President Donald Trump’s upending of US foreign policy has alarmed allies and nations in need. His administration has frozen foreign aid, threatened to take control of other countries’ sovereign territory, exited key international bodies and alienated Europe with an embrace of Russia.

But the head-spinning set of moves, that together signal a retreat from leadership of a liberal order to “America First,” is playing right into the messaging of the US’ biggest rival.

In this time of “transformation and turbulence,” China has a vision for a “safer world,” its top diplomat Wang Yi told G20 counterparts last week as he reiterated Beijing’s pitch for “a new path to security” without alliances, “zero-sum” competition and “bloc confrontation.”

That vision – coded language for reshaping a world order China sees as unfairly dominated by the West – has been a cornerstone of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s push to step up as an alternative global leader to the US.

And the drive has the potential to take on new relevance, observers say, as Beijing eyes the opportunities to advance its influence in the wake of Trump’s US foreign policy upset.

Trump’s shake-up was obvious even in the room of foreign ministers from the world’s largest economies where Wang, China’s most seasoned diplomat, spoke in South Africa last week.

The absence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meant no high-ranking US diplomat was there to present an American counterpoint to a gathering of countries that make up 80% of the global population and three-quarters of international trade.

On the surface, this shift has the potential to accelerate China’s ascent as a global power, potentially granting the world’s second-largest economy space to win more allies, boost its global leadership and shift global norms and rules – such as those on human rights or security – in its favor.

But countries from Europe to Asia are well aware of the wide gap between Beijing’s benign rhetoric and its behavior as it flouts a major international ruling to harass Philippine vessels in the South China Sea or intimidates Taiwan – the self-ruling democracy Bejing claims.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has signaled it wants to shift attention from other global conflicts to focus on its rivalry with China. And Beijing will face that and potential fresh US tariffs on its goods as it tries to revive a weak economy – limiting how much it can pour into expanding global influence.

But even still, there are signs that China may see potential for those headwinds to just be some turbulence in a rise made easier by Trump’s policies.

“Trump 2.0 era will undoubtedly weaken the US’ leadership in international affairs,” an analysis published this month on the website of Shanghai-based think tank Fudan Development Institute said.

“As other countries, particularly the European Union and China, actively respond, the power vacuum left by the US withdrawal may be filled by them … With the US no longer able to dominate global issues as it once did, a new global governance structure may emerge,” it said.

Soft power vacuum

As Trump dismantles the US foreign aid sector – freezing funding to global education, health and development programs – some English-language arms of Chinese state media released scathing critiques of such assistance.

Foreign aid is “viewed by the US as a tool to maintain its hegemonic position and engage in geopolitical maneuvering,” nationalist tabloid the Global Times said in an article on USAID, an agency Beijing has long seen as a thorn in its side, accusing of sparking democratic “color revolutions” and indoctrinating US proxies across the world. USAID, which was founded during the Cold War, has long played a key role in advancing American soft power and democratic ideals.

Beijing, however, wasn’t looking at Washington’s aid freeze as an opportunity because – unlike the US – China treats “other nations with sincerity, fairness, and selflessness,” an editorial by the state-run outlet claimed.

There has been some indication China will take targeted steps to ramp up its support in regions it sees as strategically important in the wake of the US freeze – a move that would align with what experts have seen as a soft-power struggle between the two countries in recent decades.

In Cambodia, for example, Beijing released $4.4 million for demining operations, as US-backed landmine removal programs were halted in eight provinces, the Associated Press reported, citing the Cambodian Mine Action Center.

Overall, however, experts say there’s little chance that Beijing would be able or willing to step up to fill the US aid void.

China is a huge player in global development, funneling more than a trillion dollars into overseas projects between 2000 and 2021. But unlike the US, data show the vast majority of Beijing’s development spending is not direct aid, but loans and other financing.

And economic belt-tightening has seen Beijing move away from big-ticket commitments, like building railroads and power plants under Xi’s signature Belt and Road overseas infrastructure drive, paring back to more modest projects in recent years.

