Trump says Gaza ceasefire is 'possible'
He made the comments to reporters at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, where he was meeting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Mr Trump also said that he will cut the 50-day deadline he has set Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
"I'm disappointed in President Putin, very disappointed in him. So we're going to have to look and I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number".
The prime minister travelled to Ayrshire, where the US president is staying at his Turnberry golf resort, for wide-ranging discussions on trade and the Middle East as international concern grows over starvation in Gaza.
The two leaders have built a rapport despite their differing political backgrounds, with Mr Trump praising Mr Starmer for doing a "very good job" in office ahead of their talks.
But humanitarian conditions in Gaza and uncertainty over US import taxes on key British goods in America threaten to complicate their bilateral meeting.
Peace talks in the Middle East came to a standstill last week after the US and Israel recalled negotiating teams from Qatar, with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff blaming Hamas for a "lack of desire" to reach an agreement.
Since then, Israel has promised military pauses in three populated areas of Gaza to allow designated UN convoys of aid to reach desperate Palestinians.
But the UK, which is joining efforts to airdrop aid into the enclave and evacuate children in need of medical assistance, said that access to supplies must be "urgently" widened.
During discussions with Mr Trump, Downing Street said the prime minister will "welcome the president's administration working with partners in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza".
"He will discuss further with him what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long," it said.
The leaders will also talk "one-on-one about advancing implementation of the landmark Economic Prosperity Deal so that Brits and Americans can benefit from boosted trade links between their two countries", it added.
The agreement signed at the G7 summit last month cut trade barriers on goods from both countries.
But tariffs for the steel industry, which is of key economic importance to the UK, were left to stand at 25% rather than falling to zero as originally agreed.
Concerns had previously been raised that the sector could face a levy of up to 50% - the US's global rate - unless a further agreement was made by 9 July, when Mr Trump said he would start implementing import taxes on America's trading partners.
But that deadline has been and gone without any concrete update on the status of UK steel.
Downing Street said both sides are working "at pace" to "go further to deliver benefits to working people on both sides of the Atlantic" and to give UK industry "the security it needs".
The two leaders are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine, which Number 10 said would include "applying pressure" on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the invasion, before travelling on together for a private engagement in Aberdeen.
It comes after Mr Trump announced he had agreed "the biggest deal ever made" between the US and the European Union after meeting Ursula von der Leyen for high-stakes talks at Turnberry yesterday.
After a day playing golf, the US president met the president of the EU Commission to hammer out the broad terms of an agreement that will subject the bloc to 15% tariffs on most of its goods entering America.
This is lower than a 30% levy previously threatened by the US president.
The agreement will include "zero for zero" tariffs on a number of products including aircraft, some agricultural goods and certain chemicals, as well as EU purchases of US energy worth 750 billion dollars (€638bln) over three years.
Speaking to journalists yesterday about his meeting with the prime minister, Mr Trump said: "We're meeting about a lot of things. We have our trade deal and it's been a great deal.
"It's good for us. It's good for them and good for us.
"I think the UK is very happy, they've been trying for 12 years to get it and they got it, and it's a great trade deal for both, works out very well."
Mr Trump said he thinks discussions will feature "a lot about Israel".
"They're very much involved in terms of wanting something to happen," he said.
"He's doing a very good job, by the way," he added.
Mr Trump's private trip to the UK comes ahead of a planned state visit in September.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
16 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Maga versus the EU: are European regulators a target in Trump's war on online ‘censorship'?
