The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Donald Trump

  • Russia, Ukraine to begin cease fire negotiations after Trump-Putin call

    Russia, Ukraine to begin cease fire negotiations after Trump-Putin call

    President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a two-hour call yesterday in what the U.S. said was a push to get Russia to end its deadly war in Ukraine.

    Both Trump and Putin described the call in a positive light, with the Kremlin chief saying it was “frank” and “useful,” but it is not immediately clear what results were achieved.

    Trump took to social media to praise the call as having gone “very well” and said, “Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War.”

    “The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,” he added.

    Putin, in a statement after the call, also noted that “a ceasefire with Ukraine is possible” but noted that “Russia and Ukraine must find compromises that suit both sides.”

    Any concrete details on the nature of these compromises remain unclear despite negotiation attempts in Turkey on Friday, which Trump suggested failed because he needed to negotiate with Putin first.

    The ceasefire talks fell through after a Ukrainian delegation said it was presented with demands from the Russian delegation that were “unacceptable,” including reported calls for the complete removal of Ukrainian troops from four Ukrainian regions that Russian illegally annexed in 2022, including Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

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    The Russian delegation also allegedly demanded that the international community not only recognize the regions as now Russian but to also cease aid to Ukraine, including plans to supply peace-keeping troops once the fighting concludes.

    Trump said he immediately alerted not only Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the call, but also European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, none of whom immediately responded to Fox News Digitals requests for comment nor have they publicly made statements about the call.

    Trump also said “the Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations.”

  • Dollar trumps kinship

    Dollar trumps kinship

    Historically, the ancestors of the white citizens of the United States of America came mainly from western Europe. The majority of the immigrants came from the big powers around the 16th century, like Spain, France, and Great Britain. According to Wikipedia, Donald Trump’s father was a son of a German immigrant from Bavaria, while his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was a Scottish immigrant. His predecessor, Joe Biden’s ancestors came primarily from Ireland and England.

    That common ancestry, perhaps, explains why the foreign policy of the US has been Eurocentric. As the 45th president, Trump followed the tradition of making Europe his country’s foreign policy thrust. But as the 47th president, it appears as if ancestry and all such emotional indulgences are damned, as Trump has instead embraced those with shiploads of dollars. Many have dismissed him as a transactional president, what we may refer to as ‘a buying and selling person,’ in our street lingo.

    But Trump has shown he is unperturbed by such claims, as he pushes what he refers to as his America First policy. By that policy, he will rather pursue a foreign policy that will economically benefit America than police the world in the name of expanding democratic freedom across the world. With a federal budget deficit of $1.8 trillion in 2024, equal to 6.4 percent of gross domestic product, America has strong economic challenges.

    Again, with a trade deficit of about $918 billion in 2024, Trump as a businessman has been paranoid about how less endowed countries are doing better economically than his country. Perhaps looking at the financial bottom line of his country, and with his buying and selling mentality, he fears that his country could become bankrupt if drastic measures are not taken. As Trump sees it, in the rat race for economic survival, there should be no traditional friend or pity or sympathy for the weak countries.

    In pursuit of what benefits America, Trump does not care whether you are practising democracy, or you are a dictator, or even engaged in terrorism. As long as your actions do not impact America negatively, he is fine. Drawn by dollars, Trump chose the Middle East countries of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates, all awash with dollars, for his first major foreign trip as the 47th president. In fairness to Trump, the visit had yielded bountiful harvests, and he has been triumphantly gloating about it.

    From the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Trump triumphantly secured an investment package of $600 billion. Included in the deal is an arms deal worth nearly $142 billion, which the White House dubbed the largest defence cooperation agreement. Of course, unlike some of his predecessors, there was no talk about whether the kingdom is a democracy and what the weapons can be used for, when supplied. Such a gag, as we heard, was placed on the Tucano fighter jets Nigeria bought from the US under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Interestingly, the Saudis got Trump to openly surrender America’s pretences or moral high ground about making sacrifices to advance democracy and fight terrorism, in defence of so-called western ideals. The Saudi royals requested, and Trump had no scruples to receive in audience the Syrian leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, a member of al-Qaeda, and on whose head was a $10m reward for his capture. Trump also announced that based on the request from Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, he would ensure that sanctions against Syria are lifted.

