President Donald Trump has capped off his 29th week back in the Oval Office, which included celebrating his 200th day as the 47th president, completing revamps to the White House’s Rose Garden and an overall focus on the U.S. economy and international diplomacy that unfolded at a break-neck pace this week. 

«In just 200 days, President Trump has turned America into the hottest country in the world,» White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital, reflecting on Trump’s 200th day in office on Thursday. «Under Joe Biden’s failed leadership, families and businesses were struggling, and America was dead — but President Trump has quickly restored American greatness. The historic trade deals and peace deals he secured on behalf of the American people made President Trump’s second 100 days just as successful as the first.» 

The first 100 days of a new administration have commonly been viewed as a symbolic benchmark to measure a president’s early successes. A White House official told Fox Digital that Trump’s measure of success was seen not only in the first 100 days, but also in the timeframe between the 100th day and Aug. 7 — the 200th day. 

TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CELEBRATES LATEST CHAPTER OF WINS AT 200-DAY MARK

Economy and tariffs 

Trump’s 29th week in office included an overall and ongoing focus on new business investments in the U.S. and new tariffs on foreign nations as the administration looks to bring parity to the U.S.’ historic trade deficit with other nations. The White House teased that Trump would make a major announcement on Wednesday, which ultimately revealed Apple had increased its U.S. investment commitment by $100 billion to $600 billion.

«Today Apple is announcing that it will invest $600 billion — that’s with a B — in the United States over the next four years. That’s $100 billion more than they were originally going to invest. And this is the largest investment Apple has ever made in America and anywhere else,» Trump said on Wednesday from the Oval Office, where he was joined by Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Trump’s announcement on the deal was one facet of this week’s focus on the U.S. economy. The president signed a pair of executive orders on Thursday allowing Americans to invest their 401(k) retirement plans in cryptocurrency, private equity and real estate, as well as another EO that works to ensure that banks do not «deny or restrict services based on political beliefs, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities,» according the EO. 

Trump kicked off the week by announcing he would increase tariffs on India over the country’s continued purchase of Russian oil, with goods from India now facing a 50% tariff. The tariff hikes followed months of the U.S. and India holding trade negotiations that appeared to be all but solidified in July, but fell to pieces by August. 

«Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country,» Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday. 

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«Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE — ALL THINGS NOT GOOD! INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE, STARTING ON AUGUST FIRST. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. MAGA!» he continued. 

Trump’s tariff plans aim to increase the amount of American-built products and U.S.-based companies, and the president said he would also impose a 100% tariff on imports of semiconductors and chips. Companies «building in the United States,» however, will be exempt from the tariffs, he said. 

«100 percent tariff on all chips and semiconductors coming into the United States, but if you’ve made a commitment to build, or if you’re in the process of building, as many are, there is no tariff,» he said on Wednesday. 

International Diplomacy

Trump wrapped up the working week by holding a trilateral meeting with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign a peace agreement after the two nations have battled one another since the 1980s over a territorial conflict. 

The White House said Friday that the two nations agreed to build a road connecting Azerbaijan and an autonomous enclave currently separated by Armenian territory. The road will be called the «Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,» according to the White House. 

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«The roadmap they are agreeing to will build a cooperative future that benefits both countries, their region of the South Caucasus and beyond,» White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Friday of the peace deal. 

The peace deal comes as Trump continues working to reach a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine as the war that broke out in 2022 continues raging between the nations. Armenia and Azerbaijan are both former constituent republics of the Soviet Union. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo/Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Trump said earlier this week that he is open to meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which would mark the pair’s first meeting since Trump was sworn back into office this year. 

«As President Trump said yesterday, the Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the President is open to this meeting. President Trump would like to meet with both President Putin and President Zelensky, because he wants this brutal war to end. The White House is working through the details of these potential meetings, and details will be provided at the appropriate time,» White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Thursday. 

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Trump confirmed on Friday that he would meet with Putin on Aug. 15 in Alaska. 

«The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska. Further details to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter!» he posted to Truth Social on Friday. 

Trump gestures from the roof of the West Wing of the White House as he takes a tour on August 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C.  (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Rose Garden updates and Trump’s surprise roof appearance 

Trump announced in March that he planned to renovate the historic garden with pavers, explaining that the grass «doesn’t work» and citing how the soft terrain was difficult for some visitors to navigate.  

«We’re getting great reviews of the Rose Garden, and we had to do it,» Trump told reporters on Sunday of the update. 

The area was officially paved over with a bright white patio boasting the White House’s emblem on its perimeter. 

«When we had a press conference, you’d sink into the mud. It was grass, and it was very wet, always wet and damp and wet, and if it rained, it would take three, four, five days to dry out, and we couldn’t use it really for the intended purpose,» he added. 

