Mexican president claims ‘no potential tariff war’ with US after call with Trump

Sheinbaum says she had cooperative talks with president-elect who threatened 25% tariff against Mexico on Tuesday

Claudia Sheinbaum has said her “very kind” phone conversation with Donald Trump, in which they discussed immigration and fentanyl, means “there will not be a potential tariff war” between the US and Mexico.

The president of Mexico spoke to reporters on Thursday following Trump’s threat earlier in the week to apply a 25% tariff against Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% tariff against China, when he takes office in January if the countries did not stop all illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling into the US.

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Trump’s Ukraine envoy pick proposed forcing peace talks by withdrawing US weapons

In a co-authored document presented to Trump in April, Keith Kellogg also said US should give Ukraine more weapons if Russia doesn’t join negotiations

Donald Trump’s plan to tap the retired US lieutenant general Keith Kellogg as US envoy to Ukraine and Russia has triggered renewed interest in a policy document he co-authored that proposes ending the war by withdrawing weapons from Ukraine if it doesn’t enter peace talks – and giving even more weapons to Ukraine if Russia doesn’t do the same.

Trump is said to have responded favorably to the plan – America First, Russia & Ukraine – which was presented to him in April and was written by Kellogg and the former CIA analyst Fred Fleitz, who both served as chiefs of staff in Trump’s national security council from 2017 to 2021.

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Mark Zuckerberg dines with Trump at Mar-a-Lago despite former feud

Meta CEO reportedly wants to support president-elect after previously banning him from Instagram and Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg has become the latest former Donald Trump critic to make his way Mar-a-Lago to break bread with the incoming US president.

The tech mogul had banned Trump from the social media sites Instagram and Facebook, which he owns, following the January 6 riot that the president-elect egged on in an attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 election.

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Elon Musk calls to ‘delete’ US finance consumer watchdog agency

Tech billionaire tapped by Trump posts on X about wanting to eliminate Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

Elon Musk has said he wants to “delete” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal watchdog that helps protect consumers from predatory financial practices.

The tech billionaire, who has been tapped to run a “Department of Government Efficiency” in the incoming Donald Trump administration, posted “Delete CFPB” on X, the social media site he owns. He added a declaration that the agency, which employs 1,700 people and has an annual budget of close to $700m, is an example of “too many duplicative regulatory agencies” in Washington.

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Trump victory not a mandate for radical change, top election forecaster says

US expert who predicted outcome says models showed voters were unhappy with economy but did not seek sweeping transformation

Despite Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the presidential election, a political scientist who developed a model that correctly predicted his sweep of battleground states warns that voters have not necessarily given the president-elect a mandate to make radical changes.

In a paper released with little fanfare three weeks before the vote, Cornell University professor of government Peter Enns and his co-authors accurately forecast that Trump would win all seven swing states, based on a model they built that uses state-level presidential approval ratings and indicators of economic health.

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Trump Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth’s books foreground anti-Muslim rhetoric

Hegseth’s conspiracy theory- and falsehood-laden book American Crusade depicts Islam as historic enemy of west

Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth, who has the crusader motto “deus vult” tattooed on his arm, has put bigoted anti-Muslim rhetoric at the center of several of his published books, according to a Guardian review of the materials.

Hegseth, especially in 2020’s American Crusade, depicts Islam as a natural, historic enemy of the west; presents distorted versions of Muslim doctrine in “great replacement”-style racist conspiracy theories; treats leftists and Muslims as bound together in their efforts to subvert the US; and idolises medieval crusaders.

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Canada leaders agree to unite against Trump tariff threat amid reports of retaliatory measures

Deputy PM says ‘we need to be smart, strong and united’ after meeting on threat by US president-elect of a blanket 25% tax on imports from Canada

Canada’s federal government and the premiers of the 10 provinces have agreed to work together against a threat by US president-elect Donald Trump to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports, with one official saying the country was already examining possible retaliatory measures.

“We agreed that we need to be smart, strong and united in meeting this challenge,” deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters on Wednesday after a virtual meeting with the premiers called by the prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

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Democrats win California House seat from Republican incumbent – as it happened

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Leavitt wrote that the threats transpired Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and included bomb threats and swatting, which refers to false reports of a crime to prompt police raids on a person’s home.

Law enforcement “acted quickly,” wrote Leavitt, adding that “President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”

Leavitt did not say who specifically was targeted.

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Republican senator introduces bill to abolish US Department of Education

Mike Rounds submitted bill that needs supermajority to pass, unlikely even in GOP-controlled Senate next year

A bill that would accomplish Donald Trump’s goal of abolishing the federal Department of Education has been introduced into the US Senate.

The Republican senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota introduced the bill, called the Returning Education to Our States Act, on Thursday. If passed, the bill would see $200bn in funding and the work of the education department redistributed to other federal agencies and states.

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Trump picks Keith Kellogg to serve as special envoy to Ukraine and Russia

Retired US army general and former Pence aide tapped for newly conceived role to negotiate amid ongoing war

Donald Trump has picked Keith Kellogg to serve as a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, a newly conceived role given the ongoing war between the two countries.

Kellogg, an 80-year-old retired US army lieutenant general, would start in the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its third year.

