Trump talks up trade deals with China, but experts see no big wins for U.S.

Politics – CBSNews.com — 2026-05-15 18:52:00 — www.cbsnews.com

This week’s summit between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could ease economic tensions between the countries in the short term, but failed to deliver any breakthrough trade deals, according to some experts. “I was expecting that China would announce mega purchases of U.S. agriculture, energy and airplanes,” Wendy Cutler, a former negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, told CBS News. “So far, it doesn’t seem like Trump and his team have a lot to show for the visit.” President Trump on Friday said the meeting in Beijing had produced “fantastic trade deals” and characterized the trip as an “incredible visit,” while Chinese officials opened the door to new areas of cooperation with the U.S. “It looks like both sides are saying they got somewhere, but we are not there yet — we are still waiting,” said David Meale, head of the China practice at Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm. “Neither side has come out with a clear statement of details. I don’t think that means it’s a failure or that those deals don’t exist. They just need to cross the Ts and dot the Is on a few things. One winner likely to emerge from the talks is Boeing. Trump said on Friday that China had agreed to purchase at least 200 aircraft from the U.S. aviation giant and that the number could eventually grow to 750 planes. Boeing told CBS News that it viewed the trip as a success and that the company accomplished its “major goal of reopening the China market to orders for Boeing aircraft.” “This included an initial commitment for 200 aircraft and we expect further commitments will follow after this initial tranche,” a Boeing spokesperson said in a statement.

Yet the initial aircraft order is smaller than some analysts expected before the summit, according to investment advisory firm Capital Economics. Boeing shares fell 3.8% on Friday, a sign that investors were underwhelmed by the deal news. Mr. Trump also said that China agreed to buy more U.S. oil and agricultural products, including “billions of dollars of soybeans” from American farmers. A White House official told CBS News that Mr. Trump’s trip had delivered important agricultural agreements that expand U.S. farmers’ exports to China and an aircraft purchase agreement that will boost U.S. manufacturing jobs. More details on the agreements are forthcoming, the official added. The White House also said the U.S. has established what it called a “Board of Trade” and “Board of Investment” to manage the U.S.’s economic relationship with China.

Non-binding commitments For now, specifics on the deals remain scant, energy and trade experts noted. “As far as I can tell, this isn’t confirmed, and we haven’t seen a statement saying that China wants to buy X barrels of oil per day from the U.S.,” said China energy policy expert Erica Downs, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA. “Saying that China wants to buy more energy from the U.S. will please Trump, but it doesn’t bind China to anything.” Cutler, now senior vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, a think tank focused on trade and investment, said she was expecting more details on renewed Chinese commitments to buy other U.S. farm products, including corn and beef. Economists also noted that the deals with China Mr. Trump touted remain only verbal commitments, with no guarantee they will materialize. For example, Mr. Trump’s 2017 trip to China led to an agreement for the state-owned China Energy Investment Corporation to invest nearly $84 billion in shale gas and chemical manufacturing projects in West Virginia. But the plans dissolved as U.S.-China tensions grew. Trade experts emphasized that U.S. and Chinese officials could iron out such deals in the coming weeks and months. “This is not their one and only meeting, which could lead to both sides deciding to take their time before they announce anything, rather than rushing,” Cutler noted.

Framework for stability? Cutler also underlined the potential value of the world’s two largest economies holding constructive talks. Chinese and U.S. officials described the meeting as a way to stabilize the relationship, which deteriorated last year after Mr. Trump imposed tariffs of up to 125% on Chinese imports, prompting countermeasures from China on U.S. products. “They get to relabel the relationship as stable, and it feels like there is a new framework for how we’re going to engage on the economic front,” Cutler said. That framework includes the new Board of Trade, which would mediate trade disputes between the countries. As part of that mechanism, the sides would consider lifting tariffs on roughly $30 billion in goods, Reuters reported. Still, that number is less than 10% of the value of trade between the U.S. and China in 2025, according to Capital Economics. As of February, China faced a U.S. tariff rate of roughly 32%, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a University of Pennsylvania research group that analyzes the fiscal impact of public policies. Chinese tariffs on U.S. experts average around 10%.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-xi-jinping-china-trade-deals-boeing/

Lawmakers press Trump for military support for Taiwan after Xi summit

Politics – CBSNews.com — 2026-05-15 18:53:00 — www.cbsnews.com

Washington — Lawmakers in both parties say the U.S. should continue to provide arms to Taiwan after President Trump, at the end of his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, said he hasn’t decided whether to move forward with a pending arms sale to the island. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One Friday after departing Beijing, Mr. Trump said he and Xi “talked a lot about Taiwan” during their summit and confirmed the Chinese leader had brought up the U.S. weapons sale. The president said he made “no commitment either way” on the issue and declined to publicly state whether the U.S. would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.

The comments quickly drew attention on Capitol Hill, where Taiwan has long enjoyed strong bipartisan support and lawmakers have been pushing the administration to move ahead with a delayed $14 billion arms sale that Congress approved in January. Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican and former House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, said Friday that the U.S. must “arm Taiwan so they can defend themselves for deterrence against Chairman Xi.” McCaul said that during the summit, Xi was “very aggressive” regarding Taiwan and added that “most of what [Xi] talked about was Taiwan.”