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    According to reports, the defence deals cover air and missile defence, air force and space, maritime security and communications. The agreement between Trump and the crown prince reportedly covers energy, defence and mining, among others. Trump is also pushing for a better diplomatic relationship between its Gulf partners and Israel. Such a relationship, he touts, will help fight the spread of terrorism by Iran and its allies. But while purportedly fighting for Israel’s interest, the country was not on the list for his visit, obviously because there are no bounties of dollars to reap.

    The next country on his business visit was Qatar, and according to Aljazeera, he was the first US president to make an official visit to the country. The White House claimed that the two countries had signed an agreement to generate economic exchange worth at least $1.2 trillion. A total of $243.5 billion was announced by Trump over a wide range of activities. The next stop was the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he secured $200 billion in deals. Trump did not fail to talk about the $1.4 trillion promise in investment over the next 10 years, made by Sheik Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a brother to the UAE leader Sheik Mohamed, when he visited Washington recently.

    While Trump is gloating about the success of his visit to the Gulf region, and the millions of job opportunities the deals will guarantee for his country men and women, his opponents and the western world are worried that the free world, under Trump’s leadership, may be in regress. While Syria may have turned the bend with the defeat of Bashar al-Assad, after his 24-year dictatorship was toppled, they are concerned about the unmeasured warming up to the new leader.

    While warming up to his new friends, Trump’s commitment to his old allies appears to be waning. The kinship and mutual defence commitment with European countries, which led to the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), in 1949, in Washington, may suffer under Trump. While he is legitimately demanding that European countries increase their defence spending so that they can have the capacity to fight should Russia attack, there are genuine fears that Trump may ignore Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which provides that an attack on one member is deemed an attack on all.

    Across the Americas, Europe and farther off, China and even Africa, Trump’s Sword of Damocles had been tariff, and more tariff. The economy of the rest of the world has been in turmoil since Trump began his trade war. Her close neighbour, Canada, had to reciprocate the imposition of tariff to regain its composure, after Trump threatened to make it the 51st state of his country. China, on its part, showed determination to match the US, with respect to the trade war,

    and it appears the world is merely having an interregnum, as Trump firms up his new relationship with the Gulf states.

    Those who are worried that the Trump era will set a new world order may be right. It appears that in his world view, what matters more than any other thing is economic prosperity. And to make it even more worrisome, Trump has no scruples about how the end is achieved, as long as his country would earn more dollars from any deal, whatsoever.

  • Trump consistently exceeds himself

    Trump consistently exceeds himself

    United States president Donald Trump is an ominous example of how empires and kingdoms begin their precipitous fall. His general and contemptuous disregard for the US constitution, rationalisation of $400m Boeing 747-8 aircraft gift from the government of Qatar, ongoing development of his $5.5bn luxury resort in the same Qatar, flip-flop over Iran, Gaza, Syria, and the three-year-old Russo-Ukrainian War, not to talk of the dizzying somersault over tariff wars with friends and enemies alike, all show both the unpredictability of his administration and the greed that has become the fulcrum of his policies.

    President Trump and his advisers have tried to defend the Qatari gift, but the US constitution stipulates congressional approval to receive such gifts. He has waffled considerably over Iran, annulling agreements and whimsically restarting negotiations, has welcomed the Sunni-led Syria perhaps on the prompting of Sunni Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States from which he is receiving gifts, and has left Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu apoplectic over the Gaza War as he mildly berates him for the continuation of the war, just stopping short of blaming Israel for undue exuberance. And after months of pampering Russia and falsely blaming Ukraine’s president Volodymr Zelensky for igniting the war, he has seemed to lose interest in the instant peace deal he initially fantasised.

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    Other than some Americans, few global affairs analysts expected anything stable and progressive from the Trump administration. But the US president has exceeded even his own inconsistencies, upending and endangering the global security and power balances, and redefining the ethical structures upon which relations between countries as well as global politics are built. The Gulf States have become Mr Trump’s Kryptonite, after recognising how easily they can deploy hundreds of billions of arms deals and investments to get him to do their bidding. And he has wiped the self-satisfied smirk from the faces of many of his admirers and early supporters, like Mr Netanyahu, while the rest of the world waits with bated breath, if not disgust, to see what unprincipled moves he would make next. It was said of the Army of Frederick the Great that it could not be bought or sold. It is sad that Mr Trump has turned America into a mercenary nation available for hire.

