pinned
By the Associated Press
To Trump, “tariff” is more than “the most beautiful word in the dictionary,” something he says often.
Tariffs, in Trump’s view, are a cure for a number of the nation’s ills and the tool to reach new heights. Among the reasons for steeply taxing the US consumption of products from Canada, Mexico, China and beyond:
- stopping the flow of illegal fentanyl
- balancing the budget
- making America rich
- protecting “the soul” of America
Most economists see taxes paid on imports as capable of addressing unfair trade practices, but they’re skeptical of the quasi-miraculous properties that Trump claims they possess.
By the Associated Press
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz blamed Trump for the “uncertainty and the destructive chaos” in Washington as his administration presented an updated budget forecast.
“There is a storm in the federal level, and that storm is Donald Trump,” Walz told reporters.
Walz, who was Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election, spoke after his budget commissioner and her team said their projections did not include the impacts of potential cuts in federal funding because the situation in Washington is so uncertain.
“This is chaos. It’s nonsense,” Walz said. “It’s not how you run any business, let alone the federal government. And the impact on states is immense.”
If threatened cuts happen, Management and Budget Commissioner Erin Campbell said it could blow “a dramatic hole” in the state budget.
By The New York Times
Justice Amy Coney Barrett is the junior member of the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority, having served just three full terms. But her vote may be decisive as the justices consider whether and how hard to push back against President Trump’s efforts to reshape US government.
On Wednesday, for instance, she was the only one of the three justices appointed by Trump to vote against his emergency request to freeze foreign aid, joining the court’s three Democratic appointees and Chief Justice John Roberts to form a bare majority.
The ruling was provisional and tentative, only the first of what will certainly be a series of more consequential tests of the limits of Trump’s power to come before the court. But it suggested the president cannot count on the court backing every element of his efforts to expand the authority of the executive branch, and it has already drawn sharp condemnations of Barrett by some of the president’s allies.
By The New York Times
The Trump administration has concluded that Maine is violating federal law by allowing transgender athletes to play on women’s teams, the state attorney general’s office said.
Trump had targeted the state for scrutiny last month, soon after issuing an executive order Feb. 5 barring transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports. A conservative Maine lawmaker drew attention to the state’s transgender athletes with a contentious social media post Feb. 17; days later, Trump sparred with Governor Janet Mills over the issue at a White House event.
“See you in court,” Mills, a Democrat, told Trump after he said that she had “better comply” with his order, or he would cut federal funding for Maine.
That same day, the federal Office of Civil Rights announced that it was initiating a review of the Maine Department of Education, including the University of Maine system, “based on information that Maine intends to defy this executive order” and “will continue to allow biological males to compete in women’s sports.”
By the Associated Press
Trump signed an executive order in January pushing to early April the deadline for TikTok to cut ties with its China-based parent company, ByteDance, or face a ban in the US.
Asked about a possible extension, Trump said one isn’t needed at this time because there’s still a month to go before the deadline.
“But if I needed the extension, I’d probably get an extension,” he said, adding, “We have a lot of interest in TikTok.”
By the Associated Press
Trump says he has instructed department secretaries to work with DOGE but “be very precise” about which federal workers stay or go.
He told them to use a “‘scalpel’” — writing in a social media post — “rather than the hatchet.”
Those comments come amid mounting legal disputes over billionaire Elon Musk’s attempts to centralize management of the government workforce and bypass Congress — making the tech entrepreneur both an admired and deeply feared figure in Trump’s second administration.
By the Associated Press
Musk is telling Republican lawmakers that he is not to blame for the firings of thousands of federal workers, including veterans, as pushes to downsize the government. Instead, he said in private talks this week that those decisions are left to the various federal agencies.
The message from one of Trump’s most influential advisers came as Republicans publicly support Musk’s work at the Department of Government Efficiency digging up waste, fraud and abuse, but are privately raising questions as personnel cuts ripple through communities across the nation.
“Elon doesn’t fire people,” said Representative Richard Hudson after a dinner-time pizza meeting with Musk in the basement of the Capitol.
