China is willing to accelerate the examination and approval of rare earth exports to European Union firms and will also deliver a verdict on its trade investigation of EU brandy imports by July 5, its commerce ministry said on Saturday.
Price commitment consultations between China and the EU on Chinese-made electric vehicles exported to the EU have also entered a final stage but efforts from both sides are still needed, according to a statement on the Chinese Commerce Ministry’s website.
The issues were discussed between Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic in Paris on Tuesday, according to the statement.
The comments mark progress on matters that have vexed China’s relationship with the EU over the past year.
Most recently, China’s decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world.
The ministry said China attached great importance to the EU’s concerns and "was willing to establish a green channel for qualified applications to speed up the approval process."
In a separate statement the commerce ministry issued later on Saturday, it said China was willing to further strengthen communication and dialogue with relevant countries on rare earth export controls as it recognised that demand from sectors such as robotics and electric vehicles had risen.
The ministry earlier said that Commerce Minister Wang during the meeting "expressed the hope that the EU will meet us halfway and take effective measures to facilitate, safeguard and promote compliant trade in high-tech products to China."
Chinese anti-dumping measures that applied duties of up to 39% on imports of European brandy - with French cognac bearing the brunt - have also strained relations between Paris and Beijing.
The brandy duties were enforced days after the EU took action against Chinese-made electric vehicle imports to shield its local industry, prompting France’s President Emmanuel Macron to accuse Beijing of "pure retaliation".
The Chinese duties have dented sales of brands including LVMH’s Hennessy, Pernod Ricard (EPA:PERP)’s Martell and Remy Cointreau (EPA:RCOP).
Beijing was initially meant to make a final decision on the brandy duties by January, but extended the deadline to April and then again to July 5.
China’s Commerce Ministry said on Saturday that French companies and relevant associations had proactively submitted applications on price commitments for brandy to China and that Chinese investigators had reached an agreement with them on the core terms.
Chinese authorities were now reviewing the complete text on those commitments and would issue a final announcement before July 5, it said.
In April, the European Commission said the EU and China had also agreed to look into setting minimum prices of Chinese-made electric vehicles instead of tariffs imposed by the EU last year.
China’s commerce ministry said the EU had also proposed exploring "new technical paths" relating to EVs, which the Chinese side was now evaluating.
China’s commerce ministry said on Saturday that it has approved a certain number of compliant rare earth export applications and will continue to refine its examination and approval process. The ministry also expressed willingness to enhance communication with other countries over export controls, according to a statement on its website, Reuters reported.
Industry and government officials told Bloomberg that while shipments to the German and U.S. units of a global firm were cleared, the same request to its Indian arm was rejected. Since April 4—when China began enforcing tighter curbs on exports of seven rare earth elements—supplies to Indian auto parts manufacturers have been stuck at Chinese ports.
It’s the miracle drug that promises to shrink your size — except where it matters.
Male Ozempic users say their penises have gotten bigger since they started injecting the weight-loss shot, with dozens of well-endowed fellas flocking to online forums to fawn over their expanded members.
“I recently measured myself down there and noticed I gained about one inch,” an anonymous user recently claimed on a Reddit thread.
“Now I think people will say it was because of the fat loss. However at the time I measured myself before (4 years ago), I was thinner,” the man claimed. “I also bone pressed during measurement before and also this time. Has anyone else noticed this change in themselves?”
“I recently measured myself down there and noticed I gained about one inch,” an anonymous user recently claimed on a Reddit thread.sulit.photos – stock.adobe.com
Male Ozempic users say their penises have gotten bigger since they started injecting the weight-loss shot, with dozens of well-endowed fellas flocking to online forums to fawn over their expanded members.Shutterstock / Andrey_Popov
“Yes,” another happy Redditor responded. “I gained 1.5 inches in length. No joke. Like you I obviously know how long I was before I got very fat. Then after about seven months on Tirzepatide in my case I gained 1.5 inches in length. Definitely not all from weight loss.”
“I noticed that happen to me as well,” a third man remarked.
“Yeah, wife has definitely noticed a difference, was 278lbs down to under 200 lbs,” an additional commenter claimed.
Meanwhile, other men also claimed that they had noticed a size difference after taking Ozempic, but put it down to better blood flow and reduced fat around the pubic area.
Another Redditor responded saying the size difference was likely due to different external conditions during the before and after measurements.
“I feel like nobody is really reading what you are writing, that they blame the weight loss while you measured the first time when you were actually lighter,” the explained.
“Ozempic does not enlarge your penis, but an erect penis may change size considerably depending on time of day, temperature, and factors other than sexual arousal. So it’s probably just simply that.”
Some men also admitted that they had noticed a size difference after taking Ozempic, but put it down to better blood flow and reduced fat around the pubic area.myskin – stock.adobe.com The phenonemon — dubbed “Ozempic penis” or “Ozemd**k” — is just the latest in a series of side effects users of the weight-loss drugs have allegedly experencied.
