Trump expected to speak with Israel's Netanyahu, White House officials say
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the entrance of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 7, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump planned to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, two White House officials said.
The call comes as Trump has been trying to accelerate aid into Gaza and to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear program.
Trump has occasionally expressed frustration with Netanyahu. Last week, he said he had warned Netanyahu not to take actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran.
"I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we're very close to a solution now," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "That could change at any moment."
Iran will soon hand a counter-proposal for a nuclear deal to the United States via Oman, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, in response to a U.S. offer that Tehran deemed "unacceptable." REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
15 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Timor-Leste out to prove cynics wrong as Asean membership nears
Timor-Leste's President José Ramos-Horta arriving at the Shangri-La Singapore hotel on May 29, ahead of the Shangri-La Dialogue. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG There is almost no latency in Timor-Leste's President Jose Ramos-Horta's response when I ask him whether he was surprised that Asean leaders agreed for his country to formally join as the grouping's 11th member as early as its next meeting in October. After all, it would have been perfectly understandable if the consensus had been that the country could do with a bit more time to fulfil outstanding conditions for accession, rather than fixing a provisional deadline that would inevitably come with pressure. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
25 minutes ago
- Business Times
Harvard crackdown: Can Singapore become its own intellectual leader?
THE US has long been a global science leader, with this best exemplified by its scientists creating a Covid-19 vaccine – amid a pandemic no less – within a year. Given that vaccine developments typically take a decade or more, this is nothing short of a feat, and something that has been decades in the making – a result of generous state funding for research and an openness to talent, among other factors. This is why US President Donald Trump's crusade against Harvard University and other top American institutions should give us pause, even if the fate of Ivy League colleges an ocean away may not seem, at first, to have major repercussions for Singapore. Alongside the on-and-off-again tariffs, immigration crackdown and slashing of government budgets, some observers may regard Trump's first 140 days as part of a natural ebb and flow in American politics. After all, the country has seen its fair share of upheavals in the last 249 years, having survived a civil war in the mid-19th century and, over 100 years later, lived through a particularly turbulent 1968 punctuated by two assassinations, heightened social unrest over the Vietnam War and issues related to values and race. Yet, even Americans appear spooked themselves. Experts and ordinary people, regardless of political leanings, are voicing concern that American democracy is being eroded and possibly sliding into autocracy, multiple surveys have shown. In particular, the administration's clampdown on its universities could have far-reaching consequences. America's embrace of diversity had long been part of its DNA, a trait that has drawn the world's brightest minds who, in turn, have kept its universities at the forefront of research and innovation that have resulted in life-saving drugs and key inventions. Some of these foreign talents remain in the country in pursuit of the American dream; others, equipped with new knowledge and skills, return home for the betterment of their motherland. Singapore too, has benefited from the return of US-trained scholars who have gone on to helm senior positions in government and the private sector. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up But all that is now in peril under the Trump administration, which has threatened to cut funding and foreign student quotas – actions that portend a brain drain and a possible curtailment of its research capabilities. The question is how long this crusade would last, and whether the damage wrought would be permanent. Meanwhile, foreign students and postgraduates have been targets of an immigration crackdown. Some have had their visas revoked, and others fear they would not be able to re-enter if they leave. Prospective students are naturally reconsidering their choice, given the uncertainty and apparent lack of transparency. Even researchers are hesitating to visit; a French scientist was denied entry in March because he had criticised the administration in a text message. In 2022 and 2023, Singapore sent about a quarter of its Public Service Commission scholarship recipients to the US, and many more students went at their own expense. But the latest developments raise the question whether the city-state should reconsider its reliance on the US for intellectual leadership. The imbroglio should also prompt Singapore to look afield at Europe and China, which are now seizing the opportunity to woo students and researchers seeking alternatives. A small but growing number of Singapore students have headed for European and Chinese universities over the years. And not least, Singapore might also take a leaf out of their playbook and do the same, since having a strong talent mix is what would augment its universities' standing. Rather than looking mainly to the West for intellectual leadership, Singapore has now an opportunity to build up its own for the region.
