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China and Canada retaliate after Trump trade tariffs come into effect
China and Canada unveiled retaliatory measures against the US after Donald Trump imposed his sweeping tariffs plan at midnight US time, despite warnings it could spark an escalating trade war.US tariffs have come into force of 25% against goods from Canada and Mexico, the US’s two biggest trading partners, and 20% tariffs against China – doubling the levy on China from last month.The duties will affect more than $918bn-worth (£722bn) of US imports from Canada and Mexico.China on Tuesday said it would impose fresh tariffs on a range of agricultural imports from the US next week. Its finance ministry said additional 15% tariffs would be imposed on chicken, wheat, corn and cotton, with further 10% tariffs on sorghum, soya beans, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables and dairy products.The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said Ottawa would respond with immediate 25% tariffs on C$30bn-worth ($20.7bn) of US imports. He said previously that Canada would target US beer, wine, bourbon, home appliances and Florida orange juice.Tariffs will be placed on another C$125bn ($86.2bn) of US goods if Trump’s tariffs were still in place in 21 days.“Tariffs will disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship,” Trudeau said, adding that they would violate the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement signed by Trump during his first term.Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, was expected to announce her response on Tuesday morning, the country’s economy ministry said.Asian markets were down – after sharp falls in US markets on Monday – as Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.6%, Taiwan’s benchmark TWII index was off 0.5% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.$%.The Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso fell to their lowest levels in a month on Tuesday.In Europe, the FTSE 100 dropped by 57 points, or 0.65%, at the start of trading to 8,813 points, a day after rising more than 8,900 points for the first time. France’s CAC 40 fell 0.9% and Spain’s Ibex was down 0.8%.Trump and his allies claim that higher tariffs on US imports from across the world will help make America great again by enabling it to obtain political and economic concessions from allies and rivals on the global stage.Businesses, inside the US and worldwide, have warned of widespread disruption if the Trump administration pushes ahead with this strategy.Since winning November’s presidential election, the president has focused on China, Canada and Mexico, threatening the three markets with steep duties on their exports unless they reduced the “unacceptable” levels of illegal drugs crossing into the US.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionWhile he slapped a 10% tariff on China last month, Trump has repeatedly delayed the imposition of tariffs on Canada and Mexico. The president has pledged to bring down prices in the US, but economists have warned that consumers in the country could be aversely affected by his trade plans.A 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico and a 10% levy on China would amount to “the largest tax increase in at least a generation”, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a thinktank, which estimated such a move would cost the typical US household more than $1,200 each year.Trump has vowed to go further, threatening to introduce “reciprocal” tariffs on countries that have their own duties on goods made in the US. He has said these will come into effect as soon as next month.China’s finance ministry said in a statement: “The US’s unilateral tariff increase damages the multilateral trading system, increases the burden on US companies and consumers, and undermines the foundation of economic and trade cooperation between China and the US.”The ministry said products shipped from the US to China that departed before 10 March and arrived before 12 April would not be subject to the tariffs.Trump has said the tariffs on China are because the government has failed to stop illicit fentanyl entering the US, which Beijing says is a “pretext” to threaten China.“China opposes this move and will do what is necessary to firmly safeguard its legitimate interests,” a foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, said.Chris Weston, an analyst at the brokerage Pepperstone, said: “Market anxiety levels have been dialled up, and we see traders having to react aggressively and dynamically to the deluge of headlines and social posts confirming that tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada are to be implemented in full and as threatened.” More
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Trump administration briefing: Vance defends US position on Ukraine; tariffs hit Canada, Mexico and China
Donald Trump has paused military aid to Ukraine following his clash with the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, last week, according to US media reports.Vance told Fox News in an interview recorded before the announcement on Monday that giving Washington an economic interest in the future of Ukraine will serve as a security guarantee for the country that Russia invaded in February 2022.“If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine,” Vance said in the interview.