Latest news with #ExecutiveOrder
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump administration took action against China due to frustration on trade talks, officials say
The flurry of punitive measures taken against China by the Trump administration over the last few days was prompted by a belief among US officials that China has failed to live up to commitments it made in trade talks earlier this month, three administration officials told CNN. This week the administration made moves to revoke visas for Chinese students and suspend the sale of some critical technology to Chinese companies. The officials said they are frustrated that China failed to follow through on the commitments that were meant to deescalate the trade conflict between the two countries, as they seek an overall deal by the middle of August. The dispute underscores the highly fraught relationship between the world's two largest economies. Even as the two sides emerged from the talks in Switzerland having agreed to reduce the withering tariffs introduced by President Donald Trump, the gulf appears to be widening on supply chains that each nation believes are critical to national security. After the talks in Geneva this month — the first substantive meeting on trade since Trump imposed the tariffs — US officials had expected China to ease export restrictions of rare earth minerals, which are an essential part of everything from iPhones and electric vehicles to big-ticket weapons like F-35 fighter jets and missile systems. But the restrictions haven't been lifted, causing intense displeasure inside the Trump administration and prompting the recent series of costs imposed on China, the three administration officials said. The decisions in Washington to limit critical technology sales to China and restrict the number of Chinese students studying in the US reveals just how central the trade war is to the administration's overall foreign policy towards China. It is a 'unified administration strategy,' said one senior administration official in describing the connective tissue. The actions taken in the last week will have a significant impact on Chinese tech companies and students. The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Trump had effectively cut off some American companies from selling software used to design semiconductors to China. A Siemens spokesperson later told CNN that the US government on Friday informed the industry about new export controls on chip designing software to China and Chinese military end users globally. Just days later Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the Trump administration will 'aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,' including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields. 'On day one, the President signed an Executive Order directing the Secretary of State to enhance federal screening and vetting of aliens coming to the United States, including visa holders. The Secretary made this decision in the Administration's ongoing effort to protect our homeland from espionage and other hostile actions,' said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who Trump tapped to lead the talks and run point on the bilateral relationship, has highlighted the importance of the process the Geneva talks put into place for negotiations to take place in the months ahead. But he has stressed the value of the 'mechanism' established between the US and Chinese sides to prevent future escalations that would derail future talks or any eventual outcome. Bessent, who led the Geneva talks with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, has maintained a focus on a functioning relationship and has said a second in-person meeting between the two sides is likely in the future. But Bessent has also calibrated his public comments to make clear the US has no plans to slow or stop a strategic effort to decouple from China on supply chains deemed critical to US national security. 'I would say that they are a bit stalled,' Bessent said of the China talks Thursday on Fox News. 'I believe that we will be having more talks with them in the next few weeks. And I believe we may, at some point, have a call between the president and party chair Xi (Jinping).' 'I think that given the magnitude of the talks, given the complexity, that this is going to require both leaders to weigh in with each other,' Bessent said. Growing concern within the administration in the leadup to the talks over China's moves to cut off access to rare earth minerals sparked a wide-ranging effort behind the scenes to find potential workarounds, officials said. That effort, which included officials from several agencies and the West Wing, wasn't halted after the trade talks and remains a focus. But there was a view that the immediate pressure would ease as a result of the agreement reflected in the joint statement. When that did not happen, the US began to think about ways to impose costs on China. US officials said they were not concerned about the one-two hit derailing the future of the US-China trade talks. Instead, officials are looking to make clear that not effectively engaging in the ongoing trade talks comes with consequences for the country. 