Asked about the fact that the president has not yet made a decision on the arms sale, McCaul replied that there “should be” a decision. During the summit, Xi told Mr. Trump that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations, according to a Chinese readout of their meeting. A Chinese ministry spokesperson said Xi made it clear that if Taiwan “is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability.” If not, “the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy.” The ministry said Xi also told Mr. Trump that “‘Taiwan independence’ and cross-Strait peace are as irreconcilable as fire and water.”

After meeting with Xi, Mr. Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier he views the pending weapons sale as a “very good negotiating chip.” “I may do it, I may not do it,” the president said, later adding: “Taiwan would be very smart to cool it a little bit. China would be very smart to cool it a little bit.” House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, also stressed the importance of U.S. support for Taiwan’s defenses. Meeks was among a group of top House Democrats who had urged Mr. Trump ahead of the summit to approve the delayed package before meeting Xi, warning that delaying Taiwan arms sales could weaken deterrence of Chinese aggression in the Taiwan Strait. “I think it is important for us to make sure that Taiwan does have what it needs to defend itself,” Meeks told CBS News on Friday.

Meeks also argued Xi has “leverage over the president” but not “over the United States Congress and the American people.” He said Congress has already acted on the package, and “the president is the one that’s holding it up.” Speaker Mike Johnson also reiterated his support for Taiwan Friday, though he said he has not yet received a full readout from Trump on the talks with Xi. “We’ve always been concerned, and we’ve made America’s interests very clear,” Johnson said. “Our position on Taiwan, they need to stay independent and secure there.” Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick compared Taiwan to Ukraine, calling both “fortresses of democracy” that are “on the front lines.” “We have to support Taiwan,” Fitzpatrick said. “We should be bolstering it.” Taiwan emerged as one of the most closely watched issues ahead of Trump’s trip to Beijing, as lawmakers worried that the administration could delay or reconsider future arms sales as part of broader negotiations with China on trade and Iran. The U.S. announced a record $11 billion arms sale to Taiwan late last year, angering Beijing and prompting Chinese military exercises near the island. The larger $14 billion package is still awaiting Mr. Trump’s signature four months after Congress approved it.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lawmakers-press-trump-for-military-support-for-taiwan-after-he-leaves-arms-package-unresolved/

Colorado governor says he will grant clemency to Trump-aligned election conspiracy theorist

Politics — 2026-05-15 16:58:00 — www.politico.com

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Friday that he will grant clemency to Tina Peters, a former county clerk and darling of election conspiracy theorists who was serving a nine-year prison sentence for allowing unauthorized access to voting machines after the 2020 election. Polis, a Democrat, told CNN that he is halving her sentence, meaning she could be paroled within a month after accounting for time already served for aiding efforts to overturn the presidential election. The Colorado governor said his decision came after Peters acknowledged her wrongdoing in an application for leniency, which was obtained by CNN. POLITICO has not independently reviewed the document.

Polis told CNN he believed Peters’ was unfairly punished for free expression in her comments alleging fraud in the 2020 election. “I hope that Democrats don’t sacrifice our deeply held belief in free speech because of political expediency or disregard for what people are saying,” Polis told CNN. “There should be no consideration of what we say, how unpopular it is, how inaccurate it is in sentencing or in criminal proceedings.” Polis’ decision followed months of intense pressure from President Donald Trump, who issued his own symbolic pardon of Peters last year, but cannot grant clemency for violations of state law.

Trump has repeatedly called on Polis to free Peters, and his pressure campaign came as his administration has taken a series of actions to slash funding to and litigate against Colorado. Also in December, Trump vetoed a bipartisan bill meant to bring clean water to the state, the first and only veto of his second term. Polis told CNN he spoke with Trump privately about Peters’ case, but insisted he granted her clemency after “looking at the merits of the case.”

The Democratic governor, who has occasionally bucked his own party, suggested he was weighing granting Peters clemency in March, after a former Democratic state senator was sentenced to probation and community service after being convicted of similar charges. “Justice in Colorado and America needs to be applied evenly, you never know when you might need to depend on the rule of law,” he wrote on X.

Peters was convicted on four state felony charges in August 2024 by a Colorado jury after she fraudulently gave a right-wing activist affiliated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell access to the Mesa County election system. She was unrepentant in her sentencing hearing two months later, telling the court that she’d “never done anything with malice to break the law.” Peters’ conviction was upheld by an appeals court in April, but ruled that the lower court’s decision to impose a nine-year sentence was too harsh.

In a statement issued before Polis’ decision on Friday, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat now running for attorney general, strongly urged Polis not to grant leniency to Peters. “Peters organized the breach of the election equipment, broke the public trust and attacked the very foundations of our democratic process,” she said. “Her actions are still being used to try to undermine the 2026 election. She should get no special treatment by the Governor, and his statement is shocking and worrisome.”

Peters’ case has long attracted the attention of prominent Republicans, including Trump, who falsely argue that former President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election was fraudulent. “Democrats have been relentless in their targeting of TINA PETERS, a Patriot who simply wanted to make sure that our Elections were Fair and Honest,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in December. “Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections.”

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/15/colorado-clemency-trump-election-conspiracy-theorist-00924870

Trump said Americans’ finances don’t motivate him in Iran talks. How are people doing economically?

PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories — 2026-05-15 16:42:00 — www.politifact.com

President Donald Trump’s recent answer to a question about how Americans are faring economically sparked claims of callousness. A reporter asked Trump on May 12 how much Americans’ financial situations factor in when he’s weighing decisions about Iran. Trump responded, “Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about American(s’) financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing. We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon, that’s all. That’s the only thing that motivates me.”

Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., quickly pounced. “Trump’s clueless comments make my blood boil,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Americans can’t understand how a president could be so cold, so callous. And so proud of it.”

In light of Trump’s comment, we decided to examine how the economy is treating average Americans. We looked at metrics for inflation, wages, job creation, consumer debt and public opinion surveys about the economy. We asked the White House to suggest its own metrics, but it did not share any.

In a statement to PolitiFact, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung focused on the question’s original context: the Iran war and negotiations to end it. “The President’s ultimate responsibility is the safety and security of Americans,” he said. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and if action wasn’t taken, they’d have one, which threatens all Americans.”

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the center-right American Action Forum, said on the economic front, there’s not a lot to celebrate. “For the majority of Americans the economy is close to stagnant — little hiring (or firing), real wages nearly flat, sustained inflation, and little optimism that things will change,” Holtz-Eakin said.

In seven charts, we show how the U.S. economy is performing for average Americans. Prices for key goods and services have increased. Rising prices are a big concern for many Americans, after experiencing an inflation peak around 9% in 2022. In six broad categories tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics — groceries, electricity, housing, apparel, medical care, and tuition and childcare — prices have not only risen during Trump’s presidency but also have risen faster than the 2% inflation rate that the Federal Reserve targets. The increases during the first 16 months of Trump’s second term have ranged from 3.2% for groceries to 8.7% for electricity.

Gasoline is another major item many Americans purchase, and its price has soared since Trump launched the Iran war in February and Iran responded by blocking the Strait of Hormuz. Today’s nationwide average gasoline price per gallon is among the highest ever recorded.

Mortgage rates also fell from 6.96% when Trump took office in January 2025 to 5.98% in late February, but they have since risen to 6.36%. Wages outpaced inflation early in Trump’s second term, but not anymore. Early in 2025, wages grew robustly, consistently outpacing inflation. But inflation has picked up since the Iran war started, and now those early wage gains have all but disappeared.

Consumer loan delinquency has risen steadily. Feeling the inflation squeeze, consumers are struggling more with debt as they turn to credit to cover costs. One measure, the share of loaned money that is delinquent in being repaid, has increased steadily during Trump’s second term. Delinquency rates for credit card debt and auto loan debt are roughly the same as during the Great Recession, which peaked in 2009. Mortgage and home-equity loan delinquencies are below their Great Recession levels, although they have also risen during Trump’s second term.

Job creation in Trump’s second term has lagged. Job creation in Trump’s second term has trailed several recent presidents, including his own first term and his predecessor, Joe Biden. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama saw jobs decline during their first 16 months, but they were contending with recessions, which Trump hasn’t during his second term. The entirety of the job gains have come from one sector, healthcare. Subtracting those from the total leaves a net loss for the rest of the economy — down 34,500 jobs.

Americans are telling pollsters they aren’t pleased with the economy, inflation. You don’t have to use economic data to determine how Americans feel about the economy. You can ask them directly — and the consensus is that they are not happy. One frequently cited metric by economists and journalists is the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. The score for March 2026, the most recent month, was 53.3. That’s the ninth-lowest score since the monthly survey began in 1978. Of those nine lowest marks, five have come during Trump’s second term. (Two happened during 40-year-high inflation under Biden in 2022 and two came during even higher inflation under Jimmy Carter in 1980.)

Other public opinion polls also frequently ask Americans about their opinions on the economy. One widely used polling aggregator is compiled by Silver Bulletin, a website published by FiveThirtyEight.com founder Nate Silver. It collects polling data to produce “net approval” measurements, which refer to the share of respondents saying they approve of the president’s handling of a given issue minus the share saying they disapprove. A positive net approval number means the president has more approvers than disapprovers; a negative net approval number means they have more disapprovers than approvers. During his second term, net approval for Trump’s handling of the economy has cratered. It began in positive territory when he was inaugurated in January 2025 but turned negative the next month. Since then, his net approval has continued to sink; in mid-May, disapproval exceeded approval by more than 24 percentage points. And approval for Trump’s handling of inflation has fared worse; disapproval exceeds approval by nearly 40 percentage points.

RELATED: President Donald Trump said U.S. consumer confidence is ‘way up.’ Metrics don’t bear that out. RELATED: Trump is wrong: Gas prices have reached near record highs, not ‘come down very substantially’.

Source: https://www.politifact.com/article/2026/may/15/trump-economy-inflation-jobs-consumers-polls/

Trump weighs Taiwan arms package after summit aimed at steadying US-China ties

PBS NewsHour – Politics — 2026-05-15 10:19:00 — www.pbs.org

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump’s comments on Taiwan — a self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory — came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing U.S.-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan.

“I will make a determination,” Trump said. He added: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right now is a war that’s 9,500 miles away.”

Trump’s Republican administration in December authorized a record-setting $11 billion weapons package for Taipei, but it has yet to move forward. Lawmakers also approved a $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan in January, but the sale cannot advance until Trump formally sends it to Congress. China opposes such sales and has suggested that Washington’s relationship with the self-governing island is the key factor in U.S.-China relations.

Trump said Xi also reiterated China’s strong opposition to Taiwan’s independence. “I heard him out,” Trump said. “I didn’t make a comment.”

