LGBTQ parade in Washington protests Trump policies
Members of the LGBTQ community have held a parade in Washington to promote the rights of sexual minorities in the face of US President Donald Trump's public denial of their rights.
LGBTQ members and their supporters from around the nation took to the streets in the US capital on Saturday for Pride Month, which promotes the rights of sexual minorities every June.
Trump signed an executive order proclaiming that the US government will recognize only two sexes, male and female. Another executive order rolled back the Joe Biden administration's policies for diversity, equity and inclusion. Trump has been pushing for policies against LGBTQ community in military and sports.
Marchers chanted, "Social equity for LGBTQ," holding rainbow-color flags that symbolize sexual diversity.
One of the participants said they are showing out their love and the parade is resistance to all of the pain and anguish that this administration is inflicting on them.
US society is divided over the LGBTQ rights. Some people feel the Biden administration's diversity policies went too far.
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NHK
3 hours ago
- NHK
LGBTQ parade in Washington protests Trump policies
Members of the LGBTQ community have held a parade in Washington to promote the rights of sexual minorities in the face of US President Donald Trump's public denial of their rights. LGBTQ members and their supporters from around the nation took to the streets in the US capital on Saturday for Pride Month, which promotes the rights of sexual minorities every June. Trump signed an executive order proclaiming that the US government will recognize only two sexes, male and female. Another executive order rolled back the Joe Biden administration's policies for diversity, equity and inclusion. Trump has been pushing for policies against LGBTQ community in military and sports. Marchers chanted, "Social equity for LGBTQ," holding rainbow-color flags that symbolize sexual diversity. One of the participants said they are showing out their love and the parade is resistance to all of the pain and anguish that this administration is inflicting on them. US society is divided over the LGBTQ rights. Some people feel the Biden administration's diversity policies went too far.
Japan Times
3 hours ago
- Japan Times
Protesters rally against immigration agents for second day in Los Angeles
Federal agents in Los Angeles faced off against demonstrators for a second day in a row on Saturday following immigration raids a day earlier, prompting a senior White House official to call the protests a "violent insurrection." The security agents on Saturday were in a tense confrontation with protesters in the Paramount area in southeast Los Angeles, where some demonstrators displayed Mexican flags and others covered their mouths with respiratory masks. Live video footage showed dozens of green-uniformed security personnel with gas masks lined up on a road strewn with overturned shopping carts as small canisters exploded into gas clouds. "Now they know that they cannot go to anywhere in this country where our people are, and try to kidnap our workers, our people — they cannot do that without an organized and fierce resistance," said protester Ron Gochez, 44. Kristi Noem, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, said on X: "A message to the LA rioters: you will not stop us or slow us down." Trump's border czar Tom Homan said on Fox News that the National Guard would be deployed in Los Angeles on Saturday evening. Members of law enforcement position themselves during a standoff between police and protesters in Los Angeles on Saturday. | REUTERS A first round of protests kicked off on Friday night after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted enforcement operations in the city and arrested at least 44 people on alleged immigration violations. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that "1,000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer funded property." Angelica Salas, executive director of immigrants rights organization Chirla, said lawyers had not had access to those detained on Friday, which she called "very worrying." Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner and the White House deputy chief of staff, wrote on X that Friday's demonstrations were "an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States." On Saturday, he described the day's protests as a "violent insurrection." The protests pit Democratic-run Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant portion of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, against Trump's Republican White House, which has made cracking down on immigration a hallmark of his second term. Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the U.S.-Mexico border, with the White House setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day. But the sweeping immigration crackdown has also caught up people legally residing in the country, including some with permanent residence, and has led to legal challenges. In a statement on Saturday about the protests in Paramount, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office said: "It appeared that federal law enforcement officers were in the area, and that members of the public were gathering to protest." Salas of Chirla said protesters gathered after an ICE contingent appeared to be using parking lots near a Paramount Home Depot store as a base. A firework explodes after being thrown at police during a standoff with protesters in Los Angeles on Saturday. | REUTERS ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on the protests or potential immigration sweeps on Saturday. Television news footage on Friday showed unmarked vehicles resembling military transport and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. Raids occurred around Home Depots, where street vendors and day laborers were picked up, as well as at a garment factory and a warehouse, Salas of Chirla said. The Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, in a statement condemned the immigration raids. "I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Bass said. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this." The LAPD did not take part in the immigration enforcement. It was deployed to quell civil unrest after crowds protesting the deportation raids spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of a federal court building and gathered outside a nearby jail where some of the detainees were reportedly being held. In a statement, DHS criticized Democratic politicians including Mayor Bass, saying their anti-ICE rhetoric was contributing to violence against immigration agents. "From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale. This violence against ICE must end," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
Japan Times
4 hours ago
- Japan Times
Trump's China gambit belies rocky road ahead on tariff deals
