Axios

Awaiting the White House Middle East peace plan, the U.K is organizing a meeting of Foreign Ministers from the main European powers and leading Arab states with President Trump's peace team, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt.

Between the lines: Western diplomats briefed on the British move told me the aim of the meeting will be to present parameters the European and Arab countries expect to see in the Trump administration peace plan in order for them to support it. The main concern in European capitals is that the peace plan will be biased in favor of Israel.

U.S. intelligence identified a "suspect" that worked for Russian intelligence to pass Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails and documents to WikiLeaks, James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, told Yahoo News’ Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman on their podcast “Skullduggery.”

Yes, but: Clapper said he doesn’t know whether the suspicions were validated. He also doesn’t know whether they were conveyed to Special Counsel Bob Mueller. Intelligence officials were "pretty confident at the time" about the suspect, "but not sufficient enough to publicize it," Clapper said. Clapper served in his role until January 20, 2017.

Defense Secretary James Mattis, speaking at Naval War College in Newport, R.I. Friday, said that by illegally annexing Crimea in 2014, Vladimir Putin had, "for the first time since WWII ... redrawn international borders by force” — a direct contradiction of what President Trump said just hours earlier.

Be smart: Last week, and again Friday morning, Trump blamed former President Obama because he said he "let Crimea get away." But in reality, as Mattis stated in his remarks, Putin invaded Crimea illegally, marking the first violation of a European country’s borders since WWII. Putin also rigged the results of a sham referendum to make it look like the decision was a popular move.

Despite President Trump's warning not to retaliate to the administration's new tariffs on Chinese goods, China's Commerce Ministry announced that the country will be implementing their own tariffs "of the same scale and the same strength" on U.S. imports in response to announcement.

Be smart, per Axios' Jonathan Swan: The $50 billion in tariffs the U.S. imposed on China is relatively minor, and Trump gave Chinese President Xi Jinping a major concession on ZTE. Xi made a personal request to Trump when it looked like ZTE could collapse as a result of U.S. actions, and the Trump administration gave the company effectively a slap on the wrist, allowing it to stay in business.

President Trump lavished praise on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a Fox News interview this morning. The president said the two had "great chemistry" and he respects that Kim is a "strong" leader who “wants to make his country great.”

"He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same."

President Trump's meeting with Kim Jong-un in Singapore was heavy on drama but ultimately light on specifics. Kim agreed to complete denuclearization, and the U.S. to provide benefits, but all without articulated steps or timetables.

What's next: For all the to-ing and fro-ing ahead of the summit, it may well turn out that the Trump-Kim meeting was the easy part. Now Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his North Korean counterpart must negotiate an actual plan that leads to complete denuclearization.

The U.S. economy is leaving the rest of the world behind: While U.S. economic growth is ramping up, Europe's and other major economies are slowing down, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The big picture: Though the United States' economic growth has been modest in its progression, the country's counterparts across the globe have seen their economies lose steam, which could end a rare period in which the world' largest economies have been growing simultaneously.

President Trump's plan to turn threats against China into actual tariffs could turn a trade spat into a trade war, and sources familiar with his thinking say he has no hesitation about potentially disrupting the world economy.

What to watch: Today, Trump "will announce a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of Chinese products," the WashPost reports. "The tariffs, which Trump set in motion in March, are a response to China’s practice of compulsory technology licensing for foreign companies and its efforts to steal U.S. trade secrets via cybertheft."

One of President Xi Jinping’s most powerful tools for increasing China’s influence is Hollywood.

The bottom line: The Chinese film market is massive and growing — and Hollywood studios are willing to play by the Communist Party’s censorship rules to access that market. Now China is using Hollywood tactics to take its market for itself.

A coalition of blocs loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Hadi al-Amiri, an Iran-backed militia chief, has emerged from Iraq's disputed election and is now seeking to ease concerns in Washington as it works to form a government, Al-Monitor reports.

The details: A leader in Al-Amiri's Fatah Alliance, Karim al-Nuri, said in a statement on Wednesday that the coalition "is in tune with the vision of Iran and the United States." The coalition is viewed as a win for Iran, which will be able to "maintain its influence" in Iraq, Al-Monitor notes. The coalition is currently sitting at 141 seats, 24 seats below the 165 needed to form a government, per Al-Monitor.

A classified report from Israel's foreign ministry raises doubts over President Trump's optimistic statements about his summit with Kim Jong-un, and determines the U.S. retreated from its positions on several issues relating to North Korea's nuclear program.

Behind the scenes: The classified report, which I obtained a copy of, provides an initial analysis of the summit. It was circulated yesterday by the research department of the Israeli foreign ministry to all Israeli embassies around the world and to many senior officials at the Prime Minister's office and other government agencies.

In a meeting with G7 leaders last week, President Trump said Crimea is Russian because everyone there speaks Russian, Buzzfeed News reports, citing two diplomatic sources.

Why it matters: Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian territory in 2014, leading to universal condemnation in the West and Russia's expulsion from what was then the G-8. Western allies took great pains to show a united front and declare that such aggression wouldn't be tolerated. Trump is taking a far different approach to Russia, and in this case is making a similar argument to the one put forth by the Kremlin.

While U.S.–Iran tensions simmer, Iraq — long a flashpoint between the two countries — is nearing a major political transformation. Iraq last held elections in 2010 and the winner — secular nationalist Ayad Allawi, who carried 91 out of 329 parliamentary seats — didn’t take power. This was largely due to American and Iranian backing of the sectarian Dawa Party’s Nouri al-Maliki.

The backdrop: Under Maliki’s leadership, Iraq’s military collapsed against the Islamic State. Millions of Iraqis were displaced. The U.S., which had begun to withdraw in 2010, had to return thousands of troops to stem the chaos, and Iran still managed to take a dominant position in Iraqi politics. In 2014 a different Dawa party leader, current Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, was pushed into power.

A newly released North Korean documentary on the summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un includes footage of crowds cheering Kim, and of Trump saluting a North Korean general.

Why it matters: The video Kim smiling alongside the president of the U.S., which has historically been depicted as an evil power in North Korean propaganda. It also provides North Koreans a rare glimpse of a glitzy, modern city. The documentary has been aired four times in North Korea, per 38 North's Martin Williams.

The World Cup kicks off today in Russia, and the rather weak home team has a chance for victory — they're up against Saudi Arabia — so the Kremlin has seized the moment to announce some painful economic reforms.

Why it matters: Russia's working-age population is projected to shrink by 20% between now and 2050, so the decision to raise retirement ages (from 60 to 65 for men by 2028; from 55 to 63 for women by 2034) seems sensible, though it's the first hike in modern Russian history, per Meduza. Meanwhile, Putin says fixing the economy and reducing poverty will be top priorities in his new six-year term. The decision to raise the value-added tax from 18% to 20% is expected to bring in $32 billion over that period.

Japan is reportedly putting together plans for a possible August summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to Japan's Yomiuri newspaper.

The details: The newspaper reports, citing government sources, that one option for the summit would include Abe visiting Pyongyang. There is reportedly a second option if travels to Pyongyang fall through, the newspaper added, where Abe could meet Kim "on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum to be held in September in Vladivostok, if the North Korean leader attends," per Reuters.