Donald Trump is set to sign another executive order banning transgender athletes in women’s sport. It comes after what’s been described as a “massive row back” on the president’s plans for Gaza. Watch Trump sign his executive order in the stream below.
Wednesday 5 February 2025 20:15, UK
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Whilst Donald Trump signs his latest executive order, Benjamin Netanyahu is continuing his meetings with various US officials.
The Israeli prime minister met with Trump at the White House yesterday.
This afternoon he met with vice president JD Vance and national security advisor Mike Waltz, having also earlier spoken with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
And, right now, he’s scheduled to be meeting with defence secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon.
We’ll bring you any updates we receive from that meeting.
We’re expecting to see Donald Trump again shortly as the US president signs his latest executive order.
Trump is due to sign an executive order banning transgender athletes in women’s sport.
The issue of transgender women participating in women’s sports was a consistent and divisive topic leading up to the election.
On the campaign trail – and even after he won the election – Trump referred to trans women as men and pledged to “keep men out of women’s sports.”
The timing of the order does not appear to be coincidental. Today is the 39th annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day in America.
In keeping with his own traditions, Trump will likely provide comments on the executive order as he signs it in the Oval Office.
You can watch the process in the video below or in the livestream at the top of this page. We’ll also be providing text updates in this blog.
By Diana Magnay, international correspondent
Stand on the riverbank in Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit is directly in front of you. It’s not quite spitting distance but it’s swimmable.
Canada’s auto capital and America’s motor city are divided by the Detroit River, tied by the Ambassador’s Bridge which transports $323m (£260m) worth of goods between Canada and the US every day.
Donald Trump’s threatened 25% tariff on all Canadian exports – with a carve-out for energy at 10% – would have weighed heavy here, and that’s putting it mildly.
Car parts can criss-cross the border multiple times before they roll off the finish line in either Detroit or Windsor.
The tariff would have put tens of thousands of jobs on the line in Ontario – in the auto industry, in agriculture, and in the energy sector too.
So the one-month pause – announced on Monday after last-minute talks between Mr Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – is a huge relief.
Our Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall says Donald Trump’s comments on Gaza are “part of the Trump playbook”.
He tells our chief presenter Mark Austin how we’ve already seen Trump row back on tariffs with Mexico and Canada this week.
“He does throw these outrageous ideas out there and leaves everybody gasping and wondering how to deal with it,” he says.
“Then, often, some sort of resolution on middle ground is found.”
Bunkall continues by saying people in the Middle East have been left “astonished” by Trump’s comments, but adds it could be part of his plan.
“It could be a Trumpian negotiation technique, but that is dangerous with negotiations now going on to extend the ceasefire,” he explains.
“It’s going to wrap all of his policy advisers in the State Department and officials up trying to pursue a plan that he’s put forward, which might be totally unworkable and to some degree, remove any credibility the US has in this.”
It’s fair to say that Donald Trump’s comments on the future of Gaza haven’t gone down well around the globe, but they’ve been met with particular consternation in the Middle East.
In a statement, the political advisor to the secretary-general of Lebanon-based, Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah says the world is witnessing “unprecedented tyrannical behaviour” by American officials.
The Houthis militant group also commented, saying that Yemen “stands beside Palestine in confronting all forms of aggression against the Palestinian cause”.
The group, which controls most of western Yemen including the capital Sanaa, issued the comment, attributed to its political bureau, in a statement reported by the Houthi-affiliated al-Masirah TV.
Donald Trump has proposed the US should take over Gaza and that the two million Palestinians living there should be resettled elsewhere.
The US president argued that Gaza was a “demolition site” and that it could be turned into a “Middle East Riviera” under US control.
His comments break decades of US foreign policy which has emphasised a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians. They have been described as “dangerous” by multiple countries.
On the Sky News Daily, Niall Paterson is joined by international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn to discuss the fallout in countries in the region.
Plus, Alistair Bunkall gives us the reaction from Israel and explains the significance of Gaza to Palestinians.
You can also follow the podcast here, so you never miss an episode.
The press briefing in the White House has now finished, so we’re moving back to the latest news updates…
Reform leader Nigel Farage has been asked for his opinion on Donald Trump’s comments on Gaza yesterday.
He told our political correspondent Ali Fortescue he loves the president’s “ambition”.
“The thought of a wealthy, wonderful, thriving place with well-paid jobs, casinos, nightlife, I think, sounds very appealing to me,” he said.
The US president called Gaza a “demolition site” and said the two million people who currently live there could go to “various domains”.
What we’ve just heard from the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is a “massive row back” from the Trump administration on its plans for Gaza, says US correspondent Mark Stone.
Yesterday, Donald Trump said he wanted to “permanently resettle” Palestinians from Gaza and touted US ownership of the enclave to turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
But speaking from the White House briefing room just now, Leavitt repeated the word “temporary” many times.
“I think what we heard there, reading between the lines, was a massive row back,” says Stone, who was in attendance at the news conference.
“She said that the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza while the territory is rebuilt would be temporary. And she said the president was ‘very clear’ about that.
“Well – he wasn’t very clear about that. He was very clear that it would be permanent,” Stone notes.
“Indeed, he repeated this idea that they would be permanently relocated to somewhere beautiful. He said that on many occasions yesterday.
“And so while she didn’t acknowledge that there was a shift in position between yesterday and today, it was implicit in everything that she said.”
Karoline Leavitt is asked about whether Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians out of Gaza is a permanent or temporary measure.
“The president has made it clear that they need to be temporarily relocated out of Gaza for the rebuilding of this effort,” she tells reporters.
“Again, it’s a demolition site right now. It’s not a liveable place for any human being. And I think it’s actually quite evil to suggest that people should live in such dire conditions.”
Fact check: When announcing the plan last night, Trump spoke about finding a “beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza”.
Reacting to her comments, our chief presenter Mark Austin said: “She was asked a couple of times about that, and she repeated temporarily relocating people.
“Yesterday, Trump was making it quite clear that it was permanent.”
We’ve been hearing a lot about Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza during this news briefing.
It follows the US president’s comments made yesterday that he wants to “develop” Gaza and turn it into the “Riveria of the Middle East”.
Here’s everything you need to know about Trump’s plans for Gaza…
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