Principals

1. Trump, Zelenskyy meet
2. GOP sells megabill
3. Trump v. DC
4. CFPB ruling
5. Trade tensions
6. Redistricting update
7. New liberal publication

PDB: Trump teases tariff rates on semiconductors, steel

Hurricane Erin strengthens to Category 4 … China’s top diplomat in India … WaPo: The Brazilian judge resisting Trump

Trump pressures Zelenskyy before talks

The White House’s search for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine will occupy center stage again this week, as President Donald Trump hosts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders in Washington. Today’s talks follow Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska, which did not result in a ceasefire deal, though the Trump administration said that Russia agreed to NATO-style security guarantees for Ukraine. Trump this weekend shifted his stance in the ongoing talks, saying he is now seeking a peace agreement instead of an immediate ceasefire. The world leaders are expected to discuss terms of any Ukraine-Russia agreement, including the possibility of land swaps — an idea Trump has raised but that Ukraine has repeatedly rejected. Zelenskyy “can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday night, suggesting Ukraine give up Crimea to Russia and agree not to join NATO in exchange for peace.

— Shelby Talcott

GOP doubles down on Trump’s megabill

Republicans know Trump’s tax and spending law isn’t as popular as they’d hoped — but they’re confident they can turn things around in time for 2026, Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller reports. GOP members of Congress are mostly avoiding in-person public forums like the one Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., hosted in his district earlier this month. Instead, they’re opting for smaller-scale interactions with constituents who benefit from the new law’s more popular proposals, like tax breaks for parents, overtime pay, and tips. It’s all designed to solve a real problem: Democrats hit the GOP hard and early over the party-line megabill’s treatment of health care, chiefly its setup of almost $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts to help pay for the package’s other provisions. “Republicans may have lost the first messaging battle, but now we’re focused on winning the war,” a top GOP campaign aide told Semafor.

More National Guard troops head to DC

The rift between the Trump administration and DC appears poised to deepen this week, as more National Guard troops head to the district. Three Republican-led states — South Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia — said they would send their National Guard troops to join the hundreds already mobilized in DC, amid a federal crackdown on crime. Troops are also expected to begin carrying weapons, The Wall Street Journal reported, despite the Pentagon saying previously they wouldn’t be armed. DC notched a win late last week when the Trump administration pulled back on plans to install the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration as the “emergency” DC police commissioner following a lawsuit from the city. On Saturday night, residents in DC’s Capitol Hill neighborhood banged pots and pans in protest of the federal takeover.

Court reopens door to CFPB dismantling

A federal appeals court handed the Trump administration another big win by paving the way for it to proceed with mass layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after a lower-court judge delayed them for months. Two Trump appointees ruled Friday that CFPB employees and the NAACP had made key mistakes in their lawsuit against the administration — namely by describing its plans as shuttering the agency when it was unclear whether the administration had officially decided to do so. Already, the agency’s Democratic allies are pushing back: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of the bureau’s chief architects, pointed out, “The court’s rules make clear the panel decision won’t take effect until the plaintiffs have a chance to ask the full D.C. Circuit to review.” They won’t find much help across the aisle: Republicans have already helped Trump dramatically reduce the CFPB’s funding.

— Eleanor Mueller

Trade frustration grows

US trading partners grew increasingly restless over the slow pace of finalizing tariff-relief deals with Washington. A mammoth agreement with the European Union — the outlines of which were announced last month — is being held up by American demands that Brussels water down its laws regulating Big Tech, the Financial Times reported, while officials in the EU, as well as Japan, South Korea, and the UK are still waiting for the White House to follow through on promises for reductions on existing levies, Bloomberg said. For the US, meanwhile, the deals have not been as successful as announced, an economics writer argued in The Atlantic: Much-ballyhooed investment promises look unlikely to fully materialize, while other concessions “don’t add up to much.”

Newsom prepares for gerrymandering fight

As Texas Republicans convened for a second special session to move forward with a new congressional map deleting five Democratic seats, opposition-party lawmakers who’d fled the state were expected to return and oppose it — encouraged by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He’s been busy at home, too: If Newsom’s Democrats get their own map endorsed by Golden State voters on Nov. 4, every incumbent swing-seat Democrat will get a bluer district, and five Republicans would be stuck in districts that supported Kamala Harris last year. That includes Rep. Kevin Kiley, who’s urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring up his anti-gerrymandering bill. “He and the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, need to show leadership here and get this situation under control,” Kiley told The Washington Post. Republicans are confident they can beat Newsom’s measure, which hasn’t dissuaded Indiana and Missouri Republicans from considering new gerrymanders.

— David Weigel

New liberal publication launches

A group of left-leaning writers and journalists is launching a new publication aimed at pushing back against the populist right by strengthening the ideas and arguments of modern liberalism, Semafor’s Max Tani reports. “To move out of this post-liberal, populist moment towards a better future — one with equal rights, material prosperity, and commitment to human progress — will require our government, culture, politics, and people to recommit ourselves to liberal values,” said Jerusalem Demsas, who left The Atlantic in recent weeks to be the editor-in-chief and CEO of the new outlet, called The Argument. The magazine hopes to persuade people that “the lives they want — prosperous, safe, and free to live how they want — are best protected under liberalism.” The publication also plans to work with a large network of contributors, including Biden administration alumni Mike Konczal and Zach Liscow, and Abundance co-author Derek Thompson.

Uncommon bonds: Shoring up mineral supply chains

Republicans and Democrats are worried about how much control Beijing has over the supply of critical minerals, and they want to do something about it. China supplies about 90% of the globe’s rare earth elements and handles the production of other key minerals that help power the world’s technology and clean energy products. As tensions between Washington and Beijing simmer, legislators want to see the US peel its mineral supply chains away from China — by establishing more mining and production within its own borders and helping allies do the same. Enter a new bipartisan bill that would strengthen an existing program that aims to speed the creation of more diverse mineral pipelines. China’s dominance of mineral supply chains “threatens the US economic and national security,” Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., one of the sponsors, told Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant.

Beltway Newsletters

Playbook: Former Trump administration official-turned-critic Fiona Hill criticized President Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, saying he “has completely ceded narrative control” to the Russian leader. The White House dismissed Hill as a “go-to Trump Deranged ‘expert’ on Russia.”

Axios: The White House has asked Ukraine if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will wear a suit to today’s meeting. (He’ll wear a black jacket.)

White House

• President Trump said he plans to set tariffs on steel and semiconductors as soon as this week.
• Melania Trump sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the plight of Ukrainian children.

Congress

• The Senate Parliamentarian blocked efforts to defund the USPS’ electric vehicle program from the GOP megabill, but Republicans like Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, want to try again. — AP

Outside the Beltway

• Israelis engaged in