Trump tariffs live updates: Vance says good chance of UK trade deal as China warns of ‘unilateral bullying’

The Trump administration is freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants for Harvard University after the school refused to comply with the White House’s list of demands.

The funding freeze, as well as a freeze on $60 million in contracts, comes as the White House continues to try and push the country’s most prestigious universities to comply with Donald Trump’s agenda.

The White House has targeted seven schools, including Harvard, demanding broad leadership, governance and admissions reforms.

In a letter to Harvard, the administration made a long list of demands including that Harvard scrap all diversity, equity and inclusion programs, that it reform its admissions for international students and provide audits of its international student program, and crack down on student groups.

Harvard defied the Trump administration’s orders, saying in a reply letter: “The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”

The administration has also paused federal funding for Brown, Princeton, Cornell, Northwestern, and the University of Pennsylvania. Colombia was also targeted, and the school acquiesced to the government’s demands.

U.S. vice president JD Vance said Washington was “working very hard” there was a “good chance” a trade deal could be reached with the UK.

“We’re certainly working very hard with Keir Starmer’s government,” Vance told UnHerd website.

U.S. president Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on imports to the U.S., rocking the world economy, sending stock prices tumbling and sparking fears of a global recession.

Since then, Trump has rowed back on tariffs, reducing the rate paid on imports from most countries to 10 per cent and, on Saturday, exempting electronics such as smartphones and laptops from the levy.

“The president really loves the United Kingdom. He loved the Queen. He admires and loves the King. It is a very important relationship. And he’s a businessman and has a number of important business relationships in [Britain]. But I think it’s much deeper than that.

“There’s a real cultural affinity. And, of course, fundamentally, America is an Anglo country. I think there’s a good chance that, yes, we’ll come to a great agreement that’s in the best interest of both countries.” he added.

Vance added that the “reciprocal relationship” between the US and UK gave Britain a more advantageous position than other European countries to negotiate new trade agreements.

“While we love the Germans, they are heavily dependent on exporting to the United States but are pretty tough on a lot of American businesses that would like to export into Germany.”

President Donald Trump claimed Chinese president Xi Jinping was visiting Southeast Asian countries to find ways to “screw” the U.S.

China and Vietnam signed dozens of cooperation agreements yesterday, strengthening ties between the communist-run countries during Xi’s visit to Hanoi.

Xi is in Vietnam for the first leg of a Southeast Asia tour, as Beijing tries to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic Trump following his imposition of sweeping tariffs. Xi warned that protectionism “leads nowhere” and that a trade war would have “no winners”.

Reacting to his visit, Trump said: “I don’t blame China; I don’t blame Vietnam.””That’s a lovely meeting. Meeting like, trying to figure out, ‘how do we screw the United States of America?’”

Vietnam was hit by one of the highest tariffs of 46 per cent earlier this month.

Nvidia announced Monday that it will produce its artificial intelligence supercomputers in the United States for the first time.

The tech giant said it has commissioned more than one million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test its specialized Blackwell chips in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas — part of an investment the company said will produce up to half a trillion dollars of AI infrastructure in the next four years.

Air Force Gen. Dan Caine has been sworn in as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after a flurry of paperwork was finished to allow him to fill the job nearly two months after President Donald Trump fired his predecessor.

A formal White House ceremony is expected to take place this week.

Caine, a decorated F-16 fighter pilot and well-respected officer, took over on Saturday after Trump signed the necessary documents. He will serve the remainder of the four-year term of Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., who was fired by Trump as part of a broader purge of military officers believed to endorse diversity and equity programs.

Andrew Feinberg and Alex Woodward write:

Bukele, who met with Trump in the Oval Office on Monday, was asked by a reporter if he’d consider releasing Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland before he was arrested and deported back to his home country last month despite an immigration judge’s years-old order preventing the government from deporting him.

Katie Hawkinson and James Liddell write:

Cody Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, was detained in connection with the alleged “targeted” attack just hours after Shapiro and his family dined to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover at his home in the state capital Saturday, officials say. Balmer is accused of throwing beer bottles full of gasoline into the home.

Now, new details, including a possible motive for the attack, have been revealed in unsealed court documents. Balmer held a deep hatred for Shapiro and told officers if the governor had been home when the attack occurred, he would “beat him with a hammer,” reports WHTM.