“Trump is giving China some opportunity – but China might not be able to pick up this US gift,” said Shanghai-based foreign affairs analyst Shen Dingli. “Due to our gloomy economy and the (downsized) version of Belt and Road … we have less money to buy loyalty.”

Even still, China may look to capitalize on countries’ uncertainty about the US to expand its trade and security ties, as well as access to critical minerals, observers say. And countries may take uncertainty in US relations – from the aid freeze to Trump’s tariff threats – into calculations for dealing with the world’s two largest economies.

“Beijing can send the message to the rest of the world … that the US is fundamentally going to be unreliable,” said Manoj Kewalramani, who heads Indo-Pacific studies at the Takshashila Institution research center in the Indian city of Bengaluru. “Why would you want to pick a fight with Beijing now?”

There are already signs of concern from some parts about Beijing’s potential gains from a Trump-era pullback of US assistance.

In an open letter to Trump posted on social platform X, Nepalese lawmaker Rajendra Bajgain last week warned that a “vacuum created by reduced American involvement will inevitably be filled by other powers that do not share the values of democracy and free enterprise.”

Two major US-funded infrastructure projects as well as other initiatives in Nepal have been put on hold following the US aid freeze, Reuters reported.

China’s aid “aligns with the needs of recipient countries for socio-economic development and the improvement of people’s livelihoods,” it said.

‘Checked and balanced’

But even as some of Trump’s moves so far have created potential openings for Beijing, there’s also the hanging question of how his administration may ultimately calibrate its aid and foreign policy – and its rivalry with China.

When asked this month if the foreign aid shake-up was giving China and Russia an opportunity to expand their influence, national security adviser Mike Waltz told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “all too often these missions and these programs, number one, are not in line with strategic US interests like pushing back on China.”

And speaking to European counterparts earlier this month, US defense chief Pete Hegseth warned that the US could no longer be “primarily focused on the security of Europe.” Instead, the US is “prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific,” he said.

There have also been signs of Trump’s brash diplomacy working against Beijing’s benefit.

Panama, the first country in Latin America to sign onto China’s Belt and Road Initiative, announced it would pull out of the scheme after Trump repeatedly threatened to “take back” the Panama Canal, falsely claiming Panama had ceded its operations to China.

And in Europe, even as Trump officials lambasted European and NATO counterparts earlier this month and warmed to Russia, US allies there appeared galvanized, rather than dissuaded, to bolster NATO with more spending. That pivot will also mean Beijing is watching closely whether Washington is able to peel away its close ally Moscow, as the White House has signaled it may hope to do.

Even still, Beijing will likely see the time as right to put more focus on repairing strained relations with Europe – a potential opening that could widen if Trump slaps tariffs on European goods.

Trump has also so far not shaken US alliances in Asia, as Beijing may have hoped. And it’s not clear that “America First” will leave a security void in Asia or weaken the US alliance system there.

The US president held seemingly successful meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Indian counterpart Narendra Modi this month, and signaled support for the Pacific-focused AUKUS alliance of Canberra, London and Washington.

And uncertainty or future demands from Trump could also strengthen arsenals and partnerships in the region. On Monday, US allies the Philippines and Japan agreed to further deepen their defense collaborations.

Beijing, so far, has been seen as continuing to probe the limits of its own military muscle-flexing in the region, in recent days conducting what New Zealand said were unprecedented live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea.

On Wednesday, Taiwan accused China of setting up a zone for “live-fire training” without advance notice a day after the island’s coast guard detained a Chinese-crewed cargo ship suspected of cutting an undersea cable in the Taiwan Strait.

But Beijing will be carefully watching how Trump’s policies and his allies’ response to them weigh on its core ambitions to defend its territorial claims in the South China Sea – and take control of the self-ruling democracy of Taiwan.

“As long as the war in Europe would be put to an end, China’s freedom of action in our part of the world might be more seriously checked and balanced,” said Shen in Shanghai.