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Democrats criticize Harris for ‘self-congratulatory’ review of election loss

Top campaign staff also under fire for saying party has to ‘dominate the moderate’ in Pod Save America appearance

Some Democratic figures have accused Kamala Harris’s campaign of being self-congratulatory after a series of recent public appearances from the candidate and her senior staff in which they declined to admit making any errors that could have contributed to her defeat.

Some of the criticism was aimed at Harris herself, following a video call to thank campaign donors in which the vice-president expressed pride in her failed race for the White House.

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Biden administration claims win with Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire – but will it hold?

Peace is shaky at best, as Israel will still strike targets in Lebanon and a power transition looms in the US

The Biden administration has claimed the long-awaited ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel as a diplomatic triumph achieved under tremendous pressure during a lame-duck period with a hostile Donald Trump administration waiting in the wings.

Speaking from a lectern in the Rose Garden of the White House, Joe Biden called the result “historic” and said that it “reminds us that peace is possible”. It would return civilians to their homes, he said, and had “determined this conflict will not be just another cycle of violence”.

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Trump pick for US health agency proposed ‘herd immunity’ during Covid

Picking Jay Bhattacharya to lead NIH signals return to controversial and scientifically questionable health policies

Jay Bhattacharya, an unofficial Covid adviser in Trump’s first administration, has been selected as the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of the leading biomedical research institutions in the world.

The choice of Bhattacharya, a Stanford economist whose proposal for widespread Covid-19 infection was backed by the White House, signals a return to controversial and scientifically questionable health policies in the second Trump administration, experts say.

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Trump announces more picks including US trade chief and health deputy

Attorney Jamieson Greer to play key role in trade team and investor Jim O’Neill picked to be RFK Jr’s health deputy

Donald Trump announced his selections for a series of positions in his administration Tuesday evening. The posts include the president-elect’s picks for deputy secretary of health and human services, US trade representative and head of the national economic council, among others.

Jamieson Greer, an attorney who served under Trump’s previous trade representative Robert Lighthizer, will serve as US trade representative. In his announcement, Trump said: “Jamieson played a key role during my First Term in imposing Tariffs on China and others to combat unfair Trade practices, and replacing the failed NAFTA deal with USMCA, therefore making it much better for American Workers.”

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Trump’s incoming ‘border czar’ promises secure southern US border – as it happened

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Donald Trump has used the fentanyl crisis gripping the US to support his ambition to impose trade tariffs on China. It gives the incoming US president an opportunity to both appear to be addressing the narcotics emergency, while also reinforcing one of his key aims in terms of US trade.

China is the dominant source of chemical precursors used by Mexican cartels to produce fentanyl, while Chinese money launderers have also become key players in the international drug trade, US authorities say.

Trump has said that, as soon as he gets into office, he will impose a 25% tariff on “ALL products coming into the United States” from Mexico and Canada.

He says the tariffs will remain in place until both countries clamp down on migrants and drugs crossing the border into the US.

Trump also says he will impose a further 10% tariff “above any additional tariffs” on all products coming into the US from China.

It was not entirely clear what this would mean for China as Trump has previously pledged to end China’s most-favoured-nation trading status and slap tariffs on Chinese imports in excess of 60% - much higher than those imposed during his first term.

The reasons for the China tariff, Trump said, was their failure to curb the supply of drugs into the US. China is a major producer of the chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl.

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Trudeau calls emergency meeting over Trump’s Canada tariff threat

US president-elect posted on social media about plan to impose 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada over immigration

Justin Trudeau has called an emergency meeting with provincial premiers across Canada after the US president-elect, Donald Trump, threatened a 25% tariff on the United States’ northern neighbour.

Trump posted on social media that he would “sign all necessary documents” to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff on all goods products coming into the United States, adding the levy would remain in place until “such time as drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country!”

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Trump’s tariff threat sets stage for bitter global trade war

Trade experts hail ‘new era of protectionism’ with targeted countries retaliating with their own tariffs

Donald Trump’s threat to impose steep tariffs on goods imported into the US has set the stage for a bitter global trade war, according to trade experts and economists, with consumers and companies warned to brace for steep costs.

The president-elect announced on Monday night that he intends to hit Canada, Mexico and China with tariffs on all their exports to the US – until they reduce migration and the flow of drugs into the country.

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Trump vows 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada and deeper tariffs on China

President-elect attacks neighbors over immigration and accuses China over fentanyl entering US

Donald Trump has said that he will sign an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on all products coming in to the United States from Mexico and Canada, and additional tariffs on China, once he becomes US president again.

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

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China and Canada respond to Trump’s tariff threats and border comments – as it happened

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Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to Donald Trump, has said that he and the president-elect have “no concerns at all” regarding Pete Hegseth’s confirmation by the Senate as the next US secretary of defense.

During an appearance on NewsMax, Lewandowski was asked if Trump had any concerns about Hegseth and his nomination, to which Lewandowski responded: “We have no concerns at all.”

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Biden will attend Trump’s inauguration in January, says White House

US president and Jill Biden to attend swearing-in of Trump, who did not attend Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, a White House spokesperson said on Monday.

“The president promised that he would attend the inauguration of whomever won the election,” said Andrew Bates, senior deputy press secretary at the White House, Reuters reported.

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