  • ‘Africa must react positively to Trump’s foreign policy’

    ‘Africa must react positively to Trump’s foreign policy’

    Sir: Magnus Onyibe, an international public affairs analyst and Commonwealth Institute Scholar, has advised African countries and leaders to react positively to President Donald Trump’s policies.

    He made the call in Lagos while delivering a lecture at the Commonwealth Institute of Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS) titled “Trump 2.0 and Africa: Dangers and Prospects.” The hybrid event aimed at policymakers, business leaders, academics, and citizens from various African and Commonwealth countries who participated online and physically. 

    In his intervention, Onyibe pointed out that the USA does not view Africa or Africans as a threat and that African leaders need to engage with the Trump administration to negotiate and reaffirm previous agreements with the USA. Trump’s primary interest is to win back the lost ground that past administrations have ceded to countries like China. He urged African governments and businesses to position themselves to take advantage of the new realignment and world order that Trump was creating.

     “Now is the time to reflect on Africa’s underwhelming role in global trade and find pragmatic ways to reposition the continent as a vital node in the evolving global value chain,” he stated. He added that President Trump’s sweeping tariff policies, while disruptive, are also catalytic, creating both risks and opportunities for economies willing to adapt.

    The major problems Africa faces, according to him, are energy and infrastructure, and these are issues that limit Africa’s potential to succeed on the global stage. He, however, proposes that collaboration between African business and political leaders and their counterparts in the USA can help solve this issue, creating a win-win situation for both sides of the Atlantic. He pointed out that before China became a success story, it faced the same situation that Nigeria is currently in, adding that today China is a major producer of energy and the fastest-growing economy in the world.

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    He challenged US business magnates to consider Africa a frontier for economic expansion, paralleling President Nixon’s normalisation of US-China relations. “If Trump’s second term results in a decoupling from China, why shouldn’t Africa aspire to become America’s new strategic partner?” he questioned. To realise this vision, he recommended that African governments prioritise: Trade facilitation – by simplifying customs procedures and eliminating bureaucratic red tape; Infrastructure

    development – investing in transport, energy, and digital infrastructure to support industrial growth and Business environment reform – enacting pro-investment policies and regulations to attract global capital.

    The Institute Director of CIAPS, Anthony Kila, noted that the event “reflects our dedication to shaping public discourse and influencing narratives to drive informed action.”

    •Commonwealth Institute of Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS)

  • Character is like smoke, no matter how one hides it, it will escape

    Character is like smoke, no matter how one hides it, it will escape

    I was reading an opinion column in a Western European newspaper last weekend in which the writer was saying the eventual fall of President Donald Trump and the political tendency and ideology which he represents were almost ordained because, according to the writer, any success built on hate cannot endure.

    It now appears that the apparent electoral success of Trump over Kamala Harris was a mere pyrrhic victory which, though is having fundamental consequences on the USA and the whole world at large, may not amount to a sea change in American politics and global politics after all.

    As an observer of global politics, it is clear to me that there are necessary changes which have to be made in American politics and global reactions to these changes but not the way Trump has gone about it. It is clear to me that America cannot continue to be the dumping grounds for Asian industrial goods from Japan, China, India, Vietnam and other putative capitalist countries whose economies are based on exports while America consumes all and their own industries go into decline without consequences on the global exchange capitalist mechanism.

    This system, whereby consumption is in one country and production is in other countries, particularly in one dominant manufacturing country, is not likely to remain forever and it contradicts the capitalist system of exchange of goods.

    This suited the commercial class in America, and also in Europe, which moved production to China and fed fat on design and manipulation of the market to favour themselves while the working class were made to pay exorbitantly for cheaply made Chinese goods deceptively styled “designer goods “and the rich class became richer and richer on their manipulation of the shares and stock markets.

    Trump exploited the inherent racism of the white people against blacks and Asians to tell the Americans in coded language that the Chinese were responsible for their economic problems. His campaign of making America great again essentially meant “let’s make America white again,” where everyone knew their places, with the whites right at the top of the racial heap.

    In this scheme, the likes of Obama and Harris have no place, and the vast majority of the white American electorate bought this. Somehow some Latinos bought into it feeling smug that they were not after all blacks!  Even some black men felt they would not be bossed around by a black madam! The state capture of the electorate was complete.

    Former President Joe Biden waited too long before he decided he would not seek the presidency. The sham and charade of the Democratic nomination of Kamala Harris came too late and she was merely presented a poisoned chalice at the end and there was no magic wand that she could cast to win against Trump. In the end, the contest was no contest at all.

