CLAWS USA Newsletter 01-15 September 2025

The CLAWS U.S. Newsletter (1–15 September 2025) highlights major domestic and international developments shaping American politics and foreign policy. Domestically, it covers Trump’s declining approval ratings, the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and the controversial renaming of the National Security Council’s “Defense Directorate” to the “War Directorate.” Internationally, the newsletter reports on U.S. military strikes on Venezuelan drug boats, increased naval deployments in the Caribbean, a new trade deal with Japan, and looming restrictions on Chinese imports. It also details Israel’s unprecedented strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar, U.S. efforts to push G7/EU partners toward tariffs on China and India over Russian oil, and peace initiatives in Sudan. Additionally, it covers U.S.–Taliban talks over detainees, Trump’s planned conversation with Xi Jinping over TikTok, and the approval of F-16 sales to Peru. Collectively, the issue reflects Washington’s increasingly hardline and interventionist posture at home and abroad, with emphasis on security, trade leverage, and high-stakes diplomacy.