Donald Trump is undergoing his annual medical check-up on Friday, although the US president has consistently chosen to keep basic facts about his health secret.

There is no guarantee the public will be told about the health of a man who, at the age of 78, was the oldest in US history to be sworn in as president.

“I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!” Mr Trump posted on his social media site.

He will be examined at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Washington DC, but he will have leeway over what details are released.

If history is repeated, his latest physical examination is likely to produce a flattering report that is scarce on details.

It represents the first potential opportunity to discover the status of Mr Trump’s health since an assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July last year.

At that time, Ronny Jackson, a staunch supporter who served as his White House doctor, wrote a memo describing a gunshot wound to Mr Trump’s right ear. He once joked that the president could live to be 200 if he had a healthier diet.

Despite Mr Trump promising in a CBS interview last August that he would “very gladly” release his medical records, he never did.

During President Biden’s time in office, medical reports have typically included vital statistics like height, weight, heart rate, blood pressure and cholesterol results, along with any medical symptoms. Other checks have included the vital organs and a neurological assessment.

Mr Trump has offered few details about his health over the years, despite repeatedly questioning the physical and mental capacity of his predecessor Mr Biden, who is three years older.

In 2020, President Trump contracted COVID-19. After his recovery, more details emerged that he had been sicker than he had let on.

In November 2023, Mr Trump’s doctor released a letter to coincide with Mr Biden’s 81st birthday, saying Mr Trump was in “excellent” physical and mental health.

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It said that his “physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional”, adding he had “reduced his weight”.

But there were a lot of details missing, including weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, or the results of any tests.

Trump takes anti-baldness pills

During his first term in office, his first medical check-up as president included details of his daily anti-baldness pills. But subsequent medical examinations were less transparent.

In November 2019, Mr Trump underwent a medical examination which was not revealed until three days later. He would only say it was a “very routine physical”.

A year later, an examination found he was technically obese and was taking medication to treat high cholesterol.

Before Mr Trump first ran for office in 2015, the results of a medical examination were described as “astonishingly excellent” by his personal doctor.

Dr Harold Bornstein stated at the time that Mr Trump would be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”

The doctor later admitted to CNN that Mr Trump had dictated those words to him.

Multiple people have died after a helicopter crash in New York’s Hudson River, officials have told Sky’s US partner NBC News.

It’s believed the aircraft was a tourist helicopter on a flight around Manhattan.

New Jersey State Police have said there were two adults, two children and a pilot onboard. It is not known how many people have died.

The New York Fire Department said it received a report of a helicopter in the water at 3.17pm local time (8.17pm UK time). It has units on the scene performing rescue operations, it added.

A man who saw the crash said “the chopper blade flew off”.

“I don’t know what happened to the tail, but it just straight up dropped,” Avi Rakesh told NBC News.

The crash took place in the river near the Holland tunnel, which links lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighbourhood with Jersey City to its west.

The crash site is also close to Pier 40, a multiuse facility with sports fields, tourist party boats and a large car park.

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The market rollercoaster of the past week – the tariffs, the jeopardy, the brinkmanship – has highlighted the remarkable nature of an interconnected world we take for granted.

There are many frontlines in this global trade war and the port of Duluth-Superior is one. It is a logistical and an engineering wonder.

In the northernmost part of the United States, near the border with Canada, there is no seaport anywhere in the world as far inland as this.

The sea is more than 2,000 miles away, to the east, along the Great Lakes-St Lawrence Seaway System, a binational waterway with a shared border between the US and Canada.

On the portside, vast ocean-going vessels are loaded and unloaded with products which make up the lifeblood of the global economy – iron ore for Canada, cement from Turkey, grain for Algeria and shipping containers packed with “Made in China” products for the American market.

My guide is Jayson Hron from the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.

“A vessel that is sailing through the seaway to Duluth crosses the international boundary nearly 30 times on that journey,” he tells me.

Duluth-Superior generates $1.6bn (£1.2bn) a year, supports more than 7,000 jobs, and these are nervous times.

“It’s certainly a season of more unpredictability than we’ve seen in the last few years. Unpredictability is bad for ports and bad for supply chains,” Mr Hron says.

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Tariffs mean friction and friction is bad for everyone. Approximately 30 million metric tons of waterborne cargo moves through the port each season, placing it among the nation’s top 20 ports in terms of cargo flow.

“Iron ore is the port’s king cargo by tonnage,” Mr Hron says. “It makes up about half of our waterborne tonnage total each year. It is mined 65 miles/104km from the port, on Minnesota’s Iron Range.”

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But not all of the iron ore sails to domestic mills. Almost a third sailed to Canada in 2024, now subject to the trade war levies between the two nations.

“A fifth of our port’s overall waterborne tonnage was Canadian trade in 2024, with the vast majority of it export tonnage from the US to Canada,” Mr Hron says.

Geography combined with American and Canadian engineering over many decades has made this port a logistical wonder. From the high seas, cargo can be imported and exported to and from the heart of the North American continent.

On the dockside, the Federal Yoshino is being prepared for her cargo. She will leave here soon with American grain destined for Algeria.

The port straddles two states. The John A Blatnik interstate bridge links Duluth with Superior and Minnesota with Wisconsin.

A network of roads and rails links the port with the country beyond, and an hour to the southeast are the fields of gold in Wisconsin.

Trump suggests farmers can sell more products at home

Last year, soybeans were the biggest export from the US to China, totalling nearly $12.8bn (£10bn) in trade.

Donald Trump has suggested American farmers can make up the difference by selling more of their products at home.

In March, he posted on social media: “To the Great Farmers of the United States: Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States. Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!”

But there is no solid domestic market for soybeans – America’s second largest crop. Two-fifths of the exports go to China. No other export market comes close – 11% to Mexico and 9% to the EU – also now facing potential tariff barriers too.

‘These fields are rows of gold’

Tanner Johnson is a local farmer and soybean industry representative. He talks regularly to politicians in Washington DC.

“They don’t look like much in your hand. But these fields are rows of gold,” he says.

Farmers across this country voted overwhelmingly for Mr Trump. Is there anxiety? Absolutely.

“I don’t want to put an exact timeline on when doors around here will close. But in the short term I think most farmers can handle it. Long-term – a year, year plus – things are going to look a lot more bleak around here,” Mr Johnson tells me.

Here, they mostly seem to hold on to a trust in Mr Trump. There remains a belief that his wild negotiating with their livelihoods will pay off. But it’s high stakes and with an uncertainty that no one needs.