British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is visiting the White House on Thursday to try to convince U.S. President Donald Trump that a lasting peace in Ukraine will endure only if Kyiv and European leaders are at the table as negotiations move forward with Moscow.
Meanwhile, Trump says he plans to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Tuesday, in addition to doubling the 10% universal tariff charged on imports from China.
Here's the latest:
Trump says he’s confident that Putin will ‘keep his word’ in Ukraine talks
Trump said going through the “Russia hoax” ordeal with Vladimir Putin gives him confidence that he can trust the Russian leader if an agreement is reached to end Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Early in Trump’s first term as president, the Republican was dogged by a special counsel-led investigation looking into the FBI’s probe of Russian interference in his 2016 campaign for the White House.
Trump made the comments during an exchange with reporters at the start of his meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin to deliver Democratic response to Trump’s address to Congress next week
The freshman senator from Michigan was one of the Democrats who prevailed in a statewide race in a state Trump carried in November.
It was announced by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. They also announced that congressman Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., will deliver the Democratic Spanish-language response.
Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. The speech is not considered a state of the union address, which the last seven presidents have only customarily given after at least a year in office, according to the Congressional Research Service.
It’s traditional for the party out of power to respond to a president’s remarks before Congress. The speeches are typically observed as a sign of how the opposing party is crafting its message and policy priorities.
The IRS will end leases or close offices at 120 sites, source says
The leases of roughly 120 Internal Revenue Service offices across the country will be terminated or allowed to expire, including sites that provide taxpayer services, according to a person familiar with the closures who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The latest plan to end leases of IRS offices — which include public-facing taxpayer service centers— comes in the middle of tax season, when the IRS expects more than 140 million tax returns to be filed by the April 15 deadline.
Last week, roughly 7,000 probationary IRS employees — who largely worked in compliance — were laid off in a move that experts and former workers say will likely mean reduced customer service and the end of the agency’s plan to go after high-wealth tax dodgers.
Some of the office closures are detailed on the DOGE website. The site states that leases for IRS sites in Knoxville, Tennessee; Beaumont, Texas; Sioux City, Iowa; Bend, Oregon; Salem, Oregon; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Brattleboro, Vermont; Hilo, Hawaii; and Lowell, Massachusetts have been or will be ended.
— Fatima Hussein
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives Trump a letter from King Charles III
Starmer said letter he delivered Thursday during their meeting at the White House was an invitation for a second state visit.
“This is a very special letter” Starmer said.
Trump said he accepted the invitation.
Trump administration opens ‘End DEI’ portal, asks public to report schools
The Education Department launched an “End DEI” portal Thursday, describing it as a platform “to submit reports of discrimination based on race or sex in publicly-funded K-12 schools.”
It asks students, parents and others for a brief description of the practice in question, which the agency said it will use to guide investigations.
The website went live as schools and colleges nationwide face a Friday deadline to end diversity programs the Trump administration views as racial discrimination.
A Feb. 14 memo from the Education Department ordered schools to remove consideration of race from their practices or risk losing federal money.
▶ Read more about Trump’s push to eliminate DEI in schools.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrives at White House for meeting with Trump
Trump shook Starmer’s hand to greet him. Asked how confident he was in getting a deal with Ukraine and Russia, Trump said, “We can. We will.”
The president then gave a thumbs-up before heading inside for the meeting, which is set to be one of the most significant days of the U.K. leader’s seven months in office as he tries to push for U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine.
British officials are nervous but optimistic about the talks, citing Trump’s affection for Britain — land of his mother’s birth and location of two of his golf courses — and the genuine warmth between the president and Starmer in their few meetings and calls.
The British side hopes Trump’s respect for Starmer’s directness and lack of pretension will let the prime minister raise difficult questions without raising the temperature.
EU leader pledges to step up defense and appeals to shared values with the US
Roberta Mestola, president of the European Parliament, said EU member nations, which have increased defense spending since 2021, will continue boosting their defense budget to “match the level of threat we are facing.”
Mestola said at a speech Thursday morning in downtown Washington that the EU wants peace in Ukraine but said peace must achieved with dignity, justice and principles and that Ukraine must be part of the peace talks, “because we know that peace must be a lasting one.”
With the U.S. Capitol in the background, Mestola refrained from criticizing the Trump administration by name but appealed to the shared values across the Atlantic Ocean and warned against isolation. She said the EU is ready to respond “firmly and immediately against unjust barriers to free and fair trade.”
USAID worker calls losing her job ‘heartbreaking’
A U.S. Agency for International Development worker is mourning the loss of what she called her dream job.
Workers are clearing out the desks Thursday at the agency’s headquarters in Washington after being fired or placed on leave as part of the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID.
Juliane Alfen, 25, became emotional as walked out with a small bag that included a stuffed rabbit, saying she was fired Monday after about a year-and-a-half.
She called it “heartbreaking. I love the work. I felt like we made a difference, and to see everything disappearing before our eyes in a matter of weeks is very scary.”
