Mexico won’t have to pay tariffs on USMCA goods until 2 April, Trump says
President Donald Trump has announced that after speaking with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum he has agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay tariffs on anything that falls under the US-Mexico-Canada-Agreement until 2 April.
His post reads:
After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement. This Agreement is until April 2nd. I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl. Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!
Key events
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has taken to social media to criticise DOGE, after she met with some USAid employees in her state of Alaksa.
“This week, I met with some Alaskan USAID employees” the Senator wrote. “They not only informed me of the confusing and callous handling of personnel matters by OPM and DOGE, but they also painted an incredibly troubling picture of what the world looks like without humanitarian assistance from the United States.”
“Although I support measures to find inefficiencies within the agency, USAID’s mission to keep people healthy and safe in even the most remote corners of the world should not be eliminated” she added.
Judge extends block barring Trump administration from freezing grants and loans
Marina Dunbar
A federal judge extended a block barring the Trump administration from freezing grants and loans, potentially totaling trillions of dollars.
On Thursday, US District Court Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island indefinitely prohibited the federal government from freezing or otherwise impeding the disbursement of appropriated federal funds to state governments.
The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed by nearly two dozen Democratic states following the Trump administration’s plan for a sweeping pause on federal spending caused great concern across the US.
McConnell said in his ruling that the executive branch was trying to put itself above Congress and by doing so “undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government.”
Mexico won’t have to pay tariffs on USMCA goods until 2 April, Trump says
President Donald Trump has announced that after speaking with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum he has agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay tariffs on anything that falls under the US-Mexico-Canada-Agreement until 2 April.
His post reads:
After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement. This Agreement is until April 2nd. I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl. Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said today that one-month exemptions from tariffs are likely for more than just carmakers.
In an interview with CNBC this morning, Lutnick said that all goods and services compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA) will likely be exempt from Donald Trump’s tariffs for one month, similar to the one-month exemption given to carmakers on Wednesday.
“It’s likely that it will cover all USMCA compliant goods and services, so that which is part of President Trump’s deal with Canada and Mexico are likely to get an exemption from these tariffs” Lutnick said. “The reprieve is for one month.”
On Wednesday, the Trump administration temporarily spared carmakers from sweeping US tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico.
White House denies Trump executive order concerns education department
Donald Trump is set to sign unspecified executive orders at 2pm ET today, and reports have emerged that one will order the closing of the department of education.
But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says that is not the case. On X, she referred to the Wall Street Journal’s reporting on the matter, and said:
More Fake News! President Trump is NOT signing an Executive Order on the Department of Education today.
That said, all signs point to the education department being in the Trump administration’s crosshairs:
In social media posts, Democratic congressman Al Green has kept up the defiant tone he exhibited at Donald Trump’s joint session on Congress on Tuesday.
Writing on X after the speech he was booted out of, Green said:
Last night I stood up for those who need Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. Democrats will never abandon the fight to make sure every American has a safe, healthy, and financially secure life. #ISaidWhatISaid
And as it became clear the House was ready to censure him, he wrote:
During the 10:00 hour ET, Congressman Al Green will be censured this morning for standing up to President Trump.
A censure is the House’s formal mechanism to express its disapproval of a member’s conduct, and was once a rare occurence.
But lately it has become more common. In 2021, the Democratic-led chamber voted to censure rightwing Republican Paul Gosar for sharing videos of violence directed at Joe Biden and progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. That was the first censure in 11 years, but when the GOP took back the majority in 2023, they censured three Democrats, for different reasons. Adam Schiff was targeted for his involvement in investigating allegations that Donald Trump’s campaign had colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, Jamaal Bowman got it for pulling a fire alarm and Rashia Tlaib was reprimanded for criticizing Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
In retrospect, 2023 was a particularly rancorous year for the House, with fabulist George Santos booted out of his seat and Kevin McCarthy axed as the chamber’s speaker, the first time that has ever happened. Last year was more quiet, at least on the censure front, but as we now see with Al Green, the peace was not to last.
House censures Democratic congressman Al Green for disrupting Trump’s speech
The House has voted to censure Democratic congressman Al Green for disrupting Donald Trump’s joint session of Congress.
