Donald Trump is signing executive orders and has proclaimed his intention to impose tariffs on steel imports. Meanwhile, he is still committed to forcing people to leave Gaza to redevelop the area. Listen to the Trump 100 podcast below and follow updates from Washington here.
Tuesday 11 February 2025 03:11, UK
That’s all for our live coverage this evening.
If you’re just checking in, here is a recap of the key developments over the course of the day.
By Mark Stone, US correspondent in Washington DC
President Trump has used this language before.
In the days before he became president, he said that if the hostages held by Hamas were not released by his inauguration on 20 January, “all hell will break out in the Middle East”.
They were not all released and many remain in captivity. But he managed to broker a ceasefire with the help of officials from the outgoing Biden administration.
And so his threat dissolved in the jubilation of a pause in fighting and a transfer of some hostages in exchange for Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons.
But the threat is back. The hard deadline of Saturday seems to be an attempt to short circuit the faltering three-phase ceasefire plan.
It’s not at all clear what the consequence would be if Hamas does not comply.
The difference this time seems to be that the onus is wholly on Hamas. Before the inauguration Israel too was being pushed to do its part in ensuring the ceasefire happened.
Hamas is being forced by President Trump to capitulate totally; release all the prisoners or else. And Israel now seems wholly emboldened by Mr Trump to do what it needs to do.
Hamas has until Saturday to propose a counteroffer – “ok, we’ll release them all in exchange for x, y, or z”.
Let’s see how they respond, or if they respond. Maybe they can harness Mr Trump’s “Palestinians must all leave Gaza” demand.
Could they carve out a concession from that?
One key unknown is the extent to which Hamas thinks the president is bluffing. Whether or not he is a bluffer, they must know he is transactional. But with them?
All eyes will be on the White House over the hours ahead as King Abdullah of Jordan visits.
There are so many moving parts, so many unknowns, so much stark language and at the centre of it all, a president who is keeping the world on edge. He’d have it no other way.
Donald Trump says he has spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he returned to the White House on 20 January.
The US president made the comments in an interview aired on Fox News tonight.
“Yeah… I have talked to him and I have talked to his people, too,” Mr Trump said when asked if he has spoken to the Chinese leader during his second term as president.
“We have a very good personal relationship,” Mr Trump added.
The president did not provide details on when exactly the call happened or what was discussed.
Mr Trump said last week he was in no hurry to speak to Mr Xi to try to defuse a new trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
A conversation between Mr Xi and Mr Trump is seen as crucial to a potential easing or delay of trade tariffs.
Beijing imposed targeted tariffs on US imports last week and put several companies, including Alphabet’s Google, on notice for possible sanctions, in a measured response after Mr Trump imposed 10% duties on all imports from China.
Washington and Beijing have had tense relations for years over differences ranging from trade tariffs and cybersecurity to Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights and the origins of COVID-19.
Mr Trump and Mr Xi had spoken just before Trump took office in January and discussed issues including TikTok, trade and Taiwan.
Donald Trump has said he will propose that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire should be cancelled if all the hostages being held in Gaza are not released by noon on Saturday.
In comments to reporters after signing a series of executive orders (see 22:42 and 22:33 posts), Mr Trump said: “If they’re not here, all hell is going to break out.”
The US president added that he feared that many of those scheduled for release are actually already dead.
In relation to his ceasefire ultimatum however, Mr Trump also said: “I’m speaking for myself. Israel can override it.”
Hamas said earlier it would delay the release of hostages– accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire.
Mr Trump’s comments about the ceasefire come after he spoke to Fox News about his controversial proposal for the US to “own” Gaza.
Asked by the US broadcaster if Palestinians could return to the territory, Mr Trump said: “No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing. In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them.”
Donald Trump has signed two proclamations imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports to the US.
A proclamation is a form of presidential directive to government officials, but they do not carry the force of law, as an executive order would.
However the White House has said the tariffs will take effect from 4 March.
“This is a big deal,” Mr Trump said in the Oval Office as he announced the tariffs. “The beginning of making America rich again.”
He added: “We were being pummelled by both friend and foe alike.”
The proclamations mean the president has now removed the exceptions and exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on steel to allow for all imports of the metal to be taxed at 25%.
The new tariff on aluminium is also much higher than the 10% duty he imposed on the material in his first term.
The tariffs are part of an aggressive push by Mr Trump to reset global trade, claiming that tax hikes on the people and companies buying foreign-made products will ultimately strengthen domestic manufacturing.
