President Donald Trump will host Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza — perhaps permanently — as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis issued a major rebuke to the Trump administration’s mass deportation of migrants, warning the program to forcefully deport people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.”
Here's the latest:
Sen. Patty Murray and union leaders call for halt on the ‘assault’ on the federal workforce
Murray, a Washington state Democrat, and the union leaders said federal workers are suffering panic attacks and losing sleep due to the “staggering and unprecedented assault” by the Trump administration and the country will suffer without them.
“They’re worried about their jobs. They’re worried about their families. They’re also worried about their work and the communities they serve,” Helen Bottcher, a former Environmental Protection Agency employee and current union leader in Seattle said during a news conference hosted by Murray.
The people being targeted inspect meat, make sure baby formula is safe, protect consumers from fraud, provide veterans with health care, send weather forecasts to wildland firefighters and ensure the Hanford nuclear waste cleanup is done properly, Murray said.
“They deserve better than to be threatened, intimidated and pushed out the door by Elon Musk and Donald Trump,” Murray said. “But make no mistake, we actually need these people to stay in their jobs or things are going to start breaking.”
Trump says he’s sending treasury secretary to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
“This War MUST and WILL END SOON — Too much Death and Destruction,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social website.
Most recently, Ukraine has offered to strike a deal with Trump for continued U.S. military support in exchange for developing Ukraine’s mineral industry, which would be a valuable source of rare earth elements needed to develop technology products.
Trump has said Europe should repay the U.S. what Washington has spent helping Kyiv.
The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Canada’s 13 provincial and territorial Premiers will visit Washington to talk tariffs
It’s the first time all 13 have traveled together to the U.S.
The visit comes after Trump announced tariffs planned for Canada and Mexico that have since been suspended for a month — until March 1.
Doug Ford of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, and chair of the Council of the Federation, will lead the envoy for a series of meetings and events at the U.S. Capitol.
Ford recently said Canada will pause all retaliatory measures against the U.S. after news broke that the threat of tariffs has been put on hold for a month.
Trump wants Canada and Mexico, America’s two largest trading partners, to take steps to appease his concerns about border security and drug trafficking.
Lawsuit says Trump shutdown of USAID is stiffing businesses on hundreds of millions in unpaid bills
The administration’s abrupt funding freeze also is forcing mass layoffs by the U.S. suppliers and contractors for USAID, including 750 furloughs at one U.S. company alone, Washington-based Chemonics International, the lawsuit filed Tuesday charges.
Trump administration appointee Pete Marocco is defending the USAID shutdown, claiming without evidence that “noncompliance” and “insubordination” by USAID staffers made it necessary.
Israel orders more troops to Gaza as the ceasefire with Hamas falters
It comes after after Hamas said it would call off a scheduled hostage release this weekend.
An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered officials “to prepare for every scenario if Hamas doesn’t release our hostages this Saturday.” The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting, was not clear if Netanyahu’s order referred to all hostages, or the three scheduled for release on Saturday.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said Israel should cancel the entire ceasefire if all of the roughly 70 hostages aren’t freed by Saturday.
— Josef Federman
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wouldn’t commit to having US increase defense spending to 5% of GDP
That’s the level President Trump has said other NATO members should meet.
Speaking to reporters in Germany, Hegseth said he believes the U.S. should spend more than it did under the Biden administration and “should not go below 3%.”
He said any final decision would be up to Trump, but said “we live in fiscally constrained times” and need to be responsible with taxpayer money.
The U.S. spends about 3.3% of GDP on defense. About two-thirds of all NATO members are spending at least 2% of GDP on defense, which is the current requested level.
In Germany, US vice president to visit Dachau and meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Vance will visit the former concentration camp Thursday after he arrives in Munich.
On Friday, he’ll hold talks with Zelensky, says a person familiar with Vance’s schedule who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about events not yet announced.
Vance is set to address the annual Munich Security Conference on Friday.
Dachau was the first concentration camp set up by the Nazis in 1933. More than 200,000 people from across Europe were held there and more than 40,000 prisoners died. U.S. forces liberated the camp during World War II. It’s now a memorial.