“He doesn’t have hiring and firing authority,” added Hudson, who leads the House Republicans’ campaign arm. “The president’s empowered him to go uncover this information, that’s it.”
By the Associated Press
“I want the Cabinet members to keep good people,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump added, “I don’t want to see a big cut where a lot of good people are cut.”
He also suggested that agency leaders would take the lead, but Elon Musk could make his own push if reductions don’t go far enough.
Agencies have occasionally needed to reinstate fired workers who handled critical tasks, such as maintaining nuclear weapons.
By the Associated Press
Last December, Trump said on his social media platform: “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
He softened those comments Thursday when asked about the upcoming switch to daylight saving time.
“It’s a 50-50 issue. When something’s a 50-50 issue, it’s hard to get excited about it,” he said. “I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark.”
Q: “When are you going to get rid of Daylight Savings Time?”
President Trump: “It’s a 50/50 issue…I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark.” pic.twitter.com/pdOcIQ8m3X
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 6, 2025
By the Associated Press
A federal judge agreed Thursday to reinstate a board member whom President Trump removed from the National Labor Relations Board.
Board member Gwynne Wilcox sued Trump after he fired her and the agency’s general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, on Jan. 27.
US District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, DC, ruled that Trump did not have the authority to remove Wilcox from the NLRB.
Wilcox’s attorneys said no president had tried to remove an NLRB member. They argued that board members can only be fired “for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office” and only after giving notice and holding a hearing.
During a hearing Wednesday, Howell jokingly referred to herself as a “speed bump” for the case on its way to the Supreme Court.
By the Associated Press
Appearing before a capacity crowd of journalists who crammed into the department’s small press briefing room and an overflow conference space across the hall, spokesperson Tammy Bruce parried virtually all the questions she was asked during the roughly 45-minute event.
That included declining to answer most queries about the status of Gaza ceasefire talks, discussions with Russia and Ukraine on ending their conflict and the state of US foreign aid, which the administration has gutted in its first six weeks.
By the Associated Press
He signed a presidential memorandum directing the Justice Department to ask judges to require litigants to post injunction bonds. Essentially, Trump wants to force people to put up money if they’re seeking a temporary restraining order against his policies.
The president said that it was “from a legal standpoint, really a very big thing.”
Will Scharf, the cabinet secretary, said the tactic could be used “whenever someone tries to challenge our policies in court.” If the litigants lose, they would forfeit the bond, meaning they would be “held financially responsible for the disruption of federal activities that their actions have caused.”
By the Associated Press
Appearing before a capacity crowd of journalists who crammed into the department’s small press briefing room and an overflow conference space across the hall, spokesperson Tammy Bruce parried virtually all the questions she was asked during the roughly 45-minute event.
That included declining to answer most queries about the status of Gaza ceasefire talks, discussions with Russia and Ukraine on ending their conflict and the state of US foreign aid, which the administration has gutted in its first six weeks.
By the Associated Press
Trump postponed 25 percent tariffs on many imports from Mexico and some imports from Canada for a month amid widespread fears of the economic fallout from a broader trade war.
By the Associated Press
Trump posted on social media that Elon Musk joined his meeting with Cabinet members to discuss his Department of Government Efficiency, and that they’ll meet again every two weeks to discuss their progress in cutting the government workforce.
Trump called it “an incredible success” and seemed to indicate that Cabinet secretaries, rather than DOGE, will decide who is fired.
“They can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go. We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet,’ Trump said.
A White House official has said in response to lawsuits that Musk is not a DOGE employee and has “no actual authority to make government decisions himself.”
Trump renamed the US Digital Service as the US DOGE Service and established it within the Executive Office of the President, which is generally not subject to many Freedom of Information Act requirements but must retain records under the Presidential Records Act.
By the Associated Press
That’s according to Greg Ahearn, president and CEO of The Toy Association. He predicts price hikes of 15% to 20% on games, dolls, cars and other toys in the coming months, since nearly 80% of toys sold in the US are sourced from China.
