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Pete Buttigieg Signals Openness to 2028 Run

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Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is offering unusually candid reflections on President Joe Biden’s failed 2024 reelection campaign, acknowledging that the decision to run for a second term may have harmed the Democratic Party — while carefully laying the groundwork for a potential 2028 presidential bid.

Speaking to reporters after a veterans-focused town hall in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday night, Buttigieg said “maybe” Biden’s 2024 candidacy was a mistake, adding that “with the benefit of hindsight, I think most people would agree that that’s the case.”

The remarks came amid renewed scrutiny over Biden’s final year in office, spurred in part by revelations from the new book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, which alleges that White House aides masked signs of cognitive decline in the then-president. Biden dropped out of the 2024 race in July after a widely criticized debate performance against now-President Donald Trump, a moment that triggered a wave of Democratic defections and calls for him to step aside.

He was replaced by then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who went on to lose the general election to Trump in November.

While offering a subtle critique, Buttigieg also defended his former boss’s capabilities during key moments in 2024, citing the administration’s response to the Baltimore bridge collapse.

“Every time I needed something from him from the West Wing, I got it,” Buttigieg said. “The same president the world saw addressing that [collapse] was the president I was in the Oval with, insisting that we do a good job, do right by Baltimore.”

Readers should note that the bridge’s reconstruction has yet to begin.

Buttigieg was one of Biden’s earliest and most high-profile endorsers after dropping out of the 2020 Democratic primary, and later became a key member of the administration.

Buttigieg’s Iowa visit — which included a town hall attended by 1,800 people, meetings with former 2020 campaign staffers, and a videographer from his political action group Win the Era — has fueled speculation about a White House run in 2028. His decision earlier this year not to pursue an open Senate seat in Michigan, where he now resides, added to the chatter.

When asked if his trip signaled the start of a 2028 exploratory phase, Buttigieg offered a carefully measured response.

“Right now, I’m not running for anything,” he said. “What’s exciting and compelling about an opportunity like this is to be campaigning for values and for ideas rather than a specific electoral campaign.”

Still, when informed that many audience members said they would support him in 2028, Buttigieg responded with appreciation.

“Of course, it means a lot to hear that people who supported me then continue to believe in what I have to say.”

Though Iowa’s status in the Democratic primary calendar was downgraded for 2024, it remains a symbolic and strategic stop for presidential hopefuls. Buttigieg famously won the Iowa caucuses in 2020, edging out Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and building momentum that carried him into the top tier of Democratic contenders before ultimately endorsing Biden.

The Democratic Party continues to grapple with the fallout of the 2024 loss. Biden’s decision to run again — despite growing concerns about his age and health — divided the party and is now seen by some as a major factor in the GOP’s return to power.

With Vice President Harris having failed to secure victory in the general election and many long-time party leaders aging, figures like Buttigieg are increasingly in focus.

As Buttigieg tests the waters in early states and maintains a national platform through veterans advocacy and public speaking, it’s unclear whether he’ll be able to emerge as a top potential contender for the next Democratic presidential nomination.

First Judge Approves Trump’s Use Of Alien Enemies Act For Venezuelan Deportations

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On Tuesday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines ruled that President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged illegal immigrant gang members complies with the law.

Haines, a Trump appointee with a background as a prosecutor in Pennsylvania, ruled that Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) of 1798 to deport Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members is legally valid, citing TdA’s actions as a “predatory incursion” under the law.

As The Hill reports:

Haines, a Trump appointee, emphasized her “unflagging obligation is to apply the law as written.” 

“Having done its job, the Court now leaves it to the Political Branches of the government, and ultimately to the people who elect those individuals, to decide whether the laws and those executing them continue to reflect their will,” Haines wrote in her 43-page ruling. 

The new split comes as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has filed a wave of lawsuits across the country challenging Trump’s use of the AEA, calls on the Supreme Court to immediately take up the issue and swiftly provide a nationwide resolution.

“The Alien Enemies Act — historically invoked during wartime, including World War II — empowers the president to detain or deport nationals of enemy nations. Trump’s application of the law targets TdA, a Venezuelan transnational gang designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization during his second administration, despite ongoing legal debate over whether gang activity constitutes an “invasion” or “incursion.”

