White

NEW YORK — Edmund White, the groundbreaking man of letters who documented and imagined the gay revolution through journalism, essays, plays and such novels as “A Boy’s Own Story” and “The Beautiful Room Is Empty,” has died. He was 85.

White’s death was confirmed Wednesday by his agent, Bill Clegg.

Along with Larry Kramer, Armistead Maupin and others, White was among a generation of gay writers who in the 1970s became bards for a community no longer afraid to declare its existence. He was present at the Stonewall raids of 1969, when arrests at a club in New York’s Greenwich Village led to the birth of the modern gay movement and for decades was a participant and observer through the tragedy of AIDS, the advance of gay rights and culture and the recent backlash.

A resident of New York and Paris for much of his adult life, he was a novelist, journalist, biographer, playwright, activist, teacher and memoirist. “A Boy’s Own Story” was a bestseller and classic coming-of-age novel that demonstrated gay literature’s commercial appeal. He wrote a prizewinning biography of playwright Jean Genet, along with books on Marcel Proust and Arthur Rimbaud. He was a professor of creative writing at Princeton University, where colleagues included Toni Morrison and his close friend, Joyce Carol Oates.

“Among gay writers of his generation, Edmund White has emerged as the most versatile man of letters,” cultural critic Morris Dickstein wrote in the New York Times in 1995. “A cosmopolitan writer with a deep sense of tradition, he has bridged the gap between gay subcultures and a broader literary audience.”

White was born in Cincinnati in 1940, but at age 7 moved with his mother to the Chicago area after his parents divorced. His father was a civil engineer and his mother was a psychologist. Feeling trapped and at times suicidal, White sought escape through the stories of others, including Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice” and a biography of dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.

“As a young teenager I looked desperately for things to read that might excite me or assure me I wasn’t the only one, that might confirm my identity I was unhappily piecing together,” he wrote in the 1991 essay “Out of the Closet, on to the Bookshelf.”

As he wrote in “A Boy’s Own Story,” he knew as a child that he was attracted to boys but for years was convinced he must change — out of a desire to please his father (whom he otherwise despised) and a wish to be “normal.” Even as he secretly wrote a “coming out” novel while a teenager, he insisted on seeing a therapist and begged to be sent to boarding school. One of the funniest and saddest episodes from “A Boy’s Own Story” told of a brief crush he had on a teenage girl, ended by a polite and devastating note of rejection.

“For the next few months I grieved,” White writes. “I would stay up all night crying and playing records and writing sonnets to Helen. What was I crying for?”

Through much of the 1960s, he was writing novels that were rejected or never finished. Late at night, he would head out to bars. A favorite stop was the Stonewall, where he would down vodka tonics and try to find the nerve to ask a man he had a crush on to dance. He was in the neighborhood on the night of June 28, 1969, when police raided the Stonewall and “all hell broke loose.”

“Up until that moment we had all thought homosexuality was a medical term,” wrote White, who soon joined the protests. “Suddenly we saw that we could be a minority group — with rights, a culture, an agenda.”

White’s debut novel, the surreal and suggestive “Forgetting Elena,” was published in 1973. He collaborated with Charles Silverstein on “The Joy of Gay Sex,” a follow-up to the bestselling “The Joy of Sex” that was updated after the emergence of AIDS. In 1978, his first openly gay novel, “Nocturnes for the King of Naples,” was released and he followed with the nonfiction “States of Desire,” his attempt to show “the varieties of gay experience and also to suggest the enormous range of gay life to straight and gay people — to show that gays aren’t just hairdressers, they’re also petroleum engineers and ranchers and short-order cooks.”

His other works included “Skinned Alive: Stories” and the novel “A Previous Life,” in which he turns himself into a fictional character and imagines himself long forgotten after his death. In 2009, he published “City Boy,” a memoir of New York in the 1960s and ’70s in which he told of his friendships and rivalries and gave the real names of fictional characters from his earlier novels. Other recent books included the novels “Jack Holmes & His Friend” and the memoir “Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris.”

“From an early age I had the idea that writing was truth-telling,” he told the Guardian around the time “Jack Holmes” was released. “It’s on the record. Everybody can see it. Maybe it goes back to the sacred origins of literature — the holy book. There’s nothing holy about it for me, but it should be serious and it should be totally transparent.”

Italie writes for the Associated Press.

In a news statement this week, the White House cherry-picked personal income tax-related elements in the “big, beautiful bill”, the wide-ranging tax and spending bill being pushed by United States President Donald Trump, and claimed that, in opposing the legislation as a whole, the Democratic Party was opposed to every individual item contained within it.

Such a tactic is misleading, particularly since the White House cited measures in the bill that have been championed by Democrats to improve the lives of Americans and are not the reasons the Democrats have given for opposing the “big beautiful bill”.

Here’s a fact-check of what the White House claims Democrats oppose:

“They’re opposing the largest tax cut in history, which will put an extra $5,000 in their pockets with a double-digit percent decrease to their tax bills. In fact, Americans earning between $30,000 and $80,000 will pay around 15% less in taxes.”

The specifics of the tax bill have not been finalised. In its current form, it would cut taxes by an average of 2.4 percent, for middle-income households, according to analysis by the Tax Policy Center.

While it is a significant tax cut, it is not the biggest in history. That was under Ronald Reagan in 1981 at 2.9 percent.

It is accurate that there will be a double-digit percentage decrease in tax bills, at least in the immediate term, at a little more than 11 percent across all tax brackets. It is also true that people earning between $30,000 and $80,000 will pay 15 percent less, according to the Non-Partisan Joint Committee on Taxation.

“They’re opposing NO TAX ON TIPS for the millions of Americans who work in the service industry and NO TAX ON OVERTIME for law enforcement, nurses, and more.”

This is true only in their opposition to Trump’s tax and spending bill.

Democrats and Republicans have supported the concept of no tax on tips. Both Donald Trump and the Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris pledged to do so on the campaign trail. Senate Democrats backed the No Tax on Tips Act, passed by the US Senate on May 20. The bill, authored by Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, was co-sponsored by notable Democrats, including Jacky Rosen of Nevada and passed unanimously.

