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President Donald Trump responded Thursday to growing criticism over unprecedented cuts to the US government overseen by his billionaire advisor Elon Musk, saying they should be carefully targeted.”We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet,'” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.The president’s message represents the first move to rein in the power accorded to Musk, as his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) works toward gutting federal staffing and spending.But later, directly asked by reporters whether DOGE and Musk are moving too fast, Trump said: “No, I think they’ve done an amazing job.” While Musk is not the formal administrator of DOGE, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO is nonetheless directing operations and even attended the first cabinet meeting of Trump’s second term.The body’s cost-cutting campaign has faced increasing resistance on multiple fronts, however, including court rulings and some pressure from lawmakers.”DOGE has been an incredible success, and now that we have my Cabinet in place, I have instructed the Secretaries and Leadership to work with DOGE on Cost Cutting measures and Staffing,” Trump posted.”As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go.”Trump confirmed reports in the US media that he had convened his cabinet in person on Thursday to deliver the message that they, not Musk, were in charge of their departments.Trump told his team, with Musk in the room and on board, that the tech billionaire and top donor was authorized to recommend firings and other cuts but not to enforce them, according to Politico.”It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people,” the president said, adding that follow-up cabinet meetings on DOGE would come every two weeks.- Thousands fired -Trump’s message came with the administration having fired or threatened to axe tens of thousands of workers from numerous federal agencies as it pursues cost savings.More than two million federal employees received demands from the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — the government’s human resources department — and Musk himself that they account for the work they have been doing in a bullet pointed memo or face the sack.Labor groups quickly opposed the request, with the largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), vowing to challenge any unlawful terminations.Several recent polls indicate that most Americans disapprove of the disruption to the nationwide federal workforce.Dozens of lawsuits against Musk’s threats or demands have yielded mixed results, with some requests for immediate halts to his executive orders being denied by judges.Politico said Musk — who had meetings with Republican lawmakers on Wednesday to reassure them over criticism of DOGE — acknowledged in front of the cabinet that the task force had made missteps.Around a third of DOGE staffers had resigned in protest over its methods by the end of February, saying they would not push through demanded changes that put the country at risk.”We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” 21 staffers of DOGE wrote in a letter, seen by AFP, to White House chief of staff Susan Wiles.”However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments,” they added.The cuts have even sparked criticism from the normally staunchly-loyal Senate Republicans, whose leader John Thune preempted Trump by telling CNN on Tuesday that cabinet officials should retain the full control of personnel decisions. 

Jane Goodall and William Shatner are set to receive honors from the Sierra Club, the major environmental group said Thursday, at a time when climate and conservation protections are being drastically rolled back in the United States.Primate researcher Goodall and “Star Trek” actor Shatner, both renowned activists, will be recognized at a star-studded Los Angeles fundraising gala on April 2 which aims to spotlight environmental concerns at a critical moment.”We do not have the luxury of waiting for action on climate change and environmental justice as communities grapple with the crisis on a daily basis. The choices we make today will shape the future of our planet and our communities,” Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, told AFP. US President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a “scam,” recently pulled Washington out of the landmark Paris Agreement for a second time, expanded domestic oil drilling, and signed executive orders to slow the transition to electric vehicles.Government agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been targeted for mass layoffs.Goodall will receive the Sierra Club Lifetime Achievement Award “for her inspiring dedication to protect chimpanzees and conserving the natural world.”Shatner will collect a Visionary Award “for using his platform to raise awareness about the climate crisis.”Other honorees at the 2025 Trail Blazers Ball, which brings activists and environmentalists together with celebrities, include Indigenous climate activist and fashion model Quannah Chasinghorse.The Sierra Club boasts millions of members and supporters, and is the oldest US environmental group — formed in 1892.Most scientists agree that climate change currently underway differs from natural cycles of the past. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says it is indisputably attributable to human activity, and in particular to the burning of fossil fuels, especially since the end of the 19th century.