Tuesday’s ruling contrasts with other federal judges’ decisions, such as Judge Fernando Rodriguez’s May 1, 2025, injunction against the AEA’s use, highlighting a judicial split that may lead to a Supreme Court challenge.

How Trump’s Drug Plan Saves Billions And Why Mark Cuban Is On Board

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Americans have been getting ripped off. That is not hyperbole, nor a populist refrain, but a blunt statement of economic reality. The average American pays more for prescription drugs than any other patient in the developed world. This is not a function of greater access, higher quality, or more innovation. It is a product of a system that has, for decades, allowed foreign governments to underpay for medicine while forcing Americans to pick up the tab.

How did we arrive here? The answer is simple, if depressing: the United States accounts for less than five percent of the global population, yet pharmaceutical companies derive nearly three-quarters of their global profits from the American market. Foreign nations, through centralized health systems and price controls, bargain down the price of medicines. Drug manufacturers accept those lower prices because they know they can make up the shortfall in the United States. That is, in effect, a transfer of wealth from the American sick to the foreign healthy.

President Trump has had enough. On May 12, 2025, he signed an Executive Order resurrecting and expanding upon a policy initiative from his first term: the Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) pricing model. In his first term, the MFN model focused on Medicare Part B drugs, those administered in clinical settings, and proposed that the US would pay no more than the lowest price paid by a comparable country. That version was blocked by the courts in 2021 due to procedural issues and was quickly abandoned by the Biden administration. The 2025 version not only revives the core concept but also broadens its scope significantly. It retains the pricing benchmark based on peer nations while adding a novel direct-to-consumer purchasing mechanism. This allows patients to bypass pharmacy benefit managers entirely and buy drugs directly from manufacturers at MFN prices. The new policy thus marries institutional price reform with individual consumer empowerment, expanding the ambition and reach of Trump’s original plan.

Critics, as always, are quick to object. They warn that drug manufacturers will simply stop selling in the US or that research and development will dry up. Some even suggest that international reference pricing is a form of price-fixing by another name. These concerns deserve serious consideration. But they do not outweigh the manifest injustice of the status quo, nor do they erase the practical and moral urgency of reform.

First, consider the structure of the order itself. The MFN model applies immediately to Medicare Part B drugs, those administered in doctors’ offices, often the most expensive and specialized. Trump has instructed the Secretary of Health and Human Services to set price targets within 30 days and deliver measurable results within six months. If pharmaceutical companies fail to comply, the administration will take further action: drug importation from allied nations, penalties on noncompliant firms, and antitrust enforcement through the FTC targeting anti-competitive practices like patent abuse.

Second, the Executive Order proposes a direct-to-consumer mechanism, allowing American patients to buy drugs from manufacturers at international prices, bypassing the profit-hungry middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). This proposal reflects an economic reality too long ignored: the price of a drug is not set by market forces but by negotiated distortions, rebates, and arbitrage. By cutting out the layers of rent-seeking intermediaries, the Trump administration aims to restore both transparency and affordability.

On this point, perhaps the most surprising endorsement came from Mark Cuban who actively campaigned against the president supporting Kamala Harris’s failed White House bid. Cuban has emerged in recent years as one of the fiercest critics of PBMs in the pharmaceutical supply chain. Through his Cost Plus Drug Company, Cuban has championed a model that eliminates PBMs entirely, selling generic drugs directly to consumers at a fixed markup. He sees PBMs not as neutral facilitators, but as parasites, entities that profit not from creating value, but from distorting it.

In an X post on April 16, 2025, Cuban praised Trump’s Executive Order on healthcare and in particular, drug pricing by explaining how it could save hundreds of billions of dollars. His enthusiasm was not just theoretical. He outlined six specific reforms targeting PBM practices and emphasized that the EO’s direct-to-consumer mechanism aligns with the very business model he has built. For Cuban, this is not about politics, but principle. If Americans can bypass PBMs and purchase drugs at MFN prices, the savings could be transformative.