“That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years,” he added.US suspends all military aid to Ukraine, reports say, in wake of Trump-Zelenskyy rowThe Trump administration has suspended delivery of all US military aid to Ukraine, according to US media reports, blocking billions in crucial shipments as the White House piles pressure on Ukraine to sue for peace with Vladimir Putin.It comes after a dramatic blow-up in the White House on Friday during which Donald Trump told Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he was “gambling with” a third world war. The Ukrainian president was told to come back “when he is ready for peace”.Read the full storyChina and Canada retaliate after Trump trade tariffs come into effectChina and Canada unveiled retaliatory measures against the US after Donald Trump imposed his sweeping tariffs plan at midnight US time, despite warnings it could spark an escalating trade war.Read the full storyUS health department offers early retirement in latest round of Musk-led cutsThe US health department told employees on Monday they could apply for early retirement over the next 10 days and should respond to a request for information on their accomplishments of the past week, according to emails seen by Reuters.Read the full storyTrump outraged at Zelenskyy – againThe rift between Washington and Kyiv over a potential ceasefire in the war with Russia grew larger on Monday as Donald Trump expressed new outrage at Volodymyr Zelenskyy for saying that the end of the war could be “very, very far away”.Read the full storyLinda McMahon, wrestling industry billionaire, confirmed as US education secretaryThe US Senate has confirmed Linda McMahon as the nation’s next education secretary, entrusting the former wrestling executive with a department marked for dismantling by Donald Trump.The 76-year-old billionaire businesswoman and longtime Trump ally was approved 51-45, reflecting deep divisions over her qualifications and the administration’s education agenda. McMahon, who previously led the small business administration during Trump’s first term, now faces the paradoxical task of running an agency while simultaneously working toward its potential elimination.McMahon’s ascension comes amid reports that Trump is preparing an executive order instructing her to slash the department’s operations to the legal minimum while pushing Congress for its complete closure.Read the full storyHealth official quits after reported clashes with RFK JrA top spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services has abruptly resigned from the department, just two weeks after starting the job and as the country grapples with an escalating measles outbreak.Read the full storyDemocrats invite fired federal workers to Trump’s addressWorkers fired in Donald Trump’s mass purge of the federal government will attend his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday at the invitation of Democrats seeking to display the human costs of the president’s radical policies.Read the full storySchumer: pause on cyber operations gives Putin ‘free pass’A senior US Democrat has hit out at Donald Trump’s attempt to reset relations with Russia following revelations that the president’s administration is retreating from the fight against Russian cyberthreats, calling the reported move “a critical strategic mistake”.Read the full storyWhat else happened today:
A natalist conference featuring speakers including self-described eugenicists and promoters of race science will be held at a hotel and conference venue operated by the public University of Texas, Austin.
Republicans in red states across the US have been pushing a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ measures targeting same-sex marriages with an aim of ultimately securing a supreme court ban on the federally protected right.
The CEO of a giant in the semiconductor chip industry joined Trump to announce the Taiwanese company’s new $100bn investment in production in the United States. CC Wei, the chief executive of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) said the new investment brings TSMC’s total investment in chip manufacturing in the US to $165bn.
US stocks plunged Monday afternoon as selling intensified after Trump said there was “no room left” for tariff negotiations with Canada and Mexico. The ISM survey showed manufacturing PMI slipped to 50.3 last month from 50.9 in January. More
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US health department offers early retirement in latest round of Musk-led cuts
The US health department told employees on Monday they could apply for early retirement over the next 10 days and should respond to a request for information on their accomplishments of the past week, according to emails seen by Reuters.Republican president Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who oversees the so-called “department of government efficiency”, are spearheading an unprecedented effort to shrink the federal bureaucracy, including through job cuts.The Department of Health and Human Services told employees in an email that it received authorization on Monday from the US office of personnel management to offer early retirement under the voluntary early retirement authority, which impacts agencies “that are undergoing substantial restructuring, reshaping, downsizing, transfer of function or reorganization”.An HHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Employees were directed to the OMP’s website, which says eligible employees must be at least 50 years old with 20 years of federal service, or any age with 25 years of service, among other requirements. The offer is valid until 14 March at 5pm ET, the email said.Last week, the administration sent out a second round of emails asking employees to share five bullet points on their accomplishments of the past week.Employees at HHS, which includes the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), had previously been told that they did not have to respond to Doge’s emails and there would be “no impact to your employment with the agency if you choose not to respond”.Multiple other US agencies had also told employees not to respond immediately to Doge’s