Many toy makers are now renegotiating prices with retailers and taking a hard look at ways to cut costs on their products. But some, like Basic Fun CEO Jay Foreman, say tariffs leave no choice for retailers but to raise the prices US consumers pay. Florida-based Basic Fun imports Tonka trucks, Care Bears and other toys from China.
By the Associated Press
The Illinois Democrat is pushing for answers about how staff cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs affected the Veterans Crisis Line.
Duckworth and four other Democratic senators wrote Thursday to President Trump and VA Secretary Doug Collins requesting details, by job category, on two waves of VA layoffs.
The letter specifically asks how many crisis line staff were dismissed and reinstated. Duckworth’s office said at least two employees involved with crisis line operations were reinstated following Duckworth’s intervention.
The VA has said that no crisis line responders were laid off. The letter calls this “a cynical cover-up for the Trump administration’s error.”
By the Associated Press
Gavin Newsom said so in the inaugural episode of his new podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom, while speaking with conservative activist Charlie Kirk, whose influential Turning Point USA organization helped President Trump increase support among young voters.
“It’s deeply unfair,” the potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate said. “I totally agree with you. … I revere sports. So, the issue of fairness is completely legit.”
Even among Democrats, 7 in 10 oppose allowing transgender female athletes to participate in women’s sports, according to a January New York Times/Ipsos poll.
“We woke up profoundly sickened and frustrated by these remarks,” two LGBTQ advocates in the California legislature said. Playing with teams that match your gender wasn’t a problem “until Donald Trump began obsessing about it.”
By the Associated Press
The Ukrainian leader didn’t give details about what kind of cooperation has restarted, and said the two countries hoped to have “a meaningful meeting” next week.
In his speech Thursday to a meeting of European Council members, Zelensky said Ukraine “is not only ready to take the necessary steps for peace, but we are also proposing what those steps are.”
Russia can demonstrate that it’s serious about peace, he said, by ceasing attacks on Ukraine’s energy and civilian infrastructure as well as halting military operations in the Black Sea, and it could also release prisoners of war.
Still, he said “any truce and any form of trust building measures can only be a prologue to a full and fair settlement, to a comprehensive agreement on security guarantees and an end to the war.”
By the Associated Press
Todd Blanche is now the second in command at the Justice Department.
Just months ago, Blanche was defending Trump against criminal charges brought by the people he’ll now oversee. He was confirmed Wednesday by the Republican-led Senate.
Blanche enters the department amid upheaval from firings, resignations and forced transfers of career officials as the Trump administration purges the agency of employees seen as disloyal to the president’s agenda.
By the Associated Press
Thursday’s release of funds for humanitarian emergencies worldwide comes as the international body and nonprofits continue to grapple with the growing impact of the US foreign aid freeze.
“For countries battered by conflict, climate change and economic turmoil, brutal funding cuts don’t mean that humanitarian needs disappear,” Tom Fletcher, the U.N.‘s humanitarian chief, said in a statement. “Today’s emergency fund allocation channels resources swiftly to where they’re needed most.”
Humanitarian funding levels, which were dwindling well before President Trump’s decision earlier this year to cut off foreign aid, are now projected to hit a record low this year, according to the U.N.
The latest batch of funding will go toward supporting countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa, such as Sudan, where a civil war has resulted in a massive displacement of the population, hunger and most recently a cholera outbreak that’s left more than 90 dead, according to the international medical aid group, Doctors Without Borders.
By the Associated Press
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, used the inaugural episode of his new podcast to break from progressives by speaking out against allowing transgender women and girls to compete in female sports.
Newsom made his declaration in an extended conversation with conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old who built the influential Turning Point USA organization that helped President Donald Trump increase his support last fall among the youngest generation of voters. Kirk, like Trump, has been a vocal opponent of allowing transgender women and girls to participate.
“I think it’s an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair,” Newsom told Kirk on “This is Gavin Newsom.”
By the Associated Press
Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff confirms that senior administration officials are arranging to hold talks next week with senior Ukrainian officials.
