Ukrainian, British, French and U.S. officials are due to meet in London on Wednesday to discuss the war. Anticipation is building over whether diplomatic efforts can stop more than three years of fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor. Hostility has run deep since Russia invaded and illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014.
U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that negotiations were “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the war. That came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested the U.S. might soon back away from negotiations if they don't progress.
Home Plate's beef, previously sourced entirely from the U.S., is increasingly Australian. The restaurant uses about 7 to 8 tonnes of brisket each month, and when the U.S. beef in the freezers is used up in a few weeks, the southern-style BBQ restaurant will only serve meat from Australia.
U.S. beef is one of thousands of casualties in the trade war between the world's largest trading partners. Even before the battle began, American beef was expensive. Beijing's 125% retaliatory tariffs, on top of the existing 22%, made it unaffordable.
"It's essentially just made it very hard for us to continue using U.S. beef," said Home Plate's operations director, Charles de Pellette.
$125 million a month in U.S. beef exports to China is a sliver of the mammoth goods trade, beef's disappearance from men
Thailand is among the Southeast Asian nations hardest hit by U.S. President Donald Trump's measures, facing a 36% tariff if a reduction cannot be negotiated before a global moratorium expires in July.
"We're not too slow and we are reviewing issues, including our tariffs that may be adjusted appropriately," Paetongtarn said, adding that Thai agriculture exports and additional imports were being examined.
The United States was Thailand's largest export market last year, accounting for 18.3% of total shipments, or $54.96 billion. Washington has put its deficit with Thailand at $45.6 billion.
"We are consulting academics and all parties and doing our best in this situation," she added.
"We are protecting the agricultural interests as much as possible," she said.
On Monday, Beijing said it “resolutely opposes any party reaching a deal [with the U.S.] at the expense of China’s interest,” and threatened retaliation in the event that a country did try to sacrifice trade with China.
China’s warning comes after a weeklong visit by President Xi Jinping to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia, against the backdrop of global trade uncertainty emanating from the White House.
Xi’s trip “was a reassurance and a warning,” says Trinh Nguyen, senior economist for emerging Asia at Natixis. She suggests the trip was a reminder to Southeast Asian economies that China wants to be seen as a responsible actor, and open to engaging with neighbors on trade.
As the trade war between the world’s two largest economies escalates, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce promised to retaliate against any country that reaches an agreement with the U.S. that limits its trade with China. The U.S. tariffs against other countries are economic bullying, the ministry said in a statement attributed to an unnamed spokesperson, translated by the Associated Press.
“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” the Chinese government said Monday.
“If this happens, China will never accept it and will resolutely take countermeasures in a reciprocal manner. China is determined and capable of safeguarding its own rights and interests.”
Since taking office in January, Trump's maelstrom of import duties against friend and foe alike has rattled diplomats and pushed global markets to the brink of financial meltdown.
A screeching halt on further levies for most countries has calmed nerves -- for now at least -- but there has been no reprieve for China, accused by the US leader of trying to "screw" Washington.
Adding to the tensions, talks between the two superpowers on international issues like climate change and opioid addiction seem to have stalled.
Vance, who is on a largely personal four-day visit to India, met with Modi at his residence in New Delhi and the two leaders “reviewed and positively assessed the progress in various areas of bilateral cooperation," Modi’s office said in a statement. They also “welcomed the significant progress” in the negotiations of an expected trade deal between the two countries, the statement said.
The White House in a statement said that Vance and Modi set the terms for ongoing talks, “laying down a roadmap for further discussions." It's a sign that talks are moving forward but remain far from finalized, though Trump administration officials also spoke with their counterparts from India in a sign of the high level of engagement.
Putin said Russia has "always looked positively on any peace initiatives. We hope that representatives of the Kyiv regime will feel the same way".
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin's comments indicated a willingness to engage in direct talks with Ukraine about not striking civilian targets.
Zelensky did not respond directly to Putin's comments, but said Ukraine was "ready for any conversation" that would ensure the safety of civilians.
There have been no direct talks between the two sides since the initial weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Peskov said: "When the president said that it was possible to discuss the issue of not striking civilian targets, including bilaterally, the president had in mind negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian s
The latest turmoil threatens to engulf the Pentagon, where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pushed out top advisers and faces fresh controversy over sharing sensitive information about airstrikes in Yemen outside of classified channels. A former Pentagon spokesperson who was ousted last week wrote in Politico that Trump should fire Hegseth for presiding over a “full-blown meltdown."
Hegseth lashed out on Tuesday on Fox News Channel, where he was a weekend host before joining Trump's administration, by faulting the people who used to work for him.
