Biden warns Europe is losing confidence in US under Trump and it could change course of modern history – US politics live

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President Donald Trump’s administration may deport migrants to Libya for the first time this week, three US officials said on Tuesday, as part of his immigration crackdown and despite Washington’s past condemnation of Libya’s harsh treatment of detainees.

Two of the officials said the US military could fly the migrants to the north African country as soon as Wednesday, but stressed that plans could still change.

The Pentagon referred queries to the White House. The White House, state department and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Reuters could not determine how many migrants would be sent to Libya or the nationalities of the individuals that the administration is considering for deportation.

The Republican president, who made immigration a major issue during his election campaign, has launched aggressive enforcement action since taking office, surging troops to the southern border and pledging to deport millions of immigrants in the United States illegally.

As of Monday, the Trump administration has deported 152,000 people, according to DHS.

President Donald Trump plans to announce on his trip to Saudi Arabia next week that the US will refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia, two US officials said on Tuesday.

Arab nations have pushed for a change to the geographic name of the body of water off the southern coast of Iran, while Iran has maintained its historic ties to the gulf.

The US officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. The White House and national security council did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although use of Gulf of Arabia and Arabian Gulf is dominant in many countries in the Middle East.

The government of Iran – formerly Persia – threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company’s decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps.

On Google Maps in the US, the body of water appears as Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf). Apple Maps only says the Persian Gulf.

US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent and chief trade negotiator Jamieson Greer will meet China’s economic tsar He Lifeng in Switzerland this weekend for talks that could be the first step toward resolving a trade war disrupting the global economy.

News of the meeting announced by Washington late Tuesday, and later confirmed by Beijing, sent US equity index futures sharply higher, while stock markets in China and Hong Kong also rose as Asian trading began on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

The talks come after weeks of escalating tensions that have seen duties on goods imports between the world’s two largest economies soar well beyond 100%, amounting to what Bessent on Tuesday described as the equivalent of a trade embargo.

The deadlock, alongside US president Donald Trump’s decision last month to impose sweeping duties on dozens of countries, has upended supply chains, roiled financial markets and stoked fears of a sharp downturn in global growth.

Biden warns Europe losing confidence in US under Trump will change course of modern history

Joe Biden has accused Donald Trump of “modern-day appeasement” in his approach to Russia and expressed fears that Europe would “lose confidence in the certainty of America” in his first interview since leaving the White House in January.

“He [Vladimir Putin] believes it [Russia] has historical rights to Ukraine,” Biden told the BBC. Anybody who thought the Russian president would stop if Kyiv conceded territory, as recently proposed by Trump, “is just foolish”, he said.

Speaking in Delaware as the Allied nations mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, Biden said Trump’s stance was “modern-day appeasement” in reference to the attempts of British prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s to appease Adolf Hitler in the 1930s.

He also said he feared Europe was going to lose confidence in the “certainty of America and the leadership of America” and that a breakdown of US-Europe relations under Trump “would change the modern history of the world”.

Biden said the leaders of European nations would be left “wondering, well, what do I do now? … Can I rely on the United States? Are they going to be there?

“I fear our allies around the world are going to begin to doubt whether we’re going to stay where we’ve always been in the last 80 years,” he said.

Biden told Nick Robinson that he found the extraordinary meeting in the Oval Office between Trump and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy “beneath America”.

He went on to condemn Trump’s calls for the US to take back the Panama canal, make Canada the 51st American state and seize Greenland.

Trump says ‘we just want to be friends’ as Canada PM torpedoes 51st state idea

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest news lines over the next hour or so.

Firstly, Donald Trump said he “just want[s] to be friends with Canada” after his first post-election meeting with the country’s prime minister, Mark Carney – who used the gathering to shoot down any prospect of his country becoming the 51st state.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump praised Carney – whose Liberal party won the federal election last week – for one of the “greatest political comebacks of all time”, and described the prime minister’s visit as “an honour” for the White House.

The amicable tone of Tuesday’s meeting marked a stark contrast with Trump’s hostile rhetoric over recent months, as he launched a trade war against his northern neighbour, belittled Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, and made repeated threats to crush Canada’s economy with the aim of annexing it.

Carney returned the praise, telling Trump he was a “transformational president” with a strong focus on the economy. But he shot down any idea that Canada might accede to joining the US as the 51st state – a proposal again floated by Trump in the meeting.

“As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale,” Carney told Trump.

“That’s true,” said Trump.

“Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign … it’s not for sale,” said Carney. “Won’t be for sale, ever.”

“Never say never,” said Trump. Carney smiled and mouthed “never, never, never, never.”

For the full report on the meeting and further reaction, see here:

In other news:

• US treasury secretary Scott Bessent and US trade representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their Chinese counterparts later this week in Switzerland, in what could be the first step to negotiating an end to the trade war between the world’s two largest economies over tariffs imposed by Trump.

• Bessent also contradicted a previous claim from Trump that talks with China had been going on for weeks. “We haven’t had negotiations,” Bessent told Fox. “The world has been coming to the US, and China has been the missing piece.”

• Trump revealed to reporters that three more Israeli hostages have died in Gaza, meaning that just 21 of the hostages taken from Israel on 7 October 2023 remain alive. “I say 21, because, as of today, it’s 21. Three have died,” the president said.

• At the White House event on the 2026 World Cup, Trump learned from a reporter that Russia is banned from taking part, as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.

• Columbia University announced that it laid off nearly 180 researchers in response to the Trump’s administration’s decision to cancel $400m in funding over the Ivy League school’s handling of student protests against the war in Gaza.

• The Trump administration may deport migrants to Libya for the first time this week, three US officials tell Reuters.