President Donald Trump is expected to sign executive orders aimed at boosting coal, a reliable but polluting energy source that’s long been in decline.
According to two senior White House officials, Trump will use his emergency authority to allow some older coal-fired power plants set for retirement to keep producing electricity to meet rising U.S. power demand amid growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the issue before the president’s announcement, expected Tuesday afternoon.
Here's the latest:
In Montana, Blackfeet members say tariffs on Canada violate treaty rights
A Democratic state lawmaker and a rancher who are members of the Native American tribe in northwestern Montana have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeking to block Trump’s tariffs.
Short of a complete block, they want tariffs halted at three Montana border crossings or for tribal members.
Indigenous people of Montana have treaty rights that allow them to travel and conduct commerce freely across the border. Those date to 1794, long before the present U.S.-Canada boundary line was established, the lawsuit says.
Plaintiff Jonathan St. Goddard, who ranches on the Blackfeet reservation that’s along the Canada border, last month broke a tractor wheel and couldn’t get one locally, so he traveled to Alberta to buy a replacement. He paid $308 coming back across the U.S. border to cover a 25% tariff, he said in a declaration filed with the lawsuit.
“If tariffs continue, the costs from the tariffs will cause irreparable harm to our family’s ranch and agricultural business,” St. Goddard said.
The other plaintiff is state Sen. Susan Webber.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says in a trade war ‘everybody tends to lose’
He told reporters Tuesday that he’s particularly worried about the effect of U.S. tariffs and the trade war it’s unleashing on “the most vulnerable developing countries in which the impact will be more devastating.”
Is the United Nations secretary-general worried a trade war will lead to a global recession?
“I sincerely hope that we will have no recession because a recession will have dramatic consequences, especially for the poorest people in the world,” Guterres said.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Panama President José Raúl Mulino
The Tuesday meeting came before Hegseth headed to a ribbon cutting for a new U.S.-financed dock on a former U.S. base.
Hegseth did not make any comments as he left the meeting, but posted a photo of the two men laughing on X.
Hegseth wrote that it was an honor speaking with Mulino. “You and your country’s hard work is making a difference. Increased security cooperation will make both our nations safer, stronger and more prosperous.”
The meeting comes amid tensions over Trump’s repeated assertions that the United States is being overcharged to use the Panama Canal and that China has influence over its operations. Panama has denied those allegations.
Minnesota’s education chief pushes back on Trump threat to cut school funding over DEI
In a letter to the U.S. Education Department, Minnesota’s education chief says the Trump administration has overstepped its authority with its crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The White House last week directed states to gather signatures from local school systems certifying compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal DEI practices.” It said schools that don’t comply would run the risk of losing funding.
Minnesota’s education chief Willie Jett said in the letter that there’s nothing illegal about DEI.
“Threats to this funding without backing in law or established requirements put key programs at risk that students and schools depend on every day,” Jett wrote.
State leaders in New York said last week they wouldn’t comply with an Education Department order.
US trade rep says Trump tariffs are getting results, but things may be ‘challenging’ for awhile
The nation’s top trade representative said Tuesday that Trump’s sweeping tariffs are already getting results, bringing other countries to the negotiating table to discuss reducing their trade barriers.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer addressed the Senate Finance Committee a day after global markets swung wildly and some business leaders lambasted the president’s aggressive bid to raise tariffs on almost every nation.
Greer testified that “about 50″ countries have sought talks to escape Trump’s import tariffs. He said, for example, that Vietnam is cutting its own tariffs on apples, almonds and cherries. The import taxes are designed to reduce America’s massive trade deficits, but Greer conceded the adjustment might ”be challenging at times.″
Congress is getting jittery about Trump’s trade wars, especially since stocks collapsed after he announced broad tariffs last Wednesday.
▶ Read more about Greer’s comments on tariffs
Supreme Court blocks order requiring Trump administration to reinstate thousands of federal workers
The employees were let go in mass firings aimed at dramatically downsizing the federal government.
The justices acted in the administration’s emergency appeal of a ruling by a federal judge in California ordering that 16,000 probationary employees be reinstated while a lawsuit plays out because their firings didn’t follow federal law.
The effect of the high court’s order will keep employees in six federal agencies on paid administrative leave for now.
A second lawsuit, filed in Maryland, also resulted in an order blocking the firings at those same six agencies, plus roughly a dozen more. But that order only applies in the 19 states and the District of Columbia that sued the administration.
The Justice Department is separately appealing the Maryland order.
▶ Read more about the mass firings by the Trump administration
National Park Service restores the original Harriet Tubman and Underground Railroad webpage
It comes in the wake of news reports and public backlash over the changes.
“Changes to the Underground Railroad page on the National Park Service’s website were made without approval from NPS leadership nor Department leadership,” NPS spokeswoman Rachel Pawlitz said late Monday in an email. “The webpage was immediately restored to its original content.”
