Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has demanded El Salvador release hundreds of Venezuelans who were deported from the United States, who he described as being “kidnapped,” after his Salvadoran counterpart earlier proposed a prisoner swap.

Speaking on a television broadcast on Monday, Maduro demanded that Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele “provide proof of life for all the kidnapped young people,” allow their families and lawyers to visit the mega-prison where they’re being kept, and to release them “unconditionally.”

El Salvador's president has offered to repatriate 252 Venezuelans deported by the US and imprisoned in his country - if Venezuela releases the same number of political prisoners.

Nayib Bukele appealed directly to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a post on social media.

He said many of the Venezuelan deportees had committed "rape and murder", while Venezuelan political prisoners were jailed only because they opposed Maduro, whose re-election last year is widely disputed.

The self-proclaimed “world’s coolest dictator,” El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele, is offering Venezuela’s president a prisoner swap — 252 detainees, including many deported to El Salvador from America, in exchange for 252 of Nicolás Maduro’s political prisoners. 

‘The only reason they are imprisoned is because they opposed you and your electoral fraud,’ Nayib Bukele wrote in a taunting post to Nicolás Maduro about detainees in Venezuela.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the U.S. may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.

China has suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, threatening to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world.

Shipments of the magnets, essential for assembling everything from cars and drones to robots and missiles, have been halted at many Chinese ports while the Chinese government drafts a new regulatory system. Once in place, the new system could permanently prevent supplies from reaching certain companies, including American military contractors.

President Donald Trump knows his hike in tariffs for China's goods to 145 percent will up the ante in a trade war, but Beijing also holds a strong hand with its control of the materials critical for the United States defense industry.

China first responded on April 3 to Trump's initial salvo of 54 percent levies on its exports by placing export restrictions on rare earth elements, which are key for the fighter aircraft that will form the backbone of the U.S. Air Force's next-generation fleet.

China will pause exports of critical minerals to the United States in the country’s latest move to counteract President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Trump has set a tariff on China at a hefty 145%, which it has responded to with a 125% reciprocal tariff.

The U.S. granted tariff exemptions on laptops, smartphones, and other items. China called on the U.S. to “completely cancel” its tariffs, saying that the exemptions were a “small step” toward doing so.

China announced an 84% tariff against the United States after President Donald Trump raised tariffs against Beijing to 104% on Wednesday. 

“The U.S. escalation of tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake, severely infringing upon China’s legitimate rights and interests, and seriously damaging the multilateral trading system based on rules,” China’s State Council Tariff Commission said in a statement announcing the latest levy, which brings China’s total tariffs on all U.S. imports up to 118%.

Global markets are reeling as the U.S. and China escalate their trade war with a fresh wave of tariffs. President Donald Trump's latest round—raising duties on nearly all Chinese imports above 100%—took effect just after midnight. China's retaliatory 85% tariffs on U.S. goods caps off a week of tit-for-tat moves that have now seen each country impose two rounds of steep tariffs on the other. The European Union is also preparing to strike back with its own countermeasures.

China again vowed to “fight to the end” Wednesday in an escalating trade war with the U.S. as it announced it would raise tariffs on American goods to 84% from Thursday.

Beijing also added an array of countermeasures after U.S. President Donald Trump raised the total tariff on imports from China to 104%. Beijing said it was launching an additional suit against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization and placed further restrictions on American companies’ trade with Chinese companies.