Donald Trump is set to announce a barrage of tariffs targeting countries that impose duties on the US. Don’t forget to submit your questions below for a live recording of the Trump 100 podcast tomorrow – and listen to the latest episode.
Thursday 13 February 2025 18:01, UK
Donald Trump is expected to announce a barrage of new tariffs soon.
The president said he would hold a news conference from 6pm – though in keeping with his predecessor, he is often late.
We’ll be bringing you all the key moments in what Trump has billed as “the big one”.
Elon Musk is meeting with the Indian prime minister in the president’s guest house.
His Starlink company’s bid to enter the South Asian market could come up for discussion, two people familiar with the plans told Reuters.
Starlink has long wanted to launch in India and has in recent months clashed with billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s company over how the country should grant radio spectrum space for satellite services.
India’s government has sided with Musk that spectrum should be assigned and not auctioned, but Starlink’s licence application is still under review.
Musk has also long criticised India’s high import taxes on electric cars and his team has over the years held repeated discussions on setting up a local manufacturing base there.
Donald Trump has been sent recommendations on which classified documents he should release to the public on the assassination of former president John F Kennedy.
Trump promised on the campaign trail to release classified intelligence and law enforcement files about the 1963 killing, which was attributed to a sole gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald.
There has been decades of fascination in the United States and beyond about JFK’s death, with polls showing many Americans believe his death was the result of a wider conspiracy.
“I can’t imagine any document that would convince [conspiracy theorist] that Oswald acted alone,” said Alice George, author of The Assassination of John F Kennedy: Political Trauma and American Memory.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has now submitted its plan for the release of related documents to the White House.
Trump’s new health secretary, JFK’s nephew Robert F Kennedy Jr, has said he believes the CIA was involved in his uncle’s death, an allegation the agency and historians have described as baseless.
“It wasn’t a conspiracy on the part of the CIA or the FBI or any outside country,” said Barbara Perry, co-director of the presidential oral history programme at the Miller Center.
Gerald Posner, author of Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK, said: “The question for me is not whether the CIA was complicit, but whether the CIA was negligent.”
Robert F Kennedy Jr has been confirmed as Trump’s health secretary by the Senate.
The prominent vaccine sceptic is now in control of $1.7 trillion in federal spending, vaccine recommendations and food safety, as well as health insurance programmes for roughly half the country.
Republicans fell in line behind Trump despite hesitancy over the controversial pick, voting 52-48 against all Democrats.
Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, was the only “no” vote among Republicans.
Kennedy, 71, has earned a following with his populist and sometimes extreme views on food, chemicals and vaccines.
During the pandemic, he devoted much of his time to a nonprofit that sued vaccine makers and harnessed social media campaigns to erode trust in vaccines.
He made more than $850,000 last year from an arrangement referring clients to a law firm that has sued the makers of Gardasil, a human papillomavirus vaccine that protects against cervical cancer.
Last year, he promised to fire 600 employees at the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s largest funder of biomedical research.
Donald Trump says his talks with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy promise a “good possibility” of ending the war.
The president held a lengthy phone call with Vladimir Putin yesterday, after which he announced US and Russian teams would “immediately” begin negotiations.
Only then did he call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump said it was impractical for Ukraine to join NATO and it was unlikely to get all of its occupied land back, while his defence secretary Pete Hegseth told European nations to take responsibility of their own defence.
Any peacekeepers in Europe after the war would not be American, he said, and NATO would not protect any other nation’s troops under Article Five (collective self-defence).
Some experts branded Trump’s approach an abandonment of Ukraine and Europe.
“GREAT TALKS WITH RUSSIA AND UKRAINE YESTERDAY. GOOD POSSIBILITY OF ENDING THAT HORRIBLE, VERY BLOODY WAR!!!” posted Trump on Truth Social today.
Ukraine depends on the US for a vast amount of aid, including some of its most lethal equipment.
Trump’s tariff barrage announcement will come just a few hours ahead of a visit to the White House from the prime minister of India, which imposes the highest tariffs on US exports of any major trading partner.
Narendra Modi will come bearing gifts to win the president’s favour.
Although Trump had a warm relationship with Modi in his first term, he has called India a “very big abuser” on trade and his levies on steel and aluminum hit the country particularly hard.
The US has a $45.6bn trade deficit with India.
The tariff issue will be front and centre, said Richard Rossow, head of the India program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
“It’s going to be a boxing match,” he said.
“I think India is willing to take a few hits, but there’s a limit.”
Modi has readied promises including increased liquefied natural gas, combat vehicle and jet engine purchases, according to Indian government officials.
Indian officials are also looking at tariff cuts in at least a dozen sectors, including electronics, medical and surgical equipment, and chemicals.
Donald Trump plans to unveil a wave of tariffs this afternoon, having previously vowed to take aim at every country that charges duties on US imports.
“Today is the big one: reciprocal tariffs,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
The president provided no other details, only that he would hold a news conference at 6pm UK time.
He has already imposed 10% tariffs on goods from China, announced tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports beginning 12 March, and is set to put levies on goods from neighboring Canada and Mexico within a matter of weeks.
Today, Trump officials could opt for a more easily implemented flat 10% or 20% tariff rate, said William Reinsch, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Or they could take a messier approach that would require separate tariff schedules matching US tariffs to every other country’s individual rates, he said.
There are some 5,000 different product rules across 186 nations in the World Customs Organisation that impose duties, said Damon Pike, a trade specialist.
Welcome back to our live coverage of Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office.
Musk’s downsizing of government, Trump’s plans for Gaza and Ukraine, and his administration’s tariffs continue to dominate headlines.
We’ll be bringing you all the latest from day 25 today.
If you’re just joining us, here is a recap of the key developments over the last two days:
Ukraine
Musk
Gaza
On Friday our US correspondents Mark Stone and James Matthews will answer your questions in a live recording of the Trump 100 podcast – before the episode goes out on Sunday.
You’ll be able to watch right here on this live page.
They want to hear your questions on anything Trump related – submit yours in the box at the top of the page and they’ll pick a selection to answer.
The team will be doing this every Friday for the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency – catch up on last week’s fun and games below:
We’re pausing our live coverage of Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, but we’ll be back again soon for all the latest.
If you’re just checking in, here is a recap of the key developments over the course of the day.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free