Morning Brief: A China Trade Deal And More Riots

The United States and China agree to a trade framework, slashing tariffs and unlocking rare earth minerals. Inflation finally cools  — but L.A. remains hot. We break down the latest on the economy and the political unrest. And, as chaos erupts on the L.A. streets, the real battle is for the narrative – who’s winning the PR war?

It’s Thursday, June 12, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.

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Trade War Finale: We Have A Deal

Topline: President Donald Trump announced that the United States has reached a trade deal with China. The news comes amid an uneasy truce after a series of retaliatory tariffs.

Early Wednesday morning, Trump shared on Truth Social that “Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval with President Xi and me.” This followed two days of negotiations between top economic officials from both countries in London. Trump said that the deal, as it stands, would impose 55% tariffs on Chinese goods entering the United States, but just 10% for American goods in China. China has also agreed to resume shipping magnets and rare earth minerals to the United States.

“Rare earths power $7 trillion US dollars of consumer goods every year,” Shaun Rein, the founder of the China Market Research Group, told The Daily Wire. “Without Chinese rare earths, our iPhones aren’t going to work. Our cars aren’t going to work. And importantly, our military defense weapons aren’t going to work. So without Chinese rare earths, America’s in a lot of trouble. What also people don’t realize is that about 95% of antibiotics actually [are] manufactured in China. And then all straight down everything you get out of Walgreens or CVS, whether it’s Advil or Tylenol, a lot of that is made in China.”

China is the second-largest economy in the world and is a major market for many American goods – $143.5 billion of U.S. goods were exported to China in 2024, although American imports of Chinese goods were far higher at $438.9 billion. Tariffs of 55% are comparatively high but much lower than the 145% imposed before the agreement was reached. The deal will allow Chinese students to resume attending American colleges and universities.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that this agreement would conclude trade negotiations with China and that deals from many other countries are close to locking in their own deals with the United States.

“We’re in good shape with lots of countries, but good shape isn’t good enough for the United States of America,” Lutnick told CNBC.”We want great deals that are fundamental to America, we can get them, we can get them done.”

And… Inflation rose just 0.1% in May compared to April — it’s now sitting at 2.4%, near a four-year low.

Anti-ICE Riots Spread As Politicians Spar

Topline: The clash between President Trump and California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom escalated Wednesday, as anti-ICE riots continued to spread across the country. 

Protests continue to pick up steam nationwide:

• By Wednesday night, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Seattle joined the growing list of cities being hit by demonstrations, many of which turned violent. 
• In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott mobilized the National Guard before protests across the state turned violent, with officers in a number of cities left hospitalized. 
• In Atlanta, hundreds of rioters lobbed fireworks at police and attempted to shut down a highway — authorities responded with tear gas and finally got the crowd under control. 

California is still the epicenter of the unrest. Demonstrations continued Wednesday night, as rioters defied curfews and clashed with police. At least one rioter, Emiliano Galvez, has been charged with attempted murder. Galvez, a previously deported Mexican national, allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at police in Los Angeles County. 

“Since June 6, there have been 330 illegal aliens that have been arrested as part of these riots in Los Angeles,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “113 of those illegal aliens had prior criminal convictions.”

Governor Newsom has voiced his support for the demonstrations, telling Americans that it was time to “stand up” to President Trump, whom he blamed for provoking the unrest: “Donald Trump without consulting California law enforcement leaders commandeered 2000 of our state’s National Guard members to deploy on our streets illegally and for no reason. This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation…The founding fathers didn’t live and die to see this moment. It’s time for all of us to stand up.”

These anti-ICE protests aren’t likely to die out anytime soon — organizers are planning “No Kings” demonstrations in cities across the country on Saturday, June 14. That event will coincide with President Trump’s 79th birthday, along with a massive parade in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the Army’s 250th birthday. 

“We’re going to be celebrating big on Saturday,” President Trump said. “And if there’s any protester that wants to come out, they will be met with very big force… These are people that hate our country. They will be met with very heavy force.”

Protests & PR

Topline: As Los Angeles and other cities contain the anti-ICE riots, Democrats, Republicans, and the media battle over shaping the narrative.

Democrats and Republicans on the national stage have made the ongoing unrest a central part of their messaging since ICE raids began in L.A. last week. Democrats have slammed Trump for deploying troops against American citizens and blame his actions for sparking the riots, arguing that the threat of a militarized response escalated tensions on the ground and tracks with a broader pattern of authoritarianism.

Republicans, especially the president, have taken the opposite tack – decrying Democrats for being complicit in the ongoing violence and lawlessness and insisting that Trump’s quick and decisive deployment of troops was necessary to prevent further destruction.

“What’s going on looks really bad to the average American,” Mark Hemingway, Senior Writer at RealClearInvestigations, told The Daily Wire. “This is a very different time than 2020. And we went through months of riots in 2020. And I think now Americans have a very good and clear sense that these are not organic riots necessarily, these are not spontaneous.”

Hemingway seemed skeptical of the proposition that a majority of Americans would view the deployment of troops as escalatory.

“I think the American people are broadly sympathetic to Trump,” Hemingway said. “Trump campaigned on mass deportations. His immigration policy is still broadly popular. And the idea that Democrats are attaching support of violent riots to that, or trying to make Trump look like the extremist, it’s just, this is not five years ago…at this point in time, I think the average American would, you know, trust the first 700 Marines in the phone book at 29 Palms over the elected leadership of Los Angeles to do what’s right for the people of that city.”