“They’re opposing historic tax cuts for senior citizens”

Outside of the “big beautiful bill”, Democrats have generally not opposed tax cuts for seniors. Many Democrats have championed legislation that would expand tax cuts for seniors. California Democrat Jimmy Panetta co-sponsored a Republican led bill that would increase the standard deduction for adults over the age of 65 by $4,000.

In 2024, House Democrats introduced the “You Earned It, You Keep It Act”, which would effectively eliminate taxes on social security benefits. The bill, however, has never made it past committee.

“They’re opposing a boost to the child tax credit.”

Again, they are opposing Trump’s “big beautiful bill”, not objecting to the child tax credit.

In fact, Democrats have long pushed to expand the child tax credit. In April, Senate Democrats, including Georgia’s Raphael Warnock and Colorado’s Michael Bennett, introduced legislation that would expand the child tax credit. The bill would increase the tax credit, from $2,000 where it currently stands, to $6,360 for newborns, $4,320 for children ages one to six and $3,600 for children six to 17, permanently.

While the “big beautiful bill” would also increase the child tax credit, it would do so only by $500, and that would kick in in 2028.

“They’re opposing new savings accounts for newborns and the chance for children across America to experience the miracle of compounded growth.” 

In the “big beautiful bill”, House Republicans introduced new savings accounts for children. The accounts would include a $1,000 handout for every child born between January 1, 2025 and January 1, 2029.

Democrats have not only been supporters of the idea for savings accounts for newborns, but prominent Democrats actually championed it.

In 2018, Cory Booker of New Jersey introduced the American Opportunity Accounts Act, which would also give $1,000 to newborns and up to $2000 in annual contributions. He reintroduced the bill again in 2023.

“They’re opposing expanded access to childcare for hardworking American families.”

This appears to be false. The White House link refers to the Paid Family and Medical Leave Credit, not child care access. Trump’s bill offers up to 12 weeks of paid leave for employees who have worked a year and earn $57,600 or less.

While that gives parents more time at home, Democrats have focused on expanding access to child care, including universal pre-K. In 2023, Republicans opposed a Democratic plan to keep child care centres open that struggled in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They’re opposing historic border security to keep their communities safe.”

Last year, Trump pressured Republicans to vote against a bipartisan border security bill, a move that reportedly helped Trump’s chances of winning in November 2024. Democrats have opposed Republican plans to use US military bases for migrant detention, arguing that it misuses Department of Defense resources. Democrats have long opposed border wall funding, including during Trump’s first term.

A 2018 Stanford University analysis estimated that a border wall would reduce migration by just 0.6 percent. Despite this, the “big beautiful bill” allocates more than $50bn to complete the wall and maritime crossings, $45bn for building and maintaining detention centres, and $14bn for transportation.

“They’re opposing expanded health savings accounts that give Americans greater choice and flexibility in how they spend their money.”

This is sort of true. Democrats have not been huge proponents of health savings accounts. The belief is that healthcare savings accounts do not help the socioeconomically disadvantaged, who may not have the financial resources to contribute to the accounts. Democrats have also objected to other cuts to healthcare in the bill, including the potential $880bn that could be cut from essential government programmes like Medicaid.

“They’re opposing scholarships that empower Americans to choose the education that best fits the needs of their families.”

In the bill, the White House is conflating the longstanding debate on school choice with scholarships. Under school choice, funds otherwise allocated to the public school system can be re-allocated to private institutions, which Republicans argue will allow students to have potential access to a higher quality education.

Democrats have opposed school choice because it diverts funds from public school systems, many of which are already drastically underfunded. In Texas, Senator Ted Cruz, for example, pushed legislation that would expand school choice, even as three out of four school districts in the state are underfunded, according to a Kinder Institute analysis.

June 4 (UPI) — Wednesday is the 83rd anniversary of the Battle of Midway, which turned the tide against the Japanese during World War II, the White House announced.

The attack by the Japanese Navy on Midway Island marked its last in the Pacific Theater of operations and occurred 1.5 years after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

“After the shocking attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Imperial Japan surged across the Pacific — dealing Allied forces a series of defeats, from the fall of the Philippines to the capture of Hong Kong and Singapore to devastating air raids over Australia,” the White House announced in an unattributed online statement.

“With the U.S. Navy still reeling from the surprise attack, Japan’s ruthless push for regional dominance seemed unstoppable,” the statement said.

A surprise attack led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle that dropped bombs on Japan on April 16, 1942, prompted the Japanese to expand their territorial gains in the Pacific Theater of Operations, including targeting Midway Island for occupation.

Occupying Midway would have given Japan a military base that was within striking distance of Pearl Harbor and the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet by land-based bombers.

U.S. codebreakers, though, had broken Japan’s Purple Code, and the Navy sent an uncoded message saying Midway Island’s desalination facilities were down.

It was a ruse that prompted the Japanese to say that its next target had problems with its fresh water, which the U.S. codebreakers intercepted.

“The Japanese plan was clear: lure what remained of the battered U.S. Pacific Fleet out of Pearl Harbor, destroy it and capture Midway, from where they would launch further offensives across the Pacific,” the White House announcement says.

Knowing Midway was the intended target, newly appointed Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Chester Nimitz dispatched the USS Enterprise, USS Hornet and the USS Yorktown aircraft carriers and supporting vessels to lay a trap for the Japanese Navy.

Admirals Chester Spruance and Jack Fletcher commanded the tactical fleet during the Midway operations.

Japan sent four of its best fleet aircraft carriers to draw out the U.S. Pacific Fleet and destroy it in a decisive battle.

Instead, the Japanese fleet was surprised by U.S. attack aircraft on the morning of June 4, 1942.

“In the course of 24 hours, they sank four Japanese aircraft carriers, destroyed a heavy cruiser and crushed Japanese hopes of advancing deeper into the eastern Pacific,” the White House said.

The U.S. lost the Yorktown during the battle, but the United States was able to replace its losses and grow its fleet.

The Japanese Navy continued to decline in size and effectiveness while trying and failing to defend its prior gains in the Pacific Theater.

“Today, former enemies stand united as allies,” the White House said. “The United States and Japan have forged an enduring partnership built on the shared values of freedom, sovereignty and an abiding commitment to peace across the Indo-Pacific.”

