Donald Trump’s press secretary says he is “very proud to have an American pope” after being asked about critical comments the new pontiff apparently once made. Meanwhile, Trump has hinted at a potential softening in his trade war with China. Listen to our latest Trump 100 podcast below.
Friday 9 May 2025 23:54, UK
We’re pausing our live coverage, but we’ll be back soon with more updates from the US.
Here is what has happened today:
Watch Karoline Leavitt confirm the UK will still be hit by 10% baseline tariffs in the video below:
A federal judge has ordered the release of a student from Turkey who was detained in a US immigration facility for six weeks after she co-wrote an opinion piece expressing support for the Palestinian people.
Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student at Tufts University, was detained near her Massachusetts home in March following the publication of the article. It criticised the university’s response to the war in Gaza and accused Israel of committing genocide.
Shortly after her detention, a court blocked attempts to deport her from the US, but she had been held in detention ever since.
However, on Friday, US District Judge William Sessions granted Ms Ozturk bail.
He said she had raised a substantial claim that the sole reason she was detained was “simply and purely the expression that she made or shared in the op-ed in violation of her First Amendment rights”.
The judge added: “Her continued detention potentially chills the speech of the millions and millions of individuals in this country who are not citizens.”
Ms Ozturk, who appeared in court via video link from the detention facility in Louisiana, could be seen hugging one of her lawyers after the judge ordered her release. The court will hold a further hearing about her case at a later date.
She reported suffering a series of asthma attacks while in detention, which she blamed on the “challenging” conditions of her confinement in an overly-packed space with poor ventilation.
Ms Ozturk suffered a further asthma attack in the middle of Friday’s hearing.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller claimed the judge’s ruling was another example of what he described as a “judicial coup” in the US.
“We cannot individually litigate every single visa that we want to revoke,” Miller told reporters.
Donald Trump has told Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin to “get this stupid war finished”.
The US president was asked in the Oval Office what his message to Putin was after the US embassy in Kyiv warned of a “potentially significant” air attack in the coming days (see 19.56 post).
Trump said: “I have a message for both parties: Get this war ended. Get this stupid war finished. That’s my message for both of them.”
An “emotional energy build-up” between Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping makes it “very hard” for the US and China to reach a diplomatic solution to their trade war, an expert has warned.
Orville Schell, director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society, told Sky News that talks between Washington and Beijing in Geneva on Saturday suggest the two countries have “arrested” what he called “a very dangerous spiral downward”.
He said the tariffs debacle was being led by “two quite thin-skinned leaders, both taking umbrage at what the other was doing”.
Earlier, Trump suggested he could reduce tariffs on China to 80%, before his press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was a number he just “threw out there” (see 18.37 post).
Asked if it would be seen as a concession, Schell said “it’s not a bad sign”.
“It at least shows the United States is willing to compromise in some ways,” he added.
“However, China has made it very explicit again and again, it has a great historical sensitivity that they’re not going to be pulled or pushed into any kind of solution that does not serve their purposes.
“So there’s an awful lot of emotional energy build-up here that makes it very hard for these two leaders to kind of hug it out and find some common diplomatic solution. Both sides have a lot at stake.”
He added: “When both leaders see concessions as a sign of weakness and both are extremely sensitive to any assumption that they are blinking first.”
Donald Trump is signing executive orders in the White House’s Oval Office and has said there could be exceptions to the 10% tariffs he has placed on all countries.
Yesterday the US and UK signed a trade deal, which White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed earlier will leave a 10% tariff on most UK goods (see 18.30 post).
Trump said the US will have a baseline of 10% tariffs, though some will be higher, but there could be exceptions when the countries offer significant trade terms.
He said we should expect new trade deals in the coming weeks.
Trade war with China
The US president then moved on to the country’s trade war with China, saying the US has to “make a great deal for America”.
He said he had given a number to his treasury secretary Scott Bessent on how low he is willing to go on the tariffs on China.
Earlier Trump suggested cutting tariffs to 80% ahead of a meeting between the US and China in Geneva on Saturday, but his press secretary later said that was a number he just “threw out there” (see 18.37 post).