The anticipated talks, which he said would either take place in Riyadh or Jeddah, come after last week’s disastrous Oval Office meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy led to the White House announcing it was pausing military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has called the heated words during his recent White House visit “regrettable” and said he’s ready to sign a critical minerals agreement with the US that Trump has been seeking.
“We’ll see if he follows through,” Witkoff told reporters, when asked if the agreement could be signed during the upcoming talks.
Zelensky told European leaders in Brussels that teams from the US and Ukraine had resumed their work and hoped to have “a meaningful meeting” next week.
By the Associated Press
Ukraine was given “fair warning” by the White House before President Donald Trump this week ordered a pause on US military assistance and intelligence sharing with Kyiv, a senior administration official said .
The Republican administration announced the pauses this week after Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Oval Office meeting devolved into a shouting match, with the US president and Vice President JD Vance excoriating the Ukrainian leader for being insufficiently grateful for tens of billions of dollars in US assistance sent to Ukraine since Russia invaded three years ago.
By the Associated Press
The cuts to teacher training grants are putting a strain on rural school systems, which have relied on the money to help address teacher shortages.
In an overhaul at an agency Trump has described as being infiltrated by “radicals, zealots and Marxists,” the Education Department last month cut $600 million in grants to the training programs, which it characterized as supporting divisive ideologies. Trump has said he wants to close the department, and new Education Secretary Linda McMahon has laid out how it could be dismantled.
Federal money makes up a significant portion of budgets in some rural districts, which rely more on grants and philanthropy because of their limited tax base, said Sharon Contreras, CEO of the Innovation Project, a collaboration among North Carolina school districts. A grant to that group supported teacher recruitment and retention, providing scholarships for teachers pursuing master’s degrees if they agreed to return to the area and serve as principals for three years.
By the Associated Press
Trump’s short reprieve for US automakers from stiff tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada isn’t likely to allow enough time for those companies to make the changes necessary to minimize the damage from Trump’s intensifying trade war.
Trump granted a one-month exemption to 25% tariffs on vehicles and auto parts traded through the North American trade agreement USMCA after speaking with leaders of automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the White House said Wednesday. Trump then broadened the exemption beyond autos for Mexico on Thursday.
In response to concerns about the short timeline for auto companies, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted that Trump told the companies to “start investing, start moving, shift production here.”
It’s just not that simple.
By the Associated Press
Michael Faulkender, nominated to serve as Deputy Treasury Secretary, said during his confirmation hearing that he doesn’t think mass layoffs at the agency will change how the IRS handles this year’s returns.
“I am not anticipating a change in our ability to engage in collections at the IRS this tax season,” Faulkender told the Senate Finance Committee.
The IRS laid off more than 7,000 probationary employees in February, and more recently the IRS is drafting plans to cut its workforce by as much as half through a mix of layoffs, attrition and incentivized buyouts, according to two people familiar with the situation.
By the Associated Press
Claudia Sheinbaum responded positively to Trump’s announcement that he would postpone 25 percent tariffs on most goods imported from Mexico until April 2nd after a call between the two leaders earlier in the morning.
Sheinbaum posted on X that they “had an excellent and respectful call in which we agreed that our work and collaboration have yielded unprecedented results.”
The Mexican government has cracked down on cartels, sent troops to the US border and delivered 29 top cartel bosses long chased by American authorities to the Trump administration in a span of weeks.
By the Associated Press
Trump announced the delay on Truth Social after speaking with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
“I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum,” Trump said. “Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl.”
By the Associated Press
Trump said that he has postponed 25 percent tariffs on most goods from Mexico for a month after a conversation with that country’s president.
By the Associated Press
Makary is dodging questions about the abortion pill, mass firings of health regulators and medical misinformation.
Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire held stacks of paper that she said show “lots and lots of data” supporting the safety and efficacy of mifepristone.
“The concern is whether you’re going to unilaterally overrule the data that currently exists for political purposes,” she said.
Makary responded to each question on the abortion pill by saying he had “no preconceived plans” on mifepristone policy.