The White House statement says the United States and Japan “are advancing the causes of safety, security, prosperity and liberty … while confronting threats from China and North Korea.”

The Battle of Midway serves as a “glorious reminder” that “no challenge is too great for the strength of the American spirit,” the White House said.

B&M shoppers are snapping up a dupe of The White Company’s iconic table lamp – priced nearly £100 less.

The lamp features a sleek white concrete base with a large matching shade and sells for just £20 at the popular British discount retailer.

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The White Company’s Clayton Table Lamp, currently priced at £110, has been popular for its minimalist design.

The upmarket home brand advertises the lamp as a versatile piece made from natural linen, ideal for bedside tables, consoles and sideboards.

B&M claims to offer a knockoff of the sought-after lamp.

The discount chain shared a video on social media promoting its own white lamp, with on-screen text that reads, “White Company who?” and “£20 base & shade”.

The post drew comments from shoppers tempted by the bargains displayed in the video.

One user wrote: “I’ve got to stop looking at these posts, too much temptation.”

Meanwhile, B&M shoppers can buy a three-person tent for just a fraction of the cost of the North Face equivalent.

B&M is selling the Outdoor Adventure 2-3 Person Camping Tent for £18.

North Face’s Stormbreak 2-Person Tent is currently available for a total of £225.

Offering a similar capacity, the more expensive model is described as water-resistant, breathable and lightweight.

B&M shoppers have also recently spotted a chair originally priced at £100 now selling for just £30.

The Louise chair, available in cream and green, measures 58cm wide, 72cm high and 68cm deep, and supports up to around 100kg.

Meanwhile, a garden gadget is available for just £1 at B&M.

The Modern Solar Table Lamp has been further reduced to £1, down from £1.50.

The lamp is 21cm tall and has a rechargeable battery, making it an affordable way to light up an outdoor space on summer nights.

It emits a soft, warm white LED light.

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United States President Donald Trump has bid goodbye to Elon Musk at a White House event marking the billionaire’s departure from his role in government.

Speaking from the Oval Office on Friday, Trump showered Musk with praise for his work as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an initiative to reduce federal bureaucracy and spending.

“ I just want to say that Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform programme in generations,” Trump said.

He credited Musk with delivering “a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington” and called Musk’s service “without comparison in modern history”.

Still, the president also assured reporters that DOGE would continue its work even after Musk is gone.

“With Elon’s guidance, [DOGE is] helping to detect fraud, slash waste and modernise broken and outdated systems,” Trump said.

The joint appearance comes as the two men seek to downplay reports of a growing rift, particularly after Musk criticised Trump’s signature budget bill on CBS News. It also coincides with the publication of a New York Times report alleging that Musk has struggled with increasing drug use and personal turmoil behind the scenes.

Musk declined to comment on the Times report during his Oval Office appearance. He also avoided remarking on speculation that his departure was connected to tumbling sales at his car company, Tesla.

Instead, he pointed out that, as a special government employee, he cannot work in the Trump administration for a period exceeding 130 days without facing stricter disclosure and ethics requirements.

He also focused on promoting his work with DOGE and criticising those on the political left who would impede Trump’s agenda.

“This is not the end of DOGE, but really at the beginning,” Musk said, clad in a black T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “The Dogefather”, written in the style of the gangster film The Godfather. “The DOGE team will only grow stronger over time.”

Trump, meanwhile, emphasised that his relationship with the billionaire – a prominent backer of his 2024 re-election campaign – would continue.

“Elon’s really not leaving. He’s going to be back and forth, I think,” Trump said.

Unclear accounting

Despite White House claims about its efficacy, the extent of DOGE’s cost-savings has remained foggy.

As of Friday, the panel claimed it had achieved an estimated $175bn in savings, made up of “asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions”.

But DOGE’s transparency and methodology have been repeatedly questioned. The only accounting made available to the public adds up to less than half of the claimed figure.

An analysis published on Friday by the news agency Reuters also suggests the actual sum is much lower. Using US Treasury summaries, Reuters found that only $19bn in federal spending had been cut, though it noted that some savings may require more time to be reflected in the Treasury Department’s data.

Regardless, all of those figures fall far short of the goal of $2 trillion saved that Musk initially set out to achieve.

When asked about the discrepancy on Friday, Musk maintained that $1 trillion in savings remained a long-term goal.

“I’m confident that over time, we’ll see a trillion dollars of savings, a reduction – a trillion dollars of waste and fraud reduction,” he said.

But critics have questioned if DOGE will continue with the same verve following Musk’s departure.

Musk and DOGE have long been lightning rods for public criticism, as they implemented sweeping changes to the federal government. Since Trump started his second term as president in January, organisations like the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have seen their funding cut and their staffing slashed.

As a result, employees, contractors, labour groups and state officials have sued to block DOGE’s efforts, with varying levels of success.

Behind the scenes, there have also been reports that Musk clashed with members of Trump’s cabinet, who may seek relief from cuts to their departments after Musk’s exit.

Musk’s foray into government has caused blowback for his companies as well, with protests at Tesla dealerships spreading across the country. Profits plunged 71 percent at Tesla in the first three months of the year, with shareholders calling for Musk to return to work.

When asked by a reporter if Musk’s time in government was “worth it”, he was circumspect. He explained that he felt DOGE had become seen as a “boogeyman”, blamed for any effort to overhaul the federal government.

But he reaffirmed his commitment to being a “friend and adviser to the president” and said the experience was worthwhile.

“I think it was. I think [it] was an important thing,” he added. “I think it was a necessary thing, and I think it will have a good effect in the future.”

PBS filed a federal lawsuit Friday asking a court to block the May 1 executive order by the Trump White House to cut off funding to public media, calling the move a violation of the 1st Amendment.

The suit from the service that airs “Sesame Street,” Ken Burns documentaries and the “PBS NewsHour” for free to millions of American homes, said that Congress has repeatedly protected PBS from political interference by filtering its funds through the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, which is not a federal agency.

“The [executive order] makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is cutting off the flow of funds to PBS because of the content of PBS programming and out of a desire to alter the content of speech.”

NPR, which also receives CPB funding, filed a suit on similar grounds on Tuesday.

