The US and China stepped closer to a full tariff and trade deal on Thursday, making a pact to formally cement the informal trade understanding reached in Geneva talks in May.

“We just signed with China yesterday,” Trump said during an unrelated event at the White House, though he did not provide further details. China said “both sides have confirmed further details on the framework.”

The pact marks a significant step in stabilizing trade relations between the two countries, which lapsed into feuding soon after an initial truce in May. China has confirmed it will deliver rare earths to the US as part of the trade framework, and the US will respond by taking down its countermeasures, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg.

Lutnick claimed that trade agreements with 10 key US trading partners are imminent, as countries from Canada to Japan struggle to get over the finish line with just two weeks to go. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday said the US could complete the balance of its most important trade talks by Labor Day.

“I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day,” Bessent said in a Fox Business interview.

The Trump administration has signaled a willingness to roll back the self-imposed tariff deadline of July 9 as pressure builds. Stephen Miran, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said the tariff pause to be extended for countries negotiating “in good faith.”

“I mean, you don’t blow up a deal that’s that’s in process and making really good faith, sincere, authentic progress by dropping a tariff bomb in it,” Miran told Yahoo Finance.

Trump and officials have warned that he could soon simply hand countries their tariff rates, raising questions about the status of negotiations. Miran said that he doesn’t see the aggregate tariff rate falling materially below the 10% level in the long run, but some countries may negotiate more favorable duties while others will see a return of the steeper “Liberation Day” tariffs.

So far, Trump has firmed up a trade deal with the United Kingdom. Trade talks with the European Union have also come into focus in recent days, with the EU vowing to retaliate if the US sticks with its baseline 10% tariffs. Trump has threatened tariffs of up to 50% on EU imports.

Read more: What Trump’s tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet

Here are the latest updates as the policy reverberates around the world.

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1271 updates

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid arrive in Beit Lahia, Gaza, on Wednesday. Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The World Health Organization said it was able to deliver nine truckloads of essential medical supplies into Gaza on Wednesday, the first such shipment since the beginning of March. The aid included 2,000 units of blood and 1,500 units of plasma.

As agencies struggle to distribute the limited aid that is allowed into Gaza, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Wednesday that the enclave’s entire population was projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity, with nearly 500,000 facing what it called “catastrophic levels of food insecurity.”

OCHA said Thursday that “to meet humanitarian needs and help reduce looting, it is essential to get more humanitarian and essential commercial goods into Gaza, and to facilitate their safe distribution across the Strip.”

OCHA added that six out of 17 attempts to coordinate humanitarian movements inside Gaza were outright rejected by the Israeli authorities.

More on Gaza aid: The privately-run and controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said that it had been the only humanitarian organization permitted to distribute food aid in the territory on Thursday. “Our hope is this will be a temporary pause and all other aid organizations will soon be able to resume distribution in the region,” its interim Executive Director John Acree said.

An Israeli official confirmed to CNN that only GHF had distributed aid on Thursday.

The Israeli agency that handles the transfer of aid into Gaza – COGAT – said Wednesday that 150 humanitarian aid trucks carrying food, baby food and formula, as well as medical supplies and medications, had been transferred to northern and southern Gaza.

On the same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed that Hamas was “once again seizing control of humanitarian aid entering the northern Gaza Strip” and ordered the Israeli military to present an action plan to prevent Hamas from taking aid within 48 hours.

What to Know The U.S. and China have further confirmed the details of the trade agreement reached by both sides earlier this month in London, which will implement the Geneva consensus, according to a statement released by China’s Ministry of Commerce Friday afternoon.

President Donald Trump held an event to tout the Republican domestic policy bill as the Senate races to pass the sweeping legislation. In his remarks, Trump falsely claimed that the bill would end taxes on Social Security benefits.

Top Trump administration officials briefed senators on the U.S. airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. After the briefing, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told reporters that Trump was “deliberately misleading” when he said the United States “obliterated” the nuclear program, while Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Iran has been “weakened.”

The justices take the bench at 10 a.m. for their last public session until the start of their new term on Oct. 6. Follow along for live updates.

Canada is seeking more information on the death this week of one of its citizens while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a detention center in Florida.

Johnny Noviello, 49, was found unresponsive Monday while being held at the Bureau of Prisons Federal Detention Center pending removal proceedings, ICE said in a statement Wednesday. The cause of death is still under investigation, it said.

Noviello entered the U.S. legally in 1988 and became a lawful permanent resident in 1991, the agency said. In October 2023, he was convicted in Volusia County, Florida, on charges of racketeering and drug trafficking and sentenced to 12 months in prison.

