US pushes to remove references to sanctions and Russia’s war in Ukraine from a Canadian draft statement
The US has rejected a Canadian proposal to establish a task force that would tackle Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of oil tankers, according to reports last night.
Canada, which has the current Group of Seven presidency, proposed the measure ahead of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Quebec later this week.
Continue reading...Nominee for undersecretary for defense policy says Aukus deal to deliver Virginia class submarines could leave US sailors ‘vulnerable’
One of Donald Trump’s top picks for the Pentagon says selling submarines to Australia under the Aukus agreement poses a “very difficult problem” for the US and could endanger its own sailors.
Elbridge Colby, Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy – the number three post at the US Department of Defense – has previously admitted he is “skeptical” about Aukus and said this week he is worried selling submarines to Australia could leave US sailors “vulnerable” because the vessels won’t be “in the right place in the right time”.
Continue reading...Ayatollah Khamenei says US demand to reopen talks on Iran’s nuclear programme is aimed at domination
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has criticised what he described as bullying tactics a day after Donald Trump threatened military action against Iran.
“Some bully governments – I really don’t know of any more appropriate term for some foreign figures and leaders than the word bullying – insist on negotiations,” Khamenei told officials after Trump threatened military action if Iran refused to engage in talks over its nuclear programme.
Continue reading...‘Coercive’ tariffs and federal funding cuts could worsen flow of illicit drugs into US, ex-government officials warn
Donald Trump’s policies could leave the US more vulnerable to dangerous synthetic drug trafficking from abroad, even as the administration has vowed to stop fentanyl from entering the country, former government officials say.
This week, Trump imposed tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, ostensibly as a tactic to stem the flow of illicit drugs into the US.
Continue reading...Supreme court justice who frequently votes alongside conservative colleagues branded ‘DEI judge’
Amy Coney Barrett, the Donald Trump-appointed conservative supreme court justice, has been branded a “DEI judge” by furious rightwing figures, after she voted to reject Trump’s attempt to freeze nearly $2bn in foreign aid.
Coney Barrett, part of the court’s rightwing majority, split with her fellow conservative justices this week. She and John Roberts, the chief justice, voted to leave in place a ruling from a US district judge that ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze the nearly $2bn in aid for foreign aid work that had already been performed, and that had been approved by Congress.
Continue reading...Latest attacks came hours after Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin was ‘doing what anybody would do’
Russia launched a devastating attack on Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more, hours after Donald Trump defended Vladimir Putin and said the Kremlin leader was “doing what anybody would do”.
Two ballistic missiles hit the centre of Dobropillia in the eastern Donetsk region. Fire engulfed a five-storey apartment building. As emergency services arrived, Russia launched another strike on the same area. Eleven civilians were killed, with five children among the 30 injured.
Continue reading...After the US president’s vow to take over the Arctic island, pro-independent voices are growing louder but some want to work with Washington
When it comes to the issues on the table – schools, healthcare, independence – Tuesday’s election is “not that exceptional”, says Greenlandic politician Aaja Chemnitz Larsen. And yet, it will potentially be the most consequential in the Arctic island’s history.
What makes this general election unlike any other, says the Inuit Ataqatigiit member of the Danish parliament, is the global spotlight on it. “What we’re seeing is influence from the US, Denmark and other places. It is not the same as other elections.”
Continue reading...Former UK defence secretary suggests Ukraine can still win the war if it continues holding off Russian forces
Ben Wallace, the former UK defence secretary, has said Donald Trump’s decision to suspend US intelligence sharing with Kyiv is “suffocating” Ukrainian hope of holding out against Russian aggression.
Last Friday, the US president, along with the vice-president, JD Vance, berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in full view of the media, telling the Ukrainian president that he was “gambling with world war three” and to come back to the White House “when he is ready for peace”.
Continue reading...Nationalist parties have tended to praise the US president’s politics, but many voters dislike his treatment of Ukraine
Europe’s rightwing populist parties are split over how far to distance themselves from Donald Trump’s pressure on Ukraine, with some fearing unflinching solidarity with the US president’s brand of nationalism will damage their efforts to widen their domestic support.
Broadly, unease over Trump’s treatment of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the ominous encroach of authoritarianism by the new US administration, is strongest among the populist parties in western Europe and some Nordic countries.
Continue reading...Move comes even as Trump has tried to show that Musk’s cost-slashing agency doesn’t have the final say
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued new guidance directing that spending items greater than $50,000 now require approval from Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), even as Donald Trump began putting some distance between Musk’s reach and the power of government department heads – at least over job cuts.
