Tag: US President Donald Trump

The United States has criticised Nigeria’s ban on 25 product categories, saying it hampers American exports and deepens trade tensions.

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) listed the restrictions—covering beef, poultry, fruit juice, pharmaceuticals, and spirits—among the top 10 unfair trade practices by foreign nations.

“These policies create significant trade barriers that lead to lost revenue for U.S. businesses looking to expand in the Nigerian market,” the USTR said in a post on X.

Nigeria is among several countries, including India, Thailand, Kenya, and the EU, cited for policies the U.S. says collectively block billions in potential exports.

India and Thailand’s restrictions on U.S. ethanol, and Kenya’s 50% corn tariff, were also flagged.

The USTR warned such practices hurt American farmers, manufacturers, and workers, linking them to job losses and factory closures.

Notably, China was criticized for undercutting U.S. flag makers, with $2 million in monthly lost sales due to Chinese imports.

The report comes as the U.S. ramps up protectionist policies under Trump’s trade agenda.

U.S. President Donald Trump has unveiled the first “gold card,” a residency permit set to be sold for $5 million each.

The high-priced visa, designed as an alternative to the traditional green card, aims to attract wealthy investors and job creators to the United States.

Holding a prototype featuring his face and an inscription reading “The Trump Card,” the Republican president expressed his enthusiasm for the initiative. “I’m the first buyer,” he told reporters. “Pretty exciting, huh?”

Trump stated that the special visa would likely be available “in less than two weeks.”

He has previously asserted that revenue generated from the program could be used to reduce the U.S. national deficit.

The billionaire former real estate tycoon, who has prioritized the deportation of millions of undocumented migrants during his second term, emphasized that the new card would offer a pathway to U.S. citizenship for those who can afford it.

In February, Trump suggested that his administration hoped to sell “maybe a million” of the cards.

When asked about potential eligibility, he did not rule out Russian oligarchs as prospective buyers.

The announcement marks a significant shift in U.S. immigration policy, emphasizing wealth-based residency opportunities amid ongoing debates over border security and legal migration pathways.

The Australian external territories of Heard and McDonald Islands that can boast penguin colonies but no humans are among the places targeted by sweeping U.S. tariffs.

This was announced by President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

From Saturday, the U.S. will impose a flat tariff of 10 per cent on imports from most countries.

The U.S. government also announced a complex mechanism that would see higher tariffs apply from April 9 on a number of countries based on factors including trade deficits, subsidies and currency manipulation.

The Sub-antarctic Island group is not the only odd inclusion in the White House’s list of countries to be hit by the new reciprocal tariffs.

The fellow Australian external territory of Norfolk Island in the South Pacific has a population of just over 2,000 people.

The territory is to be hit by a 29 per cent discounted reciprocal tariff, 19 per cent more than the rest of Australia.

However the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, on Thursday said that he was not sure that Norfolk Island was a trade competitor with the giant economy of the U.S.

”I’m not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the U.S.

”But this shows and exemplifies the fact that nowhere on Earth is exempted,” he said.

Asked about the tariffs on Norfolk, Heard and McDonald Islands, the White House told Politico that they were listed because they were Australian territories.

The online political publication reported that Australia’s external territory of Christmas Island was also listed, as well as the British Indian Ocean Territory.

It is an archipelago of 58 islands administered by London which is uninhabited aside from the island of Diego Garcia used as a joint U.S./British base.

Other remote territories listed included Tokelau in the South Pacific, a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean with about 1,500 inhabitants.

There are also the Norwegian overseas territories of Svalbard with a population of 2,500 and Jan Mayen which has no permanent population but with 18 persons living there in winter within the Arctic Circle.

After weeks of anticipation, US President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping new tariffs on trading partners Wednesday, calling it a “declaration of economic independence.”

A fresh “baseline tariff” of 10 percent will apply to economies around the world, with steeper rates tailored to those that Washington deemed as bad actors. But there are some exemptions.

What are the details of Trump’s latest announcement?

– New tariffs –

A 10 percent “baseline tariff” kicks in at 12:01 am (0401 GMT) on April 5, while elevated rates for those the White House deemed “the worst offenders” take effect at 12:01 am (0401 GMT) on April 9.

The steeper additional tariffs impact major US trading partners, with the European Union facing a 20 percent rate and China a 34 percent figure.