— Aamer Madhani
House Speaker Mike Johnson meets with Elon Musk and says courts should ‘take a step back’
Johnson said he “wholeheartedly” agrees with Vice President JD Vance that courts shouldn’t try to control the president’s power as DOGE slashes through the federal government.
“The courts should take a step back and allow these processes to play out,” Johnson said at the Capitol.
Johnson said he met with Musk as the billionaire’s Department of Government Efficiency is upturning the government — doing what the speaker said Republicans in Congress have been unable to accomplish alone as they try to cut waste.
Dozens of lawsuits are being filed against the Trump administration and several judges are halting its actions.
With snow forecast for DC area, Office of Personnel Management recommends federal workers leave offices early
A memo from the OPM recommends federal employees “consider departure by 2 p.m.” on Tuesday.
Forecasters predict between 4 and 7 inches of snow starting Tuesday afternoon.
It’s the first snow event of President Trump’s second administration, which has prioritized bringing all federal workers back to the office five days a week. And it comes in the midst of a harsher-than-usual winter in the D.C. area. In January, prior to Trump’s inauguration, several inches of snow blanketed the area, closing down schools across the region.
Britain gave a muted response to the steel tariff announcement
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson, Dave Pares, said it’s “important we take a considered approach.”
“We’re working with industry and our U.S. counterparts to work through the detail,” he said. “We are already engaging with the U.S. system on this issue.”
Asked if Britain would impose retaliatory tariffs, he said he wasn’t going to “get ahead of those conversations with industry.”
The U.S. accounted for about 5% of U.K. steel exports in 2023 and 6% of U.K. aluminum exports, according to British government figures.
Trump ally Steve Bannon pleads guilty and avoids jail time in border wall fraud case
The charge related to duping donors who gave money to a private effort to build a wall along the U.S. southern border. It’s a case the conservative strategist has decried as a “political persecution.”
Bannon, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty to one scheme to defraud count as part of a plea agreement that spares him from jail time in the “We Build the Wall” scheme. He received a three-year conditional discharge, which requires he stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment.
Asked how he was feeling as he left the courtroom, Bannon said, “Like a million bucks.”
Bannon spoke to reporters afterward and called on U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to begin an immediate criminal investigation into New York Attorney General Leticia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Defense attorney Arthur Aidala called the case against Bannon flimsy, saying it was never about his client.
The district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
▶ Read more about Steve Bannon and the border wall case
Two top officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have resigned
The resignations are in protest of President Trump’s efforts to bring the agency to a standstill.
Eric Halperin, the director of enforcement, and Lorelei Salas, the director of supervision, sent emails this morning announcing their departures.
“As you know we have been ordered to cease all work,” Halperin wrote in an email. “I don’t believe in these conditions I can effectively serve in my role, which is protecting American consumers.”
Salas also said she could not continue to serve in her role.
“I do not believe it is appropriate, nor lawful, to stop all supervisory activities and examinations,” she wrote.
Both emails were viewed by The Associated Press.
Vance talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at US embassy compound in Paris
It comes the day after Trump announced new 25% tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum that have been decried by Europe.
Von der Leyen earlier Tuesday in a statement said the U.S. tariffs “will not go unanswered” and will trigger tough countermeasures from the 27-nation bloc.
Neither Vice President Vance nor von der Leyen directly address the tariffs in their brief comments to reporters.
Vance said he expected they would discuss trade and economic issues as well as security. Trump has been pressing for NATO members to dramatically increase domestic spending.
“We also want to make sure that we’re actually engaged in a security partnership that’s good for both Europe and the United States,” Vance said.
Von der Leyen said she hoped Europe and the United States could work together with “optimism.”
Trump administration still accepting resignations from federal workers as they await judge’s decision
As of Friday, 65,000 workers had accepted the offer to quit while still getting paid until Sept. 30. An administration official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal figures, said the number has been growing since then.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. heard arguments over the deferred resignation program Monday in his Boston courtroom. Labor unions said the plan is illegal, while administration lawyers described it as a fair offer to workers.