Senate committee recommends Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s confirmation as Trump’s labor secretary
The committee voted Thursday to advance the nomination of Trump’s choice to head the Department of Labor, one of the agencies named in lawsuits over moves by Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team to access federal data systems.
Members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions voted 13-9 to recommend Chavez-DeRemer ’s confirmation by the full Senate.
Although the former Republican congresswoman from Oregon is widely viewed as comparatively pro-labor, some Democratic senators have said they would oppose all of Trump’s remaining Cabinet picks as a way to protest his administration’s far-reaching efforts to reshape the U.S. government.
▶ Read more about Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination
Trump’s ending of 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts slams programs around the world
Health groups and non-governmental organizations expressed surprise and outrage Thursday and said many humanitarian programs would collapse after the Trump administration’s decision to cut 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts.
The move, barely a month after Trump announced a 90-day review of spending, will permanently defund programs across the world that fight hunger and disease and provide other life-saving help for millions.
“Women and children will go hungry, food will rot in warehouses while families starve, children will be born with HIV — among other tragedies,” said the InterAction group, an alliance of NGOs in the United States that work on aid programs across the world.
“This needless suffering will not make America safer, stronger, or more prosperous. Rather, it will breed instability, migration, and desperation.”
▶ Read more about the global reaction to USAID cuts
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to meet Trump as Europe worries about drifting US support for Ukraine
During his Thursday meeting at the White House, Starmer is expected to try to convince Trump that a lasting peace in Ukraine will endure only if Kyiv and European leaders are at the table as negotiations move forward with Moscow.
Starmer’s trip, coming a few days after French President Emmanuel Macron’s own visit, reflects the mounting concern felt by much of Europe that Trump’s aggressive push to find an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine signals his willingness to concede too much to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We’re going to do the best we can to make the best deal we can for both sides,” Trump said Wednesday as he held the first Cabinet meeting of his second term. “For Ukraine, we’re going to try very hard to make a good deal so that they can get as much (land) back as possible.”
▶ Read more about UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to the White House
DOGE access to US intelligence secrets poses a national security threat, Democrats say
And Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers from Elon Musk about whether staffers at his Department of Government Efficiency have shared national security secrets over insecure communication channels.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia were joined by several other Democrats on a letter Thursday that asserts reckless actions by Musk and Trump’s cost-cutting initiative present a threat to national security by exposing secrets about America’s defense and intelligence agencies.
Such information would present huge advantages to U.S. adversaries by giving them critical information about Washington’s defense priorities and the resources assigned to various missions and objectives, the lawmakers said.
▶ Read more about questions on DOGE’s access to intelligence
Secretary of Labor nominee faces backlash from both sides of abortion debate
If confirmed as Secretary of Labor, former U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer would be tasked with enforcing policies on workplace discrimination based on pregnancy status and outcome. But advocates on both sides of the abortion debate are speaking up against her nomination as she faces a hearing Thursday in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Abortion rights groups have warned that Chavez-DeRemer has previously supported anti-abortion bills while in Congress.
Meanwhile, abortion opponents are pointing to a questionnaire in which Chavez-DeRemer said she’d worked at a Planned Parenthood clinic for just over a year in her early 20’s as reason to oppose her nomination. Chavez-DeRemer asserted in the questionnaire that she doesn’t personally support abortion and would not promote policies supporting abortion rights, NBC News reported.
The national anti-abortion group Students for Life Action called her nomination “extremely disappointing.”
Trump plans tariffs on Mexico and Canada for March 4, while doubling existing 10% tariffs on China
Posting on Truth Social, Trump says illicit drugs such as fentanyl are being smuggled into the United States at “unacceptable levels” and import taxes would force other countries to crackdown on the trafficking.
“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,” Trump wrote. “China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date.”
The prospect of escalating tariffs has already thrown the global economy into turmoil — with consumers expressing fears about inflation worsening and the auto sector possibly suffering if America’s two largest trading partners in Canada and Mexico are slapped with taxes. The prospect of higher prices and slower growth could create political blowback for Trump.
▶ Read more about Trump’s tariffs
As Trump’s deadline to eliminate DEI nears, few schools openly rush to make changes
Schools and colleges across the U.S. face a Friday deadline to end diversity programs or risk having their federal money pulled by the Trump administration, yet few are openly rushing to make changes. Many believe they’re on solid legal ground, and they know it would be all but unprecedented — and extremely time-consuming — for the government to cut off funding.
State officials in Washington and California urged schools not to make changes, saying it doesn’t change federal law and doesn’t require any action. New York City schools have taken the same approach and said district policies and curriculum haven’t changed.
Leaders of some colleges shrugged the memo off entirely. Antioch University ’s chief said “most of higher education” won’t comply with the memo unless federal law is changed. Western Michigan University’s president told his campus to “please proceed as usual.”
▶ Read more about the Trump administration’s effect on education
EU pushes back hard against Trump tariff threats and his caustic comments that bloc is out to get US
And the European Union warned it would vigorously fight any wholesale tariff of 25% on all EU products.