“Those folks who were leaking, who have been pushed out of the building, are now attempting to leak and sabotage the president’s agenda," he said.

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What If China Wins the Trade War? Impossible because China is...
If Donald Trump were trying to lose his trade war with China, it’s hard to see what he would be doing differently. The president’s gambit is likely to strengthen China’s geopolitical position, embolden Beijing militarily, and diminish both the United States’...
https://afriprime.net/posts/342272
90% News and Opinions online only about Trump and his Team-Former...
Disgusting events unfolding everywhere.... The Pentagon is in “total chaos” and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is unlikely to remain in his role, according to its former top spokesperson, who painted a scene of dysfunction, backstabbing and continuous missteps at the highest levels...
https://afriprime.net/posts/342235Trump, seeking to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly said he wants to end the "bloodbath" of the three-year conflict in Ukraine - which his administration casts as a proxy war between the United States and Russia.
U.S. envoy General Keith Kellogg said on Sunday that NATO alliance membership was "off the table" for Ukraine. Trump has said past U.S. support for that was a cause of the war.
"We have heard from Washington at various levels that Ukraine's membership in NATO is excluded," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "Of course, this is something that causes us satisfaction and coincides with our position."
Ukrainian membership of the U.S.-led alliance would threaten Russian interests, Peskov added. "And, in fact, this is one of the root causes of this conflict."
In a pointed letter published by The Jakarta Post, Russia’s ambassador to Indonesia, Sergei Tolchenov, dismissed Australia’s concerns over reports that Moscow had requested access to a military airbase in Indonesia’s Papua province.
Canberra's “national interests cannot extend to the territory of neighbouring sovereign states that pursue active and independent policies”, Mr Tolchenov wrote, before concluding with a barbed reference to former US president Donald Trump’s remarks to Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky: “You have no cards.”
Mr Tolchenov accused Australian leaders of exploiting the issue for political gain during the country’s federal election campaign, claiming both major parties were “heating up the situation” and “playing the so-called ‘Russian card’”.
The Korea Customs Service said it has found 29.5 billion won ($20.81 million) worth of violations related to country of origin from the first quarter, with U.S.-bound shipments accounting for 97% of the total, after a special probe last month.
That compared to a total of 34.8 billion won worth of violations for all of 2024, among which U.S.-bound shipments accounted for 62%.
Trump, who took office in January, has imposed significant tariffs on various products and countries, including those on China that began to rise from February.
"There was a rise in disguised export attempts during Trump's first presidency and we expect there to be a similar trend," said Lee Kwang-woo, investigation planning director at the KCS.
Trump said his critics are bad at both business and politics.
Corporate titans like Jamie Dimon and Mark Cuban have criticized Trump's tariffs.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday that business leaders who oppose his reciprocal tariffs do not appreciate what he is doing for them.
"THE BUSINESSMEN WHO CRITICIZE TARIFFS ARE BAD AT BUSINESS, BUT REALLY BAD AT POLITICS," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Easter Sunday.
"THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND OR REALIZE THAT I AM THE GREATEST FRIEND THAT AMERICAN CAPITALISM HAS EVER HAD!" Trump added.
Trump announced sweeping tariffs on more than 180 countries on April 2.
A baseline rate of 10% went into effect on April 5, while a higher set of tariffs that varied by country took effect on April 9 before Trump announced a 90-day pause on the same day. Trump's tariffs triggered a massive market sell-off.
Delegations from both countries met in Rome on Saturday for negotiations following an initial round in Oman last weekend. The Gulf Arab nation has mediated both rounds of the indirect talks. A third high-level round is expected next Saturday in Oman.
The Trump administration expressed optimism following the latest talks, pointing to “very good progress” and saying the parties had “agreed to meet again” next week. “Today, in Rome, over four hours in our second round of talks, we made very good progress in our direct and indirect discussions,” a senior administration official told CNN.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also signalled that the talks had been positive. “I can say that there is movement forward. We’ve reached better understanding and agreement on some principles and goals in these Rome negotiations,” he said.
China on Monday accused Washington of abusing tariffs and warned countries against striking a broader economic deal with the United States at its expense, ratcheting up its rhetoric in a spiralling trade war between the world's two biggest economies.
Beijing will firmly oppose any party striking a deal at China's expense and "will take countermeasures in a resolute and reciprocal manner," its Commerce Ministry said.
The ministry was responding to a Bloomberg report, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the Trump administration is preparing to pressure nations seeking tariff reductions or exemptions from the U.S. to curb trade with China, including imposing monetary sanctions.
President Donald Trump paused the sweeping tariffs he announced on dozens of countries on April 2 except those on China, singling out the world's second largest economy for the biggest levies.