Author: boro

From cnbc.com

Canada’s former deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, called on Tuesday for President Donald Trump to definitively take the threat of tariffs off the table, arguing that the U.S. will need Canadian energy in the race to achieve dominance in artificial intelligence. Trump on Monday paused 25% tariffs on goods and 10% levies on energy resources imported from Canada after reaching an agreement with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The halt will remain in effect for at least 30 days as discussions between Washington and Ottawa continue. Freeland slammed the tariffs as “the dumbest trade war in history,” echoing a … (full story)

While some Republicans harbor doubts about Ms. Gabbard, she won over the party members on the committee who were wavering, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who had voted against Pete Hegseth to serve as defense secretary. Senator Todd Young of Indiana had also asked tough questions in the confirmation hearing but announced his support for Ms. Gabbard in a social media post before the vote.

As he walked into the committee room, Mr. Young said he had spoken to Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance about the vote. He said the written assurances Ms. Gabbard had given him were critical to winning him over.

“I’ve done my work,” Mr. Young said. “I’ve done my vetting.”

Ms. Collins announced Monday that she would support Ms. Gabbard, saying she shared her vision of shrinking the size of the office and returning it to its original role of coordinating among the spy agencies. That remains the office’s primary role, but it also has analysts and intelligence managers who do their own analytic work.

Over the weekend, Ms. Gabbard also got support from Elon Musk, who called Mr. Young a “deep state puppet” on his social media platform, X. Mr. Musk deleted the post shortly afterward and wrote that he had spoken to Mr. Young. “I stand corrected,” Mr. Musk wrote. “Senator Young will be a great ally in restoring power to the people from the vast, unelected bureaucracy.”

Before the vote, Mr. Young confirmed that he had spoken with Mr. Musk but said that they had not discussed Ms. Gabbard. He said he had spoken to Mr. Trump about the vote, but that the president did not pressure him and told him to vote his conscience.

“I said, ‘How important is this to you, Mr. President?’” Mr. Young recounted. “He said it’s important. But he said, ‘You know what, Todd, we’re going to work together on all kinds of other things to make America great again.’ And I told him I need reassurances. And those were delivered.”

Ms. Gabbard assured Mr. Young, according to a letter he posted on social media, that she would hold accountable officials who make unauthorized disclosures of classified material. She also pledged not to make a recommendation about the “legal standing” of Edward Snowden, an intelligence contractor who released classified documents about American surveillance programs in 2013.

Some in Congress had thought that Ms. Gabbard’s nomination would be the trickiest of Mr. Trump’s choices, given her unorthodox views and her past service as a Democratic member of the House, where she represented Hawaii.

Democrats have remained united against her.

Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and a proponent of privacy rights, said he was encouraged by Ms. Gabbard’s comments on protecting whistle-blowers and her openness to changes to foreign surveillance laws.

But Mr. Wyden said he voted against her because he was not convinced she would stand up to demands for intelligence officers to be fired “for perceived disloyalty to Donald Trump.”

Senator Martin Heinrich, Democrat of New Mexico, said he had voted against Ms. Gabbard because of her history of elevating conspiracy theories and distrusting the very spy agencies she would oversee.

“Time and again, Ms. Gabbard has elevated conspiracy theories, parroted dictators’ talking points and repeatedly undermined our country’s national security,” Mr. Heinrich said in a statement. “Put plainly, Tulsi Gabbard is a national security risk. She appears to trust information from every other source but the intelligence community.”

But so far no Republicans have joined Democrats in seeking to block her nomination. Some in Congress suggested Republican opposition failed to coalesce because the stakes were lower than for other nominees. The director of national intelligence oversees other spy agencies and sets broad priorities, but the job is not as powerful as that of the C.I.A. director. That leader runs covert actions and oversees intelligence stations around the world.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s most important job, arguably, is overseeing the President’s Daily Brief, an intelligence summary assembled each morning. Many Republicans believe that Mr. Trump deserves to have someone he trusts in that position.

Even before her tense hearing, Ms. Gabbard earned the support of Senator Tom Cotton, who is an Arkansas Republican and the committee’s chairman. And afterward, she secured the support of Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who is an influential member of the caucus.

Ms. Gabbard had one of the most difficult confirmation hearings of any of Mr. Trump’s nominees. She dodged a series of questions that Republican lawmakers meant to be softballs, or took offense at them, giving Democrats a chance to pile on in contentious exchanges that highlighted her unorthodox views.

Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, asked what he later said he had thought would be an easy question: Was Edward Snowden a traitor? But she declined to answer directly, giving Senator Michael Bennet, Democrat of Colorado, an opening to push hard.

“Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?” Mr. Bennet asked in a thunderous voice. “That is not a hard question to answer.”

After the hearing, Senator John Curtis, Republican of Utah, said he still had questions. “Some of her responses, and nonresponses, created more confusion than clarity and only deepened my concerns about her judgment,” he told reporters.

But Mr. Curtis is not on the Intelligence Committee, whose Republican members fell into line and backed her nomination.

The most tense exchanges came over Ms. Gabbard’s support for Mr. Snowden, who said his disclosures revealed illegal government efforts to spy on Americans.

Ms. Gabbard came into the hearing intent on distancing herself from Mr. Snowden. But she repeatedly balked when Republicans gently, and Democrats forcefully, tried to get her to call Mr. Snowden a traitor.

She said that Mr. Snowden’s actions were illegal but that they had brought to light surveillance programs that wrongly collected information about Americans.

