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Donald Trump’s simmering discontent with the US Federal Reserve boiled over this week, with the president threatening to take the unprecedented step of ousting the head of the fiercely independent central bank.Trump has repeatedly said he wants rate cuts now to help stimulate economic growth as he rolls out his tariff plans, and has threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell if he does not comply, putting the bank and the White House on a collision course that analysts warn could destabilize US financial markets.”If I want him out, he’ll be out of there real fast, believe me,” Trump said Thursday, referring to Powell, whose second four-year stint as Fed chair ends in May 2026. Powell has said he has no plans to step down early, adding this week that he considers the bank’s independence over monetary policy to be a “matter of law.””Clearly, the fact that the Fed chairman feels that he has to address it means that they are serious,” KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk told AFP, referring to the White House. Stephanie Roth, chief economist at Wolfe Research, said she thinks “they will come into conflict,” but does not think “that the Fed is going to succumb to the political pressure.”Most economists agree that the administration’s tariff plans — which include a 10 percent “baseline” rate on imports from most countries — will put upward pressure on prices and cool economic growth, at least in the short term.That would keep inflation well away from the Fed’s long-term target of two percent, and likely prevent policymakers from cutting rates in the next few months.”They’re not going to react because Trump posted that they should be cutting,” Roth said in an interview, adding that doing so would be “a recipe for a disaster” for the US economy.- Fed independence ‘absolutely critical’ – Many legal scholars say the US president does not have the power to fire the Fed chair or any of his colleagues on the bank’s 19-person rate-setting committee for any reason but cause. The Fed system, created more than a century ago, is also designed to insulate the US central bank from political interference.”Independence is absolutely critical for the Fed,” said Roth. “Countries that do not have independent central banks have currencies that are notably weaker and interest rates that are notably higher.”Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi told AFP that “we’ve had strong evidence that impairing central bank independence is a really bad idea.” – ‘Can’t control the bond market’ -One serious threat to the Fed’s independence comes from an ongoing case in which the Trump administration has indicated it will seek to challenge a 1935 Supreme Court decision denying the US president the right to fire the heads of independent government agencies. The case could have serious ramifications for the Fed, given its status as an independent agency whose leadership believes they cannot currently be fired by the president for any reason but cause. But even if the Trump administration succeeds in court, it may soon run into the ultimate guardrail of Fed independence: The bond markets.During the recent market turbulence unleashed by Trump’s tariff plans, US government bond yields surged and the dollar fell, signaling that investors may not see the United States as the safe haven investment it once was. Faced with the sharp rise in US Treasury yields, the Trump administration paused its plans for higher tariffs against dozens of countries, a move that helped calm the financial markets. If investors believed the Fed’s independence to tackle inflation was compromised, that would likely push up the yields on long-dated government bonds on the assumption that long-term inflation would be higher, and put pressure on the administration. “You can’t control the bond market. And that’s the moral of the story,” said Swonk.”And that’s why you want an independent Fed.”

Sara Lopez hugs the wall of the mall as she hurries back to her car after a shopping trip just outside Washington.”I’m afraid of being arrested while walking in the street,” the 41-year-old undocumented migrant said.Lopez left El Salvador three years ago to move in with her husband near the American capital, home to a large Salvadoran community, second only to that of Los Angeles.It was near here in March that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was arrested — a Salvadoran migrant hustled off to a prison in his home country by the Trump administration despite a 2019 court order that was supposed to protect him from deportation.American authorities have acknowledged an “administrative error” in Abrego Garcia’s case, but they have dug in over seeking his return to the country.The Trump administration claims that Abrego Garcia belonged to the Salvadoran gang MS-13, which it has dubbed a “foreign terrorist organization” — and said he is guilty of domestic violence.”There should be a good investigation into this case, because we can’t all be tarred with the same brush,” Washington resident Lopez said.”We came here to work,” she insisted, adding that “we don’t do any harm to anyone.”In Mount Pleasant, a Washington neighborhood peppered with Salvadoran restaurants, 31-year-old Keylie said that in her community, “some are working two part-times, even three part-times, just to make ends meet.”The daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, she declined to give her family name.Keylie was born in the United States, and so holds citizenship, but said she still feels afraid.”Just by looking at me, you can tell I’m Hispanic. I could be targeted just because of that,” she said.