TRUMP APPEARS ON WHITE HOUSE ROOF AMID TALKS OF HISTORIC RENOVATIONS

Tables and chairs in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. Trump ordered updates to the Rose Garden in March.  (Getty Images)

«It’s a beautiful white stone, and it’s a stone that’s the same color as the White House itself,» Trump said. «And because it’s very white, it’s going to reflect the heat, and it’s not going to be very hot. Yeah, we’ve got great reviews of the Rose Garden.»

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On Tuesday, the president made a surprise appearance on the White House roof, surveying the area from roof of the West Wing and the press briefing room. Reporters on the ground gathered near the president while shouting questions at him. 

The appearance comes just days after Trump announced that he and private donors will fund an estimated $200 million cost of a new ballroom at the White House. 

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy, Caitlin McFall and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report. 

As Japan marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings, the mayor of Nagasaki is warning that the world could see the same kind of devastating attack again.

Approximately 2,600 people, including representatives from 90 countries, attended the memorial event on Saturday at Nagasaki Peace Park, according to the Associated Press. At 11:02 a.m., the exact time the bomb exploded over the city, the attendees held a moment of silence. Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki, whose parents survived the 1945 attack, addressed the crowd and called for global action against nuclear weapons.

«Conflicts around the world are intensifying in a vicious cycle of confrontation and fragmentation,» Suzuki told a crowd on Saturday, according to a translation by The Mainichi. «If we continue on this trajectory, we will end up thrusting ourselves into a nuclear war. This existential crisis of humanity has become imminent to each and every one of us living on Earth.»

RUSSIA AND CHINA TICK DOOMSDAY CLOCK TOWARD MIDNIGHT AS HIROSHIMA BOMBING HITS 80 YEARS

Mayors for Peace, which brings together mayors and city leaders from across the globe, is holding its 11th General Conference in Nagasaki this weekend as the city mourns the tragic day. The organization’s aim is to abolish nuclear weapons, a point Suzuki emphasized in his remarks.

«In order to make Nagasaki the last atomic bombing site, it is essential to show a specific course of action for achieving the abolition of nuclear weapons. Procrastination can no longer be tolerated,» Suzuki said, according to The Mainichi. 

The mayor also noted that the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) «will represent a crucial moment capable of swaying the fate of humanity.»

Every five years, world leaders meet to review the provisions of the NPT, which was opened for signature in 1968 and entered into force in 1970, 25 years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

A woman prays during a private ceremony to honor the victims of the atomic bombing and to pray for peace on the 80th anniversary of the bombing at Nagasaki’s Hypocenter Park in Nagasaki, western Japan on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

BUSINESS OWNER BEHIND MYSTERIOUS ‘REMEMBER HIROSHIMA’ PROTEST DOLL AT DISNEYLAND’S ‘SMALL WORLD’ RIDE REVEALED

The U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan three days apart. The first was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and the second was dropped on Nagasaki three days later, on Aug. 9. The bombs decimated both cities, leading to Japan’s surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, and later the end of World War II.

A bomb nicknamed «Little Boy,» weighing approximately 9,000 pounds and producing an explosive force equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT, detonated 1,800 feet over Hiroshima, causing massive devastation. «Fat Man,» the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, weighed 10,000 pounds and detonated at approximately the same altitude as «Little Boy.»

Catholics hold torches as they walk from Urakami Cathedral for a peace march to Hypocenter Park, on the 80th anniversary of the bombing of the city, in Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, Aug. 9, 2025. (REUTERS/Issei Kato)

JAMES CAMERON SLAMS ‘OPPENHEIMER’ AVOIDING AFTERMATH OF ATOMIC BOMBINGS ON JAPAN AS ‘MORAL COP-OUT’

«I would like to express my deepest condolences for the lives claimed by the atomic bombings, and to all of the victims of war,» Suzuki said, according to The Mainichi. «In marking 80 years from the atomic bombing, Nagasaki has resolved to continue our duty to relay, both inside Japan and overseas, the memories of the bombing, which are a common heritage to all humanity and should be passed down for generations throughout the world.»

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He concluded with a declaration, which was also translated by The Mainichi: «I hereby declare that in order to make Nagasaki the last atomic bombing site now and forever, we will go hand-in-hand with global citizens and devote our utmost efforts towards the abolition of nuclear weapons and the realization of everlasting world peace.»

Alí Akbar Velayati, asesor en asuntos internacionales del líder supremo iraní, el ayatollah Ali Khamenei, afirmó que el régimen persa se opone de manera firme al desarme del grupo terrorista libanés Hezbollah y a cualquier modificación geopolítica en el sur del Cáucaso que facilite la presencia estadounidense en la región.

