May 28, 2025 - Donald Trump presidency news

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A China Shipping container is seen at the port of Oakland in California on April 10.

China has reiterated its position that there are “no winners” in a trade war after a US court blocked the bulk of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said at a news conference on Thursday that “there are no winners in a tariff or trade war,” adding that “protectionism harms everyone’s interests and ultimately goes against the will of the people.”

Perhaps Trump’s greatest grudge in his trade war has been with China. In recent weeks, he has hiked overall levies on Chinese goods into the United States to 145%, before recently slashing that figure down to 30% for 90 days following talks with Beijing.

In the United Kingdom, a government spokesperson cautioned in a Thursday statement that the ruling marked “only the first stage of legal proceedings” and that it was a matter “for the United States to determine domestically.” (The Trump administration immediately appealed the court ruling on Wednesday night.)

Earlier this month, the UK scored the first framework for a trade deal with the US, which included some key carve-outs such as an agreement to lower tariffs on some imports of British cars.

European stock markets rose Thursday morning following a decision by a US court that blocked the bulk of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The region’s benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.2% by 4.37 a.m. ET. Germany’s DAX index was trading up 0.2% by late-morning local time, while France’s CAC index was up 0.5%.

Brent crude, the world’s oil benchmark, was also up 1.2% Thursday morning to trade at nearly $66 a barrel.

Some context: On Trump’s “Liberation Day” in early April, the president said he would impose a punishing 20% levy on all goods imports from the European Union. Trump dramatically upped the ante last week, vowing to slap a 50% tariff on the bloc, only to announce days later a delay to that duty until July 9 — the date the rest of his so-called “reciprocal tariffs” were due to come into effect.

The EU has spent the past few weeks trying to negotiate a trade deal with Washington to avoid the tariffs and threatened to impose its own on US goods if a deal cannot be struck.

The Victorian International container terminal in the port of Melbourne on April 4, in Melbourne, Australia. Australian beef exports to the U.S. have been subject to a 10% tariff under President Trump's "Liberation Day" trade measures.

Countries around the Asia-Pacific region are cautiously waiting to see how the legal battle over President Donald Trump’s tariffs plays out, with the administration now appealing a court ruling that had blocked most global tariffs.

Australia’s trade minister Don Farrell said the government would study the ruling “closely,” noting that “they may be subject to further legal processes through the courts.”

As with almost all other US allies, Australia was not spared from Trump’s tariffs, something Prime Minister Anthony Albanese previously criticized as “against the spirit of our two nations’ enduring friendship.”

Other countries in the region struck a more neutral tone. New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement it was aware of the ruling, but added: “We need to wait for more details before commenting further.”

Similarly, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference that Tokyo would “carefully examine the details of the ruling and its implications and respond appropriately.”

Shipping containers are seen at the Port of Oakland in Oakland, California, on May 12.

The court ruling to block most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs is likely to slow negotiations between the US and its major trading partners, analysts told CNN.

It is too early to predict whether tariffs will ultimately be rolled back, given that the Trump administration has appealed the decision.

But analysts said the trend of countries diversifying away from the US will continue.

Investors’ positive reaction to the ruling, which sent Asian shares and US equity futures higher, is also likely to be short-lived. Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank, said the uncertainties ahead could render the rally unsustainable.

Experts said the court ruling is also going to delay negotiations between the US and its trade partners, which began after Trump threatened aggressive “reciprocal” tariffs, before pausing them for 90 days in April.

China, too, is not in the clear. Other trade restrictions may still be on the horizon, Ng added.

In the meantime, Chinese exporters will try to “front-load as many goods as possible” to take advantage of the tariff injunction, he said.

And countries will continue reducing their dependence on the US and deepen ties with other partners, said William Yang, senior analyst for East Asia at the International Crisis Group, which analyzes policy.

Seen as a path to a prestigious education and better career opportunities, US colleges have drawn Chinese students from middle-class families as well as the political and business elites for decades.

