| | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
A Xi Jinping-Donald Trump call could come this week, but China isn't happy about the latest U.S. accusations. | Andy Wong/AP | TRADING PLACES: U.S.-China trade talks are up in the air today amid mixed signals from both sides. A call between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is still possible — which would be their first since he took office again. One White House official tells CNBC’s Eamon Javers that it will likely be “very soon,” sometime this week. On the flip side: Beijing lashed out today after Trump accused China of violating its initial trade deal, potentially “dimming the prospect of an immediate leadership call,” Bloomberg’s Josh Xiao writes. China said it was in fact the U.S. that has breached the agreement Trump and Xi made in a January phone call. And from limiting chip exports to going after Chinese students, the U.S. “insists on its own way and continues to damage China’s interests,” the Commerce Ministry said, threatening counter-measures. The urgency: China’s crackdown on rare earth exports two months ago is starting to bite for U.S. automakers in particular, which may have to start limiting production in a matter of days, NYT’s Keith Bradsher reports. With China still not pulling back on the magnet restrictions, the U.S. and Europe have this supply-chain Achilles’ heel exposed. Across the pond: Ahead of a meeting with USTR Jamieson Greer on Wednesday, the EU laid out its plans to urge the U.S. to reduce tariffs, Reuters’ Philip Blenkinsop reports. The European Commission emphasized that it’ll make a strong case for a deal rather than a trade war. The big picture: Despite talks with Europe, China and other countries, Trump’s trade war will continue apace when steel and aluminum tariffs double, also on Wednesday, NYT’s Ana Swanson and Tony Romm write. Trump, who has long loved tariffs, plainly isn’t retreating from using them as a tool — despite the ongoing court battles over the legality of his “Liberation Day” authority. How we got here: That brief legal loss last week came after an unusual coalition of constitutional scholars from across the ideological spectrum united against his tariffs, NYT’s Adam Liptak writes. “The conservative movement is now, as an intellectual movement, consistently anti-Trump on most issues,” Richard Epstein, one of the scholar signees, says. Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | A message from The National Association of REALTORS®: Homeownership is the leading way Americans build wealth—but a 4.7 million-unit housing shortage is putting that at risk, especially for the middle class. The National Association of Realtors® has a plan. With smart tax reforms that support homeownership and community investment, paired with other targeted policy changes, we can increase housing supply and restore the American Dream. See the plan at FLYIN.Realtor. | | | | | | 7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. SCOTUS WATCH: The Supreme Court rejected appeals of Maryland and Rhode Island gun control laws, allowing their respective bans on semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines to stand, per CNN. But it was a close one: Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas said they would have taken up the significant gun-rights cases, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh added that he was skeptical of such AR-15 laws and expects to address them in the next couple of years. On the docket: The justices said they will take up a case from Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), who sued over Illinois’ practice of counting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day (but were sent before it). But this will likely be limited to a narrow question of standing, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein writes. Coming down the line: This month, we’re still expecting opinions on 33 of the 62 cases the Supreme Court heard this term. But as NBC’s Lawrence Hurley writes, the growing shadow docket — site of many of the most urgent legal battles over Trump’s agenda — can pop off at any time. 2. THE HILL’S HEALTH CARE FIGHTS: As the House GOP reconciliation bill comes up for scrutiny in the Senate — with Medicaid cuts perhaps the most contentious piece — it’s getting backup from Americans for Prosperity. The conservative group will launch a $4 million ad campaign on television and digital to support the megabill, CBS’ Hunter Woodall scooped. Their focus is on extending the 2017 tax cuts and slashing spending. Notably, the TV ads will air in D.C., Idaho, Louisiana, Maine and North Carolina. The haggling: Senate Republicans will start talks this week behind closed doors, with potentially significant changes in store to all manner of provisions in the House-passed legislation, as Bloomberg’s Erik Wasson and colleagues run down. Two senators to watch, at either end of the conference: Ron Johnson (Wis.), who is pushing hard to cut deficit spending more, as WSJ’s Siobhan Hughes reports, and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), who opposes Medicaid and clean-energy cuts, as NYT’s Catie Edmondson profiles. By the numbers: Between Medicaid cuts and changes to Obamacare marketplaces, the CBO estimates that the bill would