- Divided views –The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return from a notorious Salvadoran prison.Alberto Garcia, who is not related to Abrego Garcia, hailed the justices’ decision.The jailed man is the victim of an “injustice,” Alberto Garcia said, adding, “They didn’t give him the right to defend himself.”Some of the Salvadorans to whom AFP spoke, however, offered more nuanced takes on the case.”The governments here and there (in El Salvador) have apparently discovered that he was part of a gang,” said Saul Mercado with a shrug.The sunglasses-wearing 60-something, who was granted political asylum after fleeing El Salvador’s 1979-92 civil war, said he agrees with the policies Trump has pursued since returning to the White House in January.The billionaire president won the votes of more than four in 10 Latinos in the November election, gaining substantial support among the community since 2020.”He’s cleaning up all the crime,” Mercado said, comparing Trump to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who he said has his own country “making progress.”During a White House visit Monday, Bukele ruled out any flexibility in Abrego Garcia’s case, saying he was unable to send the man back.The Salvadoran president has boosted his popularity at home by waging relentless war on the gangs that once terrorized the Central American country.Abrego Garcia’s case “creates conflict” for many Salvadorans in the United States, said Abel Nunez, director of Carecen, a local group that aids Latin American migrants.”They can see that this young man was a victim, they are aware of that, but they are not necessarily blaming Bukele for it. For them, he’s just a jailer,” added Nunez, who is Salvadoran.”This case has more to do with the US as a whole, and not only with our community,” he said. “Kilmar’s expulsion opens the door for anyone to be sent outside of the country — and that includes citizens.”Trump himself has floated the idea of sending US citizens to be jailed abroad, saying on Tuesday that he “would love” to send “homegrown criminals” to El Salvador’s prisons.

Threats to Muslims living in Texas are nothing new, but lately the vile phone calls to Imran Chaudhary have ramped up.The cause?Chaudhary’s early plans for construction of 1,000 new homes, a community center, school, hospital and — controversially — a mosque and Islamic private school to serve the growing Muslim community near East Plano, in a thinly populated corner of east Texas.One anonymous caller says, in an expletive filled message, “I suggest you get the fuck out of America while it’s still an option.” The conservative, white, and Christian authorities tied to President Donald Trump in this state aren’t exactly welcoming either, launching investigations into the project’s legality.Chaudhary says the pressure is misguided.”We’ve been trying to follow every single law that is out there, from the state perspective to the federal perspective,” he said.But just this week, Senator John Cornyn called for an investigation into the constitutionality of Chaudhary’s project, an offshoot of an existing site called the East Plano Islamic Center or “EPIC.”The center “could violate the constitutional rights of Jewish and Christian Texans,” he said.Texas governor and Trump ally Greg Abbott characterized the project as an attempt to install Islamic law. “To be clear, Sharia law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Sharia cities. Nor are ‘no go zones’ which this project seems to imply,” he wrote on social media. Texas is one of more than a dozen states that have enacted “anti-Sharia law” bills, which anti-hate group Southern Poverty Law Center calls “one of the most successful far-right conspiracies to achieve mainstream viability.”The conspiracy theory holds that Islamic law, known as sharia, is encroaching on the American legal system, a claim the American Civil Liberties Union and other legal experts refute.Chaudhary denies that he envisions a Muslim-only town, saying that it’s “open to all, anybody can use our services, community center, our school.”As president of Community Capital Partners, which develops EPIC properties, Chaudhary told AFP, “We never even discussed sharia. From day one we’ve consulted with our attorneys what is the best way for us to do this project, to make sure that we follow all the state laws, we follow all the federal laws.”In a show of goodwill, Chaudhary invited the governor to a Texas-style barbeque over social media. Abbott didn’t respond.- Fear vs optimism -The EPIC Islamic community settled in Plano north of Dallas some 20 years ago, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the new community they want to build near Josephine.The Plano settlement of around 5,000 people now have their own mosque. Iman Yasir Qadhi leads prayers there.Born in Houston to a Pakistani family, Qadhi said Muslims like Texas because of the warm weather, low taxes and good food.”Organically, when the mosque was built, a lot of people began moving in here and we found that our space wasn’t sufficient for us,” he said. “Because of the influx of people we are looking to expand.”Only 313,000 Muslims reside in Texas, which has a population of more than 31 million, according to World Population Review.Prospective EPIC residents can reserve lots by putting down 20 percent, with single townhouse pads starting at $80,000 and 1-acre lots going for $250,000. Maps posted online indicate more than two dozen lots have already been sold.But at an April town hall meeting in Collin County, an overflow crowd showed up to speak out against EPIC’s project. And the developers’ lawyer Dan Cogdell said all the negative publicity will slow approvals down.”The lies and the misinformation that Abbott’s putting out is striking,” he said.Qadhi said he is worried about hate crimes. He said he himself has been accused of terrorism but “they are the ones terrorizing us.”Moitree Rahman, a 38-year-old mother of two from Bangladesh, says she remains optimistic and looks forward to the expanding EPIC community.”All the rhetoric that we are seeing and hearing, it’s not true,” she said. “That’s why we felt very confident in investing.”

