The Latest: Nations must choose sides as Trump’s trade war pits US against China

Nations are being forced to choose between siding with China or the U.S. as President Donald Trump’s trade war locks the world’s two largest economies on a collision course.

Trump says Columbus Day will now just be Columbus Day, accusing Democrats of denigrating traditional American icons by celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day alongside the date when the Italian explorer landed in the Caribbean in 1492.

Trump’s border czar praises his illegal migration crackdown as executive orders aim to speed deportations.

According to a new AP-NORC poll, many Americans don’t agree with Trump’s aggressive efforts to quickly enact his agenda.

The Latest:

Trump has often raged against the Atlantic magazine and its editor, Jeffrey Goldberg. But he decided to grant them an interview anyways, talking extensively about his return to power and his plans for the presidency.

During the conversation, Trump compared his first and second terms.

“The first time, I had two things to do — run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys,” he said. “And the second time, I run the country and the world.”

Homan said “the numbers are good.”

He said total deportations haven’t been higher because the Trump administration has been so effective at increasing enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Homan also asserted that the Biden administration’s deportation totals were inflated by counting migrants who were turned away as they tried to cross the border illegally.

Under Trump, detentions at the border have plummeted while more people have been deported from around the country, Homan said.

“I don’t accept the term error and Abrego Garcia,” Homan told reporters at the White House. “There is an oversight.”

He acknowledged that a court order would have blocked Abrego Garcia’s deportation. The Supreme Court later ordered the administration to facilitate his return to the U.S.

But Homan said “things have changed” given accusations that he was a gang member.

Trump officials have argued they have no jurisdiction in El Salvador. And Leavitt said Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has no plans “to smuggle a designated foreign terrorist back into the United States.”

Leavitt said the administration “plans to comply” with what Bukele said.

Tom Homan was asked if Mexico is paying for construction on the U.S.-Mexico border, a Trump promise that didn’t happen during his first term.

He asserted that the U.S. is saving millions a day on detention and transportation costs because Mexico has troops patrolling their side of the border.

“We’ve more than made up for the cost of that wall,” he said.

The orders will:

— Expand law enforcement operations to make it easier to detain migrants

— Direct state and federal officials to publish lists of “sanctuary city” jurisdictions where local authorities often don’t concentrate on enforcing federal immigration regulations.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “sanctuary” cities have worked to “obstruct” enforcement.

“We are in the beginning stages of carrying out the largest deportation campaign in American history,” Leavitt said during a Monday morning briefing with reporters.

“I believe that it’s up to China to de-escalate, because they sell five times more to us than we sell to them, and so these 120%, 145% tariffs are unsustainable,” Scott Bessent said during an interview Monday on the business channel CNBC.

Bessent moved markets last week when he said in a private speech to JPMorgan Chase that he expects a deescalation in the trade war because “Neither side thinks the status quo is sustainable.”

The first one will feature Tom Homan, the president’s top border adviser.

Officials set the stage by lining up posters with mug shots of migrants who have been accused of crimes. They’re positioned outside the West Wing to be in the background of correspondents’ television shots.

As Trump’s trade war locks the world’s two largest economies on a collision course, America’s unnerved allies and partners are cozying up with China to hedge their bets. It comes as Trump’s trade push upends a decade of American foreign policy — including his own from his first term — toward rallying the rest of the world to join the United States against China. And it threatens to hand Beijing more leverage in any eventual dialogue with the U.S. administration.

With Trump saying that countries are “kissing my ass” to negotiate trade deals on his terms or risk stiff import taxes, Beijing is reaching out to countries far and near. It portrays itself as a stabilizing force and a predictable trading partner, both to cushion the impact from Trump’s tariffs and to forge stronger trade ties outside of the U.S. market.

“America and China are now locked in a fierce contest for global supremacy,” Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said in an April 16 speech. “Both powers claim they do not wish to force countries to choose sides. But in reality, each seeks to draw others closer into their respective orbits.”

▶ Read more about the trade war between China and the U.S.