Trump Tells Congress Hostilities in Iran ‘Have Terminated’

Happy Friday and a happy 95th birthday to the Empire State Building, which was completed in just 410 days and held the crown as the world's tallest building for four decades. On this International Workers' Day, demonstrators around the world held May Day rallies, with marchers in the United States protesting Trump administration policies under the banner of "workers over billionaires."

Here's what else is happening.

Trump Tells Congress Hostilities in Iran 'Have Terminated'

President Trump asserted in a letter to congressional leaders today that hostilities against Iran "have terminated" because of the ceasefire that has been in place since April 7.

The letter comes as the conflict reaches a 60-day deadline set by the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires the president to halt military operations or seek congressional authorization to continue hostilities. Trump today called the War Powers Resolution "totally unconstitutional." His comments and letter indicate that he aims to skirt or challenge the law's requirement that he get congressional approval for the campaign against Iran.

Trump also told reporters he is "not satisfied" with the latest Iranian proposal to end the war. He laid out the choices before him: "I mean, do we want to go and just blast the hell out of 'em and finish them forever, or do we want to try and make a deal? Those are the options." He said he'd prefer to reach an agreement.

Trump's Tariffs: Up on EU Cars, Down on Whiskey

President Trump said Friday that he plans to raise the tariff on vehicles imported from the European Union, claiming that the 27-nation trading bloc has failed to live up to the terms of a trade agreement with the United States.

"I am pleased to announce that, based on the fact the European Union is not complying with our fully agreed to Trade Deal, next week I will be increasing Tariffs charged to the European Union for Cars and Trucks coming into the United States," Trump said on his social media platform. "The Tariff will be increased to 25%."

Speaking to reporters at the White House as he headed to Florida, Trump suggested that the EU is failing to invest enough in U.S. car production, warranting the punitive tariff hike. Trump claimed that multiple auto factories backed by $100 billion will soon open in the United States, saving the foreign automakers making those investments from having to pay tariffs on imports, but EU nations are not among the major investors. Trump said the tariff increase would force EU automakers to "move their factory production much faster" to the United States.

Several major European automakers already have a significant manufacturing footprint in the United States, including Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and BMW. Their facilities, however, tend to be assembly plants that rely on a mix of foreign and domestic parts, while the Trump administration has stated that it wants automotive supply chains to be anchored domestically.

In pursuit of a better deal: The tariff on EU auto imports was set at 15% last summer, when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reached an agreement with Trump that included a 15% tariff on most EU goods and a pledge by EU nations to purchase $750 billion worth of energy from the United States and make $600 billion in investments in the U.S. economy. Some EU member nations have balked at the agreement, however, raising questions about its final approval, and the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that some of Trump's tariffs are unconstitutional has muddied the waters further still.

Trump's announcement highlights the uncertainty surrounding Trump's trade agreements, which have been closer to outlines than detailed contracts. Bernd Lange, the German member of the European Parliament who chairs the EU's international trade committee, said the announcement shows that the United States has become downright unreliable on trade matters. "This is no way to treat close partners," he said, per The Guardian. Writing on social media, Lange claimed that the EU is honoring its end of the agreement as the member nations work to finalize it. "While the EU delivers, the US side keeps breaking its commitments," he said.

Some U.S. critics of Trump's trade policy also see a troubling sign of instability in the way the president has wielded trade policy. Scott Lincicome, a lawyer who advocates for free trade at the libertarian Cato Institute, said Trump's threats are "just another example of why these trade deals are vaporware." The agreements "all rely on handshakes and winks and hopes that Trump doesn't get mad about something," he said, per the Associated Press.

Trump has recently expressed anger at European allies for their reluctance to support the war against Iran launched in February by the United States and Israel, and that disagreement could have added to Trump's motivation in punishing EU member nations with a higher tariff on auto imports.

Easing up on whiskey: On Thursday, at the end of what appeared to have been an amiable four-day visit from King Charles III and Queen Camilla, Trump announced that he would eliminate the tariff on British whiskeys.

"In Honor of the King and Queen of the United Kingdom, who have just left the White House, soon headed back to their wonderful Country, I will be removing the Tariffs and Restrictions on Whiskey having to do with Scotland's ability to work with the Commonwealth of Kentucky on Whiskey and Bourbon, two very important Industries within Scotland and Kentucky," Trump said on his social media platform.

The U.K. government said the change applies to all whiskey tariffs, including those made in Northern Ireland.

Under the terms of a trade agreement announced last year, all British imports faced a 10% tariff. The tariffs hit British whiskey producers hard, with the Scotch Whisky Association saying its members were losing out on more than $5 million in exports per week due to higher prices.