Trump’s consultation with Xi about arms sales to Taiwan may violate the so-called Six Assurances, a set of nonbinding U.S. policy principles formulated in 1982 under President Ronald Reagan that have helped guide the U.S. relationship with Taipei, according to analysts.

The second of the Six Assurances states that the U.S. “did not agree to consult with the People’s Republic of China on arms sales to Taiwan.” Trump said the issue of the 1982 assurances came up in the talks with Xi.

Trump also said he raised a potential three-way nuclear deal that would involve the U.S., Russia, and China. He wants each of the three countries to sign a pact that would cap the number of nuclear warheads in their arsenals. China has previously been cool to entering such a pact.

Beijing’s arsenal, according to Pentagon estimates, exceeds 600 warheads and is far from parity with the U.S. and Russia, which are each estimated to have more than 5,000 warheads. But Trump suggested Xi was receptive to the idea.

“I got a very a positive response,” Trump said. “This is the beginning.”

The last nuclear arms pact, known as the New START treaty, between Russia and the United States expired in February, removing any caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century. As the treaty was set to expire, Trump rejected a call by Russia to extend the two-country deal for another year and called for “a new, improved and modernized” deal that includes China.

The Pentagon estimates China will have more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.

Xi welcomed Trump at his official residence, Zhongnanhai, on Friday for their final engagement of the summit before the U.S. leader’s return to Washington. The leaders took a short walk through the grounds that feature ancient trees and Chinese roses, and they strolled through a covered passageway with green columns and archways painted with birds and traditional Chinese mountain scenes.

Over tea and lunch, Trump and Xi — with top aides and translators in tow — huddled for nearly three hours of talks before the U.S. leader completed his three-day visit to China.

Trump appeared impressed by the bucolic grounds, remarking that the roses were the most beautiful he had ever seen. Xi promised to send him some rose seeds.

The compound is wrapped around two artificial lakes built for the pleasure of emperors. Zhongnanhai is often compared to the White House, the Kremlin, or South Korea’s Blue House. But unlike the other presidential residences, Zhongnanhai does not serve as the main venue for diplomatic visits. The invitation appeared to be an attempt by Xi to extend a personal touch to a U.S. leader who appreciates big gestures.

“It’s been really a great couple of days,” Trump told reporters.

Xi, for his part, called it a “milestone” visit. “We have established a new bilateral relationship, or rather a constructive, strategic, stable relationship,” he said.

But the optimistic outlook collides with some difficult truths about the thorniest issues between the two superpowers.

Beijing has shown little public interest in U.S. entreaties to get more involved in solving the conflict in Iran, even though Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Xi had in their conversations offered to help.

In recent weeks, the U.S. State Department has accused Chinese firms of providing satellite imagery to the Iranian government, and the Treasury Department has moved to target Chinese oil refineries accused of buying oil from Tehran, as well as shippers of the oil.

Xi on Thursday warned Trump during private talks that their differences on Taiwan, if handled poorly, could hurtle the world’s dominant powers toward “clashes and even conflicts,” according to Chinese government officials.

But Trump, as he made his way home, said he was not concerned that the U.S.-China relationship was in danger. “I think we will be fine,” he said.

Taiwan remains the most important issue for China. Xi’s sharp language on Taiwan loomed large over the visit, with Chinese government officials amplifying his view that differences on the island pose the biggest risk to U.S.-Chinese relations.

But Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News that U.S. policy toward Taiwan was “unchanged” and cautioned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to try to take Taiwan by force. He also framed Xi’s comments as standard practice.

“They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics,” said Rubio, who was among senior aides to join Trump for the talks.

China in recent weeks has sought to put more focus on its view that Taiwan sits at the “core” of its interests and is key to ensuring a stable relationship with the U.S. Trump at moments has shown ambivalence toward Taiwan, raising speculation that he could be open to loosening ties with Taipei.

Trump said he and Xi also spoke at length about Iran. The leaders agreed that the critical Strait of Hormuz — effectively closed since the start of the Iran conflict — needs to be reopened to support global energy demands. About 20% of the world’s oil flowed through the strait before the war started on Feb. 28.

“We feel very similar about (how) we want it to end,” the president said with Xi at his side. “We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon.”

White House officials said Xi was also opposed to any implementation of tolls on vessels crossing the strait and expressed interest in China potentially purchasing U.S. oil to reduce Chinese dependence on Gulf oil in the future.

Trump earlier this week downplayed the importance of talks with Xi on the 11-week-old Iran war that has led to surging energy prices and threatens to plunge the global economy into recession if the conflict does not conclude soon.

Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/trump-weighs-taiwan-arms-package-after-summit-aimed-at-steadying-us-china-ties

Trump says sculpture garden honoring prominent Americans is planned for park along Potomac River

PBS NewsHour – Politics — 2026-05-15 10:43:00 — www.pbs.org

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to build an exhibit of statues featuring prominent Americans in a tightly regulated park along the Potomac River, potentially opening a new legal fight over whether his administration is ignoring the approvals process that typically governs Washington’s monumental core as he muscles through a dramatic overhaul of the nation’s capital.

In a Friday morning social media post, Trump said the National Garden of American Heroes would be built in West Potomac Park, a space near the National Mall that includes the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The area is also home to several fields and volleyball courts regularly used by local sports groups. Trump described the area in his post as a “totally BARREN field of Prime Waterfront Real Estate along our Mighty Potomac River.”

