Trump Film Tariffs Plan Prompts Appeal From Global Industry Organizations Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
A group of more than 100 film and TV organisations from around the world launched an appeal to European Union institutions and global governments Monday – on the eve of the Cannes Film Festival kickoff – calling on them to support the indie industry ecosystem following U.S. President Donald Trump's announced plan to impose tariffs on film imports.
Signatories include the The European Producers Club, which represents top independent film and TV drama producers across continental Europe, Irish Equity, South Africa's Independent Directors Association, and Canada's Alliance des producteurs francophones du Canada.
More from Variety
Erige Sehiri's 'Promised Sky' Debuts Trailer Ahead of Premiere in Cannes as Luxbox Launches Sales (EXCLUSIVE)
Philippines' QCinema Industry Set for Cannes Launch, Bolsters Southeast Asian Film Hub Ambitions
Nour Films Takes French Rights to Lav Diaz's 'Magellan' Ahead of Cannes Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)
The appeal, titled 'Our Stories, our Voices: A Global Declaration for Artistic Freedom, Cultural Diversity and Cultural Sovereignty' asks governments 'to stand firm and safeguard the systems that support independent film and audiovisual creation so that culture, creativity, and democratic access to diverse stories for the screen can continue to flourish,' it said.
'We are witnessing increasingly aggressive attempts by powerful political and corporate actorsto dismantle the regulatory protections that ensure the diversity and accessibility of culturalexpression,' the appeal noted.
'This includes direct challenges to essential protections such as the Audiovisual MediaServices Directive in the European Union, proposed local content obligations in Australia,screen quotas in Asia, and requirements that streaming services contribute to domesticproduction in Canada, among others,' it added.
In Europe Trump's aggressive new trade policy is prompting U.S. studios to mount a new offensive against the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS) which forces foreign streaming services to invest a portion of their revenues into local productions.
The Motion Picture Association which, among other Hollywood companies, represents the interests of Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Amazon Prime/MGM, Sony Pictures, Universal and Warner Bros. in March – prior to Trump's tariffs on film announcement – sent a memorandum to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) underlining 'disproportionate investment obligations' in European countries including France, Germany, and Italy.
Signatories in their appeal underlined that they 'firmly oppose any political, legal, or economic initiative that seeks to undermine national or international rules designed to uphold artistic freedom andcultural diversity in the film and audiovisual sector.'
Best of Variety
New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz
Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
36 minutes ago
- New York Times
Trump Administration Live Updates: Musk Spoke With Trump Before Posting Message of Regret
Skip to contentSkip to site index Kosovar officials in a statement expressed their willingness to cooperate with the United States over deported migrants. Credit... Armend Nimani/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Kosovo has agreed to a proposal by the Trump administration to take in a group of up to 50 deported migrants who are not from the European nation, the two countries said in statements on Wednesday. The deportation agreement is the most recent deal cut by the Trump administration in a string of efforts to get countries around the world to accept migrants it is expelling from the United States — even if those people have little or no connection to the nations they are being deported to. Several of the locations President Trump has sought to deport groups of migrants to present security concerns, including a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, Libya and South Sudan, which is on the brink of civil war. Kosovar officials verified the agreement in a statement to The New York Times, and framed the deal as an example of their country's commitment to a partnership with the United States. 'In response to the request from the United States regarding the reception and relocation of third-country nationals, we have expressed our willingness to cooperate with the United States in addressing this matter under established conditions,' the Kosovar Embassy to the United States said in the statement. 'Over the course of a year, up to 50 individuals may temporarily be relocated, with the aim of facilitating their safe return to their home country.' Kosovo, a landlocked nation in southeastern Europe, has sought a place in the European Union, but its membership application has been stalled since December 2022. Kosovar officials indicated in their statements that the deportation agreement presented an opportunity to continue cooperation with the United States as it works toward that goal. 'Our decades-long, reciprocal partnership is rooted in shared values and cooperation,' the statement said of the U.S.-Kosovo relationship. 'We hold their support in very high regard, especially as we work toward integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions.' The deportees housed by Kosovo will be selected from a proposed pool on the basis they meet 'specific criteria related to the rule of law and public order,' the statement added, without specifying what those requirements would be or how the selection process would work. 'We are grateful to our partner Kosovo for receiving third-country nationals removed from the United States,' the U.S. State Department wrote in a statement on Wednesday. 'We welcome cooperation on this key Trump administration priority.' While U.S. immigration law does, under some circumstances, allow people to be sent to countries that are not their own, the practice has been rare under past administrations. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a Senate hearing on Wednesday. Credit... Kenny Holston/The New York Times Two senior Republican senators sharply criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday over the Trump administration's handling of Russia in its efforts to end the war in Ukraine, revealing a deepening public split in the party on foreign policy. Senator Mitch McConnell — one of three Republicans who opposed Mr. Hegseth's confirmation in January — opened a Senate budget hearing with a blunt critique of President Trump's approach to Ukraine. 'It seems to me pretty obvious America's reputation is on the line,' said Mr. McConnell, the former Senate majority leader who leads the Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee. 'Will we defend democratic allies against authoritarian aggressors?' Mr. McConnell, an outspoken hawk on Russia and military issues, has been critical of the Trump administration's defense spending plan, and countered Mr. Hegseth's argument that the administration was making the largest investment in the military in 20 years through Mr. Trump's reconciliation package. Mr. McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said that putting military spending into that package and not increasing spending in the regular budget 'may well end up functioning as a shell game to avoid making the most significant annual investments that we spent years urging the Biden administration to make.' 'It seems to me pretty obvious America's reputation is on the line,' Senator Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday. Credit... Kenny Holston/The New York Times The exchange between Mr. McConnell and Mr. Hegseth offered a glimpse into the widening foreign policy gap between the diminishing cohort of internationalists in the Republican Party, like Mr. McConnell, and an emboldened wing led by figures like Mr. Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, who articulate an 'America First' view of U.S. involvement around the globe. 'We don't want a headline at the end of this conflict that says Russia wins and America loses,' Mr. McConnell told the Pentagon chief, chiding him for failing to include additional military assistance for Ukraine in the Pentagon's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, also challenged Mr. Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on whether President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was going to stop at Ukraine, if successful on the battlefield there. 'I don't believe he is,' General Caine said. 'Remains to be seen,' Mr. Hegseth said. Mr. Graham cut off the secretary, making a reference to Nazi Germany's territorial expansion before World War II: 'Well, he says he's not. This is the '30s all over. It doesn't remain to be seen.' Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, during Wednesday's hearing. Credit... Kenny Holston/The New York Times The interaction was more confrontational than the friendlier reception the secretary received from House Republicans at a similar budget hearing on Tuesday. But like in that House hearing, Senate Democrats on Wednesday assailed Mr. Hegseth for the administration's decision to call up nearly 5,000 Marines and National Guard members to Los Angeles to help quell sporadic unrest there. Mr. Hegseth told senators that the same legal authorities the Pentagon used to send the Marines and Guard to Los Angeles could be used in other cities 'if there are riots in places where law enforcement officers are threatened.' He added, 'We would have the capability to surge National Guard there, if necessary.' In other exchanges, Mr. Hegseth struck a harsher tone with Democrats than he did with Mr. McConnell and Mr. Graham. He twice refused to directly answer when Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, asked whether the deployment of National Guard troops to Washington was an appropriate response to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 by Trump supporters. Instead, the secretary responded by saying the deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles was appropriate. Mr. Murphy contrasted Mr. Hegseth's reluctance to agree with the deployment of the National Guard to protect the Capitol with his willingness to deploy the force against people criticizing Mr. Trump in Los Angeles. Mr. Hegseth did concede that the National Guard mission in Los Angeles had nothing to do with 'lethality,' one of the stated priorities of his Pentagon tenure. He said the military's mission there instead was about 'law and order.' In response, Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, said that 'law and order is a civic function in the U.S., not a military one.' He added that the National Guard's presence in the city was most likely illegal and 'a diminution of the military.' Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, criticized the Pentagon for cutting military medical research while spending $45 million for a parade on Saturday celebrating the Army's 250th birthday, which also falls on Mr. Trump's birthday. 'This is not consistent with what the men and women in uniform deserve,' Mr. Durbin said. John Ismay and Robert Jimison contributed reporting. The U.S. Embassy complex in Baghdad in 2020. Credit... Khalid Mohammed/Associated Press The State Department has decided to reduce its diplomatic presence in Iraq, the department said in a statement on Wednesday, as tensions across the Middle East spiked amid signs that nuclear diplomacy between the United States and Iran may be deadlocked. Word of the U.S. decision, along with a warning from the United Kingdom about new threats to Middle East commercial shipping, came hours after President Trump said in a podcast released Wednesday that he has grown 'less confident' about the prospects for a deal with Iran that would limit its ability to develop nuclear weapons. American and Iranian negotiators have been planning to meet later this week for another round of talks, although Mr. Trump told reporters on Monday that Iran had adopted an 'unacceptable' negotiating position. The British warning came from the country's maritime trade agency, which issued a public advisory saying that it had 'been made aware of increased tensions within the region which could lead to an escalation of military activity having a direct impact on mariners.' The advisory urged commercial vessels transiting the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz to use heightened caution. The sense of alarm was heightened by comments from Iran's defense minister, General Aziz Nasirzadeh, who warned on Wednesday that in the event of a conflict following failed nuclear talks, the United States would suffer heavy losses from Iranian attacks on U.S. bases in the Middle East. His comments were reported by Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency. The State Department did not provide details on how many personnel would be removed from Iraq, or why. The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that nonessential U.S. personnel would be withdrawn from Baghdad, and that nonessential personnel and family members of diplomats had been authorized to depart from U.S. embassies in Bahrain and Kuwait. June 11, 2025, 4:01 p.m. ET Robert Jimison Reporting from the Capitol Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut is leading Democrats on the Senate floor in an effort to block more than $3 billion in proposed weapons sales to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Murphy alleged the Trump administration has used the offer to engage in corrupt dealmaking, with a state-backed Emirati firm investing billions in the Trump-affiliated cryptocurrency business and Qatar gifting him a luxury Boeing 747-8 to serve as Air Force One. 'If we don't take a stand, if we don't act together against this unconstitutional corruption of our foreign policy, I don't know that we can ever get this genie back in the bottle,' Murphy said ahead of a vote on the weapons sales. President Trump visited the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in March, shortly after appointing himself the center's chairman. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, are scheduled to attend the opening night performance of 'Les Misérables' at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday night. In some sense it is the culmination of the Trump takeover of the national cultural center. The president appointed himself chairman of the Kennedy Center in February, purged the traditionally bipartisan board and restocked it with loyalists. In March, he took a tour and met with his new board. 'We're going to get some very good shows,' he said at the time. 'I guess we have 'Les Miz' coming.' Mr. Trump's tightening grip has upset a number of artists, and some members of the cast were expected to boycott the performance. 'Les Misérables' has long been one of Mr. Trump's favorite shows, and the opening on Wednesday was expected to be a big night out on the town for the president's friends and top allies, complete with a red carpet. The flashy outing, to a musical with its climactic moments celebrating an anti-government uprising, coincides with one of the most volatile weeks of Mr. Trump's second term. Mr. Trump's administration has sent soldiers from the California National Guard and the Marines into Los Angeles in response to days of protests over immigration raids. Those deployments — over the objections of state and local officials there — have set off an extraordinary standoff between Mr. Trump and California's governor, Gavin Newsom. In a televised address on Tuesday night, Mr. Newsom accused Mr. Trump of mounting an attack on democracy: 'The moment we've feared has arrived.' On the chopping block are some of President Trump's favorite parts of the bill, like not taxing overtime. Credit... Eric Lee for The New York Times Even before the House passed the sweeping bill carrying President Trump's domestic policy agenda, Senate Republicans made it clear that they hoped to make major changes to the legislation before the G.O.P. was done muscling it through Congress. Several have wanted to pare back the cuts to Medicaid, the health care program for the poor, that House Republicans envisioned in the version of the legislation that they approved late last month. A handful have sought to salvage tax credits incentivizing clean energy projects that the House measure would repeal. Many have pushed to grant companies prized tax breaks for the long run, not just for a few years, as their colleagues across the Capitol opted to do. The problem senators face is that each of these changes would be expensive. At $2.4 trillion, the cost of the legislation that barely passed the House is already huge. So Senate Republicans are now hunting for ways to save money, a hazardous task that could involve shaving the ambitions of their colleagues in the House or in the White House. On the chopping block are some of Mr. Trump's favorite parts of the bill, like not taxing overtime. Republican lawmakers have long been skeptical of some of the president's tax ideas, with the view that the populist policies will not spur the economy like traditional supply-side conservatism can. 'I think it all comes down to what we've got to pay for,' Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, said. 'At the end of the day, we've got to pay for pro-growth policies.' The debate is in some ways a classic one on Capitol Hill, where throughout history and without regard to political party, senators have been reluctant to defer to their colleagues in the House, and vice versa. 