    However, the dirty character of Donald Trump is becoming clear not only to the whole world but to the American community which has shamefully supported him because what is clear to anybody who has ever visited America is that Americans are closet racists. Somebody once commented that racism is in open display every Sunday when the so- called “God’s own country“ is assembled in separate churches- black,  white and the whites are separated into Catholic, Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptist, Greek, Croatian, Ukrainian and others with red lines which one should not cross.

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    A young friend of mine who was brought up in a Baptist environment of primary school, secondary school and whose Baptist father sent him to a university in Oklahoma apparently owned by the Baptist mission was shocked when he went to attend church on his first visit to the United States. On entering the big church, he noticed that there were no other blacks in the church. He was accosted by the church warden who asked him “can I help you?” When he replied that he was new in town and a Baptist wanting to worship God . He was told he was in the wrong place.

    What is happening in America today and what Trump’s world view represents is what his German forebears called – weltanschauungen. The whole world must understand and sympathise with the ordinary Americans whose leaders are fanning the embers of racism because of politics.  Some of them like J.D. Vance, the Vice President, who one will think would understand the incipient racism of their society, having been married to an Indian, is trying to widen the net of racial superiority to include the people of the subcontinent of India in their dragnet of racial superiority in a struggle with the rest of the world.

    The rest of the world must learn fast and try to blunt the spear of racism directed against them. The world does not need any racial divide. Adolf Hitler tried it and failed. Any pitiable imitator will surely fail. The problem unfortunately is that racism is armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons yet we must try and extirpate and crush this dragon.

    This is the challenge facing the whole world but it is our bounden duty to expose the smoke of racism wherever it lurks in our society and in the world. Let’s begin.

  • ‘How Trump’s tariff will affect movies produced outside of U.S.’

    ‘How Trump’s tariff will affect movies produced outside of U.S.’

    The proposal by United States President Donald Trump to impose 100 per cent tariff on films produced outside the U.S. has the potential to raise the cost of not just production but of importing films, Executive Director, National Film Censors Board (NFVCB), Dr Shaibu Hussein has said..

    Hussain also stated that the development has the attendant implication of making the films less competitive in the already glutted American market.

    Hussain noted that the decision if implemented, would cause a significant shift and emphasis on domestic production as the tariff may necessitate the introduction of some incentives to encourage local production with attendant benefit of creating jobs and boosting domestic film production.

     “While I won’t rule out retaliatory effect of the decision, especially from countries such as China, one other negative implication of the tariff is that it will undoubtedly discourage international co-production as the possibility of having a Hollywood film produced or co-produced in Nigeria will be near impossible. No American company would want to bear the brunt of paying such tariff.

     They would rather just stay and work in America since they wouldn’t want to be caught in the web of increased costs or logistical challenges,” he added.

    Playwright, theatre director, and former Deputy Editor The Guardian, Ben Tomoloju observed that even in an age of globalization, Nigerian movie makers were quick to understand that there couldn’t be globalization without the equilibrating presence of localization.

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    “Nollywood answered the major question of global market forces by first consolidating its local appeal with substantial patronage from Nigerians themselves. That’s the most important strategy which should make the industry firmly rooted and withstand the unpredictability of the global market. This initiative by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, is one of such unanticipated but real threats to any industry anywhere in the world.  The Nigerian movie industry, to my mind, appears strong enough to withstand such threat because it has firmed up not only its local base but enjoys patronage from alternative markets in Africa, Europe and parts of the Americas.

    “In addition, the 100 percent tariff on films made outside the USA does not imply a drastic reduction in patronage of Nollywood movies. There may be a slight lull, but Nollywood will bounce back. I believe that the cord connecting the Nigerian film industry with it USA patrons will not be broken for as long as the diaspora factor subsists,” he said,  adding that there should be no cause for panic.

    But ace filmmaker, founder and executive producer of Zuri24 Media, Femi Odugbemi said it should not be a cause for alarm for Nigeria’s Nollywood.

     He said Nollywood already possess a vibrant, home-grown industry that has consistently proven its resilience and creativity.

    Trump made the announcement on Sunday night on his Truth Social platform, claiming that the American Movie Industry in America is dying a very fast death.

     “Other countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States,” he added on Truth Social.

