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Stock futures rose this evening after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said “substantial progress” was made during trade negotiations with Chinese officials in Switzerland, potentially thawing tensions kickstarted by President Donald Trump’s escalating tariff policy.
Chinese officials echoed the US sentiment, with the country’s vice premier saying the sides had reached an “important consensus.”
Dow futures jumped 1.10%, or 456 points. The S&P 500 futures rose 1.25%, or 70.75 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite futures went up 1.44%, or 289.25 points, as of 6:15 p.m. ET.
Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer joined other US officials in Geneva to meet with Chinese officials after Trump imposed sweeping 145% tariffs on most Chinese goods last month. China retaliated with 125% on US goods.
Markets have whipsawed in recent weeks due to uncertainty about Trump’s changing tariff policies.
The US and China made “substantial progress” and reached an “important consensus” in their trade talks, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng said today following high-level meetings over the weekend.
He described the discussions as “candid, in-depth and constructive,” saying both sides agreed to establish a “trade consultation mechanism” for future discussions.
“China and the United States will finalize the relevant details as soon as possible and will issue a joint statement reached at the talks on May 12,” a readout from the Chinese delegation said.
Top US officials also signaled positive developments after this weekend’s talks in Geneva.
A deal between the US and China, averting more damage from the trade war spurred by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, would be welcome news for the global economy.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett reiterated comments from recent days that the United States has “about 24 trade deals” in the works.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are working together on the deals, Hassett said today on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.”
The discussions are an effort to solidify deals during President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on his so-called reciprocal tariffs.
“(The trade deals) all look a little bit like the UK deal, but each one is bespoke,” Hassett said, referring to a broad agreement struck with British negotiators last week. “Each one’s a little bit different because different countries have different things that they’ve been doing wrong to us, different things they care a lot about.”
Hassett did not specify which countries the United States may have deals with.
On Friday, he told CNBC that about 24 deals “are this close to being resolved” and the deals are “going to be very settling for markets.”
Hassett spoke with Bartiromo shortly before Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emerged from negotiations with Chinese officials in Geneva to report “substantial progress” on a potential deal with Beijing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is prepared to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks in Turkey this week, in what would be their first meeting since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.
Zelensky said a “full and lasting ceasefire” starting Monday would provide “the necessary basis for diplomacy,” but did not specify that this would be a precondition for attending the talks.
“We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy. There is no point in prolonging the killings,” Zelensky wrote today on X. “And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses.”
How we got here: Zelensky’s message came less than an hour after US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that Ukraine should “immediately” agree to meet with Russian officials on Thursday.
Trump’s comments undermined efforts by Kyiv’s European allies to pressure Putin with an ultimatum: agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine by Monday or face “massive” new sanctions.
European leaders have been steadfast this weekend in demanding that Putin agree to the ceasefire before any direct talks take place. The Russian leader has ignored the ultimatum, instead proposing the direct talks in Turkey.
If the talks took place, it would mark the first meeting between Putin and Zelensky since 2019.
President Donald Trump is urging Ukraine to accept an invitation from Russia to meet for direct peace talks in Turkey on Thursday, without the condition of first agreeing to a 30-day ceasefire.
“President Putin of Russia doesn’t want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY. At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the U.S., will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!”
Trump added that he’s “starting to doubt” Ukraine will make a deal with Putin.
Key context: While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he stands “ready to meet” with Putin, he and Kyiv’s allies want Moscow to first agree to a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the US.
The leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Poland and Ukraine met in Kyiv on Saturday to send that ultimatum to Putin. Trump, meanwhile, has increasingly engaged in the Ukraine peace efforts on a separate track from his traditional European allies.
In a late-night address Saturday, Putin did not acknowledge the ceasefire offer. Instead, he proposed holding the direct talks with Kyiv in Turkey — something not seen since the early weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
European leaders were quick to publicly reject Putin’s counter-offer, and Keith Kellogg — Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine — had indicated he was aligned with the Europeans before Trump spoke out today on social media.
The Trump administration is set to accept a luxury plane from the Qatari royal family, which will be retrofitted and used as Air Force One during his second term, two people familiar with the agreement told CNN.
The announcement is expected to happen within a matter of days. Trump embarks this week on the first major foreign trip of his second term, which will includes a stop in Doha.
Given the massive value of a Boeing 747-8, the move is unprecedented and raises substantive ethical and legal questions.
A Qatari official said the plane is technically being gifted from the Qatari Ministry of Defense to the Pentagon, describing it more as a government-to-government transaction instead of a personal one. The Defense Department will then retrofit the plane to the president’s use with security features and modifications.
Trump and aides toured the plane earlier this year in Palm Beach, and it is expected to be in use within two years, one person told CNN. Since his tour, Trump has boasted to people around him about how luxurious the plane was.
This comes after the president was deeply frustrated by delays in new aircraft to be used as Air Force One. He at one point tasked Elon Musk with helping accelerate the process.
Top US officials involved in high-level trade negotiations with China emerged from two days of talks touting “substantial progress” and appearing to confirm that a deal between the two countries had been reached, which could have massive implications for the global economy.
“I’m happy to report that we’ve made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a brief statement today in Geneva, where the talks were held, calling the talks “productive.”
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer indicated an agreement had been reached after President Donald Trump imposed sweeping 145% tariffs on most Chinese goods last month.
“The president declared a national emergency and imposed tariffs, and we’re confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to resolve work toward resolving that national emergency,” Greer said.
“It’s important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought,” he added.
CNN has asked the Treasury Department for clarification on the deal, though Bessent said details will be shared tomorrow morning. Ahead of the talks, Trump administration officials had downplayed expectations that a deal would be reached this weekend.
