EU vows tough countermeasures to US tariffs
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday that U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” adding that they will trigger tough countermeasures from the 27-nation bloc.
“The EU will act to safeguard its economic interests,” von der Leyen said in a statement in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum the previous day.
“Tariffs are taxes — bad for business, worse for consumers,” von der Leyen said. “Unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered — they will trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures.”
In Germany, home to the EU's largest economy, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told parliament that “if the U.S. leaves us no other choice, then the European Union will react united,” adding that "ultimately, trade wars always cost both sides prosperity.”
Trump is hitting foreign steel and aluminum with a 25% tax in the hope that they will give local producers relief from intense global competition, allowing them to charge higher prices. He imposed similar tariffs during his first presidency but the move damaged relations with key U.S. allies and drove up costs for “downstream’’ manufacturers that buy steel and aluminum.
___
Trump once again slaps taxes on foreign steel, aluminum, a move that proved costly in his first term
WASHINGTON (AP) —
President Donald 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.
Timothy Zimmerman is CEO of one of those downstream companies: Mitchell Metal Products in Merrill, Wisconsin. And he still has bad memories of those times.
___
Middle East latest: Hamas brushes off Trump and insists all parties must be committed to ceasefire
Hamas has brushed off President Donald Trump’s threat that “all hell” will break out if it does not release the remaining Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Saturday.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Tuesday that the dozens of hostages would only be returned if all parties remain committed to a ceasefire deal reached last month.
“Trump must remember there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties,” he said, adding that threatening language only complicates matters.
Hamas has threatened to delay the next release of three Israeli hostages, due Saturday, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement, including by not allowing a surge of tents and shelters into the devastated territory.
While Trump said the ceasefire should be canceled if Hamas doesn’t release all the remaining hostages Saturday, he also said such a decision would be up to Israel.
___
Trump will host Jordan's King Abdullah II as he escalates pressure on his Gaza resettlement plan
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.
The visit is happening at a perilous moment for the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza as Hamas, accusing Israel of violating the truce, has said it is pausing future releases of hostages and as Trump has called for Israel to resume fighting if all those remaining in captivity are not freed by this weekend.
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.
“Yeah, maybe. Sure, why not?” Trump told reporters. “If they don’t, I would conceivably withhold aid, yes.”
___
Israel's fatal shooting of a pregnant Palestinian woman raises fears in the West Bank
KAFR AL-LABAD, West Bank (AP) — The call came in the middle of the night, Mohammed Shula said. His daughter-in-law, eight months pregnant with her first child, was whispering. There was panic in her voice.
“Help, please,” Shula recalled her saying. “You have to save us.”
Minutes later, Sondos Shalabi was fatally shot.
Shalabi and her husband, 26-year-old Yazan Shula, had fled their home in the early hours of Sunday as Israeli security forces closed in on Nur Shams refugee camp, a crowded urban district in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem.
Israeli military vehicles surrounded the camp days earlier, part of a larger crackdown on Palestinian militants across the northern occupied West Bank that has escalated since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza took effect last month. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has announced the expansion of the army’s operations, saying it aimed to stop Iran — Hamas’ ally — from opening up a new front in the occupied territory.
___
Volunteers are now tracking what's already been lost in the USAID freeze
When U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department told their contractors to pause all work, Sadie Healy expected the impact to be “horrendous.”
But Healy, who runs a small global health consulting firm, Molloy Consultants, realized no one was documenting how bad the freeze on U.S. foreign aid would be. USAID wouldn’t be cataloging the impacts as President Donald Trump’s administration fired senior staff, shuttered its headquarters and then told its employees their jobs would end. The nonprofits and aid companies who worked with USAID were fighting to survive.
So Healy decided she would do it.
“I am an action person. The depression and the sadness that we knew this was going to cause was something I couldn’t deal with,” Healy said in an interview with The Associated Press. “So we called a Zoom meeting.”
Healy is one of a growing number of people and organizations in the international development ecosystem stepping forward to track the impact of the freeze on U.S. foreign aid. Many are nonprofits who already support grassroots groups around the world, while others are professionals now volunteering their time, connections and skills.