The president has said the garden would commemorate America’s 250th anniversary with sculptures recognizing 250 prominent Americans who have made significant cultural, political, and other historical contributions to the country. He first raised the idea during Fourth of July celebrations in 2020 and has framed it as a response to protests that resulted in the removal of controversial monuments, including those that commemorated slave owners and Confederate leaders.

In the final days of his first term, Trump, a Republican, signed an executive order naming 244 people including Ronald Reagan and Jackie Robinson who should be honored with statues in the garden. The idea languished under President Joe Biden, a Democrat, but Congress provided $40 million under Trump’s big tax and spending cuts law last year to procure the statues included in his executive orders.

That may not be enough, however, to constitute the type of approval typically needed for major projects on or near the National Mall. Federal law requires projects and memorials to get a sign-off from multiple design and planning groups.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it was seeking such approvals and or whether contracts have been awarded for the statues. Washington’s monumental core is one of the nation’s most closely regulated spaces, with the goal of protecting sight lines and preventing new construction that would undermine the area’s history. Between the approvals process, design disputes, and funding challenges, changes in the area can take years — or even decades — to reach completion. One of the newest additions near the National Mall, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, took 21 years to finish after Congress initially approved it in 1999.

Trump and his supporters have shown little interest in following such procedures. He moved quickly this month to drain and repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He suddenly demolished the East Wing of the White House last year to build a ballroom. Trump’s name has been added to the facade of the Kennedy Center, which he plans to close later this summer for a two-year renovation.

Just this week, workers began preliminary surveys and testing of the proposed site of a triumphal arch Trump is seeking between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. Part of the site was fenced off, and pink flags typically used as survey markings were planted in the grass. And the Trump administration is moving forward with plans to transform East Potomac Park from an accessible public golf course into what Trump has described as a “U.S. Open-caliber course.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Thursday released a design plan for the new course that he said would provide “championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates.” The plan provided few details on how open the park, which is frequently used by local runners and bikers, would remain to the general public. Virtually all of the projects have become subject to litigation.

Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-says-sculpture-garden-honoring-prominent-americans-is-planned-for-park-along-potomac-river

Why is Trump talking about action on Cuba and what could that look like?

Politics – CBSNews.com — 2026-05-15 09:53:00 — www.cbsnews.com

Washington — President Trump has continued to dangle the possibility of military action against Cuba, appearing to be emboldened by his administration’s intervention in Venezuela. He suggested earlier this month that “on the way back from Iran,” an aircraft carrier could “come in, stop about 100 yards offshore, and they’ll say, ‘thank you very much, we give up.'” After the U.S. military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, Mr. Trump warned that he had his sights set on Cuba. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, standing alongside Mr. Trump at a news conference about the raid on Jan. 3, said the regime should be “concerned.” And since Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was assassinated in U.S. strikes on Iran in February, Mr. Trump’s rhetoric against Cuba has escalated. On March 16, Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he believed he would have “the honor of taking Cuba.” “Taking Cuba in some form, yeah,” he said. “Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it — I think I could do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth.” “Cuba’s going to be next,” Mr. Trump said later that month. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has been more direct about the administration’s possible goals in Cuba, testifying to Congress in January, “we would love to see the regime there change,” and saying it would be of “great benefit” to the U.S. Weeks later, Rubio said Cuba has to “change dramatically.” “I mean Cuba has an economy that doesn’t work and a political and governmental system that can’t fix it,” Rubio said on March 17 in the Oval Office. “The people in charge, they don’t know how to fix it. So, they have to get new people in charge.”

Rubio reiterated the need for economic reform and political reforms and predicted the administration would “have more news on that fairly soon,” he said on Fox News. “You cannot fix their economy if you don’t change the system of government,” he said. For now, experts on the region view the threats of military action in Cuba as bluster, saying it would involve much more effort than in Venezuela because of the political structure. Forcing gradual economic change, along with the resignation of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, through the threat of economic collapse and other sanctions is a more likely scenario, they said. “I think there are a number of factions within the administration where some would be happy to do a deal with most of the existing Cuban government if it gave greater access to businesses, and particularly to Cuban Americans to come back and invest,” Paul Hare, who served as the British ambassador to Cuba from 2001 to 2004, told CBS News. “The other faction, I think, is insisting on a complete regime change.”

The Trump administration has been trying to choke Cuba’s economy by imposing an oil blockade that experts say has pushed the Communist-ruled island to its most dire state since the collapse of the Soviet Union, which heavily subsidized Cuba’s economy. In mid-May, the energy minister said that Cuba has run out of fuel, largely as a result of the blockade. Still, the U.S. and Cuba have been talking, and on Thursday, May 14, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana, Cuba, for a rare meeting with senior Cuban officials, an agency official told CBS News, using the visit to deliver a message that the U.S. was prepared to expand economic and security engagement with Cuba if Havana “makes fundamental changes.” The deputy foreign minister of Cuba, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, said in an interview in March with NBC News that his nation does not see U.S. military action as “probable,” but their military is “prepared” for any U.S. aggression. Cossío added that regime change is “absolutely” off the table. What regime change could look like is another question. Christopher Hernandez-Roy, a senior fellow and deputy director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said “regime management” is the “only realistic option.” “Regime change is probably harder to accomplish than in Venezuela. Regime management, I would also argue, is probably harder to accomplish than in Venezuela because you have a power structure that’s been in place for almost 70 years and is expert at repression and expert at sniffing out dissent. So is there a pressure point at which certain elements in Cuba think that it’s better to change course? I think it’s possible. But is it as easy as it is in Venezuela? I don’t think so. I think it’s probably harder,” he told CBS News. “A purely diplomatic solution that doesn’t rest on any sort of coercion, I don’t think is possible,” he added.