A fortnight ago, US secretary of state Marco Rubio revoked visas and thus blocked a judge and members of his family from entering the United States. Accusing the judge of a 'political witch hunt' against former Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro – a far-right populist with close links to Donald Trump 's 'Maga' movement – Rubio maintained that this involved 'a persecution and censorship complex so sweeping that it not only violates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil's shores to target Americans'. 'President Trump made clear that his administration will hold accountable foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States', he said. Censorship of free speech has become a very important issue for the Trump administration, particularly on restrictions on what is said online. READ MORE Some on the right in the US are concerned that regulations imposed on Big Tech in Europe are blowing back across the Atlantic and targeting conservatives. In Washington, where Republicans control the White House and Congress, this is a politically explosive charge. Rubio had announced in late May a new policy that would impose visa bans on foreign nationals the administration deemed to be censoring Americans and suggested this could include officials regulating US tech companies. He said it was unacceptable for foreign officials to demand American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies or engage in censorship activity that reached into the United States. Rubio's visa ban on the Brazilian judge may not have been headline news internationally, but it was noticed in Brussels and among those regulating Big Tech. It is understood that following Rubio's policy announcement in May some figures in Ireland's media regulatory body, Coimisiún na Meán , made enquiries to the Department of Foreign Affairs as to what this could mean. No one was really sure. Coimisiún na Meán is responsible for the application and enforcement of the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA) in Ireland. But the European Commission also monitors areas such as ensuring very large online platforms conduct regular risk assessments on illegal content or material that could negatively affect elections, security or public health. The visa ban on the Brazilian judge showed Washington's policy shift in May was not just rhetoric; regulators, officials and their families could be banned from entering the United States. Musk and Zuckerberg In early July a Christian advocacy group called ADF International argued online that the EU's DSA represented a threat to free speech 'and must be repealed'. Shortly afterward Elon Musk , owner of social media platform X, replied: 'Yes'. It was an indication of the concern among US tech companies at what they saw as unfair overseas taxation and regulation. In January Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg argued that Europe had 'an ever-increasing number of laws institutionalising censorship'. These comments were rejected by politicians in Europe who, in turn, were alarmed by Musk urging Germans on his social media platform to vote for the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in elections. Ideological and financial concerns There was a time when many on the right in the US viewed the tech industry as a bastion of Silicon Valley liberals. In more recent times, the US tech sector has forged close links with Trump. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that after Trump's election last November, tech chiefs including Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai met the incoming president at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and that the need to curb 'harmful policies' overseas consistently came up in their conversations. The concerns of Big Tech and Trump's Maga movement appeared to be aligning to a degree. Dubliner Ian Plunkett, a tech policy analyst in Washington, DC, told The Irish Times that Big Tech companies had adopted a pragmatic approach under the new Trump administration. Those companies that stood by Trump at his inauguration in January were following the power, he said. Many in Trump's Maga base considered regulatory enforcement in Europe as an attack on American innovation, he said; in the eyes of those in Trump's base, US companies had developed this global technology but other countries then had the temerity to impose taxes through the enforcement of regulations that they regarded contrary to their interpretation of the freedom of speech provisions in the US constitution. Trump supporters may have ideological concerns about European regulators curtailing their free speech, but the US tech sector is also looking at the potential financial impact of European regulations. It was widely reported in the US in recent months that Musk's X social media network faced potential fines of up to €1 billion for violations of the EU's DSA, although this has been denied by the European Commission . Over recent months the House of Representatives committee on the judiciary, chaired by republican Jim Jordan, has been carrying out an investigation into 'how and to what extent foreign laws, regulations and judicial orders compel, coerce or influence companies to censor speech in the United States'. Last week in an interim staff report, the committee strongly criticised the DSA as 'the EU's comprehensive digital censorship law'. The report argued that this legislation stemmed originally from claims of Russian interference in elections in the US and in France. In the theology of Maga, this is considered heresy, as it implies that Trump did not win the White House fairly in 2016. The report describes as 'inaccurate' EU claims that the DSA applies only to Europe and that it targets only what is harmful or illegal. 'Non-public documents reveal that European regulators use the DSA to target core political speech that is neither harmful nor illegal and to pressure platforms, primarily American social media companies, to change their global content moderation policies in response to European demands,' the report said. 'Put simply, the DSA infringes on American online speech.' The report points to an EU Commission workshop last May where, it maintains, a hypothetical social media post stating: 'We need to take back our country' was categorised as 'illegal hate speech' that platforms were required to censor under the DSA. The committee described the term as 'a common, anodyne political statement'. 'The DSA incentivises social media companies to comply with the EU's censorship demands because the penalties for failing to do so are large, including fines up to 6 per cent of their global revenue,' the report said. 