By David Blevins, news correspondent
He was the boy from the small town with big dreams of becoming pope.
Robert Prevost, or “Bob” as they knew him in Dolton, south Chicago, was the youngest son of Louis, a teacher, and Mildred, a librarian.
Devoted in their faith, they were prominent figures in St Mary’s Church.
Scott Kuzminski remembers “Millie”, the chorister, with the “voice of an angel”, and her son with a calling on his life.
“Some children dream to be the top soccer player, or rich or something, and he dreamed he was going to be the Pope,” he said.
The railroad runs through this sleepy suburb, now destined to become a place of pilgrimage.
That’s an answer to prayer for Kathleen Steenson, who believed from childhood that her church would give the world a pope.
She said: “Our faith in this little parish is so strong… and in my little mind, I thought, the next pope has got to come from here because we’re such a great little community.”
You can read the full eyewitness here:
A New Jersey mayor has been arrested while protesting against the opening of an immigrant detention centre, a federal prosecutor has said.
Ras Baraka, the mayor of the city of Newark, committed trespass and ignored warnings from Homeland Security personnel to leave the ICE detention facility, Alina Habba, the acting US attorney for New Jersey, said on X.
Mr Baraka has been protesting against the opening of the facility this week, arguing its operators did not get the proper permits.
In her post on X, Ms Habba said Mr Baraka had “chosen to disregard the law” and had been taken into custody.
“NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW,” she posted.
Donald Trump’s administration is considering several executive orders to expedite the construction of nuclear power plants, the New York Times has reported.
The paper says drafts it has reviewed say the US has fallen behind China in expanding nuclear power.
They would set a goal of quadrupling the size of the nation’s nuclear power plants by 2050.
The draft orders are marked “pre-decisional” and “deliberative,” the paper says, adding it is not clear which, if any, may be issued, according to a source.
By James Matthews, US correspondent
Donald Trump is the dealmaker who needs to start making deals – floating 80% past the Chinese as a tariff reduction reflects it.
He has swung between talking tough and conciliatory on China – firm on tariffs, and yet, nodding to concessions.
That’s where we appear to be now. He’s talking about 80%, a cut from 145%, posting on Truth Social that “it’s up to Scott B,” his treasury secretary. For him, it’s a hospital pass that outsources the apparent incoherence of the Trump strategy so far.
We’re at a critical stage in the tariff story, as it travels beyond the rhetoric and real consequences begin to bite.
Real people will soon come to know the real world effects, beyond the bluster, in a reduced supply of goods and an increase in their cost.
Donald Trump is under pressure to get it right, economically and politically.
The Chinese haven’t blinked through all of this, maintaining their position that they would not be bullied.
It’s Trump who has shifted and been seen to be erratic – he isn’t strengthened by it.
The meeting in Geneva this weekend is, of course, hugely important.
Neither side is playing up expectations, with the talk being of de-escalation, a starting point for constructive discussions.
Both sides are still some way apart, with work to do, even with Donald Trump’s talk of 80%. It would be a hefty reduction from where US tariffs are on Chinese goods right now, but it’s still a long way from what would work for Beijing and for traders in the United States.
Officials in Donald Trump’s administration are reportedly discussing a plan to pull Greenland into the US’s sphere of influence by using the same type of agreement Washington has with several Pacific Island nations.
Trump’s administration would propose Greenland enter into a Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the US, Reuters reports, citing two US officials and another person familiar with the discussions.
The US has COFA agreements with the small island nations of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau, though they differ depending on the signatory.
They typically see the US government provide many essential services such as mail delivery, emergency management and military protection.
In exchange the US military is allowed to operate freely in COFA countries and trade with the US is mostly duty-free.
For context: Trump suggested acquiring Greenland during his first administration and has pushed the idea further after taking office in January, having refused to rule out taking the island by force – something Denmark, which governs the island, has strongly cautioned against.
Reuters reported its sources said other plans were on the table and the COFA agreement would face several practical hurdles.
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