“The fact is, he also, even as he broke the law, released information that exposed egregious, illegal and unconstitutional programs that are happening within our government,” Ms. Gabbard said of Mr. Snowden, who fled the United States and now lives in Russia.

Ms. Gabbard and Mr. Trump have similar foreign policy views on terrorism, Russia, long military engagements and other matters. But her sympathetic stance toward Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and her defense of the government of the former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad gave Republicans pause.

Still, the discussions about Mr. Snowden’s disclosures were the most tense in her confirmation hearing.

In a social media post before the hearing, Mr. Snowden urged Ms. Gabbard to denounce her past support for him. But she did not. He also told the lawmakers to “move on,” arguing that courts had taken Ms. Gabbard’s side and that the National Security Agency’s actions he exposed were illegal.

In 2013, Mr. Snowden, then a contractor for the N.S.A. in Hawaii, gained access to a trove of classified material. His most significant disclosure was the bulk data collection of Americans’ phone metadata.

As President Trump prepares to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump’s Middle East envoy said that a three to five-year timeline for reconstruction of Gaza is not a viable post-war plan for the battle-torn territory.

This first visit of a foreign leader during Trump’s second term comes amid lagging support for Netanyahu in Israel. The Israeli prime minister faces competing pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who want the remaining hostages home and the 15-month conflict to end.

Here’s the latest:

Trump says he’s given his advisers instructions to obliterate Iran if it assassinates him

“If they did that, they would be obliterated,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters while signing an executive order calling for the U.S. government to impose maximum pressure on Tehran. “I’ve left instructions if they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left.”

The Justice Department announced in federal charges in November that an Iranian plot to kill Trump before the presidential election had been thwarted.

The department alleged Iranian officials had instructed Farhad Shakeri, 51, in September to focus on surveilling and ultimately assassinating Trump. Shakeri is still at large in Iran.

Some Head Start preschools are still locked out of federal funding

A week after President Trump’s aborted effort to pause federal grants, Head Start centers that serve thousands of preschoolers are still struggling to access their federal grant money, delays that have forced some to abruptly close their doors.

Head Start, which serves some of nation’s neediest kids and families, ran into trouble last week when directors discovered they were locked out of the online payment system. Medicaid administrators had the same problems. The website eventually went back online, but administrators are still experiencing intermittent outages. Some have not been able to draw down funding for a week.

It led centers in Michigan and Wisconsin to close temporarily, and at least one center in Pennsylvania is contemplating shutting its doors until it regains access to its funds.

The disruption coincided with a directive from the Trump administration to halt federal grants, a mandate that was not supposed exclude Head Start and Medicaid. The directive was withdrawn after outcry. The White House has not said whether the payment system was purposefully taken offline.

Trump says he and Xi of China will speak at the “appropriate” time

The leaders have yet to discuss the tariffs that Trump imposed on Chinese goods and retaliatory tariffs that Xi has slapped on some American products.

Trump on Monday agreed to a 30-day pause on tariffs against Canada and Mexico after phone conversations with the leaders of those two U.S. allies.

Dr. Mehmet Oz on Capitol Hill to meet with senators

Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, is on Capitol Hill today to meet with senators.

After meeting with Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wy., Oz said he plans to meet with Sens. Shelly Moore Capito, R-W.V., Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., among others.

“They’re all from different parts of the country,” Oz said, which would help him field ideas. He invoked the “Make America Healthy Again” slogan in talks with reporters.

“I promise you, we’re going to work hard to make sure the American people feel empowered to get their health back,” Oz said.

He declined to say whether he supported Congress reducing the budgets of Medicare or Medicaid.

Maryland congressman creates online portal for federal workers to share concerns

A Maryland congressman is asking federal workers to share their concerns about President Donald Trump administration’s hiring freeze, deferred resignation program and confusion regarding executive orders.

Rep. Johnny Olszewski, a Democrat, has created an online portal on his congressional website that enables federal workers to share their experiences, either just with his office or publicly. People who participate publicly can choose to identify themselves fully, with their first name and city only, or remain anonymous.

The congressman has included a link at the top of his website that reads: “Federal Employees: Share Your Story with Rep. Johnny O.” The first-term congressman says he’s working to defend Maryland’s federal workforce from “the reckless assault from the Trump Administration.”

All Senate Democrats to oppose Trump’s budget chief over freeze

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Tuesday that Democrats will unanimously oppose the nomination for Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management Bureau after a series of executive orders have cause a frenzy over federal funding in the U.S.

“We are united in our agreement that Russell Vought is a dangerous and disruptive choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget,” the. New York lawmaker said at a press conference. “And we saw a precursor to his leadership last week during the dangerous federal funding freeze.”

Democrats had been voting in favor of some of Trump’s Cabinet nominations over the last two weeks but have no decided to halt their support over Vought over Trump’s decision to halt federal assistance programs.

Canadian minister says problems cited by Trump are overstated

A Canadian official says concerns raised by Trump about an influx of fentanyl and illegal immigration from his country were vastly overstated.

Fentanyl from Canada represents 0.2% of total U.S. seizures of fentanyl, Canada’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said. About the same amount of fentanyl was seized by Canada from the U.S.

Illegal immigration from Canada also is low, Wilkinson said, although officials agree with Trump that “one illegal migrant is too many.”

Trump’s claims “were made in good faith in the sense that I do think that President Trump is seized with these issues,″ Wilkinson said. “I think it’s also fair to say that there are two borders (for the U.S.) and, and on the southern border, it’s been a bigger issue.”

“The problem on the northern border, I think, is smaller than many people, and perhaps even President Trump, understand,″ he said.