The motion was approved with 224 votes in favor and 198 opposed, with 10 Democrats crossing party lines to support reprimanding their colleague for shouting at Trump as he delivered the first speech to Congress of his new term.
After the vote, Green and allied lawmakers gathered in the well of the House, and appeared to chant and sing in his support.
White House denies plans to revoke deportation protections for Ukrainians
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has denied Reuters’s report that the Trump administration plans to end a program that protected Ukrainians who fled Russia’s invasion from deportation.
“This is more fake news from Reuters based on anonymous sources who have no idea what they are talking about,” Leavitt said on X. “The truth: no decision has been made at this time.”
House to vote on censuring Democrat Al Green for disrupting Trump’s speech
The House of Representatives will today vote on censuring Democratic congressman Al Green for disrupting Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson ordered Green removed from the chamber after he repeatedly yelled at the president.
The censure motion appears to have the votes to pass. Yesterday, the House narrowly voted to reject an attempt by Democrats to prevent its consideration.
Responding to reports that Donald Trump plans to order the education department closed, Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren said such a directive was probably illegal.
“I don’t think he has the legal authority to do this,” Warren said at an event hosted by Semafor. “Many of these programs at the Department of Education are about student loans. They’re about help for children with disabilities, that are all funneled through the department of education. Congress created those, and Congress funded them, and the president of the United States does not have a magic wand to wave over it and make them go away. So there’ll be litigation in the courts over much of this to protect the rights of Congress.”
Trump administration plans to revoke deportation protections for Ukrainians fleeing war – report
Donald Trump is planning to revoke deportation protections for Ukrainians who fled to the United States after Russia’s invasion, Reuters reports, citing a senior Trump official and three sources familiar with the matter.
The move, expected as soon as next month, comes as his administration moves to end programs implemented under Joe Biden that protected a range of nationalities from deportation. Here’s more on the decision, from Reuters:
The planned rollback of protections for Ukrainians was underway before Trump publicly feuded with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week. It is part of a broader Trump administration effort to strip legal status from more than 1.8 million migrants allowed to enter the U.S. under temporary humanitarian parole programs launched under the Biden administration, the sources said.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the department had no announcements at this time. The White House and Ukrainian embassy did not respond to requests for comment.
A Trump executive order issued on January 20 called for DHS to “terminate all categorical parole programs.”
The administration plans to revoke parole for about 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans as soon as this month, the Trump official and one of the sources familiar with the matter said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The plan to revoke parole for those nationalities was first reported, opens new tab by CBS News.
Migrants stripped of their parole status could face fast-track deportation proceedings, according to an internal ICE email seen by Reuters.
Immigrants who cross the border illegally can be put into the fast-track deportation process known as expedited removal, for two years after they enter. But for those who entered through legal ports of entry without being officially “admitted” to the U.S. – as with those on parole – there is no time limit on their rapid removal, the email said.
Judge to hear arguments over USAid funding after supreme court ruling
The battle over USAid will continue in federal court today, as a judge weighs a request to unfreeze future funding for the agency that Donald Trump wants to dismantle, Reuters reports.
The hearing before judge Amir Ali comes after the supreme court yesterday rejected a request by the Trump administration to stop his order that USAid pay $1.5b in contracts to its partners. Reuters reports that Ali has ordered the government to detail how they will comply with his ruling in light of the supreme court decision. Here’s more, from Reuters:
Despite the Supreme Court’s action, the future of the funding remains unclear. The administration said last week it has made final decisions to terminate more than 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts and more than $58 billion in overall U.S. assistance worldwide, meaning that in its view the original freeze that Ali had blocked was no longer in effect.
The Supreme Court’s ruling acknowledged that the administration said it was unable to comply with Ali’s deadline and asked the judge to clarify what the government must do with “due regard for the feasibility of any compliance timelines.” Ali asked both sides to submit a report on the government’s compliance with his order in advance of Thursday’s hearing.
The plaintiffs have accused Trump of exceeding his authority under federal law and the U.S. Constitution by effectively dismantling an independent federal agency and canceling spending authorized by Congress.
They also have said the administration did not conduct a genuine review before canceling contracts. They are asking Ali, who was appointed by the Republican president’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, for an order called a preliminary injunction directing the administration to restore funding while their lawsuit proceeds.