“I wish you were hedging a little bit less today,” Hassan said.
Makary rose to national attention by bashing the COVID-19 response, calling the federal government the “greatest perpetrator of misinformation.”
By the Associated Press
“The best way I can describe it is sort of like hitting a mule with a two by four across the nose,” Kellogg said of the move by Trump at an event Thursday at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It got their attention.”
By the Associated Press
Hampton Dellinger announced his decision after the federal appeals court in Washington sided with the Trump administration in removing him as the head of the Office of Special Counsel.
The case had become a flashpoint in the debate over how much power the president should have to replace the leaders of independent agencies as he moves to radically reshape and shrink the federal government.
The case was expected to go to the US Supreme Court, but justice delayed is justice denied — In the months it would take to get a final ruling, the office “will be run by someone totally beholden to the President,” he said.
By the Associated Press
The filings by lawyers with Gilbert Employment Law and James & Hoffman say Trump’s layoffs aren’t individualized actions but large-scale terminations, and laws for such reductions in force haven’t been followed.
The appeals to the US Merit Systems Protections Board say the workers got no advance notice, no severance pay and no consideration of job performance.
Probationary workers generally have a limited recourse before the board. But attorney Daniel Rosenthal says it is clear from regulations and precedents that even probationary employees can challenge an improper reduction in force to the board.
By the Associated Press
Howard Lutnick said Trump will likely broaden the exemption to 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico that he granted Wednesday to the auto industry.
Lutnick told CNBC that this one-month delay in import taxes “will likely cover all USMCA- compliant goods and services,” referring to the trade agreement Trump negotiated in his last term that replaced NAFTA.
Lutnick estimated that more than half of what the US imports from those two countries would be eligible.
Lutnick added that Trump could make an announcement after speaking with Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum later today.
By the Associated Press
The ripple effects of Trump crackdown on US medical research promise to reach every corner of America.
Among the biggest blows, if it survives a court challenge: Massive cuts in funding from the National Institutes of Health that would cost an estimated 58,000 jobs across every state, according to an analysis by The Associated Press with assistance from the nonprofit United for Medical Research group.
These layoffs would be in addition to the mass firings of other government workers and uncertainty about how already-funded research is being canceled under Trump’s anti-diversity orders.
By the Associated Press
The House voted mostly along party lines, 224-198, to censure the unrepentant Texas Democrat for disrupting President Trump’s address to Congress.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had Green removed from the chamber after Green stood and shouted that Trump wasn’t telling the truth when he claimed the election gave him a governing mandate not seen for decades.
Thursday’s majority vote requires Green to stand in the well of the House while the speaker or presiding officer reads a rebuke.
Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern noted that Republicans were silent when their own side interrupted Democratic former president Joe Biden’s speech last year. “Nobody apologized for interrupting Joe Biden time and again,” McGovern said. “You talk about lack of decorum. Go back and look at the tapes.”
By the Associated Press
The FDA has been facing mounting pressure from anti-abortion groups to restrict mifepristone following legal battles over access, despite the drug’s decades-long safety record, vouched for by leading medical associations and health experts.
Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, pressed Makary about his plans to convene experts to review this data.
“If that’s you’re approach for something that has been approved for now decades, are you going to do the same with Tylenol?” she said. “There are a lot of side effects for daily use, including liver damage.”
By the Associated Press
Marty Makary said he would create an “expert coalition” to review ongoing data on the abortion pill mifepristone and that he has no “preconceived plans” on what the Food and Drug Administration’s policy should be on medication abortion.
Makary told the Senate health committee at his initial confirmation hearing that he would “take a solid, hard look at the data” and “meet with the professional career scientists who have reviewed the data at the FDA.”
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy had asked Makary whether he supports reinstating requirements that mifepristone be dispensed in person.
By the Associated Press
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that after his call with the US president, he expects Canada and the US to be in a trade war for the foreseeable future.
Trudeau said the call was constructive nevertheless, and said both sides are “actively engaged in ongoing conversations in trying to make sure these tariffs don’t overly harm” certain sectors and workers.