“Ozempic mouth” is another recently reported side effect, marked by pronounced folds at the corners of the mouth, noticeable wrinkles on the lips, and sagging skin along the lip contours and chin area
Those alarmed by their changed appearance are now turning to cosmetic treatments – such as dermal fillers – to restore lost volume around the mouth area.
Just a few moments after Air Force One took off from Andrews Air Force Base inMaryland, PresidentDonald Trumpsat at his desk aboard the plane with a handful of his trusted staff members, includingWhite Housepress secretary Karoline Leavittand Treasury SecretaryScott Bessent.
All of them smiled as Air Force One settled itself after takeoff. The president was heading to one of his favorite parts of the country to mark a deal between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel that few outside of some very determined westernPennsylvanialocal union steelworkers thought would ever come to fruition.
Trump left the intrigue of Washington and pressures of his position to head toward a hero’s welcome at the Irvin Works plant in West Mifflin. He admitted he hadn’t wrapped his mind around the crowd’s outpouring of gratitude.
On the screen facing Trump was the Will Cain Show on Fox News, which panned to the crowd at the Irvin Works plant. The scene was a sea of orange safety jackets and hard hats, all standing in the building that the workers there call Highway One, on the other side of the rolling mill. The crowd was filled with men and women whose daily jobs leave them with dirt under their nails and pride in their chests because of their impact on everyone’s lives.
Donald Trump greets workers at a US Steel facility in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, May 30, 2025. (Rebecca Droke/Bloomberg/Getty)
Trump stared for the briefest of moments at the scene. He smiled and then drew Bessent’s attention to the screen. Trump is used to an enthusiastic crowd, but this was different: These men and women went against their union to support this deal.
“Look at that, Scott,” Trump said.
One of Trump’s staff members informed him that organizers at the rally had just told the union steelworkers, community leaders, and their family members waiting for the president about the terms of the deal. This includes $14 billion in capital investment projects at U.S. Steel, and the only remaining blast furnace mill in Pittsburgh will get $2.2 billion. It is an investment that will protect 11,400 existing jobs and create and support 14,000 new ones, including over 10,200 in construction.
It also guarantees that the majority of U.S. Steel’s board will be U.S. citizens, and key management members, including the CEO, will also be U.S. citizens. Only U.S. citizens will have direction over trade actions, with oversight from the federal government.
It was a deal Trump said he didn’t want to happen initially.
Accidental witness to history, again
The morning started at 4 a.m. in western Pennsylvania after the alarm went off. By noon, I was at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.
Interviews rarely make me nervous. To me, they should be more of a conversation. The readers get more from that back-and-forth, whether it is with a president, farmer, or hairdresser. It isn’t everyone’s style, but it suits me.
What does make me nervous is logistics — getting to places not just on time but with time to spare. My Google Maps app made it tricky that day by flunking out, which meant I had to rely on my best skill set: a decent sense of directions combined with a 7-year-old Rand McNally map and sheer determination. I only got somewhat turned around when I drove around Andrews’s vast campus.
I have interviewed Trump at least two dozen times over the years, in Erie, Johnstown, Wilkes-Barre, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg. I have also interviewed him at the White House in the West Wing.
The Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito with Trump at his desk aboard Air Force One, May 30, 2025. (Salena Zito/The Washington Examiner)
These interviews were all unique. But this interview, along with the one we were initially supposed to do on July 13, 2024, in Butler, will be in the history books someday, not because of me, but because of what happened on both days.
In Butler, we were set to do the interview five minutes before the rally, which then changed to five minutes after the rally. That changed to an interview on Trump Force One on the flight back to Bedminster from Butler. Six minutes before he took the stage that day, he had his press advance person, Michel Picard, bring me back to say hello. It was the entire reason I was in Butler that day and witnessed history. That’s also why I wrote the book Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland.
In West Mifflin, it was a different and much happier moment. It will not be forgotten for generations, in the same way that many people in this region have not forgotten Sept. 19, 1977, a day many still call “Black Monday.” That’s when the mills started closing in Youngstown and as many jobs were lost as were saved in West Mifflin late last month.
In 1977, then-President Jimmy Carter ignored the pleas of the Central Labor Union to stop steel imports and ease regulations that were hurting the industry. Carter also refused to meet with the union when it traveled to the White House, as then-Ohio Democratic Sen. John Glenn stood on the U.S. Capitol steps with other elected officials while the crowd waved signs reading, “Save the Steel Industry.”
Carter never bothered to send out an aide to receive the petitions when they arrived.
Few legacy news organizations in New York and Washington, D.C., at the time chronicled the hollowing out of communities and the long-term effects on those left behind. Many of these journalists didn’t understand how this started the incremental movement of the working class toward the Republican Party.
It was only when Trump won his first term in 2016 that it became clear. Trump sealed the deal with the working class for the Republicans. It will be interesting if the legacy media chronicle this with the vigor and intellectual curiosity it deserves. If not, they may ask eight years from now why Republicans keep winning.
The president, ‘The Beast,’ and a little tornado
I sat beside the president’s desk for most of the short ride, 45 minutes at most, from Maryland to the Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin. When it was time to exit, I imagined we would part ways. Outside, it was pouring, and the winds were rough.
