German finance minister wants quick results from state investments
"I think this is also very important in the fight against right-wing populism, to show people that the country is modernising, that something is happening and that life is becoming easier thanks to investments in infrastructure," said the Vice-Chancellor at the Hamburg Sustainability Conference (HSC).
"My goal is for people to see that something is happening this year." He also appealed to German businesses, "now is the time to invest."
At the same time, he called on Europe to speed up political decisions, saying there is too much bureaucracy and too little politics. He pointed out that the presidential election in Poland did not turn out well for Europe, and that 2027's presidential election in France is approaching. "No one knows what will happen then," he said.
He expressed confidence in the outcome of the trade dispute with the United States. Germany and Europe's clear message to the United States is "We want a common path and are looking for a common solution."
With regard to China, Klingbeil said that Germany should definitely cooperate with Beijing, but at the same time the clear message is that if Taiwan is attacked, everything will change.
Klingbeil said that Germany would remain a reliable partner in development financing, "especially now that other important donor countries are reducing their support." Germany is on track to become the world's largest donor of official development assistance, he added.
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The Hill
15 minutes ago
- The Hill
Hot mics and heaven: Global leaders make post-summit moves
GLOBAL LEADERS sprang into action Tuesday seeking to capitalize on the good vibes coming out of President Trump 's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders to work toward bringing an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. 'If I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed — I want to try to get to heaven if possible,' Trump said in a Tuesday interview on Fox News. 'I hear I'm not doing too well, I'm really at the bottom of the totem pole … but if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.' Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin directly after the summit at the White House to discuss a face-to-face with Zelensky. The White House said Putin agreed to meet Zelensky, although Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday a potential summit would have to be prepared 'step by step, gradually, starting from the expert level and then going through all the necessary stages.' German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who attended the Washington summit, said Putin and Zelensky could have a bilateral meeting within two weeks. French President Emmanuel Macron, another summit attendee, pitched Switzerland for the potential Putin-Zelensky meeting spot. Trump said if Putin and Zelensky meet, he'd then participate in a trilateral meeting sometime after that with the aim of ending the war entirely. Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine. '[T]he optimism of your president is to be taken seriously,' Macron told NBC News. 'So if he considers he can get a deal done, this is great news, and we have to do whatever we can to have a great deal.' Trump was caught on a hot mic Monday telling Macron that Putin 'wants to make a deal for me' after the two met privately in Alaska last week. Still, Russia launched a major attack overnight on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. And agreements need to be reached about land swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine. Zelensky said he believes a security guarantee could be ironed out in the next 10 days. Trump has said the U.S. will participate in Ukraine's security, although he said Tuesday the U.S. would not send troops to keep the peace. However, Trump left open the possibility of U.S. air support to keep Ukraine safe from future incursions. 'We're willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you talk about by air because nobody has stuff we have,' Trump said on Fox News. Russia says it won't accept 'any scenarios' in which NATO troops are dispatched to Ukraine. Trump is under pressure from his right flank to not further involve the U.S. in the war after his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said that the U.S. could participate in 'Article 5-like protections' for Ukraine. 'I'm just lost how the United States offering an Article 5 commitment for a security guarantee to Ukraine is a win for the United States,' Steve Bannon said on his radio show. Meanwhile, there are concerns about how much new Ukrainian territory Russia is seeking to keep and what land concessions Zelensky will be willing to concede. In addition, Trump said he's in discussion with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, about missing Ukrainian children — a key concern for Zelensky and first lady Melania Trump, who wrote a personal letter to Putin to plead on their behalf. 'This is… a big subject with my wife, Melania,' Trump said on social media. 'It is a subject at the top of all lists, and the World will work together to solve it, hopefully bringing them home to their families!' More than 19,000 Ukrainian children are reported to have been abducted from their homes since Russia invaded Ukraine. OPTIMISM ON THE RISE Trump received praise from some unexpected places after Monday's international summit at the White House. Michael McFaul, the former U.S. Ambassador to Russia under former President Obama, called the European summit this week a 'brilliant, brilliant' development. 