President Donald Trump has come up short on striking trade deals with most nations with just one month left before his self-imposed tariff deadline, even as he took his first steps in weeks toward engaging with China. Trump secured a much-desired call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, paving the way for a new round of talks on Monday in London — yet the diplomacy was overshadowed by a blowout public fight between Trump and his billionaire onetime ally, Elon Musk. Trump's aides insisted Friday that the president was moving on and focused on his economic agenda. Still, question marks remain over the U.S.'s most consequential trade relationships, with few tangible signs of progress toward interim agreements. India, which the Trump administration has cited as an early deal target, has taken a tougher line in negotiations and challenged Trump's auto tariffs at the World Trade Organization. Japan held another round of talks with the U.S., while also signaling it wants a reprieve from duties on cars and light trucks. The legal fight over Trump's tariffs hangs over everything. A court ruling striking down the country-by-country duties imposed using emergency authorities left partners with no certainty over what Trump's powers are. The next test could come as soon as next week, when a court could rule on the administration's appeal. Trump and his team were eager to draw attention to inroads with China as proof his ways are working. Trump on Friday described talks with Beijing as "very far advanced' and said Xi had agreed to speed shipments of critical rare-earth minerals that were at the center of recent tension. Unlocking those supplies would spell relief for major American automakers. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will visit the U.K. next week, during which he will conduct trade negotiations with the U.S., the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement late Saturday. The mixed results in the talks so far demonstrate the highs and lows of Trump's mercurial approach to trade, in which he and aides have cast him as the ultimate decision-maker on any deals. Rather than provide a clear-cut victory, Trump's dealings with Xi also show the difficult road ahead with China. The rare-earths dispute revealed how important those supplies, which Beijing dominates, are for the U.S. economy. "Xi is not letting go of the rare earths. He's got leverage, he's using it,' said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank. "They talked, that's the most important thing. I think they're really far apart.' New BMW vehicles for sale at a dealership in Los Angeles, California | Bloomberg The clock is ticking for Trump. His 90-day pause on higher tariffs for the European Union and nearly five dozen countries expires July 9 — barring an extension he could do with the flick of a pen — while China's reprieve extends until August. If deals aren't reached, Trump plans to restore tariff rates to the levels he first announced in April, or lower numbers that exceed the current 10% baseline, a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We will have deals. It takes time. Usually it takes months and years; in this administration, it's going to take more like days,' White House trade counselor Peter Navarro said Friday on Fox Business. "We're on task and on target.' The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) "looks more like a deli now,' Navarro said, with countries lining up for talks. USTR sent letters this week to trading partners reminding them of the deadline. It's unclear what all the frantic activity has yielded. Xi for months was reluctant to get on the phone with Trump and analysts speculated about what concessions the U.S. president offered to his counterpart in exchange for the call. Trump at least appeared to give some ground on foreign students, saying it would be his "honor' to welcome Chinese scholars even as his administration cracks down on student visas. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited Washington facing demands from his nation's automakers for tariff credits for vehicles they produce in the U.S.. But the subject barely came up during the public portion of his meeting with Trump, who spent a large chunk of time unloading on Musk. "We'll end up hopefully with a trade deal or we'll do something — you know, we'll do the tariffs,' Trump said Thursday alongside Merz. Merz, in his U.S. visit, emphasized the integrated trade ties between countries that are at risk — including by personally driving a BMW built in South Carolina. The German leader said Friday at an industry event the nations should agree on an "offset rule' that would provide tariff relief for existing U.S. production. Trump's U.K. deal — the lone pact so far — was undercut this week when he plowed ahead with levies on steel and aluminum. The U.K. said the pact included an agreement for zero tariffs on British metals, but Trump's latest order kept a 25% charge on them while negotiations continue and doubled the rate for others. Still, the upcoming Group of Seven summit of leaders from major economies could provide an opportunity for the type of in-person dealmaking Trump craves. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has been discussing terms of a potential interim deal with Trump ahead of the gathering this month near Calgary. One theme is clear: Negotiations over his so-called reciprocal tariffs have grown intertwined with his separate duties on autos and metals, despite previous U.S. signals that the administration considered them separate. "He's entirely transactional,' Holtz-Eakin said of Trump. "He will always deal.' Talks are ongoing with the EU, which has previously proposed an agreement with the U.S. to mutually drop auto tariffs to zero as part of a broader trade framework, which the Trump administration rejected. The bloc subsequently suggested working toward zero-for-zero tariffs on cars, other industrial goods and some agricultural imports with tariff-rate quotas as a possible interim measure. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said this week he'd consider some type of "export credit' on autos, the kind of carve-out sought by Germany on vehicle tariffs. And he predicted there would be a U.S.-India deal in the "not too distant future.' Lutnick signaled, though, Trump's push for so-called reciprocity comes with caveats. The U.S. wouldn't agree with Vietnam to drop all tariffs, because it believes the Southeast Asian nation is a hub for so-called transshipment of Chinese goods. Talks with South Korea, where Trump spoke with newly elected president Lee Jae-myung, and Japan, which had top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa meet with Lutnick, continued this week. In yet another sign of the Trump team's frenetic approach, Nikkei reported that different — and even competing — positions among Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Lutnick had confounded Japanese counterparts.