Outside economic analyses suggest the tariffs would increase costs for the factories that use steel and aluminium, possibly leaving US manufacturers worse off.
Donald Trump is signing executive orders in the Oval Office, Reuters reports.
One pauses prosecutions of Americans accused of bribing foreign government officials while trying to win business in their countries.
Another is aimed at encouraging the US government and consumers to purchase plastic drinking straws.
“We’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump told reporters.
Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden had proposed environmental measures to lower the consumption of single-use plastics.
The president has also pardoned former Democratic governor and Celebrity Apprentice contestant Rod Blagojevich.
Blagojevich was convicted on corruption charges in 2011 that included seeking to sell an appointment to then-President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat and trying to shake down a children’s hospital.
The US Agency for International Development has lost almost all ability to track $8.2bn in unspent humanitarian aid after Trump’s funding freeze, a government watchdog has warned.
Dismantling USAID has left oversight of the humanitarian aid “largely non-operational”, including to ensure it doesn’t fall into the hands of violent extremist groups or goes astray in conflict zones, the agency’s inspector general’s office said.
It comes as scores of USAID staffers who showed up for work at its Washington headquarters were turned away after the Trump administration stripped the agency of the lease of the building which it had occupied for decades.
Staff were denied entry to their offices to retrieve belongings.
The president signed an executive order freezing foreign assistance, forcing US-funded aid and development programmes worldwide to shut down and lay off staff.
“The impact of this will be felt severely by the most vulnerable,” said the Norwegian Refugee Council.
“From deeply neglected Burkina Faso, where we are the only organisation supplying clean water to the 300,000 trapped in the blockaded city of Djibo, to war-torn Sudan, where we support nearly 500 bakeries in Darfur providing daily subsidized bread to hundreds of thousands of hunger-stricken people.”
By John Sparks, international correspondent
In what will be seen as a signature act of the new Trump administration, the president and his team have denounced and dismembered the US government’s international assistance arm, USAID, in a matter of three weeks.
It is a decision that will have serious, real-world consequences – and the impact is already being felt in countries such as Uganda.
The health ministry in Uganda has announced its intention to shut all dedicated HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) clinics in the country. Stand-alone pharmacies supplying antiretroviral drugs will also be closed.
These facilities provide HIV treatments and preventative therapies to millions of people in Uganda, including an estimated 1.5 million currently living with the virus.
An official said the closure of HIV clinics was a necessary response as the country grapples with the loss of funding from USAID.
Directors and staff at the country’s public hospitals have been instructed to offer the same services at their outpatients and chronic care departments.
A USAID initiative called the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief – or PEPFAR – has bankrolled much of Uganda’s HIV/AIDS relief plan and it’s an initiative that has wielded impressive results.
Specially trained staff and dedicated clinics are credited with bringing infection rates down from 19% in the late 1990s to 5% in 2024.
Read on here…
By Ed Conway, economics and data editor
Few materials matter quite as much as steel and aluminium.
Steel, an alloy of iron and carbon, is the main metallic ingredient in the structures we live in and the bridges we build. If it’s not made of steel it’s made with steel.
Aluminium, on the other hand, is a wonder material we use with wild abandon these days. A light metal we use in planes and trains, in the bodies of electric vehicles and in those high voltage power lines we’ll need so many of to provide electricity in the coming years.
All of which is to say these metals are the bedrock for much of the world around us. And like most developed economies, the US is far from independent when it comes to these materials. The degree of dependence on other countries varies between them.
According to the US Geological Survey, America’s “net import reliance ratio” for aluminium is close to 50%, implying it is deeply dependent on imports to satisfy demand among its companies. The degree of dependence is considerably lower for steel – only a little over 10%.
At least part of the idea behind tariffs is to bring some production back to the US, but imposing them will have consequences.
Read on here…
Donald Trump will pardon former Democratic governor and Celebrity Apprentice contestant Rod Blagojevich today, according to a person familiar with his plans.
Blagojevich was convicted on corruption charges in 2011 that included seeking to sell an appointment to then-President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat and trying to shake down a children’s hospital.
Five of the convictions were thrown out in 2015 and Trump commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence during his first term.
Blagojevich appeared on Celebrity Apprentice in 2010, before his first corruption trial started, and was fired after four episodes for bungling a Harry Potter presentation.
Later as president, Trump drew links between investigations of his own behaviour in his first term and Blagojevich’s case.
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