Trump is committed to 10% baseline tariff, White House says, despite UK trade deal announcement
President Donald Trump is “determined to continue with a “10% baseline tariff” against all countries despite his announcement this week of a trade deal with the United Kingdom, the White House said Friday. “The president is committed to the 10% baseline tariff, not just for the United Kingdom, but for his trade negotiations with all other countries as well,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “Permanently? Even after the deals are done. Like, that is going to remain?” Leavitt was asked by Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich. “The president is determined to continue with that 10% baseline tariff,” Leavitt responded. TRUMP UNVEILS NEW UK TRADE DEAL, CALLS IT ‘INCREDIBLE DAY FOR AMERICA’ Trump announced a new trade deal Thursday with the U.K., calling it “an incredible day for America.” Trump told reporters at the White House that “today’s agreement with the U.K. is the first in a series of agreements on trade that my administration has been negotiating over the past four weeks.” “With this deal, the U.K. joins the United States in affirming that reciprocity and fairness is an essential and vital principle of international trade. “They’ll also be fast-tracking American goods through their customs process so our exports go to a very, very quick form of approval,” the president added, noting that “The final details are being written up in the coming weeks.” TRUMP CONFIRMS TRADE DEAL WITH UK: ‘FULL AND COMPREHENSIVE’ As of April 5, the U.S. has imposed a 10% reciprocal tariff on imports from the U.K. The Trump administration’s 25% global tariff on cars took effect on April 3, impacting all imported vehicles, even from traditional U.S. allies, including the U.K. A 25% tariff on U.S. imports of steel, aluminum and derivative products took effect on March 12. Prior to April 2025, most U.K. goods exported to the U.S. were subject to standard, relatively low tariffs, mostly ranging from 0 to 2.5%, with higher rates only for specific products like steel, aluminum, and some vehicles. The U.K., meanwhile, imposed tariffs on U.S. imports based on the World Trade Organization’s “Most Favored Nation” or MFN rules. The U.K.’s average MFN applied tariff rate was 3.8% in 2023, according to the most recent data available. The UK has some high tariffs that affect U.S. exports, such as rates of up to 25% for some fish and seafood products, 10% for trucks, 10% for passenger vehicles, and up to 6.5% for certain mineral or chemical fertilizers. Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
Trump to build national center for homeless veterans with funds previously spent on housing for illegal aliens
FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order to establish a national center for homeless veterans with redirected funds previously spent on services for illegal aliens, Fox News Digital has learned. The president’s order directs the secretary of veterans affairs to establish the National Center for Warrior Independence on the Veterans Affairs campus in West Los Angeles. TRUMP TO HOST MILITARY PARADE TO CELEBRATE ARMY’S 250TH BIRTHDAY, HONOR ACTIVE-DUTY SERVICE MEMBERS, VETERANS Los Angeles has approximately 3,000 homeless veterans — more than any other city in the country, and accounting for about 10% of all homeless veterans in America, according to the White House. “The new National Center for Warrior Independence will help them and other veterans like them rebuild their lives,” the White House said. The center will allow veterans from around the nation to seek and receive care, benefits and services “to which they are entitled,” the White House said. The order redirects funds previously spent on housing or other services for illegal aliens to constructing, establishing and maintaining the new center. “The Center will promote self-sufficiency through housing, substance abuse treatment, and support for productive work for the veterans housed there,” the White House explained. It said the goal is to house up to 6,000 homeless veterans at the center by 2028. TRUMP TO CREATE TASK FORCE TO PLAN ‘EXTRAORDINARY CELEBRATION’ FOR 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICA’S INDEPENDENCE The order also directs the secretary of housing and urban development to use vouchers to support homeless veterans and instructs the secretary of veterans affairs to “restore accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).” The order also instructs the VA to take action against individuals who have committed misconduct and to investigate and rectify the Biden administration’s decision to “rehire and reinstate back pay for employees previously fired for misconduct.” The order also ensures that veterans will have access to increased options for care, benefits and services — including reduced wait times for Veterans Health Administration appointments through options such as expanded hours, weekend appointments and virtual healthcare. The order also directs a feasibility study at the Manchester VA Medical Center to expand services to support a full-service medical center in New Hampshire. “President Trump strongly believes that every veteran deserves our gratitude, and that the federal government should treat veterans like the heroes they are,” the White House said. The order comes a week after the White House announced that Trump will host a military parade on June 14 to honor military veterans and active-duty service members and commemorate the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday.
