not been a natural fit for Donald Trump. The US president left the recently concluded G7 summit in Canada early, with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron assuming this was to work on addressing the most severe escalation between Iran and Israel in decades. But Trump offered little communication with other G7 members, which include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK, of what his plans were. He said he had to leave the summit 'for obvious reasons', though failed to elaborate on what he meant. After exiting the summit, he lambasted Macron on social media. Trump wrote: 'Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire.' Trump continued by saying his exit was due to something 'much bigger than that' – adding, 'Emmanuel always gets it wrong.' This has prompted discussion over whether US forces may join Israel's strikes on Iran. Despite initially distancing the US from the Israeli attacks, Trump said on June 17: 'We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.' He has since demanded Tehran's 'unconditional surrender', while also issuing a chilling threat to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, describing him as an 'easy target.' The pressure campaign employed by Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to convince Trump that the time is right for a military assault on Iran seems to be working. Exploiting Trump's impulsive nature, Netanyahu may soon be able to convince Trump to give Israel what it needs to destroy Iran's underground uranium enrichment sites: a 30,000-pound 'bunker buster' bomb and a B-2 bomber to carry it. The US's western allies have been left scrambling to interpret Trump's social media posts and figure out the real reason he left the G7 summit early. The only aircraft capable of carrying 'bunker-buster' bombs is the B-2. Mariusz Lopusiewicz / Shutterstock This wasn't the first time that Trump has left a G7 forum early. In 2018, the last time such a meeting was held in Canada, Trump also left early after Macron and the then Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, promised to confront Trump over the imposition of tariffs on US allies. The latest G7 summit also wasn't the first time Trump has treated traditional US allies with suspicion. Trump has cast doubt on US willingness to defend NATO allies if they don't pay more for their own defense. He has repeatedly threatened to leave the alliance and has frequently denigrated it – even calling alliance members 'delinquent.' Trump thinks the US gains an advantage by abandoning relationships with 'free riders.' But experts have made clear alienating allies makes the US weaker. While the alliance system has given the US unprecedented influence over the foreign policies of US allies in the past, Trump's pressure to increase their defense spending will make them more independent of the US in the long-term. Trump seems to prefer a world guided by short-term self-interest at the expense of long-term collective security. Indeed, with an 'America first' agenda, multilateral cooperation is not Trump's strong suit. With the G7, Trump is yet again making clear that he does not fit in, nor does he want to. Because the G7 is small and relatively homogenous in membership, meetings between members are supposed to promote collective and decisive decision-making. However, even the task of coming up with a joint statement on the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel proved challenging. Trump eventually joined other leaders in calling for deescalation in the Middle East, and the G7 was in agreement that Iran cannot acquire nuclear weapons. But Trump's social media activity since then has left US allies in the dark over what role the US might play in the conflict. Trump also alarmed G7 members with calls for Russia to return to the forum. He claimed that the war in Ukraine would not have happened had Moscow not been ejected from the former G8 grouping in 2014. Then, on his way out of the summit, Trump bragged to reporters that Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, 'doesn't speak to anybody else' but him. Trump added that Putin was insulted when Russia was thrown out of the G8, 'as I would be, as you would be, as anybody would be.' Following weeks of frustration over Russia's refusal to engage in serious peace talks about ending the war in Ukraine, Trump seems to have returned to being Putin's most loyal advocate. During Trump's first term, he pushed multilateralism to the brink. But he did not completely disengage. The US withdrew from the Paris climate accords, the nuclear deal with Iran and negotiations for a trade deal with Pacific nations – and Washington imposed sanctions against officials of the International Criminal Court. However, when multilateral initiatives served Trump's short-term objectives, he was willing to get on board. A trade deal struck with Canada and Mexico in his first term Trump described as 'the most important' ever agreed by the US. He said the deal would bring thousands of jobs back to North America. The second Trump administration has been even more hostile to multilateralism. Not only has the trade deal with Canada and Mexico been undermined by Trump's love of tariffs, his administration has been more antagonistic toward almost all of the US's traditional allies. In fact, most of Trump's ire is reserved for democracies not autocracies. In contrast to the G7, where he clearly felt out of place, Trump was in his element during his May trip to the Middle East. Trump has a more natural connection to the leaders of the Gulf who do not have to adhere to democratic norms and human rights, and where deals can get done immediately. Trump left the Middle East reveling in all of the billion-dollar deals he made, which he exaggerated were worth US$2 trillion. The G7, on the other hand, doesn't offer much to Trump. He sees it as more of a nuisance. The G7 forum is supposed to reassure the public that the most powerful countries in the world are united in their commitment to stability. But Trump's antics are undermining the credibility of that message. It is these antics that risk dragging the west into a dangerous confrontation with Iran. Natasha Lindstaedt is a professor in the Department of Government, University of Essex. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Canada Standard
