Ukraine gave the Trump administration on Wednesday its point-by-point response to the latest draft of the U.S. peace plan, Ukrainian and U.S. officials tell Axios.
Why it matters: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky faces growing pressure from the U.S. to swiftly accept Trump's 20-point peace plan, which includes major territorial losses and other concessions.
The Trump Administration dramatically escalated its standoff with Venezuela on Wednesday by seizing a large tanker loaded with crude oil bound for Cuba.
Why it matters: President Trump's pressure campaign on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has now struck at the heart of Venezuela's oil-based economy.
President Trump is granting China access to more of Nvidia's advanced AI chips, he announced this week, a partial win for Nvidia which has lobbied against U.S. export restrictions first put in place in late 2022.
The big picture: Nvidia warns that blocking its sales has accelerated China's domestic chipmaking push — creating new global rivals and threatening the U.S. lead in the AI race.
President Trump held a call on Wednesday with the leaders of France, the U.K. and Germany to discuss efforts to reach a peace deal in Ukraine, according to a White House official.
Why it matters: The call took place amid growing tensions and distrust between the U.S. and European powers over how to end the Russia-Ukraine war and the Transatlantic relationship in general.
The Trump administration is engaged in open hostilities with the European Union, turning long-simmering feuds over free speech, Ukraine and mass migration into official U.S. policy.
Why it matters: The EU's $140 million fine of Elon Musk's X platform lit the fuse on a conflict the Trump administration was already primed for — and which it formalized in a new National Security Strategy that casts Europe as a geopolitical villain.
President Trump promised the most deportations in decades to reverse illegal immigration. But the system for legal immigration is also buckling under his pressure.
In just the last few weeks, the Trump administration has threatened to expand the travel ban list, paused all asylum decisions and signaled it will reopen cases from the Biden administration.
Why it matters: Any of these changes in isolation would put strain on the system. Doing them all at once could overwhelm it.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino was reported to the soccer world governing body's ethics investigators over his public support for President Trump and a peace prize awarded to the U.S. leader, a human rights nonprofit announced Tuesday.
The big picture: Infantino has said he considers Trump "a close friend" and said at the 2026 soccer World Cup draw in D.C. last Friday he was awarding him the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize for his "unwavering commitment to advancing peace and unity."
Construction work at the White House for President Trump's $300 million ballroom is well underway — and all that's left of the site where the 123-year-old East Wing once stood is rubble, photos taken this week show.
The big picture: Trump said on Truth Social over the weekend that the ballroom would be "double the size" than was originally planned and the "column SPAN has been substantially increased for purposes of viewing," but the project was "under budget and ahead of schedule."