“China must be watching, calculating how it should adjust its new approach to this fast-moving situation,” he said.

It’s time for Keir Starmer to make his move.

Britain’s prime minister has spent months carefully crafting a chummy relationship with Donald Trump. He has showered the US president with flattery since even before his November election win; he has been, in Trump’s words, “very nice.”

On Thursday, Starmer could finally extract something tangible in return. His visit to Washington is the biggest foreign policy challenge yet for a leader who, at a critical time for Ukraine’s future, has emerged as a potential bridge-builder: someone who can sway Trump from his confrontational tendencies and communicate to him the anxieties of the West.

The other scenario is less rosy: Starmer might discover that he’s been building a bridge to nowhere. He and Trump are not natural political bedfellows; there is baggage in their past, and a glaring chasm in their worldviews. Starmer talks up the “special relationship” between Britain and the US at every opportunity, but that relationship is getting bumpy. They want different things.

Urgency on Ukraine

Trump’s stance on Ukraine has tipped this centuries-old transatlantic alliance into uncertainty, as it has done to so many others – including the American relationship with NATO. The president has purred at the advances of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, attacked Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, and has barely returned Europe’s calls, cutting the continent out of negotiations over the end of the conflict.

Starmer follows French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited Washington on Monday, in attempting to straighten those jumbled ties, and he will set the table for Zelensky’s trip to Washington on Friday. All three want to secure a version of peace that Ukraine and Europe can stomach: one that doesn’t sell out occupied Ukrainian territory, and that America will work to maintain.

Britain and France are leading diplomatic efforts on putting together a potential European peacekeeping force, which could enter Ukraine if a ceasefire deal were agreed, but the plan hinges on an American security presence: a “backstop” likely centered on air power, based in a nearby NATO country like Poland or Romania.

On Monday, Trump told reporters that “Europe is going to make sure nothing happens” after a deal is agreed. But Starmer has insisted Europe can’t carry that burden alone, and that American support is the only way to prevent Putin from attacking again.

More urgently, Starmer will seek to persuade Trump to include Zelensky in talks over his country’s future. That is Europe’s most fundamental demand of Trump; the continent is intensely anxious about a pro-Moscow deal being forced on Zelensky.

But he is stepping onto an uneven playing field. Starmer’s problem is obvious: This visit matters far more to him than it does to Trump. The president has little time for European powers; he has threatened to impose major tariffs, and turned his back on decades of American foreign policy, which had placed Europe’s security at the top of Washington’s own priorities.

Starmer presented Trump with a significant gift ahead of his trip, announcing on Tuesday that Britain would hike its defense spending to 2.5% by 2027, and to 3% by the middle of the next decade. That is an unexpected acceleration of his government’s goal, and represents massive expenditure. It is also desperately needed; the British military is much depleted, experts say. A massive review of Britain’s army is due to conclude soon, and nobody expects its findings to be complimentary.

“We must change our national security posture, because a generational challenge requires a generational response,” Starmer said as he unveiled the new policy. “Courage is what our own era now demands of us.” Speaking to journalists later, he admitted the obvious: that events of recent weeks have hastened the move.

A complicated relationship

Thursday’s conversations will test more broadly the twin-track approach that Europe is taking towards Trump.

One camp wants to disengage. Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz said after his election win on Sunday that Europe should “achieve independence” from the US, and slammed “outrageous” American interventions in his country’s politics.

Starmer, like Macron and Italy’s leader Giorgia Meloni, is firmly in the other group; he believes that Trump, if properly convinced, can be retrieved from the clutches of Putin’s embrace.

And there are few other leaders who can do it. “We’re not going to have an election for the foreseeable future. We’ve got a stable, center-left government. Therefore we can play an integral part in these conversations, in a way that other leaders may find difficult,” Ainsley, the former policy chief, said.

But there may be awkward questions for Starmer to answer when he and Trump face the media. Several members of his center-left government have historically condemned Trump. When he was an opposition MP, Starmer himself said Trump’s endorsement of Boris Johnson showed that Johnson “isn’t fit to be prime minister.”

