Shownotes Transcript
Today, the US cuts de minimis duties on China's shipments. We look at the latest in the trade war. Trump orders pharma companies to lower drug prices. And a first group of white South Africans granted refugee status land in the US. It's Tuesday, May 13th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oakes in Liverpool.
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The US will cut low-value, small-package tax on Chinese shipments. That's according to the White House. It's another move to de-escalate the trade war between the world's two economic powerhouses, after weekend talks in Geneva saw both sides agreeing to unwind most of their tit-for-tat tariffs. Kevin Krolicki is in Beijing. Kevin, what's been the reaction in China so far?
Well, the official reaction has been quite measured from state media. You know, you see commentary talking about the possibility now of what they're calling a win-win outcome for the U.S. and China. It's a real contrast to the rhetoric going into these talks, which was
very defiant, almost bellicose from China. But clearly something changed pretty dramatically between the end of last week and the sit down in Geneva. What would this mean for Chinese companies and their products destined for the US? I think the expectation now is that a lot of exporters will be looking at this 90-day
period the next quarter and where they can locking in shipments and trying to get goods to the U.S. ahead of a number of key seasons. It's probably too late for the back to school shopping period but there's Halloween and there's still Christmas ahead. And it's a reduction but
The tariffs are still high, right? Yeah, they are. It's still an existential threat for a number of exporters. And so for shipments that are going out, they're going to have to figure out how to share the pain with the purchasers in the U.S. in order to make it work. Tears breaking out in Tenafly, New Jersey, as supporters heard the news that an Israeli-American hostage had crossed into Israel after his release by Hamas.
21-year-old Eden Alexander, a New Jersey native, was the last living American held by Hamas. The militant group says it freed Alexander as a goodwill gesture to U.S. President Donald Trump, who is visiting the region.
And Trump has landed in Saudi Arabia to kick off his four-day swing through the Gulf. He's got his eye on big money deals and he's got American business leaders in tow, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk. After Saudi, the president will head to Qatar and the UAE. Could Trump then head to Turkey? The US president has offered to join in on the proposed Ukraine-Russia peace talks,
His offer has triggered a flurry of diplomacy, as world powers aim for a path out of the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II. The Kremlin has yet to say who will represent Russia at the talks later in the week. The trip comes as Trump is dismissing ethical concerns about his plan to accept an airplane as a gift from the Qatari royal family. And I think this was just a gesture of good faith. And I don't get it. Someday...
President Trump has given prescription drug makers 30 days to lower pharmaceutical prices. The US pays the highest prices for prescription drugs, often nearly three times more than other developed nations. But what can the Trump administration actually do to push down prices?
Our U.S. healthcare and pharmaceuticals editor, Caroline Huma, has more. The Trump administration could use some regulatory levers to drive down drug prices. And one of the things leading up to this was, you know, an expectation that they would really focus this around Medicare and lay out a pilot program, show people what kind of price...
cuts they wanted. I mean, that's not what he did here. He chose to turn to jawboning. Instead, he's called on the Federal Trade Commission. He's called on the Commerce Department. He's asking them to use all the power they have to look at exports, to look at anti-competitive pricing. These are some of the threats that he's holding over them. It's unclear what that policy would actually look like.
The idea of lowering drug prices in the U.S. seems like a fairly popular issue to take up on both sides of the aisle. But there are skeptics, right? Well, it is a popular issue. Where we are seeing some pushback is from the drug makers. I mean, they're saying that if the industry were to do something like this, innovation would suffer. Americans would suffer because they wouldn't have access to new medicines.
And they are saying that the issue here is with foreign governments, that they are the ones who need to focus on what they pay for drugs. Europe has always paid less for drugs because in Europe, the governments are negotiating multi-year contracts on behalf of their entire country. In the U.S., we have a commercial system. It just doesn't work that way. But getting Europe to actually pay more, this seems very difficult. ♪
and now some celebrity legal developments from around the world. Sean Diddy Combs' sex trafficking trial is underway. On day one, a male stripper testified that the hip-hop mogul threw a liquor bottle at his then-girlfriend, grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her to another room where he heard him shouting and slapping her.
The prosecutor says women were lured into relationships and then attacked. The defense calls the activities consensual and part of a swinger's lifestyle. Combs faces a minimum of 15 years if convicted. Kim Kardashian will testify to a Paris court today. Her appearance comes nearly a decade after masked men robbed her at gunpoint of millions of dollars of jewelry.
And also in Paris, a guilty verdict for Gérard Depardieu. A court has handed the French film star an 18-month suspended prison sentence after he was convicted of sexual assault against two women. He repeatedly denied wrongdoing throughout the trial. We are excited to welcome you here to our country. A warm welcome from Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau for 59 white South Africans arriving in the U.S.,
The Trump administration has granted them refugee status. Asked why they were being prioritized above the victims of famine and war elsewhere in Africa, Trump said, without providing evidence, that Afrikaners were being killed. But it's a genocide that's taking place that you people don't want to write about. South Africa maintains there is no evidence of persecution. Rivals come as the White House has blocked mostly non-white refugees from the rest of the world.
Ted Hessen covers immigration. What we saw today in Washington was very striking. As far as race goes, it's a big shift from refugee populations who've come into the U.S. in recent years. It's largely been non-white refugees entering. And those are the groups that are currently frozen right now. Refugees who are coming in from the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance. So how does this compare to people seeking refugee status from other parts of Africa?
There may have been upwards of 12,000 people who were more or less ready to travel when Trump took office and were not able to come in because of this pause. And what are critics saying about this policy shift? Democrats have been saying that this is an unfair move to allow them to jump the line and come in as refugees while other groups are blocked. And the government of South Africa has said it's also not appropriate that they're being deemed as refugees and that they're not suffering the sort of persecution that would deserve that.
It does fit into a framework that President Trump has put forward, even domestically here in the U.S., of whites in the U.S. who have not had what he might say is equal treatment. You see that through his stance on diversity initiatives, for instance, and saying that, you know, diversity initiatives are illegal or unlawful and have promoted discrimination. And in a way, I think we've seen that now reflected in the refugee program and what's happening now.
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And for today's recommended read, measles in Texas, its approach to endemic status in the US and how a small drop in vaccination rates can trigger an outbreak. There's a link to the story and the graphic in today's pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. And we'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.