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Canada Standard
Trump breaks from western allies at G7 summit as US weighs joining Iran strikes
Working alongside western democratic allies has not been a natural fit for Donald Trump. The US president left the recently concluded G7 summit in Canada early, with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron assuming this was to work on addressing the most severe escalation between Iran and Israel in decades. But Trump offered little communication with other G7 members, which include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK, of what his plans were. He said he had to leave the summit "for obvious reasons", though failed to elaborate on what he meant. After exiting the summit, he lambasted Macron on social media. Trump wrote: "Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire". Trump continued by saying his exit was due to something "much bigger than that", adding: "Emmanuel always gets it wrong." This has prompted discussion over whether US forces may join Israel's strikes on Iran. Despite initially distancing the US from the Israeli attacks, Trump said on June 17: "We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran." Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK's latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences. He has since demanded Tehran's "unconditional surrender", while also issuing a chilling threat to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, describing him as an "easy target". The pressure campaign employed by Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to convince Trump that the time is right for a military assault on Iran seems to be working. Exploiting Trump's impulsive nature, Netanyahu may soon be able to convince Trump to give Israel what it needs to destroy Iran's underground uranium enrichment sites: a 30,000-pound "bunker buster" bomb and a B-2 bomber to carry it. The US's western allies have been left scrambling to interpret Trump's social media posts and figure out the real reason he left the G7 summit early. This wasn't the first time that Trump has left a G7 forum early. In 2018, the last time such a meeting was held in Canada, Trump also left early after Macron and the then Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, promised to confront Trump over the imposition of tariffs on US allies. The latest G7 summit also wasn't the first time Trump has treated traditional US allies with suspicion. Trump has cast doubt on US willingness to defend Nato allies if they don't pay more for their own defence. He has repeatedly threatened to leave the alliance and has frequently denigrated it - even calling alliance members "delinquent". Trump thinks the US gains an advantage by abandoning relationships with "free riders". But experts have made clear alienating allies makes the US weaker. While the alliance system has given the US unprecedented influence over the foreign policies of US allies in the past, Trump's pressure to increase their defence spending will make them more independent from the US in the long-term. Trump seems to prefer a world guided by short-term self-interest at the expense of long-term collective security. Indeed, with an "America first" agenda, multilateral cooperation is not Trump's strong suit. With the G7, Trump is yet again making clear that he does not fit in, nor does he want to. Because the G7 is small and relatively homogenous in membership, meetings between members are supposed to promote collective and decisive decision-making. However, even the task of coming up with a joint statement on the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel proved challenging. Trump eventually joined other leaders in calling for deescalation in the Middle East, and the G7 was in agreement that Iran cannot acquire nuclear weapons. But Trump's social media activity since then has left US allies in the dark over what role the US might play in the conflict. Trump also alarmed G7 members with calls for Russia to return to the forum. He claimed that the war in Ukraine would not have happened had Moscow not been ejected from the former G8 grouping in 2014. Then, on his way out of the summit, Trump bragged to reporters that Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, "doesn't speak to anybody else" but him. Trump added that Putin was insulted when Russia was thrown out of the G8, "as I would be, as you would be, as anybody would be". Following weeks of frustration over Russia's refusal to engage in serious peace talks about ending the war in Ukraine, Trump seems to have returned to being Putin's most loyal advocate. During Trump's first term, he pushed multilateralism to the brink. But he did not completely disengage. The US withdrew from the Paris climate accords, the nuclear deal with Iran, negotiations for a trade deal with Pacific nations, and imposed sanctions against officials of the International Criminal Court. However, when multilateral initiatives served Trump's short-term objectives, he was willing to get on board. A trade deal struck with Canada and Mexico that Trump described as "the most important" ever agreed by the US. He said the deal would bring thousands of jobs back to North America. The second Trump administration has been even more hostile to multilateralism. Not only has the trade deal with Canada and Mexico been undermined by Trump's love of tariffs, his administration has been more antagonistic toward almost all of the US's traditional allies. In fact, most of Trump's ire is reserved for democracies not autocracies. In contrast to the G7, where he clearly felt out of place, Trump was in his element during his May trip to the Middle East. Trump has a more natural connection to the leaders of the Gulf who do not have to adhere to democratic norms and human rights, and where deals can get done immediately. Trump left the Middle East revelling in all of the billion dollar deals he made, which he exaggerated were worth US$2 trillion (Pound 1.5 trillion). The G7, on the other hand, doesn't offer much to Trump. He sees it as more of a nuisance. The G7 forum is supposed to reassure the public that the most powerful countries in the world are united in their commitment to stability. But Trump's antics are undermining the credibility of that message. It is these antics that risk dragging the west into a dangerous confrontation with Iran.