Last October, then-candidate Trump returned fire, accusing Starmer’s Labour Party of election interference after it emerged that dozens of activists had campaigned for Kamala Harris.

Since then, Starmer has kept a tight lid on any criticism of the president from within his ranks. But privately, Trump’s recent interventions on Gaza and Ukraine have appalled most within Labour.

An ‘insane’ deal

Starmer has several obstacles to clear at the White House, and they go beyond Ukraine. The visit is more broadly a challenge of his people-pleasing approach to global affairs.

The prime minister wants to keep everyone happy. He has been loath to criticize Trump, has warmed up Britain’s post-Brexit partnership with the European Union, avowedly backed Kyiv and thawed ties with China. At a time of geopolitical upheaval, he is attempting to squeeze Britain into an impossibly tight Venn diagram.

A case in point: Starmer’s intensely controversial plan to hand the Chagos Islands, Britain’s last African colony, to Mauritius, ending a years-long legal and ethical quandary.

Downing Street says the deal will secure the future of Diego Garcia, a US-UK military base on one of the islands, for 99 years. But Starmer needs Trump’s approval to finish the paperwork, and Westminster does not expect the self-stylized dealmaker-in-chief to be impressed by the terms: London is expected to pay billions of pounds to close the deal, and Mauritius is heavily reliant on imports from China, which has raised national security concerns on both sides of the Atlantic.

The deal is “insane,” according to a former Conservative minister, Grant Shapps, who as UK defense secretary halted the negotiations that Labour later revived.

Mauritius has pushed for control of the islands for decades, and bodies including the International Court of Justice have backed its claims. But Shapps said: “You sometimes, as Trump is proving to the world, just have to say ‘no.’ You have to think about your own national interest.”

Ukraine, Chagos, China and a colorful history of remarks about Trump are all awkward conversation topics that must be broached on Thursday. Starmer will do so delicately; unlike Macron, he is unlikely to fact-check Trump in front of the cameras. But he has run out of room for flattery; there is little time left to start some difficult discussions.

Starmer did not necessarily choose to be a statesman. His foremost stated objective is to grow Britain’s economy; he doesn’t want enemies, he wants investment and trade. But the world has had other ideas, and willingly or not, Starmer has found himself a key cog in a global structure on the verge of collapse.

On Monday, Starmer admitted Trump has “changed the global conversation” on Ukraine. Now it is Britain’s opportunity to do the talking.

Dozens of Uyghur men detained in Thailand after fleeing China may have been secretly deported to their home country, activists and rights groups said on Thursday, warning they could face torture and imprisonment on their return.

The 48 men were arrested by Thai authorities 11 years ago after crossing the border to Thailand in an attempt to escape persecution in China and had been kept in detention and legal limbo ever since.

On Thursday Thai opposition lawmaker Kannavee Suebsang cited unspecified reports suggesting it was “very likely” the group had been sent back to China on Thursday morning.

Subsang posted images on his Facebook page showing six vans with covered up windows, leaving the Bangkok immigration center where it was believed the group had been held.

“I did expect a message, so when nothing came through I tried calling and messaging him but no reply,” he said.

China’s repression of Uyghurs and other predominately Muslim ethnic minorities in its far western region of Xinjiang has been labeled “genocide” by the US and other countries, with widespread and credible reports of arbitrary detention, mass surveillance, forced labor and restrictions on movement – allegations China vehemently denies.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua said that 40 Chinese nationals who had illegally crossed the border into Thailand were deported and repatriated to China on Thursday.

The report, which cited the public security ministry, did not mention the deportees’ ethnicity or other identifying details.

“The Chinese citizens deported this time were lured by criminal organizations, illegally exited the country, and subsequently stranded in Thailand,” the ministry said in a written Q&A.

In response to a question on the deportation of Uyghur men from Thailand, China’s foreign ministry cited the information in the public security ministry’s statement.