Obesity is on the rise not just in humans but in dogs, whose history of selective breeding makes them an ideal species for studying the balance between genetics, diet, and lifestyle in weight gain.In a new paper published Thursday in Science, researchers identified a gene strongly linked to obesity in pet pooches — and found it is also associated with weight gain in humans.”The prevailing attitude towards obesity is that people are just a bit rubbish about controlling what they eat, whereas actually, our data shows that if you’re a high-risk individual, it takes more effort to keep you slim,” lead author Eleanor Raffan, a researcher in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Physiology, Development, and Neuroscience, told AFP.A veterinarian as well as a scientist, Raffan has long sought to study animal genetics to uncover broader biological insights that apply across species, including our own.For this study, she and her colleagues focused on British Labrador Retrievers.”Anyone who knows dogs will understand that starting with Labradors is a good idea because they’re very prone to getting obese,” she said. “They’ve got this reputation for being really foodie dogs, really obsessed by food.”The team collected slobber samples from 241 dogs and conducted a genome-wide association study, which examines an organism’s entire set of genes to identify areas linked to a specific trait.The top five genes were also present in humans, with the one exerting the strongest influence called DENND1B.They also assessed how much the dogs pestered their owners for food and whether they were fussy eaters.”Low-risk dogs tended to remain a healthy weight, irrespective of how their owners managed their food and exercise,” said Raffan. “But if you were a high-genetic-risk dog, then if your owners were complacent about diet and exercise, you were likely to get really, really overweight.”For Raffan, the study has two major takeaways.First, it sheds new light on how DENND1B affects a brain pathway responsible for regulating energy balance and appetite. Known as the leptin-melanocortin pathway, this system is a key target for some anti-obesity drugs.”Only by understanding biology and the nuances of it can we possibly improve our treatment and management of obesity,” she said.Second, the study allowed researchers to quantify genetic risk for obesity in individual dogs — and the level of effort required to keep them at a healthy weight. This is easier to measure in dogs than in humans, since their diet and exercise are entirely controlled by their owners.”We shouldn’t be rude to owners of overweight dogs,” Raffan emphasized.”It’s not that they’re hopeless individuals who don’t care about their pets. It’s just that they’ve got animals who persistently seek out opportunities to eat, and just a little bit extra every day is enough to cause weight gain over time.”

A US company’s spaceship touched down on the Moon on Thursday, but its condition — including whether it landed upright — remains uncertain.Houston-based Intuitive Machines made history last year as the first private firm to achieve a lunar landing, though the moment was overshadowed when its lander ended up on its side.For the company’s second attempt, it sent the 15.6-foot (4.8-meter) tall hexagonal Athena lander to the vast Mons Mouton plateau — closer to the lunar south pole than any mission before it.They were aiming for a 12:32 pm ET (1732 GMT) touchdown, and mission control teams looked downcast as they worked to confirm the outcome.Twenty minutes past the scheduled landing time, company spokesman Josh Marshall announced on a webcast: “Athena is on the surface of the Moon.” However, teams were still analyzing incoming data to assess the lander’s status, and attempting to retrieve an image.”We are working to figure out the orientation of the vehicle,” Marshall added, before the live feed abruptly ended.The mission is designed to test an array of advanced technologies that could support future crewed lunar missions — including an ice-drilling system, a 4G network experiment, three rovers, and a first-of-its-kind hopping drone.The pressure was high after Texas rival Firefly Aerospace successfully landed its Blue Ghost lander on the Moon just days earlier, on Sunday.Both missions are part of US space agency NASA’s $2.6-billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which aims to leverage private industry to reduce costs and support Artemis — NASA’s effort to return astronauts to the Moon and, eventually, reach Mars.- A hopper named Grace -Athena aims to deploy three rovers and a unique hopping drone named Grace, named after late computer science pioneer Grace Hopper.One of Grace’s boldest objectives is a hop into a permanently shadowed crater, a place where sunlight has never shone — a first for humanity.While NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter proved flight is possible on Mars, the Moon’s lack of atmosphere makes traditional flying impossible, positioning hoppers like Grace as a key technology for future exploration.MAPP, the largest of Athena’s rovers and roughly the size of a beagle, will assist in testing a Nokia Bell Labs 4G cellular network linking it with the lander and Grace — technology designed to one day integrate into astronaut spacesuits.There’s also a more compact, tablet-sized rover from Japanese company Dymon, and a tiny AstroAnt rover, equipped with magnetic wheels to cling to MAPP and use its sensors to measure temperature variations.Also aboard Athena is PRIME-1, a NASA instrument carrying a drill to search for ice and other chemicals beneath the lunar surface, paired with a spectrometer to analyze its findings.