For China, the number stacks on an added 20 percent levy Trump imposed earlier this year over its alleged role in the illicit fentanyl supply chain, taking the new additional figure to 54 percent.

Other key partners include India with a 26 percent added rate, South Korea at 25 percent and Japan at 24 percent.

Trump said: “For nations that treat us badly, we will calculate the combined rate of all their tariffs, non-monetary barriers and other forms of cheating.”

The numbers, he said, are “approximately half of what they are and have been charging us.”

– Exclusions –

Some goods like copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber, gold, energy and “certain minerals” will not be subject to reciprocal tariffs unveiled Wednesday, according to a White House fact sheet.

Major US partners Canada and Mexico are not hit by the new tariffs either, US officials added.

Trump earlier imposed 25 percent tariffs on imports from both countries, with a lower rate on Canadian energy, and they will continue to face these duties.

Goods entering the world’s biggest economy under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement will still be exempted.

Should Canada and Mexico reach deals on the levies, however, they will come up against a new regime.

The White House also said that the latest country-based tariffs do not stack atop of sector-specific ones, like those already applied to imports of steel and aluminum.

Cuba, Belarus, North Korea, and Russia are not subject to Trump’s new “reciprocal tariffs” as they are already facing sanctions which “preclude any meaningful trade,” the White House said.

– Other tariffs –

On Thursday, new 25 percent tariffs on imported autos will also kick in, bringing fresh challenges to the industry.

Trump earlier imposed 25 percent charges on steel and aluminum imports too, which will be expanded to impact canned beer and empty aluminum cans from Friday.

He has ordered probes into imports of copper and lumber as well, which could lead to further duties.

White House officials said Wednesday that Trump is mulling similar moves on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and possibly critical minerals in the future.

Separately, a 25 percent levy on goods from countries importing Venezuelan oil can take place from April 2. Trump has threatened a similar “secondary tariff” on Russian oil.

– Small parcels –

On Wednesday, Trump separately ordered an end to a duty-free exemption for small parcels from China, a move likely to severely disrupt the import of popular low-cost products.

The rule has faced heavy scrutiny as US officials pointed to the growth of Chinese-founded online retailers Shein and Temu as a factor behind a surge of shipments using the exemption.

Products imported under the “loophole” from China would be subject to a duty rate of either 30 percent of their value or $25 per item, increasing to $50 per item after June 1. The policy shift kicks in May 2, according to Trump’s executive order.