A US senator described Friday how El Salvador staged a photo of him supposedly sipping margaritas with a wrongly deported constituent to cover up the man’s ordeal in a notorious prison.Chris Van Hollen denied that he drank cocktails with Kilmar Abrego Garcia while in El Salvador to meet the man, who was removed in what the White House has admitted was an “administrative error.”US President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele have refused to bring about the Maryland father’s release, despite a US federal judge’s order — backed by the Supreme Court — for his return.Van Hollen, a Democrat who represents Abrego Garcia’s home state, met the metal worker Thursday at the senator’s hotel in San Salvador.He told reporters on his return to Washington that Abrego Garcia had been moved to a better prison an hour’s drive away, but not before being scared for his safety in San Salvador’s CECOT, known for reports of rights abuses.Van Hollen said he realized he had been set up when Bukele posted photos on X of the meeting, alongside a caption stating that Abrego Garcia was “miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture,’ now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!”Later at the White House, Trump called Van Hollen a “fake” after he was asked about Bukele’s post.But the two-term senator said one of Bukele’s aides had planted cocktail glasses on the table to make it look like Abrego Garcia was being detained in the lap of luxury. “Nobody drank any margaritas or sugar water or whatever it is. But this is a lesson into the lengths that President Bukele will do to deceive people about what’s going on,” Van Hollen said.”And it also shows the lengths that the Trump administration and the president will go to, because when he was asked (by) a reporter about this, he just went along for the ride.”Van Hollen said Bukele’s officials had even pushed for the meeting to take place beside the hotel’s pool “to create this appearance that life was just lovely for Kilmar.”- ‘Total blackout’ -Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant, entered the United States illegally in 2011 but was given an indefinite reprieve from deportation in 2019.He was among scores of deportees the Trump administration has paid Bukele’s administration several million dollars to keep in detention.Trump has not revealed the terms of the deal, including any arrangements for the detainees’ care, how the contract is being monitored for compliance or when the prisoners will be released.The US government says Abrego Garcia is a member of the notorious MS-13 Salvadoran gang, although the evidence it has produced has been dismissed as inadequate by a federal court.He denies gang membership and has never been charged with crimes in either country.Van Hollen shared details of his half-hour meeting with Abrego Garcia, saying the detainee told him he had been in a cell with around 25 others. “He said he was not afraid of the other prisoners in his immediate cell, but that he was traumatized by being at CECOT, and fearful of many of the prisoners in other cell blocks who called out to him and taunted him in various ways,” the senator told reporters.Van Hollen added that even under his better conditions, Abrego Garcia was still under a “total blackout,” with no access to news from the outside world and no contact with family.The senator said Abrego Garcia grew emotional as he spoke repeatedly about his five-year-old son, who has autism and was in the car when Kilmar was pulled over by US government agents in Maryland and handcuffed.”His conversation with me was the first communication he had with anybody outside a prison since he was abducted. He said he felt very sad about being in a prison because he had not committed any crimes,” the Democrat went on. “When I asked him what was the one thing he would ask for, in addition to his freedom, he said he wanted to talk to his wife, Jennifer.”

