President Donald Trump said Monday that direct talks are underway between the United States and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Trump said a “very big meeting” would take place Saturday.

“I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious,” Trump said.

Iran had previously rejected Trump’s offer of direct negotiations over its nuclear program, offering instead to engage in indirect talks. Trump’s offer, which he sent Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in March, proposed negotiations on a new nuclear deal, with a two-month ultimatum to reach an agreement, a source familiar with the letter’s contents previously told CNN.

Trump on Monday voiced optimism that talks would be successful in convincing Iran to abandon its nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes.

“Hopefully those talks will be successful. And I think it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are successful. … We hope that’s going to happen,” he said.

President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that he is “not looking” at implementing a pause in enforcing the tariffs that he announced last week.

“Well, we’re not looking at that. We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us. And they’re going to be fair deals. And certain cases, they’re going to be paying substantial tariffs. They’ll be fair deals. As you know, I spoke this morning with the prime minister of Japan, and we had a very good conversation,” the president said.

Asked about the mixed messaging from his administration on tariff negotiation, the president claimed that “they can both be true.”

“It could be they can both be true. There can be permanent tariffs, and there can also be negotiations because there are things that we need beyond tariffs,” the president said.

The president’s remarks came as he sat alongside Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office. US stocks have been extremely volatile today as traders searched for any sign Trump’s tariffs could be negotiated or halted. US stocks tumbled for the third straight day Monday, and the S&P 500 entered bear market territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country will eliminate the trade deficit and trade barriers with the US “very quickly.”

Speaking alongside US President Donald Trump at the White House Monday, Netanyahu said Israel would get rid of trade barriers “put up unnecessarily.”

“We’re going to eliminate the tariffs and rapidly,” Netanyahu said.

Trump unveiled reciprocal tariffs on most countries of the world last week, hitting Israel with a level of 17%.

The prime minister said he hopes Israel can be a model for other countries to do the same.

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are meeting in the Oval Office, where the leaders are expected to discuss a wide-range of issues, including Israel’s war in Gaza and Trump’s tariffs.

The White House canceled a news conference that was set to happen this afternoon.

Earlier today, Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, said the meeting between the leaders would be the first in-person meeting with a foreign country trying to negotiate with the president on the tariffs he announced last week.

The US imposed a 17% tariff on Israel, according to Trump’s announcement last week.

CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo contributed reporting to this post.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has canceled all remaining contracts for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, a USAID official told CNN.

The terminations were among of dozens sent by USAID this weekend as the Trump administration moves to abolish the agency by July. USAID also canceled its remaining humanitarian aid work contracts for Yemen, the official said.

The canceled contracts were used for food assistance, safe drinking water, hygiene items, medical services — including treatment of women and children — and shelter support, according to the USAID official.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio had signed off extensions for some of the foreign aid awards last week, only for them to be cancelled this weekend, the official said. CNN reported this weekend that the administration canceled other contracts for work that had previously been cleared to continue, including in Syria, Gaza, and Lebanon.

Terminations for the canceled programs said they were deemed to be “inconsistent with the administration’s priorities.”

CNN has reached out to the State Department about the cancelations of the Afghanistan funding. A State Department spokesperson told CNN this weekend that “just because contracts are terminated, doesn’t mean that they can’t be reinstated as needed.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will lead United States negotiation with Japan on trade, Bessent announced on social media on Monday.

“Following a very constructive phone discussion with the Government of Japan, @POTUS @realDonaldTrump has tasked me and @USTradeRep to open negotiations to implement the President’s vision for the new Golden Age of Global Trade with @JPN_PMO Shigeru Ishiba and his Cabinet,” Bessent posted on X.

Trump last week announced 24% tariffs on Japan, which are set to take effect Wednesday.

Ishiba urged Trump in a call earlier Monday to reconsider the tariffs, according to a press statement from the Japanese prime minister’s office. Noting that Japan is the largest foreign investor in the US, Ishiba “expressed strong concerns” that the tariffs could weaken the capacity of Japanese companies to continue investing, according to the readout.

House Speaker Mike Johnson argued today that Congress must give President Donald Trump the “space” to execute on his trade policy, as markets react to the sweeping global tariffs announced last week.

Asked by CNN why Congress shouldn’t have a check on Trump’s tariff power, as a bipartisan group of lawmakers is demanding, Johnson said, “Congress will weigh in on it but with the president, with the administration in tandem.”

“I think you’ve got to give the president the latitude, the runway to do what it is he was elected to do and that is get this economy going again and get our trade properly balanced with other countries,” he said.

