Briefly 2025-05-09    

UNITED STATES

Trump announces trade deal with UK

US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday announced a "breakthrough deal" on trade. Trump said the deal increases access for US agricultural products, though he added that the final details were still being written up. UK officials said the deal will cut tariffs on UK cars from 27.5 percent to 10 percent and eliminate tariffs on steel and aluminum. Starmer said the tariff cuts set out in the new deal would come into place as soon as possible. The agreement marked the first since Trump triggered a global trade war with a barrage of levies on trading partners following his return to the White House in January.

Scholar who coined 'soft power' dies at 88

Joseph Nye, an influential political scientist and US policymaker who coined the term "soft power", has died, Harvard University announced Wednesday. He was 88. Nye, who died on Tuesday, joined Harvard's faculty in 1964 and served as dean of the Harvard Kennedy School as well as in positions under presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. He became best known for developing the term "soft power" in the late 1980s. As opposed to hard power, such as weapons and economic sanctions, soft power includes values and culture that can win over others.