demand, including the FBI and state department.But in a Monday email seen by Reuters, HHS told employees to respond to Doge’s email by midnight without revealing sensitive information, including the names of drugs and devices they are working on.HHS previously warned employees that responses to Doge’s request may “be read by malign foreign actors”. The department sent two versions of its email on Monday, the second of which removed that reference.The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents HHS workers, told members in an email seen by Reuters that they must comply with the agency’s choice to proceed with the “ill-advised exercise”. The union was not immediately available for comment.Employees were told in HHS’s email to follow supervisor guidance on how to reply and respond in a way that would not identify grants, grantees, contracts or contractors, nor information that would identify the precise nature of scientific experiments, research or reviews.“I feel I will spend the whole day writing these five bullets in a way that does not contain sensitive information while also providing information that my job is important. I don’t know if this can be called efficiency,” said an FDA source who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.Employees on leave, out of office due to work schedules, or who have signed a deferred resignation agreement are not required to respond, according to the email. More
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Linda McMahon, wrestling industry billionaire, confirmed as US education secretary
The US Senate has confirmed Linda McMahon as the nation’s next education secretary, entrusting the former wrestling executive with a department marked for dismantling by Donald Trump.The 76-year-old billionaire businesswoman and longtime Trump ally was approved 51-45, reflecting deep divisions over her qualifications and the administration’s education agenda. McMahon, who previously led the small business administration during Trump’s first term, now faces the paradoxical task of running an agency while simultaneously working toward its potential elimination.McMahon’s ascension comes amid reports that Trump is preparing an executive order instructing her to slash the department’s operations to the legal minimum while pushing Congress for its complete closure. During the confirmation process, she explicitly endorsed this vision, saying in her opening statement that she “wholeheartedly” supports Trump’s mission to “return education to the states, where it belongs”.Critics have questioned McMahon’s qualifications, pointing to her limited educational background – a one-year stint on Connecticut’s state board of education and service as a trustee at Sacred Heart University – and lack of traditional experience in education policy or administration.But the incoming education secretary currently chairs the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-aligned thinktank home to many of the education department’s nominees for senior-level positions – an indication that McMahon will have idealogical allies that will position her to implement sweeping changes with minimal internal resistance.At her confirmation hearing, McMahon attempted to soften the administration’s hard-line stances, promising to maintain critical programs like Title I funding and Pell grants while acknowledging that only Congress holds the authority to eliminate the department entirely.The new education secretary takes office as schools and colleges nationwide scrambled to meet a 28 February deadline to eliminate diversity programs or risk losing federal funding. A guidance document from the education department released over the weekend indicates they are not backing down from their strongly held anti-DEI positioning. It also comes days after the department launched a DEI reporting portal to catch diversity initiatives in public schools nationwide.The education department, created by Congress under former president Jimmy Carter in 1979, distributes billions of dollars annually to K-12 schools and oversees a roughly $1.6tn federal student loan portfolio. Federal funds constitute approximately 14% of public school budgets nationwide.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionTrump’s administration has already begun overhauling the department’s operations, cutting dozens of contracts through Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) and gutting the Institute of Education Sciences, which collects data on academic progress. More
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Trump says ‘no room left’ for deal that avoids tariffs on Mexico and Canada
The US will press ahead with steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico from Tuesday, Donald Trump has said, setting the stage for a trade war with his country’s two largest economic partners.Hours before his administration was due to hit America’s closest neighbors with sweeping import duties, the US president claimed there was “no room left” for a deal to avoid their imposition. The announcement led to a sharp sell-off on Wall Street.All Mexican exports to the US are set to face a levy of 25% under the plans. Most Canadian exports will face a 25% tariff, with energy products facing a 10% duty.Trump also indicated that an additional 10% levy on China – on top of the 10% introduced last month – will also be introduced. Tariffs are a “very powerful weapon”, he told reporters at a news conference.The action is set to prompt swift retaliation. “We’re ready,” said the Canadian foreign minister, Mélanie Joly.Wall Street fell sharply after Trump’s remarks, with the S&P 500 down 1.7%, the Dow Jones industrial average down 1.