Motion to boot DA’s office from Menendez case dropped; Re-sentencing hearing set for next week

• May 9, 2025

By TERRI VERMEULEN KEITH

Attorneys for Erik and Lyle Menendez on Friday, May 9 withdrew their motion asking that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office be removed from the brothers’ case, saying they want to expeditiously move forward with their bid to have the pair re-sentenced and possibly be released from prison.

The brothers are serving life prison terms without the possibility of parole for the 1989 shotgun killings of their parents in the family’s Beverly Hills mansion. Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic scheduled the hearing on the defense re-sentencing motion to be held Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

Defense attorneys for Erik Menendez, 54, and his older brother, Lyle, now 57, had contended in a recent court filing that “absent recusal (of the District Attorney’s Office), a conflict of interest would render it likely that the defendants will receive neither a fair hearing nor fair treatment through all related proceedings.”

See also: Family complains about graphic photo shown in Menendez brothers hearing

In a court filing this week, Assistant Head Deputy Habib Balian and Deputy District Attorneys Seth Carmack and Ethan Milius countered, “In this case, there is absolutely no evidence or articulable explanation for any impermissible bias, let alone a conflict of interest.”

But in court Friday, the brothers’ defense team dropped its bid to have the D.A.’s office removed from the case, saying they did not want any more delays in a re-sentencing hearing. Jesic then promptly said that hearing will be held next week.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman personally appeared in the Van Nuys courtroom for the hearing, and he again asked Jesic to withdraw an earlier motion that was filed under previous D.A. George Gascón’s administration in support of a re-sentencing for the brothers. Jesic again denied that request.

Hochman opposes re-sentencing for the brothers, arguing they have not “accepted complete responsibility for their actions.”

See also: Menendez brothers’ family calls for re-sentencing, ‘redemption based on second chances’

The brothers are serving life prison sentences without the possibility of parole for the Aug. 20, 1989, shotgun killings of their parents, Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez. The Menendez brothers claim the killings were committed after years of abuse, including alleged sexual abuse by their father.

In a 2023 court petition, attorneys for the brothers pointed to two new pieces of evidence they contend corroborate the brothers’ allegations of long-term sexual abuse at the hands of their father — a letter allegedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano in early 1989 or late 1988, and recent allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, that he too was sexually abused by Jose Menendez as a teenager.

Defense attorneys are hoping to win a reduced sentence for the brothers, possibly allowing them to either be released immediately or at least eligible for parole consideration.

Meanwhile, state parole boards are set to conduct separate hearings June 13 for the brothers, then send their reports to Gov. Gavin Newsom to help him decide whether the two should receive clemency.

Interest in the Menendez case surged following the release of a recent Netflix documentary and dramatic series.

The governor said that with the exception of brief clips on social media, he has not watched dramatizations of the Menendez case or documentaries on it “because I don’t want to be influenced by them.”

“I just want to be influenced by the facts,” Newsom said.

See more stories on the Menendez brothers 

​ Orange County Register 

‘Don’t get in my way,’ the new acting head of federal disaster agency warns in call with staff

• May 9, 2025

By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA and REBECCA SANTANA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The new head of the federal agency tasked with responding to disasters across the country warned staff in a meeting Friday not to try to impede upcoming changes, saying that “I will run right over you” while also suggesting policy changes that would push more responsibilities to the states.

David Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer who served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa, was named acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Thursday just after Cameron Hamilton, who’d been leading the agency, also in an acting role, was fired.

Richardson has been the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for countering weapons of mass destruction. He does not appear to have any experience in managing natural disasters, but in an early morning call with the entire agency staff he told the staff that the agency would stick to its mission and said he’d be the one interpreting any guidance from President Donald Trump.

Prefacing his comments with the words “Now this is the tough part,” Richardson said during the call with staffers across the thousands-strong agency that he understands people can be nervous during times of change. But he had a warning for those who might not like the changes — a group he estimated to be about 20% of any organization.