Trump’s tax hike proposal is ‘déjà vu’ of George H. W. Bush’s ‘read my lips’ moment, experts say
Americans lambasted President George H. W. Bush for infamously vowing on stage at the 1988 Republican National Convention not to raise taxes on Americans, then supporting a tax hike as president two years later. History could repeat itself as President Donald Trump this week signaled his support for congressional Republicans raising taxes to accomplish the ambitious goals of his “big, beautiful bill,” according to experts. “My opponent won’t rule out raising taxes, but I will. And the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I’ll say no. And they’ll push and I’ll say no. And they’ll push again, and I’ll say to them: ‘Read my lips: no new taxes,’” then-Vice President Bush vowed at the 1988 convention, before raising taxes two years later with the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. While acknowledging the political backlash his fellow Republican faced, Trump signaled in a Truth Social post on Friday his own willingness to raise taxes on Americans, following reports confirmed by Fox News Digital that the president is considering raising the tax rate on individuals making $2.5 million or more by 2.6%, from 37% to 39.6%. TRUMP CONSIDERS TAX HIKE ON AMERICANS MAKING $2.5 MILLION OR MORE PER YEAR “The problem with even a ‘TINY’ tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, ‘Read my lips,’ the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election. NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election! In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!” Trump said. WHITE HOUSE QUIETLY FLOATS MILLIONAIRE TAX HIKE PROPOSAL IN CONGRESS AS GOP LEADERS SIGNAL OPPOSITION Ross Perot, the late billionaire Texas businessman and philanthropist, ran an independent campaign as a third-party candidate in the 1992 presidential election, winning an historic 19% of the popular vote. As Trump suggested, the political fallout of raising taxes contributed to Bush losing re-election to President Bill Clinton in 1992. Democrats slammed Bush in campaign ads for walking back his word as conservative Republicans criticized the president for being out of step with the party’s traditional tax policies. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich led Republican criticism of Bush’s tax hike proposal, and Gingrich has urged Trump to stand down on raising taxes since rumors the administration was floating a small tax hike first swirled. TRUMP’S FIRST VICE PRESIDENT URGES HIS OLD BOSS AGAINST RAISING TAXES ON WEALTHY AMERICANS Gingrich recently told Larry Kudlow on FOX Business that Trump is a Ronald Reagan Republican, not a Bush Republican, and raising taxes would be an “act of destruction.” “It would absolutely shatter his coalition,” Gingrich said. “It would mean the entire conservative movement would rise in rebellion, and it would mean every small business in the country would start recalculating who they are going to lay off, if they are even going to stay in business. It would make no sense at all.” Negotiations are ongoing among House Republicans to finalize Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which is expected to include an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and fulfill campaign promises, including no tax on tips, overtime or Social Security. Republican politicians and pundits have joined Gingrich’s critique of Trump’s potential tax hike, arguing Trump is repeating the same mistakes as Bush. “[House] Speaker [Mike] Johnson and Republican members of Congress must have experienced collective déjà vu when President Trump urged Congress to raise taxes,” New England College President Wayne Lesperance, a veteran political scientist and political historian, told Fox News Digital. “Harkening back to the infamous ‘Read my lips’ pledge made by George H. W. Bush at the 1988 GOP Convention, today’s Republicans must be nervous at the president’s change on what is a sacrosanct issue for the party — tax cuts. Interestingly, George H. W. Bush’s decision to break his pledge was surrounded by notably different circumstances,” Lesperance added. But Lesperance reminded Republicans, who currently control the House and Senate, that Democrats could gain an edge in the 2026 midterms if tax hikes prove to be as unpopular among Republicans as they were in 1992. “Facing a Democratically controlled