Page 36 - Donald Trump Administration

EPA fires employees who publicly criticised agency policies under Trump

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday fired at least eight employees who signed a letter criticising the agency's leadership under Administrator Lee Zeldin and President Donald Trump. Following a thorough internal investigation, EPA supervisors made decisions on an individualized basis,' an EPA spokeswoman said Friday in a statement. The so-called declaration of dissent, signed by more than 170 employees in late June, contains inaccurate information designed to mislead the public about agency business,' spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou said. Thankfully, this represents a small fraction of the thousands of hard-working, dedicated EPA employees who are not trying to mislead and scare the American public. The EPA "has a zero-tolerance policy for career officials using their agency position and title to unlawfully undermine, sabotage and undercut the will of the American public that was clearly expressed at the ballot box last November,' she added. Vaseliou declined to say how many .

US court finds Trump's tariffs 'illegal', but levies in place for now

Federal judges ruled Trump exceeded authority by invoking emergency law, but tariffs remain in place pending further appeals to the Supreme Court

Trump moves to cancel $4.9 bn in foreign aid, clashing with US Congress

US President Donald Trump seeks to cancel $4.9 bn in foreign aid using a 'pocket rescission', bypassing Congress. Lawmakers say the move is illegal under US budget law

Zelenskyy seeks talks with Trump, EU leaders on slow progress towards peace

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday said that Ukrainian officials want to meet with US President Donald Trump and European leaders next week to discuss recent developments in efforts to end the three-year war with Russia. The proposed meetings appeared designed to add momentum to the push for peace, as Zelenskyy expressed frustration with what he called Russia's lack of constructive engagement in the process while it continues to launch devastating aerial attacks on civilian areas. Trump has bristled at Russian leader Vladimir Putin's stalling on an US proposal for direct peace talks with Zelenskyy, and said a week ago he expected to decide on next steps in two weeks if direct talks aren't scheduled. Trump complained last month that Putin talks nice and then he bombs everybody. But he has also chided Ukraine for its attacks, and a major Russian missile and drone attack on Ukraine overnight from Wednesday to Thursday that killed at least 23 people drew no public ...

Chicago is in Trump admin's sights for its next immigration crackdown

President Donald Trump's administration plans to surge officers to Chicago for an immigration crackdown in its latest move to expand the federal law enforcement presence in major Democratic-run cities, according to two US officials. The operation in the country's third-largest city is expected to last about 30 days and could start as early as September 5, a Department of Homeland Security official told The Associated Press on Friday. Another US official said the timing for what could be a sustained immigration enforcement effort resembling this summer's operations in Los Angeles is awaiting final approval. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that had not been made public. Chicago is home to a large immigrant population, and both the city and the state of Illinois have some of the country's strongest rules against cooperating with federal government immigration enforcement efforts. That has often put the city and the state at odds with Trump's ...

US revokes visas of Palestinian president, other officials ahead of UNGA

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has revoked the visas of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other officials ahead of next month's annual high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly, where the Palestinians previously have been represented. A State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss visa issues that are normally confidential, disclosed Friday that Abbas and other officials from the Palestinian Authority were among those affected. The move is the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to target Palestinians with visa restrictions and comes as the Israeli military declared Gaza's largest city a combat zone. The State Department also suspended a program that had allowed injured Palestinian children from Gaza to come to the US for medical treatment after a social media outcry by some conservatives. The department said in a statement earlier that Rubio also ordered some new visa applications from Palestinian officials, ...

US appeals court rules Trump's tariffs illegal, but keeps them in place

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump had no legal right to impose sweeping tariffs on almost every country on earth but left in place for now his effort to build a protectionist wall around the American economy. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Trump wasn't legally allowed to declare national emergencies and impose import taxes on almost every country on earth, a ruling that largely upheld a May decision by a specialised federal trade court in New York. It seems unlikely that Congress intended to ... grant the President unlimited authority to impose tariffs, the judges wrote in a 7-4 ruling. But they did not strike down the tariffs immediately, allowing his administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court. The president vowed to do just that. If allowed to stand, this Decision would literally destroy the United States of America, Trump wrote on his social medial platform. White House spokesman Kush Desai said Trump had acted lawfu