The White House alleges that PBS has “zero tolerance for non-leftist viewpoints.” Trump’s order called for an end to government dollars for CPB, the taxpayer-backed entity that has provided funding to NPR and PBS for decades through Congress.

Trump called the public media outlets “left wing propaganda.” The White House press release announcing the order — titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media” — contained 19 bullet points citing news coverage and other content by NPR and PBS that prompted the action.

The PBS suit says the data the White House cited to support that view are inaccurate and misrepresent the balanced range of viewpoints presented on PBS programs.

The White House has also asserted that government funding of broadcast media is no longer necessary in an era when consumers have a vast array of platforms for information and entertainment. PBS was founded when most of the country only had access to the three commercial broadcast networks and a handful of other TV stations.

PBS’ suit also says that, regardless of any policy disagreements the administration may have over the role of public television, “our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of content of PBS’s programming, including by attempting to defund PBS.”

The White House said the citation errors were ‘formatting issues’ that did not detract from the report’s importance.

The United States government has said it will amend a flagship report on children’s health that was found to have cited non-existent studies.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that any citation errors were due to “formatting issues” and would be updated. The problems with the report will do little to assuage concerns over President Donald Trump’s appointment of Robert F Kennedy Jr as Health and Human Services Secretary.

The issues with the report, compiled and published last week by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, were revealed by digital news outlet NOTUS. It found that seven studies referenced did not exist, while there were also broken links and “misstated conclusions”.

Leavitt insisted that the problems do “not negate the substance of the report, which, as you know, is one of the most transformative health reports that has ever been released by the federal government”.

The report found that processed food, chemicals, stress and the overprescription of medications and vaccines could be factors behind chronic illness in children, citing more than 500 studies.

However, authors credited with producing some of those studies said that they were not part of the research, or that the studies did not exist.

Noah Kreski, a Columbia University researcher listed as an author of a paper on adolescent anxiety and depression during COVID-19, told the AFP news agency that the paper was “not one of our studies” and “doesn’t appear to be a study that exists at all”.

The citation for the report included a link to an article in the peer-reviewed JAMA Paediatrics Medical Review that was broken. A spokesperson for the JAMA Network said that the article referenced “was not published in JAMA Paediatrics or in any JAMA Network journal”.

The Democratic National Committee on Thursday slammed the report as “rife with misinformation”, accusing Kennedy’s agency of “justifying its policy priorities with studies and sources that do not exist”.

Kennedy’s approval as health secretary in February stirred significant controversy. He previously spent decades sowing doubt about the safety of vaccines, raising concerns within the scientific and medical communities over the policies he would pursue.

Since taking the role, he has fired thousands of workers at federal health agencies and cut billions of dollars from biomedical research spending.

“The substance of the MAHA report remains the same – a historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the chronic disease epidemic afflicting our nation’s children,” the Department of Health and Human Services said.

With Prime Video’s “Fallout,” HBO’s “The Righteous Gemstones” and now Season 3 of “The White Lotus” (also HBO), Walton Goggins’ fame has exploded. With his buzzy portrayal of Rick, a man obsessed with avenging his father’s death, in “Lotus,” an Emmy might finally be in the cards for the actor, a veteran of many critically beloved shows.

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“Lotus” is the sixth Goggins show, after “The Shield,” “Justified,” “Gemstones,” “The Unicorn” and “Fallout,” to receive an …

85%

… or better aggregate Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Yet Goggins has never won an Emmy and has received only …

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… nominations: supporting drama actor (2011) for his charismatic criminal Boyd in “Justified” and drama lead (2024) for bounty hunter the Ghoul on “Fallout.” It could be …

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… his material that’s the issue. Goggins’ gritty and/or Southern-fried shows are not the kind that inspire Emmy voters’ rapture. Despite its secure place in the TV pantheon, “The Shield” drew three fewer nominations over seven seasons than …

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… the more awards-friendly “Fallout” — a stylish, thoughtful video game adaptation often helmed by Jonathan Nolan — did in its first season. But love for “Fallout” …

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… is a trickle compared with the tsunami of nominations for “Lotus” over its first two seasons. The show already has won …

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… Emmys. Although …

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… all that attention means Goggins might share this year’s drama supporting category with co-stars Jason Isaacs, Sam Nivola and Sam Rockwell. But …

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… that does not necessarily mean splitting “Lotus” votes. Murray Bartlett won a limited series supporting Emmy for Season 1 against fellow “Lotus” actors, and Jennifer Coolidge prevailed twice in supporting categories crowded with co-stars. Indeed …

100%

… of nominated “Lotus” performers whose characters, much like Rick, faced extreme challenges have won.

DONALD Trump’s sweeping global tariffs are now at risk after a court has said he doesn’t have the power to impose the levies himself.

A US federal court in New York on Wednesday blocked most of the import taxes from going into effect, ruling that the president had overstepped his authority.

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The Court of International Trade ruling is a big setback for Trump, who has sought to reshape global trade and put America first by using its economic heft to cut deals.

Trump has started a global trade war with nearly every country by instituting a minimum 10 per tariff on their exports into the US.

He also slapped a 25 per cent tariff on Mexico and Canada, saying he needed to levies to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and the horror drug Fentanyl.

The court’s order could spell an end to Trump’s international trade war as it bars Trump’s most sweeping tariffs, effectively erasing most of the trade restrictions Trump has announced since taking office.

But Trump is likely to appeal and take the fight all the way to the Supreme Court.

White House spokesman Kush Desai said: “Foreign countries’ nonreciprocal treatment of the Unites States has fueled America’s historic and persistent trade deficits.

“These deficits have created a national emergency that has decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defense industrial base – facts that the court did not dispute.

“It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency. President Trump pledged to put America First, and the Administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness.”

The ruling does not state that tariffs themselves are illegal, but that the executive branch does not have the authority to impose them without Congress.

The president used a 1977 federal economic emergency law to justify a range of levies.

The three-judge panel wrote in an unsigned opinion: “The question in the two cases before the court is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (“IEEPA”) delegates these powers to the president in the form of authority to impose unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world.

“The court does not read IEEPA to confer such unbounded authority and sets aside the challenged tariffs imposed thereunder.”

One of Trump’s key aides, Stephen Miller, attacked the ruling in a post on social media saying: “The judicial coup is out of control.”

