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What We're Watching: House folds on Trump bill, Beijing lashes out at US-Vietnam deal, Nigerian opposition unites

July 03, 2025
Zac Weisz
and
Riley Callanan
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson walks back to office, as Republican lawmakers struggle to pass U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 3, 2025.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson walks back to office, as Republican lawmakers struggle to pass U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 3, 2025.
REUTERS

House holdouts bluff then fold on Trump’s budget bill

The US House is set to pass President Donald Trump’s epic tax-and-spending bill any minute now. Some eleventh hour House Republicans holdouts had signaled that they would oppose the broadly unpopular bill because it boosts the national debt by trillions while threatening to leave millions without health insurance, but they quickly fell in line after under direct pressure from Trump. The imminent final passage of the bill will fulfil Trump’s wish to have the landmark legislation on his desk by the Fourth of July holiday.

US-Vietnam trade deal angers Beijing

The US and Vietnam struck a preliminary trade deal to lower their bilateral tariffs yesterday, and China is not happy about it. Why? Because as part of the deal the US will heavily tariff any goods that pass through Vietnam from another country en-route to the US. That’s a direct swipe at Beijing, which does this frequently to skirt high US tariffs. China’s commerce ministry said it “firmly opposes any party striking a deal at the expense of Chinese interests” and threatened “countermeasures.”

Nigeria sees huge political shakeup as opposition leaders join forces

In one of the biggest shake ups since the end of military rule in 1999, Nigeria’s two main opposition leaders – Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi – have joined forces to try to oust President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election. In the 2023 election, they won a combined 54% of the vote compared to Tinubu’s 37%, meaning a common front could win. The big question: Which of these two political heavyweights will agree to play second fiddle to the other when it comes time to pick a presidential candidate?

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The kids are not alright

The Gen Z group led by Miraj Dhungana escalates their ongoing demonstrations, confronting police outside the prime minister's official residence in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Nov. 26, 2025.
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Hard Numbers: Mother Nature batters South and Southeast Asia, Netanyahu asks for a pardon, Aussies get in kayaks to protest coal, Trump commutes sentence of fraudster, Leo makes first foreign trip as pope

People stay at a school, which is functioned as the temporary shelter at flooded area, on November 30, 2025 in Sumatra, Sumatra. The authorities in Indonesia were searching on Sunday for hundreds of people they said were missing after days of unusually heavy rains across Southeast Asia that have killed hundreds and displaced millions.
Photo by Li Zhiquan/China News Service/VCG

800: The death toll from the tropical storm that battered parts of Southeast Asia is now close to 800.

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