Straits Times
31 minutes ago
- Straits Times
How a Singaporean in the US is grappling with pricey Hainanese chicken rice under Trump's tariffs
Shelves at the local ShopRite grocery store. Spring season means more imported fresh fruit from Latin American markets at relatively cheap prices. PHOTO: GRACE NG Commentary How a Singaporean in the US is grappling with pricey Hainanese chicken rice under Trump's tariffs – There is one catastrophic scenario I worry about with US President Donald Trump's second term in office: bad food. I had read about the unimpressive cuisine associated with Mr Trump's establishments, from Thanksgiving platters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida that resembled frozen TV dinners to gala dishes deemed worse than budget airline food by crypto investors in the President's meme coin. But I was not chuckling during a recent meal at a cafeteria in Pennsylvania, which served pale yellow turds. 'Eggs,' pronounced the server. As I stared in confusion, he whispered: 'Powdered eggs with some tofu. Good stuff – soybeans made in the USA .' This unpalatable swop of protein sources was accepted without controversy – possibly because I was attending an Asian church retreat, where tolerance for tofu and austerity is not in short supply. Expectations of egg substitution may also have been baked into consumers' expectations, since egg prices in the US have risen about 49 per cent in one year and could get nudged up further by tariffs on imports from markets such as Brazil, Mexico and Turkey. But it was also a sign that all of us, from the sheepish server to second-generation Asian-Americans and relative newcomers such as myself, have accepted that higher tariffs and wider price substitution are an unavoidable part of our foreseeable future. Price substitution, as I explained to my two little kids, inevitably takes place when the price of Hainanese chicken rice goes up by about US$3 (S$3.90) to US$15.99 on my food delivery app. So now, instead of that beloved Singaporean dish, we are ordering invented-in-America General Tso chicken with grown-in-America white rice for US$11.99, which increased in price by only $1. Alas, the only lesson learnt about economic trade-offs was this: saving US$4 was not worth the wailing and flailing that ensued. Taking stock of tariffs So we set off for the nearby Asian grocery store, which is the closest to a Sheng Siong supermarket I can find, to stock up on Prima Taste Fragrant Chicken Rice Paste for US$8.99 per packet. We were struck by the rows of unevenly empty shelves that reflect the tariff scenario analyses hoarders before me had undertaken. Hong Kong love letter rolls, Chengdu hotpot paste and Want Want rice crackers were wiped out. Apparently, they sold out soon after US tariffs on China goods reached as high as 145 per cent. But even after those rates were lowered to 10 per cent after a bilateral meeting in Geneva on May 12, restocking was slow. Empty shelves are seen as a woman shops for items at a Dollar Tree store on April 28 in Alhambra, California. PHOTO: AFP It was anyone's guess when they would get restocked, the store owner said in Cantonese. Some small businesses are still waiting for shipments, since larger US companies have rushed to stockpile goods to hedge against tariff volatility. The de minimis exemption for low-value imports from China had expired in May. Fortunately for my young kids, Khong Guan biscuits are fully stocked. That is not surprising, because tariffs of just 10 per cent were imposed on Singapore even before the Trump administration placed a 90-day pause – which expires on July 8 – on reciprocal tariffs, maintaining an interim baseline of 10 per cent on imports. We are also counting our blessings that most food prices have not returned to pandemic peaks. Bulk donations of baked ziti – using imported pasta and cheese – to the local food pantry, for example, still cost a third less than during supply chain snarls in 2021 . Delay, pre-empt or panic buy? Playground chit-chat among parents in our community has recently shifted away from whether to take the 'Wait till Eighth' pledge to hold off giving smartphones to our 'anxious generation' of kids until they are in eighth grade, or 14 years old. We now joke that tariffs of 25 per cent on Apple products might get the parents more eager to sign on, since they might have to wait until their kids are in the eighth grade for iPhones to become affordable again. There is also concern that new 50 per cent tariffs on metal could further hike the price of cars, home renovations, lawn tools and canned drinks. On June 4, tariffs on steel and aluminium imports were doubled to 50 per cent. This applies to nearly all trading partners, except the UK, which secured an exemption. The choice of whether to allocate more budget to pre-emptively stock up on