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Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
US and China agree to work on extending the deadline for new tariffs in trade talks in Stockholm
STOCKHOLM (AP) — The United States and China have agreed to work on extending a deadline for new tariffs on each other after two days of trade talks in Stockholm concluded on Tuesday, according to Beijing's top trade official. China's international trade representative Li Chenggang said the two sides had 'in-depth, candid and constructive' discussions and agreed to work on extending a pause in tariffs beyond an Aug. 12 deadline for a trade deal. 'Both sides are fully aware the importance of maintaining a stable, healthy China-U.S. economic and trade relations,' Li said, without elaborating how the extension would work. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the talks as a 'very fulsome two days with the Chinese delegation." He said they touched on U.S. concerns over China's purchase of Iranian oil, supplying Russia with dual-use tech that could be used on the battlefield, and manufacturing goods at a rate beyond what is sustained by global demand. 'We just need to de-risk with certain, strategic industries, whether it's the rare earths, semiconductors, medicines, and we talked about what we could do together to get into balance within the relationship,' Bessent said. He stressed that the U.S. seeks to restore domestic manufacturing, secure purchase agreements of U.S. agricultural and energy products, and reduce trade deficits. Meeting in the Swedish capital The latest round of talks opened Monday in Stockholm to try to break a logjam over tariffs that have skewed the pivotal commercial ties between the world's two largest economies. The two sides previously met in Geneva and London to address specific issues — triple-digit tariffs that amounted to a trade embargo and export controls on critical products — China's chokehold on rare earth magnets, and U.S. restrictions on semiconductors. Monday's discussions lasted nearly five hours behind closed doors at the office of Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Before the talks resumed Tuesday, Kristersson met with Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer over breakfast. A possible Trump-Xi meeting The talks in Stockholm unfolded as President Donald Trump is mulling plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, a summit that could be a crucial step toward locking in any major agreements between their two countries. 'I would say before the end of the year,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday. On his Truth Social media platform, Trump insisted late Monday that he was not 'seeking' a summit with Xi, but may go to China at the Chinese leader's invitation, 'which has been extended. Otherwise, no interest!' Bessent told reporters the summit was not discussed in Stockholm but that they did talk about 'the desire of the two presidents for the trade team and the Treasury team to have trade negotiations with our Chinese counterparts.' Greer said the American team would head back to Washington and 'talk to the president about' the extension of the August deadline and see 'whether that's something that he wants to do.' Striking tariff deals The U.S. has struck deals over tariffs with some of its key trading partners — including Britain, Japan and the European Union — since Trump announced earlier in July elevated tariff rates against dozens of countries. China remains perhaps the biggest challenge. 'The Chinese have been very pragmatic,' Greer said in comments posted on social media by his office late Monday. 'We have tensions now, but the fact that we are regularly meeting with them to address these issues gives us a good footing for these negotiations.' Many analysts had expected that the Stockholm talks would result in an extension of current tariff levels, which are far lower than the triple-digit percentage rates proposed as the U.S.-China tariff tiff reached a crescendo in April, sending world markets into a temporary tailspin. The two sides backed off the brink during bilateral talks in Geneva in May and agreed to a 90-day pause — which ends Aug. 12 — of those sky-high levels. They currently stand at U.S. tariffs of 30% on Chinese goods, and China's 10% tariff on U.S. products. The long view While China has offered few specifics of its goals in the Stockholm talks, Bessent has suggested that the situation has stabilized to the point that Beijing and Washington can start looking toward longer-term balance between their economies. Since China vaulted into the global trading system more than two decades ago, Washington has sought to press Beijing to encourage more consumption at home and offer greater market access to foreign, including American-made goods. Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator and now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Trump's team would today face challenges from 'a large and confident partner that is more than willing to retaliate against U.S. interests.' Rollover of tariff rates 'should be the easy part,' she said, warning that Beijing has learned lessons since the first Trump administration and 'will not buy into a one-sided deal this time around.' Goodbye Stockholm Bessent said the 'overall tone of the meetings was very constructive" while Li said the two sides agreed in Stockholm to keep close contact and to 'communicate with each other in a timely manner on trade and economic issues.' On Monday, police cordoned off a security zone along Stockholm's vast waterfront as rubbernecking tourists and locals sought a glimpse of the top-tier officials through a phalanx of TV news cameras lined up behind metal barriers. Flagpoles at the prime minister's office were festooned with the American and Chinese flags. ___
CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
Trump says Epstein ‘stole' young women from Mar-a-Lago spa, including Virginia Giuffre
President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, at Royal Air Force Lossiemouth en route to return to Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Jeffrey Epstein 'stole' young women who worked for the spa at Mar-a-Lago, the latest evolution in his description of how their highly scrutinized relationship ended years ago. One of the women, he acknowledged, was Virginia Giuffre, who was among Epstein's most well-known sex trafficking accusers. Trump's comments expanded on remarks he had made a day earlier, when he said he had banned Epstein from his private club in Florida two decades ago because his one-time friend 'stole people that worked for me.' At the time, he did not make clear who those workers were. The Republican president has faced an outcry over his administration's refusal to release more records about Epstein after promises of transparency, a rare example of strain within Trump's tightly controlled political coalition. Trump has attempted to tamp down questions about the case, expressing annoyance that people are still talking about it six years after Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial, even though some of his own allies have promoted conspiracy theories about it. CTV National News: Ghislaine Maxwell gets visit from U.S. deputy AG Jeffrey Epstein (left) and Ghislaine Maxwell. (file photo) Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's imprisoned former girlfriend, was recently interviewed inside a Florida courthouse by the Justice Department's No. 2 official, though officials have not publicly disclosed what she said. Her lawyers said Tuesday that she's willing to answer more questions from Congress if she is granted immunity from future prosecution for her testimony. Aboard Air Force One while returning from Scotland, Trump said he was upset that Epstein was 'taking people who worked for me.' The women, he said, were 'taken out of the spa, hired by him — in other words, gone.' 