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick to oversee US spy agencies, clears Senate committee

Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be President Donald Trump director of national intelligence cleared a key Senate committee Tuesday despite concerns raised about her past comments sympathetic to Russia and a meeting with Syria’s now-deposed leader.

A former Democratic congresswoman, Gabbard is one of Trump’s most divisive nominees, with lawmakers of both parties also pointing to her past support for government leaker Edward Snowden. But the Senate Intelligence Committee advanced her nomination in a closed-door 9-8 vote, and it now heads to the full Senate for consideration. A vote has not been scheduled yet.

Until three GOP members seen as swing votes announced their support, it wasn’t clear her nomination would advance. Gabbard will need almost all GOP senators to vote yes to win confirmation.

▶ Read more about Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence

Trump and Musk demand termination of federal office leases through General Services Administration

Office space is next on the hit list for Trump and Musk’s sweeping effort to fire government employees and curtail operations.

The General Services Administration’s regional managers got the memo last week to begin terminating leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide, where more than 1 million federal civilian employees work.

The email shared with The Associated Press by a GSA employee seems to contradict Trump’s own return-to-office mandate, adding confusion to what was already a scramble by the GSA to bring in remote employees. They may believe they won’t need as many offices once workers have resigned or been fired.

According to the employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, the office closures are being led by Nicole Hollander, an employee of Musk’s X company now embedded in the GSA’s headquarters. Her LinkedIn profile says she has a background in real estate.

▶ Read more about the GSA office leases

Trump envoy calls Gaza rebuilding timeline ‘preposterous’

Envoy Steve Witkoff said “it is unfair to explain to Palestinians that they might be back in five years.”

He’s reiterating the Trump administration call for Arab nations to temporarily relocate displaced Palestinians from the war-torn territory.

Egypt and Jordan, as well other Arab nations, have rejected Trump’s calls to take in 2.3 million Palestinians during a post-war rebuilding effort.

Netanyahu and Witkoff began the daunting work of brokering the next phase of a ceasefire agreement ahead of the Israeli leader’s meeting with Trump on Tuesday.

▶ Read more about Trump-Netanyahu developments

Canada’s energy minister proposes closer cooperation on critical minerals, uranium

A 30-day tariff delay allows Canada and the United States time to prevent a “lose-lose” cycle of tariffs and retaliation, a Canadian official says.

Instead of treating each other as adversaries, the two longtime trading partners should more closely cooperate on issues such as critical minerals, uranium and other energy, Canada’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Tuesday.

Canada can “find ways to ramp up production of uranium,” thereby reducing U.S. imports from hostile countries such as Russia, Wilkinson said. A number of uranium mines in Canada are not running at full capacity, but “certainly could be,″ he said. “There certainly are options for enabling the displacement of Russian fuel by Canadian fuel.″

The U.S. has banned imports of Russian uranium under a law Congress passed last year, but exceptions are allowed if approved by the Energy Department. About 12% of the uranium used to produce electricity at U.S. nuclear power plants was imported from Russia in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Wilkinson was in Washington for a speech to the Atlantic Council think tank.

Doctors for America sues the federal government for removing health information from government web sites

Some advocacy groups are suing the federal government over the removal of health information from government web sites, asking a court to order that the information be restored.

Doctors for America, working with the Public Citizen Litigation Group, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in a federal court in Washington, D.C. The suit targets removal of the government health-focused webpages and datasets in the last week, arguing the action creates a dangerous gap in scientific data needed to respond to disease outbreaks and deprives doctors of information they need to treat patients.

Doctors for America is a not-for-profit representing over 27,000 physicians and medical trainees. The organization was born from an earlier organization that pushed for health reform and supported Barack Obama when he was running for president.

The defendants include the Office of Personnel Management, which directed federal health agencies to remove or modify webpages, and government health agencies that took those steps — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Secret Service readies for Trump at the Super Bowl

Secret Service agents are on the ground in New Orleans preparing to protect President Trump as he watches Kansas City face Philadelphia in the Super Bowl.

Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the agency tasked with protecting the president, said Tuesday that security measures at the game have been “enhanced this year, given that this will be the first time a sitting President of the United States will attend the event.”

Guglielmi says the Secret Service has been “on the ground for days” working with the NFL and other law enforcement agencies to prepare for the president’s visit.

More details will be coming soon on what fans can expect especially when it comes to going through security checkpoints.

First military flight to deport migrants to Guantanamo Bay is set to depart, official says

Tuesday’s flight was confirmed by a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.

It is the first step in an expected surge in the number of migrants held at the Navy base in Cuba.

President Donald Trump has eyed the facility as a holding center and said it has the capacity to hold as many as 30,000.

▶ Read more about plans to hold migrants at Guantanamo

‘We have a Constitution’ — Rubio acknowledges ‘legalities’ about jailing Americans in El Salvador

The U.S. secretary of state said El Salvador’s offer to accept and jail violent American criminals raises clear legal issues.

“There are obviously legalities involved. We have a Constitution,” Rubio said Tuesday, a day after reaching an unusual agreement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to allow the Central American country to imprison U.S. deportees of any nationality, including American citizens and legal residents convicted of violent crimes.

“But it’s a very generous offer. No one’s ever made an offer like that — and to outsource, at a fraction of the cost, at least some of the most dangerous and violent criminals that we have in the United States. But obviously, the administration will have to make a decision.”

Rubio spoke at a joint news conference with President Rodrigo Chaves of Costa Rica, the next stop on his tour.

