Washington, DC

1. GOP breaks with Trump
2. Xi visit and media battles
3. Trump’s last Iran lever
4. Dems’ auto worries
5. IMF’s inflation warning
6. Mixed views on AI

PDB: GOP hawk criticizes Xi summit

G20 trade ministers meet … Zuckerberg speaks at Meta developer conference … WSJ: Zelenskyy asked Trump for winter arms package

Republicans break with Trump on Iran

Republicans are running away from the Iran war and scrambling to curtail high gas prices as they try to keep hold of Congress, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. It’s a critical moment for the congressional GOP as the Senate prepares to empty out for election season. And there are growing instances of daylight between President Donald Trump and the Republican Party he leads. This week, Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, along with Iowa GOP Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson, called for an end to the Iran war. They were joined by Rep. John James, a GOP gubernatorial candidate in Michigan, and the endangered Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio. “It’s not popular. They are in tough elections. People understand the need to have a safe nation, but we also understand the need to resolve this conflict,” retiring Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, told Semafor of her Iowa colleagues.

Trump battles press as Xi heads to town

Trump is pulling out all the stops for Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House — a trip that comes as Trump continues to battle the press corps in Washington. The slew of events begins with a formal arrival ceremony later today, just as a judge is expected to hear arguments in a lawsuit brought by the three news outlets the president banned from the White House last week. Trump’s team has so far defended its restriction on access, though some close to the administration privately argue it’s an unnecessary distraction. And Trump’s meeting with the Chinese leader may end up with more constrained coverage than it would have if he hadn’t escalated. The president was noncommittal on Tuesday when asked if he would abide by the federal district court’s decision on the media organizations’ suit.

— Shelby Talcott

Trump skirts last Iran lever ahead of Xi visit

Trump may have called on the United Nations to unite against Iran, but don’t expect him to press his case with China. The US has so far declined to sanction Chinese banks despite seeking to exert maximum economic pressure on Iran. That’s “the last line to cross” if “you really want to put the squeeze,” Bloomberg Economics’ Jennifer Welch said. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled Monday that he discussed Iran-related sanctions with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng over the weekend, adding that “with many countries … quiet, behind-the-scenes discussions are better.” Asked Friday whether Trump would raise the issue with Xi, a senior US official said only that the Treasury Department had already moved to sanction some Chinese companies and “that will continue going forward.”

— Eleanor Mueller

Dems fear Trump may make car concessions

Democratic lawmakers fear Trump may make auto industry-related concessions to China’s leader Xi Jinping this week — especially after the president floated the possibility of allowing Chinese carmakers to build vehicles in the US. “I’m very concerned,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich. “I want to make sure the president protects our domestic auto industry and protects our jobs and protects workers.” She was among the two dozen Democratic lawmakers who recently asked Trump not to allow Chinese companies to enter the US for both national security and economic reasons. GOP lawmakers are reluctant to criticize Trump but are making their opposition to foreign manufacturers known, too. “I don’t agree that we ought to be building Chinese cars or partnering with Chinese manufacturers in the United States to build cars here,” said purple-district Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich.

— Nicholas Wu

‘Winter is coming’: IMF chief warns on prices

The global economy has so far shrugged off $100 oil. It won’t forever. “Winter is coming,” Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said at Semafor’s The Next 3 Billion event in New York, warning that prices will keep climbing. The Iran war and its accompanying energy shocks have elevated inflation globally since February, leading central banks around the world to raise interest rates. That has raised their borrowing costs — the US will spend more money this year paying interest on the national debt than on its military — and leaves less to cushion the economic fallout. While AI has turbocharged economic development globally, counteracting some of the energy shock, the tech falls short of compensating for the full effect of the Strait of Hormuz’s closure. “We should prepare for people being more unhappy,” she said. “Maybe on the street.”

AI sentiment more positive outside US

Washington can’t stop talking about AI doom scenarios and the public backlash to data centers — but around the world, sentiment toward the fast-moving technology is much more nuanced. In 34 out of 37 countries polled by Gallup, more adults express positive feelings about AI than do negative ones. In 25 of those countries, majorities of adults who are aware of AI say it will improve their daily lives, rather than negatively affect them; majorities in 18 countries say they believe the technology will have a positive impact on their countries overall. Optimism is high in countries like China, where 93% of adults familiar with AI think it will help people, versus 36% of US adults. Wealthy Western countries tend to be most anxious about AI, per Gallup, though the more people in these countries use the technology, the less it worries them.

Blindspot: FDA and Donalds

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets.

What the Left isn’t reading: Former Trump and Bush FDA commissioners are backing Heidi Overton for the role.

What the Right isn’t reading: The new campaign website for Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds includes few references to President Trump, NBC reports.

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White House

• The political consulting firm that runs several of President Trump’s social media accounts sued one of its co-founders for alleged embezzlement.
• Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior Africa adviser, defended a controversial plan for power-sharing in Libya, saying it would not be “a dictatorship in any way.”
• The wife of an American seismologist said Trump will ask Chinese leader Xi Jinping to free him. — Reuters

Congress

• Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., pointedly criticized President Trump’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the Senate floor yesterday: “Quite frankly, had the White House asked me for advice, I would’ve suggested the president not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a lavish welcome.”

Outside the Beltway

• From the UNGA podium, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said his country would not allow “enemies of democracy, whether domestic or foreign,” to undermine upcoming elections, in a thinly veiled swipe at Trump.

Campaigns

• Former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned with Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, where she urged voters to see the midterms as a “stopgap” against President Trump.

Courts

• The biological parents of a baby born to a surrogate mother who defied the parents’ request for an abortion will keep custody of the child, after Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan refused to intervene.