Trump admin plans to remove 700 unaccompanied migrant children: Senator

The Trump administration is planning to remove nearly 700 Guatemalan children who had come to the US without their parents, according to a letter sent Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. The removals would violate the Office of Refugee Resettlement's child welfare mandate and this country's long-established obligation to these children, Wyden told Angie Salazar, acting director of the office within the Department of Health and Human Services that is responsible for migrant children who arrive in the US alone. Unaccompanied children are some of the most vulnerable children entrusted to the government's care, the Democratic senator wrote, asking for the deportation plans to be terminated. In many cases, these children and their families have had to make the unthinkable choice to face danger and separation in search of safety. Quoting unidentified whistleblowers, Wyden's letter said children who do not have a parent or legal guardian as a sponsor or who don't have an asylum case alread

Social Security whistleblower quits after alleging data mishandling by DOGE

A Social Security official who has filed a whistleblower complaint alleging the Department of Government Efficiency officials mishandled Americans' sensitive information says he's resigning his post because of actions taken against him since making his complaint. Charles Borges, the agency's chief data officer, alleged that more than 300 million Americans' Social Security data was put at risk by DOGE officials who uploaded sensitive information to a cloud account not subject to oversight. His whistleblower disclosure was submitted to the special counsel's office on Tuesday. In a letter to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano, Borges claimed that since filing his whistleblower complaint, the agency's actions make his duties impossible to perform legally and ethically and have caused him physical, mental and emotional distress. After reporting internally to management and externally to regulators, serious data and security and integrity concerns impacting our citizens' most sensitive ...

Lisa Cook hints at possibility of 'clerical error' behind mortgage dispute

Cook sued Thursday to block Trump's "illegal attempt," saying he's using a phony pretext that doesn't amount to sufficient "cause" to remove her from the US central bank

Trump cuts funding for Afghan resettlement programmes, sparks criticism

Congressional statistics show nearly 60,000 Afghans in Afghanistan are still awaiting asylum case reviews, while more than 170,000 remain in the queue for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs)

Trump 'not happy but not surprised' by Russian strikes on Ukraine: WH

Russia carried out long-range strikes on Ukrainian military targets on Thursday, deploying a range of weapons including hypersonic air-launched Kinzhal missiles

Trump 50% tariff: How India stacks up against Asian, Latin American peers

India's effective tariff rate has soared to 50 per cent, while its peers face lesser tariffs despite their larger trade surpluses with the US

Donald Trump's war on numbers: Can US economic data still be trusted?

The US jobs report, a key index of economic health, came in weak this month. Hours later, President Trump dismissed the figures as "phony" and fired agency head Erika McEntarfer

Readymade garment revenue to halve in FY26 as US tariff kicks in: Crisil

Crisil warns India's garment sector revenue growth will slow to 3-5% in FY26 as US tariffs rise to 50%, eroding competitiveness against Bangladesh, Vietnam and China

Trump threatens tariffs, tech export curbs in digital tax reprisal

Trump has long argued that digital services taxes discriminate against US tech giants such as Amazon.com Inc., Google owner Alphabet Inc. and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc

All you need to know about Charles Kushner, US diplomat summoned to Paris

Paris' summoning of US Ambassador to France Charles Kushner, following his allegations that the country had not done enough to combat antisemitism, indicates its formal displeasure with the diplomat. But Kushner the father of Jared Kushner, son-in-law to President Donald Trump did not respond to a summons Monday and sent his No. 2 instead, according to a French diplomatic official. Charles Kushner was summoned after writing a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism. The foreign ministry called his allegations "unacceptable." French-US relations have faced tensions this year amid Trump's trade war and a split over the future of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. France and the U.S. also have been divided on support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, but the split has eased with Trump expressing support for security guarantees and a warm meeting with Macron and other European leaders at the White House last week. Here's wha

Trump softens stance with South Korea's Lee after initial warning

President Donald Trump took to social media before meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday to threaten not to do business with Seoul because of a Purge or Revolution that he claimed was taking place in the country. But any prospect of a hostile Oval Office meeting evaporated after Lee heaped praise onto the US president lauding the decor, beseeching Trump to continue to help with Korean peace efforts and even suggesting a Trump Tower in North Korea. We've known each other and gotten along very well, Trump said. After running down the agenda for the summit, Trump added: It's a great honour to be with you and congratulations on your election. That was a big one, and we're with you 100 per cent. The cordial display showed how world leaders are taking notes from previous meetings between Trump and heads of state, who've largely chosen the route of praise and adulation rather than confrontation as they seek favourable trade terms and continued military aid from ...

Trump warns China of 200% tariff if rare earth magnet exports curbed

US President Donald Trump stresses desire for 'great relationship' with Beijing despite escalating tensions over tariffs and resources

Trump wants to meet North Korea's Kim this year, raises issues with South

Since Trump's January inauguration, Kim has ignored Trump's repeated calls to revive the direct diplomacy he pursued during his 2017-2021 term in office