Category Archives: US foreign policy

Donald Trump: Iran will be held responsible for Houthi attacks

Posted on by

US president says consequences of any future attacks by Yemen’s Tehran-backed rebels will be ‘dire’

The US president, Donald Trump, has declared he will hold Iran directly responsible for any future attacks by Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi rebels, who have targeted US and other foreign ships in the Red Sea.

“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Monday.

Continue reading...

Judge orders Trump officials to explain if they defied court order by deporting migrants – live

Posted on by

James Boasberg sets 4pm ET hearing as rights groups say Trump deportation of Venezuelans could be ‘blatant violation’ of court order

The justice department says that Rasha Alawieh, a kidney specialist working in Rhode Island who was deported to Lebanon despite having a US visa, had “sympathetic” photos and videos of Hezbollah leaders on her phone, according to Politico.

Alawieh’s deportation raised concerns because a judge had required 48 hours’ notice before being sent out of the country, and because she was detained despite having a valid visa and a job in the United States. Her lawyers have alleged that Customs and Border Protection ignored that order, and Massachusetts federal judge Leo Sorokin is expected to consider the matter this morning.

Continue reading...

Trump administration pulls US out of body investigating Ukraine invasion

Posted on by

Russia and allies were target of International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine

The Trump administration is withdrawing from an international body formed to investigate responsibility for the invasion of Ukraine in the latest sign that the White House is adopting a posture favouring Vladimir Putin.

The Department of Justice said it was pulling out of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) two years after the Biden administration joined it with a commitment to hold Putin, Russia’s president, to account for the 2022 invasion and subsequent crimes committed by Russian forces.

Continue reading...

Japan to deploy long-range missiles able to hit North Korea and China

Posted on by

Planned missiles on Kyushu said to be part of ‘counterstrike capabilities’, as fears grow over US security pact

Japan is planning to deploy long-range missiles on its southern island of Kyushu amid concerns around the Trump administration’s stance towards its security pacts and continuing regional tensions.

The missiles, with a range of about 1,000km, would be capable of hitting targets in North Korea and China’s coastal regions, and are due to be deployed next year in two bases with existing missile garrisons. They would bolster the defences of the strategically important Okinawa island chain and are part of Japan’s development of “counterstrike capabilities” in the event it is attacked, according to reports from Kyodo News agency, citing government sources.

Continue reading...

US says airstrikes against Houthis in Yemen will continue indefinitely

Posted on by

Strikes began on Saturday with the aim of punishing Iran-backed armed group for attacks on Red Sea shipping

US officials have said airstrikes launched against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis will continue indefinitely, after a first round on Saturday killed at least 31 people and injured up to 100 more.

The strikes, which aim to punish the Houthis for their attacks against Red Sea shipping, are Donald Trump’s first such use of US military might in the region since he took power in January.

Continue reading...

US official heading Ukraine peace plan has history of empathizing with Russia

Posted on by

Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy, has written op-eds and reports questioning Ukraine’s role in negotiations

A retired US general charged with helping sell the Trump administration’s Ukraine peace plan wrote a string of op-eds and reports for a rightwing thinktank in which he repeatedly questioned whether Ukraine had a legitimate part to play in peace negotiations.

Keith Kellogg also blamed the war on the machinations of a US “military-industrial complex” and “[Joe] Biden’s national security incompetence” rather than Russia’s 2022 invasion, which has been condemned across the globe and resulted in a war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

Continue reading...

Marco Rubio says South Africa’s ambassador to US is ‘no longer welcome’

Posted on by

US secretary of state accuses Ebrahim Rasool of being a ‘race-baiting politician who hates America’ and Donald Trump

The US is expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, with the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, accusing the envoy of hating the US and Donald Trump.

“South Africa’s ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country,” Rubio posted on X on Friday.

Continue reading...

Putin makes clear Russia will only play ball with Ukraine by his rules

Posted on by

While carefully avoiding an outright rejection of US ceasefire proposals, Moscow is playing for time

For once, the US president and European leaders were on the same page.

Grasping for a familiar metaphor, a chorus of western heads of state declared this week that “the ball was in Russia’s court” after Ukraine agreed in talks with the US on Tuesday to an immediate 30-day ceasefire.

Continue reading...

Trump orders ideas from Pentagon for ‘unfettered’ access to Panama canal, officials say

Posted on by

Document described as interim national security guidance calls on US military to create options

The Trump administration has called on the Pentagon to provide military options to ensure the country has full access to the Panama canal, two US officials told Reuters on Thursday.

Donald Trump has said repeatedly he wants to “take back” the Panama canal, which is located at the narrowest part of the isthmus between North and South America and is considered one of the world’s most strategically important waterways, but he has not offered specifics about how he would do so, or if military action might be required.

Continue reading...

Canadians who visit US for more than 30 days will be fingerprinted

Posted on by

New requirement hardens enforcement of existing law that hasn’t been applied consistently to Canadians entering the United States

Canadians who visit the US for more than 30 days will be required to register with authorities and have their fingerprints taken, as the Trump administration tightens migration rules amid soaring tensions between the North American neighbors.

The new requirement, effective from 11 April, will harden enforcement of an existing law, which states that all foreign nationals 14 years old or older who plan to stay in the US for 30 days or more must register with the authorities.

Continue reading...

Trump accuses Ireland of stealing US companies in meeting with taoiseach

Posted on by

US president claims Dublin ‘took’ pharma industry as he holds White House press conference with Micheál Martin

Donald Trump has accused Ireland of stealing the US pharmaceutical industry and the tax revenue that should have been paid to the US treasury, in a blow to the Irish premier, Micheál Martin, who had hoped to emerge unscathed from a visit to the White House marking St Patrick’s Day.

