White House denies Trump appears multiple times in Epstein docs
United States correspondent Todd Zwillich spoke to Melissa Chan-Green about Donald Trump reportedly being told his name shows up "multiple times" in documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. An article published by the Wall Street Journal claims US Attorney General Pam Bondi informed the president about the matter in May. The White House has dismissed the report and a spokesman for Trump called it "fake news".
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RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Ghislaine Maxwell moved from Florida prison to lower-security facility
By Andrew Goudsward and Luc Cohen , Reuters Ghislaine Maxwell pictured in September 2013 in New York City. Photo: AFP / Getty Images Ghislaine Maxwell has been transferred from a Florida prison to a lower-security facility in Texas to continue serving her 20-year sentence for helping the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, the US Bureau of Prisons said on Friday. Maxwell's move from FCI Tallahassee, a low-security prison, to the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, comes a week after she met with Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche , who said he wanted to speak with her about anyone else who may have been involved in Epstein's crimes. Maxwell's lawyer David Markus confirmed she was moved but said he had no other comment. Spokespeople for the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The BOP classifies prison camps such as Bryan as minimum security institutions, the lowest of five security levels in the federal system. Such facilities have limited or no perimeter fencing. Low security facilities such as FCI Tallahassee have double-fenced perimeters and higher staff-to-inmate ratios than camps, according to the bureau. Asked why Maxwell was transferred, BOP spokesperson Donald Murphy said he could not comment on the specifics of any incarcerated individual's prison assignment, but that the BOP determines where inmates are sent based on factors including "the level of security and supervision the inmate requires." - Reuters
1News
3 hours ago
- 1News
Trump injects new dose of tariffs uncertainty as start date pushed back
For weeks, President Donald Trump was promising the world economy would change with his new tariffs in place. It was an ironclad deadline, administration officials assured the public. But when Trump signed the order Thursday night (local time) imposing new tariffs, the start date of the punishing import taxes was pushed back seven days so the tariff schedule could be updated. The change in tariffs on 66 countries, the European Union, Taiwan and the Falkland Islands was potentially welcome news to countries that had not yet reached a deal with the US. It also injected a new dose of uncertainty for consumers and businesses still wondering what's going to happen and when. Trump told NBC News the tariffs process was going 'very well, very smooth". But even as the Republican president insisted these new rates would stay in place, he added: 'It doesn't mean that somebody doesn't come along in four weeks and say we can make some kind of a deal.' Trump has promised that his tax increases on the nearly US$3 trillion (NZ$5 trillion) in goods imported to the United States will usher in newfound wealth, launch a cavalcade of new factory jobs, reduce the budget deficits and, simply, get other countries to treat America with more respect. The vast tariffs risk jeopardising America's global standing as allies feel forced into unfriendly deals. As taxes on the raw materials used by US factories and basic goods, the tariffs also threaten to create new inflationary pressures and hamper economic growth — concerns the Trump White House has dismissed. ADVERTISEMENT Questions swirl around the tariffs despite Trump's eagerness President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Washington. (Source: Associated Press) As the clock ticked toward Trump's self-imposed deadline, few things seemed to be settled other than the president's determination to levy the taxes he had talked about for decades. The very legality of the tariffs remains an open question as a US appeals court on heard arguments on whether Trump had exceeded his authority by declaring an 'emergency' under a 1977 law to charge the tariffs, allowing him to avoid congressional approval. Trump was ebullient as much of the world awaited what he would do. 'Tariffs are making America GREAT & RICH Again,' he said on Truth Social. Others saw a policy carelessly constructed by the US president, one that could impose harms gradually over time that would erode America's power and prosperity. 'The only things we'll know for sure on Friday morning are that growth-sapping US import taxes will be historically high and complex, and that, because these deals are so vague and unfinished, policy uncertainty will remain very elevated,' said Scott Lincicome, a vice president of economics at the Cato Institute. 