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Donald Trump shut the door on the possibility of a last-minute reprieve for Canada and Mexico from the tariffs he plans to impose, saying he will allow the duties to go into effect at midnight.
“No room left for Mexico or for Canada,” the president told reporters at the White House. “The tariffs, you know, they’re all set. They go into effect tomorrow.”
Trump has ordered 25% import duties on all products from Canada and Mexico beginning tomorrow, along with an increase in tariffs on Chinese products to 20%. By way of explanation for the duties that will disrupt trading with America’s biggest partners, Trump said, “vast amounts of fentanyl have poured in.”
Donald Trump says Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC will invest $165bn to build new factories in the United States, and create an estimated thousands of new jobs.
The investments continue a drive that began under Joe Biden to ramp up domestic production of the chips that are crucial to modern electronics.
“The most powerful AI chips in the world will be made right here in America, and it’ll be a big percentage of the chips made by his company,” Trump announced at the White House, saying TSMC would build five “cutting-edge” facilities in Arizona that would employ thousands.
“In total, today’s announcement brings Taiwan semiconductor investments to about $165bn. They’ve started already, among the largest new foreign direct investments in the United States,” the president added.
Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick argued that the Trump administration was more effective than Biden’s in attracting semiconductor investment because of its use of tariffs.
“Under the Biden administration, TSMC received a $6bn grant, and that encouraged them to build $65bn. So, America gave TSMC 10% of the money to build here,” Lutnick said.
“And now you’re seeing the power of Donald Trump’s presidency, because TSMC, the greatest manufacturer of chips in the world, is coming to America with $100bn investment. And of course, that is backed by the fact that they can come here because they can avoid paying tariffs.”
The White House is planning to ease sanctions on Russia, despite not yet reaching its desired agreement to end the war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Such a move by the Trump administration would reverse the aggressive stance Joe Biden took against Moscow after it invaded its neighbor in 2022. Reuters reports that it is unclear what Donald Trump wants in return for easing the sanctions, though the move is still being planned. Here’s more:
The White House has asked the State and Treasury departments to draft a list of sanctions that could be eased for U.S. officials to discuss with Russian representatives in the coming days as part of the administration’s broad talks with Moscow on improving diplomatic and economic relations, the sources said.
The sanctions offices are now drawing up a proposal for lifting sanctions on select entities and individuals, including some Russian oligarchs, according to the sources.
So-called options papers are often drafted by officials working on sanctions, but the White House’s specific request for one in recent days underscores Trump and his advisers’ willingness to ease Russian sanctions as part of a potential deal with Moscow.
It was not immediately clear what Washington could specifically seek in return for any sanctions relief.
Donald Trump’s cozying up to Russia and skepticism of Ukraine’s cause may not be that popular with Americans, a new poll finds. Here’s more, from the Guardian’s Edward Helmore:
A US poll taken before the diplomatic meltdown in the Oval Office on Friday between Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy found that only 4% surveyed Americans are backing Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine – but a large minority of 44% said they do not support the invaded country either.
The CBS News/YouGov poll, conducted over three days beginning on 26 February, also found that a relatively slim majority – 52% – said they “personally support” Ukraine.
Support for Russia was highest among Republicans – whose party is led by Trump – at 7%. A 56% majority of those Republican said they didn’t have a preference between the two, and 37% supported Ukraine.
The polling found that – overall – 11% believed Trump’s actions and statements have favored Ukraine, and 46% said Russia.
Asked if they approved or disapproved ofthe way Trump was handling the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, 51% approved and 49% said they didn’t. The same percentages supported or opposed military aid to Ukraine.
Slim majority of Americans support Ukraine, poll finds
Donald Trump has not yet made up his mind on whether to allow new tariffs on Canada and Mexico as well as an increase in levies on China to go into effect at midnight, Canada’s CBC reports.
The US president announced tariffs on its two biggest trading partners last month, before imposing a one-month reprieve that ends at 11.59pm today. He could take action to further delay those levies, as well as an increase in duties on Chinese imports to 20%, but a White House official told CBC he has not done so, and the tariffs will go into effect without his action.
Donald Trump announced that his administration will level tariffs on “external” agricultural products beginning on 2 April. Writing on Truth Social, the president said:
To the Great Farmers of the United States: Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States. Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!
It’s unclear if the message is an announcement of a new tariff proposal, or simply a restatement of his promise to impose “reciprocal” levies equal to what countries who trade with the United States have put on American goods. Here’s more on that:
Donald Trump is expected to announce shortly that the Taiwanese chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) plans to invest $100bn in the US.
TSMC, the world’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer, produces chips for companies including Apple, Intel and Nvidia.
Trump is expected to make the announcement at 1.30pm ET in the Roosevelt Room.
Oliver Holmes
The UN human rights chief has warned of a “fundamental shift” in the US and sounded the alarm over the growing power of “unelected tech oligarchs”.
In a stinging rebuke of Washington weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency, Volker Türk said there had been bipartisan support for human rights in the US for decades but said he was “now deeply worried by the fundamental shift in direction that is taking place domestically and internationally”.
Without referring to Trump by name, Türk, an Austrian lawyer who heads the UN’s rights body, criticised the Republican president’s measures to overturn longstanding equity and anti-discrimination policies, as well as repeated threats against the media and politicians.
“In a paradoxical mirror image, policies intended to protect people from discrimination are now labelled as discriminatory. Progress is being rolled back on gender equality,” Türk said in comments to the UN human rights council in Geneva.
“Disinformation, intimidation and threats, notably against journalists and public officials, risk undermining the work of independent media and the functioning of institutions,” he added. “Divisive rhetoric is being used to distort, deceive and polarise. This is generating fear and anxiety among many.”
UN human rights chief ‘deeply worried by fundamental shift’ in US
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued a statement saying that Kyiv “very much hopes[s] on US support on the path to peace”.
“We continue our work with partners. We have already had talks and other steps to come soon,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
It is very important that we try to make our diplomacy really substantive to end this war the soonest possible.
We need real peace and Ukrainians want it most because the war ruins our cities and towns. We lose our people. We need to stop the war and to guarantee security.
We are working together with America and our European partners and very much hope on US support on the path to peace. Peace is needed as soon as possible.
Here’s more from commerce secretary Howard Lutnick’s CNN interview earlier today, during which he said Donald Trump does not want Volodymyr Zelenskyy to step down as Ukraine’s president.
No, he’s not weighing into Ukrainian politics,” Lutnick replied when asked if Trump wants Zelenskyy to resign.
“What he wants is to be a peace maker,” he added.
Trump is going to “consider what to do and how to respond”, he said, adding:
[He] is going to figure out what are the tools that he can use on Russia, and what are the tools that he can use on Ukraine, to get them to the table.
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