Cuban has long called for transparency in PBM contracts, elimination of specialty tiers, and reform of rebate structures that inflate drug prices. These are the same structural defects the EO seeks to address. The alignment between Trump’s policy and Cuban’s advocacy is more than accidental. It reflects a growing consensus that PBMs have become a market failure in themselves, distorting prices and blocking access in pursuit of opaque profits.

That Trump and Cuban, two men with vastly different public personas, can agree on this solution is a testament to its power. The issue of drug pricing, once mired in partisan clichés, is now the battleground for real reform. Cuban’s support underscores the seriousness of the EO. It is not simply a gesture, but a genuine effort to untangle the knotted system that has left so many Americans paying so much, for so little.

Opponents cite legal precedent. Indeed, a similar MFN policy was blocked by federal courts in 2021. The Biden administration quickly shelved the idea, preferring not to test its legal authority. But legal difficulty is not legal impossibility. Trump’s new Executive Order is crafted more carefully, with an expanded evidentiary record and administrative justification. Implementation will no doubt be litigated, but the constitutional structure gives the executive branch discretion over how Medicare reimburses for services. Provided the process adheres to administrative law, the courts may well uphold it.

Let us confront the core objection head-on: that price controls reduce innovation. This concern is not frivolous. America leads the world in pharmaceutical innovation precisely because it has, historically, paid the price. The profits derived from the US market fund research labs from Basel to Boston. But this global good comes at a local cost, one that is becoming unbearable.

What Trump offers is not an end to pharmaceutical profitability, but an insistence on proportionality. If research and development are a global public good, then the funding of that good should not be extracted primarily from one nation. Let the Germans and the French and the Canadians contribute more. Let them pay their share. And let the American patient, who already shoulders more than enough, get some relief.

Consider the counterfactual: suppose the MFN policy were in place ten years ago. American taxpayers might have saved hundreds of billions of dollars. Lower out-of-pocket costs would have meant better medication adherence, fewer medical complications, and a healthier, more productive citizenry. That is not a theoretical hope but an economic projection rooted in well-documented health economics. The US spends more per capita on health care than any other country, and drug prices are a major contributor. The MFN model begins to correct that imbalance.

To be sure, implementation challenges remain. Drugmakers may respond by raising prices in foreign countries, undermining the benchmark. The direct purchasing mechanism may be slow to launch, hampered by logistics, safety protocols, or bureaucratic inertia. But these are not arguments against reform, only reminders that reform must be executed with competence.

Trump’s order also calls out foreign governments for their own price manipulation. The US Trade Representative is directed to push back against discriminatory pricing policies abroad. In effect, the administration is making clear: if you want access to the American market, you must stop freeloading off the American consumer. This is economic diplomacy at its most justified.

The pharmaceutical lobby will fight this tooth and nail. Already, industry stocks surged after the EO’s announcement, a signal that insiders believe implementation may be delayed or diluted. But if the Trump administration can muster the will to enforce the order, the effects will be historic. It would mark the first time in decades that the US government sided squarely with the American patient over the multinational drug cartel.

No other president has dared confront this imbalance so directly. Democrats have talked about drug pricing reform for years, yet under Biden, the MFN rule was rescinded without a whimper. Trump, in contrast, resurrected it and expanded its scope. In so doing, he returned to the populist conservative ethos that put him in the White House: government exists to serve its citizens, not to enrich corporate middlemen or subsidize foreign welfare states.

The critics will continue to cry foul. But as prices fall and access improves, their objections will ring hollow. The moral arc of drug pricing reform is long, but with this Executive Order, it bends toward justice. Americans deserve to pay no more than their peers abroad. At last, there is a president willing to say so, and more importantly, to act on it.

Sponsored by the John Milton Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping independent journalists overcome formidable challenges in today’s media landscape and bring crucial stories to you.

Fox News Host Mark Levin Skewers Trump Middle East Visit

Fox News host Mark Levin had a lot to say about President Trump’s current visit to the Middle East…

Without mentioning President Trump by name, Levin was remarkably critical of the commander-in-chief, taking to social media to blast Saudi Arabia for playing a “significant role on the 9/11 slaughter of our people.” He also condemned Qatar for having “protected the leader of the 9/11 attack from the FBI, before he was able to launch his war on America that killed our people.”

