Stock market skyrockets as White House reveals promising new Trump trade deal details: Live updates
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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt sent the stock market soaring as she revealed there are more than 100 countries working with President Donald Trump on new trade deals.
Moments after Leavitt made the announcement at her weekly press briefing the markets started surging with the Dow going up by over 600 points.
Leavitt said: 'I asked the president before coming out here and he wanted to share we are doing well in respect to potential trade deal with China. There have been 18 proposals and more than 100 countries around the world wanting to make a deal with the United States of America.'
She added: 'The administration [is] setting the stage for a deal with China. We feel everyone involved wants to see a trade deal happen.'
Meanwhile, betting markets have seen a flood of money on defense chief Pete Hegseth to be the first of President Trump's Cabinet secretaries to be ousted after reports of 'chaos' at the Pentagon .
Follow the latest on the DailyMail.com blog
17:39
Karoline Leavitt says the 'ball is moving in the right direction' on a trade deal with China
President Trump says the U.S. is ‘doing very well’ in trade negotiations with China, the White House said Tuesday.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about any progress in talks, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent moved markets by speaking of ‘de-escalation’ with China.
Leavitt said she spoke to Trump before her press briefing, and ‘he wanted me to share with all of you that we're doing very well in respect to a potential trade deal with China.’
‘As I mentioned, there have now been 18 proposals in more than 100 countries around the world who are wanting to make a deal with the United States of America, and the president and the administration are setting the stage for a deal with China,’ she said.
19:16
Trump to visit Middle East in May
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the dates of President Trump’s trip to the Middle East.
He plans to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from May 13 until May 16,’ Leavitt told reporters at the White House.
That comes amid the potential for Russia and Ukraine to hold direct talks on ending the war in Ukraine. Trump’s Middle East negotiator Steve Witkoff plans to visit Moscow for a new round of peace talks this week.
Leavitt also confirmed that the PM of Norway will hold a working visit with Trump Thursday to discuss trade and regional security.
19:14
Karoline Leavitt warns 5 million student loan defaulters the Biden giveaway ends in days
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday warned that Joe Biden's 'illegal student loan bailout' program is ending and those in default must pay back their loans.
On May 5th, the Department of Education will resume involuntary collections for borrowers with defaulted federal student loans.
Of the more than 42.7 million student loan borrowers - who owe a collective $1.6 trillion - more than 5 million have not made a payment in the past year, according to the Department of Education.
'If you take out a loan, you have to pay it back. It's very simple. President Trump will not kick the can down the road anymore,' Leavitt said at her press briefing.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday warned that Joe Biden's 'illegal student loan bailout' program is ending and those in default must pay back their loans.
18:52
Trump Treasury chief expects China tariff impasse to de-escalate
The trade standoff between Washington and Beijing is not sustainable, US Treasury Scott Bessent said Tuesday.
Bessent predicted the tit-for-tat tariff war would de-escalate soon.
Speaking at a closed-door event hosted by JPMorgan Chase, Bessent said the enormous tariffs the world's two biggest economies placed on each other's imports amounted to a reciprocal trade embargo.
Since Trump's White House return in January, the United States has slapped additional tariffs of 145 percent on many products from China.
Beijing has responded with sweeping counter tariffs of 125 percent on US goods.
Bessent told the event Tuesday that he expects a de-escalation in the near future.
18:49
Trump to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE from May 13
President Donald Trump will visit the Middle East next month on a three-country tour, his spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
It will be his second foreign trip since returning to office, following his planned attendance at the Vatican for Pope Francis's funeral on Saturday.
Trump 'will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from May 13 until May 16,' Leavitt told a White House press briefing, without elaborating.
Saudi Arabia's top diplomat held talks in Washington earlier this month to lay the groundwork for a visit by Trump in a reprisal of 2017 (below) when the oil-rich, conservative kingdom was the first destination of his first term in office.
17:39
Top Trump ally booed offstage during town hall in unhinged moment as he tried to defend Elon Musk's DOGE
Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com
A Trump ally was viciously booed for supporting Elon Musk and DOGE during a recent town hall, a scene that has become familiar for Republican lawmakers.
Rep. Byron Donalds hosted a town hall in Naples, Florida, that quickly descended into chaos on Monday.
Donalds, 46, is the latest Republican lawmaker to catch the scorn of their constituents at a town hall for supporting the government-trimming brainchild of Musk and the president that has already led to thousands of layoffs.
'They're firing people!' one animated constituent yelled at the Republican.
'Have you read the book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson?' another attendee oddly blurted out.
The question regarding the book, which is about how race in America determines one's location in the social hierarchy, enraged Donalds.
A Trump ally was viciously booed for supporting Elon Musk and DOGE during a recent town hall, a scene that has become familiar for Republican lawmakers.
17:38
Exclusive:Top MAGA ally launches investigation into 'brazen' Kristi Noem purse robbery as culprit is tracked down
Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com
A top Republican lawmaker has announced he is working with the Secret Service to investigate the robbery of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem.
While dining with her family at The Capital Burger in Washington, D.C., on Sunday evening, a thief made off with Noem's bag full of personal items and thousands of dollars in cash.
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., whose panel oversees the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is now looking into the shameless theft he exclusively told DailyMail.com.