Sens. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, and Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, introduced a bill in the Senate last week requiring congressional approval for new tariffs, which has co-sponsors from both parties. GOP Rep. Don Bacon said he’ll introduce a companion bill Monday in the House, where he has acknowledged it will face a steeper challenge.

Johnson said he thinks the public sees that Trump is “engaging and trying to fix” the US trade deficit, and Congress is “going to give him the space necessary to do it.”

Global markets have been rocked following President Donald Trump’s announcement last week of sweeping tariffs on trading partners and China’s forceful response to unexpectedly high duties.

Some countries are looking to negotiate with the US to reduce the imposed tariffs.

Here’s how some countries are responding as Trump digs in on his tariff plan:

• Japan: Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba urged Trump in a call on Monday to reconsider the tariffs he imposed on the country, according to a press statement from his office. Noting that Japan is the largest foreign investor in the US, Ishiba “expressed strong concerns” that the tariffs could weaken the capacity of Japanese companies to continue investing. He said that instead of imposing tariffs, both countries should pursue efforts that provide mutual benefits.
• Mexico: President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country wants to avoid imposing reciprocal tariffs against the United States — particularly on steel and aluminum – but won’t rule out such a measure. “We don’t rule it out, but we prefer to continue the dialogue before taking any other measures,” Sheinbaum said Monday at her daily press conference. The president said Mexico’s Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard is set to travel to Washington to continue discussions on trade with US officials.
• Russia: The Kremlin said it is “closely monitoring” global oil prices, which are falling Monday along with stocks around the world. Oil and natural gas exports are the most important source of revenue for the Russian government, accounting for a third of its total budget. “This is due to the US decision to introduce tariffs for most countries in the world,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing. He added that oil prices are “an indicator that is very important for us and for the replenishment of our budget.”
• Canada: Prime Minister Mark Carney said the US is “driving itself into a recession” as he sought to reassure Canadians that his country can give itself “far more than the US can take away.” Carney said Canada cannot control the decisions made by the Trump administration, but it can influence those decisions: “What we can control is where we invest here, how we support our people, that’s what we’re doing.”

This post has been updated with reactions from more foreign leaders.

The decades-long softwood lumber dispute between the US and Canada is escalating even before planned tariffs take effect. The US plans to more than double existing anti-dumping and countervailing duties on the critical building material.

The US Department of Commerce, as part of an annual review process, plans to hike the duties from 14.4% to 34.45%, according to published and unpublished filings in the Federal Register.

The duties, which are separate from tariffs that have been proposed on softwood lumber, stem from a decades-long strife between the North American neighbors. Put simply, the US claims that the Canadian lumber industry is government-subsidized.

British Columbia Premier David Eby said the duties are “unjustified” in a statement released Saturday, adding that the duties will end up “driving up housing costs for Americans who voted for a president who promised to lower costs.”

What this could mean: About 30% of the softwood lumber consumed in the US is imported, with Canada accounting for north of 80% of those imports. Builders estimate that tariffs on lumber and other critical homebuilding materials could raise the average cost of a home by $9,200, according to the March National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.

However, members of the US lumber industry say higher duties as well as new tariffs would help level the playing the field. They also say the existing US industry has a significant amount of existing capacity that’s not currently being utilized.

“These unfair trade practices are designed by Canada to maintain an artificially inflated US market share for Canadian products and force US companies to curtail production, thereby killing US jobs,” Andrew Miller, chair of the US Lumber Coalition, said in a statement.

The White House has canceled a news conference scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET Monday afternoon between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Officials cited the Oval Office meeting with Netanyahu, where Trump could take questions, and today’s previous East Room event honoring the Los Angeles Dodgers as rationale for canceling the event.

This post has been updated with more information from officials.

A federal appeals court reinstated the access that affiliates of the Department of Government Efficiency can have to some agencies’ sensitive data.

The ruling pauses a federal judge’s order that had limited DOGE access to the personal information of some Americans held by the Department of Education, Office of Personnel Management and Treasury Department.

The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to grant the Trump administration’s emergency request for intervention. The GOP-appointed judges in the majority said that the lower court had misapplied the relevant precedents.

The administration will continue to be subject to an order in another case that put restrictions on access that Treasury gives DOGE to the department’s closely guarded data systems.

More on the ruling: The dissenting judge on the 4th Circuit panel, Judge Robert King, appointed by President Bill Clinton, wrote that, after the panel voted to restore the data access, he took the “extraordinary” step of having the full 4th Circuit Court take a look at the case. It voted 8-7 not to get involved at this phase, leaving the panel ruling to stand.

The case was brought by several federal unions. The trial judge had blocked OPM, Education and Treasury from sharing with DOGE the personal data of the unions’ two million members.