The US president showed grudging respect for Martin, alternately ribbing and complimenting him, while also launching several broadsides against the EU.

Continue reading...

Greenland votes for change but coalition talks will govern how it reacts to Trump | Miranda Bryant

Posted on by

The tone of relations with the US may depend on whether second-placed Naleraq ends up inside the government

It was an election that was fought on the global stage with sporadic commentary from Donald Trump. But in the end, it was domestic issues that drove Greenlanders to the polls to vote overwhelmingly for change.

Ever since his son, Donald Trump Jr, touched down in a Trump-branded plane at Nuuk’s new airport in January, the US president has made no secret of his renewed desire to gain control of the Arctic island, refusing to rule out economic or military force to do so.

Continue reading...

Greenland election: Democrat party wins surprise victory amid spectre of Trump

Posted on by

Opposition centre-right party gains most votes ahead of Naleraq party, with coalition talks expected to begin

Greenland has voted for a complete overhaul of its government in a shock result in which the centre-right Democrat party more than tripled its seats after a dramatic election campaign fought against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s threats to acquire the Arctic island.

Tuesday’s election, in which the Democrats replaced Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), the party of the former prime minister Múte B Egede, as the biggest party in the Inatsisartut, the Greenlandic parliament, also led to a doubling of seats for Naleraq – the party most open to US collaboration and which supports a snap vote on independence – making it the second-biggest party.

Continue reading...

What leverage does Trump have over Putin in Ukraine negotiations?

Posted on by

The Russian president remains unwavering in his demands, making wider sanctions and tariffs ineffective

Ukraine’s agreement to support a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in its war against Russia’s invasion has focused attention on what Moscow may or may not agree to, and what pressure can be brought to bear on Vladimir Putin by the Trump administration.

While the question has frequently been asked over the last few years as to what leverage Putin might have over Trump, the question here is what leverage Trump might have to persuade Putin.

Continue reading...

Art of a deal: how UK and France led dogged effort to repair US-Ukraine ties – for now

Posted on by

Over 11 days of breakneck diplomacy, Kyiv was convinced of need to pacify Trump, but reconciliation may be all too brief

The 11 days of whiplash-inducing talks British and French officials endured to repair shattered relations between Washington and Kyiv, and for the first time put Donald Trump’s trust in Vladimir Putin to the test, could go down as one of the great feats of diplomatic escapology.

The dogged fence-mending may yet unravel as hurdles remain, principally the outstanding question of Ukraine’s security guarantees, but for the first time, in the words of Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, the ball is in Russia’s court. Putin, by instinct cautious, has preferred watching from the sidelines, suppressing his delight as Trump denounced Volodymyr Zelenskyy to his face in the White House and wreaked subsequent vengeance by stopping all military aid and then pulling some US intelligence.

Continue reading...

Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ agenda could keep the world hooked on oil and gas

Posted on by

The US president is making energy deals with Japan and Ukraine, and in Africa has even touted resurrecting coal

Donald Trump’s repeated mantra of “drill, baby, drill” demands that more oil and gas be extracted in the United States, but the president has set his sights on an even broader goal: keeping the world hooked on planet-heating fossil fuels for as long as possible.

In deals being formulated with countries such as Japan and Ukraine, Trump is using US leverage in tariffs and military aid to bolster the flow of oil and gas around the world. In Africa, his administration has even touted the resurrection of coal, the dirtiest of all fossil fuels, to bring energy to the continent.

Continue reading...

Taoiseach must tread carefully amid tensions before Trump meeting

Posted on by

Defence, the Palestinians and Irish-American trade will all be on the agenda as Micheál Martin heads to Washington

St Patrick’s Day has long been one of the sacred moments of the Irish-American calendar with more than 200 years of parades in New York and a shamrock reception at the White House launched by Dwight Eisenhower in 1953 to cement political ties between the two nations.

But this year’s annual meeting between the taoiseach and the US president, a week early because of a congressional recess on 17 March, is laden with anxiety over the future of Ireland’s economy, which is heavily reliant on US multinationals Donald Trump wants to repatriate.

Continue reading...

Trump vows to take ‘hundreds of billions’ in tariffs as Australia’s hopes of getting exemption fades

Posted on by

Australia unlikely to escape US president’s global steel and aluminium tariffs despite intense lobbying to be carved out

Australia’s chances of escaping America’s global steel and aluminium tariffs appear all but extinguished, with the US president reconfirming his commitment to a comprehensive tariff regime he argues will be “the greatest thing we’ve ever done as a country”.

“We’re going to take in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, and we’re going to become so rich, you’re not going to know where to spend all that money,” Donald Trump told reporters on board Air Force One flying from Florida to Washington DC.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Canada’s designated PM Mark Carney meets Trudeau as Trump threat looms

Posted on by

Former central banker won landslide victory in Liberal party race as trade war with US hastens transfer of power

Canada’s incoming prime minister, Mark Carney, has met with Justin Trudeau as the pair discuss a transfer of power after the former central banker’s landslide victory at the Liberal party’s leadership race.

The meeting on Monday sets the stage for an imminent federal election and gives Canada a fresh leader to square off against the United States president, with the two countries locked in a bitter trade war provoked by Donald Trump.

Continue reading...

Ontario sets 25% surcharge on energy exports to US to counter Trump tariffs

Posted on by

Premier Doug Ford says province ‘won’t back down’ until US president retracts duties on Canada

The Canadian province of Ontario is imposing a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the states of New York, Michigan and Minnesota in protest against Donald Trump’s tariffs, the premier, Doug Ford, said on Monday.

“President Trump’s tariffs are a disaster for the US economy. They’re making life more expensive for American families and businesses,” Ford said in a statement.

Continue reading...