President Trump secures a massive trade deal with the E.U. and brokers a peace agreement between Thailand and Cambodia. A possible motive emerges for the New York City mass shooting that left four dead. A decline in the U.S. birthrate spells trouble for the country and the economy.
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Trump Touts Trade and Peace Deal Triumphs
Topline: President Trump returned to the White House on Tuesday night following a successful trip to the United Kingdom, where he finalized a massive trade deal with the European Union and brokered a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia.
The White House is calling the trip a “winning streak” for the president. Under the terms of the trade agreement, the European Union will remove significant tariffs on American goods and purchase $750 billion of United States energy exports during the president’s term in office. The E.U. will also invest $600 billion in the U.S. over the same period. The deal is expected to provide American farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers with unprecedented market access to Europe.
President Trump also announced on Monday that Thailand and Cambodia had reached a ceasefire after he warned them that continued conflict would jeopardize any potential trade deals with the U.S. The president has now brokered approximately one peace deal or ceasefire per month since taking office.
Meanwhile, a third round of trade negotiations between the U.S. and China concluded in Sweden without a specific agreement. However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the talks as “constructive,” suggesting that Trump’s recent deals with Japan and the E.U. have given the U.S. leverage, putting China in “more of a mood for a wide ranging discussion.”
Motive Emerges In Midtown Manhattan Mass Shooting
Topline: Four people are dead, including an NYPD officer, after a gunman opened fire in a midtown Manhattan office building on Monday in New York’s deadliest mass shooting in 25 years.
The 27-year-old shooter stormed the lobby of the skyscraper at 345 Park Avenue, killing four people before taking his own life. According to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a suicide note found on the gunman suggests he was targeting the NFL headquarters located in the building. The shooter, who had a history of mental health problems, claimed in the note that he was suffering from CTE, a brain disease linked to head trauma, from playing football. However, he only played in high school.
The shooter was armed with an M-4 rifle, a style of weapon that is banned under New York’s strict gun laws. Following the attack, New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) called for a nationwide ban on semi-automatic rifles.
The shooting came as officials in Cincinnati gave an update on a separate, brutal street brawl that went viral over the weekend. Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge blamed social media and journalists for misrepresenting the incident and making the investigation more difficult. The city’s Democratic mayor, Aftab Pureval, accused the Trump administration’s Department of Justice of politicizing the attack by investigating it for potential hate crime charges.
U.S. Faces a ‘Birth Dearth’
Topline: The U.S. birthrate fell to an all-time low in 2024, according to a new CDC report, prompting concerns about the future of the nation’s culture and economy.
The CDC’s annual report revealed that the U.S. fertility rate dropped to 1.59 children per woman last year, a 19% decline in the last 20 years. This is significantly below the 2.1 rate needed for a generation to replace itself, and it means fewer babies were born in America in 2024 than in 1964, when the population was nearly half its current size.
The decline is attributed to several factors. Socially, women are waiting longer to have children, with the average age of a first-time mother now at 27.5, up from 22 in 1980. Biologically, fertility rates have also fallen. The average man’s sperm count has dropped 62% since 1970, a decline linked to rising obesity rates and exposure to “forever chemicals” like PFAs.
The Trump administration views the trend as a crisis. Vice President JD Vance has called the low birthrate an “existential threat to America.” The administration has responded with executive actions to reduce the cost of in-vitro fertilization, expand the Child Tax Credit, and has proposed a “Baby Bonus” that would provide a $5,000 cash payment to parents for each new child.