Congress, Bush reneged on his pledge as a compromise to reduce the deficit and pass the 1990 budget agreement. Bush’s decision to compromise on taxes is widely credited with costing him his bid for re-election. As Speaker Johnson and Republican members of Congress look ahead to midterm elections, there must be collective worry that President Trump’s shifting position on taxes will cost them at the polls,” Lesperance said. Longtime Republican consultant David Carney, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, said the move by Bush “was probably the single most detrimental thing to his re-election.” Carney, who served in the elder Bush’s White House and worked on his presidential campaigns, told Fox News “the deal he cut was excellent. He cut spending, balanced out the taxes.” But Carney emphasized “all that’s inside baseball and the reality is it was a great opportunity for people from the right and the left to make hay out of it, and it was absolutely hurtful.” However, fiscal conservatives remain optimistic that Trump won’t raise taxes, despite the president softening to the idea on social media on Friday morning. “President Trump campaigned on not raising taxes, and we are confident that’s exactly what he’ll do,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh told Fox News Digital. When reached for comment about the Bush comparison, the White House pointed to press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s comments during the White House briefing on Friday. “The president wants tax cuts, the largest tax cuts in history,” Leavitt said. “He wants to extend his historic tax cuts from 2017, and he wants to see all the other tax priorities,” including no tax on tips, overtime or Social Security. “The president has said he himself personally would not mind paying a little bit more
India-Pakistan Conflict: Multiple districts in Gujarat observe blackout as precautionary measure
As escalations between India and Pakistan intensified, multiple districts in Gujarat observed a complete blackout as a precautionary measure, an official statement from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said.
India Pakistan Tension: Railways to run 5 special trains from these areas in Jammu and Kashmir for…
India Pakistan Tension: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw assessed the current situation of the Railways. Operations of trains have been hampered in view of the current terror attacks, therefore, Ashwini Vaishnaw has planned to run special trains
Weather update: IMD issues heat wave in east India over, rain in Northwest and Central regions; check full forecast here
States such as Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand are likely to face extreme heat conditions.
John Cornyn says tax and spending bill must reimburse Texas $11 billion for border security
Texas Republicans are pushing the federal government to pay the state’s costs of Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg’s Abbott’s border security initiative.
Church must bring light to world’s ‘dark nights’: Pope Leo at first mass
The new head of the Catholic Church will be formally installed as pope at a mass on May 18, the Vatican says. Pope Leo XIV has promised to make the Catholic Church a balm for the world’s “dark nights”, as he celebrated his first mass as pontiff less than 24 hours after being elected. Sixty-nine-year-old Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost and the first American pope, delivered the Mass on Friday, flanked by cardinals in the Vatican City’s Sistine Chapel. The new head of the Catholic Church was elected by fellow cardinals on Thursday, following Pope Francis’s death, and has become the first US pontiff in the church’s 2,000-year history. Leo, who now leads the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, acknowledged that the Christian faith is sometimes “considered absurd” and the preserve of “the weak and unintelligent”. “A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society,” he said at the mass, adorned in simple white and gold clothes. He also warned that Jesus cannot be “reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman”. Advertisement “This is true not only among non-believers, but also among many baptised Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism,” he said. The new pontiff said he would seek to serve as the “faithful administrator” for