'It is clearly an escalation. But if you look at what Trump does when he thinks he is getting close to securing a deal, and it's not there yet, he tries to elevate the rhetoric. They think that elevated rhetoric and action will move a deal faster,' said one person close to the White House. There were signs that Beijing was initially caught off guard by the visa announcement. For much of Thursday, China's state-controlled media remained largely silent on the news that will significantly impact the fate of hundreds of thousands of Chinese students. Then China's foreign ministry spokesperson came out calling the move 'politically motivated and discriminatory.' Any path towards steadying the relationship across the board remains uncertain. 'The Geneva agreement was a major first step towards securing a final, comprehensive trade deal with China,' White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. 'Discussions continue, and the Administration is monitoring compliance with the agreement.' It isn't clear when the next round of trade talks between the US and China will take place. And despite saying for weeks he would talk soon with President Xi Jinping, Trump and the Chinese leader have not yet spoken amid the trade conflict.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
NPR CEO rips Trump order to defund as ‘retaliation,' insists media outlet is 'non-partisan'
NPR CEO Katherine Maher assured PBS on Wednesday that her outlet is "non-partisan" following President Donald Trump's latest executive order seeking to defund the station. In an interview on "PBS NewsHour," the NPR boss trashed Trump's executive order to "cease Federal funding for NPR," calling it "viewpoint discrimination" and saying that Trump is just taking it out on NPR because it goes against his views. "And so, it is a textbook example of viewpoint discrimination from a First Amendment standpoint," she said, adding, "Essentially, by blocking funding to NPR and PBS, it is a form of retaliation against our organizations for airing editorial programming that the president might disagree with." Boise State Public Radio Chief Fears Service Cuts If Trump Funding Ban Succeeds Trump signed the order earlier this month which mandated that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies stop funding NPR and other public media outlets like PBS. The text of the order read, "NPR and PBS have fueled partisanship and left-wing propaganda with taxpayer dollars, which is highly inappropriate and an improper use of taxpayers' money, as President Trump has stated." Read On The Fox News App Maher's outlet, joined by three public Colorado stations — Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio and KSUT — filed a lawsuit against the order in federal court on Tuesday. In a statement, the NPR CEO said, "The Executive Order is a clear violation of the Constitution and the First Amendment's protections for freedom of speech and association, and freedom of the press." 5 Things Veteran Npr Editor Exposed In Stunning Criticism Of Own Employer's Liberal Bias During the PBS interview on Wednesday, Maher suggested that Trump's executive order violated "safeguards" established by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 that keep "public media independent from government influence." PBS has not joined NPR's suit but said it is weighing legal options, among others. "PBS is considering every option, including taking legal action, to allow our organization to continue to provide essential programming and services to member stations and all Americans," PBS spokesman Jeremy Gaines said earlier this week. PBS NewsHour anchor Geoff Bennett asked Maher about accusations that NPR promotes a liberal bias, bringing up Republicans' claims, as well as those of former NPR editor Uri Berliner. Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture Berliner, who quit NPR in 2024, blew the whistle on the outlet in an essay for The Free Press that same year, slamming NPR for its "absence of viewpoint diversity." Maher responded to the critiques, declaring, "Well, first of all, I respond by saying we're a non-partisan news organization. We seek to be able to provide a range of different viewpoints in terms of who we bring on air, the stories that we tell." "My view is that is a mischaracterization of our work. We do not seek to favor any political party at all. We seek to ensure that Americans have a wide range of perspectives available to them," she added. In response to Maher's comments, a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital: "The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers' dime. Therefore, the President is exercising his lawful authority to limit funding to NPR and PBS. The President was elected with a mandate to ensure efficient use of taxpayer dollars, and he will continue to use his lawful authority to achieve that objective."Original article source: NPR CEO rips Trump order to defund as 'retaliation,' insists media outlet is 'non-partisan'