He was arrested by ICE agents May 15 at the Florida Department of Corrections probation office, with the agency seeking his removal because he had violated U.S. drug laws.

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From 3h ago 11.48 BST US supreme court expected to deliver ruling on birthright citizenship on last day of term The US supreme court may rule on Friday on Donald Trump’s attempt to broadly enforce his executive order to limit birthright citizenship, a move that would affect thousands of babies born each year as the president seeks a major shift in how the US constitution has long been understood, Reuters reports. The administration has made an emergency request for the justices to scale back injunctions issued by federal judges in Maryland, Washington and Massachusetts blocking Trump’s directive nationwide. The judges found that Trump’s order likely violates citizenship language in the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment. On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to refuse to recognise the citizenship of children born in the United States who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident, also called a “green card” holder. Hannah Liu, 26, of Washington, holds up a sign in support of birthright citizenship, in May 2025, outside the supreme court in Washington. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Share Updated at 12.26 BST

30m ago 13.55 BST Senate Republicans seek agreement on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ with one week until 4 July deadline US Senate Republicans are trying to reach a consensus over Donald Trump’s sprawling tax-cut and spending bill, including proposed healthcare cuts that have worried some of their more populist-minded members, Reuters reports. Senate majority leader John Thune has the difficult task of keeping his 53-member majority in line, as they use a parliamentary manoeuvre to bypass unified Democratic opposition to Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which would extend his 2017 tax cuts and boost spending on border security and the military. Thune’s task was further complicated this week as the Senate parliamentarian, a nonpartisan referee, informed Republicans that more than $250bn in healthcare cuts in the Republican bill did not qualify for inclusion under long-standing budget rules. An earlier version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives last month was forecast to add about $3tn to the federal government’s $36.2tn debt. Trump yesterday expressed “hope” that the bill would pass before 4 July. Kevin Hassett, Trump’s top economic adviser, said the president remains “highly confident” that Congress will pass the bill by the holiday. However, it remains tight for GOP leaders trying to get the legislation over the line in time – just three Republican “no” votes in either chamber would be enough to scuttle the bill. View image in fullscreen John Thune on 26 June. Photograph: Rod Lamkey/AP Share

38m ago 13.46 BST Iranian woman, who has lived in US for 47 years, taken by Ice while gardening Marina Dunbar A 64-year-old Iranian woman, who has lived in the US for 47 years, was detained by immigration agents on Sunday morning while gardening outside her home in New Orleans. According to a witness, plainclothes officers in unmarked vehicles handcuffed Madonna “Donna” Kashanian and transported her to a Mississippi jail before transferring her to the South Louisiana Ice processing center in Basile, reports Nola. Kashanian arrived in the US in 1978 on a student visa and later applied for asylum, citing fears of persecution due to her father’s ties to the US-backed Shah of Iran. Her asylum request was ultimately denied, but she was granted a stay of removal on the condition she comply with immigration requirements, a condition her family says she always met. She has no criminal record but remains in Ice custody. The timing of Kashanian’s detention came just hours after US airstrikes in Iran. Federal officials did not comment on her specific case, though the DHS released a statement highlighting the arrests of 11 Iranians nationwide over the weekend, according to Nola. Ice also arrested two Iranian LSU students in Baton Rouge at their off-campus apartment earlier this week. Last week, Ice announced that they arrested 84 people during a raid at a south-west Louisiana racetrack. Of the 84, Ice said “at least two” had criminal records. Statistics from early June, previously reported on by the Guardian, demonstrated an 807% increase in arrests of people without criminal histories since before Donald Trump’s second inauguration this January. Data suggests Ice is holding about 59,000 detainees in facilities across the country. Iranian woman, who has lived in US for 47 years, taken by Ice while gardening Read more Share Updated at 13.46 BST

1h ago 13.21 BST Defense secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that the US navy is renaming USNS Harvey Milk to the USNS Oscar V. Peterson. In a post on X, Hegseth said: We are taking the politics out of ship naming. We’re not renaming the ship to anything political. This is not about political activists, unlike the previous administration. Instead we’re naming the ship after a US navy congressional medal of honor recipient, as it should be. People want to be proud of the ship they’re sailing in. My colleague Maya Yang reported earlier this month that Hegseth had ordered the navy to strip the name of the prominent gay rights activist and navy veteran Harvey Milk from a ship during the middle of June. The timing of the announcement, during Pride month – a month meant to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community – was reportedly intentional. The vessel was initially named after Milk in 2016 during the Barack Obama administration. Milk was a prominent gay rights activist who served in the US navy during the Korean war. He later went on to run for office in California where he won a seat on the San Francisco board of supervisors. As one of the US’s first openly gay politicians, Milk became a forefront figure of the gay rights movement across the country before his assassination in 1978 by a former city supervisor. Here’s Maya’s earlier report. Hegseth orders US navy to strip Harvey Milk name from ship amid Pride month Read more Share Updated at 13.23 BST

