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The Hill
5 minutes ago
- The Hill
Ukrainian drone attack sets Russian oil depot on fire as Zelenskyy announces prisoner exchange
An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot near Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi sparked a major fire, Russian officials said Sunday, as the two countries traded strikes and the Ukrainian president announced a prisoner exchange. More than 120 firefighters attempted to extinguish the blaze, which was caused by debris from a downed drone striking a fuel tank, Krasnodar regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. Videos on social media appeared to show huge pillars of smoke billowing above the oil depot. Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, temporarily stopped flights at Sochi's airport. Farther north, authorities in the Voronezh region reported that four people were wounded in another Ukrainian drone strike. Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 93 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Black Sea overnight into Sunday. Meanwhile, in southern Ukraine, a Russian missile strike hit a residential area in the city of Mykolaiv, according to the State Emergency Services, wounding seven people. The Ukrainian air force said Sunday Russia launched 76 drones and seven missiles against Ukraine. It said 60 drones and one missile were intercepted, but 16 others and six missiles hit targets across eight locations. The reciprocal attacks came at the end of one of the deadliest weeks in Ukraine in recent months, after a Russian drone and missile attack on Thursday killed 31 people, including five children, and wounded over 150. The continued attacks come after U.S. President Donald Trump last week gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a shorter deadline — Aug. 8 — for peace efforts to make progress. Trump has threatened to impose new economic sanctions on Russia if progress is not made, while expressing doubt about how effective they would be. 'You know, they're wily characters, and they're pretty good at avoiding sanctions, so we'll see what happens,' Trump said Sunday evening of the Russians. He said his special envoy Steve Witkoff may travel to Russia on Wednesday or Thursday, the final days before his new deadline. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Ukraine and Russia have agreed to exchange 1,200 prisoners following their latest round of negotiations in Istanbul in July. 'There is an agreement to exchange 1,200 people,' he wrote on X, saying that the lists of individuals to be swapped were being worked on and that they were working to 'unblock the return of our civilians.' There was no immediate comment from Russia. Zelenskyy also said he discussed with top Ukrainian officials 'the negotiation track – specifically, the implementation of the agreements reached during the meetings with the Russian side in Istanbul, as well as preparations for a new meeting.' Each of the three rounds of talks between the countries this year has resulted in prisoner exchanges but yielded no breakthrough in reaching a ceasefire.
6 minutes ago
China rejects US demands to stop buying Russian, Iranian oil
WASHINGTON -- U.S. and Chinese officials may be able to settle many of their differences to reach a trade deal and avert punishing tariffs, but they remain far apart on one issue: the U.S. demand that China stop purchasing oil from Iran and Russia. 'China will always ensure its energy supply in ways that serve our national interests,' China's Foreign Ministry posted on X on Wednesday following two days of trade negotiations in Stockholm, responding to the U.S. threat of a 100% tariff. 'Coercion and pressuring will not achieve anything. China will firmly defend its sovereignty, security and development interests," the ministry said. The response is notable at a time when both Beijing and Washington are signaling optimism and goodwill about reaching a deal to keep commercial ties between the world's two largest economies stable — after climbing down from sky-high tariffs and harsh trade restrictions. It underscores China's confidence in playing hardball when dealing with the Trump administration, especially when trade is linked to its energy and foreign policies. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, emerging from the talks, told reporters that when it comes to Russian oil purchases, the "Chinese take their sovereignty very seriously.' 'We don't want to impede on their sovereignty, so they would like to pay a 100% tariff," Bessent said. On Thursday, he called the Chinese 'tough' negotiators, but said China's pushback hasn't stalled the negotiations. 