(AP) – President Donald Trump said he’s “strongly considering” sanctions and tariffs on Russia in hopes of forcing a settlement to the war in Ukraine. Trump also sent a letter to Iran’s leaders seeking to negotiate a nuclear deal.
In economic news, uncertainty in world markets continues after Trump declared a weeks-long delay of tariffs on many imports from Mexico and some imports from Canada.
And as Trump’s dismantling of the federal government continues, billionaire Elon Musk is telling Republicans he’s not to blame for the firings of thousands of workers. Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s diversity purge includes removing 26,000 images including photos of the Enola Gay aircraft that hastened the end of World War II by bombing Japan.
Here’s the latest:
The director of the White House National Economic Council is cheering Friday’s report: U.S. employers added solid 151,000 jobs last month.
Kevin Hassett said that’s “really, really impressive” while noting that the mass federal firings Trump has championed likely won’t be reflected in jobs figures until next month or later.
Hassett acknowledged that the Biden administration had “some strong jobs numbers” too, but asserted that they were based on government employment, while Trump has promoted manufacturing and the private sector.
The report came in below the 160,000 jobs economists had expected for last month. Unemployment also rose slightly, to 4.1%.
A separate court order out of New York still puts limits on what Elon Musk ’s team can do inside the Treasury Department’s systems, however.
In Washington, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly previously restricted DOGE to two employees with read-only access. She declined Friday to grant a longer-term block, however. Her decision comes in a lawsuit filed by retirees and unions who fear DOGE’s activities could expose sensitive information.
Kollar-Kotelly found that concerns about DOGE are “understandable and no doubt widely shared,” but she hasn’t yet seen evidence of serious legal harm that would justify barring the team. She invited plaintiffs to return if more immediate risks emerge.
A labor union says 85 immigration courts employees have accepted Trump’s financial incentives to resign.
They include 18 judges, one assistant chief immigration judge and 66 support staff in a court system that typically takes years to decide each asylum claim.
Shortly after Trump took office in January, the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review fired 20 judges without explanation, according to the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers.
“This makes no sense,” said Matt Biggs, the union president. “Immigration judges are hard to replace given their specialized knowledge and legal experience. It takes at least a year to recruit, hire, train and conduct a background check on a new judge.”
Trump said he is “strongly considering” sanctions and tariffs on Russia in hopes of forcing a settlement to the war in Ukraine.
He said in a post on Truth Social that they could remain in place “until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED.”
The post came as Trump faces criticism for increasing pressure on Ukraine to reach a deal while downplaying or even denying Russia’s responsibility for starting the war with its invasion three years ago.
“To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late,” Trump added.
Scrambling to replace their health insurance and to find new work, some laid-off federal workers are running into another unexpected unpleasantry: Relatives cheering their firing.
The country’s bitterly tribal politics are spilling into text chains, social media posts and heated conversations as Americans absorb the reality of the government’s cost-cutting measures. Expecting sympathy, some axed workers are finding family and friends who instead are steadfast in their support of what they see as a bloated government’s waste.
“I’ve been treated as a public enemy by the government and now it’s bleeding into my own family,” says 24-year-old Luke Tobin, who was fired last month from his job as a technician with the U.S. Forest Service in Idaho’s Nez Perce National Forest.
Trump’s comments about the letter to Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were not immediately confirmed by the supreme leader.
Trump made the comments in an interview aired Friday by Fox Business News.
The White House confirmed Trump’s comments, saying he sent a letter to Iran’s leaders seeking to negotiate a nuclear deal. Trump made the comments in an interview that will air fully Sunday.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported on Trump’s comments, citing the broadcast. However, there was no immediate word from the office of the 85-year-old Khamenei, who has final say over all matters of state.
After European leaders committed Thursday to freeing up hundreds of billions of euros for security, Trump said he was “not so sure” that the military alliance would come to the United States’ defense if the country were attacked.
Here’s a look at how some EU leaders responded:
- 1. “We are loyal and faithful allies,” French President Emmanuel Macron said late Thursday, expressing “respect and friendship” toward U.S. leaders and adding that France was “entitled to expect the same.”
- 2. Māris Riekstins, Latvia’s ambassador to NATO, stressed the military alliance remained the most important platform for addressing transatlantic security issues. He emphasized the commitment from his country — which shares a nearly 300-kilometer (186-mile) border with Russia — to defense spending.