“These are very tough negotiators,” Greer said of his Chinese counterparts, saying the group “worked very diligently” and the last two days were “very constructive.”
Bessent said he and Jamieson have briefed Trump, who he described as “fully informed.”
They did not take questions from reporters.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has denied cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency have impacted air safety.
Air traffic controllers were not included in the DOGE cuts earlier this year, but some staff who maintain infrastructure for the Federal Aviation Administration were.
Duffy said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today that while there was a “broader conversation about which positions are going to be preserved,” he was never asked to cut air traffic controllers, who have long been in short supply.
He also emphasized that the FAA cuts were made to probationary workers. “It was the new employees that we were gonna let go. Many of them have come back,” Duffy said.
Air safety in the US: The transportation secretary was asked to address safety concerns at Newark Airport, where air traffic controllers face critical staffing shortages and repeat equipment outages — including the loss of radar for about 90 seconds on Friday, and more equipment issues that ground flights to a halt this morning.
Pressed on whether it’s safe to fly in the US, Duffy told NBC the country still has the “safest air space for sure,” emphasizing that flying remains safer than other methods of transportation.
The transportation secretary did, however, acknowledge that he’s concerned about the state of the nation’s air travel infrastructure. He touted his three-year reconstruction plan to vastly upgrade the country’s networks and equipment, and added that he plans to offer 20% up front bonuses to air traffic controllers to help refill the ranks.
CNN’s Pete Muntean contributed to this report.
Today’s high-stakes nuclear talks between US and Iranian officials in Oman have concluded, a senior Trump administration official said, casting the latest discussions as encouraging.
Led by President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, the fourth round of talks lasted more than three hours and took place both directly and through Omani moderators, the official said.
In a positive sign ahead of Trump’s first major trip of his second term to the Middle East, the two sides plan to “move forward” on more technical topics soon, according to the official, though a date has not yet been set.
“We are encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future,” the official said.
For its part, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei described the talks as “difficult but useful to better understand each other’s positions and to find reasonable & realistic ways to address the differences.”
The big picture: It remains unclear what kind of deal the two sides could reach, whether and how much uranium the US will allow Iran to enrich, and how a potential deal could be different from the deal reached by the Obama administration.
Trump told reporters Wednesday that a decision on whether Iran can have a nuclear enrichment program has not yet been made.
This post has been updated with comments from Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to the Middle East this week, joining President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to the State Department.
Rubio will then travel to Turkey to attend the NATO Informal Foreign Ministers Meeting on Wednesday through Friday.
About the trip: Trump’s travel to the Middle East this week marks the first major foreign trip of his second term.
The president’s top priority is to reach “economic agreements” with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates that would enhance their investments in the US, according to Trump administration sources.
Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, his former chief Middle East negotiator, have also been privately plotting the more ambitious goal of expanding the Abraham Accords, the treaties negotiated during Trump’s first term between several Arab Nations and Israel, the sources said.
CNN’s Alayna Treene and Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump said there was “great progress made” in the trade talks that began yesterday between the United States and China, signaling a possible thaw in the trade war sparked by his massive tariffs.
“A very good meeting today with China, in Switzerland. Many things discussed, much agreed to. A total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner. We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business. GREAT PROGRESS MADE!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
It was the first public comment from Trump after the day of talks in Geneva, which will continue today, according to a source briefed on the meetings.
Setting expectations: Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is leading the US delegation, urged the public earlier this week not to expect a major trade deal out of the meetings, instead characterizing them as an opportunity to establish a constructive tone and agree on some basic principles.
Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua called the Switzerland talks “an important step toward resolving the issue.”
“However, an ultimate solution requires sufficient strategic patience and determination, as well as the just support of the international community,” Xinhua said.
How we got here: The US has placed a minimum 145% tariff on most Chinese imports, and China has responded with a 125% tariff on most US imports. As a result, trade between the two sides is falling sharply, according to logistics experts.
Even reducing that tariff rate by half might not be enough to change trade levels significantly. Economists have said 50% is the make-or-break threshold for the return of somewhat normal business between the two countries. And the combination of fewer goods arriving in the US and increased costs on imports that do arrive has already started pushing up prices for Americans.
Hours after Bessent set off for Switzerland on Friday, Trump floated the possibility of slashing tariffs on Chinese goods to 80% while demanding China “open up its market to USA.”
A fourth round of talks between the US and Iran on Tehran’s nuclear program has begun in Oman today, according to Iranian state media, with the two sides aiming to overcome divisions that could dash the tentative negotiations.
The talks, held indirectly and mediated by the Omani foreign minister, are aimed at addressing Tehran’s nuclear program and lifting sanctions.
That they are happening at all is something of a breakthrough — the talks are the highest-level in years — but signs of firm progress are slim.
Each side is drawing a line: Both countries have expressed a willingness to resolve their disputes through diplomacy, but a central issue remains Iran’s demand to continue enriching uranium for its nuclear program, which it insists is peaceful.
The US has called uranium enrichment a “red line.”
President Donald Trump, who is headed to the Middle East next week, has threatened that the US would resort to military strikes against Iranian nuclear sites, with Israel’s help, should Tehran fail to reach a deal with its interlocutors.
Iranian officials told CNN yesterday that recent talks with the US were “not genuine” from the American side. The Iranian source also reiterated that allowing uranium enrichment on Iranian soil is Iran’s “definite red line” in the negotiations.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been heading the American side, warned that if this session of talks were not productive, “then they won’t continue and we’ll have to take a different route.”