'It's the Senate, so the Senate is going to do what it damn well wants to do, and that's a good process,' Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, said at a Punchbowl News event on Wednesday, where he warned that his chamber would pass a bill 'markedly different' from the House measure, pushing enactment of the package well past his party's July 4 deadline. To top Senate Republicans, the most economically powerful tax cuts incentivize companies to make new investments and conduct research. Accelerated depreciation schedules, though, do not grab political attention the way Mr. Trump's promises for 'no tax on tips' did, so the House version of the bill only included the business tax breaks through 2029. 'I think it all comes down to what we've got to pay for,' Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, said. 'At the end of the day, we've got to pay for pro-growth policies.' Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Senate Republicans want to make the business write-offs a permanent feature of the tax code, a change that they and some economists believe would help encourage more companies to expand. As one way to cover that cost, Senate Republicans are looking at ways to further curb eligibility for a tax cut for overtime pay, including by setting a lower income ceiling for the break and by more strictly defining what counts as overtime, lawmakers said. 'Obviously, there's a lot of dials, whether you're talking about no tax on tips, overtime, any of those,' said Senator Roger Marshall, Republican of Kansas. 'How many years did they go? At what level do they stop?' Senator Bernie Moreno, Republican of Ohio and a former car dealer, wants to tighten the House plan for allowing Americans to deduct up to $10,000 in interest on car loans, which would apply to vehicles made in the United States, including used and new cars, as well as all-terrain vehicles and recreational vehicles. Mr. Moreno is proposing to limit the tax break, one of Mr. Trump's campaign promises, just to loans for new cars. 'We save a lot of money. An R.V.? Motorcycles? A.T.V.s?' he said. 'That's not the idea; the idea is to help working Americans be able to afford a car.' Senate Republicans are searching for cuts because of growing concern among some conservatives, as well as on Wall Street, about the bill's impact on the country's fiscal situation. While paring back some of Mr. Trump's campaign promises could help keep the cost of the legislation near what it was in the House, some lawmakers are calling for much deeper spending cuts. Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, has been loudly calling for the legislation, which already includes roughly $1.8 trillion in spending reductions, to slash trillions more. His complaints won him a meeting with top White House officials, including Vice President JD Vance, at the Capitol this week. Mr. Johnson's pitch is to remove all of Mr. Trump's new tax priorities from the bill and instead focus the legislation exclusively on extending expiring tax cuts from 2017, cutting spending and raising the debt ceiling. Republicans could then tackle White House priorities, and further spending cuts, in a second piece of legislation, Mr. Johnson argues. 'You can't do it in one fell swoop. I don't want to criticize what has been done; I want to support what's been done,' he said. 'But I absolutely — I can't accept that this is the new norm. We need another bite of the apple in this Congress.' Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, has been loudly calling for the legislation, which already includes roughly $1.7 trillion in spending cuts, to slash trillions more. Credit... Eric Lee/The New York Times Of course, jettisoning much of the president's agenda from the legislation is a tall order, and White House officials have been making the case for the House measures to cut taxes on tips, overtime and for older Americans. 'No Tax on Overtime and No Tax on Tips are presidential priorities that 80 million Americans voted for in November,' Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement. 'They will remain in this historic piece of legislation in order to deliver the largest tax cut in history.' There are other sources of money tempting Senate Republicans. Some are considering cuts to Medicare, though changes to the health care program for older Americans comes with substantial political risks. Then there is the state and local tax deduction, often called SALT. In the House, a small group of Republicans from New York, New Jersey and California demanded that the legislation include an increase to the $10,000 cap on the deduction. They ultimately won an agreement to set the new limit at $40,000, an expensive change that would largely benefit homeowners in areas with high taxes. While the change was necessary to win the support of blue-state Republicans in the House, senators are less committed to the policy. Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the Republican majority leader, recently remarked at the White House that 'there really isn't a single Republican senator who cares much about the SALT issue.' At the same time, House Republicans committed to more SALT relief have warned that changing the House agreement could scuttle the entire package. But some Republican senators cannot help but think that money earmarked for a higher SALT cap could have a better use. 'There's a lot of things we could do with that,' said Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma. Megan Mineiro contributed reporting. Elon Musk spent several days signaling that he wants to make up with the president after the two men engaged in a sharp series of personal attacks last week that played out on social media. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times President Trump received a phone call from Elon Musk late on Monday night, outreach that led to a public expression of regret by the billionaire early Wednesday for the attacks he had lodged against the president in their extraordinary public showdown last week, according to three people briefed on the conversation. The call came after the tech entrepreneur spoke privately on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, about a path to a truce. Ms. Wiles told associates she had come to like working with Mr. Musk and was one of his regular points of contact. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussions. Those conversations paved the way for the strikingly chastened tone Mr. Musk struck in an X post early Wednesday, in which he wrote: 'I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.' Representatives of Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk did not respond to requests for comment. Mr. Musk had spent several days signaling that he wanted to make up with the president after the two men engaged in a sharp series of personal attacks last Thursday that played out from the Oval Office and on social media. What began as criticism by the tech billionaire of Mr. Trump's signature domestic bill devolved into an exchange of insults that mounted throughout the day, as the president claimed he had not needed Mr. Musk's help to get elected and Mr. Musk tried to link Mr. Trump to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The night after Mr. Musk spoke with Ms. Wiles and Mr. Vance, he deleted his social media posts suggesting that the Trump administration was withholding the release of government files about Mr. Epstein because they implicated the president. It remains to be seen how Mr. Trump will handle the attempted rapprochement and whether the two men's relationship can be restored. In the wake of their showdown, Mr. Trump told advisers that he had no interest in talking to Mr. Musk, and was done with him, a sentiment he reiterated in interviews with reporters. But behind the scenes, advisers from both camps worked to arrange a détente. Mr. Musk did not intend to leave the White House in such a huff, according to people close to him, even after he criticized Mr. Trump's domestic policy bill as fiscally irresponsible. But the president's decision to withdraw his nomination of Jared Isaacman, a close Musk associate, to run NASA was a humiliating turn for Mr. Musk. Over the ensuing week, he began venting to friends, both in person and over text messages, about Mr. Isaacman's defenestration. In the days since the blowup between the two men, several people close to Mr. Musk encouraged him to put an end to the fight, believing that he had overstepped. Initially, Mr. Musk showed no signs of backing down from his confrontation with the president. On Friday, he replied to an X user who said he should apologize to Mr. Trump with: 'What's the apology for exactly?' Mr. Musk added that he would only apologize after 'a full dump of the Epstein files.' (He later deleted that post.) The president's decision to withdraw his nomination of Jared Isaacman, a close Musk associate, to run NASA was a humiliating turn for Mr. Musk. Credit... Tierney L. Cross for The New York Times By Sunday, Mr. Musk was realigning himself with Mr. Trump, sharing a screenshot of one of Mr. Trump's social media posts that criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom of California for his handling of the immigration protests in Los Angeles. Both Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump have a lot at stake in the relationship, but it was Mr. Musk who appeared more eager to make amends. Mr. Trump threatened to cancel billions of dollars' worth of contracts that Mr. Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, has with the federal government. Mr. Musk is not without leverage, however. He is the biggest donor in Republican politics and had promised to give an additional $100 million to Mr. Trump's outside groups ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. He also has extensive knowledge of the inner dynamics of the administration, and Mr. Trump has been keen to avoid a repeat of his first term, when former aides left on bad terms and went on to write books about their experiences or become witnesses in some of his legal entanglements. Mr. Trump almost never apologizes. One rare exception came in 2018, when he privately expressed regret to Prime Minister Teresa May of Britain for critical remarks he had made about her in an interview that published as she was about to honor him, according to a person with knowledge of what took place. For his part, Mr. Musk has at times shown contrition for his scorched-earth tactics on social media. In 2018, he apologized to a British cave expert after calling him a 'pedo guy' on Twitter. In 2023, shortly after buying the social media company, he apologized for saying an employee whom he had let go was using a disability as an 'excuse.' Ryan Mac, Kate Conger and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting. June 11, 2025, 1:09 p.m. ET Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, just told members of the House Ways and Means Committee that he does not endorse bipartisan legislation for tougher sanctions on Russia. He said he would encourage Congress to let the Trump administration have 'flexibility' to support the negotiations with Russia and Ukraine. 'We should be aware of unintended consequences,' he added. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times June 11, 2025, 12:58 p.m. ET Asked about the possibility of becoming the Federal Reserve chair, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that his current role was the 'best job in Washington' and that 'I would like to stay in my seat through 2029.' The question followed a Bloomberg News report this week that said that Trump might consider Bessent to replace Jerome Powell to lead the central bank. June 11, 2025, 11:52 a.m. ET Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, said that the U.S. could breach its debt limit 'at some point in the middle to late summer' if Congress does not act to lift or suspend the borrowing cap. The Treasury secretary also said that 'it remains to be seen' if the tax policy legislation that Republicans are crafting will add to the national debt, despite budget forecasts that it could add more than $2 trillion to the debt over the next decade. June 11, 2025, 11:37 a.m. ET At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, criticized the Pentagon for cutting military medical research while spending $45 million for a parade on Saturday celebrating the Army's 250th birthday — which also falls on President Trump's birthday. 'This is not consistent with what the men and women in uniform deserve,' Durbin said. Credit... Al Drago/Reuters June 11, 2025, 10:57 a.m. ET Robert Jimison Reporting from the Capitol At the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Senator Mitch McConnell has publicly faced off with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for the first time since he voted against Hegseth's confirmation in January. McConnell, an outspoken defense hawk, has been critical of the Trump administration's defense spending plan and countered Hegseth's argument that the administration is making the largest investment in the military in 20 years through Trump's reconciliation package. McConnell said putting defense spending into that package and not increasing spending in the regular budget 'may well end up functioning as a shell-game to avoid making the most significant annual investments that we spent years urging the Biden administration to make.' Credit... Kenny Holston/The New York Times June 11, 2025, 10:34 a.m. ET Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced pointed questions from senior Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, in his second appearance on Capitol Hill this week. Lawmakers criticized Hegseth for failing to submit a detailed Pentagon spending request for the fiscal year 2026, while the G.O.P.-controlled Congress struggles to agree on a budget reconciliation package. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top Republican on the committee's defense panel, and Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, the top Democrat, also criticized the Pentagon for not including additional military assistance to Ukraine in its budget request. Credit... Kenny Holston/The New York Times The board members are concerned that political appointees at the State Department, which manages the program, are acting illegally by canceling the awarding of Fulbright scholarships. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times The dozen board members of the prestigious Fulbright program that promotes international educational exchanges resigned on Wednesday because of what they said was political interference by the Trump administration in their operations, according to people familiar with the issues and a board memo obtained by The New York Times. The members are concerned that political appointees at the State Department, which manages the program, are acting illegally by canceling the awarding of Fulbright scholarships to almost 200 American professors and researchers who are prepared to go to universities and other research institutions overseas starting this summer, said the people, including Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire. The board approved those scholars over the winter after a yearlong selection process, and the State Department was supposed to send acceptance letters by April, the people said. But instead, the board learned that the office of public diplomacy at the agency had begun sending rejection letters to the scholars based mainly on their research topics, they said. In addition, the department is reviewing the applications of about 1,200 scholars from other countries who have already been approved by the board to come to the United States, the people said. Those foreign scholars were also supposed to receive acceptance letters around April. The memo written by the board says that members are resigning 'rather than endorse unprecedented actions that we believe are impermissible under the law, compromise U.S. national interests and integrity, and undermine the mission and mandates Congress established for the Fulbright program nearly 80 years ago,' according to a copy obtained by The Times. The board posted the memo online on Wednesday morning, after sending a resignation letter to the White House. The board is also concerned that the budget that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is requesting from Congress for the next fiscal year cuts spending for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which includes the Fulbright program, to $50 million from $691 million this fiscal year. The State Department did not reply to a request for comment on Wednesday. The actions come as President Trump and his top aides seek to bend academic institutions to their ideological beliefs. The State Department's public diplomacy office is run by Darren Beattie, a political appointee who was fired from a job during the first Trump administration after he gave a talk at a conference attended by white nationalists. He has made social media posts on white grievances, including one saying 'competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work,' and ones ridiculing Mr. Rubio. Darren Beattie runs the State Department's public diplomacy office, which began sending rejection letters to scholars based mainly on their research topics, the board members said. Credit... Rebecca Noble for The New York Times The administration is trying to withhold federal funding, mainly for science research, from several universities and in some cases is demanding changes to departments. It has tried to stop foreign students and scholars from coming to Harvard University, but