“Don’t get in my way if you’re those 20% of the people,” he said. “I know all the tricks.”

“Obfuscation. Delay. Undermining. If you’re one of those 20% of the people and you think those tactics and techniques are going to help you, they will not because I will run right over you,” he said. “I will achieve the president’s intent. I am as bent on achieving the president’s intent as I was on making sure that I did my duty when I took my Marines to Iraq.”

He previewed what might be ahead

Richardson also reminded staff that FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security: “Don’t forget that.”

In a preview of what might be coming in terms of changes in policy, Richardson also said there would be more “cost-sharing with the states.”

“We’re going to find out how to do things better, and we’re going find out how to push things down to the states that should be done at the state level. Also going to find out how we can do more cost sharing with the states,” he said.

This issue — how much states, as opposed to the federal government, should pay for disaster recovery — has been a growing concern, especially at a time of an increasing number of natural disasters that often require Congress to repeatedly replenish the federal fund that pays for recovery.

But states often argue that they are already paying for most disaster recoveries on their own and are only going to the federal government for those events truly outside of their ability to respond.

Richardson did not take questions from the staff members, saying he wanted them to first read memos he was going to be sending out later Friday. He planned a town hall next week, when he will take questions from the staff.

A ‘mission analysis’ is planned for FEMA

In the memos obtained by The Associated Press, Richardson told the agency it would be conducting a “Mission Analysis” of the organization to identify “redundancies and inefficiencies” while also clarifying the organization’s “core” mission and “deterring mission creep.”

He also listed tasks to be accomplished in the coming weeks — including providing internal assessments of the agency’s preparedness for 2025; a list of all known gaps “in preparedness or core capabilities”; a list of lessons learned from past disasters; and an overview of “disaster aid before FEMA’s existence and the role of states and the federal government coordinating disaster management.”

He said he was honored to be in the role, leading an organization he described as an “unwieldy beast.”

Richardson arrives at FEMA at a time of immense turmoil and as it prepares for hurricane season, an extremely busy time for the agency.

Trump, a Republican, has suggested abolishing FEMA and providing money directly to states to manage. He has established a review council tasked with “reforming and streamlining the nation’s emergency management and disaster response system.” The 13-member council is chaired by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Homeland Security has not said specifically why Hamilton was removed from his position. But his dismissal came one day after he appeared before a House subcommittee where he was asked about plans to eliminate FEMA and said he did not believe the agency should be eliminated.

“Having said that,” Hamilton continued, “I’m not in a position to make decisions and impact outcomes on whether or not a determination such as consequential as that should be made. That is a conversation that should be had between the president of the United States and this governing body.”

​ Orange County Register 

Pope Leo XIV celebrates first Mass as pope and calls his election both a cross and a blessing

• May 9, 2025

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV, history’s first U.S.-born pontiff, said Friday that his election was both a cross to bear and a blessing as he celebrated his first Mass as the head of the Catholic Church.

Leo spoke off-the-cuff in English in the Sistine Chapel to the cardinals who elected him to follow in the footsteps of Pope Francis, who put a commitment to social justice at the core of his papacy. He acknowledged the great responsibility they had placed on him before delivering a brief but dense homily on the need to joyfully spread Christianity in a world that often mocks it.

“You have called me to carry that cross and to be blessed with that mission, and I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me as we continue as a church, as a community, as friends of Jesus, as believers, to announce the good news, to announce the Gospel,” he said.

The Mass was in the same frescoed chapel that Leo, the Chicago-born Augustinian missionary Robert Prevost, was elected Thursday afternoon as the 267th pope, overcoming the traditional taboo against a pontiff from the United States because of the secular power the country wields.

Leo will be formally installed as pope at a Mass on May 18, the Vatican said Friday, and will preside over his first general audience May 21. Meanwhile, he asked all Vatican leaders, who technically lost their jobs when Francis died April 21, to remain in their posts until he decides definitively on whether to confirm them.