— Chris Megerian
Trump is again promising ‘common sense standards’ on light bulbs, showerheads and appliances
In a social media post, he says he’s directing EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to reinstate less energy efficient water standards issued in his first term. Trump incorrectly described Zeldin as “Secretary” and many of the standards he cited are regulated by the Energy Department.
Trump on his first day back in office pledged to “empower consumer choice” in vehicles, showerheads, toilets, washing machines, lightbulbs and dishwashers. He repeatedly pushed changes in his first term to increase water flow for showers and continue production of incandescent lightbulbs that are being phased out.
Most U.S. manufacturers comply with energy efficient standards imposed by Joe Biden and other presidents.
Mexico's Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard says ‘that tariff is not justified’
Ebrard pointed out that Mexico imports more steel from the United States than it exports to the U.S. And while steel imports from the U.S. have risen over the past two years, steel exports to the U.S. have fallen.
Furthermore, the U.S. has a trade surplus with Mexico when it comes to the value of steel and aluminum crossing the border.
“It’s unjust taking into account President Trump’s own statements,” he said.
Ebrard said Mexico will take this information to the Trump administration urging “common sense.”
“Don’t destroy what we have built over the last 40 years,” he said.
Wall Street falls as Trump imposes new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports
Trump imposed a 25% tax on all steel and aluminum imports and said over the weekend that more import duties would come later in the week.
Fear around tariffs has been at the center of Wall Street’s moves recently and experts say the market likely has more swings ahead. The price of gold, which often rises when investors are feeling nervous, came back down to $2,909 an ounce Tuesday after hitting a record $2,930 an ounce Monday.
But Trump has shown he can be just as quick to pull back on threats, like he did with 25% tariffs he’d announced on Canada and Mexico, suggesting they may be merely a negotiating chip rather than a true long-term policy.
▶ Read more about the financial markets
27 religious groups sue Trump administration to protect houses of worship from immigration arrests
More than two-dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans — ranging from the Episcopal Church and the Union for Reform Judaism to the Mennonites and Unitarian Universalists — filed a federal court lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration move giving immigration agents more leeway to make arrests at houses of worship.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, contends that the new policy is spreading fear of raids, thus lowering attendance at worship services and other valuable church programs. The result, says the suit, infringes on the groups’ religious freedom — namely their ability to minister to migrants, including those in the United States illegally.
“We have immigrants, refugees, people who are documented and undocumented,” said the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.
▶ Read more about the lawsuit over immigration
Vice President JD Vance warns ‘excessive regulation’ could cripple the rapidly growing AI industry
His comments Tuesday at a Paris summit were a rebuke to European efforts to curb AI’s risks and the speech underscored a widening, three-way rift over the future of the technology.
The United States, under President Donald Trump, champions a hands-off approach to fuel innovation, while Europe is tightening the reins with strict regulations to ensure safety and accountability. Meanwhile, China is rapidly expanding AI through state-backed tech giants, vying for dominance in the global race.
The U.S. was noticeably absent from an international document signed by more than 60 nations, including China, making the Trump Administration the glaring outlier in a global pledge to promote responsible AI development.
▶ Read more about the AI summit
Pope Francis rebukes Trump administration over migrant deportations, warns ‘it will end badly’
Francis took the remarkable step Tuesday of addressing the U.S. migrant crackdown in a letter to U.S. bishops who’ve criticized the expulsions as harming the most vulnerable.
History’s first Latin American pope has long made caring for migrants a priority of his pontificate, demanding that countries welcome, protect, promote and integrate those fleeing conflicts, poverty and climate disasters. Francis has also said governments are expected to do so to the limits of their capacity.
In the letter, Francis said nations have the right to defend themselves and keep their communities safe from criminals.
“That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” he wrote.
▶ Read more about Pope Francis and migrants
NATO allies await US defense secretary’s visit, the first by a member of the Trump administration
The allies are keen to understand how America now plans to influence the course of the war in Ukraine.