Levin posted on X:

Saudi Arabia played a significant role on the 9/11 slaughter of our people. I didn’t hear their Crown Prince even apologize once yesterday for what they did to us. And I know the 9/11 families are reeling from this.

And Qatar protected the leader of the 9/11 attack from the FBI, before he was able to launch his war on America that killed our people. The debate about whether the plane is a legal gift is beside the point. Qatar is a terrorist regime that has murdered Americans.

I cannot let bygones be bygones and those Americans who suffered the consequences of what these monarchies did cannot either. I can’t stop thinking about all the innocent people who went to work that day, and were on those planes, and all the firefighters and police officers who died horrible deaths.

As for Iran, if they get a nuclear weapon that’s on our generation. And our country will suffer the horrible consequences. These are terrorists. They don’t think like us and they don’t love life like us. We must have the guts and wisdom to protect ourselves.

In a separate post, Levin praised Trump, but not without dinging him for using “lines used by the Soros-Koch isolationist crowd about neocons and interventionists” in his speech to the Saudis. Levin linked to a Jewish Insider article about the speech and noted via X:

Isolationism or globalism? Or both?

Actually, POTUS’s speech included some of the lines used by the Soros-Koch isolationist crowd about neocons and interventionists, but the irony is that it was given in the context of a globalist outreach effort to make economic and military deals with and between Middle East monarchies/dictatorships and the biggest of America’s globalists/internationalists/corporatists. We don’t know the details but if they’re great deals for we, the people, that’s wonderful. I truly believe the President is THE best at making GREAT deals. Nonetheless, this looks like globalism wrapped in isolationist language.

Levin’s comments come as President Trump faces scrutiny over his decision to accept Qatar’s gift of a luxurious $400 million “flying palace” to serve as Air Force One. (RELATED: Trump Announces Plan To Drop Sanctions On Syria)

The prospect has drawn bipartisan pushback, which Trump has met with indifference. 

“[The Qataris] said to me, ‘we would like to, in effect, we would like to make a gift. You’ve done so many things. and we’d like to make you a gift to the Defense Department,’ which is where it’s going. and I said, ‘Well, that’s nice.’ Now, some people say, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t accept gifts for the country.’ My attitude is, why wouldn’t I accept the gift? We’re giving to everybody else, why wouldn’t I accept a gift?” Trump explained to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesdsay. 

U.S. relations with Doha have come a long way since 2017, when Trump accused Qatar of harboring terrorism: “The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level,” Trump said at the time. 

From there, Qatar became a major non-NATO ally to the U.S. in 2022 under President Biden and is home to Al Udeid Air Base, one of the U.S.’ largest Middle East bases and a key hub for U.S. Central Command operations. 

“Qatar is not, in my opinion, a great ally. I mean, they support Hamas. So what I’m worried about is the safety of the president,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told reporters on Tuesday.

The Constitution states that accepting a gift from an overseas power requires congressional approval. However, Trump has not requested permission to receive the plane, an offering made months after his family business agreed to develop a multi-billion dollar golf course in the Middle Eastern country. 

House Democrat Moves To Force Trump Impeachment Vote

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A House Democrat is attempting to force a vote to impeach President Donald Trump.

Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) introduced his impeachment resolution as privileged on Tuesday afternoon, meaning leaders have two days of the House in session to take up the legislation.

House GOP leaders could move to table the motion, a procedural vote aimed to scuttle a piece of legislation without having lawmakers vote on the legislation itself.

No Republicans are likely to support impeaching Trump, however, meaning Thanedar’s measure will likely fail.

“Donald Trump has unlawfully conducted himself, bringing shame to the presidency and the people of the United States,” Thanedar said when deeming his resolution privileged.

Thanedar also took a swing at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), calling it a “flagrantly unconstitutional creation.”

The India-born Michigan Democrat first introduced seven articles of impeachment against Trump in late April.

They include charges of obstruction of justice, tyranny, bribery and corruption, and abuse of trade powers, among others. 

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

Trump Announces Plan To Drop Sanctions On Syria

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By The White House from Washington, DC - President Trump and The First Lady Participate in an Abraham Accords Signing Ceremony, Public Domain,

President Donald Trump announced the United States will soon drop sanctions against Syria.