lead to 10.7 million people losing coverage. WaPo’s Paige Winfield Cunningham reports that it amounts to a partial de facto repeal of the Affordable Care Act, though this time the rationale is finding savings. “Taken together, those changes would amount to the biggest slash in enrollment since repeal failed eight years ago.” Insurance plans and states warned that the bill would unleash “utter chaos in the insurance markets,” POLITICO’s Robert King reports. Meanwhile, NYT’s Linda Qiu breaks down the falsehoods being sold by top Republicans about the bill — namely that it won’t cut Medicaid or increase the deficit. After the reconciliation bill: Keep Americans Covered is rolling out a seven-figure ad campaign urging Congress to keep Obamacare tax credits alive, NBC’s Sahil Kapur scooped. It’s running in D.C. and 12 states, including the homes of key swing senators and GOP leaders. The enhanced credits run out at the end of the year, and letting them expire would yield tens of billions of dollars in savings. But it’s also forecast to cause 5 million Americans to lose health insurance, on top of the several million facing losses from the reconciliation bill. Some Republicans are open to striking a deal here, but others sound skeptical.
| | | | Playbook isn’t just a newsletter — it’s a podcast, too. With new co-hosts who bring unmatched Trump world reporting and analysis, The Playbook Podcast dives deeper into the power plays shaping Washington. Get the insider edge—start listening now. | | | | | 3. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: The U.S. has pulled out roughly 500 troops from Syria, making good on the Pentagon’s April announcement that it would consolidate its presence there, Fox News’ Jen Griffin reports. That amounts to roughly a quarter of the U.S. forces who were in the country. At the same time, the U.S. has signed off on a Syrian plan to integrate into its army thousands of foreign fighters, largely Uyghurs who were former jihadist rebels, Reuters’ Timour Azhari and Suleiman Al-Khalidi scooped. Better in than out, as long as it’s done transparently, special envoy Tom Barrack said. No deal: Iran is “drafting a negative response” to the latest U.S. nuclear deal proposal, calling it a “non-starter,” one Iranian diplomat tells Reuters’ Parisa Hafezi. In particular, Iran wants the U.S. to back down on uranium enrichment and step up on sanctions relief. 4. DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT INEFFICIENCY: In many parts of the federal government, actions by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have actually added more red tape, slowing down work and running counter to its stated aims, WaPo’s Hannah Natanson reports. State Department vendors have to sign new forms stating they’re not committed to diversity practices. Thousands of projects have been hamstrung by newly required approvals by political appointees. Support staff is gone, reassigned staffers have to learn the ropes, and mass firings have piled on more work. The fallout: Kevin Heatley, superintendent of Crater Lake National Park, tells WaPo’s Maxine Joselow he resigned in large part because of DOGE staffing cuts. … Though the Trump administration wants states to take over stewardship of many national park sites, state governments say they don’t have the resources for the transfers, Bloomberg’s Bobby Magill reports. … WaPo’s Teo Armus has the story of one Arlington, Virginia, after-school program newly imperiled by DOGE’s AmeriCorps cuts. But but but: The National Weather Service is partially staffing back up, with plans to hire roughly 125 more forecasters, CNN’s Andrew Freedman reports. 5. THE BOULDER ATTACK: “Suspect in Colorado attack told police he researched for a year and targeted ‘Zionist group,’” by AP’s Colleen Slevin and Eric Tucker: “An FBI affidavit says Mohammed Soliman confessed to the attack after being taken into custody Sunday and told the police he would do it again. The affidavit was released in support of a federal hate crime [charge] filed by the Justice Department on Monday.” On Truth Social, Trump said it was “yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE.” 6. GEORGIA ON MY MIND: Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) picked up another primary challenger as state Rep. Jasmine Clark launched a campaign, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein reports. The microbiologist is the third Democrat to contend against Scott with calls for generational change and a louder fight against Trump — especially amid yearslong concerns about Scott’s health and abilities. Meanwhile, Georgia state Senate President Pro Tempore John Kennedy jumped into the GOP lieutenant gubernatorial race, AP’s Jeff Amy reports. 7. AFTERNOON READ: “Curtis Yarvin’s Plot Against America,” by The New Yorker’s Ava Kofman: “As his ideas have been surrealized in DOGE and Trump has taken to self-identifying as a king, one might expect to find [Curtis] Yarvin in an exultant mood. In fact, he has spent the past few months fretting that the moment will go to waste. … What many see as the most dangerous assault on American democracy in the nation’s history Yarvin dismisses as woefully insufficient — a ‘vibes coup.’ Without a full-blown autocratic takeover, he believes, a backlash is sure to follow.”