'Talking about security guarantees with European soldiers being a part of that — that is major progress, with American assistance,' McFaul said on NBC. Zelensky gifted Trump with a new blade-style putter during his trip to the White House, courtesy of a Ukrainian soldier who shares Trump's love of the game. NewsNation correspondent Robert Sherman has a new dispatch from Kyiv: 'The wheels of diplomacy are turning on the Ukraine front, with all the big powerbrokers in Europe meeting at the White House. Those who have covered the Oval Office for decades acknowledge they've never seen such a cattle call. The meeting illustrates the magnitude of the moment. The ball is moving toward the end of this war, but there's a lot that still needs to happen — and plenty that can go wrong.' 💡 Perspectives: • The Hill: Putin must change his behavior or face regime change. • The Wall Street Journal: Trump gets real on Ukraine's security. • CNN: Trump deserves credit for peace push. • The Free Press: Trump's turn toward Zelensky and away from Putin. CATCH UP QUICK Six thousand foreign students have had their visas revoked since the start of the second Trump administration. A federal judge dismissed portions of a lawsuit brought by 'Alligator Alcatraz' detainees, handing the Trump administration a partial win. Hurricane Erin is forcing evacuations on North Carolina's Outer Banks. NEWS THIS AFTERNOON California Democrats move ahead with redistricting California Democrats have unveiled legislation to draw new congressional maps more favorable for Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The move comes in direct response to Texas's mid-decade redistricting efforts. 'We decided as a delegation that we could not just stand there and allow [President] Trump to distort the next election, and continue to harm the people who we represent,' Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said at a press conference. 'And so we have worked to try and identify a map that is consistent with the goals that we believe in.' California Democrats believe they can gain an additional five seats in the House next year with the new maps, matching the five House seats Republicans are hoping to pick up in Texas through redistricting. The California House Republicans being targeted: Kevin Kiley Doug LaMalfa Ken Calvert Darrell Issa David Valadao California Republican legislators responded by petitioning the state Supreme Court to intervene, citing a section of the state constitution that requires a month-long review period for new legislation. 'California's Constitution requires bills to be in print for 30 days, but that safeguard was ignored,' Assemblyman Tri Ta posted on X. 'By bypassing this provision, Sacramento has effectively shut voters out of engaging in their own legislative process.' MEANWHILE… Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) is requiring Democrats that leave the legislature's chambers to be followed by a designated Department of Public Safety officer who will ensure they return to the House on Wednesday at 10 a.m. The move is designed to ensure Democrats don't flee the state again to derail a vote on the newly redrawn congressional district maps. State Rep. Nicole Collier (D) refused to be accompanied by an officer and instead spent the night on the Texas House floor in protest. Indiana Republicans are casting doubt on whether they will move forward with a plan to redraw congressional district lines despite pressure from the White House. The Hill's Jared Gans writes: 'Several GOP state lawmakers have come out against the effort, expressing concern about the precedent it could set for the future and possible backlash against the party. With Republican supermajorities dominating both chambers of the state Legislature, stopping the effort would require a significant number of Republicans to oppose it and ignore the Trump administration's call for it.' © AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson Roundup: Red states send National Guard troops to DC A total of six red states have now sent National Guard troops to fight crime in Washington, D.C. Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio have each dispatched between 135 and 400 National Guard troops since Trump declared a public safety emergency last week. In total, approximately 1,100 out-of-state troops will join the 800 National Guard troops, as well as a host of federal agents, to patrol the nation's capital. The Hill's Ellen Mitchell writes: 'Coupled with indications that the guard members may soon be carrying weapons — a reversal of their initial orders — the new deployments mark a major escalation of Trump's efforts to take over law enforcement in Washington.' The White House said Tuesday there have been 465 arrests since the start of the operation on Aug. 7, including 52 arrests Monday night. Nearly 50 homeless encampments have been cleared. 'A significant number of arrests have been in high-crime areas of D.C.,' press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. 'In fact, nearly half of all illegal alien-related arrests have occurred in Wards 7 and 8, the two wards that have the highest number of violent crimes, homicides and assaults with dangerous weapons last year.' ELSEWHERE… • The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee expects to begin receiving files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from the Department of Justice (DOJ) by Friday. 'There are many records in DOJ's custody, and it will take the Department time to produce all the records and ensure the identification of victims and any child sexual abuse material are redacted,' Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said. • Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is joining the Justice Department as the co-deputy director of the FBI. Bailey will share the same title as Dan Bongino, whose role has been under scrutiny amid disagreements with the administration over the Epstein case. 💡 Perspectives: • Huffpost: Sandwich thrower becomes symbol of 'crime emergency'. • Washington Times: Criminals are on the run in D.C. • Vox: What recognizing a Palestinian state actually achieves.