1h ago 12.59 BST US supreme court expected to issue rulings in six cases on last day of term The US supreme court is meeting on Friday to decide the final six cases of its term, including Donald Trump’s bid to enforce his executive order denying birthright citizenship to US-born children of parents who are in the country illegally (see earlier post). As posted earlier it is also to deliver a ruling on LBGT books in schools. The justices take the bench at 10am for their last public session until the start of their new term on 6 October. Decisions also are expected in several other important cases including: A bid by Louisiana officials and civil rights groups to preserve an electoral map that raised the number of Black-majority congressional districts in the state and prompted a challenge by non-Black voters. State officials and advocacy groups have appealed a lower court’s ruling that found the map laying out Louisiana’s six US House of Representatives districts – with two Black-majority districts, up from one previously – violated the US Constitution’s promise of equal protection, Reuters reports.

Free speech rights are at the centre of a case over a Texas law aimed at blocking children from seeing online pornography. Texas is among more than a dozen states with age verification laws. The states argue the laws are necessary as smartphones have made access to online porn, including hardcore obscene material, almost instantaneous. The question for the court is whether the measure infringes on the constitutional rights of adults as well, AP reports. View image in fullscreen The US supreme court Photograph: Aashish Kiphayet/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock Share Updated at 13.05 BST

2h ago 12.43 BST The Trump administration is readying a package of executive actions aimed at boosting energy supply to power the US expansion of artificial intelligence, according to four sources familiar with the planning, Reuters reports. US and China are locked in a technological arms race and with it secure an economic and military edge. The huge amount of data processing behind AI requires a rapid increase in power supplies that are straining utilities and grids in many states. The moves under consideration include making it easier for power-generating projects to connect to the grid, and providing federal land on which to build the data centres needed to expand AI technology, according to the sources. The administration will also release an AI action plan and schedule public events to draw public attention to the efforts, according to the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Training large-scale AI models requires a huge amount of electricity, and the industry’s growth is driving the first big increase in US power demand in decades. Share

2h ago 12.26 BST US-backed Gaza food distribution scheme is ‘slaughter masquerading’ as aid, says MSF Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has said that “the Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid” as it called on the Israeli authorities to dismantle the scheme and end its siege on the devastated territory. Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading toward desperately needed food, killing hundreds of Palestinian people in recent weeks. Israel wants the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – an Israeli-backed logistics group – to replace a system coordinated by the UN and international aid groups. Along with the US, it accuses Hamas of stealing aid, without offering evidence. The UN and aid agencies have denied that there has been any significant theft of their supplies by Hamas. In a press release published on its website today, MSF wrote: The Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza, Palestine, launched one month ago, is degrading Palestinians by design, forcing them to choose between starvation or risking their lives for minimal supplies. With over 500 people killed and nearly 4,000 wounded while seeking food, this scheme is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid and must be immediately dismantled… This disaster has been orchestrated by the Israeli-US proxy operating under the name Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The way supplies are distributed forces thousands of Palestinians, who have been starved by an over 100 day-long Israeli siege, to walk long distances to reach the four distribution sites and fight for scraps of food supplies. These sites hinder women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, from accessing aid and people are killed and wounded in the chaotic process. You can follow more on the crisis over on our Middle East live blog: Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza is ‘slaughter masquerading as aid’ says MSF – Middle East crisis live Read more Share Updated at 13.51 BST

2h ago 12.13 BST We have more from Reuters on Lynne Tracy, the US ambassador to Russia, who is leaving Moscow. The departure of the career diplomat appointed under the administration of former president Joe Biden comes as Russia and the United States discuss a potential reset in their ties which sharply deteriorated after Moscow launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022. President Donald Trump has said there are potentially big investment deals to be struck, but is growing increasingly frustrated that his efforts to broker a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine have so far not resulted in a meaningful ceasefire. View image in fullscreen US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy pictured in 2024. Photograph: Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters “I am proud to have represented my country in Moscow during such a challenging time. As I leave Russia, I know that my colleagues at the embassy will continue to work to improve our relations and maintain ties with the Russian people,” the embassy cited Tracy as saying in a statement. The embassy said earlier this month that Tracy, who arrived in Moscow in January 2023 and was greeted by protesters chanting anti-US slogans when she went to the foreign ministry to present her credentials, would leave her post soon. Her successor has not been publicly named. Share