a court has temporarily barred the administration from acting on that order. Mr. Rubio told the State Department last month to stop taking new appointments for foreign citizens applying for student or exchange visas while the agency expands scrutiny of social media posts by the applicants. American universities rely on tuition payments by foreign students for a major part of their revenue and value the research expertise of those students and visiting scholars. Top Trump administration officials say many American universities are too liberal in their curricula and must insert more conservative ideas into their teaching, research and hiring practices. The administration has also dismantled research institutions established by Congress, including the Wilson Center and the United States Institute of Peace. A federal judge ruled last month that the administration's gutting of USIP was illegal. The Fulbright program was established in 1946 after legislation introduced by J. William Fulbright, a Democratic senator from Arkansas. The Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961 formalized legal statutes for the program. It says the selection of scholars, teachers and others falls under the authority of a 12-member board appointed by the president. The nearly 200 scholars who are receiving rejection letters are part of a group of about 900 American scholars approved by the board over the winter. 'The bipartisan Fulbright Board was mandated by Congress to be a check on the executive and to ensure that students, researchers and educators are not subjected to the blatant political favoritism that this administration is known for,' Ms. Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. 'While I understand and respect the bipartisan Fulbright Board for resigning en masse rather than grant credibility to a politicized and unlawful process,' she added, 'I am painfully aware that today's move will change the quality of Fulbright programming and the independent research that has made our country a leader in so many fields.' Ms. Shaheen and the board asserted that the State Department was violating the congressional statute by rejecting or reviewing the scholarship candidates already approved by the board, the people familiar with the issues said. The selection process for the American scholars usually starts with career diplomats in overseas missions and U.S. educational institutions, and proceeds for months until the board gives essentially pro forma approval over the winter. Across Republican and Democratic administrations, the board has generally approved of the candidates submitted by the State Department because of the long and rigorous selection process and to avoid the appearance of political interference. The United States has 49 bilateral commissions established by treaties with other nations, many American allies, to help with the selection process and match scholars with institutions. More than 35 countries contribute half or more of the funding for the scholarships. The makeup of the board changes as members finish their three-year terms. The current members are all appointees of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. because those who began serving on it during the first Trump administration have rotated out. The nearly 200 American scholars who are receiving rejection letters from the State Department are about a fifth of the total U.S. scholars approved by the board over the winter. Mr. Beattie and his aides appear to be rejecting them based on their stated research topics, which include climate change, environmental resilience, migration, gender, race and ethnicity and homelessness, said the people familiar with the State Department's actions. The topics also include ones in the sciences, such as biology, agriculture and animal studies, according to the board memo. The Fulbright program encompasses about 8,000 scholars, students, teachers and researchers in different categories at any given time. The board sent separate messages last month to Mr. Beattie and Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state, expressing concern over the undermining of the selection process for the American scholars, the people said. Most of the American and foreign scholars approved by the board had gotten early signals from officials and commissions of their acceptances so they could arrange leaves from their universities and prepare to move overseas for about a year. June 11, 2025, 10:11 a.m. ET Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, just off the plane after trade talks with Chinese officials in London, is now testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee. In his prepared remarks, Bessent said: 'China has a singular opportunity to stabilize its economy by shifting away from excess production towards greater consumption. But the country needs to be a reliable partner in trade negotiations.' He added that if China will 'course-correct by upholding its end of the initial trade agreement we outlined in Geneva last month' the world's two largest economies can rebalance trade relations. June 11, 2025, 10:04 a.m. ET General Motors said it would invest $4 billion to expand production of gasoline-powered and electric models in the United States, in some cases relocating production from Mexico. The move may help it win favor with President Trump, who has complained about companies making cars in Mexico. G.M. said late Tuesday it would relocate production of the Chevrolet Equinox sport utility vehicle from Mexico to its factory in Kansas City. It also said it would produce gasoline-powered Chevrolet Blazer S.U.V.s at its factory in Spring Hill, Tenn., alongside electric Cadillac models. G.M. had been expected to move Blazer production to Mexico. Credit... Brett Carlsen for The New York Times June 11, 2025, 8:18 a.m. ET President Trump said in a Truth Social post this morning that the economic deal between the U.S. and China 'is done' and that China has committed to supplying the U.S. with magnets and rare earth minerals. He said that Chinese students would continue to have access to American colleges and universities. On tariffs, Trump said that the tariff rate for Chinese imports would be 55 percent, while China's tariff rate would be 10 percent. 'Relationship is excellent,' Trump wrote. The president noted that the deal was subject to final approval from him and President Xi Jinping of China. Bryan Bedford recently criticized the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency President Trump nominated him to lead, for what he called a 'lack of strategic vision.' Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Bryan Bedford, President Trump's pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, refused on Wednesday to commit to holding all commercial pilots to the same federal training requirements, unnerving Democrats as he outlined his vision to modernize the air travel safety agency at a critical moment. The issue emerged as a flashpoint during Mr. Bedford's confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which centered mostly on issues of safety. Mr. Bedford, a longtime airline executive, is expected to receive enough support to be confirmed. Nevertheless, he is auditioning to run the F.A.A. as the agency tries to address several issues, including an air traffic controller staffing shortage and outdated technology that has caused significant outages and delays, that critics have said make flying riskier. 'I'm a big supporter of structured training as opposed to pure time building,' he told senators of the current federal training requirements, later adding that: 'I don't believe safety is static.' Mr. Bedford has been a longtime critic of the federal requirement that commercial pilots complete 1,500 flight hours of training, a standard he called 'arbitrary' in congressional testimony in 2014. In 2022, as the leader of Republic Airways, he petitioned the F.A.A. to allow graduates of Republic's flight school to be certified after completing only 750 hours of training, the same number required of military pilots seeking to pilot commercial aircraft. The petition was denied. As F.A.A. administrator, Mr. Bedford would have some discretion to grant such waivers to other pilots, and potentially even to graduates of Republic's school, if they reapply for a waiver, after a mandatory two-year recusal period with which he has agreed to comply. On Wednesday, he declined to pledge he would not dole out such waivers until the F.A.A. could fully staff air traffic control towers, rankling Democrats. They warned that chipping away at pilot safety standards before other safeguards were in place could lead to more midair accidents like the fatal collision between a commercial jet and a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport on Jan. 29. 