During lengthy remarks on Tuesday, Trump laid out his vision for the Middle East, sharing a major announcement: He intends to drop sanctions against Syria.

“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump said in a speech in Saudi Arabia, his first stop on the first international tour of his second term in office. 

“In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that we must all hope will succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace,” he said. “So I say good luck, Syria.”

The nation was cut off from the global financial system under ousted President Bashar al-Assad’s government, imposed during 14 years of civil war. 

Trump called the sanctions “brutal and crippling” but “important” at the time.

Trump said both Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Erdoğan had encouraged him to lift the sanctions. 

“Oh, what I do for the crown prince,” Trump quipped. 

U.S. sanctions had slapped financial penalties on any foreign individual or company that provided material support to the Syrian government and prohibited anyone in the U.S. from dealing in any Syrian entity, including oil and gas, and Syrian banks were effectively cut off from global financial systems. 

Trump also revealed he has invited Saudi Arabia to join his historic Abraham Accords.

“It has been an amazing thing, the Abraham Accords,” Trump said at a Saudi Arabia investment conference. “And it’s my fervent hope, wish, and even my dream that Saudi Arabia, a place I have so much respect for … will soon be joining the Abraham Accords. I think it will be a tremendous tribute to your country.”

Trump negotiated the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, at the end of his first term in office. Now, he is hoping to see Saudi Arabia join it as well.

During lengthy remarks, Trump laid out his vision for the Middle East. Minutes later, he made a second major announcement: He intends to drop sanctions against Syria.

Zelensky Asks Trump To Join Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Middle East Visit

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A big step forward…

Officials from Ukraine and Russia are expected to meet in Turkey on Thursday to begin peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. Ahead of the summit, Zelensky posted on social media that Russian President Vladimir Putin had rejected offers of a ceasefire.

“Ukraine has always supported diplomacy. I am ready to come to Türkiye. Unfortunately, the world still has not received a clear response from Russia to the numerous proposals for a ceasefire,” Zelensky wrote in a post on X. “[Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] has expressed full readiness to host the meeting. It is important that President Trump fully supports the meeting, and we would like him to find an opportunity to come to Türkiye.”

Asked earlier on Monday about whether he would attend the peace talks, Trump said he might attend if his presence is needed to move the negotiations forward.

“I think you may have a good result out of the Thursday meeting in Turkey between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump said. “I was thinking about flying over. I don’t know where I’m going to be on Thursday – I’ve got so many meetings. But I was actually thinking about flying over there. There’s a possibility if I think things can happen. But we got to get it done.”

Putin and Zelensky agreed to meet in Turkey for peace talks after Putin rejected another offer from Ukraine for a 30-day ceasefire over the weekend. Putin countered the offer with a restart to peace talks, with Turkey’s Erdoğan as host. 

Trump took to Truth Social to push Zelensky to accept the offer.

“Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump posted. “At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the U.S., will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!”

Trump appeared to warn Putin in the message, as well.

“I’m starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin, who’s too busy celebrating the Victory of World War II, which could not have been won (not even close!) without the United States of America,” Trump said. The president has previously expressed frustration at Moscow for appearing recalcitrant in making progress toward peace.

New Poll Shows MAGA Candidate Overtaking Incumbent By Double Digits

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Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is trailing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) by a whopping 16 points in the 2026 Republican Senate primary, according to an internal poll reported by Punchbowl News on Monday.

The poll from the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) found Paxton leading with 50% support to Cornyn’s 34%, with 17% undecided.

Paxton, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, officially announced his candidacy last month. He is positioning himself as a more pro-MAGA alternative to Cornyn, who hardline Texas conservatives have painted as a moderate. Cornyn, Texas’s senior senator, has held his seat since 2002 and served in Senate leadership. He was a leading contender to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as GOP leader, but eventually lost the race to Sen. John Thune (R-SD).

Cornyn faced backlash over his work in crafting the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun safety law passed in 2022 after a massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

The legislation included enhanced background checks for gun buyers under 21 and was the first major federal gun control measure in decades.