Raúl Castro handed the presidency to Díaz-Canel in 2018, marking the first time since 1959 that a Castro was not formally leading the country. But Díaz-Canel is widely considered a figurehead and the Castros still have considerable influence. “He’s not the person that actually wields the power in the country, but it would be seen as a symbolic win by the United States,” Hernandez-Roy said. It’s also unclear who would step in to run the country. One scenario could be a Delcy Rodríguez figure who would lead the island “very much in concert with and under the pressure of the United States,” according to Lawrence Gumbiner, a career diplomat who led the U.S. Embassy in Havana during Mr. Trump’s first term. “The first steps would be economic openings,” Gumbiner said of how the U.S. could exert pressure over a regime-aligned leader. “I think the clear message will be like it is with Ms. Rodriguez — that you will do as we say, or else.” Gumbiner said the “or else” carries the threat of military action, although he believes such a threat is minimal, and potential indictments. The top federal prosecutor in Miami has been exploring potential charges against Communist Party leadership, including economic crimes, drugs, violent crimes and immigration-related violations. And CBS News first reported on May 14 that the Trump administration is taking steps to indict former leader Raúl Castro. A more ambitious move would involve bringing in someone from outside the regime who would push for constitutional changes, Hare said.

Gumbiner said that Mr. Trump is less concerned about political change, instead seeing the nation as a big opportunity for U.S. businesses. “Whether it’s shipping, whether it’s transportation, whether it’s tourism, whether it’s construction, I think Trump sees Cuba as kind of virgin territory, where it’s been been kind of dormant for six decades, and where the U.S. business community can come in and really dominate the scene,” he said. Gumbiner said Rubio likely wants to see broader change in Cuba than Mr. Trump, but he added that “there are a number of reasons why that’s going to be complicated.” The former diplomat said an upheaval to the nation’s political structure “would involve tremendous U.S. effort.” “It’s important to realize that Trump, he does not want to do nation building,” he said. “Rebuilding Cuba would be a nation building exercise if you want to redo it in a democratic, pluralist model. Whereas, making economic changes piecemeal is easier.” Facing increasing pressure from the Trump administration, the Cuban government announced that it would allow Cuban nationals living abroad to invest in companies on the island. It marked a notable shift for the country, which had heavily restricted residents from starting private businesses until recent years. In late March, the U.S. allowed a Russian oil tanker to reach Cuba. Mr. Trump indicated it was a humanitarian gesture. “They have to survive,” he said.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-cuba-action-regime-change/

Lawyers urge judge to block Trump order that would create eligible voter list, limit mail ballots

ABC News: Politics — 2026-05-15 07:02:00 — abcnews.com

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he issued an executive order to restrict voters’ ability to cast ballots by mail, attorneys for Democrats and civil rights groups told a federal judge on Thursday. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols didn’t rule from the bench on the plaintiffs’ request for an order blocking officials from implementing Trump’s March 31 order, his second related to elections since winning his second term in the White House. The case is one of multiple lawsuits filed to block the order on the grounds that only states and Congress, and not the president, are given power under the Constitution to decide how elections are run.

Trump’s initial executive order to revamp elections by requiring documentary proof of citizenship, issued last year, was largely halted by multiple federal judges on similar grounds. He issued his latest order only after the voting bill he backed stalled in Congress. The current legal fight comes as the country is in the midst of primary elections and election officials are preparing for the intricacies of holding the fall’s midterm elections.

“I understand the time pressure here,” said Nichols, who questioned both sides but gave no clear indication of which way he’s leaning. The president can’t rewrite election rules to give himself and the Republican Party a partisan advantage, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said. They argued that the executive order’s requirements are illegal and designed to coerce states into limiting voter registration and ballot access. “It is harming our clients every day in the middle of an election season,” said Orion Nevers, an attorney representing the NAACP.

Democrats are more likely to vote by mail. Since even before his 2020 loss, Trump has falsely implied there is mass fraud involved in the practice and fought to curtail it, even after his baseless claims led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and were repeatedly debunked by audits and reviews, including some run by Republicans. Since returning to office, Trump has said he wants Republicans to “take over” elections in Democratic areas and launched investigations of the 2020 vote.

His latest executive order calls on the Department of Homeland Security to make a list of eligible voters in each state and seeks to prohibit the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on each state’s approved list. The administration is asking the judge to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims. Justice Department attorney Stephen Pezzi on Thursday suggested that the litigation is premature, calling it “shadowboxing” for the plaintiffs to challenge a list that hasn’t yet been created. “It’s a little hard to address these questions in the abstract,” Pezzi said.

Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, asked Pezzi why it would be lawful to disseminate the list to states. “I think it would be the plaintiffs’ burden to explain why it’s unlawful,” Pezzi replied. “I don’t mean to be cute with that answer.” Trump’s executive order requires federal agencies to compile a list of adults the U.S. government has purportedly “confirmed” to be U.S. citizens and to share it with each state at least 60 days before each federal election. “There isn’t a way to lawfully compile it,” said Lalitha Madduri, an attorney for Democratic Party plaintiffs. Danielle Lang, who represents the League of United Latin American Citizens, said the executive order is aimed at creating “the maximum amount of chaos and confusion” for local election officials. “They need clear direction,” Lang said.