Trump memorably held up a board showing rates he was about to set individual trading partners in the White House’s Rose Garden when he announced the tariffs as part of a “liberation day”.

China was clobbered with 34 per cent tariffs, Vietnam 46 per cent, Thailand 36 per cent and Cambodia 49 per cent.

Tariffs on China were eventually increased to a whopping 145 per cent as Trump sought to begin negotiations.

The ten per cent on Britain was at the bottom of the sliding scale devised by Trump’s officials.

Markets were thrown into turmoil but calmed after he paused the larger tariffs for 90 days.

He also suspended some of the higher duties pending negotiations with individual countries and blocs.

Britain has signed a new trade deal with Trump following the imposition of the tariffs – how that will be affected is not yet clear.

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May 28 (UPI) — President Donald Trump is a strong ally for the growing cryptocurrency industry, Vice President JD Vance told attendees at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

“Crypto finally has a champion and an ally in the White House,” Vance said while delivering the event’s keynote address, CBS News reported.

“We want our fellow Americans to know that crypto and digital assets, and particularly bitcoin, are part of the mainstream economy and are here to stay,” he said.

Vance was this year’s featured speaker at the annual bitcoin conference, which President Donald Trump headlined last year while campaigning for the presidency.

Stablecoins stabilize the dollar

He said the Trump administration does not view so-called stablecoins as destabilizing the U.S. dollar and instead strengthens it, CNBC reported.

“We view them as a force multiplier for our economic might,” Vance told the audience at The Venetian Resort.

A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency whose value is derived from another asset, such as gold or the U.S. dollar, according to coinbase.

Vance said cryptocurrency has transformed how people and businesses conduct transactions, and its decentralized nature makes it a good way to protect personal and business finances against bad policies.

“Crypto is a hedge against bad policymaking from Washington, no matter what party’s in control,” he said.

Political advocacy for crypto progress

Vance encouraged those who are involved in cryptocurrency to increase their political advocacy.

He said $200 million in campaign support for candidates who supported cryptocurrency had a positive effect during the 2024 general election, The Hill reported.

Such financial support enabled Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, to beat Democratic Party incumbent Sherrod Brown in the 2024 Senate election in Ohio.

“Part of the reason that I’m standing here, part of the reason that Bernie Moreno defeated Sherrod Brown in the Senate campaign last year, is because you guys got organized and got involved in American politics,” Vance said.

Brown chaired the Senate Banking Committee, but his election defeat removed him as an obstacle to crypto-friendly legislation.

“There’s a lesson to take from that experience,” Vance said. “Unless you guys get involved in politics, politics is going to ignore this industry.”

Strong support for the GENIUS Act

The Trump administration is advocating for the GENIUS Act, which officially is called the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation in U.S. Stablecoins Act.

Vance said the proposed act’s enabling legislation is poised to be approved in the Senate and likely would fare well in the House of Representatives.

President Trump’s lead crypto adviser, David Sacks, last week told CNBC that U.S. investors have more than $200 billion in unregulated stablecoins.

Sacks said that amount could reach trillions of dollars “if we provide the legal clarity and legal framework for this.”

NPR and three of its member stations filed suit in federal court Tuesday against President Trump‘s White House over the president’s executive order to block funding for public media.

Trump’s order called for an end to government dollars for the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, the taxpayer-backed entity that provides funding to NPR and PBS. He called the outlets “left wing propaganda.”

The suit says the May 1 action by Trump violated the 1st Amendment.

“The Order targets NPR and PBS expressly because, in the President’s view, their news and other content is not ‘fair, accurate, or unbiased,’” the legal brief said, according to an NPR report.

The suit also says that the funding — currently at around $500 million annually — is appropriated by Congress. The allocation is made two years in advance.

“Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government,” Corp. for Public Broadcasting chief Patricia Harrison told NPR in a statement.

Harrison said that the Corp. for Public Broadcasting is not a federal agency subject to the president’s authority.

“The Executive Order is a clear violation of the Constitution and the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of speech and association, and freedom of the press,” NPR President and Chief Executive Katherine Maher said in a statement.

The order is one of a number of attempts by Trump to limit or intimidate institutions he does not agree with. Targets included law firms, universities and media companies such as CBS, which is being sued for $20 billion over a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign.

NPR filed the suit with three public radio outlets, including Denver-based Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Pubic Radio and KSUT which serves the Four Corners region of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.

Both NPR and PBS have stressed that the bulk of the federal funding they receive goes to stations that provide local news and emergency alerts for their communities.

MATALAN shoppers can snap up a ‘luxury’-looking bedding set for just 50p in a limited-time deal.

The White Butterfly Duvet Cover, normally priced at £21, is available for less than £1 when new customers sign up to Top Cashback.

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The deal is available online across the UK and applies to the double size set, which includes the duvet cover and matching pillowcases, both featuring a delicate embossed butterfly pattern.

New Top Cashback members can get the set for just 50p after claiming a £2 cashback bonus, while existing members can still enjoy a hefty saving, picking it up for £15.50 with the same bonus.

Offers are also available on the single and king sizes.

The single size, usually £16, is completely free after cashback for new members, or £11.33 for existing ones.

One happy customer wrote: “Outstanding in quality and style. Even more stunning than l was expecting.

So reasonably priced in fact l will be purchasing a second set.

I would 100 per cent recommend this product.”

Over at Dunelm, shoppers can find up to 50 per cent off selected duvet sets in a seasonal sale.

One popular waffle set now ranges from £25.60 to £41.60, down from £32 to £52, and comes in a choice of colours including sage green, black, grey, blue and white.

Meanwhile, Dusk is offering up to 25 per cent off bedding, including the 200 thread count Portofino Waffle Duvet Cover, reduced to between £27.50 and £49.50.

Matching pillowcases, usually £22, are now £11 for a pair.

Back at Matalan, more glowing reviews have poured in for the White Butterfly set.

One buyer said: “Beautiful butterfly design, excellent quality and great value. Looks like luxury item.”

Another added: “Looks good, feels good, just adds a bit of luxury.” A third commented: “Just gorgeous. Embossed butterflies on it.

“Feels nice too, very comfy feeling…..love it.”

A fifth review simply read: “Excellent value for money.”