- Sticking the landing -Lunar landings are notoriously difficult. The Moon’s lack of atmosphere rules out parachutes and forces spacecraft to rely on precise thrusts and navigation over hazardous terrain.Until Intuitive Machines’ first mission, only national space agencies had achieved the feat, with NASA’s last landing dating back to Apollo 17 in 1972.The company’s first lander, Odysseus, came in too fast, caught a foot on the surface and toppled over, cutting the mission short when its solar panels could not generate enough power.This time, the company said it had made critical upgrades, including better cabling for the laser altimeter, which provides altitude and velocity readings to ensure a safe touchdown.Athena launched last Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which also carried NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer probe, which has also faced problems.Ground controllers are struggling to re-establish contact with the small satellite, designed to map the Moon’s water distribution.These missions come at a delicate time for NASA, amid speculation that the agency may scale back or even cancel the crewed Moon missions in favor of prioritizing Mars — a goal championed by President Donald Trump and his billionaire advisor Elon Musk.

Donald Trump said Thursday he was pausing some of the sweeping new tariffs on Mexican imports, amid continued trade tensions with Canada and sustained blowback from global markets on the US president’s policies.Trump said he would hold off some tariffs on Mexico, furthering a pullback in trade action a day after providing temporary reprieve for automakers.The president said after a phone call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum that fresh tariffs targeting Mexico would not apply to trade that falls under an existing regional pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada.The pause, he said, was “until April 2nd.” At that point, Canadian and Mexican goods could still face reciprocal levies.”I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.His remarks stood in sharp contrast to the seething tensions with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.Trudeau said Thursday that Ottawa will remain in a trade war with Washington for “the foreseeable future” even if there are “breaks for certain sectors.””Our goal remains to get these tariffs, all tariffs removed,” Trudeau added.Global markets tumbled after Trump’s announcement of 25 percent tariffs on US imports from Canada and Mexico took effect Tuesday and economists say Americans are likely to face broad-based price rises.The United States’ expanded reprieve for Mexico came a day after the White House gave automakers temporary relief too from the levies that hit everything from lumber to avocado imports.- ‘Economic reality’ -“It’s a recognition of economic reality” that Trump walked back the 25 percent tariff on Mexico after implementation, said Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics at the Cato Institute.This is acknowledgement that tariffs disrupt supply chains, that the burden of levies fall to consumers, and “that the market doesn’t like them and certainly doesn’t like the uncertainty surrounding them,” he told AFP.Lincicome added that the relief Trump’s announcement brings to businesses depends on the details of his rollback.Since taking office in January, Trump has made a series of tariff threats on allies and adversaries alike, declaring trade wars will be a key part of his foreign policy.Trump justified the tariffs on the United States’ two giant neighbors and vital trade partners, along with China, as a way to stop illegal immigration and trafficking of the deadly drug fentanyl.However, Canada contributes less than one percent of fentanyl to the United States’ illicit supply, according to Canadian and US government data. It is also a relatively minor source of illegal immigration, compared to flows across the Mexican border.China, meanwhile, has pushed back on US allegations of its role in the fentanyl supply chain, calling this a domestic issue that tariffs will not resolve.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that he was not concerned Trump’s tariffs would be inflationary, adding that any impact on prices would likely be temporary.Economists warn that blanket tariffs stand to weigh on US economic growth and raise inflation in the near-term.Trump has referred to tariffs as a source of US government revenue, and a way to remedy trade imbalances and practices Washington deems unfair.The US trade deficit surged to a new record in January according to government data Thursday, as imports spiked while tariff worries flared in the month of Trump’s inauguration.The overall trade gap of the world’s biggest economy ballooned 34 percent to $131.4 billion, on the back of a 10 percent jump in imports for the month, said the Commerce Department.Analysts say the US deficit was likely bolstered by gold imports.But “stripping out this impact, all other imports rose 5.5 percent, indicating front-loading of shipments was in full swing,” said Oxford Economics senior economist Matthew Martin.This refers to a tendency for businesses to try and get ahead of additional costs from potential tariffs, and possible supply chain disruptions.