The Trump administration is in the early stages of planning for a parade to be held in Washington, DC, the city’s Mayor Muriel Bowser said today.

Her comments came a day after Washington City Paper reported the Trump administration hopes for the city to host a “military parade” on June 14, which is both the 250th anniversary of the establishment of the US Army and Trump’s 79th birthday. Preliminary plans call for the parade to stretch from the Pentagon in Arlington to the White House, the outlet reported.

Asked about that reporting during a press availability, Bowser said: “I don’t know if it’s been characterized as a military parade, but maybe it has.”

“I haven’t been directly involved in it yet. I understand that — I think it was Homeland Security, maybe the White House — reached out to our special events task force, which is what most people wanting to do a parade do in the district,” she said, adding that planning is “at its early stages.”

Trump hoped to host a military-style parade during his first term but called it off after the city said it would cost tens of millions of dollars, CNN previously reported.

A spokesperson for the mayor did not immediately respond to a question asking for more details about the administration’s coordination with the city to plan a parade. CNN has reached out to the White House, DHS, Army and Department of Defense for comment.

Arlington County Chair Takis Karantonis said in a statement that the county was contacted by the Secret Service on Friday “regarding the possibility of a military parade to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Army, but no further details were offered.”

The county, which is home to the Pentagon and many active and retired military personnel, has not received a formal request from the federal government for any assistance for the parade, he added.

CNN’s Natasha Bertrand contributed reporting to this post.

President Donald Trump would veto a bipartisan bill that would limit his authority to levy new tariffs, the White House said today.

“If passed, this bill would dangerously hamper the President’s authority and duty to determine our foreign policy and protect our national security,” the president’s budget office wrote in an official veto threat notice.

The bill, introduced by Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington and GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, would require presidents to justify new tariffs to Congress. Lawmakers would have to approve them within 60 days or they would expire.

The White House said the bill would “seriously constrain” Trump’s authorities that Congress has “long recognized.”

Trump has yet to veto a bill in his second term. Congress can override a veto with a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was last at the White House in February, trade matters between the US and Israel were far from mind.

Not so Monday, as the Israeli leader returns for a last-minute visit looking for ways to alleviate the 17% tariff on Israel Trump announced last week as part of his massive shakeup in global trade. Netanyahu’s relative success will be closely watched by fellow world leaders looking for ways to ease their own tariff burdens.

The question is what, exactly, Netanyahu can offer Trump in return for an easing-off of the new duties. He already tried to preempt the new tariffs by lifting custom duties on US imports, to little effect.

That leaves other, non-economic areas as potential ground for negotiation. Since Netanyahu’s last visit — remembered mainly for Trump’s shock plan to ‘take over’ Gaza, remove its residents and redevelop it into a seafront “Riviera” with glass condominiums — Israel has fully resumed its war in Gaza, and the ceasefire with Hamas that Trump took credit for brokering has fallen apart.

The White House has fully backed Israel’s military campaign, putting the onus on Hamas to return hostages and come back to the negotiating table.

At the same time, one of Trump’s biggest foreign policy objectives may ride on bringing the Gaza conflict to an end. As he prepares to head to Saudi Arabia next month, he hopes to advance a normalization agreement between Riyadh and Israel — creating a regional counterweight to Iran.

That plan won’t go anywhere if the Gaza war continues. But the Iran threat is only ramping up, as US officials warn Tehran is advancing its nuclear program — a topic likely to arise in Monday’s talks.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, Trump called Gaza a “big problem” he hopes to resolve. “That’s another thing we’d like to get solved,” he said.

President Donald Trump said Monday he’s ready to slap new 50% tariffs on China following Beijing’s retaliatory duties announced last week, further escalating the global trade war that has rattled markets.

He said the additional tariffs would take effect midweek if China doesn’t remove its 34% retaliatory tariff by Tuesday.

He also said meetings China had requested would be canceled, though he said other countries would begin negotiating on trade immediately.

“Yesterday, China issued Retaliatory Tariffs of 34%, on top of their already record setting Tariffs, Non-Monetary Tariffs, Illegal Subsidization of companies, and massive long term Currency Manipulation, despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs, above and beyond their already existing long term Tariff abuse of our Nation, will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” he went on.

“Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Some context: Since returning to power in January, Trump had already levied two tranches of 10% additional duties on all Chinese imports, which the White House said was necessary to stem the flow of illicit fentanyl from the country to the US. Last week, Trump announced an additional 34% on all Chinese goods, which is set to take effect Wednesday. If his latest threat of an additional 50% went into effect, Chinese goods arriving in the US would effectively be subject to tariffs of 104%.