List of tariffs to countries

China: 34%
European Union: 20%
Vietnam: 46%
Taiwan: 32%
Japan: 24%
India: 26%
South Korea: 25%
Thailand: 36%
Switzerland: 31%
Indonesia: 32%
Malaysia: 24%
Cambodia: 49%
United Kingdom: 10%
South Africa: 30%
Brazil: 10%
Bangladesh: 37%
Singapore: 10%
Israel: 17%
Philippines: 17%
Chile: 10%
Australia: 10%
Pakistan: 29%
Turkey: 10%
Sri Lanka: 44%
Colombia: 10%
Peru: 10%
Nicaragua: 18%
Norway: 15%
Costa Rica: 10%
Jordan: 20%
Dominican Republic: 10%
United Arab Emirates: 10%
New Zealand: 10%
Argentina: 10%
Ecuador: 10%
Guatemala: 10%
Honduras: 10%
Madagascar: 47%
Myanmar (Burma): 44%
Tunisia: 28%
Kazakhstan: 27%
Serbia: 37%
Egypt: 10%
Saudi Arabia: 10%
El Salvador: 10%
Côte d’Ivoire: 21%
Laos: 48%
Botswana: 37%
Trinidad and Tobago: 10%
Morocco: 10%
Algeria: 30%
Oman: 10%
Uruguay: 10%
Bahamas: 10%
Lesotho: 50%
Ukraine: 10%
Bahrain: 10%
Qatar: 10%
Mauritius: 40%
Fiji: 32%
Iceland: 10%
Kenya: 10%
Liechtenstein: 37%
Guyana: 38%
Haiti: 10%
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 35%
Nigeria: 14%
Namibia: 21%
Brunei: 24%
Bolivia: 10%
Panama: 10%
Venezuela: 15%
North Macedonia: 33%
Ethiopia: 10%
Ghana: 10%
Moldova: 31%
Angola: 32%
Democratic Republic of the Congo: 11%
Jamaica: 10%
Mozambique: 16%
Paraguay: 10%
Zambia: 17%
Lebanon: 10%
Tanzania: 10%
Iraq: 39%
Georgia: 10%
Senegal: 10%
Azerbaijan: 10%
Cameroon: 11%
Uganda: 10%
Albania: 10%
Armenia: 10%
Nepal: 10%
Sint Maarten: 10%
Falkland Islands: 41%
Gabon: 10%
Kuwait: 10%
Togo: 10%
Suriname: 10%
Belize: 10%
Papua New Guinea: 10%
Malawi: 17%
Liberia: 10%
British Virgin Islands: 10%
Afghanistan: 10%
Zimbabwe: 18%
Benin: 10%
Barbados: 10%
Monaco: 10%
Syria: 41%
Uzbekistan: 10%
Republic of the Congo: 10%
Djibouti: 10%
French Polynesia: 10%
Cayman Islands: 10%
Kosovo: 10%
Curaçao: 10%
Vanuatu: 22%
Rwanda: 10%
Sierra Leone: 10%
Mongolia: 10%
San Marino: 10%
Antigua and Barbuda: 10%
Bermuda: 10%
Eswatini: 10%
Marshall Islands: 10%
Saint Pierre and Miquelon: 50%
Saint Kitts and Nevis: 10%
Turkmenistan: 10%
Grenada: 10%
Sudan: 10%
Turks and Caicos Islands: 10%
Aruba: 10%
Montenegro: 10%
Saint Helena: 10%
Kyrgyzstan: 10%
Yemen: 10%
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: 10%
Niger: 10%
Saint Lucia: 10%
Nauru: 30%
Equatorial Guinea: 13%
Iran: 10%
Libya: 31%
Samoa: 10%
Guinea: 10%
Timor-Leste: 10%
Montserrat: 10%
Chad: 13%
Mali: 10%
Maldives: 10%
Tajikistan: 10%
Cabo Verde: 10%
Burundi: 10%
Guadeloupe: 10%
Bhutan: 10%
Martinique: 10%
Tonga: 10%
Mauritania: 10%
Dominica: 10%
Micronesia: 10%
Gambia: 10%
French Guiana: 10%
Christmas Island: 10%
Andorra: 10%
Central African Republic: 10%
Solomon Islands: 10%
Mayotte: 10%
Anguilla: 10%
Cocos (Keeling) Islands: 10%
Eritrea: 10%
Cook Islands: 10%
South Sudan: 10%
Comoros: 10%
Kiribati: 10%
São Tomé and Príncipe: 10%
Norfolk Island: 29%
Gibraltar: 10%
Tuvalu: 10%
British Indian Ocean Territory: 10%
Tokelau: 10%
Guinea-Bissau: 10%
Svalbard and Jan Mayen: 10%
Heard and McDonald Islands: 10%
Réunion: 37%

US President Donald Trump is poised to unveil sweeping new “Liberation Day” tariffs on Wednesday, but kept the world guessing until the last minute about the scope of an onslaught that could spark a global trade war.

Trump will roll out the measures flanked by cabinet members in the Rose Garden of the White House at 4:00 pm (2000 GMT) — after Wall Street markets close — promising that they will stop America being “ripped off” and will deliver a new “golden age” of US industry.

But while Trump insisted he had decided on the reciprocal tariffs hitting countries that have targeted the United States, the White House admitted he was still ironing out the details with less than 24 hours to go late Tuesday.

The Republican billionaire has had a long love affair with tariffs, insisting in the face of economic experts that they are a cure-all that will tackle America’s trade imbalances with friends and foes alike.

Critics say that not only will US consumers bear the brunt as importers pass on the cost, but that they could increase the risk of a damaging recession at home and abroad.

Global markets have been jittery for days ahead of Trump’s announcement, while the countries most likely in the crosshairs have called for talks — even as they ready retaliatory measures.

– ‘Very kind’ –

The move also underscores the growing and profound gulf between Trump’s America and many of its closest allies, not only on trade but on security, defense and almost everything else.

But in typically unpredictable fashion, the 78-year-old US president is keeping the details close to his chest.

Trump has trailed the measures for weeks, initially suggesting that the tariffs would simply match whatever levies other countries impose.

On Monday, he merely said that he would be “very kind” — but gave little away.