“This deportation was carried out based on the laws of both China and Thailand, as well as international law and conventions,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular news briefing. He also repeated Beijing’s standard language refuting accusations of rights violations in the region, calling these “lies and fallacies related to Xinjiang.”

Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra did not confirm any deportations had taken place when asked by reporters.

“In any country in the world actions must adhere to the principles of law, international processes, and human rights,” she said.

Thailand’s national police commissioner Kitrat Phanphet also declined to comment on the reports, citing security reasons, according to Thai PBS World, a public service broadcaster.

‘Deep concern’

Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not recognize the concept of asylum. The Southeast Asian kingdom has a history of pushing refugees back across its borders and of deporting dissidents.

In 2015, Thailand deported 100 Uyghurs to China, sparking international outcry. The fate and whereabouts of those returned are unknown, UN experts said last year.

Human Rights Watch said “approximately 40” Uyghurs had been transferred by the Thai government to Chinese officials in Bangkok, who then sent them to China, without citing a source.

“Thailand’s transfer of Uyghur detainees to China constitutes a blatant violation of Thailand’s obligations under domestic and international laws,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

“The men now face a high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and long-term imprisonment in China.”

Many of the detainees are in “extremely poor health after enduring years in detention,” Amnesty International said, adding that their forcible return to China would be “unimaginably cruel.”

The World Uyghur Congress, an international advocacy group, on Wednesday called on Thailand’s government to “immediately halt the planned deportation of 48 Uyghur refugees to China,” with the group claiming the deportation was planned for Thursday.

US officials expressed “deep concern” over the reports.

“These individuals face a credible risk of imprisonment, torture, or death upon return to a regime that has systematically persecuted Uyghurs through mass internment, forced labor, and other grave abuses,” said John Moolenaar and Raja Krishnamoorthi.

The detained men were part of a larger group of about 350 people detained in 2014, some of whom were minors, according to previous reports from UN experts, rights groups, and Uyghur campaigners.

Five Uyghur detainees, including a newborn and a 3-year-old, have died in detention, the reports said.

In early January, activist Hidayat shared a voice note from one of the detainees, who said the men had been on hunger strike since January 10 in a desperate protest against deportation.

The detainees have said they wish to be sent to a third country and “live in peace” with their families.

Among the prominent voices adding pressure on Thailand was US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who told his Senate confirmation hearing ahead of being sworn in that he would lobby Bangkok against deporting the Uyghur men.

Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence and abuse.

Israel has systematically targeted Palestinian healthcare workers in Gaza, arbitrarily detaining them without charge or access to legal counsel, and submitting them to torture and abuse, according to a new report by Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI).

Between July and December, lawyers working with the Israeli nonprofit group said they visited over two dozen Palestinian medical workers, including physicians, nurses and paramedics, aged between at least 21 and 69, who had spent more than six months in isolation after having been seized by Israeli forces.

In the 21-page report released Wednesday, PHRI said that the testimonies from healthcare personnel indicate that their arrests were primarily used by Israel to gather intelligence rather than investigate their alleged involvement in armed conflict or link them to criminal activity.

“This suggests a systemic policy that violates human rights and, more broadly, indicates that such arrests are arbitrary and unlawful under international legal standards,” PHRI said.

The heathcare professionals interviewed by PHRI were held in several facilities run by the Israeli military and the Israel Prison Service (IPS), including Sde Teiman, Ktzi’ot Prison and Nafha Prison, in southern Israel, Petah Tikva in central Israel and Ofer Prison, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Their testimonies suggest detainees were subjected to dehumanizing, near-daily abuse, the group said. Healthcare workers have alleged they experienced sexual abuse, beatings, dog attacks, starvation, sensory overload and had boiling water poured on them.

The Israeli military held more than 250 health workers in Gaza by September, according to Healthcare Workers Watch Palestine, which has been collecting information about medical professionals working in the strip since the war started on October 7, 2023. Over 180 remain in detention, PHRI said.

PHRI called for the immediate release of all detained medical personnel and “guarantees that the fundamental rights and protections of medical workers are upheld.”

