President Donald Trump will host Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza, perhaps permanently, as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis issued a major rebuke to the Trump administration’s mass deportation of migrants, warning the program to forcefully deport people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.”
Here’s the latest:
Trump administration still accepting resignations from federal workers as they await judge’s decision
As of Friday, 65,000 workers had accepted the offer to quit while still getting paid until September 30. An administration official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal figures, said the number has been growing since then.
US district judge George O’Toole Jr heard arguments over the deferred resignation program Monday in his Boston courtroom. Labor unions said the plan is illegal, while administration lawyers described it as a fair offer to workers.
Chris Megerian
Trump is again promising ‘common sense standards’ on light bulbs, showerheads and appliances.
In a social media post, he says he’s directing EPA administrator Lee Zeldin to reinstate less energy efficient water standards issued in his first term. Trump incorrectly described Zeldin as “secretary” and many of the standards he cited are regulated by the energy department.
Trump on his first day back in office pledged to “empower consumer choice” in vehicles, showerheads, toilets, washing machines, lightbulbs and dishwashers. He repeatedly pushed changes in his first term to increase water flow for showers and continue production of incandescent lightbulbs that are being phased out.
Most US manufacturers comply with energy efficient standards imposed by Joe Biden and other presidents.
Mexico’s economy secretary Marcelo Ebrard says ‘that tariff is not justified’ Ebrard pointed out that Mexico imports more steel from the United States than it exports to the US. And while steel imports from the US have risen over the past two years, steel exports to the US have fallen.
Furthermore, the US has a trade surplus with Mexico when it comes to the value of steel and aluminum crossing the border.
“It’s unjust taking into account President Trump’s own statements,” he said.
Ebrard said Mexico will take this information to the Trump administration urging “common sense.”
“Don’t destroy what we have built over the last 40 years,” he said.
Wall Street falls as Trump imposes new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports Trump imposed a 25 per cent tax on all steel and aluminum imports and said over the weekend that more import duties would come later in the week.
Fear around tariffs has been at the center of Wall Street’s moves recently and experts say the market likely has more swings ahead. The price of gold, which often rises when investors are feeling nervous, came back down to $2,909 an ounce Tuesday after hitting a record $2,930 an ounce Monday.
But Trump has shown he can be just as quick to pull back on threats, like he did with 25 per cent tariffs he’d announced on Canada and Mexico, suggesting they may be merely a negotiating chip rather than a true long-term policy.
â–¶ Read more about the financial markets
27 religious groups sue Trump administration to protect houses of worship from immigration arrests.
More than two-dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans, ranging from the Episcopal Church and the union for reform Judaism to the mennonites and unitarian universalists, filed a federal court lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration move giving immigration agents more leeway to make arrests at houses of worship.
The lawsuit, filed in US district court in Washington, contends that the new policy is spreading fear of raids, thus lowering attendance at worship services and other valuable church programs. The result, says the suit, infringes on the groups’ religious freedom, namely their ability to minister to migrants, including those in the United States illegally.
“We have immigrants, refugees, people who are documented and undocumented,” said the most reverend Sean Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.
â–¶ Read more about the lawsuit over immigration
Vice president JD Vance warns ‘excessive regulation’ could cripple the rapidly growing AI industry
His comments Tuesday at a Paris summit were a rebuke to European efforts to curb AI’s risks and the speech underscored a widening, three-way rift over the future of the technology.
The United States, under President Donald Trump, champions a hands-off approach to fuel innovation, while Europe is tightening the reins with strict regulations to ensure safety and accountability. Meanwhile, China is rapidly expanding AI through state-backed tech giants, vying for dominance in the global race.
The US was noticeably absent from an international document signed by more than 60 nations, including China, making the Trump Administration the glaring outlier in a global pledge to promote responsible AI development.
â–¶ Read more about the AI summit
Pope Francis rebukes Trump administration over migrant deportations, warns ‘it will end badly’ Francis took the remarkable step Tuesday of addressing the US migrant crackdown in a letter to US bishops who’ve criticized the expulsions as harming the most vulnerable.
History’s first Latin American pope has long made caring for migrants a priority of his pontificate, demanding that countries welcome, protect, promote and integrate those fleeing conflicts, poverty and climate disasters. Francis has also said governments are expected to do so to the limits of their capacity.
In the letter, Francis said nations have the right to defend themselves and keep their communities safe from criminals.