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Inside Trump world's reaction to the Zelenskyy reset
For Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Monday began with a diplomatic whirlwind. It ended with a great sigh of relief. Hours of meetings in Washington — Zelenskyy with President Donald Trump, Trump with a coterie of Europe's most powerful leaders, all of the above together in the Oval Office — culminated in a 'breakthrough,' in the words of NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte: Trump expressed a willingness to participate in security guarantees for Ukraine. On the international stage, that alone amounts to a new dawn not only for the relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine, but also Zelenskyy's relationship with Trump, and America's with some of its closest transatlantic allies. On the home front, it could be a bit more complicated. While there are no specifics yet on what exactly U.S. security guarantees might look like for Ukraine — Zelenskyy suggested those would be ironed out within 10 days — even the vague allusion to them hints that MAGA may be careening toward another foreign policy divide. In public, there are a few topline takeaways from yesterday. The biggest are the security guarantees, and the reality that Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin are hurtling toward a bilateral meeting; German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that summit could happen within the next two weeks. After that, Trump intends to join Zelenskyy and Putin for a trilateral meeting with the aim of ending Russia's war on Ukraine, he announced on social media. '[T]he optimism of your president is to be taken seriously,' French President Emmanuel Macron told NBC News. 'So if he considers he can get a deal done, this is great news, and we have to do whatever we can to have a great deal.' In private, there are more interesting details. Here's what Trump world insiders are talking in private about yesterday's cascade of diplomatic meetings — and how it perhaps recontextualizes parts of last Friday's Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. 1. The Trump-Zelenskyy reset is real. From the moment Trump complimented Zelenskyy on his suit — all the way through to Vice President JD Vance's more easy rapport with the Ukrainian president and the many 'thanks' Zelenskyy offered — it was a totally different mood than the disastrous February meeting. 'The vibe between the president and Zelenskyy was terrific,' a senior administration official told POLITICO. 'What happened in that first Oval meeting is well gone.' This official described the ensuing talks as 'really productive.' 2. The Europeans proved difference-makers. The goal of convening the Europeans was 'to say 'We're in charge; you'll sign on to anything we say,'' the senior administration official told POLITICO. And the White House was mostly pleased by what they saw. 'The Europeans were positive today, but they are tedious,' the official said. 'But they were really good. And if you just were an observer of the two hours today, you'd say, 'Wow, that's like a family — a happy family.' But they all have their own little thing that they want to have happen. And it really is more of a European war than an American war, but none of them has stepped up.' Was it unwieldy to have them all in a meeting together? Yes. 'They're heads of state,' the official continued. 'They're used to being in charge. And when you put seven of them in one room, you get what you would think. But it wasn't bad.' 3. Trump offered to go straight to a trilateral meeting. The senior administration official told POLITICO that when Trump called Putin to offer his presence at a meeting between Zelenskyy and the Russian leader, Putin said, 'You don't have to come. I want to see him one on one.' Trump's team 'started working on that,' the official said. 'Steve Witkoff has the assignment to get it figured [out].' 4. Alaska paved the way for the 'security guarantees' discussion. If there was any concern within the administration about how the Putin meeting in Anchorage went down, Monday all but evaporated it. 'After Alaska, we were excited that Putin was at least talking and there were signs we could negotiate,' a second senior administration official told POLITICO. One of those signs came on the topic of security guarantees: Putin was 'engaging on a conversation about security guarantees instead of, 'Nyet, nyet, nyet,' this second official said. 'If Alaska was not successful and Putin didn't give us a little bit of an opening, we wouldn't have [had] the Europeans at the White House.' Of Putin: 'He'll drive a hard bargain, but that opening is huge.' 5. Those security guarantees could be a sticking point internationally. It remains unclear just how big a commitment the U.S. has on the line here. 'We haven't even started [that discussion] other than a commitment,' the first senior administration official told POLITICO. 