King Charles has stripped his brother Andrew of the title of prince and ordered him to leave Royal Lodge. The disgraced former Duke of York will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and live in a property on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, where he will be privately funded by the King. Rachel Reeves has admitted to misleading Keir Starmer over her failure to secure a licence to rent out her home in Dulwich, southeast London. The chancellor backtracked on claims that she and her husband were unaware that they needed the licence but said their lettings agency had promised to obtain one. The agents have admitted it was their fault and apologised. The Royal Collection has recalled a statue of Hercules and Achelous that has stood in front of Kew Gardens’ Victorian Palm House for 62 years. The bronze artwork, which was lent to the gardens by the late Queen in 1963, was removed last week without explanation and will be returned to Windsor.

Trump has “bungled” his trade war

Don’t be fooled by Donald Trump’s crowing over his meeting with Xi Jinping yesterday, says Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times. The US president has “bungled” this trade war from the moment he started it. When he announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April, he thought China was vulnerable because it exported far more to the US than it purchased. What he didn’t seem to realise was that much of what China purchased from the US, such as soybeans, could be bought from elsewhere, whereas rare earth minerals – the “essential ingredients of modern industry” – aren’t easily sourced from anywhere bar China. So when Xi responded by curbing rare earth exports, Trump had to make concessions: dialling back tariffs, easing restrictions on exporting chips to China, and so on. “The trade bully unexpectedly found himself bullied.”

It won’t be the last time, says The Wall Street Journal. Xi has lifted the suspension of rare earth exports for only a year, meaning he’ll be able to exploit this crucial leverage again in 2026. As for his promise to crack down on the production of fentanyl ingredients, that’s “unenforceable” and unlikely to be fulfilled. Trump extracted no concessions from Beijing over its continued purchases of Russian oil or its support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. And while it’s true that China’s economy is less resilient than America’s, Trump and his party have to face voters whereas Xi doesn’t. That makes it easier for the Chinese premier, in a long trade war that hurts both sides, to stick it out. The best that can be said about this week’s deal is that it averted more economic damage and bought Trump some time. Because if he wants to take on China over trade, “he needs a new strategy”.