Latest news with #Trumped
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump moves on before his deals can be exposed as meaningless
The 1991 book Trumped by John O Donnell, one of Donald Trump's casino bosses, tells us a lot about how the US President does business. One of the standout observations is that Donald Trump never, ever, takes responsibility for any failures and never sticks around long enough for his deals to be exposed as the hollow shells they usually turn out to be. So we shouldn't be surprised that Biden gets blamed for Trump's Taliban deal or that Zelensky is blamed for not capitulating to Putin. Ukraine, in the President's eyes, was a mineral deal – nothing more and nothing less. It wasn't about global politics, Western values or Nato security. Now he's got that deal it is becoming clear he's on the move. It's also clear to Putin. From day one of this US Presidency, Putin has known whose side Donald Trump is on. The latest twist has been Trump bullying President Zelensky to meet Putin. Putin, like the coward he is, did not show. Result: Trump does nothing. Well not quite nothing – the US is blocking Zelensky from coming to the Nato summit in Holland next month. It really wouldn't have surprised me if Donald Trump had gone to the Moscow Victory day last week, which looked like something from 'despots r us'. What happens next is the key question. Europe and Ukraine need to start preparing to go it alone. Nobody should buy the line that without the US, the Ukrainians are finished. They are not. They know how to fight. They know how to innovate. And the 'vital' intelligence they get on the battlefield is not all American. It isn't. So if we in Europe resolve to replace Uncle Sam we can: if we really want to and if we are prepared to make our own sacrifices. We should also be realistic about what this new American administration means for our security. I have no doubt that at some stage the US President will recognise the 2014 borders imposed on Ukraine by the Russian invasion of that year. Recognising sovereign borders that have been changed by force goes against everything we stand for and believe. While some people love Donald Trump's style and his manner they fail to understand that this is not the 1920s. This is the true era of globalisation where everything a leader says sends instant ripples around the globe. Presidents and Prime Ministers have to be very careful to understand the impact their actions can have. We are truly interconnected. So if Trump does recognise a Russian Crimea then we need to be fearful of what it will mean closer to home in Northern Europe. We already see Russia building military bases close to Finland and aggressive air patrol and naval movements in the Baltics and North Sea. Look at it from Putin's point of view. He knows that the US isn't interested and is about to draw down its forces in Europe. He knows that despite him invading Ukraine he got away with it. So why would he stop now? Putin will be thinking 'would Trump really risk US boots on the ground and nuclear Armageddon if i take a little bit of Estonia and Lithuania? or even a bit of Finland?' The big powers of Europe are not ready for a war and their populations even less so. Britain and France have been strong on rhetoric but not matched it with funding. But things must change in Europe. I'd bet that the failed meeting in Istanbul will be the excuse Trump needs to move on. Putin must be delighted. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump-wary Austrian chancellor elected as ÖVP leader
The conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) gave a landslide endorsement to Chancellor Christian Stocker as party leader at its conference in Vienna on Saturday. Receiving some 98% of the votes, the 65-year-old lawyer underscored his distance from the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) - the winner of parliamentary polls in the autumn - which, according to Stocker, has a penchant for Donald Trump. FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl's role model is the US president, said Stocker. "But I am not a partner for an Austria that is 'Trumped up'," said the Chancellor in a speech that largely ignored the country's ongoing recession and massive budget deficit. Following the collapse of talks between the FPÖ and ÖVP, Stocker formed a government with the Social Democratic Party SPÖ and the liberal NEOS at the beginning of March. He had already been the party's acting leader since early January, when Karl Nehammer resigned as ÖVP leader and chancellor, citing his rejection of coalition negotiations with Kickl. Stocker, known as pragmatic and level-headed, took over the task. His rise from local to national politics came late: he entered parliament in 2019 and became Secretary General of the ÖVP three years later.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Emojis, ugly portraits and prisons: another week in Trumpworld
Donald Trump may be 78 years old, but he kept up the whirlwind pace of his second term with another week of drama, hot scandal and surprises. - Face-palm emoji? - National Security Advisor Mike Waltz took responsibility for adding a journalist to a chat group of officials planning US strikes in Yemen. The messages revealed some informality, including when Waltz wrote a garbled message and Vance replied "What?" Waltz explained he was "typing too fast." The chat users celebrated after the attacks with emojis of a fist, an American flag, a muscled arm and a flame. - No oil painting - Colorado removed an official portrait of Trump from display in the state Capitol after the president complained that it was "purposefully distorted." "The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one on me is truly the worst," Trump said. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently presented another portrait to Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff during their meeting in Moscow. Witkoff said that Trump "was clearly touched" by the portrait, which he described as "beautiful." - Prison visitor - Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem visited the prison in El Salvador where Venezuelans are held after being summarily deported from the United States on unproven allegations they belong to criminal gangs. Standing in front of a cell of silent inmates stripped to the waist, revealing their tattooed torsos, Noem recorded a video message telling others that they risked the same consequences. Noem wore a gold Rolex watch worth $50,000 for the visit, reported the Washington Post and other US media. - Museums get Trumped - The Smithsonian museums -- among the most prestigious in the world -- were hit in Trump's expanding conservative clampdown on cultural institutions. Trump, who has sought to root out what he called "woke" thinking, accused the Smithsonian of trying to rewrite American history on issues of race and gender. He also recently took over the chairmanship of the Kennedy Center in Washington, a famed arts venue, after complaining that it was too liberal. - Dogsled no-show - Usha Vance, the vice president's wife, was due to attend a dogsledding race in Greenland -- an island that her husband and Donald Trump want to take over. US officials perhaps got cold feet when locals planned protests at the event. Instead Usha, and Vice President JD Vance, visited the safer location of the US Pituffik Space Base on the island. Earlier in the week, VP Vance -- a former Marine -- opened fire with an automatic rifle at a military range in Virginia. - Sport, politics and love - Is there no end to the Trump stories? Tiger Woods confirmed he is romancing the president's former daughter-in-law. Golf superstar Woods -- renowned for jealously guarding his private life over the years -- posted on X that he is dating Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr. Vanessa Trump, who divorced Donald Trump Jr. in 2018 after a 13-year marriage, also posted a picture of her and Woods together on her Instagram account. bgs/bbk
Reuters
28-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Take Five: T is for tariffs
March 28 (Reuters) - The coming week will be dominated by U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for reciprocal tariffs, while the latest U.S. jobs data, an Australian central bank meeting and a key euro zone inflation report means there's plenty for markets to consider. Here's your one-stop shop for the week ahead in world markets from Kevin Buckland in Tokyo, Lewis Krauskopf in New York, Amanda Cooper in Gdansk and Marc Jones and Yoruk Bahceli in London. 1/ TARIFFS FOR ALL Trump has said April 2, the deadline by which he will unveil a full suite of trade policies, including tariffs, will be known as "Liberation Day." His sneak-peak of what to expect in the form of a 25% duty on imported vehicles to the United States is another example of the unpredictable way he has communicated trade policy. That's made for a turbulent trading environment, in which planning for anything from a new factory, to a holiday to managing an investment portfolio has become more complex. The fear of an across-the-board approach to duties had been mitigated somewhat in recent days by hints from the White House that Trump might take a more targeted approach -- giving the dollar and Wall Street stocks a modest lift. But the reality is investors are still very much in the dark. 2/ JOBS TEST Concerns about the health of the U.S. economy will be tested by the latest monthly jobs data. The April 4 non-farm payrolls report is expected to show employment growth slowed in March to 128,000 from 151,000 in February, according to a Reuters poll. But such growth may still reassure investors that the economy is not sliding toward a recession. As it stands, Fed funds futures suggest traders bake in at least two interest rate cuts by year-end to shore up the economy. Investors are also watching to see the extent to which the effort led by Trump ally Elon Musk to slash the federal workforce will become evident in the data. Under Musk's government efficiency drive, tens of thousands of workers from the 2.3-million strong federal workforce have been fired or agreed to take a buyout. 3/ AS YOU WERE The first quarter wraps up on Monday and it hasn't been dull, or gone the way that even the most experienced investors had anticipated. To put it bluntly, everything has been Trumped. Trillions have been wiped off the super-sized tech firms that have dominated world markets for years. Gold has soared to a record high and the dollar is set for a quarterly fall of almost 4%. European defence stocks have surged as the U.S. has signalled its military support is no longer guaranteed and even China's tech stocks have roared. Q2 doesn't look like it is going to get any easier either. Just a couple of days in and Trump will be detailing his grand global tariff plan. For investors, the big question is whether it will end up triggering recession. 4/ ECB'S DILEMMA Euro zone inflation data on Tuesday is the next hurdle for traders trying to gauge whether the European Central Bank cuts rates in April. Markets have grown more confident in recent days, now pricing in a roughly 80% chance of another cut on April 17 bringing the ECB's key rate to 2.25%, though policymakers look more split than markets. But further rate cuts this year seem more a matter of timing and further risks to the bloc's growth loom with all eyes on April 2. What's more, fresh tariffs on autos just announced have blurred the European outlook further. The bigger debate is what happens further out. Markets are already thinking about what Germany's spending bonanza and Europe's broader push to bolster its defences mean for growth and inflation. BNP Paribas, for example, already expects the ECB to hike rates next year. 5/ CUT, BUT NOT YET The Reserve Bank of Australia is moving closer to what would be only its second interest rate cut since 2020. A benign inflation reading and a surprise cooling in the job market have seen to that. Even so, traders and analysts expect the RBA will forgo any April Fools surprises when it wraps up a meeting on Tuesday and keep interest rates on hold. After all, the central bank just cut at its last meeting in February, and struck a markedly hawkish tone, warning markets away from assuming more was to come. The official, quarterly consumer price numbers could still prove crucial on April 30, but investors have grown more confident on a May rate cut, putting the odds at around 70%.