“Any assistance agreement, contract or interagency agreement transaction [valued at] $50,000 or greater must receive approval from an EPA DOGE team member,” the EPA guidance says, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press. The EPA did not respond to a request from the news agency on Friday for comment.
Continue reading...First step by president to open discussions comes as Iranian government locked in dispute over negotiating with US
Donald Trump has said he wants to negotiate a new deal with Iran to prevent its development of nuclear weapons and sent a letter to its leaders saying he hoped they would open talks.
It is the first practical step taken by the US president to see if new negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme are possible.
Continue reading...Wang Yi hits out at 20% levy on Chinese goods and warns ‘law of the jungle’ could emerge from Donald Trump’s policy
China’s foreign minister has accused the US of “two-faced” behaviour, condemning the imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods and warning against the “law of the jungle” that could emerge from Donald Trump’s “America First” policy.
Speaking at the sidelines of China’s annual parliamentary gathering, Wang Yi said China would “firmly counter” US pressure. “No country should think that it can suppress China and maintain good relations,” he added.
Continue reading...State department launches AI-assisted reviews of accounts to look for what it perceives as Hamas supporters
The US state department will use artificial intelligence to revoke visas of foreign students who it perceives as supporters of Hamas, Axios reported on Thursday, citing senior state department officials.
Donald Trump signed an executive order in January to combat antisemitism and has pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests that have been ongoing for months amid Israel’s military assault on Gaza after Hamas’s October 2023 attack.
Continue reading...US president paused tariffs on Mexican products covered by USMCA and later stayed tariffs on many Canadian imports
Donald Trump pulled back from his trade war with Canada and Mexico on Thursday, temporarily delaying tariffs on many goods from the two countries once again.
Two days after imposing sweeping tariffs on all imports from his country’s closest trading partners, the US president announced that duties on a wide range of products would be shelved until April.
Continue reading...Treasury secretary Scott Bessent defends the new administration’s aggressive trade strategy
Buying cheap products is “not the essence of the American dream”, Donald Trump’s top economic official has declared, amid warnings that the US president’s trade wars risk increasing prices.
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, defended the new administration’s aggressive trade strategy on Thursday, two days after it imposed sweeping tariffs on Canada and Mexico and hiked duties on China.
Continue reading...Head-spinning speed of events leaves EU adapting at pace while trying to infer Trump’s possible geo-strategic aims
With a mixture of regret, laced with incredulity, European leaders gathered in Brussels to marshal their forces for a power struggle not with Russia, but with the US.
Even now, of course at the 11th hour, most of Europe hopes this coming battle of wills can be averted and the Trump administration can still be persuaded that forcing Ukraine to the negotiating table, disarmed and blinded, will not be the US’s long-term strategic interest.
Continue reading...Move to expand landfill for US hazardous waste stirs disputes between leaders in Quebec and Montreal suburb
The proposed expansion of a Quebec landfill that accepts hazardous waste from the United States has ignited a turf war between the Quebec provincial government and local leaders, who say they oppose putting US trash into a local peat bog.
Local leaders are protesting the move – saying the state is capitulating to a US company in the midst of a tariff war between Canada and the United States.
Continue reading...The multi-billion dollar deal was heralded as ensuring the security of the Indo-Pacific. But with America an increasingly unreliable ally, doubts are rising above the waves
Maybe Australia’s boats just never turn up.
To fanfare and flags, the Aukus deal was presented as a sure bet, papering over an uncertainty that such an ambitious deal could ever be delivered.
Continue reading...Remake of 2000 Molson beer ad has the same message as Trump threatens tariffs: Canada will not cower to the US
For the second time in 25 years, a lone figure takes to the stage, an oversized maple leaf flag rippling on a screen behind him as he approaches the microphone.
His hair is perhaps a little greyer but the message remains the same: Canada will not cower to the United States.
Continue reading...Wolf warrior-style comments mark China’s strongest rhetoric on US president Donald Trump since he entered the White House
China’s ministry of foreign affairs has promised that China will “fight to the end” with the US in a “tariff war, trade war or any other war”, marking China’s strongest rhetoric on US president Donald Trump since he entered the White House.
On Tuesday, in response to Trump imposing an extra 10% tariff on Chinese goods, taking the cumulative duty to 20%, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said: “Exerting extreme pressure on China is the wrong target and the wrong calculation … If the US has other intentions and insists on a tariff war, trade war or any other war, China will fight to the end. We advise the US to put away its bullying face and return to the right track of dialogue and cooperation as soon as possible.”
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