Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at U.S. trade threats, French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the United Kingdom, and deadly protests in Kenya.
Deal or No Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday informed Japan, South Korea, and 12 other countries that they will face steeper tariffs of at least 25 percent starting Aug. 1 unless they reach new trade agreements with the United States. The announcements, sent by letter to the individual countries, come amid Trump’s larger trade war that he kicked off in April after which he issued a 10 percent baseline tariff on all trading partners and gave countries 90 days to negotiate bilateral agreements. That deadline was set to expire this week but has now been pushed to Aug. 1.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba called the latest tariff threat “deeply regrettable,” but he indicated that his government would continue to negotiate with Washington to try to find a solution. South Korea’s new government convened emergency meetings to discuss the tariff threat.
As of now, only China, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam have been able to lock in limited, partial trade deals with Washington. Indonesia, which is facing a 32 percent tariff on exports to the United States, has offered to buy U.S. wheat, soybean, cotton, and energy products worth $34 billion. Thailand has made a last-ditch effort to reduce its trade surplus with the United States by 70 percent within five years. Meanwhile, Trump has indicated that Washington is close to reaching a trade agreement with New Delhi; however, the two countries have yet to agree on the United States potentially exporting genetically modified crops to India.
Trump on Tuesday also reiterated his threat to impose 10 percent tariffs on BRICS member nations, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and five other countries, accusing them of being “anti-American” and of trying to destroy the U.S. dollar. At the end of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro over the weekend, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the world doesn’t need an “emperor,” referring to Trump’s threat.
Yet, even as diplomats and trade negotiators race to finalize trade deals with Washington, questions remain about whether the White House will abide by the August deadline or if it will deploy other trade barriers in the interim.
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What We’re Following
Bibi-Trump meeting, part two. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with Trump again on Tuesday evening to further discuss Gaza, the U.S. president confirmed during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The two leaders already met at the White House on Monday to discuss several high-stakes issues including an Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal, Iran’s nuclear program, and the potential normalization of Israeli-Arab relations.
The White House and Arab mediators are working to secure a cease-fire in Gaza that would involve a 60-day truce and a hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. Though Trump has indicated that a deal may be achieved this week, Israeli officials on Tuesday said it might take more than a few days to reach an agreement.
The Israeli leader also met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, on Monday. He is expected to stay in Washington through Thursday to meet with Vice President J.D. Vance as well as members of Congress.
A Frenchman in England. French President Emmanuel Macron embarked on a three-day trip to the United Kingdom on Tuesday with migration and defense high on the agenda. The trip marks the first state visit to the United Kingdom by a French leader since 2008 and the first by a European Union leader since Brexit.
The trip comes at a time when both Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are facing political turmoil at home while also navigating challenges to European security amid U.S. Trump’s second term. Starmer and Macron are set to discuss ways to curb the flow of asylum-seekers who cross the English Channel, which separates southern England from northern France. One such pilot scheme on the table is a “one in, one out” deal that would permit the U.K. to send back to France a migrant who arrived illegally by boat in exchange for accepting an asylum-seeker from France who might have a clearer claim to asylum in the U.K.
Macron and Starmer, who have worked closely in the last few months to lobby for increased European and U.S. support for Kyiv, are also expected to discuss the “coalition of the willing” initiative aimed at providing security guarantees for Ukraine and will meet virtually with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday.
“We are faced with new threats, with aggressive nuclear powers, with sometimes hesitating alliances,” Macron said in a speech to the British Parliament on Tuesday. “The United Kingdom cannot remain on the sidelines. We must move forward shoulder to shoulder.”
Deadly protests in Kenya. At least 11 people were killed and more than 500 people arrested during anti-government protests across Kenya, the country’s National Police Service said on Monday. The demonstrations marked the 35th anniversary of Kenya’s Saba Saba rally, which launched the country’s push for multiparty democracy in 1990, and followed deadly protests that began last year over Kenyan President William Ruto’s controversial tax reform.
Though the Kenyan government withdrew its tax bill last June, the death of Albert Ojwang, a Kenyan teacher and blogger who died in police custody in Nairobi last month, has sparked renewed outrage over government corruption and police brutality as well as broader grievances such as the country’s spiraling debt problem and rising costs. The state-run commission on human rights has accused the police of using excessive force as well as collaborating with “armed criminal gangs” in Nairobi and other cities to quell protests.
“Even in Kenya—which has a good democratic tradition, political stability, and impressive economic growth—people we spoke to described how too many of the country’s resources are lost, stolen, or wasted by corrupt or incompetent government officials,” U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy wrote in Foreign Policy last year.
Odds and Ends
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is reportedly planning to allow travelers at some major U.S. airports to keep their shoes on while going through the general security line. The shoes-off policy, which was implemented in 2006 after a man tried to detonate an explosive in his shoe while aboard an aircraft flying from Paris to Miami, may be phased out as early as Sunday, according to an internal memo seen by ABC News. Though the agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, has not announced the policy officially, some passengers will likely see this as a step in the right direction.