President Donald Trump had a fairly quiet Memorial Day participating in a commemorative ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery followed by a few hours of golf, but a number of pressing domestic and international matters will require his attention this week.
On the home front, the House of Representatives passed its version of the president’s budget, the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill,’ early Thursday morning. Now the bill sits with the Senate.
The president met with Republican members of the House right up to the bill’s passage, and he will likely meet with senators in closed door meetings to ensure the budget passes the upper chamber as well.
Overseas, despite a phone call one week ago between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin which the American president thought “went very well,” according to his Truth Social post, Russia has ramped up attacks against Ukraine. According to Trump, Russia and Ukraine were supposed to “immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire,” but instead, Russia carried out its largest combined aerial attack on Ukraine since it invaded the country in Feb. 2022.
The U.S. and the European Union have locked horns over trade. On Friday, Trump said the U.S. would impose a 50% tariff on the European Union starting June 1, due to negotiations “going nowhere.” On Sunday, he moved the planned tariff hike back to July 9 after a call with the European Commission’s president indicating perhaps a greater willingness to negotiate.
The U.S. and Iran held their fifth round of indirect negotiations in Rome over the weekend, without yielding clear concessions from either side. The U.S. maintains economic sanctions on Iran to pressure the country to halt the enrichment of near weapons-grade uranium, but Iran so far hasn’t agreed to the condition.