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Trump Had His Executive Order Called "Unconstitutional" AND One Of His Own Moves Used Against Him In One Fell Swoop
A certain judge isn't going to stand for this type of nonsense anymore!!!!!!!!! One of President Donald Trump's executive orders, targeting law firms he doesn't like for incredibly petty reasons, was struck down Tuesday by Richard Leon, a U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia. In addition to calling Trump's order 'unconstitutional,' Leon's 73-page opinion utilized a specific type of punctuation that Trump frequently uses himself: a crap-load of exclamation points. Leon's opinion included a total of 26 exclamation marks (plus one more in a quotation of a comment by Trump). It's rare to see a judge make such use of the exclamation mark, an expression of strong emotion that legal writing experts discourage. Perhaps Leon's usage was an attempt to communicate with Trump in a way the president could actually understand. Related: 18 Major Global Events That American Media Is Ignoring Right Now, And Why They Actually Matter To Us Related: "MAGAs Are The Dumbest People On This Planet": 26 Tweets About The Sad State Of Politics This Week Some highlights from the opinion include Leon describing the Trump administration's arguments in court as 'absurd!' and responding to one of the government's requests with an exasperated 'Please!' At one point, Leon memorably writes: 'The Order shouts through a bullhorn: If you take on causes disfavored by President Trump, you will be punished!' Since returning to the White House, Trump has targeted several law firms that either refused to represent him or were associated with people he doesn't like by suspending their attorneys' security clearances and barring their employees from federal buildings. In March, he aimed his ire at the law firm WilmerHale because it had hired former special counsel Robert Mueller, who oversaw the 2016 Trump-Russia investigation. WilmerHale quickly fired back by suing the Trump administration in an attempt to block the order, stating that it is 'a plainly unlawful attack on the bedrock principles of our nation's legal system—our clients' right to counsel and the First Amendment.' Leon ruled in WilmerHale's favor Tuesday, the third time this month that a federal judge in Washington has found Trump's attacks on law firms unconstitutional. Leon even took the time to explain the fundamentals of democracy to Trump in his ruling — and it's sassy! 'The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting. The Founding Fathers knew this! Accordingly, they took pains to enshrine in the Constitution certain rights that would serve as the foundation for that independence. Little wonder that in the nearly 250 years since the Constitution was adopted no Executive Order has been issued challenging these fundamental rights. Now, however, several Executive Orders have been issued directly challenging these rights and that independence. One of these Orders is the subject of this case. For the reasons set forth below, I have concluded that this Order must be struck down in its entirety as unconstitutional. Indeed, to rule otherwise would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the Founding Fathers!' This article originally appeared in HuffPost. Also in In the News: An Ad Against Far-Right Voters Is Going Viral For Being Both Terrifying And (Kinda) Accurate Also in In the News: This Republican Congressman Decided A Nap Was More Important Than Millions Of People Losing Their Medicaid, And The Photos Are Infuriating Also in In the News: A Clip Of Donald Trump Getting Angry After Being Fact-Checked Is Going Mega Viral, And It Sums Up His Entire Presidency In A Nutshell
Buzz Feed
13 hours ago
- Business
- Buzz Feed
Judge Uses 26 Exclamation Marks To Strike Down Trump
A certain judge isn't going to stand for this type of nonsense anymore!!!!!!!!! One of President Donald Trump 's executive orders, targeting law firms he doesn't like for incredibly petty reasons, was struck down Tuesday by Richard Leon, a U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia. In addition to calling Trump's order 'unconstitutional,' Leon's 73-page opinion utilized a specific type of punctuation that Trump frequently uses himself: a crap-load of exclamation points. Leon's opinion included a total of 26 exclamation marks (plus one more in a quotation of a comment by Trump). It's rare to see a judge make such use of the exclamation mark, an expression of strong emotion that legal writing experts discourage. Perhaps Leon's usage was an attempt to communicate with Trump in a way the president could actually understand. Some highlights from the opinion include Leon describing the Trump administration's arguments in court as 'absurd!' and responding to one of the government's requests with an exasperated 'Please!' At one point, Leon memorably writes: 'The Order shouts through a bullhorn: If you take on causes disfavored by President Trump, you will be punished!' Since returning to the White House, Trump has targeted several law firms that either refused to represent him or were associated with people he doesn't like by