'Now is not the time for less cockpit time for the pilots,' Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, the top Democrat on the panel's aviation subcommittee, said while questioning Mr. Bedford, adding: 'In incident after incident it has been the pilots — the pilots — who made a last-second decision to avert disaster.' Fears about air travel safety came to a head this year after the crash near Reagan Airport. The ensuing crisis of confidence in air travel has inspired sweeping debate over how to balance the oftentimes competing demands of speed and safety as officials rush to fix the F.A.A.'s longstanding problems. While Mr. Bedford's stance on pilot training is expected to cost him support among Democrats, the panel's top Republican backed his position. 'Fifteen hundred hours of mindless banner towing is no way to train a commercial pilot,' Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the panel's chairman, said during the hearing. Mr. Bedford repeatedly emphasized that his top priority as administrator would be improving the air traffic control system. He pledged to accelerate the hiring of controllers and roll out more advanced technology, much of which he argued was already commercially available. 'There's stuff that's on the market today, made by American manufacturers, that they're selling abroad,' he argued, adding later: 'The tools that we are giving our work force are unacceptable.' As part of that, Mr. Bedford endorsed the expansion of tracking technologies that would allow airplanes — including military aircraft — to be more visible to air traffic controllers, noting that the military helicopter that crashed into an American Airlines plane near National Airport had turned off its tracking device. Mr. Bedford spoke favorably of the Essential Air Service, a federal program that subsidizes air travel to rural and underserved areas, despite a Trump administration proposal to slash its budget by about half. He also noted that he would support an influx of federal funds to upgrade aging air traffic control towers, saying that though the $12.5 billion Congress had already authorized was 'a great start,' that 'it's going to take a lot more than that.' But he was cautious about running afoul of other initiatives Mr. Trump has championed. After recounting an anecdote about how Republic's flight school, had trained a woman of color to become an airline captain, Mr. Bedford deflected questions about whether he agreed with Mr. Trump's claim that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives were at fault in the crash at National Airport. The claim has been roundly criticized. 'I don't have any earthly idea,' Mr. Bedford said. He also sidestepped queries about whether a proposed auction of federal spectrum, the portion of the spectrum used for wireless communications that belongs to the government, to private operators might negatively affect aviation safety. Last week, Mr. Trump endorsed a plan from congressional Republicans to authorize such an auction. 'I'm not informed enough to formulate an opinion,' Mr. Bedford said, despite Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, the panel's top Democrat, insisting that Mr. Bedford had previously told her that the proposed auction would be 'a big problem.' 'We had significant challenges with the last spectrum,' Mr. Bedford replied, adding: 'I said for the record we should learn those lessons of the past and act more collaboratively.' Several airline companies and trade associations, as well as the air traffic controllers' union, have backed Mr. Bedford's candidacy. But a union representing airline pilots has raised concerns, pointing to his stance on training. On Wednesday, family members of recent plane crash victims who attended the hearing also offered mixed critiques of Mr. Bedford's stance on lowering pilot training standards. 'If we get the very best training, there may be room for that,' said Tim Lilley, whose son, Sam Lilley, was one of the pilots for the flight that was hit by an Army Blackhawk helicopter on Jan. 29. The elder Mr. Lilley previously flew Blackhawk helicopters for the Army for 20 years. 'His additional training, we were all for, but make that in addition to the 1,500 hours,' said Ron Aughtmon, who lost his uncle, John Fiore, in the 2009 crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407, which prompted Congress to order the 1,500-hour rule be put in place. 'There shouldn't be a reduction. It works.' In ethics disclosures, Mr. Bedford promised to resign from his current positions running or serving on the boards of various airlines, noting that he expected to receive a lump-sum severance payment and outstanding bonuses from Republic upon leaving his position should he be confirmed as the next F.A.A. leader. He also committed to serving a full five-year term to ensure that the agency had stable leadership as it tried to accelerated fixes. The F.A.A. has had five leaders in the last four years. The push for an inquiry is tied to a conference Harvard held as part of a broader 'Harvard China Health Partnership.' Credit... Sophie Park for The New York Times Secretary of State Marco Rubio is pushing to investigate whether Harvard University violated federal sanctions by collaborating on a health insurance conference in China that may have included officials blacklisted by the U.S. government, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by The New York Times. Mr. Rubio signed off on a recommendation to the Treasury Department last month to open an investigation, which experts and former Treasury officials said was an unusual attempt from a cabinet secretary to target a domestic entity for sanctions enforcement. Whether the agency within the Treasury that handles sanctions, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, opened an investigation in response was unclear — but such a move could expose Harvard to significant legal risks. Mr. Rubio's action is the latest example of the Trump administration's whole-of-government approach to bringing the Ivy League university to heel. President Trump has sought for months to impose his political agenda on Harvard by reshaping its curriculum, admissions and hiring processes. The effort initially relied primarily on accusations that university officials had not done enough to address antisemitism on campus. In recent weeks, however, the administration's focus has expanded to other issues, including allegations about Harvard's foreign ties, particularly to China. A potential sanctions investigation demonstrates how Harvard's problems with the government extend far beyond questions of whether the school will continue receiving federal funding. Mr. Trump and his allies appear determined to upend nearly all aspects of the institution, which has long symbolized the pinnacle of higher learning in the country and attracted influential scholars from around the globe. A spokesman for the Treasury Department said the agency takes any allegations of sanctions violations 'extremely seriously' but declined to comment on a possible or pending sanctions investigation. A State Department spokeswoman declined to comment. The health insurance conference, known as the Training Course on Health Financing, began in 2019 as a joint venture between Harvard, the World Bank and the National Health Insurance Administration, the arm of the Chinese government that oversees the state-backed health care system, according to the university's website. Over the years, training has focused on topics like 'innovative provider payment methods' and 'pricing and payment for internet health.' The university has promoted the event, which in some years has drawn upward of 200 people, as a key part of a broader 'Harvard China Health Partnership' inside its T.H. Chan School for Public Health. University officials have previously described the event as aimed at expanding access to high-quality health care for 1.4 billion people in China. Behind Mr. Rubio's sanctions push is the presence of officials from a Chinese state-run group called the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps at some, if not all, of the conferences since 2019. The X.P.C.C. is known in northwest China for building towns and running its own university and hospital systems. The group is also responsible for systemic human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the region, according to the U.S. government. The Chinese government formed the X.P.C.C. more than seven decades ago as a paramilitary organization tasked with settling a distant region with many ethnic groups and some militias. The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the group in 2020. Harvard has been conducting an internal review into the X.P.C.C.'s involvement at the conference, but it was unclear what details had been turned up, according to two people familiar with the inquiry