A Mass that may suggest his priorities

Two women delivered the readings of Scripture at the start of the Mass, perhaps an indication of Leo’s intention to continue Francis’ focus on expanding women’s role in the church. As a cardinal, Leo put into practice one of Francis’ most revolutionary reforms by having three women serve on the Vatican board that vets bishop nominations.

Speaking in near-perfect Italian, Leo lamented that the Christian faith in many parts of the world is “considered absurd,” mocked or opposed in the face of temptations such as money, success and power. He complained that in many places Jesus is misunderstood, “reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman.”

“This is true not only among non-believers but also among many baptized Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism,” he said. “A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.”

The cardinals applauded as the Mass concluded. Leo was seen wearing simple black shoes — eschewing, as Francis did, the red loafers of the papacy preferred by some traditionalist popes.

In another signal he might break with tradition, Leo spent his first night as pontiff in his residence in the Sant’Uffizio Palace, and not the Apostolic Palace where popes traditionally reside, Vatican news reported. Francis chose to live in an apartment in the Santa Maria guest house.

Francis had his eye on the new pope

Francis, the first Latin American pope, clearly had his eye on Prevost and in many ways saw him as his heir apparent. He sent Prevost, who had spent years as a missionary in Peru, to take over a complicated diocese there in 2014. Francis brought Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 to head of the Vatican’s powerful Dicastery for Bishops, which vets bishop nominations around the world and is one of the most important jobs in church governance.

Since arriving in Rome, Prevost had kept a low public profile but was well known to the men who count, and respected by those who worked with him.

“Even the bishops of Peru called him the saint, the saint of the north, and he had time for everyone,” said the Rev. Alexander Lam, an Augustinian friar from Peru who knows the new pope.

An Augustinian pope

The last pope to take the name Leo was an Italian who led the church from 1878 to 1903. Leo XIII softened the church’s confrontational stance toward modernity, especially science and politics, and laid the foundation for modern Catholic social thought. His most famous encyclical — a high-level papal teaching — addressed workers’ rights and capitalism at the beginning of the industrial revolution and was highlighted by the Vatican in explaining the new pope’s choice of name.

While Vatican News said Leo XIV is the first Augustinian pope, the previous Leo had close ties to the order: He rebuilt an ancient Augustinian church and convent near his hometown of Carpineto, outside Rome, that is still in use by the order today.

Vatican watchers said Prevost’s decision to name himself Leo was particularly significant given the Leo XIII’s legacy of social justice and reform, suggesting continuity with some of Francis’ chief concerns. Specifically, Leo cited one of Francis’ key priorities of making the Catholic Church more attentive to lay people and inclusive.

“He is continuing a lot of Francis’ ministry,’’ said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, the chair of religious studies at Manhattan University in the Bronx. She added that his election could send a message to the U.S. church, which has been badly divided between conservatives and progressives, with much of the opposition to Francis coming from there.

“I think it is going to be exciting to see a different kind of American Catholicism in Rome,’’ Imperatori-Lee said.

Leo said in a 2023 interview with Vatican News that the polarization in the church was a wound that needed to be healed.

“Divisions and polemics in the church do not help anything. We bishops especially must accelerate this movement towards unity, towards communion in the church,” he said.

In the same interview, the then-cardinal said the women had enriched the process of vetting bishop nominations and reaffirmed the need for the laity to have a greater role in the church.

Leo’s brother, John Prevost, was so shocked that his brother had been elected pope that he missed several phone calls from Leo during an interview Thursday with The Associated Press.

John Prevost described his brother, a fan of Wordle, as being very concerned for the poor and those who don’t have a voice. He said he expects him to be a “second Pope Francis.”

“He’s not going to be real far left and he’s not going to be real far right,” he added. “Kind of right down the middle.”

Looking ahead

In his first hours as pope, Leo went back to his old apartment to see colleagues, according to selfies posted to social media. Vatican Media also showed him in the moments after his election praying in the Pauline Chapel before emerging on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to greet Rome and the world.