CNBC
18-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
CNBC Daily Open: The prospect of an Israel-Iran ceasefire dims as Trump weighs strikes
Hopes of a quick ceasefire between Israel and Iran were dashed by several social media posts from U.S. President Donald Trump. As he took an early departure from the Group of Seven summit, Trump said it "certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire" and that he was involved in something "much bigger than that." What's bigger than a ceasefire? An escalation in conflict on the prospect of the U.S. joining the hostilities in the Middle East. Trump, on his social media platform Truth Social, threatened Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he is an "easy target" and wants him to "surrender." Trump's posts on Truth Social brought U.S. stocks lower and caused oil prices, which were on the retreat Monday, to shoot up more than 4% during Tuesday's trading session in America. A weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales report in May also added to the heavy sentiment in markets. The U.S. Federal Reserve's rate-setting meeting will conclude Wednesday. While central bankers are expected to leave interest rates unchanged, the committee will release updated projections of where they see rates going. Chair Jerome Powell will also answer questions from the media at this press conference. All of those are market-moving events — so it's a relief, at least, they come from official communiques. Trump weighs strike on IranA U.S. military strike against Iran is one of the options Trump is considering, after meeting with his top national security advisors on Tuesday afternoon, current and former administration officials told NBC News. Earlier in the day, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. knows "exactly" where the Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is "hiding," and demanded "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!" U.S. markets fell while Asia trades mixedU.S. stocks retreated Tuesday as Trump's rhetoric on Iran ramped up. The S&P 500 fell 0.84%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.91%. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Wednesday. At 1:30 p.m. Singapore time, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.77% even as the government reported a drop in exports in May, while South Korea's Kospi added 0.56%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index, however, lost 1.23%. Exports from Japan fall in MayJapan exports in May declined 1.7% year over year, according to data from Japan's trade ministry released Wednesday. While that drop fares better than the 3.8% decline expected from a Reuters poll of economists, it's still the steepest fall since September 2024 and reverses the 2% growth in April. Exports to the U.S. dropped 11.1% from a year earlier, much worse than than the 1.8% fall in April. Meta trying to poach OpenAI staff: AltmanOn a podcast released Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Meta had sought to hire "a lot of people" from the artificial intelligence company, and had offered signing bonuses as high as $100 million — but "so far none of our best people have decided to take them up on that." Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is frustrated with his firm's standing in the AI space, sources told CNBC. U.S. passes landmark crypto billThe U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed the GENIUS Act, a landmark crypto bill that establishes federal guardrails, including full reserve backing, monthly audits, and anti-money laundering compliance, for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins. It also opens the door to a range of issuers, including banks, fintechs, and major retailers looking to launch their own stablecoins or integrate them into existing payment systems. [PRO] Global stocks will reign: InvestorsThe era of U.S. exceptionalism might be coming to an end. Not only have global stocks vastly outperformed those in America year to date, investors also think they will be the best-performing asset class over the next five years, according to the results of Bank of America's latest fund manager survey. The Fed is likely to keep rates the same but give a forecast that moves markets. What to expect While any immediate movement on interest rates seems improbable, the Federal Reserve's policy meeting, which concludes Wednesday, will feature important signals that still could move markets. Among the biggest things to watch will be whether Federal Open Market Committee members stick with their previous forecast of two rate cuts this year, how they see inflation trending, and any reaction from Chair Jerome Powell to what has become a concerted White House campaign for easier monetary policy. As things stand heading into the meeting, markets are pricing in the next cut to come in September, which would be the one-year anniversary of a surprisingly aggressive half-percentage-point reduction the FOMC instituted amid concerns over the labor market. The committee added two more quarter-point moves by the end of the year and has been on hold since.