Citing the US-China trade conflict, Ford said Friday it has “adjusted” its exports to the country, where the US auto giant operates manufacturing jointly with local partners.”We have adjusted exports from the US to China in light of the current tariffs,” Ford told AFP without specifying the models affected.The US auto giant halted Michigan-made shipments of the F-150 Raptor, Mustang and Bronco sport utility vehicles, according to a Wall Street Journal report Friday. Also affected was the Lincoln Navigator, which is built in Kentucky, the newspaper said.Over the last decade, Ford has sold around 240,000 vehicles in China exported from the United States. But volumes fell sharply in 2024 to around 5,500.The move is the latest ripple effect from an escalating trade war between Beijing and Washington.Despite pulling back on many other tariffs, President Donald Trump has stuck firm to US duties on Chinese goods and raised them to 145 percent. In turn, China has increased tariffs on US exports, including cars, to 125 percent.Overall, Ford sold 442,000 vehicles — made in the United States and elsewhere — in China in 2024, comprising 1.6 percent of the market, according to the carmaker’s latest annual report.The US company operates a number of manufacturing joint ventures in China with Chinese companies, producing vehicles under both the Ford and Lincoln brands.Some of Ford’s production in China is exported to other markets. One of these vehicles, the Lincoln Nautilus, is now subject to hefty US tariffs, according to the Wall Street Journal.Ford’s Chinese ventures resulted in 2024 operating profits of around $900 million, Ford Vice Chairman John Lawler said this week at a financial conference.

US President Donald Trump warned Thursday that Washington would “take a pass” on talks to end the Ukraine war within days unless there is rapid progress from Moscow and Kyiv.His comments came just hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio set the clock ticking, saying in Paris that the United States could “move on” from its role brokering the negotiations.Trump has been pressing both sides for a truce, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin despite an ice-breaking call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and repeated negotiations with Moscow.”If for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say: ‘You’re foolish. You’re fools. You’re horrible people’ — and we’re going to just take a pass,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”Republican Trump refused to cast blame on either Putin, who ordered the February 2022 full-scale invasion of pro-Western Ukraine, or Kyiv’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, insisting both sides had to make progress.But Trump warned that a decision on whether to abandon the talks could come “very shortly”. “No specific number of days, but quickly. We want to get it done,” he added.- ‘Move on’ -Moscow has kept up strikes on Ukraine, killing at least two people and wounding dozens more in attacks on the northeastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy, Ukrainian officials said.One of the few commitments Trump had wrangled from Russia — a temporary moratorium on striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure — “expired” on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to an AFP question.After meeting European officials in Paris to discuss a ceasefire, Rubio said Washington needed to figure out soon whether a ceasefire was “doable in the short term.””Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” he told reporters.But speaking on a trip to Italy, US Vice President JD Vance still insisted he was “optimistic” about ending the three-year war.Trump promised to end the war within 24 hours of taking office but has little to show for his efforts so far.He has embarked on a rapprochement quest with the Kremlin that has alarmed Kyiv and driven a wedge between the United States and its European allies.He and Vance also had a blazing Oval Office row in February with Zelensky, whom he still accuses of bearing responsibility for Moscow’s invasion.Trump insisted that he was not being “played” by Moscow, which is accused by Ukraine of dragging its feet.”My whole life has been one big negotiation and I know when people are playing us and I know when they’re not,” the billionaire property tycoon added.Asked if Putin was stretching out the process, Trump added: “I hope not. I’m going to let you know about that soon if he is… he’s got a big force out there.” – ‘Mockery’ -Zelensky meanwhile slammed the latest attacks on his country, which came just days before Easter.Kyiv earlier announced it had received the bodies of 909 soldiers from Russia.”This is how Russia started Good Friday — with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shahed drones. A mockery of our people and cities,” Zelensky said on Telegram.Russia said it had hit “key drone production sites” and Ukrainian military airfields.Putin last month rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a full and unconditional pause in the conflict, while the Kremlin has made a truce in the Black Sea conditional on the West lifting certain sanctions.Trump has also repeatedly expressed anger and frustration at Zelensky in a marked break from his predecessor, Joe Biden.Ukraine is set to sign a deal next week in Washington that would give the United States sweeping access to its mineral resources.European powers have meanwhile been seeking a seat at the table in the negotiations, particularly as Trump’s administration insists the continent should share the burden for Ukraine’s security. France hosted meetings between US and European officials in Paris on Thursday, saying the talks had launched a “positive process.”The meetings included French President Emmanuel Macron, Rubio and US envoy Steve Witkoff.Many allies have however been alarmed by Witkoff — who recently met Putin in Russia — repeating Moscow’s talking points about the war.burs-dk/tgb/