On Sunday, he is set to deliver his first noon blessing from the loggia and attend an audience with the media on Monday in the Vatican auditorium.

Beyond that, his first foreign trip could be at the end of May: Francis had been invited to travel to Turkey to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, a landmark event in Christian history and an important moment in Catholic-Orthodox relations.

Franklin Briceno in Lima Peru, Obed Lamy and Hallie Golden in New Lenox, Ill, Colleen Barry in Schiavon, Italy and Vanessa Gera and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

​ Orange County Register 

Jury to be chosen for sex trafficking trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

• May 9, 2025

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The final stage of jury selection for the racketeering and sex trafficking trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was set to occur on Friday in Manhattan federal court.

Federal prosecutors and lawyers assembled in a courtroom to narrow a pool of 45 prospective jurors to 12 jurors and six alternates who will hear the two-month trial beginning on Monday.

For three days this week, would-be jurors were asked questions to help the judge and lawyers determine if they could be fair and impartial. And they were also questioned to ensure they could decide the case on the facts even after seeing explicit videos of sexual activity that some might find disturbing.

Combs, 55, pleaded not guilty to charges after his September arrest and has remained held without bail at a federal lockup in Brooklyn.

On Friday, prosecutors were permitted to strike six prospective jurors from the jury while defense lawyers were permitted 10 strikes before the jury is finalized. Generally, lawyers do not have to explain why they are ejecting individuals from the panel. The process was expected to take about an hour.

If Combs is convicted on all charges, which include racketeering, kidnapping, arson, bribery and sex trafficking, he would face a mandatory 15 years in prison and could remain behind bars for life.

Prosecutors allege that the Bad Boy Records founder used his fame and power at the top of the hip-hop world to sexually abuse women from 2004 to 2024.

An indictment includes descriptions of “Freak Offs,” drugged-up orgies in which women were forced to have sex with male sex workers while Combs filmed them.

The charges against him also portray Combs as abusive to his victims, sometimes choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, often by the hair. Once, the indictment alleges, he even dangled someone from a balcony.

His lawyers contend that prosecutors are trying to criminalize sexual activity between consenting adults. They concede that Combs had abused various substances but say he has undergone treatment.

A centerpiece of the evidence against him are recordings of Combs beating a longtime girlfriend in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.

After a video of the encounter aired on CNN last year, Combs apologized, saying, “I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”

Numerous prospective jurors interviewed by Judge Arun Subramanian from Monday through Wednesday said they had seen the video and some were deemed to be too affected by it to be impartial and remain in the jury pool.

​ Orange County Register 

Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a Republican who became a liberal darling, dies at 85

• May 9, 2025

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, the ascetic bachelor and New Hampshire Republican who became a darling of liberals during his nearly 20 years on the bench, has died. He was 85.

Souter died Thursday at his home in New Hampshire, the court said in a statement Friday.

He retired from the court in June 2009, giving President Barack Obama his first Supreme Court vacancy to fill. Obama, a Democrat, chose Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina justice.

Souter was appointed by Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1990. He was a reliably liberal vote on abortion, church-state relations, freedom of expression and the accessibility of federal courts. Souter also dissented from the decision in Bush v. Gore in 2000, which effectively handed the presidency to George W. Bush, the son of the man who put him on the high court.

In retirement, Souter warned that ignorance of how government works could undermine American democracy.

“What I worry about is that when problems are not addressed, people will not know who is responsible. And when the problems get bad enough … some one person will come forward and say, ‘Give me total power and I will solve this problem.’ That is how the Roman republic fell,” Souter said in a 2012 interview.

His lifestyle was spare — yogurt and an apple, consumed at his desk, was a typical lunch — and he shunned Washington’s social scene. He couldn’t wait to leave town in early summer. As soon as the court finished its work in late June, he climbed into his Volkswagen Jetta for the drive back to the worn farmhouse where his family moved when he was 11.

Yet for all his reserve, Souter was beloved by colleagues, court employees and friends. He was a noted storyteller and generous with his time.