She did not say who ordered the changes or for what reason. The changes — first reported by The Washington Post — included removing Tubman’s picture from the top of the page and making multiple edits to the text. A side-by-side analysis of the pages, using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, revealed changes that removed references to slavery and changed descriptions about the issue and its brutal realities.
The issue comes amid sweeping government changes to comply with President Trump’s campaign against so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies in the federal government.
▶ Read more about the changes to the webpage on Harriet Tubman
Trump tariffs threaten 35,000 jobs and entire towns in South Africa’s citrus sector, group says
The Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa says the impending reciprocal tariffs, due to come into effect Wednesday, will be deeply damaging to South Africa’s largest agricultural export.
The group says the tariffs would likely make South African citrus fruits cost $4.25 more per carton for American consumers. South Africa provides citrus to the U.S. market when it is out of season there.
South Africa is the second-biggest exporter of oranges behind Spain and the world’s fourth-largest exporter of soft citrus fruits, according to the World Citrus Organization.
▶ Read more about the tariffs’ effects on South Africa’s citrus sector
House leaders express concern for any US troop cuts in Europe
The top Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Armed Services Committee expressed concerns about reports that the Trump administration is eyeing a reduction of U.S. forces in Europe, saying America must stick with its NATO allies.
Rep. Michael Rogers, R-Mich., the panel’s chairman, also voiced opposition to any plan for the U.S. to relinquish NATO command. The U.S. historically has held the Supreme Allied Command Europe position.
“U.S. leadership in NATO is essential to ensure armed American forces, including our nuclear weapons, always remain under U.S. command,” said Rogers at the start of a hearing with Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commander of U.S. European Command and the NATO commander.
Cavoli told the committee he’s recommended that the U.S. maintain its current force totals. There has been roughly 100,000 U.S. troops in Europe.
Trump expected to help plant replacement for historic White House tree
The White House says Trump was participating in an event to plant a 12-year-old Magnolia sapling to replace a nearly 200-year-old Magnolia tree that was removed Monday due to safety concerns.
The sapling is a direct descendant of the Andrew Jackson-era Magnolia.
Trump had announced last month that the tree was in “terrible condition” and would be removed because it had become a safety hazard.
A disagreement over tariffs between two of Trump’s top advisers is escalating
Elon Musk said on X that Peter Navarro, a trade adviser, is “truly a moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks.”
Navarro had previously said Musk was “protecting his own interests” by opposing tariffs. He also described Musk’s electric automaker, Tesla, as a “car assembler” that’s dependent on importing parts from overseas.
Musk rejected that characterization, citing research that showed Tesla produced “the most American-made cars.”
Trump again seeks to boost coal as part of agenda for US ‘energy dominace’
Trump is expected to sign executive orders Tuesday aimed at boosting coal, a reliable but polluting energy source that’s long been in decline.
According to two senior White House officials, Trump will use his emergency authority to allow some older coal-fired power plants set for retirement to keep producing electricity to meet rising U.S. power demand amid growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue before the president’s announcement, expected Tuesday afternoon.
Trump, a Republican, has long promised to boost what he calls “beautiful” coal to fire power plants and other uses, but the industry has been in decline for decades.
The orders expected Tuesday will direct federal agencies to identify coal resources on federal lands, lift barriers to coal mining and prioritize coal leasing on U.S. lands, according to information from the White House officials.
— Matthew Daly
Trump’s Tuesday schedule
At 10:30 a.m., Trump will participate in a commemorative tree planting on the South Lawn of the White House.
At 3 p.m., he’ll attend an Unleashing American Energy Executive Order Signing Event.
This evening, at 6:45 p.m., Trump will deliver remarks at the National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner at the Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
At 1 p.m., Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will deliver a briefing at the White House.
Trump to meet with House Republicans on the budget
The president will host House Republicans at the White House on Tuesday as the GOP leadership continue to wrangle votes for the party’s budget resolution.
That meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m., according two people with knowledge of it. The people were granted anonymity to discuss a meeting that hasn’t been made public.
— Seung Min Kim
As a future of US foreign aid cuts comes into focus, so do efforts to respond
With most programs funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development cut and the agency’s remaining staff told their jobs will end by September, the reality of the Trump administration’s sudden halt to more than 60 years of international development work has sunk in.
Billionaire presidential advisor Elon Musk, who led the charge to dismantle USAID, has called the agency criminal and corrupt. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said many programs didn’t advance American interests. The administration continues to cancel programs, including humanitarian and food aid, and has said it will roll any remaining programs into the State Department.
Two months into the cuts, some workers and organizations, who once carried out those programs, are developing a variety of initiatives to stand in the breach left by the dismantling of U.S. foreign aid.