Time of India
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Trump says Macron 'always gets it wrong' as they clash over West Asia
President Trump said on Tuesday that President Macron of France "always gets it wrong," as simmering tensions between the two leaders over the Israel-Iran conflict blew up into insults. As he made an early exit from the G7 meeting in Canada and flew back to Washington, Trump called Macron "publicity seeking." In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the French leader "has no idea why I am on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire." Macron had told reporters covering the G7 meeting that the US had given assurances that "they will find a ceasefire, and since they can pressure Israel, things may change. " The speculation about his intentions clearly infuriated Trump, who said, without elaborating, that the real reason for his departure was "much bigger than that." There was no immediate response from the French presidency.
CNBC
18-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
CNBC Daily Open: Trump's social media posts crush hopes of an Israel-Iran ceasefire
Hopes of a quick ceasefire between Israel and Iran were dashed by several social media posts from U.S. President Donald Trump. As he took an early departure from the Group of Seven summit, Trump said it "certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire" and that he was involved in something "much bigger than that." What's bigger than a ceasefire? An escalation in conflict on the prospect of the U.S. joining the hostilities in the Middle East. Trump, on his social media platform Truth Social, threatened Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he is an "easy target" and wants him to "surrender." Trump's posts on Truth Social brought U.S. stocks lower and caused oil prices, which were on the retreat Monday, to shoot up more than 4% during Tuesday's trading session. A weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales report in May also added to the heavy sentiment in markets. The U.S. Federal Reserve's rate-setting meeting will conclude Wednesday. While central bankers are expected to leave interest rates unchanged, the committee will release updated projections of where they see rates going. Chair Jerome Powell will also answer questions from the media at this press conference. All of those are market-moving events — so it's a relief, at least, they come from official communiques. Trump weighs strike on IranA U.S. military strike against Iran is one of the options Trump is considering, after meeting with his top national security advisors on Tuesday afternoon, current and former administration officials told NBC News. Earlier in the day, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. knows "exactly" where the Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is "hiding," and demanded "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!" Markets fear escalation of conflict U.S. stocks retreated Tuesday as Trump's rhetoric on Iran ramped up. The S&P 500 fell 0.84%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.91%. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index lost 0.85% as regional bourses slipped. Israel's Tel Aviv 35 index, however, touched an all-time high during the day, though it pared some gains. U.S. passes landmark crypto billThe U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed the GENIUS Act, a landmark crypto bill that establishes federal guardrails, including full reserve backing, monthly audits, and anti-money laundering compliance, for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins. It also opens the door to a range of issuers, including banks, fintechs, and major retailers looking to launch their own stablecoins or integrate them into existing payment systems. Oil supply chains might get strainedThe CEOs of TotalEnergies, Shell, and EnQuest told CNBC on Tuesday that further attacks on critical energy infrastructure in Iran could have serious consequences for the global supply and prices of oil. Some shipowners are already steering clear of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, according to the world's largest shipping association, reflecting a growing sense of unease as the Israel-Iran conflict rages on. Revenue-less Regencell worth billionsShares of Regencell, an early-stage, Hong Kong-based bioscience company with no revenue, spiked 30% Tuesday, rocketed 280% Monday, and have risen more than 58,000% in 2025 to hit $36 billion in market value. Regencell — which develops traditional Chinese medicine formula — is the latest example of a speculative international stock attracting attention during summer trading. [PRO] Global stocks will reign: InvestorsThe era of U.S. exceptionalism might be coming to an end. Not only have global stocks vastly outperformed those in America year to date, investors also think they will be the best-performing asset class over the next five years, according to the results of Bank of America's latest fund manager survey. The Fed is likely to keep rates the same but give a forecast that moves markets. What to expect While any immediate movement on interest rates seems improbable, the Federal Reserve's policy meeting, which concludes Wednesday, will feature important signals that still could move markets. Among the biggest things to watch will be whether Federal Open Market Committee members stick with their previous forecast of two rate cuts this year, how they see inflation trending, and any reaction from Chair Jerome Powell to what has become a concerted White House campaign for easier monetary policy. As things stand heading into the meeting, markets are pricing in the next cut to come in September, which would be the one-year anniversary of a surprisingly aggressive half-percentage-point reduction the FOMC instituted amid concerns over the labor market. The committee added two more quarter-point moves by the end of the year and has been on hold since.