Many Chinese officials have sent their children to American schools, including leader Xi Jinping, whose daughter Xi Mingze studied at Harvard under a pseudonym.

Some top Chinese officials have been educated in the US themselves. Liu He, Xi’s former economic tsar, obtained a MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in the 1990s; Wang Huning, the Chinese Communist Party’s ideology guru, was a visiting scholar at the University of Iowa in the 1980s.

Student exchanges have been a key constant in the ebb and flow of US-China relations — ties that are now increasingly defined by growing geopolitical rivalry that has fueled a trade and tech war.

China was the top source of international students in the US for 15 straight years until it was surpassed by India just last year, according to figures from Open Doors, a State Department-backed database tracking international enrollment.

The number of American students in China is much smaller, plunging from more than 10,000 to the low hundreds during the pandemic.

Even as relations plummeted, Chinese officials have repeatedly underscored the important role of people-to-people exchanges in stabilizing fractured ties.

During a visit to San Francisco in November 2023, Xi said China was ready to invite 50,000 American students to China over the next five years. In June last year, the Chinese leader again called for more exchanges between Chinese and American universities to boost mutual understanding.

Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 23.

The US State Department is reviewing all Harvard University-affiliated visa holders, not just students, three senior State Department officials told CNN on Wednesday.

The move is a notable escalation of the Trump administration’s feud with the Ivy League university. The administration previously moved to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students, but the attempt has been halted by a federal judge. Harvard argued revocation of its certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program was “clear retaliation” for its refusal of the government’s ideologically rooted policy demands. On Tuesday, the administration directed federal agencies to cancel all remaining federal contracts with the university — totaling about $100 million.

The officials did not say why the review was being conducted.

The recent moves come as the Trump administration takes steps that could deter international students from studying at universities in the US.

The State Department announced several other moves this week targeting students who wish to come to the US. On Tuesday, the agency paused all new student and exchange visa appointments as it prepares to expand social media vetting for applicants. It is unclear what the expanded social media vetting will entail. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students.”

Read the full story.

Shipping containers are seen on a cargo ship at the Port Jersey Container Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey on April 8.

A federal court’s ruling against Donald Trump’s authority to levy some of his most sweeping tariffs may have also dealt a serious blow to the president’s entire economic agenda.

Trump’s core economic policy has been his tariffs, but the administration has described its aggressive trade actions as just one leg of a three-legged stool. Built on tariffs, spending cuts and tax cuts, Trump’s economic agenda relies on all three components to stand.

The three-legged economic stool just lost a leg, at least for now. Without trade, Trump’s whole economic policy plan could come crashing down.

Historic tariffs have persuaded dozens of US trading partners to come to the table to make deals with Trump. In theory, those trade deals could open up foreign markets to more US goods, benefitting US manufacturers and farmers.

Revenue from Trump’s tariffs, meanwhile, could, at least in part, help pay for Trump and congressional Republicans’ massively expensive tax cuts, that could boost economic growth and add certainty to the markets by raising the debt ceiling. Trump’s deregulation and spending cuts, particularly via the Department of Government Efficiency, could also reduce the government’s costs and negate some of the impact of the tax cuts on the surging federal debt.

Because of its fragile construction, Trump’s plan to usher in a new economic Golden Age has plenty of naysayers, including most mainstream economists, who argue that the administration lacks the discipline, authority and political support to make it happen. The on-again, off-again trade policy, legal battles over DOGE and intraparty standoffs on the “Big, Beautiful Bill” serve as evidence.

Read the full analysis.

Asia-Pacific markets were in the green following a US court decision that blocked President Donald Trump’s global tariff assault.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.68% in the morning session, while South Korea’s KOSPI rose 1.73%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index grew 0.66%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.46% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.34%.

Asian markets appeared to be breathing a sigh of relief at a brief reprieve in the trade war, although the Trump administration immediately appealed the court ruling.

Some context: Many Asian economies were among the hardest hit by Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs announced in early April, including levies of 24% on Japan, 25% for South Korea and 32% on Taiwan. Even though Trump soon after implemented a 90-day pause, a 10% broad-based levy remained, as well as sector-specific tariffs.

