Good morning and welcome to White House Watch. Let’s dive into:

• Vance stakes his claim to be Trump’s apprentice

• The US president claims he has suspended a fresh military attack against Iran

• A somewhat unconventional settlement for Trump and his family

If the Maga movement is to survive Donald Trump’s time in office, who will be the one to carry the torch? Many think it’s vice-president JD Vance’s race to lose.  

In this ace Big Read, the FT’s deputy DC bureau chief Lauren Fedor charts Vance’s recent trip to Iowa, the state that traditionally kicks off the fight for the White House.

April Melton, 59, who chairs the Republican Party in Iowa’s Black Hawk County, said she had come to hear the “next president of the United States”.

“He’s like Donald Trump,” said Patricia Lage, 65. “He wants to see America great again.”

Vance has been seen as the heir apparent since Trump named him as his running mate in 2024.

But the slide in Trump’s approval ratings might’ve paved the way for secretary of state Marco Rubio’s more orthodox brand of Republicanism. 

As the article notes, the former Marine Corps veteran who rose to fame with a memoir of his tough childhood, Hillbilly Elegy, still has a lot going for him.

Not least his role as finance chair of the Republican National Committee — a post that allows him to travel the country and forge relationships with high-powered and deep-pocketed donors who could fund a future presidential campaign.

Unlike many US politicians, Vance might not come from money. But, as the race to become the Republican pick for the 2028 presidential election hots up, he’ll know where to find it.

• Trump claimed that he suspended a military attack on Iran, scheduled for Tuesday, at the request of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, amid “serious negotiations” with Tehran. The cost of the Iran war at US pumps is $40bn and rising.

• China’s President Xi Jinping told Trump during their talks last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin might end up regretting his invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the US has eased Russian oil sanctions yet again in a bid to contain oil prices.

• Donald Trump Jr’s venture capital firm is building an investment empire around “patriotic capitalism”, as its assets under management jumped from $200mn to $3.5bn over the past year.  

Edward Luce and Rana Foroohar will be answering readers’ questions in a live Q&A on Trump’s economic agenda. Submit your questions for the May 21 event here.

A somewhat unconventional deal has occurred between the Trump family and the US government.

Trump and his family have sued the Internal Revenue Service for $10bn over a leak of the president’s tax returns.

The lawsuit, which included the US president, his two older sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization as plaintiffs, was dropped voluntarily, according to a court filing released on Monday morning.

The Department of Justice said later in the day that the case was dropped as part of a deal in which $1.78bn in government cash will be made available to “others who have suffered weaponisation and lawfare”. 

The settlement deal will direct US government funds to people who claim to have been mistreated, although the DoJ said there would be “no partisan requirements” to file a claim.

“President Trump is entering into this settlement squarely for the benefit of the American people,” agencies,” said a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team.

The lawsuit against the IRS was filed in January and stemmed from the disclosure of tax documents leaked by a former IRS contractor to several media outlets and organisations in 2019 and 2020. 

The Florida federal suit was in itself an unusual move by a sitting US president, who was taking legal action against an arm of his own government. 

• Trump seemed to grasp the limits of America’s one-trick ponies better than most US presidents before he took power in 2016. Now he is riding that pony into the same old quicksand over Iran, argues Edward Luce.

• Trump and Xi will not determine Taiwan’s fate, notes Gideon Rachman.

• The Iran war has made the US president political kryptonite, writes pollster and political consultant Stanley Greenberg.

• Little was ventured, little was gained by Trump’s trip to China, says Rana Foroohar.