A spokesperson for King Charles said he had been informed about Trump's "warm gesture," which will aid the British whiskey industry. "His Majesty will be raising a dram to the President's thoughtfulness and generous hospitality as he departs the U.S.," the spokesperson said.

Number of the Day: $4.39

Prices at the pump have jumped again. The national average price of regular gasoline rose another nine cents from Thursday to Friday, reaching $4.39, according to AAA. The one-day increase was the largest in the six weeks, bringing the national average to its highest level since July 2022. As oil prices have surged again, gas prices have risen 33 cents a gallon over the last week and are up nearly 50% since the Iran war started. President Trump predicted Thursday that the cost of gas will "drop like a rock" as soon as the war ends, but energy sector experts warn that prices rise like a rocket but fall like a feather, suggesting that pain at the pump will ease only gradually if or when oil prices come down.

Chart of the Day: Delays in Disaster Aid

Federal disaster declarations have been slow in coming under the Trump administration, according to a New York Times analysis of Federal Emergency Management Agency data, and aid money has been flowing "especially slowly" to states that voted against Trump in 2024.

Quote of the Day

"It's pretty debilitating when you're supposed to follow a guy into battle, and I wouldn't trust him to get out of a wet paper bag with an M4."

– Republican Rep. Max Miller of Ohio, criticizing Speaker Mike Johnson in a Politico article detailing the rising dissatisfaction with Johnson and complaints about the speaker's leadership style. "Republicans say Johnson's habit of making last-minute, often contradictory promises to keep his tiny majority functioning is starting to catch up with him," Politico's Meredith Lee Hill, Mia McCarthy and Riley Rogerson report. "Frustrations over his leadership, they say, are at an all-time high."

Johnson succeeded this week in quelling Republican revolts to get a Homeland Security funding bill passed, push a farm bill through the House and avert a lapse in a controversial surveillance program, but the chaotic way those bills were passed also created discontent and future challenges, leaving critics charging that the speaker is simply lurching from one crisis to the next.

Fiscal News Roundup

• White House Tells Congress Iran War Has Been 'Terminated,' Skirting 60-Day Clock – MS Now
• Trump Says He's Dissatisfied With Iran's Latest Proposal – CNN
• Scoop: U.S. Blockade Has Cost Iran $4.8 Billion, Pentagon Says – Axios
• US Asks for Help With Opening Strait of Hormuz While Trump Attacks Allies – NBC News
• Poll: Trump's Iran War Reaches Iraq- and Vietnam-Era Disapproval Levels – Washington Post
• Spirit Airlines Prepares to Shut Down as Rescue Deal Falls Apart – Wall Street Journal
• The Fed Subtly Signaled That Only Rate Cuts Are on the Table. Some Fed Officials Are Crying Foul – CNN
• Fed Dissenters Speak Out: 'The Next Rate Change Could Be Either a Cut or a Hike' – Yahoo Finance
• FEMA Aims to Rehire Most of the Disaster-Response Employees It Fired Months Ago – Washington Post
• Centrist Democrats Beef Up Affordability Message – Politico
• How US Equipment Ended Up in the Hands of Iran's Allies in Yemen as USAID Was Disbanded – CNN
• Pentagon Strikes Deals With 7 Big Tech Companies After Shunning Anthropic – CNN
• Cigna's Exit Adds to Obamacare Marketplace Upheaval – The Hill
• Millions of Americans Might Be Eligible for Tax Refunds From Covid Era – Wall Street Journal
• What Is TrumpIRA.gov? Trump Unveils Plan for New Retirement Website – The Hill

Views and Analysis

• It's Harder Than Ever to Get Federal Disaster Aid. Even in Red States – Scott Dance and Ashley Cai, New York Times
• Since Congress Let Obamacare Subsidies Expire, Millions Are Dropping Coverage – Reed Abelson and Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times
• Mike Johnson Ekes Out Wins, but at a Cost – Mia McCarthy and Calen Razor, Politico
• How Trump's Attacks on the Fed Backfired, Frustrating His Plans to Reshape It – Andrew Ackerman, Washington Post
• Trump's Latest Tariffs in Court: Are They About to Be Blocked? – Alan Wolff, Peterson Institute for International Economics
• K-Shaped Economy Is 'Alive and Well,' Expert Says - What New Research Shows – Jessica Dickler, CNBC
• What Strings Will Trump Attach to Dollar Lifelines? – Christopher Smart, Bloomberg
• Taxing the Wealthy Won't Reduce Their Power – Allison Schrager, Bloomberg
• Seattle's Mayor Waves Goodbye to Prosperity – Washington Post Editorial Board
• AI Saves the Trump Economy – Wall Street Editorial Board
• States Rush to Regulate AI in Health Care – Rebecca Adams, Washington Post