Hegseth’s trip comes just ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Most U.S. allies fear Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t stop at Ukraine’s borders if he wins, and that Europe’s biggest land war in decades poses an existential threat to their security.
Trump has promised to quickly end the war. He’s complained that it’s costing the American taxpayer too much money. Some allies worry a hasty deal might be clinched on terms that aren’t favorable to Ukraine.
▶ Read more about NATO and Ukraine
Australia’s prime minister is latest foreign leader to speak with President Trump
The White House issued a statement Tuesday morning saying Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese discussed “concerns about China’s aggressiveness.”
They also talked about “mutually beneficial trade and investment” as Trump prepares to enact reciprocal tariffs on other countries. That means the U.S. will slap import duties on products from countries that impose similar duties on American goods.
Trump and Albanese also stressed their commitment to growing the U.S.-Australia partnership and upholding a free and open Indo-Pacific.
The latest with DOGE
The Department of Government Efficiency’s embed into the federal government has raised a host of concerns, transforming a debate over how to cut government waste into a confrontation over privacy rights and the nation’s financial standing in the world.
DOGE, spearheaded by billionaire Donald Trump donor Elon Musk, has rapidly burrowed deep into federal agencies and taken drastic actions to cut spending. This includes trying to get rid of thousands of federal workers, shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development and accessing the Treasury Department’s enormous payment systems.
Advocacy groups and labor unions have filed lawsuits in an attempt to save agencies and federal worker jobs, and five former treasury secretaries are sounding the alarm on the risks associated with Musk’s DOGE accessing sensitive Treasury Department payment systems and potentially stopping congressionally authorized payments.
▶ Read more about experts’ concerns about DOGE’s access
Trump says Mideast ceasefire deal should be canceled if Hamas doesn’t release all hostages by Saturday
Trump said Monday that a precarious ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas should be canceled if Hamas doesn’t release all the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza by midday on Saturday — though he also said that such a decision would be up to Israel.
Trump was responding to Hamas saying it will delay the further release of hostages in the Gaza Strip after accusing Israel of violating the three-week-old ceasefire.
“If they’re not here, all hell is going to break out,” Trump said. He added of the ceasefire, “Cancel it, and all bets are off.”
Those comments came after Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel that Palestinians in Gaza would not have a right to return under his plan for U.S. “ownership” of the war-torn territory — contradicting other officials in his administration who have sought to argue Trump was only calling for the temporary relocation of its population.
▶ Read more about Trump’s comments on the ceasefire
Trump will host Jordan’s King Abdullah II
President Donald Trump will host Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza — perhaps permanently — as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East.
Trump has proposed the U.S. take control of Gaza and turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East,” with Palestinians in the war-torn territory pushed into neighboring nations with no right of return.
He suggested on Monday that, if necessary, he would withhold U.S. funding from Jordan and Egypt, longtime U.S. allies and among the top recipients of its foreign aid, as a means of persuading them to accept additional Palestinians from Gaza.
Jordan has flatly rejected Trump’s plan to relocate civilians from Gaza.
In addition to concerns about jeopardizing the long-held goals of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Egypt and Jordan have privately raised security concerns about welcoming large numbers of additional refugees into their countries even temporarily.
▶ Read more about the upcoming meeting
What’s happening with the steel tax?
President Trump is hitting foreign steel and aluminum with a 25% tax. If that sounds familiar, it’s because he did pretty much the same thing during his first term.
Trump’s original metals tariffs gave America’s struggling steel and aluminum producers some relief from intense global competition, allowing them to charge higher prices. In anticipation of the new tariffs, shares of steel and aluminum producers climbed Monday. Nucor rose 5.6%, Cleveland-Cliffs jumped 17.9% and Alcoa ticked up 2.2%.
But the tariffs took a toll last time, too, damaging U.S. relations with key allies and driving up costs for “downstream’’ U.S. producers that buy steel and aluminum and use them to manufacture goods.
The overall economic impact on the United States was limited then – and is likely to be limited again -- because steel and aluminum imports amount to barely a ripple in the almost $30 trillion U.S. economy.
▶ Read more about the impact this will have on the economy
The Associated Press