who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal university deliberations. A Harvard spokesman declined to comment. An archived version of a Harvard webpage about the inaugural conference noted that participants in the training included the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. That event occurred one year before the U.S. government targeted the group for sanctions, but mention of the X.P.C.C. has since been deleted. A Chinese government website about the 2023 conference shows that participants that year — three years after the U.S. imposed sanctions on the X.P.C.C. — included Chinese health officials, scholars from 'top universities,' such as Harvard, and representatives of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. Still, the X.P.C.C.'s involvement in the conference only recently gained attention from Trump allies, after a report about Harvard's links to China published on April 22 by Strategy Risks, a New York-based intelligence company specializing in corporate exposure to China. The report was funded by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank that has advised Republican policymakers. Since then, the report's details have been highlighted in news articles from conservative media outlets and public statements from Republican officials. On May 15, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas cited the Strategy Risks report in a letter to Mr. Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, urging an investigation into Harvard's public health school. On May 19, Republicans on the House education committee sent a request for records to Harvard about, in part, the X.P.C.C.'s involvement in the conference. On May 22, the Department of Homeland Security said that Harvard had 'hosted and trained' members of the group and included a link to a Fox News article about the House Republican records request in its news release. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, signed off on a recommendation to the Treasury Department, led by Scott Bessent, right, last month to open an investigation into Harvard. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Investigations of potential sanctions violations could take months or years, while penalties range from a cautionary letter from the government to significant financial damages. Other cabinet secretaries — like the secretary of state — often coordinate with the Treasury secretary on foreign individuals, groups or countries that they believe should be subject to sanctions. But it is atypical for the nation's chief diplomat to single out an American individual, group or company for a potential violation, according to John Smith, a former director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Sanctions investigations, Mr. Smith said, are typically started after reporting in media or from companies, the intelligence community or law enforcement. 'I wouldn't say it's wrong or improper,' Mr. Smith said. 'I would just say it's unusual and not the usual course of business.' Typically, after learning of a potential violation, the Office of Foreign Assets Control decides whether to open an investigation. If the office ultimately finds wrongdoing, the Treasury could impose civil penalties and recommend that the Justice Department pursue criminal charges. In particularly egregious instances, companies can be hit with civil and criminal penalties that come with fines as high as billions of dollars. Harvard has confronted a tumultuous two months since Mr. Trump set his sights on the school. In some ways, Harvard has been victimized by the success of its yearslong push to expand its global influence, which has abruptly crashed into the nationalist impulses fueling Mr. Trump's 'America First' agenda. Many of Harvard's attempts at inroads in China began relatively recently, when Washington was engaged with Beijing as a strategic and economic partner. China is now viewed more widely as an adversary, a shift that accelerated during Mr. Trump's first administration. Harvard brought an initial lawsuit against the administration in April, accusing the government of trying to assert control over the school with threats to cut federal funding. By then, the Trump administration had already blocked $2.2 billion in various grants. Since the lawsuit was filed, the university and its research partners have lost nearly another $1.5 billion in support from the National Institutes of Health, the Defense Department and other federal agencies. The university is also fighting in court over an effort from Mr. Trump and the Homeland Security Department to revoke visas from Harvard's international students, who account for about one-fourth of the student body, and bar them from the country. Harvard has been targeted by additional investigations from the Education Department, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Health and Human Services Department and the Justice Department. Isaac Stone Fish, the founder and chief executive of Strategy Risks, said he started his company in 2021 after working as a journalist in Beijing. In 2022, he published a book, 'America Second,' that traces the recent transition of the U.S.-China relationship, from economic partners to open rivals. Mr. Stone Fish said his report, cited by conservatives, should not be read as a 'blanket condemnation' of Harvard. He praised the university for pushing ahead on what he described as crucial research and scholarship into China. But he also argued that the X.P.C.C. was 'one of the world's most notorious organizations' and that the university's partnerships should be held to a high standard. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, speaking at a Bloomberg News event in Washington on Tuesday, defended the administration's punishing approach to Harvard and said it was a way to shift an ideological tilt she views as hostile to conservatives. Asked to summarize the administration's successes so far in its battle with Harvard, she pointed to the departure of two faculty members in March from the university's Center for Middle Eastern Studies. 'We have noticed that they did replace their head of Middle Eastern studies because they felt that they needed to make some adjustments there,' Ms. McMahon said. 'So we're pleased to see that.' All of the federal funding cuts for Harvard — and eight of the 10 federal investigations into the university — have happened since the professors left campus. Elon Musk in the Oval Office last month. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times Elon Musk said in a social media post early Wednesday that he regretted some of his posts and comments about President Trump last week, which had led the president to disparage the tech billionaire, a feud that played out in real time on social media. Mr. Musk said on his X platform that some of his posts about Mr. Trump 'went too far.' Mr. Musk, the world's richest person, was once among the president's closest advisers, overseeing a major effort to slash spending and reduce the size of the federal work force. But he and Mr. Trump had a dramatic and public falling out after the Tesla chief executive left his role in the administration. Both men traded barbs on social media, and Mr. Trump said last week that he had no interest in repairing the relationship. Mr. Musk's public expression of regret was another sign of a potential thaw in the standoff with the president. Even last week, Mr. Musk had agreed with a post on X suggesting the two men were 'stronger together.' Mr. Musk has since deleted some of his most incendiary social media posts. Mr. Trump has also toned down some of his public criticisms of Mr. Musk. The protests in Los Angeles also highlighted a key issue where the two men agree: immigration. In recent days, Mr. Musk has used his social media platform to echo Mr. Trump's rhetoric about the protests and need for a strong government response. Mr. Musk's post on Wednesday underscores the complicated power dynamics between the two men. Mr. Musk, who poured roughly $275 million into Mr. Trump's re-election campaign, is the biggest donor in Republican politics. He also has more followers than anyone else on X, the social media platform he owns. But Mr. Trump holds vast political power over Mr. Musk. The billionaire's companies, especially Tesla and SpaceX, have received billions of dollars in federal contracts in recent years. As the two men sparred online last week, Mr. Trump threatened to cut them off as a way to 'save money' in the federal budget. Mr. Musk's companies were promised $3 billion in federal contracts from 17 federal agencies in 2023 alone. A number of federal agencies are investigating or suing companies owned by Mr. Musk. Allies of the two men have been urging them to reconcile. The spat initially focused on Mr. Musk's criticism of Mr. Trump's signature domestic policy