Trump says Zelenskyy ‘doesn’t want there to be peace’
Donald Trump has again attacked Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after the Ukrainian president said an end to his country’s war with Russia “is still very, very far away”.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump seized on the comment to accuse the Ukrainian leader of not being interested in negotiating a peace agreement:
This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer! It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. – Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?
The US president’s statement comes days after a testy exchange in the Oval Office with Zelenskyy that rattled America’s allies and raised fears that Washington was ready to side with Russia. It’s also worth noting that in his Truth Social post, Trump cited the Associated Press’s reporting on Zelenskyy’s comments – an ironic choice, because he banned the outlet from the Oval Office.
Here’s more on the increasingly fractious US-Ukraine relationship:
Vaccine skeptic RFK Jr notes importance of vaccines in fighting Texas measles epidemic
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health and human services secretary who before getting the job was best known for his anti-vaccine views, has written an op-ed noting the importance of inoculations in fighting measles, which has broken out in parts of Texas.
“The decision to vaccinate is a personal one. Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons,” Kennedy wrote in the piece published by Fox News.
Kennedy initially downplayed the outbreak of measles, before reversing course and saying the issue is a “top priority” for his department:
Commerce secretary says Canada, Mexico made progress against migrants, but more to be done on fentanyl
Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick told CNN in an interview this morning that Canada and Mexico are “doing a good job” of stemming the flow of migrants into the United States, but Donald Trump wants to see more action on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The comments come as the Trump administration threatens to impose tariffs on the two US trading partners beginning at midnight. Trump has accused Canada and Mexico of not doing enough to stop undocumented migrants and illegal drugs from crossing into the United States, sending both governments scrambling to head off the economically damaging import duties.
It’s unclear if Lutnick’s comments indicate that Trump is considering yet another last-minute reprieve for the two countries, after delaying previous rounds of tariffs:
Canada’s CBC reports that the Trump administration has not yet told Ottawa that tariffs will be imposed, raising the question of yet another last-minute reprieve for the top US trading partner.
While there’s no requirement that the US notify Canada before impsoing levies, they have done so in the past, CBC says.
The Guardian’s Robert Tait reports that Democrats have also invited federal workers who lost their jobs at the hands of Elon Musk to attend Donald Trump’s address to tomorrow’s joint session of Congress:
Workers 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.
Senior Democrats, including the party’s leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, have invited laid-off military veterans as their guests in an attempt to embarrass Trump over the unbridled assault on the federal bureaucracy spearheaded by Elon Musk and his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) team.
In moves supposedly aimed at rooting out waste and corruption, Musk – the billionaire tech entrepreneur who has emerged as a central figure in Trump’s administration – has shuttered USAid and laid off at least 200,000 workers in multiple other agencies.
In the weeks since Donald Trump took office, Republican lawmakers holding town halls in their districts have faced constituents angry about his administration’s actions.
In a post on Truth Social, the president has accused the constituents of being “paid” by Democrats:
Paid “troublemakers” are attending Republican Town Hall Meetings. It is all part of the game for the Democrats, but just like our big LANDSLIDE ELECTION, it’s not going to work for them!
Trump offered no evidence, as he often does. Meanwhile, the backlash to his presidency does seem real, though how long it will last or if it will translate to improved fortunes for the beleaguered Democrats remains to be seen:
Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick has backed changing the methodology behind a key economic statistic in a way that could obscure the disruptions of Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency”, the Associated Press reports:
Howard Lutnick, the US commerce secretary, said on Sunday that government spending could be separated from gross domestic product reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by the billionaire businessman Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) could possibly cause an economic downturn.
“You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.”
Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because changes in taxes, spending, deficits and regulations by the government can affect the path of overall growth. GDP reports already include extensive details on government spending, offering a level of transparency for economists.
Musk’s efforts to downsize federal agencies could result in the layoffs of tens of thousands of federal workers, whose lost income could potentially reduce their spending, affecting businesses and the economy at large.
The commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Musk’s arguments made on Friday on X that government spending doesn’t create value for the economy.
“A more accurate measure of GDP would exclude government spending,” Musk wrote on his social media platform. “Otherwise, you can scale GDP artificially high by spending money on things that don’t make people’s lives better.”
Democrats can do little but sit and watch Donald Trump’s speech to Congress tomorrow, after losing control of the Senate and failing to win back the House of Representatives in last November’s election.
