Reuters World News - Ukraine attack, Trump-Zelenskiy clash, China tariffs, white South Africans

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have clashed again – with the U.S. threatening to walk away from peace talks. The Trump administration will look at lowering tariffs on Chinese imports pending talks with Beijing. And the white South Africans applying for asylum in the U.S.  Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Trump fumes at Zelensky as the US threatens to walk away from Ukraine peace talks. The White House softens its tone on Chinese tariffs. And while white South Africans are applying for asylum in the US, it's Thursday, April 24th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. Rescueers clearing a destroyed apartment block in Ukraine after an overnight Russian missile and drone attack buried residents under rubble in Kiev.

And in Washington, frustration over a lack of progress on a peace deal. With U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian president, Pellodomé Zelensky, again at Loggerheads. He wants to see the killing stopped, but you need both sides of the war willing to do that. And unfortunately, President Zelensky seems to be moving in the wrong direction. White House press secretary, Caroline Levitt. Trump lashed out at Zelensky in a social media post after the Ukrainian leader rejected a proposal to recognize Crimea as Russian territory. This latest spat comes as U.S., Ukrainian and European officials

held discussions in London about reviving peace negotiations. One key person not at the talks was U.S. Secretary of State, to Marco Rubio, who canceled his trip at the last minute. Reporter Jeff Mason is following the story and looking at what Rubio's absence may signal. I think the question of whether his absence is a sign that the U.S. is making good on its threats, basically, to pull out of the talks if there isn't progress

is a legitimate question. And that's kind of hanging over everything right now. The president has said and the Secretary of State have said that they expect to see some movement or they're going essentially to fish and cut bait. It's a pressure tactic for sure. But it's also a sign of self-interest on some level that President Trump is wanting to make good on a promise that he made as a presidential candidate that so far he has not been able to fulfill. And if the U.S. does walk away from the talks, then what? It raises multiple questions.

One, what happens to the process itself? Two, what happens to the U.S.'s support of Ukraine in terms of its military aid, its financial aid, etc.? Three, does Russia feel in bold and to do even more in terms of its own aggression on to Ukrainian territory? Four, what does Europe do? So right now, though certainly imperfect and certainly controversial in many ways, there is actually a process or talks happening. And if the United States withdrew from that, the big question is, would they continue?

India has summoned the top Pakistani diplomat in New Delhi and is suspending a key water sharing treaty and is closing the only land border crossing between the two countries. It comes after suspected militants killed dozens at a tourist destination in Kashmir in the worst attack on civilians in the country in nearly two decades. Pakistan's Prime Minister is calling for a meeting to discuss the response. Members of Trump's cabinet will likely move to limit the influence of Department of Government Efficiency employees and reassert control over budgets and staffing

once Elon Musk steps back from Doge. That's according to two government. sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The president of the Palestinian Authority calling Hamas sons of dogs. MacMuda Bass has called on the group to lay down its arms and hand the running of Gaza over to the authority. There is an opportunity for a big deal here.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson saying on Wednesday that high tariffs between the United States and China are not sustainable, as the Trump administration signaled openness to de-escalating his trade war between the world's two biggest economies. Trevor Honeycutt covers the White House. So Trevor, is this another walkback? Sure, so this is a U-turn.

This is a change in strategy, or at least a change in tactics, as far as where the White House is coming from here. So what we've seen is the rhetoric around China trade talks has completely changed from the administration. And now they're talking about the possibility of getting a deal done. They're talking about the possibility of lowering tariffs as in a bid to kind of accelerate these talks. And they're talking about the unsustainability of tariffs being at the high level they are now. That's obviously completely different from where we were a few

weeks ago when the tariffs were going up on both sides. And Trump was saying that he was in this fight to win it. What happens next? Where we are right now is it's not clear what order these things are going to happen in. The White House officials are telling me that they are not going to unilaterally move tariffs down just to get somebody on the phone. But I think that's an open question as to whether we'll have to see that in the coming weeks for there to be, let's say, a call between President Trump and President Xi. Just three weeks after Trump stopped refugee admissions indefinitely, he announced an asylum program for South Africa's white Afrikaners. According to the South African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S., nearly 70,000

people have expressed an interest. Nellie Payton, our Southern Africa correspondent based in Johannesburg, has the story. We know that President Trump issued an executive order in February offering refugee status to some white South Africans. It's unclear who might be eligible for that, what his criteria are, how many people the U.S. will accept, and what the timeline is for resettlement. What we do know is that some South Africans have started going for interviews at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria. We spoke with three people who have had preliminary interviews. And they were told that this was just an informational interview. And the people who we spoke to said that the interviews focused on questions about whether they had ever been victims of racial

discrimination and crime. What has the Africana community said about this possibility suggested by Trump? There is a narrative among this group that they are a minority that's at risk. They say that they're discriminated against, in part because of the government's efforts to actually even out the racial inequality in South Africa. White South Africans still are on average much wealthier than black South Africans. Crime is common in South Africa, and statistics show that white people are not more likely to be targeted, but some people claim that they are targeted because of their race. The Trump administration has also taken issue with a land reform policy of South Africa's government, which aims to address racial inequalities in land ownership. White South Africans make up a tiny

part of the population, but they still own the majority of the country's farmland. And some white South Africans say that the government is trying to take their land away from them or that they're being unfairly targeted, that they're unable to get jobs because they're white or that they're more likely to be victims of crime because they're white. What has the South African government said about this? The South African government did put out a statement when Trump first issued this executive order and they have said that they believe it's part of a campaign of misinformation and propaganda that has reached the White House. South Africa's government said in response to this executive order that it was ironic that the US is making provision

for one of the most economically privileged groups, which is white South Africans, while denying asylum to more vulnerable people around the world. And for today's recommended read, a 1700-year-old Roman injury. On a skeleton found near the English city of York, evidence suggests that gladiators faced animals in ancient Britain. scientists say bite marks on the man's pelvis could have been made in the arena by a lion ouch there's a link to the story in the pod description and for more on any of the stories from today check out reuters.com or the reuters app don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player

and we'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show