suspending their attorneys' security clearances and barring their employees from federal buildings. In March, he aimed his ire at the law firm WilmerHale because it had hired former special counsel Robert Mueller, who oversaw the 2016 Trump-Russia investigation. WilmerHale quickly fired back by suing the Trump administration in an attempt to block the order, stating that it is 'a plainly unlawful attack on the bedrock principles of our nation's legal system—our clients' right to counsel and the First Amendment.' Leon ruled in WilmerHale's favor Tuesday, the third time this month that a federal judge in Washington has found Trump's attacks on law firms unconstitutional. Leon even took the time to explain the fundamentals of democracy to Trump in his ruling — and it's sassy! 'The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting. The Founding Fathers knew this! Accordingly, they took pains to enshrine in the Constitution certain rights that would serve as the foundation for that independence. Little wonder that in the nearly 250 years since the Constitution was adopted no Executive Order has been issued challenging these fundamental rights. Now, however, several Executive Orders have been issued directly challenging these rights and that independence. One of these Orders is the subject of this case. For the reasons set forth below, I have concluded that this Order must be struck down in its entirety as unconstitutional. Indeed, to rule otherwise would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the Founding Fathers!'
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump threatens to rescind California's education funding over transgender sports debate
President Donald Trump warned California Gov. Gavin Newsom against continuing to allow transgender athletes to compete in high school sports. Trump said the governor 'continues to ILLEGALLY allow 'MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN'S SPORTS,'' in a Truth Social post. After Trump issued his criticism, the California Interscholastic Federation announced it had changed a rule that would allow more girls to qualify for the finals championship later this week. Trump's criticism came after a transgender athlete qualified to compete in the California State Track and Field meet last weekend. This high school athlete won the girls triple jump and long jump. The Trump White House issued a set of directives that are taking direct aim at progressive policies — whether it's banning diversity, inclusivity and equity programs in federal institutions, forcing universities to curb antisemitism on campus, or stopping transgender athletes from competing in sports. The president argued the transgender athlete 'is practically unbeatable' in girl's track, before calling it 'unfair' and 'demeaning' to women. Trump then threatened to withhold 'large scale federal funding' from California, 'maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to.' On Feb. 5, he signed an order that allowed the federal government to 'rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities,' according to the White House. He said he will speak to the California governor and direct local authorities to disallow any transgender athlete from competing in the California Interscholastic Federation State Track and Field finals. In a statement to Politico, Izzy Gardon, a spokesperson for Newsom, said CIF's latest pilot program 'is a reasonable, respectful way to navigate a complex issue without compromising competitive fairness.' 'The Governor is encouraged by this thoughtful approach,' Gardon added. Trump recalled Newsom's recently revealed stance on transgender athletes in sports competitions. Back in March, the California governor, who is speculated to run for president in 2028, shocked liberal circles by calling it 'deeply unfair' for transgender athletes to participate in girls sports. 'It is an issue of fairness. It's deeply unfair,' Newsom said on his podcast, 'This is Gavin Newsom.' He was talking to Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk, a Trump loyalist and a conservative activist. Following Trump's post, the CIF State Track and Field changed its eligibility requirements on Tuesday and extended access to 'biological females.' 'Under this pilot entry process, any biological female student-athlete who would have earned the next qualifying mark for one of their Section's automatic qualifying entries in the CIF State meet, and did not achieve the CIF State at-large mark in the finals at their Section meet, was extended an opportunity to participate in the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships,' the federation said in a statement. Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat who represents Silicon Valley, pushed back against Trump's threats over education funding. 'We should not bend the knee to Donald Trump,' Khanna said to CNN's Manu Raju Tuesday. 'The real issue here is less about transgender athletes and more about Donald Trump acting like he can threaten any state, any institution in this country that he disagrees with — and it is a total violation of federalism and the Constitution.'