     “This is a concerted effort by other nations and, therefore, a National Security threat,” Trump posted. “It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”

    According to the post, Trump authorised the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to begin imposing the tariff immediately on all foreign-produced films entering the U.S. market.

     He said: “This is a concerted effort by other nations and, therefore, a National Security threat.

    “It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands.”

    “We want movies Made In America, again!” he declared.

    But Odugbemi noted that despite no threat to Nollywood, Trump’s order is an indirect wake-up call to Nigerian investors in the industry to double their efforts.

    Specifically, he said that what Nigerian movie industry requires now is more investment in foundational infrastructure.

    “What we require now is more intentional investment in foundational infrastructure—reliable electricity, affordable and fast broadband internet, better distribution systems, and professional training that raise the bar for our technical and creative output.

    “We have everything it takes to build a self-sustaining industry that delivers real economic value, jobs, and cultural capital. The focus should be on scaling up what we already have, improving the quality and reach of our stories, and building systems that allow us to compete globally on our own terms,” he added.

    He acknowledged that while the decision by President Donald Trump to impose a 100% tariff on all movies made outside the United States is a significant geopolitical and economic statement, it serves primarily as a wake-up call for emerging film economies like Nollywood.

    “It is a reminder that we must intensify our efforts to strengthen our local ecosystem—not just in content creation, but in the infrastructure, policy environment, and professional capacity that support sustainable industry growth.

    President Trump, like any national leader, is within his rights to adopt policies that he believes will protect and promote local industries, in this case Hollywood. These kinds of protectionist measures are often intended to stem the flow of foreign productions that benefit from incentives in other countries, which can undermine domestic competitiveness.”

    Renowned thespian and fellow of the Theatre Art, Mr. Francis Onwochei corroborated Odugbemi’s position. He said the US President recent decision is of no consequence to Nollywood. According to him, the President of US sees a problem and is trying to do something about it, which he said, is much better than those who allowed the problems fester all this while.

     “His aim is to drive production back to the US and that’s not a bad thing for Hollywood.

    Will tariffs do that? We will soon find out. Nigeria has not yet developed its environment to attract foreign film-makers to make it a film destination like Cape Town, Casablanca, Accra, etc, so the tariff is a no issue to Nollywood. You realise that YouTube is all sorts of content. The tariffs, as they stand, will be about cinema not TV, streaming, and online projects. However, with the US, nothing is off the table,” he warned.

  • Trump tariffs send global stocks crashing for second consecutive day

    Trump tariffs send global stocks crashing for second consecutive day

    • China slams tariffs on all imported U.S. products starting April 10

    US President Donald Trump’s tariffs’  policy sent global stocks crashing for a second consecutive day yesterday. 

    Stock markets in Asia, Europe and the US fell steeply in response to Trump’s policy, with the US market facing its worst two-day stretch since 2020.

    A report by npr.org said the Wall Street plummeted for a second straight day on Friday, as Trump’s tariffs escalated a global trade war and wiped out trillions of dollars in value from the U.S. stock market.

    It said : “The two-day selloff served as the financial community’s most brutal warning yet about the potential fallout of Trump’s trade policy. Investors, businesses, and consumers are all expressing mounting terror about how these sweeping new taxes could upend the global economy.

    “The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 2,200 points — or 5.5% — after dropping almost 4% on Friday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the benchmark S&P 500, which tracks the largest U.S. companies, each also tumbled nearly 6% on Friday. All told, the U.S. market lost more than $6 trillion in value over the past two days, according to the Wall Street Journal.”

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    Trump shocked businesses, investors, and global trading partners on Wednesday, when he announced that his long-promised tariffs would affect almost all U.S. imports. He has imposed the taxes on U.S. allies and foes alike: Most U.S. imports will now face tariffs of at least 10 percent, with higher taxes on goods from the European Union, Japan, China, and dozens of other countries.

    China, however,  seems to be spoiling for trade and tariff war with the U.S, as the Chinese government plans to impose a 34% tariff on all imported U.S products starting from April 10 2025.

    This is a reciprocal measure to the universal tariffs imposed by the United States — a 10-percent “minimum baseline tariff” to be imposed on all imports — which will take effect on April 5, and the “individualized reciprocal higher tariff” on the countries and regions with which the United States “has the largest trade deficits” will take effect on April 9, according to a White House document.

