Page 50 - Donald Trump Administration

US sends third-country deportees to small African kingdom of Eswatini

The United States has sent five men to the small African nation of Eswatini in an expansion of the Trump administration's third-country deportation programme, the US Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday. The US has already deported eight men to another African nation, South Sudan, after the Supreme Court lifted restrictions on sending people to countries where they have no ties. In a late-night post on X, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the men, who are citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos, had arrived in Eswatini on a plane. She said they were all convicted criminals and individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back. There was no immediate comment from Eswatini authorities over any deal to accept third-country deportees or what would happen to them in that country. The Trump administration has said it is seeking more deals with African nations to take deportees from the US. Some have pushe

Trump admin fires 17 immigration court judges across 10 states, says union

Seventeen immigration court judges have been fired in recent days, according to the union that represents them, as the Trump administration pushes forward with its mass deportations of immigrants in the country. The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which represents immigration court judges as well as other professionals, said in a news release that 15 judges were fired "without cause" on Friday and another two on Monday. The union said they were working in courts in 10 different states across the country California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Virginia. "It's outrageous and against the public interest that at the same time Congress has authorised 800 immigration judges, we are firing large numbers of immigration judges without cause," said the union's President Matt Biggs. "This is nonsensical. The answer is to stop firing and start hiring." The firings come as the courts have been increasingly at th

Trump strikes trade deal with Indonesia, imposes 19% tariff on imports

Trump has sent tariff letters over the last week to multiple trading partners, increasing pressure on negotiators ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline for higher duties to take effect

Trump admin to allow resumption of H20 AI chip sales to China: Nvidia

The development comes amid a preliminary trade deal between the US and China last month, which sought China to resume the exports of rare earth and the US to relax its export curbs

US imposes 17% duty on Mexican tomatoes hoping to boost local production

The US government said Monday it is placing a 17 per cent duty on most fresh Mexican tomatoes after negotiations ended without an agreement to avert the tariff. Proponents said the import tax will help rebuild the shrinking US tomato industry and ensure that produce eaten in the US is also grown there. Mexico currently supplies around 70 per ccent of the US tomato market, up from 30 per cent two decades ago, according to the Florida Tomato Exchange. But opponents, including US companies that grow tomatoes in Mexico, said the tariff will make fresh tomatoes more expensive for US buyers. Tim Richards, a professor at the Morrison School of Agribusiness at Arizona State University, said US retail prices for tomatoes will likely rise around 8.5 per cent with a 17 per cent duty. The duty stems from a longstanding US complaint about Mexico's tomato exports and is separate from the 30 per cent base tariff on products made in Mexico and the European Union that President Donald Trump announc

US Supreme Court allows Trump to cut nearly 1,400 Education Department jobs

The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to put his plan to dismantle the Education Department back on track and go through with laying off nearly 1,400 employees. With the three liberal justices in dissent, the court on Monday paused an order from US District Judge Myong Joun in Boston, who issued a preliminary injunction reversing the layoffs and calling into question the broader plan. The layoffs will likely cripple the department, Joun wrote. A federal appeals court refused to put the order on hold while the administration appealed. The high court action enables the administration to resume work on winding down the department, one of Trump's biggest campaign promises.

Trump admin defends immigration policies after California worker's death

Trump has vowed to deport millions of people in the country illegally and has executed raids at work sites including farms that were largely exempted from enforcement during his first term

Republican governors push DOGE programmes, embrace cost-cutting brand

The brash and chaotic first days of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, once led by the world's richest man Elon Musk, spawned state-level DOGE mimicry as Republican governors and lawmakers aim to show they are in step with their party's leader. Governors have always made political hay out of slashing waste or taming bureaucracy, but DOGE has, in some ways, raised the stakes for them to show that they are zealously committed to cutting costs. Many drive home the point that they have always been focused on cutting government, even if they're not conducting mass layoffs. I like to say we were doing DOGE before DOGE was a thing, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in announcing her own task force in January. Critics agree that some of these initiatives are nothing new and suggest they are wasteful, essentially duplicating built-in processes that are normally the domain of legislative committees or independent state auditors. At the same time, some governors are using

Trump visits Texas flood area, defends officials amid questions on response

President Donald Trump on Friday toured the devastation from catastrophic flooding in Texas and lauded state and local officials, even amid mounting criticism that they may have failed to warn residents quickly enough that a deadly wall of water was coming their way. Trump has repeatedly promised to do away with the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of his larger pledges to dramatically shrink the size of government, and he's fond of decrying officials in Democrat-run states hit by past natural disasters and tragedy. But the president struck a far more somber and sympathetic tone while visiting America's largest Republican state highlighting the heartbreak of what happened while effusively praising elected officials and first responders alike. The search for the missing continues. The people that are doing it are unbelievable, Trump, seated with officials around a table with emblazoned with a black-and-white Texas Strong banner, said at a makeshift emergency operations ..

