US Politics Live Updates: ‘Hostile act’: Trump threatens 27-nation trade bloc

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Donald Trump has told a crowd in North Carolina that he won't send emergency relief money to the state if his chosen candidate loses.

A shortage of financial support from FEMA has been a source of grievance for the state after Hurricane Helene in 2024.

Trump brought it up at a rally for Senate candidate Michael Whatley.

"We spent more than $2 billion in FEMA funding. You're waiting for some additional funding," Trump said.

"I'm gonna get that to you. Now if Michael loses, I'm not sending it."

After the previously supportive crowd responded with a stony silence, Trump said he was kidding.

Whatley is a heavy underdog in the race against Democrat Roy Cooper, who is favoured to pick up the seat in November's midterms.

The family of assassinated conservative influencer Charlie Kirk has blamed Utah authorities for his death at a state university.Lawyers for the family said Kirk’s death resulted from a string of “reckless decisions” by officials at Utah Valley University.

These left him exposed to a rooftop sniper, who fired a fatal shot from more than 122 metres away on September 10, 2025.

Following Kirk's killing the university faced harsh criticism over lack of protection for him.

"The risk of a rooftop shooter should have been especially top-of-mind given the attempted assassination of President Trump, Charlie Kirk’s close friend and political ally, by a rooftop shooter the previous year,” Kirk family lawyer D. Loren Washburn wrote in the notice to state and university officials.

Turning to the Middle East conflict, an expert is warning Australia consumers risk being hit with a double dose of deteriorating economic conditions.

Fuel supplies remain under pressure with continued fighting in the region. Some independent Australian fuel distributors say they have been denied their usual volumes of petrol and diesel at key east coast terminals, adding pressure to smaller service stations.

Swinburne University transport expert Hussein Dia says rising fuel costs not only make an impact at the bowser, but if they persist, through higher borrowing costs.Diesel remains a critical risk point because it underpins freight, agriculture, construction and mining across Australia.

“When diesel becomes more expensive, the effects do not stop at the service station. Those costs can work their way through supply chains and eventually into the prices consumers pay for food and other goods.”

The president has repeated his pledge to send every adult American $US5000 ($7054) if the Republicans seize control of Congress in the midterm elections.

Trump unveiled the plan, slammed as a dubious bid to buy votes, at last week’s Republican midterm convention in Dallas.

Such a payout would cost more than $US1 trillion, require approval from a Congress that has expressed skepticism and would exacerbate the country’s nearly $US1.8 trillion annual budget deficit.

“If we win, we’re going to get you $5000,” Trump told supporters in North Carolina.

Trump has been repeating a false claim about a grisly North Carolina murder as he attacks the state’s former governor on crime.

Since Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old who fled Ukraine, was stabbed to death on a train in North Carloina, Trump has blamed Roy Cooper, the Democratic nominee for the Senate, over the crime.

The man charged with the crime, Decarlos Brown Jr, had served time in prison and been committed for schizophrenia. But contrary to Trump’s claim that “he was released by Cooper,” Brown served his sentence and was not freed early under any Cooper policy.

Speaking at a rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, Trump labelled Cooper a “murderer protector”.

- With The Associated Press

Trump has suggested the European Union allowing Canada as associate member could be a "hostile act" and threatened more tariffs against the trade bloc.

The president has been speaking in North Carolina during a midterm elections rally.

Trump conditioned his threat on the “intention” of European leaders, saying that, “If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe".

He also suggested the US could cut off trade with Europe in certain areas.

Trump called the prospect of Canada joining the EU “laughable” and called America’s neighbour a “terrible trade partner".

A meeting between bosses of leading AI companies and Trump administration officials could be held on the sidelines of a state visit to Washington by the Chinese president.

Executives from big tech firms are considering travelling to the US capital when Donald Trump hosts Xi Jinping next week, reports CNN.

Trump officials are contemplating a meeting with them on the sidelines of the high-stakes summit.

It was not immediately clear if Trump would participate if the meeting materialises, the sources said. Xi is not currently expected to be included.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and Nvidia counterpart Jensen Huang are among those expected to attend Trump’s state dinner for Xi and could possibly attend such a meeting, the sources told CNN.

AI leaders — including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk — have expressed concerns publicly about the dangers the technology poses if it continues to go unchecked.

But Trump has dismissed their worries, in part over fears that slowing AI growth could benefit China.

Russian spies are plotting to carry out targeted killings in the US and in European nations supporting Ukraine, according to the FBI.

The warning comes after American authorities revealed they’d thwarted a plan to kill a prominent Russian dissident believed to be living in Washington DC, reports The Associated Press.

Five people assumed to be living abroad were charged in the plot, according to an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court. It said a network of the Russian intelligence services has paid and tried to pay individuals in the United States and other countries since 2024 to surveil and then kill Russian dissidents.

Those recruited have also have been solicited to carry out acts of terrorism against civilian and military infrastructure in European countries believed to be aligned with Ukraine, the indictment said.

Donald Trump’s leading military adviser has said American troops must be ready for combat operations around the moon.

General Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the remarks at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference in Washington DC, reports The Associated Press.

He told delegates the US military should adapt now so it “is prepared to fight, endure and win ... from the seabed to cislunar space”.

Caine’s comments about the area between high Earth orbit becoming a potential combat zone follow Air Force Secretary Troy Meink revealing this week the US has deployed “space control weapons”.