Welcome back to TLDR's Daily Briefing for Wednesday the 4th of June 2025. In today's episode, we cover Russia's advances in the Sumi region, Musk lashing out at Trump's big beautiful bill, and escalating tensions between Israel and Syria. But first, Trump's trade war escalates. The US has doubled its tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium after President Donald Trump signed a new executive order that escalates his global trade war.
Previously, the US, as per Trump's orders, was levying a 25% tariff on the steel and aluminium sectors. But, as of today, Wednesday, that has doubled to 50%. Trump claimed that the increased tariffs will more effectively counter foreign countries that continue to offload low-price, excess steel and aluminium in the US market, and thereby undercut the competitiveness of the United States steel and aluminium industries.
All trading partners will be hit with the higher tariff rate, except for the United Kingdom, which struck a preliminary deal with the US last month that saw the US government agree to reduce the tariffs on steel and aluminium to zero. However, as per Trump's latest announcement,
UK will still be subject to the 25% tariff until at least 9 July, at which point the Trump administration says it may impose the higher 50% rate if it determines that the United Kingdom has not complied with relevant aspects of the deal. This latest twist in Trump's unpredictable tariff policy has added to the frustration of the US's trade partners.
The European Commission said it strongly regrets the tariff hike on steel and aluminium, saying that it adds further uncertainty to the global economy and increases costs for consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. The US's closest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, are expected to be hit especially hard, as they rank first and third respectively in steel shipment volumes to the US.
Mexico's economy minister said the tariffs were unfair and unsustainable, pointing out that the US exports more steel to Mexico than it imports, and adding that Mexico would seek an exemption. The Canadian steel industry condemned the tariff hike, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada was engaged in intensive and live negotiations to have these and other tariffs removed. You're listening to TLDR's Daily Briefing.
If you want more explainers on what's happening in the world, then you should check out TLDR's other channels. Today, we released a video on the South Korean presidential election and the latest episode of our World Leader Leaderboard podcast. You can find those videos linked in the description or show notes for this episode, or by searching for TLDR on YouTube or Nebula.
Moving on now to the war in Ukraine, where Russian forces are advancing in northern Ukraine's Sumi region in what's likely a push to fully capture Sumi. Despite recent Ukrainian strikes, including the destruction of Russian aircraft and an underwater attack on a bridge to Crimea, Russia has escalated shelling in Sumy. Ukrainian military spokesman Ivan Shudsov said Russian forces occupy about 15 kilometers
of the frontline and are pushing towards Yunarkivka after nearly 150 shelling attacks targeted 47 settlements in 24 hours. The Russian defense ministry claimed to have captured Androvka, expanding their front. Ukrainian sources warn that further advances could threaten Sumy city itself, home to around 250,000 residents before the war.
This move comes days after Ukraine conducted its largest long-range attack on Russia since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, which succeeded in destroying more than 40 planes within Russian territory. All of this has happened against the backdrop of peace negotiations which ended earlier this week without a ceasefire agreement and only a deal to swap more prisoners of war.
Returning to the White House now, where Elon Musk has sharply criticised President Donald Trump's signature tax and spending bill, calling it a disgusting abomination and warning it will worsen the US budget deficit. in defence spending, was passed by the House last month and is now before the Senate. Musk took to social media platform X, accusing lawmakers of pushing a pork-filled bill that could boost the deficit by $600 billion in the upcoming fiscal year.
and pushed the US's total debt to $2.5 trillion. Finally, today, Israel has threatened to retaliate against the new government in Damascus after missiles were launched yesterday towards Israel from Syria for the first time since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime last year. A little-known group calling itself the Marta Mohammed Dave Brigades, a reference to Hamas's late military chief, claimed it had fired two rockets.
Syria's foreign ministry said reports of the launches from inside Syria had not yet been verified, and noted that several parties are seeking to destabilise the region to further their own interests. Then, just hours following the strikes, the Israeli military said it launched strikes on weapons belonging to the Syrian government in southern Syria.
These escalating tensions have resurfaced following several rounds of direct talks in recent weeks, aiming to quell spiralling tensions between the two countries. That's all for today. We'll be away for the next couple of days and we'll be back with more Daily Briefing next Monday. In the meantime, you can check out the latest episode of our podcast, The World Leader Leaderboard, where we discuss which heads of government are doing well and who's doing badly every week.
You can find the link in the podcast description. This was a TLDR News production hosted by Georgina Finlay, written by Rory Taylor and Nadja Lovadinov, and produced by Scarlet Wachon. Thanks for listening, and we'll be back again on Monday.