But the court ruling on Wednesday has halted that 10% universal tariff on most goods coming into the US, as well as the remaining 30% tariffs on China, which had negotiated down from an initial three-digit levy rate under a trade truce reached earlier this month.

Just hours after a US federal court blocked President Donald Trump from imposing most of his tariffs, Hong Kong’s financial secretary appeared to praise the move.

Asked how countries and companies will react to the court ruling, with uncertainty swirling as the Trump administration appeals, Paul Chan said the decision would “at least bring President Trump to reason,” Reuters reported.

Although Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous Chinese city long known as an international trade hub, it has been caught in the crossfire of the US-China trade war.

It previously had a special trading status with the US that allowed for lower tariffs and a separate customs process from mainland China — but Trump revoked this status in 2020 as Beijing cracked down on dissent in the city and imposed a sweeping national security law.

In April, the Hong Kong government announced its postal service would stop handling packages coming from or going to the US, citing Trump’s decision to eliminate the de minimis exception for items posted from the city to the US — which applies to international shipments worth $800 or less.

The Trump administration has immediately appealed a decision blocking most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, leaving the situation uncertain for consumers and businesses and potentially prolonging the battle over whether the import duties will stand — and possibly reshape the global economy.

The notice of appeal came after a federal court ruled that Trump overstepped his authority to impose sweeping tariffs that have raised the cost of imports for everyone from giant businesses to everyday Americans.

Read more details here about the ruling

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was granted special government employee status to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, said this evening that his time in the Trump administration has come “to an end.”

During his time helming DOGE, Musk oversaw major cuts to the federal workforce as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce federal spending.

Musk’s post comes after he raised concerns about President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package, saying in an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” that he believes it would raise the US budget deficit and undercut efforts by DOGE.

Separately, a White House official said Musk will begin the offboarding process tonight, which essentially includes paperwork.

This post has been updated with comment from a White House official.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed to this post.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai, reacting to a court’s blocking of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, said in a statement that “it is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency.”

Here’s the full statement:

Remember: A three-judge panel at the US Court of International Trade, a relatively low-profile court in Manhattan, stopped Trump’s global tariffs that he imposed citing emergency economic powers, including the “Liberation Day” tariffs he announced on April 2. It also prevents Trump from enforcing his tariffs placed earlier this year against China, Mexico and Canada, designed to combat fentanyl coming into the United States.

US Immigration officials are working on flying back a Guatemalan migrant who says he was wrongly deported to Mexico, according to new court filings, in what appears to mark the first time the Trump administration has made plans to bring back a migrant after a judge ordered the administration to facilitate their return.

Pheonix-based immigration officials are “currently working with ICE Air to bring O.C.G. back to the United States on an Air Charter Operations (ACO) flight return leg,” the Justice Department said in the court filing today, referring to the pseudonym the migrant is using in the case.

US District Judge Brian Murphy, who sits in Boston, ordered O.C.G.’s return last week. The case that Murphy is overseeing concerns the deportation of migrants to “third countries,” or nations that are not their home country.

After entering the US and being deported a first time, the Guatemalan man reentered United States again in 2024, at which point he sought asylum, having suffered “multiple violent attacks” in Guatemala, according to court documents.

On his way to the US during the second trip, O.C.G. said, he was raped and held for ransom in Mexico –– a detail he made known to an immigration judge during immigration proceedings. In 2025, a judge ruled he should not be sent back to his native country, the documents read.

Two days after the judge ruled he should not be removed to Guatemala, the government deported him to Mexico, according to Murphy’s order. O.C.G. had claimed in the case that he had not been given the opportunity before his deportation to communicate his fear of being sent to Mexico and that his pleas before his removal to speak to an attorney were rejected.

CNN’s Karina Tsui contributed to this report.

The Trump administration will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced today in another blow to international students and higher education institutions across the United States.

