Key events
US president Donald Trump said US tariffs could go up over time but gave no other details, according to an excerpt of a Fox Business interview taped on Thursday that aired on Friday.
Asked whether businesses could get clarity about his tariff plan, Trump said:
Well, I think so. But, you know, the terms could go up as time goes by, and they may go up and, you know, I don’t know if it’s predictability.
Andrew Roth
Staff on hundreds of foreign aid projects left in limbo by the Trump administration’s funding freeze have received a survey that asks them to justify their work under an eccentric list of criteria that meet the White House’s new national security priorities.
The survey, copies of which have been obtained by the Guardian, asks foreign aid programme staff to detail whether they contribute to limiting illegal immigration or securing US borders, “combatting Christian prosecution”,and whether they help the US secure access to rare earth minerals.
It also includes a litmus test on several controversial issues banned under the Trump administration. “Can you confirm this is not a climate or ‘environmental justice’ project or include such elements? [yes/no],” the survey asks. It also asks: “Can you confirm that this is no DEI [diversity, equality and inclusion] project or DEI elements of the project? [yes /no].”
The questionnaire, which was distributed eight weeks after the US president issued a foreign aid funding freeze, comes as thousands of projects have already laid off staff and cut ties with local partners, meaning that even if stop-work orders are lifted the programmes may remain shuttered.
The administration has claimed that it has restored funding for life-saving programmes and has developed a rigorous criteria for reviewing all foreign aid spending. But staff have described a chaotic process or a complete lack of communication with USAid and State Department officials meant to review their programmes.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the coming hours.
We start with news that the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said China will continue to retaliate against the United States’ “arbitrary tariffs” despite pausing similar action against Canada and Mexico.
In a press conference on Friday, Wang said China’s efforts to help the US contain its fentanyl crisis have been met with punitive tariffs, which are straining the ties between the countries.
“No country should fantasise that it can suppress China and maintain a good relationship with China at the same time,” Wang said. “Such two-faced acts are not good for the stability of bilateral relations or for building mutual trust.”
The two countries have been engaging in tit-for-tat retaliatory tariffs since US president Donald Trump’s return to office in January.
The US has imposed flat tariffs of 20% on all Chinese imports, while Beijing has countered with additional 15% duties on US imports including chicken, pork, soy and beef, as well as expanded controls on doing business with key US companies.
It comes as Trump once again put a central part of his trade war on pause, temporarily exempting from tariffs Mexican and Canadian goods covered by the continental free trade agreement he negotiated in his first term.
However, the president said he was still ready to impose “reciprocal” tariffs on both Canada and Mexico next month.
In other news:
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Trump told his cabinet secretaries that they are in charge of hiring and firings at their agencies, not Elon Musk.
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The House has voted to censure Democratic congressman Al Green for disrupting Trump’s address to this week’s joint session of Congress. The motion was approved with 224 votes in favor and 198 opposed, with 10 Democrats in support.
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In an escalation of his pressure campaign, Trump said the US will not fight for Nato allies who don’t spend enough on their own defense.
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US district judge Beryl Howell ruled on Thursday that Donald Trump’s firing of a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board was illegal and ordered that she be reinstated to her post.
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Axios reports that the state department is hunting for evidence that foreign students who express support for Palestinians under Israeli occupation while studying in the US are “pro-Hamas”, and can have their visas revoked, based on an AI review of their social media accounts.
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Trump thanked a reporter for the partisan outlet Breitbart for asking him a friendly question in the Oval Office, which teed him up to attack Democrats. The White House excluded non-partisan reporters from Reuters and the Associated Press to make room for Breitbart and One America News, two pro-Trump outlets.
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Trump signed an executive order on Thursday evening to establish a “strategic bitcoin reserve”, a day before meeting with executives from the cryptocurrency industry at the White House.
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The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who reportedly endured a profanity-laced tirade from Trump, was asked about his foreign minister’s comment that dealing with the US was now “a psychodrama”. “How would you characterize it?” a reporter asked. “Thursday”, Trudeau replied.
