Donald Trump

February 4, 2025 9:46 AM

Trump makes Musk, the world’s richest man, a ‘special government employee’

Elon Musk, who has moved swiftly to shrink the size of the U.S. government at President Donald Trump's behest, is now considered a "special government employee," the White House said on Monday. The designation allows Musk, the world's richest man, to work for the federal government but potentially avoid disclosure rules about conflicts of interest and finances that apply to regular government employees. Musk still runs electric car company Tesla and aerospace company SpaceX while chairing Trum...

February 4, 2025 8:46 AM

Trump pauses tariffs on Mexico and Canada, but not China

U.S. President Donald Trump suspended his threat of steep tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Monday, agreeing to a 30-day pause in return for concessions on border and crime enforcement with the two neighboring countries. U.S. tariffs on China are still due to take effect within hours. Both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said they had agreed to bolster border enforcement efforts in response to Trump's demand to crack down on immigration and drug s...

February 3, 2025 11:20 AM

Trump says Americans may feel ‘pain’ in trade war with Mexico, Canada, China

President Donald Trump said the sweeping tariffs that he has imposed on Mexico, Canada and China may cause "short term" pain for Americans as global markets reflected concerns the levies could undermine growth and reignite inflation. Trump said he would talk on Monday with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, which have announced retaliatory tariffs of their own, but downplayed expectations that they would change his mind. "I don't expect anything dramatic," Trump told reporters as he retu...

A man stands in front of a live view of the Nikkei 225 index. Photo by Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images/Files

February 3, 2025 9:02 AM

Asian stocks slump, dollar soars as Trump tariffs trigger trade war fear

Asian stock markets slumped on Monday and U.S. equity futures pointed sharply lower after U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China triggered fears of a broad trade war and hit to global growth. The U.S. dollar shot to a record peak against the Chinese yuan in offshore trading, and its highest against Canada's currency since 2003 and the strongest against the Mexican peso since 2022. Japan's Nikkei share average tumbled as much as 2.3% in early trading, and Australia'...

January 31, 2025 1:19 PM

Trump FBI nominee Patel questioned on Capitol riot, retribution claims

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, vowed on Thursday to protect FBI employees against "political retribution" even as the Trump administration has begun to fire and sideline Justice Department officials who were involved in investigations into the president. Pressed by Democratic U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal to commit to not fire FBI agents who worked on investigations into Trump's mishandling of classified documents and attempts to overturn the 2020 election, Pat...

January 31, 2025 10:10 AM

Trump repeats tariffs threat to dissuade BRICS nations from replacing US dollar

President Donald Trump on Thursday warned off BRICS member countries from replacing the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency by repeating a 100%-tariffs threat he had made weeks after winning the November presidential elections. "We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs," Trump said on Truth Social in a statement nearly...

January 29, 2025 3:26 PM

Trump, Musk suggest sped-up return of NASA astronauts, but details scarce

President Donald Trump said Tuesday night he had asked Elon Musk's SpaceX to return two NASA astronauts from the International Space Station, who were already scheduled to fly back on a SpaceX capsule in March. Musk earlier on Tuesday said Trump had asked him to return the two astronauts "as soon as possible," suggesting a change to NASA's current plan for a late March return. "We will do so," Musk said. "I have just asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to 'go get' the 2 brave astronauts who have been ...

January 29, 2025 11:59 AM

Poll: 85% of Greenlanders do not want to be part of the US

An opinion poll indicated on Tuesday that 85% of Greenlanders do not wish their Arctic island - a semi-autonomous Danish territory - to become a part of the United States, Danish daily Berlingske reported. U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this month that Greenland was vital to U.S. security and Denmark should give up control of the strategically important island. The survey by pollster Verian, commissioned by the Danish paper, showed only 6% of Greenlanders are in favour of becoming pa...

January 28, 2025 4:47 PM

Why is Trump threatening to take over the Panama Canal?

Newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing to "take back" the Panama Canal, the world's second busiest interoceanic waterway, spurring concerns that the United States could invade the Central American nation. Trump argues that Panama has broken a pledge of neutrality made when the United States transferred the canal to Panama in 1999, falsely claiming that China is operating it. The canal is operated by the Panama Canal Authority, an autonomous agency overseen by the Panamanian g...

January 27, 2025 11:40 AM

US puts Colombia tariff, sanctions threat on hold after deportations deal

The U.S. and Colombia pulled back from the brink of a trade war on Sunday after the White House said the South American nation had agreed to accept military aircraft carrying deported migrants. U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened tariffs and sanctions on Colombia to punish it for earlier refusing to accept military flights carrying deportees as part of his sweeping immigration crackdown. But in a statement late on Sunday, the White House said Colombia had agreed to accept the migrants a...