▶ Read more about Rubio’s controversial State Department moves

FBI agents sue over Justice Dept. effort to ID employees involved in Trump-related investigations

FBI agents who participated in investigations related to President Donald Trump have sued over Justice Department efforts to develop a list of the employees involved, fearing it could lead to mass firings.

The class-action complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington seeks an immediate halt to plans to compile a list of investigators who participated in probes of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol as well as Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The lawsuit notes Trump’s repeated campaign promises of ‘vengeance’ or ‘retribution.’ They said even compiling such a list is “retaliatory in nature, intended to intimidate FBI agents and other personnel and to discourage them from reporting any future malfeasance” by Trump or his appointees.

A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

▶ Read more about the FBI agents’ lawsuit

US coal industry leader on Chinese tariffs: We can sell elsewhere

National Mining Association President Rich Nolan says the Chinese tariffs are “significant,” but noted that global coal demand is at record levels.

“U.S. coal exports go to more than 70 nations and are a critical, stabilizing force in global markets,” Nolan said. “While China tries to damage a core U.S. industry, we expect global demand for high-quality U.S. coal to remain robust.”

U.S. coal exports peaked in 2012 under former President Barack Obama, accounting for about 12% of the fuel mined in the U.S. that year. Now the U.S. is exporting more than 20% of the total mined.

Doug Collins confirmed as veterans affairs secretary

The U.S. Senate confirmed Doug Collins as secretary of veterans affairs on Tuesday, putting the former congressman and Iraq War veteran at the helm of a department that provides crucial care to America’s veterans.

The former Air Force chaplain was confirmed on a 77-23 vote to join Trump’s Cabinet.

The Department of Veterans Affairs manages a more than $350 billion budget and oversees nearly 200 medical centers and hospitals nationwide. Collins has promised to cut regulations and elevate the quality of care for veterans.

“I’m an Iraq War veteran. I understand burn pits because I slept next to one for many months,” Collins said at his confirmation hearing.

Democrat Mazie Hirono of Hawaii dissented over concerns that Collins will limit access to reproductive care. Democrat Tammy Duckworth of Illinois pressed him not to resort to privatization.

▶ Read more about Collins’ confirmation

Trump sings in Cantonese and wins cheers in Hong Kong in an operatic twist

A traditional Hong Kong theater has come alive with an untraditional twist: Donald Trump singing in Cantonese.

The Cantonese production “Trump on Show” drew crowds to the soon-to-be-closed Sunbeam Theater. Its latest edition of the opera, “Trump, The Twins President,” featured scenes about Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency and the 2024 election.

Cantonese actor Lung Koon-tin, wearing a blond wig, sang the part of Trump. Roger Chan, in a blue blazer and pearls, played former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

The production, which debuted in 2019 during Trump’s first term, sparked laughter and applause from the audience on Monday night.

▶ Read more about the Cantonese opera

Melania Trump’s 2018 Africa trip highlighted US aid agency Trump and Musk want to eliminate

USAID had partnered with Melania Trump for her trip to Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt. Each stop called attention the international developmental agency’s work in Africa.

At a primary school in Malawi, she watched as textbooks were donated by USAID.

Her tour of the pyramids and the Great Sphinx called attention to the agency’s work with the Egyptian government on lowering groundwater levels to prevent further damage to the landmarks.

President Trump twice proposed to cut the agency’s budget during his first term.

Trump to attend Super Bowl

President Donald Trump will attend the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday, according to the White House.

It will be his first trip as president to the game, as the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles.

Trump’s trip was confirmed by a White House official that was not authorized to speak publicly about the president’s plans.

Trump is also scheduled to sit for an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier as part of the network’s pre-show programming, which is set to be taped from Florida before the game. It’s a tradition that’s been inconsistently followed by Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, who have both in the past opted to skip the interviews.

—By Michelle Price

New Trump order targets transgender athletes

Trump plans to sign an executive order on Wednesday aimed at preventing people whose assigned sex at birth was male from participating in women’s or girl’s sporting events.

That’s according to a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the formal announcement.

The precise mechanism or impact of Trump’s order wasn’t immediately clear Tuesday. He could direct a reinterpretation of Title IX, the law best known for its role in pursuing gender equity in athletics and preventing sexual harassment on campuses.

At minimum, it’s his latest attempt to use his public influence as president to target medical care and reject the public recognition of transgender people, after the sweeping order he issued on his first day signaling how the federal government would deal with transgender people and their rights.

China coal tariffs target a US industry that depends on exports

China’s 15% tariff announced Tuesday on coal from the U.S. — a retaliation against Trump’s across-the-board tariffs on Chinese goods — targets a sector of the U.S. coal industry that’s grown in recent years, helping offset a dramatic long-term decline from domestic customers.

Total U.S. coal exports were on track to top 100 million tons (90 million metric tons) in 2024, with the biggest demand in Asia, where new coal-fired power plants are fueling expanding economies despite concerns about increasing greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change.

China has followed India as the largest customer for U.S. coal, accepting shipments of about 8.7 million tons (7.9 million metric tons) valued at about $1.2 billion through September, according to the Energy Information Administration.

JD Vance will meet world leaders in Paris and Munich

The vice president is off to Paris next week for a summit of world leaders focusing on artificial intelligence. Then he’ll appear at the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany.

The AI Action Summit on Feb. 10-11 puts top government officials together with corporate executives at the the Elysee Palace amid galloping advances in technology. And the global talks on international security come amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine as Trump reasserts his “America First” agenda.

