Trump news at a glance: US tariffs now at highest level in almost 100 years; Trump says he will meet Putin
The Brazilian government said it was planning a state aid plan for companies affected while its president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, called the duties 'unacceptable blackmail'.
Switzerland said it was seeking new talks with the US after a last-gasp mission to Washington by its president, Karin Keller-Sutter, failed to stop a 39% tariff blow that industry group Swissmem described as a 'horror scenario'.
Tariffs are now at a level not seen in the US in almost 100 years, with Americans expected to pay an average of 18.3% more for imported products – the highest rate since 1934 – according to the Budget Lab at Yale, a nonpartisan policy research center.
Despite the uncertainty, the White House is confident businesses will ramp up new investments and jump-start hiring in ways that can rebalance the US economy as a manufacturing power.
Here are today's key stories at a glance:
More than 60 countries around the world are scrambling to respond to the latest wave of US tariffs announced by Donald Trump which came into force on Thursday.
Industry representatives in rich and poor countries warned of job losses as the tariffs upended a decades-old world trading system with rates ranging from 10% to 39%, 40% and 41% for Switzerland, Brazil and Syria.
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The Guardian has also compiled a full list of countries targeted by the new tariffs.
You can see the full list here
Donald Trump has said he was ready to meet Vladimir Putin despite the Russian leader's refusal to meet Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy – dispelling speculation that direct talks between the two warring presidents were a precondition to a high-level US-Russia summit.
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Donald Trump has called on Intel's chief executive to resign, alleging Lip-Bu Tan had ties to the Chinese Communist party and sending the stock of the US chipmaker falling.
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Donald Trump announced that he has ordered the commerce department to conduct a new census that would exclude undocumented immigrants from the official count. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the census would be 'based on modern day facts and figures' and use 'results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024'. He added that 'people who are in our country illegally will not be counted'.
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The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, is facing growing criticism from scientists who say their 'worst fears' were realized when Wright revealed that the Trump administration would 'update' the US's premier climate crisis reports.
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A federal judge on Thursday ordered a temporary halt to construction of an immigration detention center – built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz' – as attorneys argue whether it violates environmental laws.
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Leading Democrats are sounding the alarm over Donald Trump's reported plan to divert funds from the US nuclear arsenal to convert a luxury jet gifted by Qatar into a new Air Force One.
In a letter obtained by the Guardian, senators Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Ed Markey and Adam Schiff, along with representatives John Garamendi and Jamie Raskin, demanded answers from Troy Meink, the secretary of the air force.
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Two Democratic senators are asking UnitedHealth Group, the nation's largest healthcare conglomerate, to disclose internal documents about its efforts to reduce hospital transfers for nursing home residents and the bonuses it has given to nursing homes which help it to do so. The document demand letter follows a Guardian investigation into the initiative.
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The Trump administration is forcing out a senior FBI official who resisted demands for the names of agents who investigated the January 6 insurrection.
Texas army base Fort Bliss is preparing to accept 1,000 immigrant detainees for the Trump administration's mass deportation operation and immigration crackdown.
JD Vance met with Republican lawmakers in Indiana to encourage them to redraw the state's congressional map to be more favorable to the GOP.
Donald Trump said would nominate the chair of the White House economic council to the Federal Reserve's board of governors for four months.
Catching up? Here's what happened on 6 August 2025.
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Emma Thompson reveals Donald Trump asked her out on a date on the day she got divorced
has revealed that Donald Trump asked her out on a date on the same day she got divorced. The actress, 66, said the President of the US, 79, asked her out for dinner as soon as her marriage to fellow British actor Kenneth Branagh was officially over. Speaking at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland on Saturday, Dame Emma described how she was in her trailer while filming Primary Colours, a 1998 film inspired by Bill Clinton 's rise to the White House, when her phone rang. The award-winning actress said Trump was on the line and initially she thought it was a joke, the Telegraph reported. She said: 'It was Donald Trump. He said: "Hello, this is Donald Trump." I thought it was a joke and asked: "How can I help you?" Maybe he needed directions from someone. 'Then he said: "I'd love you to come and stay at one of my beautiful places. Maybe we could have dinner." 'I said: "Well, that's very sweet. Thank you so much. I'll get back to you".' The surprising phone call came after the president has separated from his second wife, Marla Maples, with whom he shares Tiffany Trump. At the time, the 47th US President had yet to set his sights on politics and was instead focusing on expanding his New York real estate empire. In contrast, the Harry Potter actress had announced her split from Branagh in 1995 and had begun a relationship with her co-star Greg Wise, whom she later married, after meeting on the set of Sense and Sensibility. The revelation came during a Q&A about her career at the star-studded film festival, where Dame Emma joked that had she gone on a date with the Republican politician, she may have changed the course of American history. She also suggested that she was chosen by his team as a suitable person to be seen in public dating. She added: 'I bet he's got people looking for suitable people he could take out on his arm. You know, a nice divorcee, that's what he was looking for.' The star, who is a staunch member of the Labour party and even supported Jeremy Corbyn's leadership and bid for Prime Minister in 2019, added: 'I could have changed the course of American history.' The festival gave Dame Emma Leopard Club Award for career achievements. Dame Emma has always been an outspoken political activist and last year led thousands of people on a march in London aimed at persuading politicians to prioritise nature and climate. More than 350 charities, businesses and direct action groups were taking part in the Restore Nature Now march, along with Dame Emma, businessman Dale Vince and naturalists Chris Packham and Steve Backshall.
