WSJ What’s News - U.S. Leaves Cease-Fire Talks, as Starvation Grips Gaza

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

A.M. Edition for July 25. The latest setback in the Trump administration’s drive to end the war between Israel and Hamas comes amid acute food shortages in Gaza, with the WSJ’s Feliz Solomon saying child hunger is rapidly increasing across the enclave. Plus, a new Wall Street Journal poll finds President Trump’s political standing has been buoyed by voters’ improving views of the economy. And LVMH chief Bernard Arnault is working friendships on both sides of the Atlantic in a bid to avert a trade war - and insulate his luxury empire. Azhar Sukri hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New polling shows the economy is fueling President Trump's popularity. Plus, Skydance's $8 billion merger with Paramount gets a regulatory green light. And we report on the desperate plight of people in Gaza facing starvation. I spoke to one woman who lives in a tent camp in Almawasi on the coast of Gaza, and she told me that she only eats one small meal every day late at night before she goes to sleep. It's Friday, July 25th. I'm Azhar Sukri for The Wall Street Journal.

Here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. A new Wall Street Journal poll finds President Trump's political standing remains strong, and it's the economy keeping his numbers buoyant. That's despite unpopularity with the GOP's big tax and spending law, dissatisfaction with Trump's tariff plan, and suspicion over the Jeffrey Epstein saga. Aaron Zittner leads the journal's polling coverage and explains how perceptions of the economy are helping Trump. Views of the economy have brightened substantially. In this poll, 47% of people rate the economy

as excellent or good. We haven't seen a number like that ever since we started this current polling program in 2021. It's up by double digits from our last poll in April. Fewer people are saying that inflation is causing them major strains. More people are saying the economy is getting better than worse. But again, he's at the same 46% job approval as he was last time when views of the economy were more sour. Looking at the specifics, a majority opposed Trump's tariff policies and his big beautiful tax bill, though the president's standing with his Republican base remains strong. 88% of GOP voters polled support him. And Journal reporters will be answering any questions you may have about our polling

on Monday July 28th from 2pm to 3pm Eastern. Subscribers can submit their questions at any time through our website. You can find a link to that in our show notes. As the US heads towards a fresh round of trade talks with China next week, President Trump is changing tack. People familiar with the matter say Trump is now trying to strike deals with Beijing, especially in the technology arena. That's a shift from the pressure tactics of much of this year. The administration has been using tariffs to redirect supply chains away from China.

One example of this move is the lifting of a ban this month on sales of Nvidia's H20 artificial intelligence chips to Beijing, reversing a policy aimed at protecting US national security. Well, as the European Union moves closer to securing its trade deal with the US, the Bloc has a key ally on its side and one with a direct line to President Trump. Luxury titan Bernard Arnaud, the chief executive of LVMH, has been working to ensure Europe doesn't get hit with higher tariffs or enter a protracted trade war with the US. The Journal's Nick Kostov sat down with Arnaud this week for an exclusive interview. Bernardo wants a deal, obviously between the US and the EU. I don't think he's a complete

perfectionist about what this deal looks like. If it looks like the deal with Japan or with the UK, where there's some tariffs on European goods, that's okay. But I think for his business and for business in Europe, what he wants is some certainty. And so that's the message he's been carrying around European capitals. He traveled to Italy to see Giorgio Maloney. He traveled to Germany to see Friedrich Merz. He's seen Ursula van der Leyen as well in Brussels. For our know, there's a lot at stake. Yesterday, LVMH reported a 22% fall in first half net profit, hit by a sharp decline in

sales at its core fashion and leather goods division that includes Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior. Nick says Arnaud is also hedging his bets with plans to open another Louis Vuitton factory in Texas, a move partly credited with sparing the luxury industry from tariffs during Trump's first term. So there's been a lot of questions among investors and analysts as well. There's obviously been a luxury goods slowdown over the past couple of years. And the question is, is it structural or is it cyclical? Are people questioning the inherent value of luxury goods that are

made in Europe? A lot of their business model luxury goods that are made in Europe. A lot of their business model is based on we produce in Europe, we sell to China, America and the rest of the world. LVMH was built at a time of deepening globalisation when the world was opening up and the trade war would obviously be pretty much a disaster for the business. And a US regulator has approved Skydance's merger with Paramount Global, clearing the way for the more than $8 billion deal to close. It comes after Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit by President Trump, alleging that 60 Minutes deceitfully added an interview with Kamala Harris.

CBS denied any wrongdoing. Journal Entertainment reporter Joe Flint says the Federal Communications Commission wanted significant changes to CBS's news coverage. Skydance committed to unbiased journalism, that their editorial decision making would reflect the quote varied ideological perspectives of the American viewers. Skydance also agreed that they would create an ombudsman position at CBS News, an in-house commentator, if you will, who will have the job of reviewing any complaints of bias or other concerns. And so agreeing to those things was presumably enough for the FCC chairman to sign off on the deal. But nonetheless, it didn't necessarily go totally smoothly.

One FCC commissioner, the lone Democrat, Anna Gomez, fears that there's been power used to pressure Paramount to basically further erode press freedom. Last week, CBS cancelled Stephen Colbert's late show, saying it was ending the show for financial reasons. PBS cancelled Stephen Colbert's late show, saying it was ending the show for financial reasons. Some Democratic lawmakers and people in Hollywood, citing Colbert's criticism of Trump, speculated the cancellation was tied to getting the Skydance deal closed. Coming up, Gaza peace talks have stalled without any prospects for more food aid to the enclave.