the Church as a whole. Leo will be formally installed as pope at a mass on May 18 and will preside over his first general audience on May 21, the Vatican said, with world and religious leaders invited to his formal launch of the papacy. Pope Francis’s inauguration in 2013 attracted a crowd of about 200,000 people. The new pope will also leave senior Vatican officials in their roles for the time being, giving him time to decide before making appointments, the Vatican said. The pope was elected at the end of a two-day conclave that wrapped up on Thursday evening when white smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. Francis, who died last month at the age of 88, leaves Leo to inherit a number of major challenges, ranging from a budget shortfall to divisions about whether the Church should be more welcoming towards the LGBTQ community and divorcees, and should let women play a greater role in its affairs. Leo was born in Chicago but spent two decades as a missionary in Peru. Before his election, US cardinals were largely written off as papal contenders because of a widespread assumption that the global Church could not be run by a superpower pope. However, since Leo also holds Peruvian citizenship, it is understood that he has knowledge of both the West and the Global South. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Canadian unemployment rate hits six-month high amid US-imposed tariffs
Statistics Canada showed an unemployment rate of 6.9 percent, with most cuts in the manufacturing sector. Canada’s unemployment jumped to its highest level since November as United States President Donald Trump’s imposed tariffs affect the export-dependent economy. Statistics Canada showed a 0.2 percent increase for the month of April, bringing the country’s unemployment rate to 6.9 percent, according to its report released on Friday. The 6.9 figure matched November unemployment, which was an eight-year high outside of the pandemic era. The agency pointed to the effect tariffs imposed by the US had on the country’s manufacturing sector, which lost 31,000 jobs on a monthly basis. The wholesale, retail and trade sector saw 27,000 jobs cut. Employment in the public sector increased by 23,000 or up 0.5 percent in April, following three months of little change, especially due to increased temporary hiring for the federal election that took place on April 28. The average hourly wage growth of permanent employees, a metric closely watched by the Canadian central bank to gauge inflationary trends, was at 3.5 percent in April, unchanged since March. Advertisement Overall, the employment number was largely flat with minimal gains of net 7,400 jobs in April, it said – slightly higher than analyst expectations at 6.8 percent. This was in contrast to a loss of 32,600 jobs the prior month. The employment rate, or the proportion of the working-age population that is employed, was at 60.8 percent in April, following a decline of 0.2 percentage points in March. This was a six-month low, the statistics agency said. The employment rate had been depressed for most of 2023 and 2024 as population growth outpaced employment gains. However, since February, population growth has not been very high but employment gains have slowed. “People who were unemployed continued to face more difficulties finding work in April than a year earlier,” StatsCan said, adding that among those who were unemployed in March, 61 percent remained unemployed in April – almost four percentage points higher than the same period last year. Major hit coming Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium in March and automobiles in April, along with import duties on a broad range of products with various reductions and exemptions, have affected businesses and households. The Bank of Canada has warned that growth would take a major hit in the coming months as exports fall, prices increase, hiring drops and layoffs accelerate. It has said it will act decisively if the economy needs urgent support. “Overall, we are seeing a job market that was weak heading into the trade war, now looking like it could soon buckle. Today’s report supports the case for a Bank of Canada cut in June,” Ali Jaffery, senior economist at CIBC Capital Markets, told the Reuters news agency. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Who are the armed groups India accuses Pakistan of backing?