As the deadline drew near US media said he had also been considering blanket 20 percent tariffs — and then that he was looking at a third option where some countries would get preferential treatment.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was meeting his top advisors on the eve of the announcement, “perfecting it to make sure this is a perfect deal.”

The tariffs would come into effect “immediately” after Wednesday’s roll-out, she added — effectively ruling out any delays for negotiations with other countries.

Trump has wobbled on several other tariff announcements since returning to office in January, blinking at the last minute with allies such as Canada and Mexico.

His plans have however sparked growing fears of a damaging trade war around the world that could drive up prices and cause widespread disruption.

– ‘Couldn’t care less’ –

Major economies including the European Union and Canada have vowed retaliation.

“We are going to be very deliberate in terms of the measures we take, to fight for Canada,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday.

The European Union, which Trump has accused of trying to “screw” the United States, said Tuesday it still hoped to negotiate a solution — but that “all instruments are on the table” to retaliate if necessary.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with Trump on “productive negotiations” towards a UK-US trade deal. Vietnam said on Tuesday it would slash duties on a range of goods to appease Trump.

The former property tycoon has used tariffs as a foreign policy weapon ever since his chaotic first term from 2017-2021.

Trump insists they will bring a “rebirth” of America’s hollowed-out manufacturing capacity, and says companies can avoid tariffs by moving to the United States.

Sweeping auto tariffs of 25 percent that Trump announced last week — saying he “couldn’t care less” if prices of foreign cars went up — are due to come into effect on April 3.

A 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum from around the world came into effect in mid-March.

China was hit in March by additional 20 percent tariffs on all goods, triggering retaliatory duties from Beijing. The EU has unveiled its own measures to start mid-April.

The Democratic Party has sued the Trump administration over an attempt to impose sweeping changes on the election systems, including requiring citizenship proof to register to vote and limiting mail-in ballot counting.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, the Democratic Party asked a federal court to block the executive order, which prevents states from counting mail-in ballots that arrive after election day. The president’s directive also requires proof of citizenship to be presented — through documents such as a passport — when registering to vote.

“The President does not get to dictate the rules of our elections,” said the lawsuit filed in Washington by the Democratic National Committee, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and others.

“The Executive Order seeks to impose radical changes on how Americans register to vote, cast a ballot, and participate in our democracy—all of which threaten to disenfranchise lawful voters and none of which is legal,” it added.

After signing the March 25 order, called “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections”, US President Donald Trump described it as “the farthest-reaching executive action taken” to secure US elections.

Trump, who does not acknowledge his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, has long questioned the integrity of the US electoral system. He has repeatedly and baselessly amplified conspiracy theories about massive election fraud in the United States, particularly involving absentee voting.

Legal scholars swiftly denounced Trump’s election order as an abuse of presidential power that could prevent millions of eligible voters from casting ballots.

Advocacy groups led by the Campaign Legal Center and State Democracy Defenders Fund filed a separate lawsuit on Monday against the same executive order.

“The president’s executive order is an unlawful action that threatens to uproot our tried-and-tested election systems and silence potentially millions of Americans,” Danielle Lang of the Campaign Legal Center said in a statement.

“It is simply not within the president’s authority to set election rules by executive decree, especially when they would restrict access to voting in this way.”

Digital manufacturing platform Fictiv surveyed 254 senior manufacturing and supply chain leaders to glean insight into mounting concerns regarding evolving U.S. trade policies, preventing supply chain disruptions and scaling innovation, AI and sustainability.

The report of the survey revealed that some 96% of respondents have concerns over the impact that President Donald Trump’s trade policies will have on supply chains. Chief among them is the potential toll tariffs will have on costs and profitability (57% of respondents), followed by the administration’s renewed emphasis on bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. (53%).

Manufacturing leaders are also fearful that tariffs will drive business uncertainty (48%), impact efforts to prioritize near shoring (37%) and create a China+1 strategy (32%). Only 4% of professionals surveyed said they had no concerns about Trump’s policies, and 93% think trade wars will likely escalate in the next few years.

About 68% of leaders are prioritizing on shoring as a key supply chain strategy in 2025, especially in markets that require complex parts at scale, like medical technology, electric vehicles and clean energy. Still, 77% of manufacturing and supply chain pros say a lack of resources, namely labor and money, is severely limiting their ability to manage supply chains effectively.