- 3. In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said his country would raise defense spending to reach NATO’s target faster than previously committed. But he did not specify when the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy — and NATO laggard — would hit the 2% of GDP military spending target.
WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said it’s important for U.S. trade partners not to panic and engage in tit-for-tat measures but to embrace dialogue in reaction to Trump’s threats in recent days to impose tariffs.
Okonjo-Iweala preferred to describe the threats and reversals as “disruptions.”
“I think we need to listen to the United States and listen to what their concerns are, and say, ‘how can we also help them deal with their concerns,’” she said, speaking during a discussion alongside former German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the WTO headquarters in Geneva.
Wall Street is poised to open with gains Friday after another U.S. pivot on tariffs kicked off the third market sell-off in four days.
Futures for the S&P 500 gained 0.3% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.2%. Nasdaq futures rose 0.4%.
However, the high growth, tech heavy Nasdaq tumbled 4% into correction territory this week. The S&P shed. 3.6% over the last four days and closed at its lowest point since early November on Thursday. The Dow has slid about 2.9% since Monday.
The U.S. on Friday releases February employment numbers, which will show how many workers U.S. employers hired. Economists believe hiring accelerated last month.
Canada’s initial retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. will remain in place despite Trump postponing 25% tariffs on many imports from Canada for a month, two senior Canadian government officials said.
Two senior Canadian governments official told the Associated Press that Canada’s first wave of response tariffs will remain. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Canada’s initial $30 billion Canadian (US$21 billion) worth of retaliatory tariffs have been applied on items like American orange juice, peanut butter, coffee, appliances, footwear, cosmetics, motorcycles and certain pulp and paper products.
References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press.
The database, which was confirmed by U.S. officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given the military until Wednesday to remove content that highlights diversity efforts in its ranks.
Billionaire Elon Musk is telling Republican lawmakers that he is not to blame for the firings of thousands of federal workers, including veterans, as pushes to downsize the government. Instead, he said in private talks this week that those decisions are left to the various federal agencies.
The message from one of Trump’s most influential advisers came as Republicans publicly support Musk’s work at the Department of Government Efficiency digging up waste, fraud and abuse, but are privately raising questions as personnel cuts ripple through communities across the nation.
It’s a remarkable shift of emphasis away from the chainsaw-wielding tech entrepreneur whose vast power has made him an admired, revered and deeply feared figure in the second Trump administration.
European Union leaders on Thursday committed to bolstering the continent’s defenses and to free up hundreds of billions of euros for security after Trump’s repeated warnings that he would cut them adrift to face the threat of Russia alone.
With the growing conviction that they will now have to fend for themselves, countries that have faltered on defense spending for decades held emergency talks in Brussels to explore new ways to beef up their security and ensure future protection for Ukraine.
The resulting pledge underscored a sea change in geopolitics spurred on by Trump, who has undermined 80 years of cooperation based on the understanding that the U.S. would help protect European nations following World War II.
The order, issued Thursday, impacts nearly $2 billion in debts to partners of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department, giving the Trump administration a Monday deadline to repay the nonprofit groups and businesses in a lawsuit over the administration’s abrupt shutdown of foreign assistance funding.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali described the partial payment as a “concrete” first step he wanted to see from the administration, which is fighting multiple lawsuits seeking to roll back the administration’s dismantling of USAID and a six-week freeze on USAID funding.
The ruling came a day after a divided Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s bid to freeze funding that flowed through USAID. The high court instructed Ali to clarify what the government must do to comply with his earlier order requiring the quick release of funds for work that had already been done.
Ali’s line of questioning in a four-hour hearing Thursday suggested skepticism of the Trump administration’s argument that presidents have wide authority to override congressional decisions on spending when it comes to foreign policy.
President Donald Trump on Thursday postponed 25% tariffs on many imports from Mexico and some imports from Canada for a month amid widespread fears of the economic fallout from a broader trade war.
The White House insists its tariffs are about stopping the smuggling of fentanyl, but the taxes proposed by Trump have caused a gaping wound in the decades-old North American trade partnership. Trump’s tariff plans have also caused the stock market to sink and alarmed U.S. consumers.
In addition to his claims about fentanyl, Trump has insisted that the tariffs could be resolved by fixing the trade deficit. He emphasized while speaking in the Oval Office that he still plans to impose “reciprocal” tariffs starting on April 2.
“Most of the tariffs go on April the second,” Trump said before signing the orders. “Right now, we have some temporary ones and small ones, relatively small, although it’s a lot of money having to do with Mexico and Canada.”
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