An aide told me I was to ride in “The Beast,” the president’s big vehicle, and Trump, as he was about to descend the stairs, looked back at me to extend the offer himself. My answer was, “Of course!” Trump went down the stairs, and it was my turn behind him. The wind nearly swept me and my umbrella off the staircase. I hoped that my parents and grandchildren were not somehow watching my not-so-graceful exit.
Despite the gusty winds, the roads leading from the airport to Irvin Works were lined shoulder to shoulder with people cheering Trump on with homemade signs thanking him for saving U.S. Steel. Once inside, he met with local elected officials, law enforcement, legendary Pittsburgh Steelers running back and Vietnam War veteran Rocky Bleier, and current Steelers players Mason Rudolph and Miles Killebrew.
In West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, Trump talks with steel workers on a factory floor, May 30, 2025.(Salena Zito/The Washington Examiner)
A staffer at the event pulled me away and placed me under a girder. Something told me this was not where I was supposed to be. After a few texts, I was sitting with the local labor leaders I have covered for nearly a decade.
Trump took the stage, and before starting the speech, he gave me a shoutout for understanding the people in the room and the Rust Belt in general. “And she even gets me,” he added. At that point, I hoped that maybe my parents and grandchildren were watching.
A breathless White House staffer later tracked me down, and we sprinted back to Trump. It was time for another fascinating ride in “The Beast.”
Trump looked back at the plant. It was raining, which only made the rusting silver parts seem even older.
“You know, Salena, it’s not easy to get a good silver paint,” Trump said. “A good coating. I am going to look into that. They need this plant to look proud again. They do good things here. The people do good things here. They are the best of us.”
Outside, the wind was howling, and the rain was sideways. Yet the people were still lining Trump’s route back to the airport. He waved at them for a very long time.
Back on the plane, I asked him what this day meant to him, what these people meant to him.
“It was a day of strong men and women that loved what I did for them and that appreciated what I did for them,” he said. “They said if it wasn’t for me, this thing would’ve been closed up. In my first term, I put on 25% tariffs. … Nobody understood tariffs except for the workers — they understood. And that kept U.S. Steel open and doing well, and now, they’re going to thrive because today, they got a double hit. They got additional tariffs, and they got $17 billion,” he said of increasing the tariffs to 50%.
A staffer walked in. We were minutes from Andrews, but we couldn’t land. There was a tornado in the way. I started to wonder aloud if flying with him was in his best interest, and everyone laughed.
As we waited for the tornado to pass, the conversation with the president, Leavitt, Bessent, and his staff was casual despite covering serious items. Trump and other Air Force One and White House staffers also talked about a possible golf course and the spectacular pitching of Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes despite the team’s overall poor record, as well as the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
When we landed, it was time for the 4 1/2-hour drive home to western Pennsylvania in an unforgiving storm. As Trump walked toward the stairs, he looked at me and smiled, saying, “You got seven hours today, Salena. Did you get a good interview?”
I just smiled and thought, “What I got was a good story.”
Salena Zito is a national political correspondent for the Washington Examiner.
But, alas, the sad story of the FBI targeting Catholics does not end in 2023. New information uncovered by Sen. Charles Grassley’s committee reveals that the so-called “Richmond memo” was more like a nationwide all-points-bulletin from FBI brass, informing legions of agents to suspect and investigate faithful parishioners across the land.
Amazingly, such harsh anti-Catholic actions formed a key policy agenda for Joe Biden, a politician who constantly trumpeted his Catholic bona fides and bragged about the rosary he carries in his pocket. Of course, those pronouncements did not stop him from targeting the Little Sisters of the Poor for brutal Department of Justice intimidation when he was vice president. Nor did Joe’s faith restrain him as president, when he awarded America’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to the late Cecile Richardson, one of the most prolific abortion providers in U.S. history.
Unfortunately, Biden’s anti-Catholic actions follow a tragic trend of recent decades for Democrats, once the proud home to generations of Catholic voters across America.
Which brings us back to the present day and these newfound facts about the breadth and scope of the anti-Catholicism of Biden’s FBI. This targeting fits within a larger context of the completely unacceptable politicized weaponization of federal law enforcement by people like Biden, Harris, Wray, and former Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Sen. Grassley makes it clear that he believes Wray lied under oath. If that allegation is correct, then the Trump-Vance DOJ must charge Wray.
In addition, this issue carries great political peril for Democrats and big continued rewards for Republicans. Historically, Catholics decide national elections. For over half a century, the Catholic vote has determined the winner in every election but one (choosing Al Gore over George W. Bush in 2000). In 2024 Trump rolled up an incredible +11% margin among Catholics nationwide, a giant improvement over his tie among Catholics in 2020. In fact, Trump would not have won the popular vote – surprising every “expert” – without his dominant performance among Catholics.
So, let’s get to the truth, punish the evildoers, and reap the political spoils as well.
Steve Cortes is president of the League of American Workers, a populist right pro-laborer advocacy group, and senior political advisor to Catholic Vote. He is a former senior advisor to President Trump and JD Vance, and a former commentator for Fox News and CNN.
