ISTANBUL

Here’s a rundown of all the news you need to start your Friday, including reports saying US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are scheduled to meet on Friday in Malaysia, US President Donald Trump announcing that his administration will impose a 35% tariff on goods imported from Canada starting Aug. 1, and a top Democrat calling on Trump to sack Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

TOP STORIES

• US secretary of state, China’s top diplomat to hold 1st face-to-face meeting in Malaysia

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are scheduled to hold their first in-person meeting Friday in Malaysia amid heightened tensions surrounding trade, defense, and other issues.

The meeting will take place on the margins of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers’ meeting in the capital Kuala Lumpur, The Washington Post reported.

Rubio, known as a China hawk during his 14 years as a Republican senator, was blacklisted by Beijing in 2020 and is still on its sanctions list. He last spoke with Wang by phone in January, shortly after taking office as secretary of state.

• Trump announces 35% tariff on Canada starting Aug. 1

US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his administration will impose a 35% tariff on goods imported from Canada starting Aug. 1.

Trump outlined his reasons for the steep tariff hike in a letter posted on social media.

He added that Canada responded with its own tariffs rather than working with Washington, saying that the 35% tariff will be separate from all sectoral tariffs.

Goods transshipped to dodge the higher tariff will be subject to higher duties, he added.

There will be no tariffs if Canada, or companies based in Canada, choose to build or manufacture their products within the US, Trump said, adding that every effort will be made to ensure approvals are granted "quickly, professionally, and routinely — In other words, in a matter of weeks."

• Top US Democrat urges Trump to fire Pentagon chief

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday, calling on President Donald Trump to dismiss him from his post.

"To no one’s surprise – Secretary Hegseth continues to be an embarrassment and a liability.

"Trump should fire him and pick someone else to serve as Secretary of Defense," the top Democrat said on X, sharing a CNN report which said Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorized a pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine last week.

Last week, US media reported that the Pentagon had suspended some shipments of air defense missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine due to concerns over low US stockpiles. Both Trump and the Defense Department confirmed on Monday that the US will send more weapons to Ukraine to help it defend against Russia.

During a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump distanced himself from the decision, implying he was not behind the pause in arms shipments to Ukraine. When pressed if he had approved the move, Trump, who was seated next to Hegseth, responded: "I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?"

Separately, asked Thursday about the weapons pause, Trump told NBC News: "I don’t know anything about it."

He added that Hegseth is "doing a great job."

NEWS IN BRIEF

• Top diplomats of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states held a summit with senior officials from the UK and European Union.
• China extended its support to Bangladesh’s interim government and planned elections in the South Asian country.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country is ready to open all negotiation clusters with the European Union under Denmark’s EU Council term presidency, and called for a resolution to Hungary’s veto, which is hampering Ukraine's progress towards membership in the bloc.
• Unknown gunmen abducted nine passengers from a bus in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province and later killed them, a local official said Friday.
• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Thursday with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong on the sidelines of an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• The US State Department will begin notifying employees of impending layoffs via email “in the coming days” as part of the Trump administration’s effort to shrink the federal government, according to a report Thursday, citing an internal memo.
• Egypt and China affirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation across a broad range of sectors as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Cairo for high-level talks aimed at deepening bilateral ties.
• The UN refugee agency UNHCR welcomed a new pilot initiative announced by the UK and France to address irregular channel crossings, calling it "an important initiative” that, if properly implemented, could "offer alternatives to dangerous journeys, while upholding access to asylum."
• Recent US airstrikes on three key Iranian nuclear facilities met their objectives, Pentagon officials said Thursday, but stopped short of confirming whether the sites were completely destroyed, noting that a battle damage assessment is still pending.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

• Trump prepares blanket tariffs, downplaying concerns over inflation

US President Donald Trump announced plans Thursday to impose blanket tariffs of 15% to 20% on most trading partners, downplaying concerns that additional tariffs could harm the stock market or fuel inflation.

“We’re just going to say all of the remaining countries are going to pay, whether it’s 20% or 15%. We’ll work that out now,” Trump told NBC News.

Blanket tariffs are currently set at 10%.

“I think the tariffs have been very well received. The stock market hit a new high today,” he said.

The S&P 500 closed at a record high Thursday, but this follows a volatile period for the US stock market. After Trump announced his initial round of global tariffs on April 2, the S&P 500 suffered one of its fastest 20% drops on record in the days that followed.