Source: https://abcnews.com/Politics/wireStory/lawyers-urge-judge-block-trump-order-create-eligible-132982545

Trump-Xi accord on Iran elusive as US president’s China trip winds down | China

US politics | The Guardian — 2026-05-15 00:46:00 — www.theguardian.com

Donald Trump has claimed that the US and China “feel very similar” about ending the war in Iran but offered no details about a possible breakthrough. The US president was speaking alongside Xi Jinping of China at the Zhongnanhai garden in Beijing on the second and final day of the leaders’ summit. “We did discuss Iran,” Trump said. “We feel very similar about [how] we want it to end. We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the straits open.” He added: “We want them [Iran] to get it ended because it’s a crazy thing there, a little bit crazy. And it’s no good, it can’t happen.”

There is much speculation about how much pressure the US is putting on China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to use its leverage with Iran to encourage the country to reopen the strait of Hormuz. And there is a question mark over whether or not Beijing would be willing to accede to that pressure.

US trade representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Friday that the Chinese “don’t want to be on the wrong side” on the Iran issue. “It’s really important for China to have the strait of Hormuz open,” Greer said. Earlier, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the US hoped “to convince [China] to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they’re doing now and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf.” But in an interview with NBC News on Thursday he downplayed the idea that the US was seeking support from Beijing. “We’re not asking for China’s help. We don’t need their help,” Rubio said.

China’s foreign ministry on Friday again called for a ceasefire in Iran and said the strait of Hormuz should be opened “as soon as possible.” About half of China’s crude oil passes through the waterway, but the bigger threat for the Chinese economy is if the conflict in the Middle East causes a global recession that dents demand for its exports. But many in Beijing feel that the crisis in Iran is not China’s responsibility. Zhou Bo, a retired senior army colonel and a senior fellow in the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, said: “On Iran, China definitely wants to help but I read what Rubio said: he actually seems to shift the burden to the Chinese side. In China, we have a saying: it is like, ‘Why should I clean your shit?’”

The White House readout of the more than two hours of talks between Trump and Xi on Thursday said the leaders “agreed that the strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy” and that “President Xi also made clear China’s opposition to the militarisation of the strait.” Trump raised eyebrows during a TV interview when he suggested that finding Iran’s enriched uranium was primarily for show after Israel demanded it as a goal. “I just feel better if I got it, actually, but it’s – I think, it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else,” the US president told Fox News host Sean Hannity.

The Chinese readout of Thursday’s meeting just made a brief reference to the “situation in the Middle East.” Chinese state media rapidly published a flurry of articles echoing the language of “constructive strategic stability” that was part of the Chinese government’s readout of Thursday’s meeting. The Xinhua news agency said that the term meant “harmony without uniformity and seeking common ground while reserving differences.” The concept is “full of wisdom and demonstrates responsibility,” Xinhua said.

Trump, for his part, has revelled in Chinese hospitality and flattery. He was heard saying on his way into the tea room at the Zhongnanhai garden that Xi was giving him roses for the Rose Garden, according to a White House pool report. “This has been an incredible visit,” he said as the men sat together in an opulent wood panelled room with a huge golden carpet. “I think a lot of good has come of it. We’ve made some fantastic trade deals – great for both countries … we’ve really done some wonderful things, I believe.” Trump added: “We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve.”

He told Fox News that China agreed to buy US oil, soybeans and 200 Boeing planes. But on key issues including Taiwan, there seems to have been little by way of concrete agreement. Julian Gewirtz, a former director for China on the national security council during the Biden administration, said the new Chinese formulation about US-China relations was about “locking in this current phase of strategic stalemate for the remainder of Trump’s term and ideally beyond.” “Xi Jinping has been working for years to be ready for this moment, to bring an American president to Beijing as a peer, widely acknowledged as such around the world. And now it is happening,” Gewirtz said.

Wu Xinbo, a professor of international studies at Fudan University and a Chinese government adviser, said the balance of power between the US and China was “shifting towards greater parity.” “In the past, it always seemed as though the United States held the upper hand, constantly exerting pressure on China and taking the offensive. Now, however, it’s fair to say that the two countries have reached a new point of equilibrium,” Wu said.

At a busy intersection near Trump’s hotel, the crowds that gathered to catch a glimpse of the presidential motorcade were thinner on Friday morning than on Thursday evening, with the heavy police presence encouraging people not to loiter. Many grumbled about the inconvenience caused by the repeated road closures. Asked for their views on Trump, the word that came up again and again from Beijingers was “unpredictable.” “What he says isn’t necessarily what it means,” said one Trump-watcher, who declined to give his name.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/15/trump-china-visit-iran-agreement-xi-jinping-elusive

Fact-checking JD Vance on Maine Democrats, Medicaid fraud and autism coverage

PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories — 2026-05-14 17:25:00 — www.politifact.com

Visiting Maine weeks before the state’s primary election, Vice President JD Vance accused Democrats of capitulating to fraudsters. Calling Maine the “bronze medalist” in fraud after California and Minnesota, Vance predicted that federal officials will find “hundreds of millions of dollars every single month” because Maine “is not a state that takes it seriously.” Vance, tasked by President Donald Trump to uncover fraud in federal programs, said May 14 in Bangor that states that don’t go after fraud “care more about illegal aliens than the people they represent.”