“No se hará realidad”, afirmó respecto al desarme del movimiento extremista.

En una entrevista con la agencia de noticias Tasnim, el funcionario abordó tanto la situación de la “resistencia libanesa” como los riesgos asociados al llamado corredor “Zangezur”.

Velayati criticó la propuesta impulsada por Estados Unidos para establecer un corredor que cruce el sur del Cáucaso, sosteniendo que representa una amenaza para la seguridad regional y podría derivar en la partición de Armenia. En ese contexto, rechazó las declaraciones de Donald Trump sobre un supuesto alquiler del corredor por 99 años: “¿Acaso el sur del Cáucaso es una tierra sin dueño para que Trump venga a alquilarla? Este paso no se convertirá en propiedad de Trump, sino en un ‘cementerio para sus mercenarios’”.

El asesor recordó la postura permanente de Irán contraria a la modificación de fronteras en la zona y recalcó que el proyecto cambiaría el equilibrio geopolítico, alteraría los límites estatales y debilitaría las posiciones de algunos países como Armenia.

Aseguró que, ante la insistencia de Turquía y Azerbaiyán en la creación del corredor, Irán realizó ejercicios militares en su frontera noroeste para demostrar su disposición a defender sus intereses. Velayati argumentó que “el alquiler del corredor no es más sensato que pretender arrendar el Canal de Panamá desde el otro lado del mundo”.

Refiriéndose a la seguridad energética de la región, advirtió sobre los intereses estadounidenses y europeos de utilizar el corredor para transportar petróleo y gas del Mar Caspio. Recordó que todos los países ribereños deben aprobar cualquier operación de este tipo y subrayó que recientes ejercicios navales conjuntos con Rusia buscan enviar una advertencia clara sobre la oposición iraní a la injerencia de terceros actores.

Respecto a la presencia de la OTAN en la región, el ex ministro de Exteriores advirtió que el plan estadounidense busca una mayor militarización occidental, con implicación directa de países como Turquía. “La OTAN trata de insertarse como una serpiente entre Irán y Rusia, pero nuestra respuesta será contundente”, amenazó.

Sobre Hezbollah y el debate interno en el gobierno libanés, Velayati calificó como irrealizable el desarme del grupo apoyado por Teherán. “Desarmar a Hezbollah es un sueño que no se cumplirá. La resistencia cuenta con el respaldo de todas las comunidades libanesas y es sinónimo de honor y seguridad para el país”.

Añadió que las presiones provienen de Estados Unidos e Israel y recordó que, en las décadas previas, la ausencia de una fuerza de resistencia permitió el avance de Israel hasta las puertas de Beirut. “Actualmente, Hezbollah es más fuerte que nunca y se mantiene como garante de la soberanía”, dijo.

El asesor planteó que intentos anteriores de debilitar a la organización tampoco prosperaron, incluso cuando contaba con menos recursos y menor apoyo social. Según sus palabras, “si Hezbollah entregara sus armas, nadie defendería la vida y los bienes de los libaneses frente a posibles agresiones”.

Velayati se pronunció días después de que el Consejo de Ministros de Líbano aprobara el pasado jueves la propuesta de Estados Unidos sobre el desarme de Hezbollah, en el contexto de la frágil situación del acuerdo de alto el fuego alcanzado entre el grupo terrorista e Israel en noviembre de 2024. El anuncio se produjo tras una sesión celebrada en el Palacio de Baabda, en la que el gabinete libanés avaló los objetivos presentes en el documento presentado por el enviado estadounidense Tom Barrack.

Por su parte, al referirse a la situación en Siria y la figura de Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, jefe de una facción rebelde, explicó que Líbano no permitirá un escenario similar. Atribuyó parte de la inestabilidad regional a la intervención extranjera y aseguró que “la mayoría del pueblo libanés sabe que la seguridad se debe a la existencia de la resistencia”.

La preocupación del régimen de Irán alcanza también a Hashd al-Shaabi en Irak. Según Velayati, el desarme de estas fuerzas, promovido por las mismas potencias extranjeras, busca “debilitar” la capacidad defensiva regional. Mencionó una conversación reciente con Nuri al-Maliki, ex primer ministro iraquí, en la que ambos coincidieron en que ni Irán ni Irak aceptarán desarmar grupos que consideran cruciales frente a amenazas externas.

Por último, Velayati subrayó que la política de Irán es clara: “Somos el núcleo del eje de la resistencia y nuestro compromiso es seguir defendiendo tanto a la resistencia en Líbano como la estabilidad regional contra cualquier intervención extranjera”.