“There are conversations ongoing right now with the US administration but as I have said, we will not be backing down from our response tariffs until such a time as the unjustified American tariffs are Canadian goods are lifted.”
By the Associated Press
Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, said it was made clear to the Ukrainians that last week’s Oval Office meeting would focus on signing a critical minerals deal.
Kellogg said it went sideways when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seemed to press Trump — who is trying to play the role of intermediary to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia — to side with Kyiv.
Zelensky, who insisted that Ukraine needs security guarantees before any cease fire, later called the heated words “regrettable” and said he’s ready to sign.
But Kellogg said he couldn’t guarantee a resumption of weapons deliveries even if Zelensky accepts the deal — “That’s up to the President,” he said.
By the Associated Press
Just last week, there were moves to reassign VOA’s White House bureau chief and to investigate the social media practices of another veteran correspondent, who was effectively put on paid leave.
President Trump chose Arizona’s Kari Lake to lead the agency, but she can’t be installed because Trump fired members of the board empowered to do that. So now she’s on board as a “special advisor.”
The agency’s charter requires its journalists to deliver independent news and information, and not be a government mouthpiece. Trump posted that Lake will help “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the world.”
By the Associated Press
Nathan Hooven is a disabled Air Force veteran who voted for Donald Trump in November. Now he’s been fired from the Veterans Affairs agency and feels betrayed by the president’s dramatic government downsizing. Hooven thinks a lot of other veterans also voted for Trump and now feel the same way.
Veterans make up 30% of the federal workforce. An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press points to 80,000 more layoffs at the VA alone.
White House advisor Alina Habba says the administration is going to care for veterans “in the right way. But perhaps they’re not fit to have a job at this moment, or not willing to come to work.”
Some laid-off workers reject this as a lie, noting the positive reviews they received for serving other veterans.
By Steph Machado, Globe Staff
A federal judge in Rhode Island has further blocked President Trump’s proposed funding freeze, a win for 23 states including Rhode Island and Massachusetts that sued over the Trump administration’s funding pause.
Judge John J. McConnell Jr. granted the states a preliminary injunction Thursday morning, ordering the Trump administration to allow federal funding appropriated by Congress to flow.
“The Executive’s categorical freeze of appropriated and obligated funds fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government,” McConnell wrote in a 45-page decision Thursday morning. “Here, the Executive put itself above Congress.”
The decision comes nearly two weeks after lawyers representing the 23 states argued in his Providence courtroom that the broad, open-ended funding freeze would cause “irreparable harm” if fully implemented.
By the Associated Press
A surgeon, author, researcher and Fox News contributor, Dr. Marty Makary is known for his contrarian views and outspoken criticism of the medical establishment. Like health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Makary traces many of the health issues afflicting Americans to food additives, overprescribing of drugs and the influence of drugmakers, insurers and food companies.
Republicans generally support Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. But Senate Democrats are expected to press Makary on his willingness to break with Kennedy on some scientific issues.
If confirmed to lead the Food and Drug Administration, Makary would take over a shaken agency, which fired hundreds of employees only to quickly rehire some of them.
By the Associated Press
Anxiety has returned to Wall Street with markets poised to give back much of Wednesday’s gains, which were spurred by President Donald Trump’s one-month exemption for US automakers on his 25% tariffs for Mexican and Canadian imports.
Futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq all slid in premarket trading. Shares in retailers Macy’s and Victoria’s Secret fell sharply as consumer confidence tanks.
Applications for US jobless benefits fell, showing the labor market was steady ahead of the purge of federal employees.
And Europe’s Central Bank lowered interest rates to support consumers and businesses bracing for Trump to impose new import taxes on US consumers buying European goods.
By the Associated Press
Panama President José Raúl Mulino on Wednesday accused Trump of lying when he said in his address to Congress that his administration was “reclaiming” the Panama Canal.
Trump was referencing a deal announced Tuesday for a consortium led by the U.S. investment management company BlackRock Inc. to buy a controlling stake in the company held by a Chinese group that operates ports at both ends of the Panama Canal.
