Trump vows trade policy of ‘tariff and tax’ on other countries
US President Donald Trump promised tariffs and taxes on other countries Monday, in a nationalistic inaugural address after being sworn in as the 47th president.”I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families,” he said at the US Capitol.”Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” Trump added.Since his election victory in November, Trump has taken aim at allies and adversaries alike, raising the prospect of fresh levies to push other countries towards tougher action on US concerns.Before his White House return, Trump vowed to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, and an additional 10 percent on Chinese goods, if they did not do more about illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl into the United States.On the campaign trail, Trump also floated the idea of much steeper tariff rates — 60 percent or more — on Chinese imports.But he stopped short Monday of unveiling new tariffs, which are applied on imported goods when a US buyer purchases them from abroad.- ‘America First Trade Policy’ -The White House said Monday that under the Trump administration, all agencies would adopt “emergency measures to reduce the cost of living.”It added that Trump would unveil his “America First Trade Policy,” stressing also that Washington would not be beholden to foreign organizations for its tax policy.In his speech Monday, Trump reiterated his plan to set up an “External Revenue Service” to collect tariffs, duties and revenues, promising “massive amounts of money” pouring in from foreign sources.The name is a play on the Internal Revenue Service, a bureau under the Treasury Department that administers and enforces US tax laws.”The American dream will soon be back and thriving like never before,” he said.Some analysts have warned that tariff hikes would bring higher consumer prices and weigh on GDP growth over time.But Trump’s supporters have pointed to his other policy proposals like tax cuts and deregulation as a means to spur growth.Trump’s Treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent told lawmakers last Thursday that he disagreed the cost of tariffs would be borne domestically.On Monday, Trump also said his government would establish a new “Department of Government Efficiency.”The office dubbed DOGE, to be led by Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, is eyeing some $1 trillion in cuts to federal spending.While DOGE has an advisory role, Musk’s star power and strong influence in Trump’s inner circle bring political clout.
Charente-Maritime: démolition actée d’un phare menacé par l’érosion côtière
Le phare de la Coubre situé à la Tremblade près de Royan en Charente-Maritime, menacé par l’avancée de l’océan, devra être démoli sans être relocalisé, a-t-on appris lundi auprès de la Direction interrégionale de la Mer Sud Atlantique.”On est dans la projection, dans l’étude d’une possibilité. Sans calendrier de posé”, a déclaré à l’AFP Christophe Mérit, directeur adjoint de la sécurité et des contrôles maritimes de cette antenne du ministère de la Mer, confirmant une information du Littoral, un hebdomadaire local. Ce phare blanc et rouge, haut de 64 mètres, qui signale jusqu’à 52 kilomètres au large l’approche de l’estuaire de la Gironde, avait été érigé à 1,8 kilomètre de l’océan lors de sa construction en 1904.Aujourd’hui, l’Atlantique n’est plus qu’à 130 mètres et quand cette distance aura encore été réduite de moitié, la déconstruction de l’édifice sera ordonnée car les infiltrations d’eau salée saperont alors ses fondations, expliquent les autorités, rejetant la possibilité “de le faire reculer”.Selon Damien Joussemet, responsable du phare de la Coubre, quatre autres sur la commune ont été emportés par les flots depuis le XVIIe siècle sous l’effet de l’érosion.Phénomène naturel de perte de sédiments causé par les vents, les vagues et les marées, l’érosion côtière fait reculer les plages et les dunes de plusieurs mètres par endroits, chaque année, sur le littoral.Dans le secteur de la Tremblade, le trait de côte s’était notamment replié de 18 mètres durant le seul hiver 2020-2021, selon les relevés des l’Observatoire de la côte de Nouvelle-Aquitaine (Ocna), qui associe des chercheurs du Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières et de l’Office National des forêts.Selon les estimations du Groupement d’intérêt public Littoral, qui regroupe les collectivités locales touchées par l’érosion depuis la Charente-Maritime jusqu’aux Pyrénées-Atlantiques, environ 6.700 logements et commerces sont menacés par ce recul d’ici 2050, si rien n’est fait.Dans la Gironde voisine, le “Signal”, un immeuble d’habitation menacé d’être avalé par l’océan, avait été démoli début 2023 sur la plage de Soulac-sur-Mer.Parmi les autres points critiques de la région, un hôtel et deux villas à Biscarrosse dans les Landes, où des travaux de renforcement de la dune sont en cours, et une route côtière sur une falaise basque à Urrugne, sont les plus menacés par l’érosion dans les années à venir, selon l’Ocna.