“That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” he wrote.
â–¶ Read more about Pope Francis and migrants
Nato allies await US defense secretary’s visit, the first by a member of the Trump administration The allies are keen to understand how America now plans to influence the course of the war in Ukraine.
Hegseth’s trip comes just ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Most US allies fear Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t stop at Ukraine’s borders if he wins, and that Europe’s biggest land war in decades poses an existential threat to their security.
Trump has promised to quickly end the war. He’s complained that it’s costing the American taxpayer too much money. Some allies worry a hasty deal might be clinched on terms that aren’t favorable to Ukraine.
â–¶ Read more about Nato and Ukraine
Australia’s prime minister is latest foreign leader to speak with President Trump
The White House issued a statement Tuesday morning saying Trump and prime minister Anthony Albanese discussed “concerns about China’s aggressiveness.”
They also talked about “mutually beneficial trade and investment” as Trump prepares to enact reciprocal tariffs on other countries. That means the US will slimport duties on products from countries that impose similar duties on American goods.
Trump and Albanese also stressed their commitment to growing the US-Australia partnership and upholding a free and open Indo-Pacific.
The latest with DOGE
The department of government efficiency’s embed into the federal government has raised a host of concerns, transforming a debate over how to cut government waste into a confrontation over privacy rights and the nation’s financial standing in the world.
DOGE, spearheaded by billionaire Donald Trump donor Elon Musk, has rapidly burrowed deep into federal agencies and taken drastic actions to cut spending. This includes trying to get rid of thousands of federal workers, shuttering the US. Agency for international development and accessing the treasury department’s enormous payment systems.
Advocacy groups and labor unions have filed lawsuits in an attempt to save agencies and federal worker jobs, and five former treasury secretaries are sounding the alarm on the risks associated with Musk’s DOGE accessing sensitive treasury department payment systems and potentially stopping congressionally authorized payments.
â–¶ Read more about experts’ concerns about DOGE’s access
Trump says Mideast ceasefire deal should be canceled if Hamas doesn’t release all hostages by Saturday Trump said Monday that a precarious ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas should be canceled if Hamas doesn’t release all the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza by midday on Saturday, though he also said that such a decision would be up to Israel.
Trump was responding to Hamas saying it will delay the further release of hostages in the Gaza Strip after accusing Israel of violating the three-week-old ceasefire.
“If they’re not here, all hell is going to break out,” Trump said. He added of the ceasefire, “Cancel it, and all bets are off.”
Those comments came after Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel that Palestinians in Gaza would not have a right to return under his plan for US “ownership” of the war-torn territory, contradicting other officials in his administration who have sought to argue Trump was only calling for the temporary relocation of its population.
â–¶ Read more about Trump’s comments on the ceasefire
Trump will host Jordan’s king Abdullah II President Donald Trump will host Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza, perhaps permanently, as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East.
Trump has proposed the US take control of Gaza and turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East,” with Palestinians in the war-torn territory pushed into neighboring nations with no right of return.
He suggested on Monday that, if necessary, he would withhold US funding from Jordan and Egypt, longtime US allies and among the top recipients of its foreign aid, as a means of persuading them to accept additional Palestinians from Gaza.
Jordan has flatly rejected Trump’s plan to relocate civilians from Gaza.
In addition to concerns about jeopardizing the long-held goals of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Egypt and Jordan have privately raised security concerns about welcoming large numbers of additional refugees into their countries even temporarily.
â–¶ Read more about the upcoming meeting
What’s happening with the steel tax? President Trump is hitting foreign steel and aluminum with a 25 per cent tax. If that sounds familiar, it’s because he did pretty much the same thing during his first term.
Trump’s original metals tariffs gave America’s struggling steel and aluminum producers some relief from intense global competition, allowing them to charge higher prices. In anticipation of the new tariffs, shares of steel and aluminum producers climbed Monday. Nucor rose 5.6 per cent, Cleveland-Cliffs jumped 17.9 per cent and Alcoa ticked up 2.2 per cent.
But the tariffs took a toll last time, too, damaging US relations with key allies and driving up costs for “downstream” US producers that buy steel and aluminum and use them to manufacture goods.
The overall economic impact on the United States was limited then and is likely to be limited again because steel and aluminum imports amount to barely a ripple in the almost $30 trillion US economy.
â–¶ Read more about the impact this will have on the economy