Panama maintains that it has full control over the canal and that the Hong Kong-based group’s operation of the ports did not amount to Chinese control over the waterway, and that therefore the sale to a US-based company would not represent any US “reclaiming” of the canal. Panama’s government on Tuesday called the sale a private transaction.
Mulino in a message posted to X on Wednesday, rejected that the deal came about because of US pressure. “I reject in the name of Panama and all Panamanians this new affront to the truth and our dignity as a nation,” he wrote. He accused Trump of “lying again.”
By the Associated Press
China will not yield to bullying and its economy can weather higher tariffs imposed by Trump and other challenges, the Chinese commerce minister said Thursday, though he added that there are “no winners in a trade war.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the annual session of China’s national congress, Wang Wentao reiterated Beijing’s calls for talks. Coercion and threats are bound to fail, he said, noting that China’s role as a main trading partner of 140 nations means it has plenty of options. Wang and other officials outlined Beijing’s strategies for building its economy and financial markets, but did not announce any major new initiatives.
By the Associated Press
Farmers and meat producers across the US can expect the new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China and the retaliatory action from those countries to hurt their bottom lines by billions of dollars if they stay in place a while, and consumers could quickly see higher prices for produce and ground beef.
But some of the impact on farmers might not be felt until the next harvest and some products might actually get cheaper in the short run for consumers if exports suffer. And the price of corn, wheat and soybeans accounts for relatively little of the price of most products.
Plus, Trump could offer farmers significant aid payments, as he did during the trade war with China during his first administration, to offset some of the losses.
In his address to Congress Tuesday night, Trump argued that agricultural imports hurt American farmers and asked them to “bear with me again” as he seeks to protect them. He didn’t mention any additional aid.
By the Associated Press
The US has paused its intelligence sharing with Ukraine, cutting off the flow of vital information that has helped the war-torn nation target Russian invaders, but Trump administration officials said Wednesday that positive talks between Washington and Kyiv mean it may only be a short suspension.
Information about Russia’s intentions and military movements has been critical to Ukraine’s defense and a strong indication of support from the US and other Western allies. The suspension comes after Trump paused military aid to Ukraine and is another sign of how he has transformed America’s relationship with close allies.
“We have taken a step back and are pausing and reviewing all aspects of this relationship,” national security adviser Mike Waltz said Wednesday.
Comments from top Trump administration officials suggest the decision is part of the broader negotiations between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate a peace deal with Russia, and that intelligence could begin flowing to Ukraine again soon.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe called the suspension a “pause” and said it came after the disastrous meeting between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office last week. Ratcliffe said Trump wanted to know that Zelensky was serious about peace.
By the Associated Press
The mass firing of federal employees since Trump took office in January is pushing out veterans who make up 30% of the nation’s federal workforce. The exact number of veterans who have lost their job is unknown, although House Democrats last month estimated that it was potentially in the thousands.
More could be on the way. The Department of Veterans Affairs — a major employer of veterans — is planning a reorganization that includes cutting over 80,000 jobs from the sprawling agency, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. Veterans represent more than 25% of the VA’s workforce.
In interviews, several veterans who supported candidates of both parties described their recent job losses as a betrayal of their military service. They are particularly angered by how it happened: in an email that cited inadequate job performance — despite, they say, receiving positive reviews in their roles.
By the Associated Press
Trump on Wednesday issued what he called a “last warning” to Hamas to release all remaining hostages held in Gaza, directing a sharply worded message after the White House confirmed that he had recently dispatched an envoy for unprecedented direct talks with the militant group.
In a statement on his Truth Social platform soon after meeting at the White House with eight former hostages, Trump added that he was “sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job.”
The pointed language from Trump came after the White House said Wednesday that US officials have engaged in “ongoing talks and discussions” with Hamas officials, stepping away from a long-held US policy of not directly engaging with the militant group.
Confirmation of the talks in the Qatari capital of Doha came as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire remains in the balance. It’s the first known direct engagement between the United States and Hamas since the State Department designated the group a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