However, potential buyers should note a couple of small drawbacks.

The set is machine washable, but there’s no mention of whether it’s suitable for tumble drying—something to consider for busy households.

And with the fabric’s raised design, pet owners may need to be cautious as claws could potentially snag the material.

For those looking to refresh their home on a budget, Dunelm is also offering significant discounts on various homeware items.

Shoppers can find up to 75 per cent off in their clearance sale, including items like curtains, bedding, and rugs .

Additionally, Dunelm’s outlet stores across the UK offer up to 75 per cent off stylish home items, including boucle chairs, sofas, cabinets, and lighting.

In the kitchenware department, Dunelm has launched a promotional offer, cutting the price of a 12-piece dinner set from £25 to just £12.50.

This floral-designed set includes four dinner plates, four side plates, and four bowls, and is both dishwasher and microwave safe.

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VATICAN CITY — Throughout President Biden’s life, his religion has been a refuge. He fingers a rosary during moments of stress and often attends Mass at the church in Delaware where his son Beau is buried.

But as Biden and Pope Francis prepared for a tete-a-tete Friday at the Vatican — the president’s first stop while traveling in Europe for two international summits — both the flocks they lead, the American people and the Roman Catholic Church, are beset by divisions and contradictions that at times seem irreconcilable.

“They preside over fractured communities,” said Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University who wrote a book about Biden and Catholicism. “They face situations with many similarities.”

The two leaders met for 90 minutes early Friday afternoon, according to the White House, which was longer than expected. Later in the day, Biden said they prayed together for peace and that Francis blessed his rosary.

The president said the conversation focused on the “moral responsibility” of dealing with climate change — the topic of an upcoming summit in Glasgow, Scotland. The president added that they did not discuss abortion. Biden supports abortion rights, a contradiction of Catholic doctrine that is common among Democrats.

“We just talked about the fact that he was happy I was a good Catholic,” Biden said, adding that Francis told him he should continue to receive Communion.

It was a significant statement from the pope on an issue that has stirred political and spiritual controversy over the relationship between politicians who support abortion rights and the church.

Conservative Catholic bishops in the United States are arguing that political leaders who support abortion rights should not receive Communion — the ritual where a priest consecrates bread and wine and then shares it with believers — and the issue is slated for debate during an upcoming episcopal meeting in Baltimore. Because the proposal gained steam after Biden’s election, it’s been viewed as a rebuke of the president.

The controversy reflects an internal debate over whether the Catholic Church should broaden its appeal or adhere more strictly to its core tenets. George Weigel, a distinguished senior fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, said some people “claim to be Catholic and yet want to turn Catholicism into a version of liberal Protestantism.”

“What the bishops are discussing is whether Catholic political leaders who are not in full communion with the church because they act in ways that contradict settled Catholic teaching should have the integrity not to present themselves for Holy Communion,” he said.

The Vatican, however, has been wary of a debate that mixes politics and one of the church’s holiest rituals. Francis said last month that he has “never refused the Eucharist to anyone.” Since becoming pope eight years ago, he has sought to distance himself from divisive topics such as same-sex marriage while focusing on more ecumenical issues.

John K. White, professor of politics at the Catholic University of America in Washington, said the pope’s meeting with Biden “sends a message to the American bishops that denying Communion is not something that he approves of.”

The news media were not allowed into the meeting or to catch a glimpse of Biden and Francis together. The Vatican released video of part of an encounter that appeared affectionate, even chummy. At one point, Biden handed the pope a commemorative coin.

“The tradition is, and I’m only kidding about this, the next time I see you and you don’t have it, you have to buy the drinks,” said Biden, who joked that he’s probably the only Irishman that Francis has ever met who doesn’t drink.

The president bid farewell to the pope with a phrase that has become something of a trademark for him — “God love you.”

Biden and Francis have met several times before, starting with a brief encounter when Biden, then vice president, attended Francis’ papal inauguration in 2013.

Then-presidential candidate Joe Biden leaves a church in Wilmington, Del., last year after attending a confirmation Mass for his granddaughter.

(Patrick Semansky / Associated Press)

Two years later, Biden welcomed Francis to the U.S. and brought his family to a private meeting with him shortly after Beau died.

“I wish every grieving parent, brother or sister, mother or father would have had the benefit of his words, his prayers, his presence,” Biden said the following year during a visit to the Vatican, where he met Francis again.

Biden is only the second Catholic president after John F. Kennedy, who was elected in 1960. At that time, the church was still viewed with suspicion by some Americans, and Kennedy assured voters that he believed in the separation of church and state — another way of saying that he would follow the Constitution, not the pope, while in office.

Now, Catholics are represented in the highest levels of American public life. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, is Catholic, as is one of her predecessors, John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio. The majority of Supreme Court justices are Catholic.

Biden keeps a photo of him with Francis in the Oval Office among an assortment of family photos.

The president attends Mass once a week, even when traveling. He made a point of visiting a church during a 2001 trip to China while he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“I’m going to be there on a Sunday — can I go to church somewhere?” Biden said, according to Frank Januzzi, one of the future president’s staff members at the time.

Although there were large Catholic churches in Beijing where Biden could have attended Mass, he ultimately visited what Januzzi described as a “tiny, hole-in-the-wall” parish in a village outside the Chinese capital. Biden took Communion from an elderly priest there.

“This was an opportunity to make a statement about the importance of freedom of religion and demonstrate his own faith as well,” said Januzzi, who now leads the Mansfield Foundation, an organization dedicated to fostering U.S.-Asia relations.

White, the university professor, recalled attending Mass at a church in Bethesda, Md., in 2015 when Biden and his wife slipped in. It was unexpected, because it was not Biden’s usual parish, but Beau was hospitalized nearby with brain cancer and was near death.

Even from a distance, White said, “You could tell they were in distress.” They received Communion and exchanged the sign of peace — when parishioners shake hands and exchange greetings — and left.

“It wasn’t like he was there to shake a lot of hands,” said White, who later worked on Catholic outreach for Biden’s 2020 campaign. “It wasn’t about that at all.”

Beau’s death was just one of the tragedies that have shaped Biden’s life. In 1972, his first wife and daughter were killed in a car accident shortly after he was first elected to the Senate.