In its report, PHRI said that the testimonies it gathered suggested medical workers were heavily targeted for their profession and their detention had destructive consequences for Gaza’s healthcare system. More than 15 months of Israeli bombing following the October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel has decimated Gaza’s medical system and killed more than 1,000 health workers, according to the United Nations and the Ministry of Health in the Palestinian enclave.

Many of the healthcare workers said they were interrogated about Israeli hostages, tunnels, weapons, hospitals and Hamas’ activity – some for up to 12 hours and while being beaten or hung from the ceiling. Others told PHRI they were asked about fellow physicians.

Israel says that Hamas has operated inside and underneath hospitals, and used them for its military operations, including as command centers, weapons stores and to hide hostages. Hamas has repeatedly denied the claims.

Palestinians from Gaza are held in Israel under the Unlawful Combatants law, enacted in 2002, which allows authorities to “detain Palestinians from Gaza en masse without charge or trial,” according to Amnesty International. Rights groups and the UN Human Rights Office say their detention for extended periods without charge, access to lawyers or contact with families violates international law.

The Israeli military says this practice is permitted under the Geneva Conventions, which govern the conduct of war, and allow the detention of civilians for security reasons.

Palestinian health workers detail abuse ‘at every stage’

Twenty out of the 24 medical staff interviewed were arrested while carrying out their duties, including at hospitals, PHRI said, accusing Israel of breaching their right to “perform life-saving tasks.” The remaining four were detained at their homes, in displacement camps, or at checkpoints.

Upon their arrest, medical workers told PHRI they were stripped naked, handcuffed, blindfolded, forced to prostrate, and detained for hours to days.

“At every stage, we endured beatings and severe violence — batons, dog attacks, and boiling water poured on us, causing severe burns,” said Dr. N.T., 49, head of surgery at Nasser Hospital, southern Gaza, who was arrested in February 2024 and taken to Sde Teiman, Ofer and Ktzi’ot prisons.

Dr. K.J., a dentist arrested in March by Israeli forces at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, where he had sought shelter with his family, said he and other captives were beaten while inside a bus on their way to Sde Teiman. “We were punched, kicked, and hit in the testicles and all over our bodies,” he told PHRI.

Several medics held at Sde Teiman described similar conditions to PHRI, including that soldiers allowed dogs to urinate and defecate on prisoners, and oversaw sexual and psychological torture.

Dr Khaled Alser, a 32-year-old surgeon detained from Nasser Hospital in March, said that he personally examined fellow detainees after they were sexually abused, “including the insertion of batons or electric rods into the buttocks.” PHRI said that Alser was released after seven months in detention without charge.

Other detainees who spoke with PHRI described a method of abuse used in interrogations referred to as the “Disco Room.” Three Palestinians health workers said they were held in a space with bright lights and loud music to sensorily overload them before being bombarded with questions like: “Where are the hostages,” or “Where are the tunnel entrances.”

Guards escalated the brutality of their beatings in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, several eyewitnesses told PHRI.

PHRI said that Palestinian health workers also described “pervasive medical neglect” in incarceration, where they said Israeli authorities starved detainees, restricted access to showers, and ignored requests for drugs.

One nurse said they had lost more than 25 kilograms over 11 months in detention.

One doctor told PHRI they attempted to care for their fellow detainees by improvising surgeries using pieces of plastic disinfected with bleach. In other cases, they said they witnessed limbs being amputated, while others died from their injuries.

An orthopedic specialist said he tried to appeal to an Israeli doctor’s collegial solidarity, only to be slapped and called a “terrorist.”

Meanwhile, PHRI said that some prisoners they interviewed were flatly denied legal representation, forced to sign testimony documents in Hebrew, or denied access to evidence of alleged crimes and “credible, translated” testimony in their native language. Others were given truncated court hearings without a lawyer present, the organization said. A handful of medics said they were told they would be held in detention, even though there was no indictment against them.