The United States will roughly halve the number of troops it has deployed in Syria to less than 1,000 in the coming months, the Pentagon said Friday.Washington has had troops in Syria for years as part of international efforts against the Islamic State (IS) group, which rose out of the chaos of the country’s civil war to seize swaths of territory there and in neighboring Iraq over a decade ago.The brutal jihadists have since suffered major defeats in both countries, but still remain a threat.”Today the secretary of defense directed the consolidation of US forces in Syria… to select locations,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, without specifying the sites where this would take place.”This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the US footprint in Syria down to less than 1,000 US forces in the coming months,” he said.”As this consolidation takes place…  US Central Command will remain poised to continue strikes against the remnants of (IS) in Syria,” Parnell added, referring to the military command responsible for the region.President Donald Trump has long been skeptical of Washington’s presence in Syria, ordering the withdrawal of troops during his first term but ultimately leaving American forces in the country.As Islamist-led rebels pressed forward with a lightning offensive last December that ultimately overthrew Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Trump said Washington should “NOT GET INVOLVED!””Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT,” Trump, then the president-elect, wrote on his Truth Social platform.- Years of war against IS -The 2014 onslaught by IS prompted a US-led air campaign in support of local ground forces — the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and  Iraqi government units.Washington also deployed thousands of American personnel to advise and assist local forces, with US troops in some cases directly fighting the jihadists.After years of bloody warfare, Iraq’s prime minister announced a final victory over IS in December 2017, while the SDF proclaimed the defeat of the group’s “caliphate” in March 2019 after seizing its final bastion in Syria.But the jihadists still have some fighters in the countryside of both countries, and US forces have long carried out periodic strikes and raids to help prevent the group’s resurgence.Washington stepped up military action against IS in Syria in the wake of Assad’s overthrow, though it has more recently shifted its focus to strikes targeting Yemen’s Huthi rebels, who have been attacking international shipping since late 2023.US forces in Iraq and Syria were repeatedly targeted by pro-Iran militants following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, but responded with heavy strikes on Tehran-linked targets, and the attacks largely subsided.Washington for years said it had some 900 military personnel in Syria as part of international efforts against IS, but the Pentagon announced in December 2024 that the number of US troops in the country had doubled to around 2,000 earlier in the year.While the United States is reducing its forces in Syria, Iraq has also sought an end to the US-led coalition’s presence there, where Washington has said it has some 2,500 troops.The United States and Iraq have announced that the coalition would end its decade-long military mission in federal Iraq by the end of 2025, and by September 2026 in the autonomous Kurdistan region.

The federal judge in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs for sex trafficking and other charges denied Friday the music mogul’s bid to delay his trial by two months, saying he had ample time to prepare.On Monday, the rapper and record producer pleaded not guilty to two new charges added to the criminal racketeering and sex trafficking case: one new charge of sex trafficking and one of transportation to engage in prostitution.Judge Arun Subramanian said that the blockbuster trial of Combs, 55, who stands accused by several women of trafficking and sexually exploiting them, should go ahead as planned on May 5. It is expected to last eight to 10 weeks.He has denied all charges thus far, insisting that any sex acts were consensual, and he nodded his head vigorously Friday when the judge reminded the courtroom that Combs was innocent until proven guilty.”It’s unclear why… there isn’t sufficient time, especially given the now four (law) firms Mr. Combs now has representing him,” the judge said at a pretrial hearing in a Manhattan skyscraper courthouse.Combs’s lead lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, had said an extension was required to examine new evidence.”The new conduct (alleged) is not new,” the judge said in response.On Friday, Combs wore drab prison scrubs, his hair and beard flecked with grey as he rocked from side to side, turning around at one point to blow a kiss to his mother, Janice.Also in court was attorney Brian Steele, fresh from securing a successful plea deal for artist Young Thug, who had faced decades in jail.Steele did not speak.Public allegations have been building against Grammy winner Combs since late 2023, when singer/actor Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, alleged he had subjected her to more than a decade of coercion by physical force and drugs, as well as a 2018 rape.Along with the federal criminal case, Combs faces a mountain of civil suits that allege harrowing abuse by the artist with assistance from a loyal network of employees and associates.The rap superstar, incarcerated since September, has started to look noticeably aged.