'The rest is very much TBD.' ADVERTISEMENT The new tariffs build off ones announced in the spring President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shake hands after reaching a trade deal at the Trump Turnberry golf course in Turnberry, Scotland Sunday, July 27, 2025. (Source: Associated Press) Trump initially imposed the Friday deadline after his previous 'Liberation Day' tariffs in April resulted in a stock market panic. His unusually high tariff rates announced then led to recession fears, prompting Trump to impose a 90-day negotiating period. When he was unable to create enough trade deals with other countries, he extended the timeline and sent out letters to world leaders that simply listed rates, prompting a slew of hasty agreements. Swiss imports will now be taxed at a higher rate, 39%, than the 31% Trump threatened in April, while Liechtenstein saw its rate slashed from 37% to 15%. Countries not listed in the Thursday night order would be charged a baseline 10% tariff. Trump negotiated trade frameworks over the past few weeks with the EU, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines — allowing the president to claim victories as other nations sought to limit his threat of charging even higher tariff rates. He said there were agreements with other countries, but he declined to name them. Asked if countries were happy with the rates set by Trump, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said: 'A lot of them are.' Thursday began with a palpable sense of tension ADVERTISEMENT Vehicles for export are parked at a port in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Thursday, July 31, 2025. (Source: Associated Press) The EU was awaiting a written agreement on its 15% tariff deal. Switzerland and Norway were among the dozens of countries that did not know what their tariff rate would be, while Trump agreed after a phone call to keep Mexico's tariffs at 25% for a 90-day negotiating period. The president separately amended an order to raise certain tariffs on Canada to 35%. European leaders face blowback for seeming to cave to Trump, even as they insist that this is merely the start of talks and stress the importance of maintaining America's support of Ukraine's fight against Russia. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has already indicated that his country can no longer rely on the US as an ally, and Trump declined to talk to him. India, with its 25% tariff announced by Trump, may no longer benefit as much from efforts to pivot manufacturing out of China. While the Trump administration has sought to challenge China's manufacturing dominance, it is separately in extended trade talks with that country, which faces a 30% tariff and is charging a 10% retaliatory rate on the US. Major companies came into the week warning that tariffs would begin to squeeze them financially. Ford Motor Co. said it anticipated a net US$2 billion (NZ$3.4 billion) hit to earnings this year from tariffs. French skincare company Yon-Ka is warning of job freezes, scaled-back investment and rising prices. It's unclear whether Trump's new tariffs will survive a legal challenge President Donald Trump meets with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Trump Turnberry golf club on Monday, July 28, 2025 in Turnberry, Scotland. (Source: Associated Press) ADVERTISEMENT Federal judges sounded sceptical about Trump's use of a 1977 law to declare the long-standing US trade deficit a national emergency that justifies tariffs on almost every country. 'You're asking for an unbounded authority,' Judge Todd Hughes of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit told a Justice Department lawyer representing the administration. The judges didn't immediately rule, and the case is expected to reach the Supreme Court eventually. The Trump White House has pointed to the increase in federal revenues as a sign that the tariffs will reduce the budget deficit, with US$127 billion (NZ$216 billion) in customs and duties collected so far this year — about US$70 billion (NZ$119 billion) more than last year. New tariffs threaten to raise inflation rates President Donald Trump talks to the media as he meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Trump Turnberry golf club in Turnberry, Scotland, Monday, July 28, 2025. (Source: Associated Press) There are not yet signs that tariffs will lead to more domestic manufacturing jobs, and Friday's employment report showed the US economy now has 37,000 fewer manufacturing jobs than it did in April. ADVERTISEMENT One crucial measure of inflation, known as the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, showed that prices have climbed 2.6% over the 12 months that ended in June, a sign that inflation may be accelerating as the tariffs flow through the economy. The prospect of higher inflation from the tariffs has caused the Federal Reserve to hold off on additional cuts to its benchmark rates, a point of frustration for Trump, who on Truth Social, called Fed Chair Jerome Powell a 'TOTAL LOSER'. But before Trump's tariffs, Powell seemed to suggest that the tariffs had put the US economy and much of the world into a state of unknowns. 'There are many uncertainties left to resolve,' Powell told reporters Wednesday. 'So, yes, we are learning more and more. It doesn't feel like we're very close to the end of that process. And that's not for us to judge, but it does — it feels like there's much more to come.'