▶ Read more about cuts to U.S. foreign aid
Trump says high tariffs may have prevented the Great Depression. History says different
In the early days of the Great Depression, Rep. Willis Hawley, a Republican from Oregon, and Utah Republican Sen. Reed Smoot thought they had landed on a way to protect American farmers and manufacturers from foreign competition: tariffs.
President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in 1930, even as many economists warned the levies would prompt retaliatory tariffs from other countries, which is precisely what happened. The U.S. economy plunged deeper into a devastating financial crisis that it wouldn’t pull out of until World War II.
Most historians look back on Smoot-Hawley as a mistake that made a bad economic climate much worse. But tariffs have a new champion in President Donald Trump.
▶ Read more about tariffs in U.S. history
US Steel rises for a 2nd day after Trump orders new security review of Nippon Steel bid
President Joe Biden blocked the deal just before leaving office and Trump had vowed to do the same in previous months. Late Monday Trump ordered the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review the transaction “to assist me in determining whether further action in this matter may be appropriate.”
Shares soared 16% Monday and are up nearly 3% before the opening bell Tuesday.
The confidential review will look for potential national security risks from the proposed deal and the U.S. will give Nippon and U.S. Steel time to respond to any concerns.
CFIUS will have 45 days to submit a recommendation to Trump detailing whether any measures proposed by Nippon and U.S. Steel are sufficient to mitigate identified risks.
▶ Read more about Nippon Steel’s bid to buy U.S. Steel
Iran’s foreign minister says he’ll have indirect talks with US envoy over Tehran’s nuclear program
Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday he’ll meet with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman for the first negotiations under the Trump administration seeking to halt Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program as tensions remain high in the Middle East.
Speaking to Iranian state television from Algeria, Araghchi maintained the talks would be indirect, likely with Omani mediators shuttling between the parties. President Trump, in announcing the negotiations Monday, described them as direct talks.
Years of indirect talks under the Biden administration failed to reach any success, as Tehran now enriches uranium up to 60% purity — a technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Both the U.S. and Israel have threatened Iran with military attack over the program, while officials in Tehran increasingly warn they could potentially pursue a nuclear bomb.
▶ Read more about talks between the U.S. and Iran
RFK Jr. says he plans to tell CDC to stop recommending fluoride in drinking water
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday said he plans to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoridation in communities nationwide. Kennedy said he’s assembling a task force of health experts to study the issue and make new recommendations.
Also on Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it is reviewing “new scientific information” on potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water. The EPA sets the maximum level allowed in public water systems.
Kennedy told The Associated Press of his plans after a news conference with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in Salt Lake City.
Kennedy cannot order communities to stop fluoridation, but he can direct the CDC to stop recommending it and work with the EPA to change the allowed amount.
Utah last month became the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water, pushing past opposition from dentists and national health organizations who warned the move would disproportionately hurt low-income residents who can’t afford regular dentist visits.
▶ Read more about RFK Jr.’s comments about fluoride in drinking water
China says it will ‘fight to the end’ after Trump threatens to impose still more tariffs
China said Tuesday it would “fight to the end” and take countermeasures against the United States to safeguard its own interests after Trump threatened an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports.
The Commerce Ministry said the U.S.‘s imposition of “so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’” on China is “completely groundless and is a typical unilateral bullying practice.”
China, the world’s second-largest economy, has announced retaliatory tariffs and the ministry hinted in its latest statement that more may be coming.
“The countermeasures China has taken are aimed at safeguarding its sovereignty, security and development interests, and maintaining the normal international trade order. They are completely legitimate,” the ministry said.
“The U.S. threat to escalate tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake and once again exposes the blackmailing nature of the U.S. China will never accept this. If the U.S. insists on its own way, China will fight to the end,” it added.
▶ Read more about China’s response to Trump’s tariffs
Supreme Court allows Trump to deport Venezuelans under wartime law, but only after judges’ review
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to use an 18th century wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants, but said they must get a court hearing before they are taken from the United States.
In a bitterly divided decision, the court said the administration must give Venezuelans who it claims are gang members “reasonable time” to go to court.
But the conservative majority said the legal challenges must take place in Texas, instead of a Washington courtroom.
The court’s action appears to bar the administration from immediately resuming the flights that last month carried hundreds of migrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The flights came soon after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II to justify the deportations under a presidential proclamation calling the Tren de Aragua gang an invading force.
▶ Read more about the Supreme Court’s ruling
Musk escalates attacks on Navarro saying he’s ‘dumber than a sack of bricks’: Live
Now Fox News is suggesting Trump could win Nobel Peace Prize over tariffs
New York City congestion pricing is likely to remain through the summer
Tariffs live: Trump insists China wants trade deal as Beijing plans US imports block
Ukraine war live: Chinese troops fighting for Russia captured by Kyiv, Zelensky says
Europe records hottest March as global heat stays above 1.5C