President Donald Trump said Friday the United States will “take a pass” on brokering further Ukraine war talks unless there is quick progress from Moscow and Kyiv.Trump was speaking after Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented — following talks with European allies — that Washington would “move on” if a truce did not seem “doable” within days.”Yeah very shortly,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked to confirm what Rubio had said. “No specific number of days, but quickly. We want to get it done.”Trump refused to cast blame on either Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 full-scale invasion of pro-Western Ukraine, or Ukrainian President Voloydmyr Zelensky. But he insisted both sides had to make progress.”Now if for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say: ‘You’re foolish. You’re fools. You’re horrible people’ — and we’re going to just take a pass,” Trump said. “But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”Trump boasted repeatedly before returning for a second presidential term that he would end the Ukraine war within 24 hours. He claimed recently that he was being sarcastic.Ukraine has agreed to a full temporary ceasefire and accused Russia of stalling on a deal to get a better negotiating position.Trump stunned Western capitals when he opened direct talks with Putin in February, soon after taking office.He said he hoped the Russian leader was not dragging his feet. “I hope not,” he said when asked if Putin was stalling. “I’ll let you know soon.”Trump denied that he was being “played” by the former KGB agent, who denied Russia was going to invade right up until the eve of the attack.”Nobody’s playing me, I’m trying to help,” Trump said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that Washington could soon exit efforts to reach a Ukraine ceasefire if it decided peace was not “doable”, after meeting European and Ukrainian officials in Paris.European powers have been seeking a seat at the table since US President Donald Trump’s shock decision to open talks with Russia to end the three-year-old war, which started with Moscow’s 2022 invasion.But Trump’s push for peace has stumbled, with Russian President Vladimir Putin rebuffing a complete truce.”The United States has been helping Ukraine over the last three years, and we want it (the conflict) to end, but it’s not our war,” Rubio said.”We need to figure out here now, within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term, because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” he told reporters at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris.”We have other priorities to focus on as well.”Rubio said European officials had been “very helpful and constructive with their ideas” during talks in Paris on Thursday, which he attended with US envoy Steve Witkoff.”We’d like them to remain engaged… I think the UK and France and Germany can help us move the ball on this,” he said, ahead of a similar meeting planned for “early next week” in London.- ‘European sanctions’ -Ukraine said Friday that its prime minister would visit Washington next week for talks with US officials aimed at clinching a long-fraught minerals and resources deal.Trump wants the deal as compensation for aid given to Ukraine by his predecessor, Joe Biden.An agreement would be designed to give the United States royalty payments on profits from Ukrainian mining of resources and rare minerals.Rubio had said late Thursday in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that “peace is possible if all parties commit to reaching an agreement”, the US State Department said.Rubio said he hoped European nations would consider lifting sanctions against Russia over the war.”Many of them are European sanctions that we can’t lift, if that were ever to be part of a deal,” he said.European countries last month agreed to ramp up rather than scale down sanctions on Russia.France and Britain have sought a coordinated European response to defending Ukraine during the conflict and in any ceasefire, after Trump opened talks with Putin.French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the Paris talks had made a breakthrough because the United States, Ukraine and European ministers had “gathered around the same table”. He said the United States “has understood that a just and sustainable peace… can only be achieved with the consent and contribution of Europeans.”- ‘Little problem’ -Russia’s strikes, which have recently killed dozens of people including children in Ukrainian cities, have increased pressure for new diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.Witkoff said this week that Putin was open to “permanent peace” after talks with him in Saint Petersburg, their third meeting since Trump returned to the White House in January.Zelensky has accused Witkoff of “spreading Russian narratives” after the US envoy suggested a peace deal with Russia hinged on the status of Ukraine’s occupied territories.Putin last month rejected a US proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire, after Kyiv gave its backing to the idea.Putin also suggested Zelensky be removed from office, sparking an angry response from Trump who said he was “very angry” with the Russian leader.Celia Belin, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Rubio’s latest comments were “not surprising”.”Trump wants to get rid of the Ukraine issue,” she told AFP.”He wants to renew a strategic partnership with Moscow and he doesn’t want a ‘little problem’ like Ukraine getting in the way.”burs-ah/jh/js