1News
8 hours ago
- 1News
Trump reveals 25% tariff on India, unspecified penalties for buying Russian oil
The United States will impose a 25% tariff on goods from India, plus an additional import tax because of India's purchasing of Russian oil, President Donald Trump said today. India 'is our friend,' Trump said on his Truth Social platform, but its tariffs on US products 'are far too high'. The Republican president added India buys military equipment and oil from Russia, enabling Moscow's war in Ukraine. As a result, he intends to charge an additional 'penalty' starting on Friday (local time) as part of the launch of his administration's revised tariffs on multiple countries. Trump told reporters today the two countries were still in the middle of negotiations on trade despite the tariffs slated to begin in a few days. 'We're talking to India now," the president said. "We'll see what happens.' ADVERTISEMENT The Indian government said today it's studying the implications of Trump's tariffs announcement. India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a 'fair, balanced and mutually beneficial' bilateral trade agreement over the last few months, and New Delhi remains committed to that objective, India's Trade Ministry said in a statement. Trump today signed separate orders to tax imports of copper at 50% and justify his 50% tariffs on Brazil due to their criminal prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro and treatment of US social media companies. Trump also signed an order saying that government now had the systems in place to close the tariff loophole on 'de minimis' shipments, which had enabled goods priced under $800 (NZ$1355) to enter America duty-free, largely from China. Trump also said on Truth Social that he was meeting today with a trade delegation from South Korea, which currently faces 25% tariffs starting on Friday (local time). He also said the US has reached a deal with Pakistan that includes the development of its oil reserves. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was briefing him on trade talks with China. Trump's view on tariffs Trump's announcement comes after a slew of negotiated trade frameworks with the European Union, Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia — all of which he said would open markets for American goods while enabling the US to raise tax rates on imports. The president views tariff revenues as a way to help offset the budget deficit increases tied to his recent income tax cuts and generate more domestic factory jobs. While Trump has effectively wielded tariffs as a cudgel to reset the terms of trade, the economic impact is uncertain as most economists expect a slowdown in US growth and greater inflationary pressures as some of the costs of the taxes are passed along to domestic businesses and consumers. ADVERTISEMENT There's also the possibility of more tariffs coming on trade partners with Russia as well as on pharmaceutical drugs and computer chips. Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Trump and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would announce the Russia-related tariff rates on India at a later date. Tariffs face European pushback The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including tsunami threat remains for NZ and quake sparks Russian volcanic eruption, plus the pop star and the politician spotted having dinner. (Source: 1News) Trump's approach of putting a 15% tariff on America's long-standing allies in the EU is also generating pushback, possibly causing European partners as well as Canada to seek alternatives to US leadership on the world stage. French President Emmanuel Macron said today in the aftermath of the trade framework that Europe 'does not see itself sufficiently' as a global power, saying in a cabinet meeting that negotiations with the US will continue as the agreement gets formalised. ADVERTISEMENT 'To be free, you have to be feared,' Macron said. 'We have not been feared enough. There is a greater urgency than ever to accelerate the European agenda for sovereignty and competitiveness.' Seeking a deeper partnership with India Washington has long sought to develop a deeper partnership with New Delhi, which is seen as a bulwark against China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has established a good working relationship with Trump, and the two leaders are likely to further boost cooperation between their countries. When Trump in February met with Modi, the US president said that India would start buying American oil and natural gas. The new tariffs on India could complicate its goal of doubling bilateral trade with the US to $500 billion (NZ$847.3 billion) by 2030. The two countries have had five rounds of negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement. While US has been seeking greater market access and zero tariff on almost all its exports, India has expressed reservations on throwing open sectors such as agriculture and dairy, which employ a bulk of the country's population for livelihood, Indian officials said. The Census Bureau reported that the US ran a $45.8 billion (NZ$77.6 billion) trade imbalance in goods with India last year, meaning it imported more than it exported. At a population exceeding 1.4 billion people, India is the world's largest country and a possible geopolitical counterbalance to China. India and Russia have close relations, and New Delhi has not supported Western sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine. The new tariffs could put India at a disadvantage in the US market relative to Vietnam, Bangladesh and, possibly, China, said Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations. 'We are back to square one as Trump hasn't spelled out what the penalties would be in addition to the tariff,' Sahai said. 'The demand for Indian goods is bound to be hit.'