Sustaining support for Ukraine, constraining Russia’s partnership with Iran and containing China are on the table, all while Trump threatens tariffs on friends and foes alike. Other attendees at the AI summit include China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

▶ Read more about JD Vance’s trip (edited)

Trump hosting talks with Netanyahu, warning ‘no guarantees’ that peace in Gaza will hold

Trump will meet Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House Tuesday afternoon as the Israeli prime minister faces competing pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who want the remaining hostages home and the 15-month conflict to end.

This first visit of a foreign leader during Trump’s second term comes amid lagging support for Netanyahu in Israel and could distract from his ongoing corruption trial, which Netanyahu called a “witch hunt.”

Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, which accused him, Israel’s defense minister and Hamas’ slain military chief of crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza. The U.S. does not recognize ICC authority over U.S. citizens or territory.

▶ Read more about the Trump-Netanyahu talks

Musk claims he ‘deleted’ IRS’ free tax filing program — it’s still available

Hours after Musk posted on X that he had “deleted” 18F, a government agency that worked on technology projects such as the IRS’ Direct File program, there was confusion about whether Direct File is still available to taxpayers.

But the free filing program is still available for now.

An individual with knowledge of the IRS workforce said the Direct File program was still accepting tax returns. They spoke anonymously with The Associated Press because they were not authorized to talk to the press. As of Monday evening, 18F’s website was still operational, as was the Direct File website. But the digital services agency’s X account was deleted.

The IRS announced last year that it would make the free electronic tax return filing system permanent.

Private tax preparation companies have made billions charging people about $140 each to use their software, and have spent millions lobbying Congress.

▶ Read more about Musk and the IRS’ free filing program

__By Fatima Hussein and Barbara Ortutay

Senators offer some ‘weird,’ ‘wild,’ parting words on RFK Jr.

Kennedy’s quick committee vote did not go without some parting words from senators.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said that maybe Kennedy as a non-health care professional will be just the kind of “disrupter” needed to improve the nation’s health outcomes.

“I hope he goes wild,” Tillis said, listing all the ways the nominee could shake things up.

But Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont spoke about Kennedy’s odd behavior, including leaving a dead bear in New York’s Central Park.

“These are just weird things,” he said before the 14-13 party line vote sent the nomination to the full Senate for confirmation.

Cassidy said JD Vance, White House influenced his vote for RFK Jr.

“I’ve had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning. I want to thank VP JD specifically for his honest counsel,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician, posted on X. “With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes.”

Cassidy had expressed deep concern ahead of the vote about Kennedy’s views on routine childhood vaccinations. He said he would speak on the Senate floor later Tuesday morning.

Tuesday’s vote sets up a high stakes campaign to pressure the full Senate to confirm Kennedy in the coming weeks. If four GOP senators and all Democrats vote against his confirmation, it would fail.

▶ Read more on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination

Senate committee advances RFK Jr. for health secretary despite worry over his vaccine stance

Kennedy cleared his first hurdle to becoming the nation’s top health official on Tuesday with the Senate finance committee voting to advance his nomination for a floor vote.

Republicans voted together to advance his nomination, while Democrats all opposed.

His nomination now faces the full Senate, where concerns include the work he’s done to sow doubts around vaccine safety and his potential to profit off lawsuits over drugmakers. To gain control of the $1.7 trillion Health and Human Services agency, Kennedy will need support from all but three Republicans if Democrats uniformly oppose him.

▶ Read more on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination

A key Republican senator enters the RFK hearing

The Senate Finance Committee began a meeting to vote on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination, though one key Republican wasn’t there at first.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician who had raised concerns over Kennedy’s views on vaccines, finally entered the hearing room several minutes after it was underway. Cassidy’s jaw was clenched and his face downcast.

Cassidy then voted in favor of advancing Kennedy’s nomination for health secretary to the Senate floor with a simple “aye.”

Trump says Musk is doing his bidding

Elon Musk is rapidly consolidating control over large swaths of the federal government with President Donald Trump ’s blessing, sidelining career officials, gaining access to sensitive databases and dismantling a leading source of humanitarian assistance.

Working with stunning speed and scope, the world’s richest man has created an alternative power structure for the purpose of cutting spending and pushing out employees, none of it with congressional approval, inviting a constitutional clash over the limits of presidential authority.

Trump named Musk a “special government employee,” subject to less stringent rules on ethics and financial disclosures. He’s given Musk office space in the White House complex to oversee the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, sending teams into federal agencies Trump has vowed to abolish to gather information and deliver edicts.

Republicans defend Musk as simply carrying out Trump’s slash-and-burn campaign promises. Democrats accuse Musk of leading a coup from within by amassing unaccountable and illegal power.

▶ Read more on Musk’s moves

White House correspondents’ group announces Amber Ruffin as dinner entertainer

Ruffin is an Emmy- and Tony-award nominated writer, comedian, host, performer and best-selling author who soon will return for the second season of the comedy-news series, “Have I Got News For You,” which she leads with fellow comedians Roy Wood Jr. and Michael Ian Black.

She also writes for and appears on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”

The White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual black-tie dinner is set for April 26 in Washington.

“She has the ability to walk the line between blistering commentary and humor all while provoking her audience to think about the important issues of the day. I’m thrilled and honored she said yes,” said Eugene Daniels of Politico, president of the association.

Mexico surges troops to its US border

Mexico began moving troops Tuesday to reinforce its shared border in the United States, part of the deal President Claudia Sheinbaum reached with U.S. President Donald Trump Monday to suspend 25% tariffs that were set to go into effect.

