Monday Briefing: Trump paused E.U. tariffs

Plus, Mexico City's artistic eras.
Morning Briefing: Europe Edition
May 26, 2025

Good morning. We're covering Russia's wide-scale attack on Ukraine, and Venezuela's elections to represent a Guyanese territory.

Plus, Mexico City's artistic eras.

President Trump, in a white MAGA hat, stands on the pavement and talks to reporters.
President Trump spoke to reporters on yesterday in New Jersey. Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Trump delayed his 50% tariffs on E.U. imports

President Trump said yesterday that he was extending the deadline to impose a 50 percent tariff on the E.U. to July 9, from June 1, to allow more time for negotiation.

The announcement followed what Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said was a "good call" with Trump, during which she expressed that the E.U. needed extra time to reach a trade deal. She said that talks would advance "swiftly and decisively," a promise that Trump echoed in a Truth Social post.

"The E.U. and the U.S. share the world's most consequential and close trade relationship," von der Leyen wrote on X.

Context: On Friday, Trump threatened to impose a 50 percent tariff on E.U. imports beginning June 1, saying that trade talks with the bloc were "going nowhere." The announcement raised the chances of a destabilizing trade war with one of the world's largest economies.

Three men stand in the second floor of a heavily damaged building. A large pile of rubble is on the ground in front of the building.
The remains of a multistory residential building after a drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, yesterday. Sergei Supinsky/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Trump was 'not happy' about Russia's latest bombardment

Russia unleashed one of its largest drone and missile barrages of the war over the weekend, killing at least 12 people in Ukraine and injuring dozens. President Trump said that he was "not happy" with Russia, and that he was considering more sanctions in response.

"He's killing a lot of people, and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin," Trump told reporters. "We're in the middle of talking, and he's shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities."

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, cited the attacks as further proof that "Russia is dragging out this war and continues to kill every day."

Details: This was Moscow's second large-scale attack in two nights and the third in just a week, despite cease-fire talks. Russia appears to be targeting cities more intensively, and there has been a spike in civilian casualties.

A person stands on a boat in the water with other boats also standing in the water.
Dock workers on the shores of the Essequibo River in Parika, Guyana. Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times

Venezuela voted for another country's land

Venezuela held an election yesterday for governor and legislators to represent Essequibo — a sparsely populated, oil-rich territory. But the area is internationally recognized as part of neighboring Guyana, not Venezuela.

Analysts say that Venezuela's autocratic president, Nicolás Maduro, is seeking to legitimize his rule abroad and also within his deeply dissatisfied nation, where the military's loyalty is reportedly fraying. Guyana's national security minister has said that border security was tightened and that the authorities would arrest any Guyanese person supporting the election.

Context: Claims to the Essequibo region are deeply ingrained among many Venezuelans who believe the land was historically theirs under Spanish colonial rule. But most people who live in Essequibo speak English, identify culturally as Guyanese and say they want to remain part of Guyana.

MORE TOP NEWS

Smoke billowing after an Israeli strike in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, yesterday. Bashar Taleb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

SPORTS NEWS

A tennis court seen from the higher seats in the stands as the sun sets in the background.
The Roland-Garros Complex in Paris, yesterday. Alain Jocard/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

MORNING READ

Muhammad Ali stands over Sonny Liston in a boxing ring, swinging his arm and shouting.
"It was just another fight," the photographer Neil Leifer said of the assignment for Sports Illustrated. Neil Leifer/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

When Muhammad Ali knocked down Sonny Liston on May 25, 1965, a photographer named Neil Leifer was ringside. Decades later, the image he captured — of Ali standing, scowling above Liston — is considered by many to be the greatest sports photo ever made.

Leifer was just 22 when he took the picture. Now 82, he spoke with us about how the picture took on a life of its own. Read the interview.

Lives lived: Nino Benvenuti, an Italian boxer who won the welterweight title at the 1960 Rome Olympics, died at 87.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Two suits of armor holding hands.
Illustration by Paul Sahre

ARTS AND IDEAS

The exterior of the Museo Anahucalli, covered in volcanic stone.
The Museo Anahaucalli. Rafael Gamo

The artistic eras of Mexico City

Mexico City is the largest metropolis in North America, and has been stratified with seven centuries of cultural history. Our critic Jason Farago points out five sites, some famous and some fairly obscure, that begin to map the city's inexhaustible cultural prosperity.

Jason's list includes a black-and-white whale inside a stupefying library, the extravagant beauty in one of the city's underrated museums and a pseudo-Indigenous fortress. See his choices here.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Puff pastry, spinach and leeks dusted with sesame seeds in a cast-iron skillet.
Bryan Gardner for The New York Times

Cook: This one-skillet dish is inspired by two great Greek pies, spanakopita (spinach and feta) and prasopita (leek).

Watch: "Jane Austen Wrecked My Life" is a Times Critic's Pick.

Read: Barbara Demick's entrancing, disturbing "Daughters of the Bamboo Grove" traces the wildly divergent paths of twins born in China under the one-child rule.

Travel: Check out these new and restored accommodations in Italy.

Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today's Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here.

That's it for today's briefing. See you tomorrow. — Justin

Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

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