“Justice David Souter served our Court with great distinction for nearly twenty years. He brought uncommon wisdom and kindness to a lifetime of public service,” Chief Justice John Roberts said. Souter continued hearing cases on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for more than a decade after he left the high court, Roberts said.

When Bush plucked Souter from obscurity in 1990, liberal interest groups feared he would be the vote that would undo the court’s Roe v. Wade ruling in favor of abortion rights. He was called a stealth nominee by some.

Bush White House aide John Sununu, the former conservative governor of New Hampshire, hailed his choice as a “home run.” And early in his time in Washington, Souter was called a moderate conservative.

But he soon joined in a ruling reaffirming woman’s right to an abortion, a decision from 1992 that is his most noted work on the court. Thirty years later, a more conservative court overturned that decision and the constitutional right to abortion.

Souter asked precise questions during argument sessions, sometimes with a fierceness that belied his low-key manner. “He had an unerring knack of finding the weakest link in your argument,” veteran Supreme Court advocate Carter Phillips said.

Souter was history’s 105th Supreme Court justice and only its sixth bachelor.

Although hailed by The Washington Post as the capital city’s most prominently eligible single man when he moved from New Hampshire, Souter resolutely resisted the social whirl.

“I wasn’t that kind of person before I moved to Washington, and, at this age, I don’t see any reason to change,” the intensely private Souter told an acquaintance.

He worked seven days a week through most of the court’s term from October to early summer, staying at his Supreme Court office for more than 12 hours a day. He said he underwent an annual “intellectual lobotomy” at the start of each term because he had so little time to read for pleasure.

Souter rented an apartment a few miles from the court and jogged alone at Fort McNair, an Army installation near his apartment building. He was once mugged while on a run, an apparently random act.

Souter returned to his well-worn house in Weare, New Hampshire, for a few months each summer and was given the use of an office in a Concord courthouse.

An avid hiker, Souter spent much of his time away from work trekking through the New Hampshire mountains.

When Souter in 2005 joined an unpopular 5-4 decision on eminent domain allowing a Connecticut city to take several waterfront homes for a private development, a group angered by the decision tried to use it to evict him from his Weare farmhouse to make way for the “Lost Liberty Hotel.” But Weare residents rejected the proposal.

Shortly after his retirement, Souter bought a 3,500-square-foot Cape Cod-style home in Hopkinton, New Hampshire. It was reported, though perhaps it was just part of Souter’s lore, that he worried that the foundation of the house in Weare would give way under the weight of all the books he owned.

Souter had been a federal appellate judge for just over four months when picked for the high court. He had heard but one case as a federal judge, and as a state judge previously had little chance to rule on constitutional issues.

Though liberals were initially wary of his appointment, it was political conservatives who felt betrayed when in two 1992 rulings Souter helped forge a moderate-liberal coalition that reaffirmed the constitutional right of abortion and the court’s longtime ban on officially sponsored prayers in public schools.

Yet as Souter biographer Tinsley Yarbrough noted, the justice did not take “extreme positions.”

Indeed, in June 2008, Souter sided with Exxon Mobil Corp. and broke with his liberal colleagues in slashing the punitive damages the company owed Alaskan victims of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Before serving as a New Hampshire judge, Souter was his state’s attorney general for two years. He worked on the attorney general’s staff the eight previous years, after a brief stint in private practice.

Souter earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University, and a master’s degree from Oxford as a Rhodes scholar Washington, D.C.

Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack contributed to this report from Concord, New Hampshire.

​ Orange County Register 

Civilians can’t deck out their vehicles with exterior blue lights — those are for cops

• May 9, 2025

Q: Hi Honk: A number of cars and motorcycles have blue running lights, and when approaching them, are mistaken for police or emergency vehicles. Are these blue lights legal?

– Ed Skebe, San Pedro

A: No.