AP observed more than 100 members of the National Guard boarded a plane Tuesday morning in the southeastern city of Merida, bound for Ciudad Juarez. Additional units were scheduled to depart Cancun and Campeche. Still more were going by road.

A similar deal to surge troops and head off tariffs was made in 2019 between Trump and then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. More than 10,000 Mexican troops stationed along the border have been unable to stifle persistent violence or break the tight grip of organized crime on the smuggling of drugs, migrants and guns.

US negotiates to have El Salvador imprison deportees and jailed US citizens

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio left El Salvador on Tuesday with an agreement that President Nayib Bukele will accept jailed U.S. citizens as well as deportees from the U.S. of any nationality and put them in his nation’s prisons.

Bukele “has agreed to the most unprecedented, extraordinary, extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world,” Rubio said.

“We can send them, and he will put them in his jails,” Rubio said of migrants of all nationalities detained in the United States. “And, he’s also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States even though they’re U.S. citizens or legal residents.”

Bukele confirmed the offer in a post on X, saying El Salvador would accept only “convicted criminals” and would charge a fee that “would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable.”

▶ Read more about whether the U.S. will outsource its prisons to El Salvador

What kind of tariffs is China threatening?

China said it would implement a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products as well as a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the U.S. The tariffs would take effect next Monday.

“The U.S.’s unilateral tariff increase seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization,” the State Council Tariff Commission said in a statement. “It is not only unhelpful in solving its own problems, but also damages normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the U.S.”

The impact on U.S. exports may be limited. Though the U.S. is the biggest exporter of liquid natural gas globally, it does not export much to China. In 2023, the U.S. exported 173,247 million cubic feet of LNG to China, representing about 2.3% of total natural gas exports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

▶ Read more about China’s tariffs against the U.S.

Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and YSR Congress Party president Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday asked party leaders to expose Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for backtracking on his election promises.

On his return from a two-week tour of London, he held a key meeting with senior party leaders at his office.

The meeting discussed the recent political developments in the state and Chandrababu Naidu’s latest statement.

This was the first key party meeting chaired by Jagan Mohan Reddy following the resignation of his close aide Vijayasai Reddy, who was YSRCP general secretary and parliamentary party leader.

The former chief minister felt that Chandrababu Naidu’s statements have once again exposed his stance on implementing election promises. He pointed out that despite the grand pre-election publicity around the “Super Six” promises, Chandrababu Naidu has now backtracked, citing various excuses to mislead the public.

Jagan emphasised the need to take this issue to the people, highlighting how Naidu is failing to fulfil his commitments while simultaneously burdening them with increased electricity charges.

He instructed party leaders to expose Chandrababu Naidu’s deceptive tactics more aggressively and to remain actively engaged with the public to create awareness. He also noted that while Naidu claims to be an expert in wealth creation, his governance has relied solely on borrowing, which must be brought to the public’s attention.

The meeting also touched upon the ongoing ‘fee struggle’, which was postponed due to pending approval from the Election Commission.

Jagan condemned the state government’s move to privatize new medical colleges and reduce medical seats, calling it a severe blow to poor students. He criticised Chandrababu Naidu’s letter to the central government opposing the allocation of new medical seats to the state, despite the central government’s plan to add 75,000 medical seats across the country over the next five years.

Jagan instructed party leaders to include this issue in the ongoing ‘fee struggle’ and expose Chandrababu Naidu’s discriminatory stance against poor students.

Discussions also covered pension cuts, halted welfare schemes, and the suspension of Aarogyasri, which have severely impacted the poor and middle-class citizens. Party leaders presented ground-level reports, stating that the nine-month coalition government has been blatantly anti-poor, causing widespread distress among the people.

The leaders deliberated on the malpractices in municipal by-elections, stating that the ruling alliance indulged in unprecedented violations to secure victories, even in places where they lacked numerical strength. They noted that the public is closely observing these actions and will respond appropriately when the time comes.

Senior leaders present at the meeting included Party State Coordinator Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, former ministers Botsa Satyanarayana, Budi Mutyala Naidu, Jogi Ramesh and Kurusala Kannababu.

New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says the tariff threat from the United States has created uncertainty for business and been a wake-up call for the country.

“We have been so dependent on what has been a really integrated and close economic relationship with the U.S.,” she told Information Morning Fredericton.

New Brunswick and the rest of Canada had been preparing for the tariffs, which would have added 25 per cent to the cost of most Canadian products crossing the border into the U.S. starting at midnight Tuesday.

But late Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced U.S. President Donald Trump was delaying the tariffs by 30 days.

In New Brunswick, this meant a late change to allow U.S. products to remain on N.B. Liquor store shelves, although the Crown corporation won’t be buying any new liquor products from the U.S. for now.

Holt said it is important to use the 30-day pause to be aggressive about removing internal trade barriers and getting all premiers at the table together.

The delay should be used to get creative about new markets and finding ways to work together as Atlantic provinces or within sectors, she said.

Trump’s long-talked-about promise of tariffs is having an impact on businesses, Holt said.

“Ever since Trump said the word tariffs back in November, businesses have paused their investments, their expansion plans, their hiring because of the significant uncertainty that that introduced into the economy,” she said.

It’s only gotten worse with the changing start dates for the threatened tariffs, she said.

“That kind of environment just really prohibits making big and bold investments in your business when you don’t know whether your biggest customer is going to be stable or not, and what prices you’ll be facing there.”

Gary Keenan, the president of K-Line Construction in Woodstock, said concern is high among his employees at K-Line.