But they’ll do their best to steer public anger towards the president’s policies, including his proposal for deep cuts to Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for poor and disabled Americans. Democratic senator Andy Kim told CNN he will bring as a guest to the speech a constituent who relies on the program:
I will bring, as my guest, someone from … my home county that has disabilities. Someone who is dependent upon Medicaid for so much of his ability to survive. And I really think that that’s where we need to hone in on. You know, I really do think that what we see with this reconciliation bill is disastrous for the Republicans ahead. And we have to show the American people the damage and the harm to them. And I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to get that message out there
Trump promises to ‘tell it like it is’ in first speech to Congress of new term
Donald Trump will lay out his priorities tomorrow evening in a prime-time speech to Congress, his first since returning to the White House.
He’s doing some expectation setting this morning, posting on Truth Social:
TOMORROW NIGHT WILL BE BIG. I WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS!
The speech acts as an unofficial State of the Union address, and you can expect the president to hold forth on everything from immigration to tariffs to his newly destabilized relationship with Ukraine.
Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, called the Peterson Institute’s warning that Donald Trump’s tariff plan would amount to a major tax hike on Americans as “alarmist”.
“I respect my friends at the Peterson Institute, I think they’re a bit alarmist,” Bessent told CBS News on Sunday.
“I think a lot of their supporters are anti-tariffs, so they take an anti-tariff position. And look, we have the experience of President Trump’s first term, where the tariffs did not affect prices. And it’s a holistic approach, that there will be tariffs, there will be cuts in regulation, there will be cheaper energy.”
Trump tariffs could amount to ‘largest tax increase in at least a generation’, thinktank warns
Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China could force American consumers to pay an average of $1,200 more per year, a prominent economic thinktank warns.
An analysis from the Peterson Institute for International Economics found that the tariffs would prompt retaliation from foreign governments, harming economic growth and leading to higher import costs that would be passed on to American households. Here’s more:
This past weekend, President Donald Trump announced the largest tax increase in at least a generation (since 1993 or before), with the imposition of 25 percent tariffs on most goods from Canada and Mexico (aside from Canadian energy, which faces a 10 percent tariff), alongside a 10 percent increase in tariffs on goods from China. The direct cost of these actions to the typical, or median, US household would be a tax increase of more than $1,200 a year.
These announcements mark the first wave of tariffs expected to come from the new Trump administration. Trump has threatened the entire world with tariffs. Further, governments abroad will retaliate; both Canada and Mexico have already announced retaliatory measures. Future waves of US tariffs and retaliation will increase these substantial consumer costs alongside the other economic harms of tariffs: reduced economic growth, a shrinking export sector, and supply chain disruption. …
While exchange rate movements or declines in exporter prices could reduce consumer harm, prior evidence is clear that exchange rate effects have only a partial dampening effect (with any alleviation coming at the expense of the export sector). Careful analysis of the 2018–19 trade war with China consistently found that foreign exporters to the United States did not lower prices when hit with US tariffs; US buyers of imports bore the tax burden.
Michael Sainato
Donald Trump’s blitz on federal science agencies has increased the risk of endangered species going extinct, fired government experts have warned.
The new administration, and its so-called “department of government efficiency”, led by the billionaire Elon Musk, has fired thousands of employees at science agencies, with funding halted at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
Nick Gladstone, a cave biologist for nearly a decade, was a lead recovery biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service for 15 federally endangered cave and subterranean invertebrates – including rare beetles and spiders – in central Texas. He is one of more than 400 probationary employees fired at the agency this month.
“Without my position filled, these species will be neglected for years to come,” Gladstone said. He said his firing left these species, among the most at risk under the Endangered Species Act, in particular danger due to the difficulty in finding and protecting them as their habitats face threats from development.
Maya Yang
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 recent wave of Republican-led bills targeting same-sex marriage comes amid a second Donald Trump presidency in which his administration has taken on more emboldened attacks against LGBTQ+ communities across the country, as seen through a flurry of executive orders he signed, assailing various LGBTQ+ rights.
Numerous Republican lawmakers across red states have followed suit in both rhetoric and the introduction of bills, sparking concerns across LGBTQ+ and civil rights organizations over their social and political effects.
In Oklahoma last month, a day after Trump’s inauguration, the Republican state senator Dusty Deevers introduced a series of bills targeting LGBTQ+ rights, among them the Promote Child Thriving act.
Jason Wilson
A natalist conference featuring speakers including self-described eugenicists and promoters of race science, apparently including the man behind a previously pseudonymous race-science influencer account, and the founder of a startup offering IQ screening for IVF embryos, will be held at a hotel and conference venue operated by the public University of Texas, Austin.