A surgeon detained in Ofer Prison told PHRI he had a court hearing on the sixtieth day of his detention in April. “I was left waiting in the sun for eight hours, during which soldiers beat me, threw stones at me, and spat on me,” said a 42-year-old surgeon listed in the report as Dr. A.M., who PHRI says was arrested at Nasser Hospital, southern Gaza.

“At the hearing, they stated, ‘There is no indictment against you, but you will remain in detention until the war is over,’” he said.

Israel will not withdraw its forces from the Gaza-Egypt border, according to an Israel source.

The military was supposed to begin withdrawing from that region in early March if the current ceasefire, which expires Saturday, were extended.

“We will not allow Hamas murderers to roam again with trucks and rifles on our borders, and we will not let them strengthen themselves again through smuggling.”

The Israeli military took control of the corridor in May and was due to withdraw from it during a potential second phase of the truce agreement. It is not clear if negotiations for a second phase have started.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

Ioan Gliga said both Andrew and Tristan Tate left Romania on Thursday morning.

The pair had previously been banned from leaving Romania pending a criminal investigation on accusations of forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering. They have denied all wrongdoing.

Romania’s foreign minister last week said he had not come under pressure from US President Donald Trump’s envoy to lift restrictions on Tate, despite them discussing the case.

The Financial Times reported earlier, citing sources, that US officials had brought up the case of Tate and his brother, both former kickboxers with dual US and British citizenship, in a phone call to the Romanian government.

Tate – who shot to internet fame in recent years, racking up billions of views on TikTok with diatribes about male dominance, female submission and wealth – was banned from almost all social media platforms before Trump’s now adviser Elon Musk took over X and reinstated his account.

A first criminal case against Tate and his brother – who were arrested three years ago – failed in December when a Bucharest court decided not to start the trial, citing flaws in the indictment.

A Romanian court lifted a house arrest order against Tate in January, replacing it with a lighter preventative measure. In October, a court ruled he should get back luxury cars worth about 4 million euros ($4.43 million) that were seized by prosecutors, pending the investigations.

The United States and Ukraine are trying to hammer out a natural resources agreement that would give Washington access to Kyiv’s untapped mineral riches in exchange for investments and what Ukraine hopes would be concrete security guarantees.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the deal could be a “big success” but that it would depend on talks with US President Donald Trump.

He said the deal was just a “framework” and insisted that some key questions remained unanswered.

Here is what we know – and don’t know – about the agreement.

What’s in the deal?

The draft agreement seeks the establishment of a “reconstruction investment fund” that would be jointly managed by the American and Ukrainian governments.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Wednesday that Kyiv would be funneling half of the revenues from future natural resources projects into the fund, with money being reinvested in more developments.

Shmyhal stressed the deal would exclude existing “deposits, facilities, licenses and royalties” tied to Ukraine’s natural resources.

“We are only talking about future licenses, developments and infrastructure,” he said.

What does Trump want from the deal?

Trump said at the weekend that he’s “trying to get the money back,” referring to the aid provided to Ukraine under the previous administration.

The US initially demanded a $500 billion share of Ukraine’s rare earths and other minerals in exchange for the aid it has already provided to Kyiv. But Zelensky rejected that idea, saying that agreeing to it would amount to “selling” his country. Trump subsequently called Zelensky “a dictator.”

Asked on Tuesday what Ukraine would receive in the mineral deal, Trump said: “$350 billion and lots of equipment, military equipment, and the right to fight on,” repeating a false claim he has made in the past. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank that closely tracks wartime aid to Ukraine, Washington had committed a total of about $124 billion in aid to Ukraine.

Trump indicated security guarantees were not part of the deal, saying: “We’ve pretty much negotiated our deal on rare earth and various other things,” adding that “we’ll be looking to” future security for Ukraine “later on.”

However, Zelensky said his country will not be repaying money given to it by Washington in the past as part of the deal. “I will not accept (even) 10 cents of debt repayment in this deal. Otherwise, it will be a precedent,” Zelensky said Wednesday at a news conference in Kyiv.