Civilian motorcycles, trucks and cars should not have blue lights anywhere on their exteriors, said Bobby Eurin, an officer and spokesman for the California Highway Patrol out of the Torrance office that patrols the 110 Freeway in your community, Ed.

“Those are not legal,” he said.

The law was likely enacted way back when for exactly the reason you broached, Ed — so the public can tell that that is an officer’s vehicle.

Having those blue lights could get the owner a fix-it ticket, Eurin said, but that can graduate to as high as an arrest if the officer believes there is enough evidence to suggest the offender is impersonating law enforcement.

Running lights, for those who may not know, are lower-wattage lights near the headlights that often turn on when the vehicle does.

Q: Hello, Honk: What’s the rule on paper license plates? Is there a time limit for them to be on a vehicle? Today, I was behind a car that had paper plates from 2020.

– Mario Luna, Anaheim

A: The switch from dealership advertisements in license-plate holders to temporary license plates is one of Honk’s favorite laws. It just makes so much sense instead of letting criminals and scofflaws cruise around without valid plates.

The law took effect on Jan. 1, 2019.

Those temporary plates are to be replaced when the permanent plates arrive, no later than within 90 days. The expiration date is on the paper plate itself.

“(They) are printed on a paper product able to withstand variable weather conditions and contain a QR code that contains basic information for that specific vehicle,” said Katarina Snow, a Department of Motor Vehicles spokesperson.

New permanent plates take four to six weeks, typically, to land in the vehicle owner’s mailbox. If that doesn’t happen, extensions for the temporary ones can be had.

Getting personalized plates can take eight months, Snow said. So, if getting new ones from the DMV for a new vehicle, the owner would go through temporary plates, metal “permanent” plates and, finally, get to slap on those personalized plates.

Mario, Honk has no idea why an officer hasn’t pulled over that car with the 2020 plates.

But if the owner hasn’t been paying registration fees, he or she will get hit with them and be rewarded with penalties to boot at some point, such as when trying to sell the car.

HONKIN’ FACT: That bike mentioned here last week that was on the auction block, one of 14 used in 1985’s “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure,” ended up going for $125,000, according to People magazine. This one was in some iconic scenes with the late, great Paul Reubens portraying Pee-wee Herman. Van Eaton Galleries, which handled the sale, had forecast a $30,000 to $60,000 price tag. Pee-wee, you might recall, said: “I wouldn’t sell my bike for all the money in the world. Not for a hundred million, billion, trillion dollars!”

To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk

​ Orange County Register 

Trump floats cutting China tariffs to 80% ahead of meeting as he looks to deescalate trade war

• May 9, 2025

By SEUNG MIN KIM and JOSH BOAK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday floated cutting tariffs on China from 145% to 80% ahead of a weekend meeting among top U.S. and Chinese trade officials as he looks to deescalate the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Top U.S. officials are set to meet with a high-level Chinese delegation in Switzerland in the first major talks between the nations since Trump sparked a trade war with stiff tariffs on imports.

“80% Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B,” Trump wrote on his social media account on Friday morning, referring to Scott Bessent, his Treasury chief, who has been a point person on trade. The Republican president also called on China to open its markets to the U.S., writing: “WOULD BE SO GOOD FOR THEM!!! CLOSED MARKETS DON’T WORK ANYMORE!!!”

Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Geneva in the most-senior known conversations between the two countries in months, according to announcements this week by the Trump administration and the Chinese commerce ministry. It comes amid growing U.S. market worry over the impact of the tariffs on the prices and supply of consumer goods.

No country has been hit harder by Trump’s trade war than China, the world’s biggest exporter and second largest economy. When Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2, China retaliated with tariffs of its own, a move that Trump viewed as demonstrating a lack of respect. The tariffs on each other’s goods have been mounting since then, with the U.S. tariffs against China now at 145% and China tariffs on the U.S. at 125%.

The U.S. tariff includes a 20% rate tied to Trump’s claim that Beijing has failed to stem the flow of chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl, and this portion of the tariff is unlikely to be brought up in this weekend’s talks.