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropping over 2.6%.The tariffs will affect $900bn in annual imports from Canada and Mexico. The Ford CEO, Jim Farley, has warned they threaten to “blow a hole” in US industry.Trump has reluctantly conceded in recent weeks that higher tariffs could lead to higher prices in the US, but suggested the impact would be worth the cost. He has brushed off calls to tread carefully, escalating threats to go further.“Tariffs are easy, they’re fast, they’re efficient, and they bring fairness,” Trump said. He described the levies as a “a powerful weapon” that other presidents had not used because “they were dishonest, stupid or paid off in some other form”.Trump even took a swipe at Republican hero and staunch free-trader president, Ronald Reagan. “I’m a huge fan of Ronald Reagan but he was very bad on trade,” said Trump.Tariffs are “an act of war, to some degree”, the billionaire investor Warren Buffett warned recently. “Over time, they are a tax on goods,” he told CBS News. “I mean, the Tooth Fairy doesn’t pay ’em!”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionOn Monday, Trump also pledged to impose tariffs on overseas agricultural goods within weeks. He claimed his administration would introduce tariffs on farm products from 2 April.A string of such deadlines – including vows to hit Canada and Mexico with tariffs in January, and then February – have been delayed, however, as economists and business leaders urge caution.“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social network, on Monday. “Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!” More
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Trump orders swathes of US forests to be cut down for timber
Donald Trump has ordered that swathes of America’s forests be felled for timber, evading rules to protect endangered species while doing so and raising the prospect of chainsaws razing some of the most ecologically important trees in the US.The president, in an executive order, has demanded an expansion in tree cutting across 280m acres (113m hectares) of national forests and other public lands, claiming that “heavy-handed federal policies” have made America reliant on foreign imports of timber.“It is vital that we reverse these policies and increase domestic timber production to protect our national and economic security,” the order adds.Trump has instructed the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to increase logging targets and for officials to circumvent the US’s Endangered Species Act by using unspecified emergency powers to ignore protections placed upon vulnerable creatures’ habitats.This move is similar to recent instructions by Trump to use a rarely-used committee to push through fossil fuel projects even if they imperil at-risk species. Experts have said this overriding of the Endangered Species Act is probably illegal.The order also stipulates logging projects can be sped up if they are for purported wildfire risk reduction, via “thinning” of vegetation that could ignite. Some scientists have said that aggressively felling forests, particularly established, fire-resistant trees, actually increases the risk of fast-moving fires.“This Trump executive order is the most blatant attempt in American history by a president to hand over federal public lands to the logging industry,” said Chad Hanson, wildfire scientist at the John Muir Project.“What’s worse, the executive order is built on a lie, as Trump falsely claims that more logging will curb wildfires and protect communities, while the overwhelming weight of evidence shows exactly the opposite.”Hanson said logging alters the microclimate of forests, creating hotter and drier conditions that helps wildfires, such as the events that recently ravaged Los Angeles, to spread faster.“Trump’s exact approach, logging in remote forests and telling communities that it will stop fires, is responsible for numerous towns being destroyed by fires in recent years, and hundreds of lives lost,” he said.Environmental groups decried Trump’s latest attempt to circumvent endangered species laws that shield about 400 species in national forests, including grizzly bears, spotted owls and wild salmon, and warned an increase in logging could pollute the water supply relied upon by millions of Americans.“Trump’s order will unleash the chainsaws and bulldozers on our federal forests. Clearcutting these beautiful places will increase fire risk, drive species to extinction, pollute our rivers and streams, and destroy world-class recreation sites,” said Randi Spivak public lands policy director for the Center for Biological Diversity.“This is a particularly horrific move by Trump to loot our public lands by handing the keys to big business.”The future of some of America’s most prized forests now appears uncertain. Under Joe Biden, the US committed to protecting the last fragments of old-growth forest, which contain some of the grandest and oldest trees on Earth. As trees soak up planet-heating carbon dioxide, protecting the oldest, most carbon-rich trees is seen as a way to help address the climate crisis. The former president also vowed to end deforestation by 2030.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionHowever, the amount of logging in national forests surged under Biden amid a rush of tree felling ahead of expected restrictions on old-growth cutting. Biden, under pressure from Republicans and the timber industry, halted the old-growth protection plan in January and Trump officially killed off the executive order in his first day back in the White House.Trump’s shift towards a more industry-friendly stance has been underlined by his choice of a lumber executive lead the Forest Service, which has just fired 2,000 workers amid a purge led by Elon Musk, who has also been recently seen wielding a chainsaw.Tom Schultz, previously a vice-president of Idaho Forest Group, which sells wood, will be the next Forest Service chief, overseeing the management of 154 national forests and 193m acres of land, an area roughly the size of Texas.