Free Republic

The United States has already struck 200 trade deals, President Donald Trump said in an interview this week — but he refused to say with whom. Trump’s comments come just two weeks after he announced a 90-day pause on most of the sweeping global tariffs he imposed earlier this month to allow time for trade negotiations with hundreds of countries slugged by the punishing levies. Only China was exempted from the 90-day pause. “I’ve made 200 deals,” Trump told Time Magazine in a wide-ranging interview published Friday, “100%.” Pressed on which countries he had made deals with, Trump refused to...

President Vladimir Putin has a message for the Russian region where Ukraine has seized more than 1,000 square kilometers of territory: Don’t blame me. Speaking via videoconference to a meeting of Russian politicians, including the governors of Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions, Putin said the “security issues” that had arisen in Kursk were “problems that are the responsibility of the security forces.” He added that Moscow would work with “local and regional authorities” and “security agencies” to “play a positive role in achieving the goals that we have here.”