Tensions are higher between India and Pakistan than they have been in decades as the two countries trade blame for drone attacks on each other’s territory over the past few days. At the heart of the dispute is what India claims is Pakistan’s support for armed separatist groups operating in Kashmir, a region disputed between the two countries. An armed group called The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack in Indian-administered Kashmir last month in which 26 people were killed. India alleges that TRF is an offshoot of another Pakistan-based armed group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and has blamed Pakistan for supporting such groups. Pakistan has denied this. It condemned the attack in April and called for an independent investigation. Here is more about who the armed groups are and the major attacks they’ve claimed or been blamed for. The TRF emerged in 2019 following the Indian government’s suspension of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, stripping Indian-administered Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status. Advertisement However, the group was not widely known before the Pahalgam attack, which it took responsibility for in April via the Telegram messaging app, on which it said it was opposed to the granting of residency permits to “outsiders”. Since the repeal of Article 370, non-Kashmiris have been granted residency permits to settle in Indian-administered Kashmir. This has stoked fears that the Indian government is trying to change the demographics of Kashmir, whose population is nearly all Muslim. Unlike other armed rebel groups in Kashmir, the TRF does not have an Islamic name. However, the Indian government maintains that it is an offshoot of, or a front for, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based armed group whose name means “Army of the Pure”. In 2020, TRF started claiming responsibility for minor attacks, including some targeted killings. TRF recruits included rebels from different splinter rebel groups. Indian security agents say they have arrested multiple TRF members since then. According to Indian government records, most armed fighters killed in gunfights in Kashmir were affiliated with the TRF in 2022. The LeT, which calls for the “liberation” of Indian-administered Kashmir, was founded around 1990 by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who is also known as Hafiz Saeed. In 2008, armed gunmen opened fire on civilians at several sites in Mumbai, India, killing 166 people. Ajmal Kasab, the only attacker captured alive, said the attackers were members of LeT. Saeed denied any involvement in that attack, however. Kasab was executed by India in 2012. Advertisement India also blamed Pakistani intelligence agencies for the attack. While Pakistan conceded that the attack may have been partly planned on Pakistani soil, it maintained that its government and intelligence agencies were not involved. According to the United Nations, LeT was also involved in a 2001 attack on India’s parliament and a 2006 attack on Mumbai commuter trains that killed 189 people. On May 7, India launched missile attacks on several cities in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. One of these cities was Muridke in the Punjab province. India claims that Muridke was the location of the headquarters of the Jamat-ud-Dawa, a charity organisation that New Delhi insists is a front for the LeT. Last week, the Indian army claimed it had struck LeT’s Markaz Taiba camp in Muridke. The army also claimed Kasab had been trained at this camp. Pakistan says LeT has been banned, however. Following an attack on Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pulwama in 2019, Pakistan also reimposed a lapsed ban on Jamat-ud-Dawa. Saeed was arrested in 2019 and is in the custody of the Pakistani government, serving a 31-year prison sentence after being convicted in two “terror financing” cases. Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), or “The Army of Muhammad”, was formed around 2000 by Masood Azhar, who had been released from Indian prison in 1999. Azhar, who had been arrested on “terrorism” charges, was released in exchange for 155 hostages being held by hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane. Azhar previously fought under the banner of a group called Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, which calls for Kashmir to be united with Pakistan, and has been linked to al-Qaeda. Advertisement According to the UN Security Council, JeM has also had links with al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Pakistan banned JeM in 2002 after the group, alongside LeT, was blamed for an attack on the Indian parliament in 2001. The British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was convicted of killing US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002, was also a member of JeM. Pearl was the Wall Street Journal’s South Asia bureau chief. However, a 2011 report released by the Pearl Project at Georgetown University following its own investigation claimed that Pearl had not been murdered by Sheikh. The report instead alleged that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks, was responsible. In 2021, a panel of three judges at Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered Sheikh’s release. Despite the ban, Indian authorities claim the group continues to operate in Bahawalpur, in Pakistan’s Punjab province. On May 7, the Indian army claimed its strikes had also targeted the headquarters of JeM there. In 2019, JeM claimed a suicide bomb attack that killed 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers in Pulwama in Indian-administered Kashmir. Azhar has been arrested by Pakistani authorities twice, but was released and has never been charged. He has since disappeared from the public eye and his current whereabouts are not known. Hizbul-ul-Mujahideen Hizbul-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), or “Party of Holy Fighters” was formed in 1989 by Kashmiri separatist leader Muhammad Ahsan Dar. The group emerged out of the 1988 protests in Kashmir against the Indian government. The group, also called Hizb, has become the largest Indigenous rebel group based in Indian-administered Kashmir. Advertisement Rather than calling for independence, HuM calls for the whole of Kashmir to be allowed to accede to Pakistan. The group has a huge network of fighters in Shopian, Kulgam and Pulwama districts in the south of Indian-administered Kashmir. In 2016, the killing of popular HuM commander Burhan Wani triggered widespread protests in Indian-administered Kashmir, resulting in a crackdown by