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order instructing his newly confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the department she now leads, US media has reported.The Wall Street Journal cited a draft of the executive order circulating Wednesday which directs McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department” based on “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt denied the order would be signed Thursday, but did not address the general plan to dismantle the agency through an executive order.”More Fake News!” Leavitt wrote on X on Thursday. “President Trump is NOT signing an Executive Order on the Department of Education today.”Trump, 78, promised to decentralize education as he campaigned for a return to the White House, saying he would devolve the department’s powers to state governments and directed McMahon “put herself out of a job.” Traditionally, the federal government has had a limited role in education in the United States, with only about 13 percent of funding for primary and secondary schools coming from federal coffers, the rest being funded by states and local communities.But federal funding is invaluable for low-income schools and students with special needs. And the federal government has been essential in enforcing key civil rights protections for students.By law, the Education Department, created in 1979, cannot be shuttered without the approval of Congress and Republicans do not have the votes to push that through.However, as with other federal agencies under Trump’s second administration, the department could see widespread slashes to programs and employees, which could significantly cripple its work.The Republican leader’s threat to shut down the education department has angered Democrats, teachers’ unions and many parents, who see it as an attack on the public education system.McMahon, a 76-year-old businesswoman who formerly served as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, said at a Senate education committee hearing last month that “the excessive consolidation of power” in Washington was damaging education.”So what’s the remedy? Fund education freedom, not government,” she said.The Washington Post reported McMahon and other officials have suggested moving some of the agency’s functions to other parts of the government in their effort to dismantle it, though it could prompt legal challenges.Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called the reported plan — if it is true — “the most destructive and devastating steps Donald Trump has ever taken” as it would hit the most vulnerable and underserved communities.”This would be horrible for our schools, our school leaders, our families, and the children Secretary McMahon is supposed to serve,” Schumer said in a statement. “The blast radius of this order will harm nearly every child, every teacher, every family, and every community in the country.”

SpaceX prepared for the next test flight of its massive Starship prototype rocket Thursday, as scrutiny grows over founder Elon Musk’s influence on the US government’s space program.The world’s biggest and most powerful launch vehicle is set to blast off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, in a launch window that opens at 5:30 pm local time (2330 GMT).It will be Starship’s eighth orbital mission — all so far uncrewed — and the first since its dramatic mid-air explosion over the Caribbean during its last trial. Earlier attempts to carry out the test were called off on Monday and Wednesday.Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall — about 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. Starship is designed to eventually be fully reusable and is key to Musk’s vision of colonizing Mars. Meanwhile, NASA is awaiting a modified version of Starship as a lunar lander for its Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon this decade.The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded Starship after its flight on January 16 ended with the upper stage disintegrating in a fiery cascade over the Turks and Caicos Islands, prompting cleanup efforts for fallen debris.Last Friday, the FAA announced that Starship could proceed with its next flight before the agency finalizes its review of SpaceX’s “mishap investigation.”During Joe Biden’s presidency, Musk frequently accused the FAA of excessively scrutinizing SpaceX over safety and environmental concerns. Now, as President Donald Trump’s cost-cutter-in-chief, the world’s richest person faces allegations of wielding undue influence over regulatory agencies overseeing his companies.According to Bloomberg News, a SpaceX engineer went to the Federal Aviation Administration headquarters two weeks ago and told employees they risked losing their jobs if they did not start work on a program to deploy thousands of the company’s Starlink satellite terminals in support of the national airspace system.Telecoms giant Verizon currently has a contract to upgrade the FAA’s infrastructure but now risks losing it, Bloomberg added. SpaceX said in a post that “recent media reports about SpaceX and the FAA are false.”For the upcoming flight, SpaceX says it has introduced numerous upgrades to the upper-stage spaceship that enhance its reliability and performance.The mission, expected to last just over an hour, includes another attempt to catch the booster stage using the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms — a feat SpaceX has successfully executed twice, including in the last flight.Additionally, Starship will deploy Starlink simulators designed to mimic Starlink satellites, which will burn up upon atmospheric re-entry.Eventually, SpaceX aims to recover the upper stage as well, but for now, it is targeting splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the western coast of Australia, as in previous flights.