“You know, ‘Will we have a job?,’” Keenan said. “Will there be cuts in numbers? Will there be cuts in pay?’ And we don’t have any answers for those.”  

Keenan said his business does a lot of post-storm restoration, not just in the Maritimes, but also in the United States, so he worries about how the hurdles his business has cleared for border crossings would be affected. 

And, he said K-Line is also involved in highway construction, signing and lighting, with most materials coming from the U.S

“I’ve seen hard times in my 45 years of business, a lot of economic challenges, but not outright economic warfare,” Keenan said.

“We’re going to give it our all, because we didn’t start out without understanding that there would be challenges, and we’ve dealt with them as they come head on, and we’ll continue to do it.

“But I really don’t know, I don’t know how to fight this fight.”

Holt said that with the threat of tariffs still looming, it’s difficult to build a budget based on a forecast economic growth.

“We usually look to a whole team of forecasters … we usually take an average of all of their projections,” Holt said.

“But given the volatility and the significant impact that the threat of tariffs has had on those projections, not knowing whether there will be tariffs in place means we’re talking a significant percentage of GDP swing that dramatically affects the top line for budget for the province.

“So it’s a really challenging situation.”

Members of Ghana’s Parliament return to the House for a sitting on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.

Ahead of the sitting, New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) stormed Parliament House clothed in black and red apparel.

The Minority Caucus MPs are protesting the suspension of three of their members by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, over the chaos that occurred during the ministerial vetting on January 30, 2025.

The House is expected to approve a number of ministerial nominees of President John Dramani Mahama, who were vetted by the Appointments Committee of Parliament.

The NPP MPs have indicated that they would challenge the approval, claiming that the vetting of some of the nominees was illegal.

Watch a livestream of the sitting below:

BAI/AE

Watch videos of the NPP MPs at Parliament below:

BEIJING (AP) — China announced retaliatory tariffs on select American imports and an antitrust investigation into Google on Tuesday, just minutes after a sweeping levy on Chinese products imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump took effect.

American tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico were also set to go into effect Tuesday before Trump agreed to a 30-day pause as the two countries acted to address his concerns about border security and drug trafficking. Trump planned to talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the next few days.

This isn’t the first round of tit-for-tat actions between the two countries. China and the U.S. engaged in an escalating trade war in 2018 when Trump repeatedly raised tariffs on Chinese goods and China responded each time.

This time, analysts said, China is much better prepared, announcing a slew of measures that go beyond tariffs and cut across different sectors of the U.S. economy. The government is also more wary of upsetting its own fragile and heavily trade-dependent economy.

“It’s aiming for finding measures that maximize the impact and also minimize the risk that the Chinese economy may face,” said Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Banking in Hong Kong. “At the same time … China is trying to increase its bargaining chips.”

John Gong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, called the response a “measured” one. “I don’t think they want the trade war escalating,” he said. “And they see this example from Canada and Mexico and probably they are hoping for the same thing.”

Counter-tariffs

China said it would implement a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products as well as a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the U.S. The tariffs would take effect next Monday.

“The U.S.’s unilateral tariff increase seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization,” the State Council Tariff Commission said in a statement. “It is not only unhelpful in solving its own problems, but also damages normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the U.S.”

The impact on U.S. exports may be limited. Though the U.S. is the biggest exporter of liquid natural gas globally, it does not export much to China. In 2023, the U.S. exported 173,247 million cubic feet of LNG to China, about 2.3% of its total natural gas exports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

China imported only about 700,000 cars overall last year, and the leading importers are from Europe and Japan, said Bill Russo, the founder of the Automobility Limited consultancy in Shanghai.

The response from China appears calculated and measured, said Stephen Dover, chief market strategist and head of the Franklin Templeton Institute, a financial research firm. However, he said, the world is bracing for further impact.

“A risk is that this is the beginning of a tit-for-tat trade war, which could result in lower GDP growth everywhere, higher U.S. inflation, a stronger dollar and upside pressure on U.S. interest rates,” Dover said.

Further export controls on critical minerals

China announced export controls on several elements critical to the production of modern high-tech products.

They include tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum and indium, many of which are designated as critical minerals by the U.S. Geological Survey, meaning they are essential to U.S. economic or national security that have supply chains vulnerable to disruption.

The export controls are in addition to ones China placed in December on key elements such as gallium.

“They have a much more developed export control regime,” Philip Luck, an economist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former State Department official, said at a panel discussion on Monday.

“We depend on them for a lot of critical minerals: gallium, germanium, graphite, a host of others,” he said. “They could put some significant harm on our economy.”

Going after Google

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said Tuesday it is investigating Google on suspicion of violating antitrust laws. The announcement did not mention the tariffs but came just minutes after Trump’s 10% tariffs on China were to take effect.

It is unclear how the probe will affect Google’s operations. The company has long faced complaints from Chinese smartphone makers over its business practices surrounding the Android operating system, Gong said.

Overall, Google has a smaller presence in China than many markets, with its search engine blocked like many other Western platforms. Google exited the Chinese market in 2010 after refusing to comply with censorship requests from the Chinese government and following a series of cyberattacks on the company.

Google did not immediately comment.

Tommy Hilfiger in the crosshairs

The Commerce Ministry also placed two American companies on an unreliable entities list: PVH Group, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and Illumina, which is a biotechnology company with offices in China. The listing could bar them from engaging in China-related import or export activities and from making new investments in the country.

Beijing began investigating PVH Group in September last year over “improper Xinjiang-related behavior” after the company allegedly boycotted the use of Xinjiang cotton.