'If 'extraordinary circumstances lead to a serious threat to public security or public health in the Union', regulators are even empowered to temporarily shut down platforms within the EU.' Ireland 'unusually exposed' Members of the House committee that drew up the report were in Ireland this week and held meetings with tech companies and Coimisiún na Meán. The delegation's visit also came in the week that X lost a legal challenge to aspects of Ireland's online safety code that are viewed by the Irish Government as crucial in protecting children. But it was not the first time that visitors from Washington had travelled to Dublin to discuss online regulation. Staff at Coimisiún na Meán met representatives from the US state department on May 30th 'following a request from the US embassy to better understand its functions and international collaboration'. On May 19th, state department officials told Coimisiún na Meán the visitors from Washington would 'like to understand how Ireland navigates balancing the protection of freedom of expression with the need to address and mitigate hate speech and online harms. 'They would like to understand how the Media Commission approaches implementation of the DSA and domestic hate speech laws, including their impact on American companies.' A note prepared by Coimisiún na Meán after the meeting said it had provided an introduction to fundamental rights, 'including on empowering users who can see if and why their content has been removed or restricted online under the Digital Services Act'. 'Some general discussion on freedom of expression and the differences between US law and European and member state law followed.' Coimisiún na Meán told The Irish Times in June that the US officials 'did not seek any changes to any aspect of An Coimisiún's regulatory work at this meeting, nor did they express any concerns in relation to it'. The US state department said officials from the bureau of democracy, human rights and labour had visited Ireland 'to underscore the administration's support for freedom of expression and the ability of all voices to be heard in the political process and to learn more about the Irish government's approach to protecting human rights'. Dr TJ McIntyre, associate professor at the Sutherland School of Law in UCD and chair of civil liberties group Digital Rights Ireland, said the fact that so many big tech companies have headquarters in this country meant Ireland was 'unusually exposed' in the arguments over regulation and censorship. The extent to which Irish law affected some of the right-wing agenda being promoted by some firms and their owners meant 'you can expect further interference in the Irish democratic process' to try to enable them to continue with that agenda, he said.
RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Trump orders firing of US official over jobs market report
US President Donald Trump said he has ordered the firing of a key economic official, accusing her of manipulating employment data for political reasons after a new report showed cracks in the US jobs market. US job growth missed expectations in July, Labor Department data showed, and revisions to hiring figures in recent months brought them to the weakest levels since the Covid-19 pandemic. Without providing evidence, Mr Trump lashed out at the department's commissioner of labour statistics, writing on social media that the jobs numbers "were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad". In a separate post on his Truth Social platform, he charged that Commissioner Erika McEntarfer had "faked" jobs data to boost Democrats' chances of victory in the recent presidential election. "McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months," Mr Trump said, referring to latest data for July. "Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative," Mr Trump said, insisting that the world's biggest economy was "booming" under his leadership. He later told reporters "we need people that we can trust," accusing the economic official of inflating hiring figures under former president Joe Biden's administration. 'Dangerous precedent' The United States added 73,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1%, said the Department of Labor yesterday. Hiring numbers for May were revised down from 144,000 to 19,000. The figure for June was shifted from 147,000 to 14,000. This was notably lower than job creation levels in recent years. During the pandemic, the economy lost jobs. The employment data points to challenges in the key labour market as companies took a cautious approach in hiring and investment while grappling with Mr Trump's sweeping - and rapidly changing - tariffs this year. The numbers also pile pressure on the central bank as it mulls the best time to cut interest rates. With tariff levels climbing since the start of the year, both on imports from various countries and on sector-specific products such as steel, aluminum and autos, many firms have faced higher business costs. Some are now passing them on to consumers. William Beach, who previously held Ms McEntarfer's post at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, warned that her firing "sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau." The National Association for Business Economics condemned her dismissal, saying large revisions in jobs numbers "reflect not manipulation, but rather the dwindling resources afforded to statistical agencies." "Firing the head of a key government agency because you don't like the numbers they report, which come from surveys using long established procedures, is what happens in authoritarian countries, not democratic ones," slammed Larry Summers, former US Treasury secretary under Democratic president Bill Clinton. 'Gamechanger' Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, said the latest jobs report was a "gamechanger". "The labour market is deteriorating quickly," said Ms Long, noting that of the growth in July, "75 percent of those jobs were in one sector: health care." "The economy needs certainty soon on tariffs," Ms Long said. "The longer this tariff whiplash lasts, the more likely this weak hiring environment turns into layoffs." It remains unclear when the dust will settle, with Mr Trump ordering the reimposition of steeper tariffs on scores of economies late Thursday, which are set to take effect in a week. A sharp weakening in the labour market could push the Federal Reserve toward slashing interest rates sooner to shore up the economy. Yesterday, the two Fed officials who voted this week against the central bank's decision to keep rates unchanged warned that standing pat risks further damaging the economy. Both Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman and Governor Christopher Waller argued that the inflationary effects of tariffs were temporary. They added in separate statements that the bank should focus on fortifying the economy to avert further weakening in the labor market. Putting off an interest rate cut "could result in a deterioration in the labor market and a further slowing in economic growth," Ms Bowman said.
Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Negotiation on EU-US trade deal continues, with tariffs pushed back for another week
This gives European Commission negotiators more time to clarify details of the new trade deal, as they try to extend the range of goods to which the 15pc rate will not apply. On Thursday, the commission said it had not been able to achieve a zero-for-zero carve-out for the drinks sector. France is already pressing for parts of the deal to be renegotiated. 'It's a stage and we won't stop here,' French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot told broadcaster France Info. 'We want new concessions, guarantees on wine and spirits, a readjustment, [and] a rebalancing on the service sector – in particular digital services.' Speaking after a meeting of the trade forum in Government Buildings, Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Harris said it was Ireland's understanding that the EU's 15pc rate was fully inclusive – incorporating existing tariffs – unlike the UK's 10pc. Confirming that pharmaceuticals will remain at a zero per cent tariff until the White House completes a Section 232 investigation – which determines how specific imports will affect US national security – Mr Harris said he had been informed by Brussels that this was likely to conclude in about two weeks. 'Without a deal between the US and the EU, today would have seen 30pc tariffs introduced by President Trump on the EU, and significant counter-measures by the EU to the tune of around €90-odd billion,' he said. 'There's absolutely no doubt that would have been a moment of catastrophe in terms of our economic well-being as a country. We'd be in a very different and a much worse position, I think, if we were standing here today with no deal. 'You don't have to take my word for that if you just see the executive order last night and all of the tariffs levelled in other countries, including countries that didn't have deals.' On Thursday night, Mr Trump signed an executive order to introduce tariffs on more than 60 countries. Most of these will take effect on August 7, but a 35pc levy on some exports from Canada came into effect immediately. The highest rates were slapped on Syria, Laos and Myanmar, which now face tariffs of about 40pc. A rate of 35pc was applied in Switzerland. The country has a big trade deficit with the US, reaching $38bn (€33bn) last year, but the White House implied that Switzerland was also being penalised for its pharma industry. ADVERTISEMENT US trade representative Jamieson Greer told BloombergTelevision: 'They ship enormous amounts of pharmaceuticals to our country. We want to be making pharmaceuticals in our country.' As usual, the extended deadline gives these countries more time to negotiate a deal with the US before the tariffs are applied. If introduced, however, it will mean the US is applying an average rate six times higher than when former president Joe Biden was in office. Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said: 'The average US tariff jumps from 13.3pc to 15.2pc, a seismic shift from the 2.3pc average before Trump retook office.' In a briefing to its members after the trade forum, Ibec pointed out that clarity was still needed on precisely what goods would drop to a zero tariff after August 7. 'Goods that may benefit from zero tariffs or zero-for-zero tariffs ... (including aircraft and component parts, certain chemicals, certain generic medicines, semiconductor equipment, selected agricultural products, natural resources, and critical raw materials) will require the final EU-US joint statement to confirm which specific HS codes will be exempt,' Ibec's Danny McCoy said. 'Negotiations on additional zero-for-zero arrangements not covered by the joint statement may continue in the weeks ahead.'