The US House of Representatives censured Texas Democrat Al Green on Thursday after he was thrown out of the chamber for repeatedly interrupting President Donald Trump’s address to Congress.Green, 77, stood up and waved his cane as he heckled the Republican leader during Tuesday’s speech, refusing to sit down despite being warned that he risked removal.Republican congressman Dan Newhouse — a moderate who voted to impeach Trump in 2021 — had introduced the resolution to subject Green to a formal reprimand in front of his colleagues.”Decorum and order are the institutional grounds for the way we do business in the United States Congress, and the sheer disregard for that standard during President Trump’s address by the gentleman from Texas is unacceptable,” Newhouse said in a statement.Trump told Fox News Digital on Thursday that Green was a “fool and a clown” that no one takes seriously. The president said the Texan “should be forced to pass an IQ test because he is a low IQ individual and we don’t need low IQ individuals in Congress.”Green’s disruption was just one part of a broader Democratic protest during the address, with lawmakers walking out, yelling at Trump and brandishing signs.The White House accused Democrats of being the “party of insanity and hate,” although it did not acknowledge the Republicans’ own past transgressions during addresses by Democratic presidents.There were few statements of unequivocal support for Green from his colleagues. Although the Democrats tried unsuccessfully to get the censure vote canceled, a handful voted for it when it came to the floor.For critics of the Democratic response to Trump’s first weeks in office, the episode demonstrated the party’s lack of discipline and a clear strategy to oppose his plans to massively shrink federal spending.Democratic Senator John Fetterman called Tuesday’s protests a “sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance.””It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained. We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to — and it may not be the winning message,” he posted on X.Censure votes used to be rare, but have been used by both parties more frequently in recent years.The resolution itself — a formal reprimand by a lawmaker’s peers — is seen as the punishment, and does not entail any further denial of privileges.Green and some of his colleagues sang civil rights gospel anthem “We Shall Overcome” as House Speaker Mike Johnson read out the censure resolution.Before the vote, Green told reporters he was happy to “suffer the consequences” of his actions, which he said were to highlight Republican plans to cut health insurance programs and welfare.”I stood up for those who need Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security,” he posted on X.”Democrats will never abandon the fight to make sure every American has a safe, healthy, and financially secure life.”

Roy Ayers, the trailblazer of jazz, funk and neo-soul whose “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” proved a hugely popular hip-hop sample, has died. He was 84 years old.The artist’s family shared the news in a Facebook post, saying the vibraphonist, composer and producer died in New York on March 4 following a long illness.”He lived a beautiful 84 years and will be sorely missed,” read the post published late Wednesday.Ayers is considered a master of jazz vibraphone, and was also a leading force in introducing soul to jazz with electric instruments and rhythms drawing on R&B and rock.A rare jazz artist who found consistent commercial success, Ayers released nearly four dozen albums over the course of his career, frequently bouncing into the top albums chart.His 1976 track “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” has been sampled nearly 200 times by major artists including Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Mary J Blige. And the electric piano hook off “Love” featured in the 1990 dance smash “Groove Is in the Heart.”Born and raised in Los Angeles, Ayers grew up in a musical family with clear sights on making it his career.He has described receiving his first set of vibraphone mallets at age five from the famed vibraphonist and percussionist Lionel Hampton, whose music Ayers’s parents frequently played for him.He founded the band that would help make him a household name, Roy Ayers Ubiquity, in 1970.The eventual “Godfather of Neo-Soul” found remarkable success with the label Polydor, releasing 11 albums with them from 1970 to 1977.A true artist’s artist, his collaborations over the decades included Fela Kuti, Whitney Houston, Rick James, Erykah Badu, Alicia Keys, The Roots and Tyler, The Creator.”The cat who birthed us all in the ‘vibes only’ movement,” wrote famed Roots drummer Questlove on Instagram, calling Ayers’s music “life changing.””Thank You Roy Edward Ayers Jr for EVERYTHING you gave us. taught us. showed us. soothed us.”And former US presidential candidate Kamala Harris called Ayers “legendary.””I grew up listening to the legendary Roy Ayers,” the Democrat wrote Thursday on X, saying the artist was a family favorite in her household. “‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine’ is one of my favorite songs, and it has scored some of the most important moments in my life,” she added.”Our family sends our prayers to Roy’s loved ones and everyone who — like us — has been impacted by his music.”