Trump on Wednesday projected confidence that the natural resources deal would come to fruition, saying, “We’re doing very well with Russia-Ukraine. President Zelensky is going to be coming on Friday. It’s now confirmed, and we’re going to be signing an agreement.”

What does Ukraine want from the deal?

Ukraine’s mineral riches have long been eyed by its allies – and Kyiv has made them part of its appeal for support. Zelensky has made it clear he wants security guarantees to be part of the deal.

Some deposits are already in areas that are under Russian occupation and Zelensky has argued that one reason why the West should support Ukraine in its fight against Moscow is to prevent more of these strategically important resources from falling into the Kremlin’s hands.

“The deposits of critical resources in Ukraine, along with Ukraine’s globally important energy and food production potential, are among the key predatory objectives of the Russian Federation in this war. And this is our opportunity for growth,” Zelensky said in October when presenting his “Victory plan.”

Nataliya Katser-Buchkovska, the co-founder of the Ukrainian Sustainable Investment Fund, said that a deal cannot work without security guarantees.

“(For) the US to get access to these deposits, Ukraine must regain control over those territories, demine and rebuild the infrastructure,” she said.

Why is Trump so keen on a minerals deal with Ukraine?

Materials such as graphite, lithium, uranium and the 17 chemical elements known as rare earths are critical for economic growth and national security.

They are essential to the production of electronics, clean energy technology, including wind turbines, energy networks and electric vehicles, as well as some weapons systems.

The US largely depends on imports for the minerals it needs, many of which come from China, which has long dominated the market.

China is responsible for nearly 90% of global processing of rare earth minerals, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). On top of that, China is also the world’s largest producer of graphite and titanium, and a major processor of lithium.

Experts have long warned that relying on China for strategic materials is risky, but the latest trade tensions between Washington and Beijing make it even more important for the US to look for alternative suppliers.

The US isn’t the only one eyeing Ukraine’s resources. The European Union signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine in 2021 outlining future investment opportunities in mineral mining.

A similar document was prepared under the Biden administration last year. It said the US would promote investment opportunities in Ukraine’s mining projects to American companies in exchange for Kyiv creating economic incentives and implementing good business and environmental practices.

How large are Ukraine’s resources?

Trump has repeatedly referred to the deal as one on “rare earths” but it’s likely he was speaking more widely about critical minerals.

Ukraine doesn’t have globally significant reserves of rare earth minerals, but it does have some of the world’s largest deposits of graphite, lithium, titanium, beryllium and uranium, all of which are classed by the US as critical minerals.

But while Ukraine does have large reserves of these minerals, little has been done to develop the sector. Given the huge strain Russia’s unprovoked aggression has put on the Ukrainian economy, it is unlikely that Kyiv would be able to extract these resources without foreign investment.

“⁠Most projects remain in the exploration phase, with no large-scale processing facilities in place,” said Katser-Buchkovska, who served as a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from 2014 to 2019 and was the head of a parliamentary committee on energy security and transition.

“Extracting rare minerals will be extremely expensive and will require years (and) billions of upfront investments, infrastructure development, and workforce training before production can even begin,” she said, adding that Ukraine’s resource extraction sector remains underdeveloped because of outdated infrastructure, war-related damage and lack of investment.

What is Russia saying about this?

Trump’s return to the White House has resulted in a major shift in policy towards Russia.

US and Russian officials meet in Saudi Arabia earlier this month to discuss the end of the war in Ukraine – without inviting Kyiv or any of its European allies to take part.

Trump said on Monday that he was in “serious discussions” with Russia about ending the war and was “trying to do some economic development deals” with Moscow, noting its “massive rare earth” deposits.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Moscow was ready to work with American companies to mine rare earth mineral deposits in both Russia, and parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine.

“Russia is one of the leading countries when it comes to rare metal reserves. By the way, as for new territories, we are also ready to attract foreign partners – there are certain reserves there too,” Putin said in an interview with Russian state media, referring to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.