Charente-Maritime: démolition actée d’un phare menacé par l’érosion côtière
Le phare de la Coubre situé à la Tremblade près de Royan en Charente-Maritime, menacé par l’avancée de l’océan, devra être démoli sans être relocalisé, a-t-on appris lundi auprès de la Direction interrégionale de la Mer Sud Atlantique.”On est dans la projection, dans l’étude d’une possibilité. Sans calendrier de posé”, a déclaré à l’AFP Christophe Mérit, directeur adjoint de la sécurité et des contrôles maritimes de cette antenne du ministère de la Mer, confirmant une information du Littoral, un hebdomadaire local. Ce phare blanc et rouge, haut de 64 mètres, qui signale jusqu’à 52 kilomètres au large l’approche de l’estuaire de la Gironde, avait été érigé à 1,8 kilomètre de l’océan lors de sa construction en 1904.Aujourd’hui, l’Atlantique n’est plus qu’à 130 mètres et quand cette distance aura encore été réduite de moitié, la déconstruction de l’édifice sera ordonnée car les infiltrations d’eau salée saperont alors ses fondations, expliquent les autorités, rejetant la possibilité “de le faire reculer”.Selon Damien Joussemet, responsable du phare de la Coubre, quatre autres sur la commune ont été emportés par les flots depuis le XVIIe siècle sous l’effet de l’érosion.Phénomène naturel de perte de sédiments causé par les vents, les vagues et les marées, l’érosion côtière fait reculer les plages et les dunes de plusieurs mètres par endroits, chaque année, sur le littoral.Dans le secteur de la Tremblade, le trait de côte s’était notamment replié de 18 mètres durant le seul hiver 2020-2021, selon les relevés des l’Observatoire de la côte de Nouvelle-Aquitaine (Ocna), qui associe des chercheurs du Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières et de l’Office National des forêts.Selon les estimations du Groupement d’intérêt public Littoral, qui regroupe les collectivités locales touchées par l’érosion depuis la Charente-Maritime jusqu’aux Pyrénées-Atlantiques, environ 6.700 logements et commerces sont menacés par ce recul d’ici 2050, si rien n’est fait.Dans la Gironde voisine, le “Signal”, un immeuble d’habitation menacé d’être avalé par l’océan, avait été démoli début 2023 sur la plage de Soulac-sur-Mer.Parmi les autres points critiques de la région, un hôtel et deux villas à Biscarrosse dans les Landes, où des travaux de renforcement de la dune sont en cours, et une route côtière sur une falaise basque à Urrugne, sont les plus menacés par l’érosion dans les années à venir, selon l’Ocna.
Trump says to declare national emergency, use military at Mexico border
Donald Trump said Monday that he will issue a raft of executive orders aimed at reshaping how the United States deals with citizenship and immigration.The 47th president will set to work almost immediately with a series of presidential decrees intended to drastically reduce the number of migrants entering the country.”First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border,” Trump said minutes after his inauguration.”All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” he said.Trump, who campaigned on a platform of clamping down on migration and whose policies are popular with people who fret over changing demographics, also intends to put an end to the centuries-old practice of granting citizenship automatically to anyone born in the United States.”We’re going to end asylum,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told reporters, and create “an immediate removal process without possibility of asylum. We are then going to end birthright citizenship.”The notion of birthright citizenship is enshrined in the US Constitution, which grants anyone born on US soil the right to an American passport.Kelly said the actions Trump takes would “clarify” the 14th Amendment — the clause that addresses birthright citizenship.”Federal government will not recognize automatic birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens born in the United States,” she said.- Appointments cancelled -The first effects of Trump’s hardline stance on immigration became apparent minutes after Trump’s inauguration when an app unveiled under president Joe Biden to help process migrants went offline.”Effective January 20, 2025, the functionalities of CBP One that previously allowed undocumented aliens to submit advance information and schedule appointments at eight southwest border ports of entry is no longer available, and existing appointments have been cancelled,” said a notice on the landing page.US media reported 30,000 people had appointments scheduled.Kelly said the administration would also reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy that prevailed under the last Trump administration.Under that rule, people who apply to enter the United States at the Mexican border were not allowed to enter the country until their application had been decided.