canned beer or school supplies, both of which look likely to get more expensive, can be an agonising one for harried parents. A friend's garage sale: Nintendo and game consoles snapped up, while clothes remain. PHOTO: GRACE NG Coping mechanisms: Hacks and swops Many people wait until the 'back-to-school' sales tax holidays in August and spend an hour or two in stores hunting for, say, 18 highly specific items, from Crayola 12-count markers to composition books with marbled black covers – and some beer to tide them over the tedium. Until 2025 , I just paid a premium for pre-packaged school supply kits to save time and hassle. A few days ago, I experimented with adapting a writer's 'AI (artificial intelligence) Grocery Assistant'. Using Google AI chatbot Gemini and Google Shopping , it found the lowest prices for school supplies across retailers such as Walmart and Target, generated links and automatically added the items to shopping carts. The Gemini-generated shopping list saved me about US$12 compared with buying a kit. Not shabby at all for me, but not enough to buy certain toys. A Jurassic World Tyrannosaurus rex plastic toy increased to US$55 on May 21 from US$39.92 on April 27, according to photos circulated by Walmart workers about price hikes of as much as 38 per cent. The photos surfaced in my WhatsApp chat group with a few Singaporeans living in the US. 'Alamak, my boy just started watching Jurassic World cartoons,' moaned one of them. 'That means very soon he will want to buy every dino in the show! Should I start hunting for dinos at the garage sales first or on eBay?' With so much uncertainty around where tariffs will eventually land, most of our talk is just 'swop talk' rather than action plans. We are swopping notes with our families back in Singapore about how to deal with elevated costs of imported foods and how to buy quality second-hand items online without being scammed. Shelves at the Asian supermarket, with Khong Guan biscuits fully stocked. PHOTO: GRACE NG Christmas uncertainty: Naughty or nice prices? The art of price substitution can get one only so far, with limited visibility on where tariff levels will head to after July 8. It is simply impossible to budget for or plan too many purchases ahead. All the supermarkets in my area, from Walmart to Trader Joe's and German-owned discount chains, such as Lidl and Aldi, look fully stocked. But as a May 7 Bloomberg headline warned: Empty Store Shelves Might Be Coming Sooner Than You Think. One spectre is potential shortages of Halloween and Christmas products. The tariffs had earlier choked off production of those festive items in Chinese manufacturing hubs such as Yiwu, but the pause reportedly spurred a partial filling of US orders. But with some of these Chinese factories already diverting goods to European and African buyers, doubts remain about whether the procurement elves for Halloween costumes and Christmas toys can fully fulfil American wish lists in 2025 – and at what spooky price. Thankfully, my kids, who are Star Wars Lego aficionados , are still little enough to be content with makeshift outfits. After watching hacks shared by YouTube creators who specialise in Lego modifications, they 'customised' Star Wars-themed Lego mini-figures with acrylic markers, spare parts and capes made out of red balloons. That saved them the US$11.99 for a custom mini-figure sold on Party supplies at the family-owned Ollin Party Store in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California on April 16. PHOTO: AFP Reinvention to cope with change The ingenuity of the YouTube creators reminded me that the sanest response to unpredictable tariffs may be to train our energies not just on price substitution, but also on reinventing ways to meet immutable consumer priorities: cheap goods, speedy access, diverse choices and personalised offerings. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was quoted as saying: 'People always ask me what's going to change. But what's more important is what's not going to change. 'You can never imagine a world in which consumers don't want cheap prices, fast shipping and big selection. It's impossible to imagine a world where people don't want that. Because of that, you can put so much confidence into investing in those things, knowing they'll always be relevant in the future.' One can only hope that entrepreneurs, communities and families can leverage new ideas, tools and technologies fast enough to outpace price shocks. I am holding my breath on when the tariff turmoil will settle. But in a nod to what is unchanging – our love of Singaporean food – I will be learning how to make decent chicken rice and kaya with egg substitutes. Grace Ng is a Singaporean writer in New Jersey and a former Straits Times China correspondent. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