This post has been updated with additional details.

A federal appeals court declined on Monday to put on hold a judge’s order requiring the Trump administration to bring back a man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.

The decision from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals comes just hours before the administration faces an 11:59 p.m. deadline to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, to the US.

The ruling came minutes after the administration asked the Supreme Court to step in on an emergency basis to lift the preliminary injunction issued late last week by US District Judge Paula Xinis.

Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer, said Monday’s decision to uphold a lower court ruling gives her “hope” and “encouragement to keep fighting.”

“My children, family, and I will continue praying and seeking justice. Now that the court has spoken, I ask again that both President Trump and President Bukele stop attempting any further delays. They need to follow the court’s order NOW. My children are waiting to be reunited with their father tonight,” Jennifer said.

The case is currently in front of the Supreme Court.

This report has been updated with comments from Abrego Garcia’s wife.

It’s not every day that financial markets go from deep in the red to well into positive territory and then back down to the red again — all in the span of minutes.

But that’s exactly what happened on Monday.

With banners flashing on CNBC and posts piling up on social media that the Trump administration was considering a 90-day pause on all tariffs with the exception of China, investors breathed a huge sigh of relief. But then it turned out that they got a little too excited.

A White House official told CNN any such reports are “fake news.”

Much of the reporting traced back to an interview President Donald Trump’s top economic advisor, Kevin Hassett, had on Fox News this morning. Hassett was asked if Trump can call a “90-day timeout” on tariffs.

Hassett responded: “I think the President will decide what the President is going to decide.” Several news networks took that to mean Trump was considering a 90-day pause on tariffs. However, there was no official reporting on that.

White House director of communications Steven Cheung also denied reports of a 90-day pause being under consideration. He reposted a NewsMax post on X post of Hassett with his own comments: “Not true. Nobody can point to a transcript … because it was never said.”

President Donald Trump’s administration urged the Supreme Court today to block a lower court order requiring officials to bring a man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador back to Maryland.

The emergency appeal over Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, landed at the high court on a short fuse: A lower court judge has ordered the Trump administration to return him to the US by 11:59 p.m. Monday.

Trump attorneys have conceded in court filings that the administration mistakenly deported the father of three “because of an administrative error,” but said it could not bring him back because he is in Salvadoran custody. His case has added to the already considerable legal scrutiny over White House efforts to deport immigrants without a hearing or review.

CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed reporting to this post.

The wild swings in financial markets on Monday morning underscore how badly investors want President Donald Trump to pause the trade war.

US stocks surged off their lows and even briefly turned positive on rumors of a 90-day pause. However, that rebound proved fleeting as traders realized nothing official had been announced.

“That was a good example of what would happen if we actually got some rational thought mixed in with the ignorant tariff policy,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management, told CNN in a phone interview Monday. “The stock market vigilantes have spoken loudly that we need rational thought mixed in with this trade policy. And there is none so far.”

Oversold markets desperate for good news are subject to wild swings that can quickly reverse, Hogan added.

The European Union is “ready to negotiate” with the United States and has offered to scrap tariffs on industrial goods, Ursula Von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said Monday.

“These tariffs come first and foremost at immense costs for US consumers and businesses but, at the same time, they have a massive impact on the global economy,” the head of the EU’s executive arm said at a news conference in Brussels.

Following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of hefty tariffs on dozens of countries last week, EU exports to the US face a 20% “reciprocal” tariff, while its steel and auto industry face a 25% tariff. Von der Leyen said the tariffs, which have caused a global market rout, represent a “major turning point” for the US.

“Nonetheless, we stand ready to negotiate with the United States. Indeed, we have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods, as we have successfully done with many other trading partners, because Europe is always ready for a good deal,” she said.

Asked when the EU tabled the zero-tariff offer, von der Leyen said the offer was made “long before” Trump’s latest tariff announcement and “repeatedly, for example, in the automotive sector.” She stressed that the EU has long gone “zero for zero with other countries that also have a strong automotive sector.”

At the same time, the EU is willing to play hardball: Although the EU would prefer to strike a “negotiated settlement,” the bloc is also “preparing a potential list (of US imports) for retaliation,” she said.

Meanwhile, the head of the EU’s executive arm said the bloc would explore new opportunities, citing deals it has already made with Mexico and Switzerland, as well as new trade agreements it is exploring with India, Indonesia and other countries in the Indo-Pacific.

“We will focus like a laser beam on the 83% of global trade that is beyond the United States – vast opportunities – and this is why we’re deepening our relations with our trading partners,” she said at a news conference in Brussels.

This post has been updated with additional information.