Maine has experienced some fraud in Medicaid and autism coverage in recent years, but some of the things Vance said exaggerated how much fault lies with Democratic officials, and he left out that, by some metrics, Maine experiences less fraud than other states. U.S. Sentencing Commission data shows in fiscal year 2025 that New Jersey and the Southern District of Florida were tied for the most health care fraud sentencings. Nationwide, 91% of people sentenced were United States citizens. Maine has about 10,000 immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, just under 1% of the state’s population and one of the smallest unauthorized immigrant populations in the U.S.

The largest cases of fraud over a decade in MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid healthcare program for low-income people, have involved pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmacies, including companies with offices in the U.S., WMTW, PolitiFact’s Maine partner, reported. Neither the White House nor the vice president’s office responded to an inquiry for this article. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills rejected Vance’s portrayal after his speech, resending a March statement that said she cracked down on fraud as a district attorney, attorney general and governor, “often by working hand-in-hand with the federal government.”

Vance campaigned with former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who is running in an open-seat race for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, an area that Trump won three times. Republican Sen. Susan Collins did not attend the event, but Vance had a kind word for the senator, who voted to convict Trump in 2021 and is in a competitive Senate race. “I almost wish that she was more partisan, but the thing I love about Susan is she is independent,” Vance said. Graham Platner, the Democrats’ expected Senate candidate nominee, shared video of Vance’s comment within hours, seeking to reinforce Collins’ ties to the administration.

We fact-checked some of Vance’s comments. Vance: “The government wasn’t going after fraud. And ladies and gentlemen, that changed the moment, Donald J. Trump became the President of the United States.” That’s incorrect. The federal government and state governments, including Maine’s, have long pursued fraud cases. Trump has torn down governmental fraud-finding tools. He fired more than a dozen inspectors general whose jobs were to ferret out fraud and inefficiencies and appointed his own. He paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits businesses from taking bribes from foreign officials. He has also granted clemency to some people convicted of Medicare or Medicaid fraud.

Congress passed the Inspector General Act of 1978 in response to anti-corruption efforts that started after the 1972 Watergate break-in and cover-up that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. Another federal entity, the Government Accountability Office, conducts audits. WMTW reported in January that since 2015, the Maine Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit recovered more than $17 million in 162 cases, sometimes involving repeat offenders. That is a small percentage of the billions of dollars spent annually on MaineCare. Maine’s improper payment rate of 2.4% is lower than the national average of 3.2%, data show.

Vance: “Fraud has festered in Maine” because LePage is no longer the governor. That’s wrong. Fraud existed under both LePage and Mills, and both administrations carried out investigations and conducted routine audits. WMTW found that there were dozens of fraud investigations every year between 2015 and 2025. That includes the final four years of LePage’s tenure and most of Mills’ governorship. Assigning credit for investigations and prosecutions is tricky, because convictions can represent cases in which investigations were launched years earlier.

For example, two Lewiston men who defrauded MaineCare from 2015 to 2018 were sentenced for health care fraud in 2021. This prosecution was the result of a three-year investigation by federal and state officials during the Trump, Biden, LePage and Mills administrations. As governor, LePage’s antifraud actions included pursuing more than 1,000 cases of fraud within the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program for low-income households and hiring additional welfare fraud investigators. Under Mills, the state health department in December stopped payments for MaineCare to Gateway Community Services, a nonprofit that works with Somali immigrants, because of allegations of fraud. A few employees were later charged with tax fraud.

Vance mentioned the case of Rakiya Mohamed, an Auburn, Maine, resident and owner of a language interpretation business. Mohamed in March pleaded guilty in federal court to filing a false tax return and interfering with the administration of federal tax laws. Mohamed reported the income and expenses for the business, Reliable Language Resources, on her individual income tax returns and reported false and fraudulent expenses for contract labor and office expenses. A court document said she is not a foreign national. Mohamed faces a maximum term of imprisonment of three years and a $250,000 fine.

Vance: “In Maine, we’ve seen people go out there and say that they’re providing services to autistic children, when, in reality, they maybe don’t have any children at all, or they certainly don’t have autistic children.” There is evidence of payment problems within Maine’s autism-related Medicaid coverage, but the auditor cited incomplete paperwork and did not say anyone had fabricated autistic children. In January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general released an audit that said Maine made at least $45.6 million in improper Medicaid payments for children with autism.

An “improper” payment in a government program refers to erroneous payments made to beneficiaries and their providers or without sufficient documentation. The Maine audit deemed some Medicaid payments improper if children did not receive all the required assessments or if filed assessments lacked required signatures of staff, parents or guardians. Others were considered improper because the notes from patient evaluation sessions were not fully documented or lacked a provider’s credentials. The agency said Maine should return $28.7 million, which was the federal share of the payments. The inspector general examined the program because of rising costs; it had grown from $52.2 million in 2019 to $80.6 million in 2023.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, asked Mills in February what the state was doing to prevent fraud and recoup stolen payments. The letter came weeks after the federal government deployed immigration agents to Maine in a targeted crackdown. Mills’ response cited initiatives from her tenure, including requiring all group homes and personal care agencies in Maine to be licensed and enhancing licensing requirements for home and community rehabilitation support services. Staff Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.politifact.com/article/2026/may/14/vice-president-JD-Vance-Maine-fraud-Janet-Mills/