bill, which he condemned as a 'disgusting abomination' because it will add substantially to the national debt. But the spat devolved quickly into petty and outlandish attacks. Mr. Musk, for example, suggested that the Trump administration had not released files on the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein because Mr. Trump was named in them. Mr. Trump, at one point, asked why Mr. Musk had not covered up his black eye with makeup during an Oval Office appearance last week. The social media fight came as Mr. Musk had pledged to step back from politics and his work at the Department of Government Efficiency, a federal government cost-cutting project, to refocus on his companies, which are facing important moments for their futures. Tesla has seen its sales slump globally as Mr. Musk's politics have become a strain for the car brand. In the United States, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and France, sales have fallen while other electric carmakers are gaining ground. Tesla is facing a major test later this month, when the company is expected to introduce a new autonomous driving taxi fleet in Austin, Texas, called Robotaxi. Mr. Musk's space company, SpaceX, is also facing challenges. The company is developing the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. Test flights thus far have produced mixed results. See more on: Donald Trump © 2025 The New York Times Company Manage Privacy Preferences
New York Times
36 minutes ago
- New York Times
Crystal Palace: Group including Jimmy Butler expected to make offer for stake in Premier League club
A consortium of sport and entertainment executives, which includes the NBA star Jimmy Butler, is expected to make an offer in excess of $200million to purchase Eagle Football's 43 per cent stake in Premier League soccer club Crystal Palace, sources briefed on the proposed deal have told The Athletic. Advertisement The group is led by former Morgan Stanley sports executive Bejan Esmaili and former Roc Nation attorney Wajid Mir, with the pair having previously agreed in January a period of exclusivity with John Textor — the largest shareholder in Eagle Football and one of Palace's four primary owners — which they allowed to lapse. The Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd had formed part of that consortium but instead chose to join the ownership group of fellow Premier League side Everton in April. Now Butler, a six-time NBA all-star who has been with the Golden State Warriors since February, has become part of the wider group. Eagle and Butler, via his representatives, have been approached for comment. Previously backed by two Saudi Arabian businessmen, Haider and Mansoor Syed, the original group opted to allow its 30-day period of exclusivity to end and instead sought alternative funding. The new consortium, sources added, is backed by an American group which has experience investing in soccer clubs. Should the group's expected offer be accepted, it would value Palace — which won the English FA Cup, the world's oldest soccer cup competition, for the first time in May — as a whole in excess of $465million (£343m). Other recent investments in Premier League clubs include Sir Jim Racliffe's purchase of a 28.9 per cent stake in Manchester United for $1.6bn in December 2023, the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover of Chelsea for $3.02bn in May 2022 and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF)-backed takeover of Newcastle United for £305m in October 2021. Sources also added that Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets, has also made an offer for Eagle's shares but has yet to meet Textor's valuation. The Athletic has approached Johnson for comment, via the Jets. Sportsbank, a sports investment group advised by the former Everton director and experienced football financier Keith Harris, was granted exclusivity to invest in Eagle in January, but that exclusivity also lapsed and it no longer has an active offer, although remains interested in investing should Eagle complete its initial public offering (IPO). Advertisement The expected offer from the new U.S. consortium comes amid concerns over Palace's eligibility to compete in next season's Europa League despite qualifying as FA Cup winners, due to Eagle's ownership of French side Lyon, where it holds a majority stake, putting them potentially at odds with UEFA's rules around multi-club ownership. Textor had hoped fellow Palace co-owners Josh Harris, who owns the NFL's Washington Commanders, and David Blitzer, the two American businessmen who together make up the other general partners alongside chairman Steve Parish, would purchase Eagle's shares but no deal has been agreed. They have the right of first offer to buy Eagle's stake in the south London soccer club and have been approached by Textor, but according to sources familiar with the situation, their proposal fell short of being accepted. Textor believes it would be the easiest way to remove doubt over Palace's Europa League participation. Textor, the fourth general partner at Palace as a representative of Eagle, is the chairman of the group but after more than a year shifting between being open to selling Eagle's stake and seeking to buy a majority, appears to have settled on selling, especially with Palace's place in Europe in question. UEFA's rules restrict teams from multi-club groups playing in the same competition. While there may still be ways around this, the deadline set by European football's governing body to address any multi-club ownership issues passed on March 1 — the day Palace beat Millwall in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Lyon qualified for the same competition through their league standing and due to finishing higher than Palace in their respective league, they have precedence to be admitted to the competition. All four of Palace's general partners met with UEFA in Nyon, Switzerland, last week to present their case that Textor does not have control or influence at Palace. There is some confidence that they would be able to convey a lack of decisive influence but the decision on whether to admit Palace to Europe remains in the balance before it is communicated to the club, which is expected later this month. The U.S. consortium is expected to now come back to the table. Should it make the offer and it be accepted by Eagle, as their previous offer was in December, then the deal will be subject to Premier League approval. It remains to be seen whether UEFA would be satisfied by a binding agreement for Eagle to sell its stake, or whether any deal can reach that stage before the committee makes its decision. Should the consortium be successful in buying out Eagle, it may subsequently look to carry out a full takeover of Palace in due course in order to have full decision-making power. In May last year, Textor told The Athletic that he was actively looking to sell Eagle's stake in Palace and he had hired investment banking firm Raine to find a suitable investor to purchase the group's share in the club. 'We've reached the point where we have a significant investment in a club we hold in the minority (in Palace),' he said. 'We're having extreme success in Brazil and early on in France, (and) to not have that same level of integration with our partner in the UK… it just becomes more and more clear that that level of collaboration we want and need works.' Advertisement Eagle Football 'is simply not a perfect fit for Crystal Palace,' he added. Textor originally purchased 40 per cent of Palace in 2021 for £87.5m (now $114m), helping to fund a successful transfer window and complete the redevelopment of the academy, before increasing that stake by around five per cent with an additional £30m. Further investment has come from capital calls. There have been failed attempts by Textor to purchase a controlling stake in the club, which is also owned by fellow general partners Parish, Harris and Blitzer, who each have 25 per cent of the voting rights. Over the past four years, Textor has struggled to make headway into purchasing a controlling stake and disagreed with Parish over the direction of the club, in particular with his multi-club model which includes controlling stakes in Lyon, Brazilian top-flight club Botafogo and Belgian club RWD Molenbeek, which he recently renamed Daring Brussels. Now, he appears to have accepted it is time to sell up at Palace. Additional reporting: Anthony Slater (Top photo of Crystal Palace players celebrating their FA Cup win in May:)
Bloomberg
41 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Britain's Billionaire Exodus Shows Cost of Tax Raid
The UK government says ending special tax privileges for the wealthy will bring in billions. Ben Stupples explains why a growing wealth exodus is putting their decision to the test. (Source: Bloomberg)
