Musk, Rubio, Hegseth: Who is Traveling With Trump to China?

President Trump’s entourage for his trip to China includes top administration officials, several of the country’s most powerful executives and members of the Trump family. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is traveling with Mr. Trump, despite sanctions China imposed on him in 2020 over his comments about its human rights record. Pete Hegseth will be the first sitting defense secretary to visit China since Jim Mattis made the trip in 2018. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is also in the entourage, after meeting with China’s vice premier, He Lifeng, in…

U.S. Might Restart Strikes on Iran, Trump and Hegseth Warn

The United States could end the month-old cease-fire and resume its attacks on Iran, President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday, a day after Mr. Trump dismissed Tehran’s latest offer to end the war as “garbage.” “We’re either going to make a deal or they’re going to be decimated,” Mr. Trump told reporters in Washington as he prepared to travel to Beijing for a summit with China’s top leader, Xi Jinping. “One way or the other, we win.” Mr. Hegseth told a congressional hearing: “We have a…

Iran War Has Drained U.S. Supplies of Critical, Costly Weapons

Since the Iran war began in late February, the United States has burned through around 1,100 of its long-range stealth cruise missiles built for a war with China, close to the total number remaining in the U.S. stockpile. The military has fired off more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, roughly 10 times the number it currently buys each year. The Pentagon used more than 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles in the war, at more than $4 million a pop, and more than 1,000 Precision Strike and ATACMS ground-based missiles, leaving inventories…

Overmatched: Why the U.S. Military Must Reinvent Itself

Opinion The Editorial Board By The Editorial BoardThe editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom. This is the first installment in a series from the editorial board on why the U.S. military needs to reinvent itself. NYT