“When people have tragedy, sometimes their faith goes away, or is forged in steel,” White said. “All the tragedies that have beset Biden have reinforced his faith and who he is.”

WASHINGTON — President Trump is ordering a major overhaul of the National Security Council that will shrink its size, lead to the ouster of some political appointees and return many career government employees back to their home agencies, according to two U.S. officials and another person familiar with the reorganization.

The number of staff at the NSC is expected to be significantly reduced, according to the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive personnel matter.

The shake-up is just the latest shoe to drop at the NSC, which is being dramatically remade after the ouster early this month of Trump’s national security advisor, Mike Waltz, who had hewed to traditional Republican foreign policy on some issues.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been serving as national security advisor since the departure of Waltz, who was nominated to serve as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.

The move is expected to elevate the importance of the State Department and Pentagon in advising Trump on important foreign policy moves.

The NSC, created during the Truman administration to counter the emerging Soviet threat after the end of World War II, is an arm of the White House tasked with advising and assisting the president on national security and foreign policy and coordinating among various government agencies.

Trump was frustrated in his first term by political appointees and other advisors who he thought got in the way of his agenda.

There were roughly 395 people working at the NSC, including about 180 support staff, according to one official. About 90 to 95 of those being ousted are policy or subject-matter experts seconded from other government agencies. They will be given an opportunity to return to their home agencies if they want.

Many of the political appointees will also be given positions elsewhere in the administration, the official said.

The NSC has been in a state of tumult during the early going of Trump’s second term in the White House.

Waltz was ousted weeks after Trump fired several NSC officials, a day after the influential far-right activist Laura Loomer raised concerns to him about staff loyalty. Loomer has in the past spread 9/11 conspiracy theories and promoted QAnon, an apocalyptic and convoluted conspiracy theory, and took credit for the ouster of the NSC officials who she said were disloyal.

And the White House, days into the administration, sidelined about 160 NSC aides, sending them home while the administration reviewed staffing and tried to align it with Trump’s agenda. The aides were career government employees, commonly referred to as detailees.

This latest shake-up amounts to a “liquidation” of NSC staffing, with career government detailees on assignment to the NSC being sent back to their home agencies and several political appointees being pushed out of their positions, according to the person familiar with the decision.

A White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the overhaul, first reported by Axios, was underway. Andy Baker, the national security advisor to Vice President JD Vance, and Robert Gabriel, an assistant to the president for policy, will serve as deputy national security advisors, according to the White House official.

Waltz, during his short tenure heading the NSC, came under searing criticism in March after revelations that he added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on an encrypted messaging app that was used to discuss planning for a sensitive military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen.

Waltz has taken responsibility for building the text chain but has said he does not know how Goldberg ended up being included.

Loomer had encouraged Trump to purge aides who she believes are insufficiently loyal to the president’s “America first” agenda.

She also complained to sympathetic administration officials that Waltz was too reliant on “neocons” — shorthand for the more hawkish neoconservatives within the Republican Party — as well as what she perceived as “not-MAGA-enough” types, the person said.

It wasn’t just Loomer who viewed Waltz suspiciously. He was viewed with a measure of skepticism by some Trump loyalists who saw the former Army Green Beret and three-term congressman as too tied to Washington’s foreign policy establishment.

On Russia, Waltz shared Trump’s concerns about the high price tag of extensive U.S. military aid to Ukraine. But he also advocated for further diplomatically isolating Russian President Vladimir Putin — a position that was out of step with Trump, who has viewed the Russian leader with tolerance and admiration.

Waltz’s more hawkish rhetoric on Iran and China, including U.S. policy toward Taiwan, seemed increasingly out of step with Trump, who has favored military restraint and diplomacy toward some traditional adversaries — though not toward certain allies, such as his belligerent rhetoric about taking over Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal.

Associated Press writers Lee and Madhani reported from Washington and Kim from Fishkill, N.Y.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met Donald Trump in a bid to reset US ties. But critics say he missed a key chance to counter Trump’s false ‘white genocide’ claims. Al Jazeera’s @FahmidaMiller reports on the mixed reaction from Johannesburg.

WASHINGTON — President Trump used a White House meeting to forcefully confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing the country of failing to address Trump’s baseless claim of the systematic killing of white farmers.

Trump even dimmed the lights of the Oval Office to play a video of a far-left politician chanting a song that includes the lyrics “kill the farmer.” He also leafed through news articles to underscore his point, saying the country’s white farmers have faced “death, death, death, horrible death.”

Trump had already cut all U.S. assistance to South Africa and welcomed several dozen white South African farmers to the U.S. as refugees as he pressed the case that a “genocide” is underway in the country.

The U.S. president has launched a series of accusations at South Africa’s Black-led government, claiming it is seizing land from white farmers, enforcing anti-white policies and pursuing an anti-American foreign policy.

Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of white people being targeted for their race, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.

“People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety,” Trump said. “Their land is being confiscated and in many cases they’re being killed.”

Ramaphosa pushed back against Trump’s accusation. The South African leader had sought to use the meeting to set the record straight and salvage his country’s relationship with the United States. The bilateral relationship is at its lowest point since South Africa enforced its apartheid system of racial segregation, which ended in 1994.

“We are completely opposed to that,” Ramaphosa said of the behavior alleged by Trump in their exchange. He added, “that is not government policy” and “our government policy is completely, completely against what he was saying.”

Trump was unmoved.

“When they take the land, they kill the white farmer,” he said.

At the start of the Oval Office meeting, Trump described the South African president as a “truly respected man in many, many circles.” He added: “And in some circles he’s considered a little controversial.”

Ramaphosa chimed in, playfully jabbing back at a U.S. president who is no stranger to controversy. “We’re all like that,” Ramaphosa said.

Trump issued an executive order in February cutting all funding to South Africa over some of its domestic and foreign policies. The order criticized the South African government on multiple fronts, saying it is pursuing anti-white policies at home and supporting “bad actors” in the world like the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran.

Trump has falsely accused the South African government of a rights violation against white Afrikaner farmers by seizing their land through a new expropriation law. No land has been seized, and the South African government has pushed back, saying U.S. criticism is driven by misinformation.