'The question is, 'Who participates to what percentage?' But the president did commit that we would be a part of it. No specifics. And then he said he would also help it get organized. And he alone could sell that to Putin. I don't think Putin would pay any attention to the others, and I'm not sure the others would do it without him.' 6. And those same guarantees could be a problem for Trump domestically. Does the administration have a red line when it comes to committing U.S. troops to keep a peace in Ukraine? 'I don't think there's a red line,' the first senior official told POLITICO. 'So I think it just kind of remains to be seen. [President Trump] would like the Europeans to step up. But I think if the last piece of the puzzle was for a period of time to be a part of a peacekeeping force, I think he would do it.' Meanwhile, as European leaders arrived at the White House, MAGA coalition minder Steve Bannon took to his influential 'War Room' podcast to warn about the U.S. security guarantees in Ukraine. 'I'm just lost how the United States offering an Article 5 commitment for a security guarantee to Ukraine is a win for the United States,' Bannon said on his show Monday morning. 'President Trump has done more than enough to bring the parties together,' Bannon told POLITICO late Monday night. 'Once again, this is a European problem; we have all the leverage here. If we don't fund this, it stops happening. The only way this goes forward — the only way this continues every day — is American money and American arms. The Europeans don't have enough either military hardware and/or financial wherewithal.' Bannon said he hopes Trump 'eventually stops listening to the [Sens.] Lindsey Grahams and Tom Cottons and the Mitch McConnells, and realizes that there can't be any guarantee here from the United States, because that's going to inextricably link us to this conflict.' In a Truth Social post on Monday about the next steps, Trump said 'Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine.' That callout was striking. 'That's the first time JD and Marco have been dragged into a big foreign policy issue together,' the second senior administration official told POLITICO. 'If it's JD and Marco and Witkoff, who gets the credit and who gets the blame if it fails? This could be the first test of 2028.' Like this content? Consider signing up for POLITICO's Playbook newsletter.
an hour ago
DC unemployment rate is the highest in the US for the third straight month
WASHINGTON -- The seasonably adjusted unemployment rate in Washington, D.C., was the highest in the nation for the third straight month, according to new data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. D.C.'s jobless rate reached 6% in July, a reflection of the mass layoffs of federal workers, ushered in by President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, earlier this year. An overall decline in international tourism — which is a main driver of D.C.'s income — is also expected to have an impact on the climbing unemployment rate in the District. Neighboring states also saw an uptick in unemployment rates in July — with Maryland at 3.4% (up from 3.3%) and Virginia at 3.6% (up from 3.5%), according to the state-by-state jobless figures. Since the beginning of Trump's second term, federal workers across government agencies have been either laid off or asked to voluntarily resign from their positions. Those actions have drawn litigation across the federal government by labor unions and advocacy groups. In July, the Supreme Court cleared the way for Trump administration plans to downsize the federal workforce further, despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs. The latest D.C. Office of Revenue Analysis figures show that payments made to unemployed federal workers have been climbing month-over-month. In April, unemployed workers received $2.01 million in unemployment payments. By June, that figure reached $2.57 million. The DC Fiscal Policy Institute argues that the federal worker layoffs will exacerbate D.C.'s Black-white unemployment ratio. The latest nationwide unemployment rate according to the BLS is 4.2% — South Dakota had the lowest jobless rate in July at 1.9%. In addition, international tourism, a major source of D.C., to the U.S. is declining. Angered by Trump's tariffs and rhetoric, and alarmed by reports of tourists being arrested at the border, some citizens of other countries are staying away from the U.S. and choosing to travel elsewhere — notably British, German and South American tourists, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. A May report from the organization states that international visitor spending to the U.S. is projected to fall to just under $169 billion this year, down from $181 billion in 2024 — which is a 22.5% decline compared to the previous peak. The latest jobs numbers come after the Republican president and a group of GOP governors have deployed National Guard troops to D.C. in the hopes of reducing crime and boosting immigration enforcement.
