Trump says '100%' confident of US trade deal with EU – DW – 04/17/2025 (2025)

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

US Supreme Court to hear birthright citizenship case

The US Supreme Court will keeplegal hold on President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship, but has agreed to hear the case on May 15, the court announced.

Trump issued an executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for the children of people who are in the USillegally or on temporary visas.

The move has beenhalted by three district courts around the country, whileappeals courts have allowedthose rulings.

The Trump administration then appealed the case to the Supreme Court on March 13.

The right tocitizenship by birth was enshrined in the US constitution soon after the Civil War and it stipulates thatanyone born on US soil isan American citizen, regardless of their parents citizenship or residency status.

But Trump and his supporters are seeking to toughen up rules.

The president has called US citizenship "a priceless and profound gift" and his administration has arguedthat children of non-citizens are not entitled to US citizenship because they are not"subject to US jurisdiction,"a phrase used in the amendment.

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

Trump receives Italy's Meloni at White House, expresses optimism over trade deal

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has become the first European leader to meet with Donald Trump since the US president announced his major tariffs against friends and rivals alike.

Trump told Meloni that a deal between the EU and US would "100 percent" be reached "at a certain point," but added "we're in no rush."

He added that he was happy about the revenues that he was expecting for the US government from the tariffs.

Meloni said she was "sure" the US and EU could find an agreement, calling the United States a "reliable partner," despite the outcry caused by Trump's tariffs.

Meloni leads a far-right government in Italy and so has a lot of ideological overlap with the Trump administration, making her a preferred choice to mediate between Washington and Brussels.

The US president has called Meloni "a wonderful woman" who has shown "strong leadership."

The Italian leader has previously criticized Trump's 20% duties on EU exports, which were later suspended for 90 days, but told reporters Thursday she believed in "unity" despite trade tensions.

Trump made the comments in response to a journalist's question about what would happen if there was no agreement at the end of the 90-day pause he had set.

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

Trump says Fed chair Powell's 'termination cannot come fast enough'

US President Donald Trump attacked US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates.

The Federal Reserve serves as the US central bank and is responsible conducting monetary policy and moderating long-term interest rates.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said Powell's "termination cannot come fast enough."

Trump, without evidence, claimed that everyday goods such as groceries and eggs are going down in price.

Powell "should have lowered interest rates like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower themnow," Trump said.The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Thursdayit would again cut interest rates.

The Fed's benchmark interest stands at 4-25%-4.50%, and has been stable since December. Powell cut rates several times last year.

Trump comments come after Powell said at the Economic Club of Chicago that the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on goods from other countries will be paid "by the public."

Powell said that as Trump continues with his tariff policy, "unemployment is likely to go up as the economy slows."He said that prices would rise due to the tariffs as well.

Powell became Fed Reserve Chair in February 2018. He is expected to stay in his position until at least next year.

Although Trump has suggested that he would like to fire Powell, the Fed Chair has said for now that the president does not currently have the power to terminate him. Powell has also said a case before the Supreme Court regarding Trump's dismissal of two from federal labor boardsdoesn't apply to the Fed.

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

White House threatens to stop Harvard enrolling foreign students

Richard Connor with AP, AFP, Reuters | Zac Crellin Editor

The administration of US President Donald Trump has said it will stop Harvard University from enrolling international students if the college does not agree to government demands placing it under political supervision.

Trump is furious with university — which has produced 162 Nobel prize winners — for rejecting his request to submit to oversight on admissions, hiring and political opinion.

"If Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students," read a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump himself called Harvard a "joke" on Wednesday and said it should lose its contracts for government research.

Earlier this week, the White House said itwould freeze more than $2.2 billion (€1.94 billion) in grants and $60 million in contracts with Harvard.

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

US Vice President JD Vance to visit Italy, meet Meloni

US Vice President JD Vance is travelling to Italy this week, when he is due to meet Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Meloni's office said she will host the US vice president on Friday, just one day after she is due to meet President Trump in Washington DC.

The Catholic convert is also due to meet Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and participate in ceremonies around Easter Sunday.

Vance rattled Europe in February when he said that freedom of speech was in decline in the continent during his speech at the Munich Security Conference.

The highly controversial speech was however endorsed by Meloni, who later said she agreed with the US vice president's criticism of Europe as a continent where both freedom of speech and democracy in retreat.

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

El Salvador denies US senator access to mistakenly deported Salvadoran man

A Democratic US senator visiting El Salvador was denied access to the man wrongly deported by the US and then held in a notorious prison.

Maryland's Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Wednesday that authorities in El Salvador would not let him visit or speak to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland before his deportation.

Van Hollen added that El Salvador's Vice President Felix Ulloa told him he could not authorize a visit or a call with Abrego Garcia, and that El Salvador was not releasing him as the US was paying to keep him locked up.

"Why should the government of the United States pay the government of El Salvador to lock up a man who was illegally abducted from the United States and committed no crime?" Van Hollen said.

The 29-year-old Abrego Garcia fled gang-related violence in El-Salvador at age 16 and received in 2019 a protective order to continue living in the US, according to his lawyers. He has never been charged with or convicted of any crime.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Van Hollen was potentially using taxpayer dollars to "demand the release of deported illegal alien MS-13 terrorist." Abrego Garcia's lawyers have denied he is a member of the criminal gang.

While Washington acknowledged the Salvadoran man was deported due to an administrative error, the Trump administration has resisted an order from the US Supreme Court to facilitate his return, arguing he is now solely in Salvadoran custody.

El Salvador, meanwhile, argues it doesn't have the authority to send him back to the US. In a visit to Trump on Monday, El Salvador PresidentNayib Bukele ruled out plans to return the wrongfully deported man.