Punchbowl News reported in a hypothetical three-way GOP primary, Paxton leads with 44%, followed by Sen. John Cornyn at 34% and Rep. Wesley Hunt at 19%, according to an internal Tarrance Group poll conducted April 27 to May 1.

In general election matchups against potential Democratic challenger Colin Allred, Cornyn leads by six points.

Trump Signs Executive Order To Tie US Drug Prices To Global Lows

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On Monday morning, President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order aimed at dramatically lowering prescription drug prices in the United States. At the center of the order is a “most favored nation” (MFN) pricing policy, which mandates that the U.S. pay no more for medications than the lowest price paid by any other country. Trump claims the initiative could cut drug prices by 30% to 80%, potentially saving American taxpayers trillions of dollars.

The MFN policy revives a proposal from Trump’s first term and targets the longstanding disparity in drug costs between the U.S. and other nations. The order also directs the Department of Health and Human Services to begin broad drug price negotiations, while introducing measures to combat anti-competitive practices, expand drug imports, and scrutinize the role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).

The New York Post reports:

“What’s been happening is, we’ve been subsidizing other countries throughout the world,” Trump explained at a White House signing ceremony, calling Monday’s action one of his “most important orders.”

“Some prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices will be reduced almost immediately by 50 to 80 to 90%, he added. “Big Pharma will either abide by this principle voluntarily or we’ll use the power of the federal government to ensure that we are paying the same price.”

The policy is a revival of Trump’s signature “most favored nation” drive from his first term, with a new push to get foreign countries to take on more of the research and development (R&D) costs that experts say America has disproportionately shouldered.

“Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,” the president previously promised on Truth Social Sunday. “The United States will save TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS.”

The announcement triggered immediate market reaction, with shares of pharmaceutical giants like AstraZeneca and GSK seeing declines. Industry leaders have warned the policy could stifle innovation and competition, arguing it may disincentivize research and development.

Although the Biden administration previously took steps to lower drug prices through the Inflation Reduction Act, Trump’s executive order takes a more aggressive approach by linking U.S. prices directly to global lows.

However, the new policy is expected to face significant legal and logistical hurdles, particularly due to the complexity of the U.S. drug pricing system and the opaque nature of international pricing mechanisms.

Trump Peels Back China Tariffs In Trade War Truce

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By The White House from Washington, DC - President Trump at the G20, Public Domain,

The Trump administration has reached a key deal in its ongoing trade war against China.

Early Monday morning, the U.S. and China released a joint statement revealing that “the United States and China will each lower tariffs by 115% while retaining an additional 10% tariff,” according to the White House. 

The U.S. imposed tariffs as high as 145% on Chinese goods earlier this year as the president looks to bring parity to the nation’s chronic trade deficit with foreign countries.

The move was confirmed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told reporters: “The consensus from both delegations this weekend was neither side wants a decoupling.”

Bessent also praised Chinese officials for engaging seriously on fentanyl, saying it was “the first time the Chinese side understood the magnitude of what is happening in the US.”

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent“I’m happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks. First, I want to thank our Swiss host. The Swiss government has been very kind in providing us this wonderful venue, and I think that led to a great deal of productivity we’ve seen. We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive. We had the vice premier, two vice ministers, who were integrally involved, Ambassador Jamieson, and myself. And I spoke to President Trump, as did Ambassador Jamieson, last night, and he is fully informed of what is going on. So, there will be a complete briefing tomorrow morning.”

The truce peels back some of the harshest duties imposed under President Donald Trump’s April tariff hike, which sent U.S. levies on Chinese goods to 125%. China hit back with countermeasures and restricted key mineral exports, rattling global supply chains. Under the new agreement, Chinese tariffs drop to 10%, while U.S. tariffs fall to 30% — though the 20% fentanyl-related tariff remains untouched.

China’s commerce ministry called the move a win for “producers and consumers in both countries,” urging Washington to “completely correct” its unilateral trade posture.

The trade negotiations come as President Trump is slated to depart Washington, D.C., on Monday for visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president disclosed last week, when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited the White House, that he would be making “a very, very big announcement” ahead of his departure for the Middle East, but has not shared additional details.