- Court challenges -Kelly said Trump would seek to use the death penalty against non-citizens who commit capital crimes, such as murder.”This is about national security. This is about public safety, and this is about the victims of some of the most violent, abusive criminals we’ve seen enter our country in our lifetime, and it ends today,” she said.Many of Trump’s executive actions taken during his first term were rescinded under Biden, including one using so-called Title 42, which was implemented during the Covid pandemic preventing almost all entry to the country on public health grounds.The changes under Biden led to an influx of people crossing into the United States and images of thousands of people packing the border area.Trump frequently invoked dark imagery about how illegal migration was “poisoning the blood” of the nation, words that were seized upon by opponents as reminiscent of Nazi Germany.- Court challenges -While US presidents enjoy a range of powers, they are not unlimited. Analysts say any effort to alter birthright citizenship will be fraught.Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said the 14th Amendment was “crystal clear” in granting citizenship to anyone born in the United States with the exception of children of foreign diplomats. “We have had birthright citizenship for centuries, and a president cannot take it away with an executive order,” he told AFP. “We expect rapid court challenges.”Reichlin-Malik said all sides of the immigration debate recognized that the laws needed reform, but presidential orders were unlikely to achieve lasting change.Cris Ramon, immigration senior policy advisor at civil rights group UnidosUS, said the administration was “using a ‘throw spaghetti at the wall’ approach.””We don’t care whether this is legal or not,” he said of the apparent attitude. “We’re just simply going to do it and see if it survives the courts.”
Trump says ‘only two genders’, will end diversity programs
US President Donald Trump will issue a series of executive orders targeting diversity programs and gender identity policies Monday, using his inauguration speech to signal a definitive break with what he decries as “woke” culture.On the campaign trail Trump railed against diversity, equity and inclusion policies in the federal government and corporate world, saying they discriminated against white people — men in particular.He also demonized any recognition of gender diversity, attacking transgender people — notably transgender women in sports — and gender-affirming care for children.In his inauguration speech at the US Capitol, Trump said “as of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”An incoming White House official told reporters ahead of the presidential inauguration Trump will order the US government to end federal diversity programs.”I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” Trump said in his inauguration speech, calling the new moves a “revolution of common sense.”The policies will almost certainly face legal challenges.In practical terms going forward, official documents would be forced to “reflect sex accurately,” the official said, without stating whether that meant gender assigned at birth.”No longer will the federal government be promoting gender ideology,” the official said.The government would also only recognize two genders — male and female — ending official policies that recognized a third gender, denoted by an “X” on US passports for example.- ‘Incontrovertible reality’ -The official did not specify any clear policies on gender transitions — but did suggest that genders assigned at birth could not be changed.”These are sexes that are not changeable, and they are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” they said.The government would also immediately move to curtail programs that sought to redress historical inequality but that Trump has insisted disadvantage white people, particularly men.”The Department of Treasury — this is a little while ago now — included diversity training that said all white people, regardless of how woke they are, contribute to racism. So this type of funding, we’re going to end at these (diversity) programs. We’re going to end that,” the official said.They added that the incoming administration would move to “terminate all discriminatory programs” while also seeking out civil service roles linked to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion that had been renamed by the Biden administration in an effort to protect them from Trump’s axe.”This includes environmental justice programs, equity related grants, equity action plans, equity initiatives, these types of things,” the Trump official said.- Transgender fear -Ahead of the election, Trump planned to “ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the US government are male and female, and they are assigned at birth,” his political program stated.He had also promised to ban gender-affirming care for minors and to take legal action against any doctors and educators who carry out or enable the practice.Many in the queer community were alarmed by the election of Trump following a campaign in which the Republican put attacks on trans people and their rights front and center.The LGBT National Help Center has been receiving about 2,000 calls per day since the election results, instead of the usual 300, according to its director Aaron Almanza.Anti-trans rhetoric was a mainstay of Trump’s campaign rallies, drawing huge cheers from crowds fired up by the Republican’s false claims that children were being forced to undergo gender reassignment, among other lies.