As he continued hison-again, off-again tariff warwith much of the world, Donald Trump went on social media to complain that the EU was “taking advantage of the United States on trade” and not coming to the table about it. “Therefore I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on theEuropean Union, starting on June 1, 2025.”
The EU’s trade commissioner had a call with the US trade representative Jamieson Greer and Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick. Maroš Šefčovič said afterwards: “The EU’s fully engaged, committed to securing a deal that works for both.”
Here’s what’s been happening.
The EU’s trade chief struck a defiant tone after Donald Trump threatened to place a 50% tariff on all goods from the bloc.
Maroš Šefčovič said: “The European Commission remains ready to work in good faith. EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats. We stand ready to defend our interests.”
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During the 12 months leading up to March, more than 6,000 US citizens have applied to either become British subjects or to live and work in the country indefinitely – the highest number since comparable records began in 2004, according to data released on Thursday by theUK’s Home Office.
American immigration lawyers say they are receiving an increasing number of inquiries. Some are pointing to the polarized political climate under Trump, whose administration is mounting an aggressive immigration-related crackdown.
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Federal prison officials visited Alcatraz last week afterTrump’sannouncementof plans to rebuild and reopen the infamous island prison, which has been closed for more than 60 years.
David Smith, the superintendent of the Golden Gate national recreation area (GGNRA), told theSan Francisco Chroniclethat officials with the Federal Bureau of Prisons were planning to return for further structural assessments. “They have been out here. They’ll be coming out again to do assessments of the structure,” Smith told the news outlet.
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Trump told graduating West Point military academy cadets on Saturday that they were entering the officer corps at a “defining moment in the army’s history” in a commencement address that included political attacks and a discourse on the folly of older men marrying “trophy wives”.
The president said US soldiers had in the past been sent “on nation-building crusades to nations that wanted nothing to do with us, led by leaders that didn’t have a clue about distant lands while abusing our soldiers with absurd ideological experiments here and at home … All of that’s ended, strongly ended. They’re not even allowed to think about it any more.”
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A federal judge has ordered theTrump administrationnight to facilitate the return of a Guatemalan man it deported to Mexico, in spite of his fears of being harmed there, and who has since been returned to Guatemala.
The man, who is gay, had applied for asylum in the US last year after he was attacked twice in homophobic acts of violence in Guatemala. He was protected from being returned to his home country under aUS immigrationjudge’s order at the time, but the Trump administration put him on a bus and sent him to Mexico instead.
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Republicansin Congress are trying to pass Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” on tax and spending – but thebiggest deductions will ultimately go to the wealthiest Americans.
Donald Trump’s old friend Thomas Barrack, now serving as the US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria,has praised Syria’s interim presidentfor “counter-ISIS measures”.
Catching up?Here’s what happened on 24 May 2025.