'I believe that we have the makings of a deal,' Bessent told CNBC. Gabriel Wildau, managing director of the consultancy Teneo, said he doubts President Donald Trump would actually deploy the 100% tariff. 'Realizing those threats would derail all the recent progress and probably kill any chance' for Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to announce a trade deal if they should meet this fall, Wildau said. In seeking to restrict oil sales by Russia and Iran, a major source of revenue for both countries, the U.S. wants to reduce the funding available for their militaries, as Moscow pursues its war against Ukraine and Tehran funds militant groups across the Middle East. When Trump unveiled a sweeping plan for tariffs on dozens of countries in April, China was the only country that retaliated. It refused to give in to U.S. pressure. 'If the U.S. is bent on imposing tariffs, China will fight to the end, and this is China's consistent official stance,' said Tu Xinquan, director of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. WTO is the acronym for the World Trade Organization. Negotiating tactics aside, China may also suspect that the U.S. won't follow through on its threat, questioning the importance Trump places on countering Russia, Tu said. Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Beijing is unlikely to change its posture when it sees inconsistencies in U.S. foreign policy goals toward Russia and Iran, whereas Beijing's policy support for Moscow is consistent and clear. It's also possible that Beijing may want to use it as another negotiating tool to extract more concessions from Trump, Kennedy said. Danny Russel, a distinguished fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Beijing now sees itself as 'the one holding the cards in its struggle with Washington." He said Trump has made it clear he wants a 'headline-grabbing deal' with Xi, 'so rejecting a U.S. demand to stop buying oil from Iran or Russia is probably not seen as a deal‑breaker, even if it generates friction and a delay." Continuing to buy oil from Russia preserves Xi's 'strategic solidarity' with Russian President Vladimir Putin and significantly reduces the economic costs for China, Russel said. 'Beijing simply can't afford to walk away from the oil from Russia and Iran," he said. 'It's too important a strategic energy supply, and Beijing is buying it at fire‑sale prices.' A 2024 report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that roughly 80% to 90% of the oil exported by Iran went to China. The Chinese economy benefits from the more than 1 million barrels of Iranian oil it imports per day. After the Iranian parliament floated a plan to shut down the Strait of Hormuz in June following U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, China spoke out against closing the critical oil transit route. China also is an important customer for Russia, but is second to India in buying Russian seaborne crude oil exports. In April, Chinese imports of Russian oil rose 20% over the previous month to more than 1.3 million barrels per day, according to the KSE Institute, an analytical center at the Kyiv School of Economics. This past week, Trump said the U.S. will impose a 25% tariff on goods from India, plus an additional import tax because of India's purchasing of Russian oil. India's Foreign Ministry said Friday its relationship with Russia was 'steady and time-tested." Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and a top policy adviser, said Trump has been clear that it is 'not acceptable' for India to continue financing the Ukraine war by purchasing oil from Russia. 'People will be shocked to learn that India is basically tied with China in purchasing Russian oil,' Miller said on Fox News Channel's 'Sunday Morning Futures.' He said the U.S. needs 'to get real about dealing with the financing of this war.' Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, is pushing for sanctions and tariffs on Russia and its financial backers. In April, he introduced a bill that would authorize the president to impose tariffs as high as 500% not only on Russia but on any country that 'knowingly' buys oil, uranium, natural gas, petroleum products or petrochemical products from Russia. "The purpose of this legislation is to break the cycle of China — a communist dictatorship — buying oil below market price from Putin's Russia, which empowers his war machine to kill innocent Ukrainian civilians,' Graham said in a June statement. The bill has 84 co-sponsors in the 100-seat Senate. A corresponding House version has been introduced, also with bipartisan support. Republicans say they stand ready to move on the sanctions legislation if Trump asks them to do so, but the bill is on hold for now.