The top US diplomat said the State Department would work with the Department of Homeland Security on the revocations, which will target Chinese students “including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.”

More than 275,000 students from China studied in the US in the 2023-2024 academic year, according to a report from the Institute for International Education (IIE) and the State Department. China sent the second most students from abroad of any country, trailing behind only India.

US institutions rely on international students for tuition and many students participate in research and innovation work.

The move comes a day after the State Department ordered a pause on all new student visa appointments worldwide as it prepares for expanded social media vetting.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov amid growing frustration from President Donald Trump toward President Vladimir Putin.

According to a State Department readout, Rubio “reiterated President Trump’s calls for constructive, good faith dialogue with Ukraine as the only path to ending this war.”

He also “welcomed Russia and Ukraine’s exchange of ‘1,000-for-1,000’ prisoners over the weekend,” it said.

Trump said today he would “know in about two weeks” whether Russia is serious about trying to end the war. Moscow has yet to put forward a promised framework of its terms for a ceasefire.

Russia also said today that another round of talks with Ukraine will be held in Istanbul next week.

The Justice Department is investigating whether a California law violates students’ rights by allowing transgender student athletes to play on girls’ sports teams.

Investigators are probing California’s School Success and Opportunity Act — which prohibits public schools from blocking transgender students who to participate in school sports — on whether or not it violates Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at schools that receive federal aid, the DOJ said in a statement today.

Newly disclosed letters sent to the state’s attorney general and the superintendent of public instruction, as well as the California Interscholastic Federation and the Jurupa Unified School District, comes one day after President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from California over a transgender athlete’s participation in an upcoming sporting event.

It’s the latest move against public schools by Trump and the Justice Department, who have repeatedly threatened to pull federal funding from educational institutions whose rules run afoul of the administration’s priorities.

At the same time, the DOJ also filed a statement of interest in a federal lawsuit brought on behalf of high school girls who argue that they should not have to compete with transgender athletes.

The lawsuit, which alleges that Maine is violating Title IX, is the latest action in a public feud between the governor of Maine, Janet Mills, and the federal government.

A 20-year-old Venezuelan man who was enrolled in a New York City high school that caters to older migrant students is in ICE detention. This makes him one of the first known students in a US public school system to be targeted by Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The student, identified by his attorneys only as Dylan in the interest of “keeping his family and community safe,” entered the United States in April 2024 with his mother and two siblings, his attorneys said.

He was detained last Wednesday at a Manhattan court where a judge dismissed his immigration proceedings making the young man vulnerable to detention and possible removal from the US.

The spokesperson said their client entered the United States with permission to petition for asylum and that his detention “robs him of the opportunity to seek that relief with the full protections offered to him under the law.”

The Department of Homeland Security referred to Dylan as an “illegal alien,” in a social media post yesterday, and insisted he entered the US illegally.

CNN has reached out to US Customs and Border Protection for comment.

Katie Miller, with her husband, Stephen Miller, attend the White House Easter Egg Roll on April 21.

Katie Miller, a top adviser and spokesperson for the Department of Government Efficiency at the White House, has left her position and is now working with Elon Musk, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Miller is working “full time” for Musk, one of the sources said. Another said she has been helping arrange Musk’s interviews that are unrelated to his time in government. This week Musk has given interviews to the Washington Post, CBS News and Ars Technica connected to SpaceX’s Starship launch.

Like several other White House advisers including Musk himself, Miller was a “Special Government Employee” which allows private sector figures to simultaneously work for the federal government but with restrictions on how many days per year can be spent on government work although that time can be extended.

Miller, who is married to Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, did not respond to a request for comment sent to her White House email, which still appears to be functioning. A separate White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CNN’s Kristen Holmes and Alayna Treene contributed reporting to this post.

The Trump administration has effectively cut off some American companies from selling goods to China, a Commerce Department spokesperson told CNN today.

The spokesperson said the department is “reviewing exports of strategic significance to China. In some cases, Commerce has suspended existing export licenses or imposed additional license requirements while the review is pending.”