2h ago 12.03 BST Mamdani’s NYC primary win sparks surge in anti-Muslim posts, advocates say Anti-Muslim online posts targeting New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani have surged since his Democratic primary upset this week, including death threats and comments comparing his candidacy to the 11 September 2001 attacks, advocates said on Friday. There were at least 127 violent hate-related reports mentioning Mamdani or his campaign in the day after polls closed, said CAIR Action, an arm of the Council on American Islamic Relations advocacy group, which logs such incidents, Reuters reports. That marks a five-fold increase over a daily average of such reports tracked earlier this month, CAIR Action said in a statement. View image in fullscreen Zohran Mamdani gives a victory speech after winning the Democratic primary at an election night watch party in Long Island City, New York, on 24 June 2025. Photograph: Julius Constantine Motal/The Guardian Overall, it noted about 6,200 online posts that mentioned some form of Islamophobic slur or hostility in that day-long time-frame. Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist and a 33-year-old state lawmaker, declared victory in Tuesday’s primary after former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo conceded defeat. Born in Uganda to Indian parents, Mamdani would be the city’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor if he wins the November general election. “We call on public officials of every party – including those whose allies are amplifying these smears – to unequivocally condemn Islamophobia,” said Basim Elkarra, executive director of CAIR Action. Share Updated at 12.21 BST

3h ago 11.48 BST US supreme court expected to deliver ruling on birthright citizenship on last day of term The US supreme court may rule on Friday on Donald Trump’s attempt to broadly enforce his executive order to limit birthright citizenship, a move that would affect thousands of babies born each year as the president seeks a major shift in how the US constitution has long been understood, Reuters reports. The administration has made an emergency request for the justices to scale back injunctions issued by federal judges in Maryland, Washington and Massachusetts blocking Trump’s directive nationwide. The judges found that Trump’s order likely violates citizenship language in the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment. On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to refuse to recognise the citizenship of children born in the United States who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident, also called a “green card” holder. View image in fullscreen Hannah Liu, 26, of Washington, holds up a sign in support of birthright citizenship, in May 2025, outside the supreme court in Washington. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Share Updated at 12.26 BST

3h ago 11.39 BST The United States has postponed sanctions against the Russian-owned Serbian oil company NIS for a fourth time until 29 July, Serbia’s mining and energy minister Dubravka Đedović Handanović said on Friday. NIS has so far secured three reprieves, the last of which was due to expire later on Friday. “Sanctions have been formally postponed … overnight we have received written confirmations … after a hard and tiring diplomatic struggle,” she told reporters. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control initially placed sanctions on Russia’s oil sector on 10 January, and gave Gazprom Neft 45 days to exit ownership of NIS. The United States Department of Treasury did not reply to a Reuters inquiry about the latest sanctions reprieve. Share

3h ago 11.19 BST US supreme court set to deliver ruling on LBGT books in schools on last day of term The US Supreme Court is expected to rule on Friday in a bid by Christian and Muslim parents in Maryland to keep their elementary school children out of certain classes when storybooks with LGBT characters are read, Reuters reports. Parents with children in public schools in Montgomery County, located just outside of Washington, appealed after lower courts declined to order the local school district to let children opt out when these books are read. The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has expanded the rights of religious people in several cases in recent years. The school board in Montgomery County approved in 2022 a handful of storybooks that feature LGBT characters as part of its English language-arts curriculum in order to better represent the diversity of families living in the county. The storybooks are available for teachers to use “alongside the many books already in the curriculum that feature heterosexual characters in traditional gender roles,” the district said in a filing. The district said it ended the opt-outs in 2023 when the mounting number of requests to excuse students from these classes became logistically unworkable and raised concerns of “social stigma and isolation” among students who believe the books represent them and their families. Share Updated at 12.19 BST

3h ago 11.07 BST Japan and the United States are arranging for US secretary of state Marco Rubio to visit Japan for the first time in early July, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday. Rubio is also planning to visit South Korea alongside attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers’ meetings in Malaysia in July, Kyodo reported, without mentioning sources, Reuters reports. View image in fullscreen Secretary of state Marco Rubio pictured on 26 June 2025, in Washington. Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP Share