Forbes
6 minutes ago
- Forbes
President Trump's Anti-Growth Agenda Is Harming Families
President Trump loves the phrase promises made, promises kept. Without a major course correction, the President will fail to keep one of his most important promises to the American public – restoring economic prosperity. A post-election analysis from CBS News noted that 'two thirds of voters described the economy as bad, and those voters who did went big for Trump.' Voters trusted Trump over Harris because life had become unaffordable and future economic prospects seemed dim. And consistent with these perceptions, real median household income grew much faster during Trump's first term than during the Biden era. Unfortunately, voters will be severely disappointed based on the policies President Trump is pursuing. There are many examples. Two of the more disconcerting are his obsession with tariffs and his constant berating of U.S. businesses. Starting with the latter, Trump's targeting of the pharmaceutical industry that he consistently refers to as 'Big PhRMA' is troubling – not only for its impact on a major economic anchor for the U.S. economy, but also the precedent it sets for other industries. As I have addressed previously, there are problems with the U.S. drug pricing system that need to be corrected. However, the solution is not threats of price controls. Yet, on July 31st the President 'sent letters to leading pharmaceutical manufacturers outlining the steps they must take to bring down the prices of prescription drugs in the United States to match the lowest price offered in other developed nations.' Importantly, the President threatened the manufacturers 'that if they 'refuse to step up,' the federal government 'will deploy every tool in our arsenal'' to ensure that the President's will is enforced. These threats are not so veiled references to Trump's Most Favored Nation (MFN) proposal and higher tariffs on imported drugs. The MFN sets the price for a drug at the lowest price charged in other developed countries (OECD), each of which has price controls on drugs. The logic for implementing the MFN is simple – if patients in the U.K., EU, or Canada are paying less money for a drug then so should patients in the U.S. The only reason that the prices for innovative drugs in many OECD countries are lower than the U.S. is because they impose strict price controls and shirk their responsibility for covering the cost of innovation. By forcing these prices here, President Trump is threatening to impose price controls on drugs in the U.S. Making this policy even worse, the Administration consistently complains that 'Europeans are freeloading' and fail to cover their fair share of the costs it takes to create innovative drugs. And he is correct, but the MFN proposal does not end this freeloading. It turns the U.S. into a freeloader. There will be a high cost to patients should the U.S. become just another freeloader that includes diminished drug availability to current patients and reduced hope for new therapies for patients currently living with untreated diseases. Ironically, the policy could even raise total healthcare spending because the reduced drug availability will increase the need for more higher-cost healthcare services such as hospitalizations, surgeries, and emergency department visits. Then there is the signaling problem that arises when the leader of the U.S. government is openly threatening U.S. companies. This jawboning undermines one of our core competitive advantages – a pro-growth business environment grounded in the rule of law. The President's obsession with tariffs – whether on pharmaceuticals, steel, or all imports from a nation – are just as troubling. Tariffs are taxes on U.S. households and businesses. And with the opportunity to stockpile non-tariffed imports over, costs for families are now primed to increase. The tariffs will also raise costs for consumers on domestically produced goods because domestic businesses rely on imports to produce better and more affordable products. As MSNBC reported, 'Procter & Gamble and Walmart are explicitly raising prices because of tariffs.' Small businesses that have smaller margins and less ability to absorb the higher costs are also raising their prices. Facing increased costs, households will be forced to consume less. Particularly noteworthy, given the focus on lowering drug costs discussed above, the tariffs will increase the price of lower-cost generic medicines, which account for 90% of all medicines prescribed annually. Therefore, the President's tariff policies are working at cross purposes to his desire to reduce the costs of medicines for patients. The higher burden from tariffs will not be borne solely by families, domestic manufacturers and retailers of imported goods are also bearing some of these costs. These higher costs reduce the profitability of domestic businesses across a diverse array of industries including automobiles and pharmaceuticals. As the New York Times reported, 'General Motors, Stellantis, Tesla, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen have all cited tariffs as one of the main reasons their profits are falling.' The reduced sales and lower profitability is weakening the economy and diminishing employment opportunities – as demonstrated by the latest jobs report that so flustered President Trump. The lower growth environment will subsequently reduce the amount of investment in the U.S. economy. As a result, households across the country will see their earnings growth stagnate while their expenditures on both imported and domestically produced products will increase. Whether through trade or regulatory policies, the Trump Administration is pursuing a decidedly anti-growth policy agenda. The results are completely expected – a weaker economy with slower job growth and diminishing opportunities for families across the country. These outcomes break the fundamental promise that candidate Trump made while running for president – to restore prosperity.