Abrego Garcia is one of some 300 individuals, mostly Venezuelans, whom the US under Trump has deported to El Salvador in the past few months.

Rights groups are concerned El Salvador and its notorious CECOT prison, where Abrego Garcia is being held, arebecoming a "black hole" for the US to get rid of expelled migrants with no legal repercussions.

In a report last week, Human Rights Watch said the US and El Salvador have subjected dozens to "enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention."

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

California sues to stop Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs

California GovernorGavin Newsom suedthe Trump administration, accusing it of using unlawful action to enact sweeping tariffs, and arguingthat it bore "an inordinate share" of the levies' costs.

California's 12 ports take in some 40% of the goods imported to the US.

"President Trump's new tariff regime has already had devastating impacts on the economy, creating chaos in the stock and bond markets, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars inmarket capitalization in hours, chilling investment in the face of such consequential Presidential action with no notice or process, and threatening to push the country into recession," the lawsuit said.

Retaliatory tariffs from China and othernations could harm California's agricultural exports, whichtotaled $23.6 billion in 2022, potentially costing thousands of jobs, according to the lawsuit.

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

What can Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni achieve on her trip to the US?

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is scheduledto meet with Donald Trump on Thursday during a visit to Washington, DC.

Ahead of her trip, Meloni told business leaders she supported a European Commission proposal for a "zero-tariffs" system between the US and the EU.

"We're governing at probably the most difficult time since the post-war period," Meloni said ahead of her trip.

Meloni was the only European leader to have attendedDonald Trump's inauguration as US president, and maintains friendly relations with the US president.

This gives her an edge over other EU leaders to convince the US of the merits of the zero-tariff system for all industrial goods between the US and the 27-member bloc.

"We'll address the issue of tariffs with determination and pragmatism, without alarmism,"Meloni said in aninterview on Italian state television station RAI.

"Of course, we don't agree with the choice of the United States but we're ready to deploy all negotiations and economic measures that are needed to support our businesses and the sectors affected," she added.

Can Meloni sway the Trump administration away from a tariff war with the EU? DW explains.

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

Trump administration directs IRS to rescind Harvard's tax-exempt status — report

The US Internal Revenue Service is making plans torescindHarvard University's tax-exempt status, according to US media outlets CNN and the Washington Post.

A final decision on rescinding the university's taxexemption is expected soon, CNN added.

Most American private colleges and universities are exempt from taxesbecause of their status as 501(c)(3) organizations and their educational mission.

Harvard made headlines earlier in the week after itrejected what it said were unlawful demands to overhaul academic programs.

President Donald Trump announced he would freeze$2.2 billion in federal money after the prestigious college refused to comply with thelist of goverment demands.

"Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds," Trump posted to hisSocial Truth platform.

The US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday said the department was cancelingtwo grants worth over $2.7 million meant for the college.

Trump demanded that Harvard submit to government supervision on admissions, hiring and political stances, which it rejected.

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

China pursues hardline stance in escalating trade war with the US

China replaced its trade representativeon Wednesday as talks with Washingtonover its escalating tariff war remain stalled.

China's Human Resources and Social Security Ministry announced that Li Chenggang will replace Wang Shouwen, who led Beijing's trade negotiations with Washington in 2020.

Chenggang's master's degree is in lawand that might give him a leg up in tough negotiations with the US in the trade war that shows no signs of cooling down,explains DW's Kassandra Sundt (see video below).

Since taking office in January, Trump has particularly targeted China with tariffs, which were raised to 145%last week.

Unlike other countries which sought negotiations, China responded with escalation, with levies on US imports hiked to 125%.

Li previously served as China's ambassador to the World Trade Organization, with Beijing having filed a legal case there.

The step came after official data showed foreign directinvestment plummeted 27.1% in local currency terms in 2024 onthe year, for its largest such drop since the 2008 globalfinancial crisis.

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

Trump officials could face contempt charges, says US judge

A USfederal judge has found probable cause to hold the White House in contempt of court for violating orders blocking deportation flights.

Judge James Boasberg’s order gives theTrump administration a final opportunity to come into compliance before it moves ahead with contempt proceedings.

In a 46-page ruling,Boasberg wrote that "The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily."

"Indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of their responses has been satisfactory."

DW explains the case.

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

Rubio says he's shutting office aimed at disinformation to 'champion' free speech

The USState Department will close an office that played an important role in combating Russian and Chinese disinformation orfalse information that is meant to mislead people.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he was shutting down the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI) hub, accusing it of censoring conservative speech.

"Over the last decade, Americans have been slandered, fired, charged, and even jailed for simply voicing their opinions,"Marco Rubio posted to X."That ends today."

Rubio said the officecost US taxpayers over $50 million (roughly €43.8 million) annually and that it "spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving."

"This is antithetical to the very principles we should be upholding and inconceivable it was taking place in America," he added, without providing details abouthow the office silenced the voices of Americans.

The office waspreviously known as the Global EngagementCenter (GEC)had already shut down in December 2024 under formerDemocratic President Joe Biden after Congress did not extend itsmandate that was set to expire.

It was reorganized to create adifferent public diplomacy office known as R/FIMI.

The GEC had come under intense criticism from someRepublicans who said it was straying from its mission, accusingit of disfavoring opinions by conservative media in particular.

04/17/2025April 17, 2025

Welcome to our coverage

Rana Taha with AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters | Roshni Majumdar Editor

The Trump administration announced it was shutting down an office that aimed at countering foreign disinformation, accusing it of censorship.

This comes after the US presidentissuedan executive order last month to shrink an independent federal agency that provided news outlets like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty with funding.

Meanwhile, a US federal judge said there was "probable cause" to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt of court for defying his order to halt deportations.

More follows on what to expect throughout the day.