“Working with our partners, we will actively manage national forests and grasslands, increase opportunities for outdoor recreation, and suppress wildfires with all available resources emphasizing safety and the importance of protecting resource values,” Schultz said in a statement.Green groups criticized the choice of Schultz. “Naming a corporate lobbyist to run the agency tasked with overseeing the last old growth left in the US makes it clear that the Trump administration’s goal isn’t to preserve our national forests, but to sell them off to billionaires and corporate polluters,” said Anna Medema, associate director of legislative and administrative advocacy for forests and public lands at the Sierra Club.Schultz replaces Randy Moore, a soil scientist who was the first black person to lead the Forest Service. In a departing note to staff ahead of his retirement, Moore wrote that the recent loss of staff from the agency had been “incredibly difficult”.“If you are feeling uncertainty, frustration, or loss, you are not alone,” Moore wrote. “These are real and valid emotions that I am feeling, too. Please take care of yourselves and each other.” More
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Slim majority of Americans support Ukraine, poll finds
A US poll taken before the diplomatic meltdown in the Oval Office on Friday between Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, found that only 4% of surveyed Americans are backing Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine – but a large minority of 44% said they do not support the invaded country either.The CBS News/YouGov poll, conducted over three days beginning on 26 February, also found that a relatively slim majority – 52% – said they “personally support” Ukraine.Support for Russia was highest among Republicans – whose party is led by Trump – at 7%. A 56% majority of those Republican said they didn’t have a preference between the two, and 37% supported Ukraine.The polling found that – overall – 11% believed Trump’s actions and statements have favored Ukraine, and 46% said Russia.Asked if they approved or disapproved ofthe way Trump was handling the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, 51% approved and 49% said they didn’t. The same percentages supported or opposed military aid to Ukraine.The CBS polling also revealed that 30% consider Russia “friendly but not an ally” of the US – while 61% considered countries of western Europe, like the UK, France, Italy and Germany to be allies of the US.But 35% said they considered western European nations to be “friendly but not allies”; 3% said unfriendly; and 1% said they considered them an enemy.The most revealing aspect of the poll goes to the heart of the contentious Oval Office exchange between Trump and Zelenskyy, when the Ukrainian president attempted to persuade Trump and his cabinet that despite a “nice ocean” between the US and Europe, the US would in time feel “influenced” by Russia’s actions.Trump retorted: “You don’t know that. You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”A separate poll conducted using online interviews after the confrontation found that 49% of those polled said that Trump and Vice-President JD Vance had a stronger argument over the value of diplomacy with Russia.The 2Way poll also found that 62% thought Zelenskyy’s remarks were offensive – and 55% said Ukraine needs to negotiate and end the war.On Monday, the US president hit out at Zelenksyy’s comments that a deal to end the war “is still very, very far away”.Trump posted that the comment was “the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer! … this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing.”That post from Trump came after a New York Times report on Monday that said the president had planned to meet with top aides to discuss suspending or canceling US military aid to Ukraine.The CBS poll appeared to reflect a sense of insulation to the Russia-Ukraine war. Poll respondents were asked if what happens between Russia and Ukraine matters to the interests of the US. And 31% said it mattered “a lot”; 42% said “some”; 18% agreed with “not much”; and 9% “not at all”.Senior Republicans not directly involved in Russia-Ukraine peace talk efforts have continued to denounce Putin – even as they express support for how Trump handled his meeting with Zelenskyy.That included the House speaker, Mike Johnson, who told CNN on Sunday that Putin is “not to be trusted and he is dangerous”, adding that Russia and other countries like China are “not on America’s side”. Yet Johnson also said on NBC that someone other than Zelenskyy may need “to lead” Ukraine after failing to show gratitude over US aid.The Oklahoma senator James Lankford told NBC that Putin was “a murderous KGB thug” and a “dictator”, saying Zelenskyy was “rightfully concerned” that Putin “can’t be trusted” to respect a ceasefire agreement.And regardless of political support for the US president, 76% said they thought Trump was making major changes to the America’s relationships with other countries. Of those, 31% said the relationships were better, 42% said worse, and 26% said it was too soon to say.But there may be some optimistic signs for European countries hoping that the Nato will hold together through the current turmoil. Asked if the US should stay in the alliance or leave, 78% said it should remain – and 22% said it should leave.But broader support for the current US foreign policy appears more mixed. Sixteen per cent said the US should take a leading role in the world; 67% said it should work equally alongside other allies; and 17% said it should not get involved in the world’s issues. More