___
Why are Ukraine's minerals key to keeping US military aid flowing?
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has offered to strike a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump for continued American military aid in exchange for developing Ukraine’s mineral industry, which could provide a valuable source of the rare earth elements that are essential for many kinds of technology.
Trump said he wanted such a deal earlier this month, and it was initially proposed last fall by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of his plan to strengthen Kyiv’s hand in future negotiations with Moscow.
“We really have this big potential in the territory which we control,” Andrii Yermak, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. “We are interested to work, to develop, with our partners, first of all, with the United States.”
Here is a look at Ukraine’s rare earth industry and how a deal might come together:
Rare earth elements are a set of 17 elements that are essential in many kinds of consumer technology, including cellphones, hard drives and electric and hybrid vehicles.
___
How Elon Musk's crusade against government could benefit Tesla
WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk has long railed against the U.S. government, saying a crushing number of federal investigations and safety programs have stymied Tesla, his electric car company, and its efforts to create fleets of robotaxis and other self-driving automobiles.
Now, Musk’s close relationship with President Donald Trump means many of those federal headaches could vanish within weeks or months.
On the potential chopping block: crash investigations into Tesla’s partially automated vehicles; a Justice Department criminal probe examining whether Musk and Tesla have overstated their cars’ self-driving capabilities; and a government mandate to report crash data on vehicles using technology like Tesla’s Autopilot.
The consequences of such actions could prove dire, say safety advocates who credit the federal investigations and recalls with saving lives.
“Musk wants to run the Department of Transportation,” said Missy Cummings, a former senior safety adviser at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “I’ve lost count of the number of investigations that are underway with Tesla. They will all be gone.”
___
Migrants stranded in Mexico try to restart life after Trump eliminates legal pathway to US
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Margelis Rodriguez and her two children took selfies on their flight to Tijuana, showing off the T-shirts she had custom-made to mark what she expected to be her family's life-changing moment.
On the back of the shirts were their names and the flags of the six countries they passed through in 2024. On the front between the flags of her native Venezuela and the United States, was written in Spanish: "Yes it was possible, thank God. The wait was worth it. I made it!!"
The celebratory words now sting — driving home how close they came without making it and how precarious their lives are with their future more uncertain than ever, Rodriguez said while standing near the tent her family lives in at a shelter in Tijuana, a block from the towering wall marking the U.S. border.
The family is among tens of thousands of people who had appointments into February, many of them left stranded in Mexican border cities after President Donald Trump took office. As part of a broader immigration crackdown, his administration quickly canceled all appointments people had made through a U.S. government app. Under the Biden administration, the CBP One app facilitated the entry of nearly 1 million people since January 2023, and supporters say it helped bring order to the border and reduced illegal crossings.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection estimates about 280,000 people were trying to get appointments each day, many of them after traveling to Mexico, the only country where the app worked. Now they face the daunting question of what to do next.
___
Haitian migrants share harrowing stories of abuse as Dominican Republic ramps up deportations
BELLADERE, Haiti (AP) — A crowd of 500 descended from dusty trucks on a recent morning and shuffled through a tiny gap in a border gate separating Haiti from the Dominican Republic.
They were the first deportees of the day, some still clad in work clothes and others barefoot as they lined up for food, water and medical care in the Haitian border city of Belladère before mulling their next move.
Under a broiling sun, the migrants recounted what they said were mounting abuses by Dominican officials after President Luis Abinader ordered them in October to start deporting at least 10,000 immigrants a week under a harsh new policy widely criticized by civil organizations.
“They broke down my door at 4 in the morning,” said Odelyn St. Fleur, who had worked as a mason in the Dominican Republic for two decades. He had been sleeping next to his wife and 7-year-old son.
The number of alleged human rights violations ranging from unauthorized home raids to racial profiling to deporting breastfeeding mothers and unaccompanied minors is surging as officials ramp up deportations to Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.
The Associated Press