The Trump administration’s references to the Afrikaner people — who are descendants of Dutch and other European settlers — have also elevated previous claims made by Trump’s South African-born advisor Elon Musk and some conservative U.S. commentators that the South African government is allowing attacks on white farmers in what amounts to a genocide.

That has been disputed by experts in South Africa, who say there is no evidence of white people being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said Trump remains ready to “reset” relations with South Africa, but noted that the administration’s concerns about South African policies cut even deeper then the concerns about white farmers.

South Africa has also angered the Trump White House over its move to bring charges at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Ramaphosa has also faced scrutiny in Washington for his past connections to MTN Group, Iran’s second-largest telecom provider. It owns nearly half of Irancell, a joint venture linked with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Ramaphosa served as board chair of MTN from 2002 to 2013.

“When one country is consistently unaligned with the United States on issue after issue after issue after issue, now you become — you have to make conclusions about it,” Rubio told Senate Foreign Relation Committee members at a Tuesday hearing.

With the deep differences, Ramaphosa tried mightily to avoid the sort of contentious engagement that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky experienced during his late February Oval Office visit, when the Ukrainian leader found himself being berated by Trump and Vice President JD Vance. That disastrous meeting ended with White House officials asking Zelensky and his delegation to leave the White House grounds.

The South African president’s delegation included golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen in his delegation, a gesture to the golf-obsessed U.S. president. Ramaphosa brought Trump a massive book about South Africa’s golf courses. He even told Trump that he’s been working on his golf game, seeming to angle for an invitation to the links with the president.

Luxury goods tycoon and Afrikaner Johann Rupert was also in the delegation to help ease Trump’s concerns that land was being seized from white farmers.

Ramaphosa turned to the golfers, Rupert and others to try to push back gently on Trump and make the case that the issue of crime in South Africa is multidimensional problem.

At one point, Ramaphosa called on Zingiswa Losi, the president of a group of South African trade unions, who told Trump it is true that South Africa is a “violent nation for a number of reasons.” But she told him it was important to understand that Black men and women in rural areas were also being targeted in heinous crimes.

“The problem in South Africa, it is not necessarily about race, but it’s about crime,” Losi said. “We are here to say how do we, both nations, work together to reset, to really talk about investment but also help … to really address the levels of crime we have in our country.”

Musk also attended Wednesday’s talks. He has been at the forefront of the criticism of his homeland, casting its affirmative action laws as racist against white people.

Musk has said on social media that his Starlink satellite internet service isn’t able to get a license to operate in South Africa because he is not Black.

South African authorities say Starlink hasn’t formally applied. It can, but it would be bound by affirmative action laws in the communications sector that require foreign companies to allow 30% of their South African subsidiaries to be owned by shareholders who are Black or from other racial groups disadvantaged under apartheid.

The South African government says its long-standing affirmative action laws are a cornerstone of its efforts to right the injustices of the white minority rule of apartheid, which denied opportunities to Black people and other racial groups.

Imray and Madhani write for the Associated Press. Imray reported from Johannesburg. AP writers Seung Min Kim, Chris Megerian and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) — President Donald Trump welcomed the University of Florida’s men’s basketball team to the White House on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate its 2025 NCAA championship season, praising the Gators’ teamwork, grit and determination.

Standing alongside head coach Todd Golden, Trump called Florida’s run “one for the history books” and noted the program’s place in history as the only NCAA Division I school to win three national titles in both basketball (2006, 2007, 2025) and football (1996, 2006, 2008).

The Gators finished a dominant 36-4 season with a 65-63 victory over Houston in what Trump described as “one of the most exciting games and championships” he had seen.

“You refused to let up when the odds were against you,” Trump told the team. “Lesser teams would have crumbled.”

Trump highlighted stellar performances throughout the season, including that by senior guard Walter Clayton Jr., who scored a career-high 34 points in the Final Four against Auburn and became the first player since Larry Bird in 1979 to score 30 points or more in both the Elite Eight and Final Four.

“He’s unbelievably special,” Trump said. “He’s going to be a very early draft pick if they’re smart.”

University of Florida Interim President Kent Fuchs, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a former Florida senator, and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who served at Florida attorney general.

Golden thanked Trump for the invitation and drew a comparison between the team’s culture and the country’s ideals.

“Mr. President, I’d like to think of our program similarly to how you think of the United States. We’re a meritocracy,” Golden said. “We work really, really hard. No matter what you look like, where you come from, if you put the team first and win, we’re going to play you.”

He then presented the president with a signed Gators jersey featuring the number 47, referencing Trump’s status as the 47th president.

Trump accepted the gift and invited the team to the Oval Office for commemorative coins and photos alongside members of his administration and several lawmakers.

“Go Gators,” he said. “We love you.”

May 21 (UPI) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet with President Donald Trump Wednesday to talk about relations, both trade and diplomatic.

“The trade relations between South Africa and the United States will be the focus of my working visit,” wrote South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to his X account Tuesday, “We aim to strengthen and consolidate relations between our two countries.”

South African Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen said via social media Tuesday that he had a “constructive meeting” with U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Greer in Washington.

“Trade is essential between our two countries and we are determined to ensure that access for agricultural products remains open in a mutually beneficial way. Trade means jobs and a growing economy,” Steenhuisen said.

However, it is also likely that the two will discuss the relationship between the two nations in general, as the Trump administration has cut off aid to South Africa and publicly leveled accusations that the South African government has backed violence against the Afrikaners, the White South Africans, whom the United States has begun to accept as refugees, despite the fact that Trump suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program on the first day of his second term.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier in May that Afrikaners fleeing persecution are welcome in the United States.

“The South African government has treated these people terribly — threatening to steal their private land and subjected them to vile racial discrimination. The Trump Administration is proud to offer them refuge in our great country.”

“We all know as South Africans both Black and White is that there is no genocide here,” Ramaphosa said Friday. “We are not genociders. We are not committing any act of hatred, act of retribution or violence against anyone,” Ramaphosa said.

White South Africans maintain control of a majority of the land and much of the county’s wealth after apartheid ended in 1994.

“The false narratives about a genocide are not a reflection of who we are as a nation,” Ramaphosa further stated Friday, “and during our working visit to the U.S. we will be advancing a proudly South African message.”