    It had earlier urged the United States to correct its wrongful imposition of “reciprocal tariffs,” and address economic and trade differences with China and other countries through equal, respectful, and mutually-beneficial negotiations.

    The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing on Thursday that there is no winner in a trade and tariff war.

    He also stressed that US action seriously violated World Trade Organization regulations and severely undermined the rules-based multilateral trading system.

     “The Chinese side firmly opposes this and will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” said the spokesperson, reiterating that there is no winner in a trade or tariff war, and that protectionism offers no solution.

    “China firmly rejects this and will do what is necessary to defend our legitimate rights and interests.

    “We have emphasized more than once that trade and tariff wars have no winners. Protectionism leads nowhere. We urge the U.S. to stop doing the wrong thing, and resolve trade differences with China and other countries through consultation with equality, respect and mutual benefit.

    “As I just said, trade wars and tariff wars have no winners, and protectionism will lead nowhere. The U.S. needs to correct its wrongdoings and resolve trade disputes with countries, including China, through consultation with equality, respect and mutual benefit.

    “Let me stress that the U.S.’s unilateral tariff hikes violate WTO rules, undermine the common interests of people of all countries, and do no help to solve its own problem. It is clear that more and more countries have come to stand against the U.S.’s tariff hikes and other unilateral bullying moves.”

  • Trump signs executive order to dismantle US Department of Education

    Trump signs executive order to dismantle US Department of Education

    Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that instructs the US education secretary, Linda McMahon, to start dismantling the Department of Education, seemingly attempting to circumvent the need to obtain congressional approval to formally close a federal department.

    The administration may eventually pursue an effort to get Congress to shut down the agency, Trump said at a signing ceremony at the White House on Thursday, because its budget had more than doubled in size but national test scores had not improved.

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    The federal government does not mandate curriculum in schools; that has been the responsibility of state and local governments, which provide 90% of the funding to schools. At the White House, Trump nevertheless repeated his campaign promise to “send education back to the states”.

    But the executive order targeting the education department, which has been expected for weeks, directed McMahon to take all necessary steps to shut down key functionalities. Trump added at the signing ceremony that he hoped McMahon would be the last education secretary.

  • U.S. chief justice rebukes Trump’s impeachment call on judges

    U.S. chief justice rebukes Trump’s impeachment call on judges

    United States (U.S.) Chief Justice John Roberts has criticised President Donald Trump and his supporters for advocating the impeachment of judges who have ruled against the administration.

    “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said.

    “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose,” said the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest court in the country.

    Roberts was appointed by former President George W. Bush and took office on Sept. 29, 2005.

    He is often seen as a conservative, but has occasionally sided with liberal justices on key issues.

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    Trump called for the impeachment of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg after he blocked the deportation of Venezuelan migrants.

    Boasberg is the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

    “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

    Since Trump assumed office in January, a series of his new policies have brought up legal challenges, and federal judges have in some cases ruled against the administration.

    This has sparked anger within the administration and Trump’s supporters, resulting in more frequent calls for impeachment.

  • Macron urges Europe to stop buying American military equipment

    Macron urges Europe to stop buying American military equipment

    Amid Europe’s growing rift with President Donald Trump, a French lawmaker at the weekend called on the United States to “give us back the Statue of Liberty” now that Americans “have chosen to side with the tyrants”.

    But French President Emmanuel Macron came out with a more concrete plan to split with Washington. In interviews published at the weekend in several French newspapers, Macron said he intends “to go and convince European states that have become accustomed to buying American” to purchase European missile systems and fighter jets instead.

    “Those who buy Patriot should be offered the new-generation Franco-Italian SAMP/T. Those who buy the F-35, should be offered the Rafale,” he told Le Parisien. “That’s the way to increase the rate of production.”

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    While Belgium and the Netherlands still plan to buy new F-35s, Portugal is wavering on replacing its F-16s with the next generation of Lockheed Martin fighter jets, suggesting last week that it may look for European alternatives.

    Not just Europe. Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney last week ordered his government to review its deal to buy as many as 88 American F-35s. So far, Ottawa has budgeted to buy only the first 16 planes.

    Macron said he asked European defence contractors to find ways to reduce costs. But Turkey could prove a major winner of any European decoupling from the U.S. This month, the leading Turkish drone manufacturer formed a joint venture with one of Italy’s biggest weapons manufacturers.

    Leaders in European capitals and Ankara are now calling for closer defence ties.