US State Department lays off over 1,300 employees under Trump admin's plan

The US State Department fired more than 1,300 employees on Friday in line with a dramatic reorganization plan from the Trump administration that critics say will damage America's global leadership and efforts to counter threats abroad. The department sent layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with assignments in the United States, according to a senior department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Notices said positions were being abolished and the employees would lose access to State Department headquarters in Washington and their email and shared drives by 5 p.m., according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press. As employees packed their belongings, dozens of former colleagues, ambassadors, members of Congress and others spent a warm, humid day protesting outside. Holding signs saying, Thank you to America's diplomats and We all deserve better, they mourned the institutional loss from the cuts and .

Google to offer heavy discount for cloud computing services to US govt

In April, Google agreed to offer a 71% discount till September 30 to US federal agencies for its business apps package that could generate up to $2 billion in savings if there is govt-wide adoption

Brazil can survive without US trade, says Lula amid Trump tariff threat

In televised interviews, Lula struck a defiant tone, saying Trump must respect Brazil's sovereignty and cannot act as if he owns other nations

Nato to fully fund US weapons sent to Ukraine under new deal, says Trump

In recent days, Trump has expressed frustration with Russian President Putin over the lack of progress towards ending the war sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022

Brazil vows retaliatory tariffs if Trump goes through with 50% import taxes

Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva said Thursday that he will impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States if President Donald Trump follows through on a pledge to boost import taxes by 50% over the South American country's criminal trial against his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Lula said he will trigger Brazil's reciprocity law approved by Congress earlier this year if negotiations with the US fail. If there's no negotiation, the reciprocity law will be put to work. If he charges 50 (per cent tariffs) from us, we will charge 50 from them, Lula told TV Record in excerpts of an interview that will be fully aired later in the day. Respect is good. I like to offer mine and I like to receive it. Lula's comments raise the risk of a tariffs war erupting between the two countries, similar to what has happened between the US and China. Trump has vowed to respond forcefully if countries seek to punish the US by adding tariffs of their own. The tariffs letter that Trump sent to

George Mason University faces investigation in Trump admin's crackdown

The Trump administration on Thursday opened a civil rights investigation into the hiring practices at George Mason University, expanding a national campaign against diversity policies to Virginia's largest public university. The Education Department said it is responding to a complaint from multiple professors at George Mason who accuse the university of favoring those from underrepresented groups. The complaint takes aim at the university's president, Gregory Washington, saying he issued guidance that favors faculty candidates based on diversity considerations rather than their credentials, according to the department. It marks an expansion of the Trump administrations campaign to reshape higher education, which until recently focused on elite private institutions like Harvard and Columbia universities. George Mason is the second big public university to face scrutiny in recent weeks, following a Justice Department investigation at the University of Virginia that prompted the ...

Rubio echoes Trump's frustration over stalled peace talks in Lavrov meet

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Trump is going to do everything he can within his power to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine

Trump appoints transport secretary Sean Duffy as interim Nasa chief

Duffy's appointment comes less than two months after Trump unexpectedly pulled the nomination of his original choice for Nasa administrator, SpaceX astronaut and billionaire Jared Isaacman

Trump eyes trade deals before deadline, but hints at more time for talks

The Trump administration is stepping up pressure on trading partners to quickly make new deals before a Wednesday deadline, with plans for the United States to start sending letters Monday warning countries that higher tariffs could kick in August 1. That furthers the uncertainty for businesses, consumers and America's trading partners, and questions remain about which countries will be notified, whether anything will change in the days ahead and whether President Donald Trump will once more push off imposing the rates. Trump and his top trade advisers say he could extend the time for dealmaking but they insist the administration is applying maximum pressure on other nations. Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday that Trump would decide when it was time to give up on negotiations. The United States is always willing to talk to everybody about everything, Hassett said. There are deadlines, and there are things that a

US tariffs to take effect on August 1, says Trump as deals near completion

President Trump confirms tariff hikes will take effect on August 1, with letters and agreements set to go out ahead of the deadline

Trump signs his 'big, beautiful' tax bill at White House ceremony

The legislative milestone reinforces Trump's grip on the Republican Party, whose Capitol Hill leaders muscled the bill through the House and Senate this week