| | | | A message from The National Association of REALTORS®:  
Homeownership builds wealth, but a 4.7 million home shortage threatens middle-class prosperity. NAR has a plan to boost supply. See it at FLYIN.Realtor. | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Chuck Grassley and Amy Klobuchar introduced a resolution calling for C-SPAN 2 to be carried on all TV providers, notably including streamers like YouTube TV and Hulu+LiveTV. Tom Llamas, who starts in the “NBC Nightly News” anchor seat tonight, plans to keep the format the same. OUT AND ABOUT — The Peabody Awards held its 85th annual awards ceremony yesterday at the Beverly Wilshire in LA, where Roy Wood Jr. hosted. Jacob Soboroff presented the Career Achievement Award to Andrea Mitchell, who reflected on her experiences getting thrown out of powerful rooms and fighting for female journalists to have a place in TV news. SPOTTED: Van Jones, Kerry Washington, Angela Patton, Natalie Rae, Chai Vasarhelyi, Chana Joffe-Walt, Dave Biscobing, Donald Cameron, Gilad Thaler, Jamila Wignot, Joel Bervell, Kai Wright, Kavitha Chekuru, Matthew Hashiguchi, Nanfu Wang, Phil Williams, Sahra Mani, Samara Freemark and Trevor Aaronson. See the full list of winners MEDIA MOVES — Kadia Goba will be a Congress reporter at WaPo. She most recently has been a political reporter at Semafor. … Boer Deng is now supervising editor for enterprise at CNN. She previously launched the investigative unit at Radio Free Asia, and is a BBC alum. TRANSITIONS — Meghan Taira is joining Resolution Public Affairs as a principal. She previously was legislative director for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. … Christian McMullen is now comms director for Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.). He previously was comms adviser for the Senate Commerce Committee. … Jamison Cruce is launching Cruce Capitol Consulting. He previously was VP of government affairs at USA Rice. … … Angela Ryan is now director of operations for Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.). She previously was director of operations and senior adviser for Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio). … Anna Newby is now director of global policy comms at Micron. She previously was director of comms at the National Nuclear Security Administration. … Alyssa Bretan is joining HHS as a confidential assistant for the office of the assistant secretary for legislation. She previously was member services coordinator for the House Budget Committee. WEDDING — Joe Vidulich, senior director of government relations at Capital One, and John Robinson, a financial services attorney, got married May 25 in London. They met on Hinge. Pic … Another pic … SPOTTED: Barbara Comstock, Roddy Flynn, Emily Weems and Bobbie Kilberg. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Alisha Kramer, a doctor, welcomed Lila Rose Ossoff this weekend. She joins big sister Eva. BONUS BIRTHDAY: Jordan Kaplan of EnTrust Global Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. Correction: Friday’s Playbook PM misstated the nickname for Michigan. It is the Wolverine State.
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