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3 hours ago
Trump's South Korea visit met with protests amid trade talks
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I am Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with the news that progressive civic groups and opposition politicians held anti-US protests in Gyeongju on Wednesday as president Donald Trump arrived for events related to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
The protesters accused Trump of imposing unfair tariffs and pressuring South Korea to increase defense spending. Some staged a performance depicting the US president bound with rope, while others waved red cards and chanted slogans such as ‘No kings, Trump not welcome’ and ‘No to APEC’.
Kwon Young-kook, leader of the Justice Party, criticized APEC for “catering to powerful nations instead of promoting genuine economic growth.”
It came as Trump and South Korean president Lee Jae Myung finalised details of their fraught trade deal at a summit in South Korea on Wednesday, and the US president also sounded an optimistic note about a looming summit with China’s Xi Jinping.
“We made our deal, pretty much finalized it,” Trump said at a dinner with Lee and other regional leaders on the sidelines of an Asia Pacific forum.
Trump also said his meeting with Xi on Thursday was likely to be three to four hours long and he expected the talks to go well. The meeting is expected to focus on trying to strike a trade war truce.
In other developments:
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The Republican-led US Senate has passed a measure that would terminate Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Brazilian imports, including coffee, beef and other products, in a rare bipartisan show of opposition to the president’s trade war. The vote passed 52-48. The resolution was led by Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat of Virginia, and seeks to overturn the national emergency that Trump has declared to justify the levies.
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A federal judge has ordered Gregory Bovino, a senior border patrol official leading the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago, to appear in federal court each weekday to report on the day’s incidents in an exceptional bid to impose oversight over the government’s militarized raids in the city. The order came after a terse hearing on Tuesday morning.
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A federal judge disqualified acting US attorney Bill Essayli in Southern California from several cases after concluding Tuesday that the Trump appointee has stayed in the temporary job longer than allowed by law. US district judge J Michael Seabright disqualified Essayli from supervising the criminal prosecutions in three cases, siding with defense lawyers who argued that his authority expired in July.
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The US government shutdown stretched into its 28th day with no resolution in sight on Tuesday, as the Senate remained deadlocked over spending legislation even as a crucial food aid program teeters on the brink of exhausting its funding.
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The Trump administration is planning to revamp the leadership of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to reports, as the government seeks to intensify its mass deportation efforts. Multiple news outlets have reported that the government intends to reassign multiple directors of ICE field offices in the coming days, potentially replacing them with border patrol officials.
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Trump presented with golden crown in South Korea
South Korea welcomed US president Donald Trump on Wednesday with a replica gold crown and awarded him with the ‘Grand Order of Mugunghwa’, the country’s highest decoration, the presidential office said.
US and South Korean warplanes escorted Air Force One on approach, and on the tarmac a South Korean military band greeted Trump with a rendition of ‘YMCA’ and guns fired a salute.
Lee is hoping to win concessions from Trump in drawn-out negotiations aimed at lowering US tariffs on South Korea, and has wooed the US president by praising his outreach to North Korea.
Lee’s office said that in recognition of Trump’s role as a “peacemaker” on the Korean peninsula, he was awarded the ‘Grand Order of Mugunghwa’, which is named after South Korea’s national flower, a pink hibiscus also known as the Rose of Sharon in English.
“I’d like to wear it right now,” Trump said when presented with the glittering award. A South Korean official said he was the first US president to receive the honour.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he believed the North Korea situation will improve.
Trump made the comment at a dinner hosted by the South Korean president Lee Jae Myung.
The US president was visiting South Korea to join other heads of state and business leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
Trump's South Korea visit met with protests amid trade talks
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I am Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with the news that progressive civic groups and opposition politicians held anti-US protests in Gyeongju on Wednesday as president Donald Trump arrived for events related to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
The protesters accused Trump of imposing unfair tariffs and pressuring South Korea to increase defense spending. Some staged a performance depicting the US president bound with rope, while others waved red cards and chanted slogans such as ‘No kings, Trump not welcome’ and ‘No to APEC’.
Kwon Young-kook, leader of the Justice Party, criticized APEC for “catering to powerful nations instead of promoting genuine economic growth.”
It came as Trump and South Korean president Lee Jae Myung finalised details of their fraught trade deal at a summit in South Korea on Wednesday, and the US president also sounded an optimistic note about a looming summit with China’s Xi Jinping.
“We made our deal, pretty much finalized it,” Trump said at a dinner with Lee and other regional leaders on the sidelines of an Asia Pacific forum.
Trump also said his meeting with Xi on Thursday was likely to be three to four hours long and he expected the talks to go well. The meeting is expected to focus on trying to strike a trade war truce.
In other developments:
-
The Republican-led US Senate has passed a measure that would terminate Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Brazilian imports, including coffee, beef and other products, in a rare bipartisan show of opposition to the president’s trade war. The vote passed 52-48. The resolution was led by Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat of Virginia, and seeks to overturn the national emergency that Trump has declared to justify the levies.
-
A federal judge has ordered Gregory Bovino, a senior border patrol official leading the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago, to appear in federal court each weekday to report on the day’s incidents in an exceptional bid to impose oversight over the government’s militarized raids in the city. The order came after a terse hearing on Tuesday morning.
-
A federal judge disqualified acting US attorney Bill Essayli in Southern California from several cases after concluding Tuesday that the Trump appointee has stayed in the temporary job longer than allowed by law. US district judge J Michael Seabright disqualified Essayli from supervising the criminal prosecutions in three cases, siding with defense lawyers who argued that his authority expired in July.
-
The US government shutdown stretched into its 28th day with no resolution in sight on Tuesday, as the Senate remained deadlocked over spending legislation even as a crucial food aid program teeters on the brink of exhausting its funding.
-
The Trump administration is planning to revamp the leadership of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to reports, as the government seeks to intensify its mass deportation efforts. Multiple news outlets have reported that the government intends to reassign multiple directors of ICE field offices in the coming days, potentially replacing them with border patrol officials.
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