The portal is for government workers
President Donald Trump said he’ll announce Monday that the United States will impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including from Canada and Mexico, as well as other import duties later in the week.
Meanwhile, Trump said he’s serious about wanting Canada to become the 51st state in an interview that aired Sunday during the Super Bowl preshow. “Yeah it is,” Trump told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier when asked whether his talk of annexing Canada is “a real thing” — as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently warned.
Here’s the latest:
Senate Democrats open a whistleblower portal for potentially ‘lawless’ Trump actions
The portal is for government workers.
In a letter addressed to “the Brave Public Servants,” the Democrats remind that the Whistleblower Protection Act “prohibits retaliation against federal employees who disclose evidence of wrongdoing.”
“If you have information you want to share about wrongdoing, abuse of power, and threats to public safety, we stand ready to support you,” wrote Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the top Democrat on the Homeland Security and Government Oversight Committee Sen. Gary Peters.
They said Republicans are refusing to provide a check on the White House.
Five former treasury secretaries warn about DOGE access
The group wrote an op-ed in the New York Times on Monday, sounding the alarm on the risks associated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency accessing sensitive Treasury payment systems.
“These political actors have not been subject to the same rigorous ethics rules as civil servants,” said former Treasury heads Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner, Jacob Lew and Janet Yellen in the Times op-ed.
Musk’s DOGE team includes 24-year-old former Canadian university student
“We are alarmed about the risks of arbitrary and capricious political control of federal payments, which would be unlawful and corrosive to our democracy,” they said.
They also issue a dire warning about the notion of selective suspension of congressionally authorized payments, which Musk regularly threatens on X, calling it “a breach of trust and ultimately, a form of default.”
After DOGE recently gained access to sensitive Treasury data including Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems, a federal judge over the weekend ordered that the Treasury Department should block access to anyone “other than civil servants with a need for access to perform their job duties” from its payment system, noting the risk of “irreparable harm.”
Wall Street opens higher despite worries over Trump’s latest tariff threats
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% in early trading Monday, coming off a losing week bookended by worries about how potential tariffs could threaten the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 261 points, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.7%.
Treasury yields ticked lower in the bond market after Trump said over the weekend that he’ll impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, as well as other import duties later in the week.
Russ Vought, Trump’s budget chief, ramps up pressure on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
He reminded staff Monday morning that their office is closed and they should “not perform any work tasks.” The Associated Press viewed a copy of the email.
Employees were directed to contact the top lawyer for the Office of Management and Budget “to get approval in writing before performing any work task.”
The agency was created after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal, and it’s been a target of conservatives for years.
3rd federal judge blocks Trump order ending birthright citizenship for children of people in U.S. illegally
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Joseph N. Laplante in New Hampshire comes after two similar rulings by judges in Seattle and Maryland last week.
A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union contends President Trump’s order violates the Constitution and “attempts to upend one of the most fundamental American constitutional values.”
Trump’s Republican administration has asserted that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.
The administration is appealing the Seattle judge’s block on Trump’s executive order.
China’s tit-for-tat duties on U.S. imports took effect Monday
It came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he wants to slap new duties on all steel and aluminum imports to the U.S.
The rapid-fire shots of tariffs and import curbs hearken back to Trump’s first term in office, when the U.S. and China engaged in a trade war that spanned most of Trump’s first four years in office and was continued to a certain extent under his successor, Joe Biden.
Less than a month after returning to the White House on Jan. 20, Trump slapped 10% duties on all Chinese imports, a move that’s expected to raise prices on goods including laptops, toys and fast fashion.
China responded with 15% duties on coal and liquefied natural gas products, and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the U.S.
‘Why are you here?’ USAID staffers asked
A man who had earlier identified himself as a USAID official, while refusing to identify himself further, is taking a harsh tone with staffers who arrive for work at agency headquarters.
“Go home,” the man told arriving staffers. “Just go.”
“Why are you here?” he asked.
USAID workers prevented from getting to offices
Security guards have turned away USAID staffers who arrived for work at agency headquarters in Washington even after a court temporarily blocked a Trump administration order that would have pulled all but a fraction of aid and development staffers off the job worldwide.
A front desk officer on Monday told a steady stream of agency staffers in business clothes or USAID sweatshirts or T-shirts that he had a list of no more than 10 names of people allowed to enter the agency.
Staffers who hadn’t seen each other since President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk began dismantling their agency embraced each other.
Vance makes his debut as VP on the international stage at a high-stakes AI summit in Paris
The 40-year-old vice president, who was just 18 months into his tenure as a senator before joining Trump’s ticket, is expected, while in Paris, to push back on European efforts to tighten AI oversight while advocating for a more open, innovation-driven approach.
The AI summit has drawn world leaders, top tech executives, and policymakers to discuss artificial intelligence’s impact on global security, economics, and governance. High-profile attendees also include Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, signaling Beijing’s deep interest in shaping global AI standards.
The event highlights a growing divide between the European Union and other players pushing for more regulations to make the fast-moving technology safer for the public, and the U.S., where the Trump administration has prioritized business-friendly policies and technological dominance.
Trump says he’s directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies
He cited the rising cost of producing the one-cent coin.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Trump wrote in a post Sunday night on his Truth Social site. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”
The move by Trump is the latest in what’s been a rapid-fire effort by his new administration to enact sweeping change through executive order and proclamation on issues ranging from immigration, to gender and diversity, to the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
Trump had not discussed his desire to eliminate the penny during his campaign. But Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency raised the prospect in a post on X last month highlighting the penny’s cost.
Trump says he will announce 25% steel and aluminum tariffs Monday
President Donald Trump said he will announce on Monday that the United States will impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including from Canada and Mexico, as well as other import duties later in the week.
“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff,” he told reporters Sunday on Air Force One as he flew from Florida to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. When asked about aluminum, he responded, “aluminum, too” will be subject to the trade penalties.
Trump also reaffirmed that he would announce “reciprocal tariffs” — “probably Tuesday or Wednesday” — meaning that the U.S. would impose import duties on products in cases where another country has levied duties on U.S. goods.
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