While an 80% tariff level on Chinese goods would represent a significant reduction from the current 145%, it would still be an extremely high import duty that could create supply chain problems and push up prices.

And even with the reduction, the tariff rate would still be higher than the combined 74% rate on China that Trump announced at his April 2 “Liberation Day” event.

For China, experts say Beijing would insist that any agreement from the U.S. side would be credible and implemented.

Trump had previously said that he wouldn’t lower the tariffs against China to hold substantive talks. But he showed signs of softening during an Oval Office appearance on Thursday, when he said he “could” lower the 145% rate charged on Chinese goods if the weekend talks go well.

“We’re going to see,” Trump said. “Right now, you can’t get any higher. It’s at 145, so we know it’s coming down.”

The president’s team has acknowledged that the 145% tariff was not sustainable, as taxes at that rate were effectively an embargo on any trade between the two countries.

But it remains unclear how Trump can reconcile the contradictions in his stated goals. He wants large amounts of tariff revenues to offset his income tax cuts, but he also wants deals to increase market access for U.S. goods that would likely require lower tariffs. His aides have said he wants to isolate China, yet his tariffs on other trade partners make it difficult to create a durable alliance on trade.

Trump’s social media post was another sign that the president has essentially been publicly negotiating with himself on tariffs. He’s started, paused, tweaked and then threatened more import taxes, constantly reversing himself while balancing his promises to address inflation with his claims that tariffs can tilt the global economy in America’s favor.

​ Orange County Register 

Wall Street drifts higher as it counts down to a highly anticipated US-China meeting on trade

• May 9, 2025

By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting higher Friday as Wall Street heads toward the end of an unusually quiet week.

The S&P 500 was up 0.4% in early trading and on track to erase what had been a small loss for the week. This may be the first week in seven where the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts moves by less than 1.5%, after getting rocked first by fears about President Donald Trump’s trade war and then by hopes that he’ll relent on some of his tariffs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 127 points, or 0.3%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.

The big event for the week is likely coming on Saturday, when trading will be closed in financial markets. That’s when high-level U.S. and Chinese officials will be meeting in Switzerland for their first talks since Trump launched an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies. The fear among investors and economists is that the tariffs could cause a recession unless they’re reduced by enough.

Trump on Friday floated the idea of bringing tariffs on Chinese imports down to 80% from their current 145% rate, but he said it’ll be up to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who will be in Switzerland. While that would indeed be a reduction, it would still be high, and Trump’s posting on social media caused a brief jolt in financial markets, where futures for U.S. stocks sank immediately.

But markets later calmed as the wait continued for what U.S. and Chinese officials will say after their meeting.

Trump also talked up the potential for more trade deals that could be on the way, following his announcement the day before on an agreement with the United Kingdom.

“Many Trade Deals in the hopper, all good (GREAT!) ones!” he said on his Truth Social network.

In the meantime, the flow of earnings reports for the start of the year from companies is slowing but still moving the market.

Lyft rallied 17.6% after delivering a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its revenue fell short.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the chip giant known as TSMC, offered an encouraging report after saying its revenue in April leaped 48.1% from a year earlier. That sent its stock that trades in the United States up 2.5%.

They helped offset a 9.6% drop for travel website Expedia. It fell 10% after it trimmed its full-year bookings forecast. The owner of Vrbo and Hotels.com highlighted a 7% decline in travel demand to the U.S., including a 30% decline in bookings from Canada.

Other travel-related companies, including Hilton and Airbnb, have reported a similar softening in travel demand to the U.S. in their recent earnings reports.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were higher in Europe after finishing mixed in Asia.

Stocks rose 0.4% in Hong Kong but fell 0.3% in Shanghai after China reported that its exports rose at a faster-than-expected 8.1% annual pace in April. Exports to the United States dropped more than 20%, however, as Trump’s steep tariff increases took effect. China is the world’s biggest exporter.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was holding at 4.37%, where it was late Thursday.

AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed.

​ Orange County Register