Sustainability remains top of mind as 95% of professionals say weather and extreme climate events are impacting their 2025 supply chain strategy. Some 91% have sustainability initiatives and the governance in place to drive those goals forward.

Nearly 95% of industry pros say they use AI for manufacturing and supply chain operations, including inventory management and product design. More than half (56%) say AI is the leading trend shaping the company’s 2025 strategy. Economic headwinds came in second at 53%. Increasing competition and labor costs/shortages tied for a distant third place at 41%.

The United States said Friday it was terminating the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, giving them weeks to leave the country.

President Donald Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation campaign in US history and curb immigration, mainly from Latin American nations.

The order affects around 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who came to the United States under a scheme launched in October 2022 by Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden and expanded in January the following year.

They will lose their legal protection 30 days after the Department of Homeland Security’s order is published in the Federal Register, which is scheduled Tuesday.

That means immigrants sponsored by the program “must depart the United States” by April 24 unless they have secured another immigration status allowing them to remain in the country, the order says.

Welcome.US, which supports people seeking refuge in the United States, urged those affected by the move to “immediately” seek advice from an immigration lawyer.

The Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV) program, announced in January 2023, allowed entry to the United States for two years for up to 30,000 migrants per month from the four countries, which have grim human rights records.

Biden touted the plan as a “safe and humane” way to ease pressure on the crowded US-Mexico border.

But the Department of Homeland Security stressed Friday that the scheme was “temporary.”

“Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status, nor does it constitute an admission to the United States,” it said in the order.

Trump last week invoked rare wartime legislation to fly more than 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador, which has offered to imprison migrants and even US citizens at a discount.

US President Donald Trump on Friday denied signing a proclamation invoking a 200-year-old law to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members who were sent to prison in El Salvador.

His downplaying of his role in the affair came just hours after a federal judge called Trump’s use of the law “incredibly troublesome.”

Last weekend Trump invoked the rare wartime Alien Enemies Act to deport 238 men his administration alleged were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and send them to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.

In a statement at the time, the White House press secretary wrote that Trump “signed a Proclamation Invoking the Alien Enemies Act” and the document additionally appears in the Federal Register with Trump’s signature on it.

But on Friday, Trump suggested his secretary of state had more to do with the matter, telling reporters: “I don’t know when it was signed because I didn’t sign it. Other people handled it.”

“Marco Rubio has done a great job and he wanted them out and we go along with that,” Trump said.

Earlier in the day a federal judge said that Trump’s use of the little-known law to deport the alleged gang members was “incredibly troublesome.”

At a hearing on Friday, James Boasberg, the chief judge of the US District Court in Washington, questioned the legality of using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to summarily send the Venezuelan migrants to the prison in El Salvador.

“The policy ramifications of this are incredibly troublesome and problematic and concerning,” Boasberg said.

He noted that the only previous uses of the AEA were “in the War of 1812, World War I and World War II, when there was no question there was a declaration of war and who the enemy was.”

Troublemaker and agitator –

Last weekend Boasberg issued an emergency order against deportation of the Venezuelans and said two flights already in the air needed to turn around.

The Justice Department has claimed the planes were in international airspace when the judge issued his written order directing them to return and his jurisdiction no longer applied.

The episode earned Trump’s ire and the Republican president called on Tuesday for Boasberg’s impeachment, branding the judge a “troublemaker and agitator.”

Those remarks by Trump drew a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts who said “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”

Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit against the deportations along with other rights groups, noted that even during World War II “people got hearings.”

“It was not this summary removal,” Gelernt said.

“You have to be able to contest,” he said. “Otherwise anyone could be taken off the street.”

Attorneys for several of the deported Venezuelans have said their clients were not members of the Tren de Aragua gang, had committed no crimes and were targeted only because of their tattoos.

Boasberg meanwhile said at Friday’s hearing that “the government’s not being terribly cooperative at this point but I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order.”

‘A bad group’ –

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday before denying signing the proclamation, Trump defended the deportations under the AEA, which was last used during World War II to intern Japanese residents.

“I was told that they went through a very strong vetting process,” Trump said. “This was a bad group… killers, murderers and people that were really bad with the worst records you’ve ever seen.”

The New York Times reported meanwhile that nearly the entire civil rights branch of the Department of Homeland Security was fired on Friday.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties was responsible for oversight of the administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.