'I said, listen, we don't want you taking our people,' Trump said. When it happened again, Trump said he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago. Asked if Giuffre was one of the employees poached by Epstein, he demurred but then said 'he stole her.' The White House originally said Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he was acting like a 'creep.' Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year. She claimed that Maxwell spotted her working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, when she was a teenager, and hired her as Epstein's masseuse, which led to sexual abuse. Although Giuffre's allegations did not become part of criminal prosecutions against Epstein, she is central to conspiracy theories about the case. She accused Epstein of pressuring her into having sex with powerful men. Maxwell, who has denied Giuffre's allegations, is serving a 20-year-prison sentence in a Florida federal prison for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls. A spokeswoman for the House Oversight Committee, which requested the interview with Maxwell, said the panel would not consider granting the immunity she requested. Trump, Epstein The potential interview is part of a frenzied, renewed interest in the Epstein saga following the Justice Department's July statement that it would not be releasing any additional records from the investigation, an abrupt announcement that stunned online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of Trump's political base who had been hoping to find proof of a government coverup. Since then, the Trump administration has sought to present itself as promoting transparency, with the department urging courts to unseal grand jury transcripts from the sex-trafficking investigations. A judge in Florida last week rejected the request, though a similar request for the work of a different grand jury is pending in New York. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewing Maxwell over the course of two days at a Florida courthouse last week. In a letter Tuesday, Maxwell's attorneys said that though their initial instinct was for Maxwell to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, they are open to having her cooperate provided that lawmakers satisfy their request for immunity and other conditions. But the Oversight Committee seemed to reject that offer outright. 'The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell's attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,' a spokesperson said. Separately, Maxwell's attorneys have urged the Supreme Court to review her conviction, saying she did not receive a fair trial. They also say that one way she would testify 'openly and honestly, in public,' is in the event of a pardon by Trump, who has told reporters that such a move is within his rights but that he has not been not asked to make it. 'She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning,' they said. Chris Megerian And Eric Tucker, The Associated Press
CTV News
6 hours ago
- CTV News
Trinidad and Tobago extends state of emergency as threats hatched in prison persist
The country's coat of arms is displayed on the facade of a government building in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Aug. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ash Allen, File) PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — Legislators in Trinidad and Tobago have extended a state of emergency after the attorney general said the twin-island nation's prison system has been compromised. He blamed prison officers and even attorneys of helping inmates accused of plotting to kill high-ranking officials. Authorities recently moved high-risk prisoners to military bases as part of a recent crackdown on jailed gang leaders accused of using smuggled cellphones to plot a series of assassinations, robberies and kidnappings with help from criminal associates on the outside. Attorney General John Jeremie revealed to Parliament on Monday that some prison guards could openly be heard warning inmates when specialized police agents showed up to conduct prison raids, and he also accused some attorneys of illegally helping those behind bars. 'The system has been compromised, and it has been serving inmates as a protected criminal command center,' Jeremie said. The latest state of emergency in Trinidad and Tobago was extended for three months after authorities warned that the threat of a plot to kill key government officials and attack public institutions still exists. The initial emergency was declared on July 18 and was expected to last 15 days. However, the Caribbean nation's Parliament convened an extraordinary sitting on Monday to extend the measure until late October. 'We are here for an extension, we are here because the threat exists,' Saddam Hosein, legal affairs minister, said during the sitting. Prisoners who were deemed 'high risk' were moved to military bases in west Trinidad, but that didn't deter attempts to interfere with their detention, according to the attorney general. 'Those locations that they were removed to were very recently also infiltrated by two drones,' Jeremie said, adding the military thwarted those attempts. Meanwhile, the Prison Officers' Association, which represents prison guards, has condemned the accusations against the guards. It's the second state of emergency that the twin-island republic implements in a matter of months. Last December, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. While members of Parliament from both the government and the opposition unanimously voted in favor of extending the emergency, the main opposition questioned whether there had been any major arrests in the first 10 days of the measure being in place. Government officials noted that police have arrested more than 340 people and launched over 800 operations so far. The extended emergency was approved a day after Trinidad and Tobago marked 35 years since the failed coup by the Islamist group Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, which left 24 people dead. The attorney general referenced that insurrection, saying the present circumstances are 'not dissimilar from those at that time.' Anselm Gibbs, The Associated Press