The United States hinted Thursday at an expanded reprieve for Canada and Mexico from President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs, with a one-month pause for car imports potentially extended to all goods covered by a North American trade pact.Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC: “It’s likely that it will cover all USMCA compliant goods and services, so that which is part of President Trump’s deal with Canada and Mexico are likely to get an exemption from these tariffs.”He added that the reprieve would be for one month, a day after the White House gave automakers temporary relief too from the levies that hit everything from lumber to avocado imports.But after a month, Canadian and Mexican goods could still face reciprocal tariffs, Lutnick told CNBC, with Trump promising an announcement on April 2.Trump’s 25-percent tariffs on US imports from Canada and Mexico — with a lower rate for Canadian energy — kicked in Tuesday, sending global markets downward and straining ties between the neighbors.Ottawa swiftly announced retaliatory levies, while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum similarly promised countermeasures.On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that Ottawa and Washington would be in a trade war “for the foreseeable future,” saying his country would not back down until US tariffs were fully lifted.Since taking office in January, Trump has made a series of tariff threats on allies and adversaries alike, imposing levies on Canada, Mexico and China over illegal immigration and fentanyl concerns.Canada contributes less than one percent of fentanyl to the United States’ illicit supply, according to Canadian and US government data. But Trump has shrugged off these figures.- Record deficit -Trump has referred to tariffs as a way to raise government revenue and remedy trade imbalances and practices Washington deems unfair.This came as the US trade deficit surged to a new record in January according to government data Thursday, as imports spiked while tariff worries flared in the month of Trump’s inauguration.Trump returned to the White House with pledges to ease cost-of-living pressures for voters, but on the campaign trail he also raised the possibility of sweeping levies across US imports.The overall trade gap of the world’s biggest economy ballooned 34 percent to $131.4 billion, on the back of a 10 percent jump in imports for the month, said the Commerce Department.This was the widest deficit for a month on record, dating back to 1992, and the expansion was more than analysts anticipated.Trump said on social media that the US trade gap was massive, adding: “I will change that!!!”The latest figures came after the US economy saw its goods deficit hit a fresh record too for the full year of 2024 — at $1.2 trillion.In January, imports came in at $401.2 billion, some $36.6 billion more than the level in December, Commerce Department data showed.US exports rose $3.3 billion between December and January to $269.8 billion.On Thursday, the International Monetary Fund warned Trump’s tariffs could have “a significant adverse economic impact” on Canada and Mexico.- Tariff jitters -Analysts say the US deficit was likely bolstered by gold imports.But “stripping out this impact, all other imports rose 5.5 percent, indicating front-loading of shipments was in full swing,” said Oxford Economics senior economist Matthew Martin.This refers to a tendency for businesses to try and get ahead of additional costs from potential tariffs, and possible supply chain disruptions.Economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics said of the surge in gold imports: “Tariff threats are reportedly prompting a mass repatriation of gold holdings to the US from elsewhere, mostly via Switzerland.”US deficits with other economies were a key focus of Trump’s first administration, and at the time he waged a bruising tariffs war with China in particular.On the campaign trail ahead of November’s election, Trump vowed reciprocal tariffs on nations that taxed US-made products, dubbing this the “Trump Reciprocal Trade Act.”Since returning to office, the Republican has launched plans for “reciprocal tariffs” tailored to each US trading partner, to tackle trade practices deemed unfair by Washington, while also threatening tariffs on other imports ranging from semiconductors to autos.