Details of the conference have emerged as a prominent supporter of pro-natalist positions, tech billionaire Elon Musk, lays waste to US government agencies under the banner of his “Doge” initiative, with the blessing of Donald Trump.
Natalism in its current often rightwing iteration encourages high birth rates, and Musk has been a vocal proponent. He also maintains a large compound home near Austin, where reportedly he plans to house some of his children and two of their mothers.
The Natal conference website embeds a Musk post on X, reading: “If birth rates continue to plummet, human civilization will end.” Musk, who reportedly has at least 13 children by four mothers, was in recent days confronted on X by musician Grimes and rightwing influencer Ashley St Clair over his alleged neglect of the children he has fathered with them.
US Congress nowhere close to deal to avert shutdown ahead of 14 March deadline
With less than two weeks to go before a 14 March deadline, Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress appear to be nowhere close to a deal to avert a government shutdown that would throw Washington into deeper turmoil, Reuters reported.
The talks have been complicated by Donald Trump, who has ignored spending laws passed by Congress, suspended foreign aid and fired tens of thousands of federal workers.
Both sides say his actions are the biggest sticking point as they seek to reach a deal that would provide government funding beyond 14 March, when it is due to expire.
Democrats say they are trying to secure guarantees that would prevent Trump and his budget-slashing point person, billionaire Elon Musk, from firing more workers or cancelling more government programs.
“We will continue to make clear that the law has to be followed,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters late last week.
Republicans say Democrats are trying to undo Trump’s actions, which they call a nonstarter.
“The bigger issue is the Democrats’ insistence on putting poison pills into the bill that would restrict the president’s abilities,” Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine told reporters last week.
Collins said she is “very close” to an agreement with Democrats that would fund the government at current levels until 30 September, the end of the fiscal year. Trump has said on social media that he supports that approach.
Joan E Greve
Several major Republican donors are throwing their financial support behind the primary opponent of Ed Gainey, who became Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor in 2022 and now faces a difficult re-election fight this year, in a seemingly concerted effort to oust the progressive leader.
The Democratic primary battle between Gainey and Corey O’Connor, the Allegheny county controller, is shaping up to be one of the biggest tests of the progressive movement since Donald Trump’s victory last November. The victor of the 20 May primary is widely expected to win the general election, and with few major races on the ballot this year, Gainey’s re-election could provide a morale boost for progressives still reeling from Democrats’ losses in the 2024 races.
The mayoral race may also offer insight into the broader political environment in Pennsylvania, a pivotal battleground state that Trump won by roughly 2 points last year. While Trump made marginal gains in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties, his performance in Allegheny county, which covers Pittsburgh, remained virtually unchanged from four years earlier. Trump won just 22% of the Pittsburgh vote, while 77% went to Kamala Harris.
Coral Murphy Marcos
Freed Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi has been invited to Washington to meet Donald Trump this week, his brother told Israeli media on Sunday.
Sharabi, who was released from Gaza after 16 months in captivity, expects to meet Trump with other freed hostages on Tuesday, after the US president watched him describe the severe hunger and violence he endured on Israeli television.
Excerpts from Sharabi’s moving interview on Israel’s Channel 12 “were shown to Trump, with English subtitles, and he was shocked once again, but also expressed great sympathy for those who survived captivity”, his brother Sharon said, according to a translation from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Israeli advocacy groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), have posted subtitled versions of the interview online.
When Sharabi and two other hostages, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, were released on 8 February alongside after nearly 500 days in captivity, their physical condition outraged Israelis, and Trump. Sharabi was at home in Be’eri kibbutz with his British-born wife and their two teenage daughters when Hamas attacked on 7 October 2023.
US tariffs on Canada and Mexico coming Tuesday but may not be 25%, commerce chief says
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said on Sunday that US tariffs on Canada and Mexico will go into effect on Tuesday, but the president would determine whether to stick with the planned 25% level.
“That is a fluid situation,” Lutnick told the Fox News program Sunday Morning Futures. “There are going to be tariffs on Tuesday on Mexico and Canada. Exactly what they are, we’re going to leave that for the president and his team to negotiate.”
Lutnick’s comments were the first indication from Trump’s administration that it may not impose the full threatened 25% tariffs on all goods from Mexico and non-energy imports from Canada.
He said the two countries have “done a reasonable job” securing their borders with the United States, though he maintained the deadly drug fentanyl continues to flow into the country.
To read our full report on this story, see below.