This as NGOs warn that famine is now gripping everyone in Gaza. That story and more after the break. US negotiators have left Gaza peace talks, saying Hamas showed quote, a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire, unquote. The setback casts uncertainty over efforts to end the war between Hamas and Israel, which has fueled a major humanitarian crisis in the enclave. One of the sticking points in the talks has centered on how food was distributed without any solution in sight.

Middle East reporter Feli Solomon told our Kate Bullivant about the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza. I've been speaking to people inside Gaza in all parts of the strip in the north south and center and many people are struggling to find food. They're reducing the amount of food that they're eating. And we're also hearing from medical workers on the ground that there is a sharp spike in diagnosed cases of malnutrition. Many, many children are being diagnosed with malnutrition, some of them very severely.

And that tends to be an important indicator of the food security situation for the broader society. We're also hearing from medical professionals that there are a lot of people dying from injuries that shouldn't be killing them. Remember that this is a war zone and they're seeing a lot of people who have gunshot wounds, shrapnel wounds, lacerations and burns, and all of those types of injuries require much more energy for your body to be able to heal. And if you're not getting enough food, it makes your recovery longer or it can make you more susceptible to infections that can be fatal.

And what are people telling you about what they're doing to get through this to survive this? We've been hearing for a while now that people have been reducing the amount of food that they're eating. First, they started reducing their portions, then they were cutting down to oftentimes one meal a day. Now we're hearing some people eating even less than that. I spoke to one woman who lives in a tent camp in Almawasi on the coast of Gaza, and she told me that she only eats one small meal every day late at night before she goes to sleep and to get through the day she started putting a pinch of salt under her tongue because that she says helps relieve her headaches that

she gets during the day because she's not eating enough. So why has the situation recently just become so much worse for Gazans? What we're seeing right now has been months in the making. In early March, Israel cut off supplies to the Gaza Strip. They did this because they said that Hamas was stealing humanitarian aid and using it to sell it and control the markets and that it was funding their war effort. Hamas denies this. Before the blockade came into effect, there was a ceasefire that had lasted almost two months. And during that period, a lot of food and other goods were able to enter Gaza, and people and aid groups had stockpiled a lot of supplies. Now, once the blockade began in early March, those supplies started running out pretty quickly.

So in May, when these shortages became very acute, Israel unveiled a new aid distribution plan that was backed by the United States. And since its launch, it has been very problematic. It's very, very small in scale, and they have only a few distribution points. So this meant that it was very difficult for most people in Gaza to actually be able to access what little aid started coming in in May. Add to that that people were becoming more and more desperate. So this led to some very chaotic situations, massive crowds. Palestinian health authorities say that hundreds of people have died while trying to get aid. That's been the result of a couple of things. One is that the Israeli soldiers have shot at crowds when they've

come too close to military positions. There have also been stampedes and there have been just general chaotic situations. Filiz, I noted one medical professional you spoke to said that this was a failure of humanity. What response have we seen from the international community and will it lead to more aid getting into Gaza? We are seeing some criticism from the international community. Earlier this week there was a joint statement released by more than two dozen countries, including the UK and Canada, criticizing Israel for what they called its drip feeding of aid to the Gaza Strip. We have also reported that Arab officials are in discussions with Israel and the United States towards possibly resuming airdrop deliveries of aid. This in itself is a sign that the situation is deteriorating because historically these types of aid deliveries have been a method of last resort. That's because they're costly, they're complicated and they can only deliver a little bit of aid.

LAREEE You mentioned before that Israel cut off supplies to Gaza back in March and they say that was to put pressure on Hamas after hostage talks faulted. What is Israel saying now? Israel is still saying that this crisis is Hamas's fault. man-made shortage engineered by Hamas. In Israel's view, if Hamas would release the hostages and agree to Israel's terms, then this crisis would end. But where we're at right now, things are moving in a bad direction. There are right now many, many people in Gaza who are already suffering from severe malnutrition. It's going to be difficult to get them the help that they need, and to prevent many other people from deteriorating into that stage. Humanitarian experts are calling for immediate, rapid, unhindered access to age. It's

unclear when that might happen, what it might look like, but there is consensus that a lot of food is needed in Gaza very quickly. That was our Middle East reporter, Feliz Solomon. Feliz, thanks for talking to us. Thanks for having me. French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will recognise Palestine as an independent state, adding to diplomatic pressure on Israel to end the war. Macron said in a post on X that he will formalise the decision at the UN General Assembly in

September. Israel denounced the decision while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was a setback to peace efforts. Meanwhile, the deadly border clash between Thailand and Cambodia has continued for a second day, with both sides exchanging heavy artillery and rocket fire. Several people have been killed, and 120,000 people living on either side of the border are fleeing the area, with Thailand having shut all land crossings between the two countries. Cambodia has called for the UN to intervene after the acting Thai Prime Minister told reporters this morning that the situation could escalate into war.

An emergency meeting of the Security Council has been scheduled for later today. And that's it for what's news for this Friday morning. Today's show was produced by Daniel Bach and Kate Bullivant. Our supervising producer is Sandra Killhoff. I'm Azhar Sukri for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back tonight with a new show. Until then, have a great weekend and thanks for listening.