Putting these U.S. companies on the unreliable entities list is “alarming” because it shows that the Chinese government is using the list to pressure U.S. companies to take a side, said George Chen, managing director for The Asia Group, a Washington D.C.-headquartered business policy consultancy.

“It’s almost like telling American companies, what your government is doing is bad, you need to tell the government that if you add more tariffs or hurt U.S.-China relations at the end of the day it’ll backfire on American companies,” Chen said.

___

Wu reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Zen Soo in Hong Kong and Christopher Bodeen in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.

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Opposition Leader Carla Beck correctly notes an emergency session of the legislature may be needed to deal with President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs.

Saskatchewan lives and dies by its exports. A 25 per cent tariff on Saskatchewan potash, uranium, oil and agricultural products would deal a massive blow to the province’s economy. With Archie Bunker now in the Oval Office, we are through the Looking Glass into a Wonderland. The future is anyone’s guess.

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Does Trump understand how tariffs work? They are paid by the importer — not the exporter. American consumers are going to see increases in prices, even though Trump promised he would reduce the cost of living. Most Americans will be hit hard by his tariffs. Premier Scott Moe’s timid response is disappointing.

To his credit, he initially lined up with eight of his fellow premiers on the need for a Canadian response.  Moe has since begun to wavered — no doubt, under the influence of renegade Alberta’s Danielle Smith. Even more puzzling is Moe’s definition of “emergency.”

In 2023, he considered gender pronouns the single most important issue facing the province. An emergency legislative sitting was convened. Saskatchewan’s economy is now under siege as part of Trump’s ludicrous scheme to annex Canada, yet Moe doesn’t see an emergency.

If ever there was a time for a unified, all-party response to an issue. it is now. If ever Saskatchewan faced an emergency, it is now. Will Moe do the right thing?

Roy Schneider, Regina

Was American ever great?

“Make America Great Again” is a great sounding slogan. But it raises an obvious question: “Just when exactly was America great the first time?” I have been puzzling over this question, but it has now occurred to me: It is not my job to determine if and when the USA was ever great.

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Now that Donnie has been president for two weeks, his answer is obvious. He thinks America was great in the 1850s, just before the Civil War. Rich white men ran everything. The USA was at war with Mexico. Taxes were close to zero, as were social services.

The U.S. Army — or well-armed and organized settlers — were free to slaughter Indigenous people and steal their land. Rich white men were free to own as many African slaves as they could afford, and grope whichever black women they wanted to grope.

Women were controlled by their husbands, and no thought was given to ever letting them have the vote. Homosexuals were tortured, and transgender people weren’t even considered. So, according to Donnie, those were America’s greatest years ever. He is doing his level best to try to make America that way again.

David Wessel, Regina

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Labour reportedly dropped a plan to ban foreign political donations after an intervention from Waheed Alli, the Labour peer who paid for Keir Starmer’s clothes and glasses.

The plan would have scuppered any potential donations from the billionaire Elon Musk to Reform UK. It would have made it illegal to donate unless donors were registered to vote in the UK or via companies owned by people based in Britain.

Labour has received £4m from a hedge fund based in the Cayman Islands, Quadrature Capital, though it pays corporation tax in the UK on profits.

But Lord Alli, the party’s fundraising chief in opposition, is said to have stopped the planned speech by Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, and Gordon Brown to announce the changes, according to a new book about Labour’s path to power.

The former Labour prime minister had already booked accommodation in London for the speech announcing the changes when it was canned, according to Get In, by Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund.

Labour and Alli declined to comment.

The book contains a leaked policy paper for the speech intended to take place in December 2023 at Chatham House – and suggests it had been signed off by Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s now chief of staff.

Though McSweeney was reportedly concerned about seeming anti-donor, he is said to have agreed the plan on the basis it would prevent donations from those without “skin in the game”.

A Labour source told the authors that Alli had intervened to pull the announcement with a week to go, with no explanation.

Labour is said to be examining proposals to limit how much individuals and companies can donate to political parties as part of an effort to tighten the rules around money in UK politics. The Institute for Public Policy Research has recommended that ministers limit individual and corporate donations to political parties to £100,000 a year.

In its manifesto, Labour committed to “protect democracy by strengthening the rules around donations to political parties”. At the core of this promise was an aim to tighten protections around foreign interference in UK democracy.

Donation caps are among a number of measures the government is looking at as part of plans for an election and democracy bill in the next parliamentary session. The bill did not form part of the king’s speech in July.

According to the policy paper quoted in the book, Rayner’s proposal was to “close loopholes in UK donation law which currently allow dodgy money to enter our politics – primarily through the Tory party – via shell companies or companies with no connection to the UK.

“This policy will provide us with a robust defence to the Tories’ attack on our donations by laying out with full transparency the robustness of our donation due diligence, and inviting the Tories to close loopholes which allow foreign money into UK democracy.”

Alli, a businessman who had donated more than £100,000 to Labour for more than 20 years, drew public attention when he was given a Downing Street pass when Labour won the election in July last year, which he then returned.

The emergence that he had then donated thousands for Starmer and his wife Victoria’s clothes and eyewear became known as the “passes for glasses” affair and led to accusations of cronyism, since the peer had no formal role in No 10.

In mid-September, it emerged that Starmer had initially failed to declare £5,000 of gifts from Alli used to buy clothes for his wife. He approached the parliamentary authorities to make a late declaration after being given fresh advice on what should be disclosed. The standards commissioner decided not to investigate.