Trump says Gaza peace deal near, hostages may soon be freed
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Friday he is close to a deal to end the war in Gaza and bring hostages home. “It’s looking like we have a deal on Gaza. I think it’s a deal that gets the hostages back, it’s going to be a deal that ends the war,” Trump told reporters before departing the White House to attend the Ryder Cup golf tournament in New York.
He did not offer further details.
While international leaders gathered at the United Nations in New York this week, the United States unveiled a 21-point Middle East peace plan aimed at ending the nearly two-year-long war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
The proposal was circulated Tuesday to officials from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan, according to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Trump, who remains Israel’s staunchest ally on the global stage, said he spoke Thursday with representatives from several Middle Eastern nations as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump imposes fresh tariffs on drugs, trucks, furniture
President Donald Trump unveiled a fresh round of punishing tariffs on a broad range of imported goods, including 100% duties on branded drugs and 25% tariffs on heavy-duty trucks, set to come into force next week.
The announcements made on Truth Social, did not include details about whether the new levies would apply on top of national tariffs or whether economies with trade deals such as the European Union and Japan would be exempted. Tokyo said it was still analyzing the potential impact of the new measures.
Trump also said he would start charging a 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities and a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture, with all the new duties to take effect from October 1
“The reason for this is the large scale “FLOODING” of these products into the United States by other outside Countries,” Trump said on Truth Social of the tariffs on household goods.
Stocks of pharmaceutical companies across Asia sank as investors reacted to the news, with Australia’s CSL, hitting a six-year low, Japan’s Sumitomo Pharma tumbling more than 5% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Biotech Index down about 2.5%.
An index tracking Chinese-listed furniture makers also dropped 1.1%.
The new actions are seen as part of the Trump administration’s shift to better-established legal authorities for its tariff actions, given the risks associated with a case before the Supreme Court on the legality of his sweeping gloabal tariffs.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an industry group, said companies “continue to announce hundreds of billions in new US investments. Tariffs risk those plans.”
The Trump administration has opened a dozen probes into the national security ramifications of imports of wind turbines, airplanes, semiconductors, polysilicon, copper, timber and lumber and critical minerals to form the basis of new tariffs.
Trump this week announced new probes into personal protective equipment, medical items, robotics and industrial machinery.