The US Chamber of Commerce has urged Donald Trump to implement a „tariff exclusion process“ to stop the economy falling into a recession. The president is speaking at a White House event to mark national prayer day – watch live below.
Thursday 1 May 2025 15:49, UK
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Donald Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz is to leave his role, Reuters is reporting citing a source.
We told you about how Karoline Leavitt started the press briefing by hailing Donald Trump as „dealmaker in chief“ after the natural resources deal was signed by the US and Ukraine (see 2.11pm post).
There’s now some more detail on that deal which we can bring you after Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister gave a breakdown of the terms.
In short, the American-Ukrainian reconstruction investment fund gives Washington preferential access to any new deals concerning Ukraine’s mineral resources.
„The agreement includes no provisions regarding any Ukrainian debt obligations to the US,“ Yulia Svyrydenko said.
„Its implementation allows both countries to expand their economic potential through equal cooperation and investment.“
Ukrainian MPs have been sharing the text, and much of it appears to line up with what Svyrydenko said.
Scroll through the text below…
You can also follow live updates on the deal and the war in Ukraine over on our live page.
As the press briefing wraps up, Chinese state media has reported that the US is „actively“ reaching out to China through various channels in the hope of starting tariff negotiations.
China previously contradicted Donald Trump’s claims that talks are already under way, and has said the US must first „completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures“ which now total 145%.
Our US partner network NBC News reports that China referred to Trump as the „chief ripper-offer“ yesterday, and has taken a hard line against US tariffs after responding with its own 125% levy on US imports.
Addressing his cabinet yesterday, Trump said China „is doing very poorly right now“ adding „I was actually saddened to hear it“.
Trump claimed factories are closing „all over China because we’re not taking their product“.
Watch: Trump claims ‚China is doing very poorly‘
We told you earlier about the US Chamber of Commerce urging the Trump administration to implement tariffs exclusions to stop the country falling into a recession (see 1.58pm post).
That has now been put to the White House’s deputy chief of staff, who refused to commit to tariff relief for small businesses.
„The relief for small businesses is going to come in the form of the largest tax cut in American history, a tax cut, by the way, that every single Democrat is planning to vote against,“ Stephen Miller said.
„This will be the most pro small business tax bill in American history and, at the same time, we have to understand about the plan as we’re able to restore those supply chains, that also means they’ll pay no tariff.
„So you’ll have the lowest tax environment, and there’ll be no tariff because their production and supply chains will be in the United States.“
We’re hearing from the White House’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who sticks to the brief of „restoring common sense“, attacking the „woke, communist left“ and diversity policies and pushing Trump’s conservative social agenda.
He goes into detail on what Trump has done to „secure values, culture and our way of life from the unwavering assault from the radical left“, including ending hires based on race or gender.
That includes air traffic controllers, whom he claims were „being hired and promoted based on race and gender, not their ability to conduct our nation’s air traffic“.
That’s something Trump also claimed after a crash between a US Army helicopter and a commercial airliner in Washington in January, which killed 67 people.
He also hits out at Harvard, which we know is in a fight with the Trump administration.
The university sued the administration after it rejected a list of demands from the White House and had $2.2bn of government funding frozen.
Karoline Leavitt has now taken to the podium in the White House briefing room.
She begins by discussing the natural resources deal signed by the US and Ukraine.
„We saw yet again why President Trump is our dealmaker in chief, we secured a historic agreement to establish the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund,“ she says.
„This is the first of its kind economic partnership for the reconstruction and long-term economic success of Ukraine that both will greatly benefit from.“
She says the US securing a „free, peaceful and sovereign future for Ukraine“ through the deal.
While we wait for the briefing to get under way at the White House, the US Chamber of Commerce has urged the Trump administration to implement tariffs exclusions to stop the country falling into a recession.
The group has asked trade officials Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick and Jamieson Greer to automatically lift tariffs on all small business importers and on all products that „cannot be produced in the US“, our US partner network NBC News reports.
The business organisation says that is needed to keep the US economy from inflicting „irreparable harm“ on small businesses and to „stave off a recession“.
The intervention from the US Chamber of Commerce, which says it represents three million small business owners, comes a day after it was announced that the US economy shrank 0.3% from January to March, its worst performance for three years.
… we’ll have to wait a little longer as we’ve just heard the briefing will now be starting at 2pm UK time.
We’ll be hearing from Donald Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt in the next few moments.
She is hosting a press briefing at the White House with deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on „restoring common sense“, the day after it was announced the US economy shrank 0.3% from January to March.
You can watch live in the stream at the top of this page, and we’ll be providing text updates too.
The US economy has shrunk for the first time in three years but Donald Trump is blaming his predecessor, Joe Biden, for the country’s poor economic performance at the start of the year.
US correspondents Martha Kelner and Mark Stone discuss the impact a struggling economy could have on Trump’s popularity.
Plus, as Trump holds another fawning meeting of his Cabinet, are comparisons to a king at court becoming more accurate?
If you’ve got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.
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Trump latest: Millions of US businesses issue recession warning to president – Sky News