'The Committee is in contact with the Secret Service concerning this brazen theft of Secretary Noem’s belongings this week, and we will continue conducting oversight of the agency to ensure any security lapses are properly and swiftly addressed,' he shared.
'The security of our nation’s leaders is a vital part of DHS’ mission, and it must remain a top priority.'
Canada is a proud nation that will 'never' submit to foreign domination - but a stunning poll has revealed if it did have to who it would prefer.
Canada is a proud nation that will 'never' submit to foreign domination – but if it is to be ruled by a landed septuagenarian from afar, its citizens would prefer King Charles to Donald Trump – hands down.
In fact, Canadians would rather return to the to the British Empire than adopt Trump's repeated insistence that it become the 51st U.S. state, even with his promises of lower taxes and better security, according to a new poll.
The poll, conducted for DailyMail.com by J&L Partners, reveals that a 54 percent majority of Canadians would prefer King Charles III as their head of state, compared to just 15 percent who favor Trump.
16:47
World leader stunned his US visa revoked
Colombian President Gustavo Petro is seemingly no longer welcome in the United States.
Petro, a former member of the 19th of April Movement guerrilla group and Colombia's first leftist president, claimed the Trump administration revoked his visa to attend meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
He is instead be replaced by the Minister of Finance Germán Avila, who is in Washington, D.C. this week.
A world leader says he's been denied entry into the United States in what appears to be a major escalation in the Trump administration's trade and tariff war.
14:51
Al Gore compares Trump administration to Nazi Germany
Former Vice President Al Gore compared President Trump's second term to the Third Reich.
Bill Clinton's vice president was speaking at a climate event in San Francisco. He said:
I understand very well why it is wrong to compare Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich to any other movement. It was uniquely evil, full stop. I get it. But there are important lessons from the history of that emergent evil.
It was [Jürgen] Habermas’ mentor, Theodore Adorno, who wrote that the first step in that nation’s descent into hell was, and I quote, ‘the conversion of all questions of truth into questions of power.'
He described how the Nazis, and I quote again, ‘attacked the very heart of the distinction between true and false.’ End quote. The Trump administration is insisting on trying to create their own preferred version of reality.
Adorno was a German philosopher.
14:25
JD Vance greeted by elephants as he tours historic fort in India
By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor
Vice President JD Vance has been able to fit some spectacular touring with family into his four-day trip to India.
On Tuesday, he was in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan province. He toured the Amber Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the 'Pink City.' The family was welcomed by a pair of trained elephants.
On Wednesday, the former Ohio senator heads to Agra, with plans to tour the Taj Mahal, the famed site toured by Ivanka Trump on her trip to India in 2020.
It is the first trip to India for Vance and his children, Vivek and Ewan, and Mirabel. Second lady Usha Vance has Indian heritage.
On Monday Vance met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. He flew directly to India from Rome, where he visited with Pope Francis on Easter Sunday shortly before the pope's death.
13:33
Usha Vance talks about her family's first trip to India
By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent
Usha Vance gave a rare interview as part of the family's trip to India, telling NDTV, an Indian news company, it was her husband's and children's first trip to her parents' home country.
'This is a trip of a lifetime. I have been to India (before) but it was something I wanted to share with my nuclear family,' she said.
She, Vice President J.D. Vance and their three children - Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel - met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of their trip.
The official trip is full of cultural stops, including a welcome ceremony with elephants, a visit to the Taj Mahal, and tours of various Indian forts and palaces.
Usha Vance also revealed the strong cultural ties her family enjoys to India: the vice president is fond of Indian food, with channa masala and lamb dishes among his favourites, and the children like to read Hindu epics.
13:23
Hegseth doesn't deny second Signal chat
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth didn't deny a second signal chat with details of the Houthi attack exisited but he did argue there was no classified information in it.
'I look at war plans every single day. What was shared over Signal then and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordinations for media coordination and other things,' he told Fox & Friends.
The New York Times reported Hegseth started a Signal chat with friends and family that contained details of a March attack on Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis.
12:48
Hegseth slams 'deep state' as he fights for his job
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth came out swinging in an interview on Fox News on Tuesday, blaming 'disgruntled former employees' for the leaks about his tenure at the Pentagon as he tries to save his job.
He cast blame on former staffers trying to 'sabotage' President Donald Trump's agenda and said the 'deep state' was working against him.
'They have come after me from day one like they have come after President Trump. I've gotten a fraction of what President Trump has endured,' he told Fox and Friends. 'It is not hard to do this job, I know exactly why I’m here.'
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth came out swinging, blaming 'disgruntled former employees' for the leaks about his tenure at the Pentagon as he tries to save his job.
Dan Caldwell, who was one of the three Department of Defense staffers who were fired during an investigation into leaks, revealed why he believes he was targeted in the ousting.
12:09
Hegseth under pressure
Pete Hegseth is a clear favorite to be the first of President Donald Trump's Cabinet secretaries to leave.
The defense secretary has seen a surge in bets on sites including Kalshi, Polymarket and Predictit.
It comes after the New York Times reported he shared military information with his wife and brother on the messaging app Signal.
There have also been a number of departures from the Pentagon with unnamed sources describing 'chaos' and a 'meltdown.'
The White House has backed Hegseth and called the stories 'fake news.'