The Independent
15 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump promises Monday ‘press conference' at White House will ‘essentially, stop violent crime in Washington, DC'
President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday morning to announce a press conference on Monday that he cleaimed would end violent crime in the nation's capital. 'On Monday a Press Conference will be held at the White House which will, essentially, stop violent crime in Washington, D.C.' said Trump. 'It has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World. It will soon be one of the safest!!!'
Reuters
15 minutes ago
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Iran threatens planned Trump corridor envisaged by Azerbaijan-Armenia peace deal
DUBAI/MOSCOW, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Iran threatened on Saturday to block a corridor planned in the Caucasus under a regional deal sponsored by U.S. President Donald Trump, Iranian media reported, raising a new question mark over a peace plan hailed as a strategically important shift. A top Azerbaijani diplomat said earlier that the plan, announced by Trump on Friday, was just one step from a final peace deal between his country and Armenia, which reiterated its support for the plan. The proposed Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) would run across southern Armenia, giving Azerbaijan a direct route to its exclave of Nakhchivan and in turn to Turkey. The U.S. would have exclusive development rights to the corridor, which the White House said would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources. It was not immediately clear how Iran, which borders the area, would block it but the statement from Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, raised questions over its security. He said military exercises carried out in northwest Iran demonstrated the Islamic Republic's readiness and determination to prevent any geopolitical changes. "This corridor will not become a passage owned by Trump, but rather a graveyard for Trump's mercenaries," Velayati said. Iran's foreign ministry earlier welcomed the agreement "as an important step toward lasting regional peace", but warned against any foreign intervention near its borders that could "undermine the region's security and lasting stability". Analysts and insiders say that Iran, under mounting US pressure over its disputed nuclear programme and the aftermath of a 12-day war with Israel in June, lacks the military power to block the corridor. Trump welcomed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the White House on Friday and witnessed their signing of a joint declaration aimed at drawing a line under their decades-long on-off conflict. Russia, a traditional broker and ally of Armenia in the strategically important South Caucasus region which is crisscrossed with oil and gas pipelines, was not included, despite its border guards being stationed on the border between Armenia and Iran. While Moscow said it supported the summit, it proposed "implementing solutions developed by the countries of the region themselves with the support of their immediate neighbours – Russia, Iran and Turkey" to avoid what it called the "sad experience" of Western efforts to mediate in the Middle East. Azerbaijan's close ally, NATO member Turkey, welcomed the accord. Baku and Yerevan have been at odds since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting almost all of the territory's 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. "The chapter of enmity is closed and now we're moving towards lasting peace," said Elin Suleymanov, Azerbaijan's ambassador to Britain, predicting that the wider region's prosperity and transport links would be transformed for the better. "This is a paradigm shift," said Suleymanov, who as a former envoy to Washington who used to work in President Aliyev's office, is one of his country's most senior diplomats. Suleymanov declined to speculate on when a final peace deal would be signed however, noting that Aliyev had said he wanted it to happen soon. There remained only one obstacle, said Suleymanov, which was for Armenia to amend its constitution to remove a reference to Nagorno-Karabakh. "Azerbaijan is ready to sign any time once Armenia fulfils the very basic commitment of removing its territorial claim against Azerbaijan in its constitution," he said. Pashinyan this year called for a referendum to change the constitution, but no date for it has been set yet. Armenia is to hold parliamentary elections in June 2026, and the new constitution is expected to be drafted before the vote. The Armenian leader said on X that the Washington summit had paved the way to end the decades of conflict and open transport connections that would unlock strategic economic opportunities. Asked when the transit rail route would start running, Suleymanov said that would depend on cooperation between the U.S. and Armenia whom he said were already in talks. Joshua Kucera, Senior South Caucasus analyst at International Crisis Group, said Trump may not have got the easy win he had hoped for as the agreements left many questions unanswered. The issue of Armenia's constitution continued to threaten to derail the process, and it was not clear how the new transport corridor would work in practice. "Key details are missing, including about how customs checks and security will work and the nature of Armenia's reciprocal access to Azerbaijani territory. These could be serious stumbling blocks," said Kucera. Suleymanov played down suggestions that Russia, which still has extensive security and economic interests in Armenia, was being disadvantaged. "Anybody and everybody can benefit from this if they choose to," he said.