The tit-for-tat dispute following the vitriolic comments of Trump aimed at an age-old ally and its main postwar economic partner further deepened the trans-Atlantic rift that was already widened by Trump’s warnings that Washington would drop security guarantees for its European allies.
Thursday’s EU pushback came after Trump told reporters “the European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That’s the purpose of it, and they’ve done a good job of it,” adding that it would stop immediately under his presidency.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, went on a counteroffensive.
“The EU wasn’t formed to screw anyone,” Tusk said in an X post. “Quite the opposite. It was formed to maintain peace, to build respect among our nations, to create free and fair trade, and to strengthen our transatlantic friendship. As simple as that.”
▶ Read more about Trump and the European Union
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rises to the highest level in 3 months
Applications for U.S. jobless benefits rose to a three-month high last week but remained within the same healthy range of the past three years.
The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits rose by 22,000 to 242,000 for the week ending Feb. 22, the Labor Department said Thursday. Analysts projected that 220,000 new applications would be filed.
Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs.
▶ Read more about the latest unemployment numbers
Proposed legislation takes aim at Trump’s meme coin
California Democrat Rep. Sam Liccardo, a freshman congressman who represents Silicon Valley, said he’s surprised the first piece of legislation he’s sponsoring takes aim at President Donal Trump’s meme coin.
“That wasn’t my plan when I ran for office, I can assure you,” said Liccardo, the former mayor of San Jose.
But the president’s launch of a meme coin just before taking office last month needed some kind of response, said Liccardo. Those who bought the meme coin right after launch made out, but the price quickly dropped leaving others with big losses. Even Trump-supporting crypto enthusiasts found the launch distasteful.
“That behavior is so self-evidently unethical that it raises the question why isn’t there a clear enough prohibition,” he said, adding that Trump’s meme coin raises concerns about transparency, insider trading and improper foreign influence.
▶ Read more about Liccardo’s proposed legislation
A Project 2025 author carries out his vision for mass federal layoffs
The Trump administration’s demand that federal agencies plan to radically downsize is driven by a key figure in the conservative movement who has long planned this move: Russell Vought.
In Trump’s first term, Vought was a largely behind-the-scenes player who eventually became director of the influential but underappreciated Office of Management and Budget. He is back in that job in Trump’s second term after being the principal author of Project 2025, the conservative governing blueprint that Trump insisted during the 2024 campaign was not part of his agenda.
The memo Vought co-signed Wednesday is the clearest assertion of his power and the latest seminal writing for a man who argues the federal bureaucracy is an existential threat to the country itself and that it should dramatically downsize.
▶ Read more about Russell Vought’s vision for federal government
Pentagon orders new purge of social media sites to dump diversity, inclusion mentions by March 5
Building lethality in the military may be the buzzword for the new Trump administration, but busywork and paperwork have become the reality at the Pentagon, as service members and civilian workers are facing a broad mandate to purge all of the department’s social media sites and untangle confusing personnel reduction moves.
On Wednesday, the department’s top public affairs official signed and sent out a new memo requiring all the military services to spend countless hours poring over years of website postings, photos, news articles and videos to remove any mentions that “promote diversity, equity and inclusion.”
If they can’t do that by March 5, they have been ordered to “temporarily remove from public display” all content published during the Biden administration’s four years in office, according to a copy of the memo obtained by The Associated Press.
▶ Read more about the Pentagon’s DEI purge
VA pauses billions in cuts as lawmakers and veterans decry loss of critical care
The Department of Veterans Affairs has temporarily suspended billions of dollars in planned contract cuts following concerns that the move would hurt critical veterans’ health services, lawmakers and veterans service organizations said Wednesday.
The pause affects hundreds of VA contracts that Secretary Doug Collins a day earlier described as simply consulting deals, whose cancellation would save $2 billion as the Trump administration works to slash costs across the federal government.
▶ Read more about the VA cuts
Supreme Court blocks order for Trump administration to release billions in US foreign aid
The Trump administration said it is eliminating more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world, putting numbers on its plans to eliminate the majority of U.S. development and humanitarian help abroad.
The cuts detailed by the administration would leave few surviving USAID projects for advocates to try to save in what are ongoing court battles with the administration.
The Trump administration outlined its plans in both an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press and filings in one of those federal lawsuits Wednesday.
The Supreme Court intervened in that case late Wednesday and temporarily blocked a court order requiring the administration to release billions of dollars in foreign aid by midnight.
▶ Read more about the U.S. foriegn aid cuts
Outside the USAID headquarters: Supporters, flowers and a somber mood
The early scene at the USAID headquarters in Washington D.C. was quiet and somber. Few people were there for the first scheduled shift to retrieve their personal belongings.
A small group of supporters stood outside under heavily overcast skies to thank workers for their service but declined to give their names for fear of retribution. There was a small bucket of flowers for the memorial inside to USAID employees who have died in service to the country.
The Associated Press
