Trump administration cancels $400m in grants and contracts to Columbia University
Columbia University just had $400m worth of federal grants and contracts terminated, the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Education, and the US General Services Administration announced.
A press release from the Department of Education said the contracts were cancelled “due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students”.
The university, which has more than $5bn in federal grant commitments, has been a target of the Trump administration as it was the birthplace of the Gaza encampment protests that swept the country last year, in which students pitched tents and camped out on their colleges’ lawns in protest of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Republican lawmakers viewed the protests as antisemitic, despite the fact many protesters vehemently denied the accusations or are even Jewish themselves.
This is the first of of many cancellations and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon issued a chilling warning to other colleges who allow for such protests: “Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus.
“Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer.”
Key events
Nina Lakhani
The Trump administration has withdrawn the US from a global agreement under which developed nations most responsible for the climate crisis pledged to partly compensate developing countries for irreversible harms caused by global heating.
The loss and damage fund was agreed at the Cop28 UN climate summit in Dubai – a hard-won victory after years of diplomatic and grassroots advocacy by developing nations that bear the brunt of the climate crisis despite having contributed least to greenhouse gas emissions. The fund signalled a commitment by developed, polluting countries to provide financial support for some of the irreversible economic and noneconomic losses from sea level rise, desertification, drought and floods already happening.
The US has a long record of delay tactics and obstructionism, and had so far pledged only $17.5m (£13.5m) to the loss and damage fund, which became operational on 1 January this year. Now the US, the biggest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, will no longer participate in the initiative.
“On behalf of the United States Department of the Treasury, I write to inform you that the United States is withdrawing from the board for the fund for responding to loss and damage, effective immediately,” said Rebecca Lawlor, the deputy director at the US Office of Climate and Environment, in a letter to the fund.
The decision to abandon the loss and damage fund was condemned by climate advocates from the global north and south.
Here’s more on this story:
The day so far
Donald Trump just held court in the Oval Office, where he again expressed sympathy for Russia, saying he found it “easier” to negotiate with them on achieving a ceasefire in Ukraine. He also cheered the latest employment numbers as proving the wisdom of his economic policies, and said he may soon target Canada with more tariffs to settle long-running disputes over their dairy and lumber industries. The president sounded a bit different earlier in the day, when he threatened Russia with sanctions and tariffs if it did not sign on to a ceasefire. Trump is scheduled to sign executive orders at 2.30pm, before heading to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend.
Here’s what else has happened today:
-
Democrats are no fan of Trump’s tariffs, but one congressman told his party not to ignore their appeal to voters in deindustrialized areas of the country.
-
The latest attempt by the “department of government efficiency” to take over a federal agency was stopped by a judge, for now.
-
Justin Trudeau’s recent call with Trump ended with tense and profane words, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump says ‘easier’ dealing with Russia to negotiate ceasefire in Ukraine
Donald Trump kept up his streak of sounding partial to the US’s historic enemy Russia, by acknowledging that he viewed them as an “easier” negotiating partner in finding a ceasefire in Ukraine.
“I find that in terms of getting a final settlement, it may be easier dealing with Russia, which is surprising, because they have all the cards, and they’re bombing the hell out of them right now,” Trump said.
Asked whether he believes Vladimir Putin wants peace, Trump said:
I believe him. I think we’re doing very well with Russia, and right now they’re bombing the hell out of Ukraine. I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine. They don’t have the cards.
Trump says he plans to impose tariffs on Canadian lumber and dairy
The United States has had a long-running trade dispute with Canada over its dairy and lumber exports, and Donald Trump just said he would be willing to explicitly sanction imports of those products from the US’s northern neighbor.
“Canada has been ripping us off for years on tariffs for lumber and for dairy products,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “That’s not going to happen anymore … they’ll be met with the exact same tariff unless they drop it, and that’s what reciprocal [means]. And we may do it as early as today, or we’ll wait till Monday or Tuesday, but that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to charge the same thing.”
Concerns about Canada’s management of its dairy and lumber industries have persisted for years and across administrations. Here’s a look back at the disputes from 2021, when Joe Biden was in office:
Trump touts private sector job growth in latest employment data
Donald Trump is speaking in the Oval Office now, where he’s singing his praises of the February employment data the labor department released this morning, noting it showed more hiring in the private sector.
“Under the final two years of Biden, one in every four jobs created in America was a government job. That’s a tremendous percentage,” the president said. “But under the first full month of President Trump, which we haven’t even gotten started yet, an incredible 93% of all job gains were in the private sector.”
The comments come as Trump has vowed to dramatically downsize government, including with mass firings of federal employees. The February data from the labor department showed a 10,000 position decrease in employment in the federal government. Here’s more on the report:
In an interview with CNN earlier today, top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Donald Trump was waging “a drug war, not a trade war”.
Hassett, who chairs the National Economic Council, also said the president was looking to negotiate with Canada and Mexico, particularly when it comes to stopping the flows of fentanyl into the United States.
“This is a drug war, not a trade war. And the bottom line is it’s a negotiation,” Hassett said.
“I could tell you that I’ve been in the Situation Room looking at photos of places that we think are producing fentanyl. And so President Trump has adjusted the parameters over time as he’s seen progress, because, you know, we need to have some progress. Tens of thousands of Americans are dying of fentanyl. And we’ve seen the Canadians and the Mexicans crack down in a good way.”
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that at the Pentagon, Donald Trump’s purge of DEI related materials has swept up just about anything associated with the word “gay” – even the Enola Gay, which was the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb:
References to a second world war Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan, and the first women to pass US marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion at the Pentagon.
The preparations come as the US defense department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) content, according to a database obtained by the Associated Press.
The database, which was confirmed by US officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher.
One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public, said the purge could delete as many as 100,000 images or posts in total, when considering social media pages and other websites that are also being culled for content deemed to be related to DEI, which the Trump administration has officially turned against. The official said it’s not clear if the database has been finalized.
In an alternate universe, we would be awaiting a speech from the president, Kamala Harris, right now. But we live in this reality, and thus, the Guardian’s Robert Tait reports that the former vice-president is considering a run for governor of her home state:
Kamala Harris is considering a run to be governor of California and has given herself until the end of the summer to make a final decision, sources close to her have told Politico.
The former US vice-president has been weighing up a gubernatorial campaign in her home state as one option for remaining in the political arena since her presidential election defeat to Donald Trump last November.
Now allies have told Politico that she is close to throwing her hat in the ring after she turned up at a pre-Oscar parties last weekend in Los Angeles at which she reportedly rubbed shoulders with wealthy Democratic power brokers.
The party’s nomination for the governor’s candidacy in 2026 is up for grabs because term limits prevent the current incumbent, Gavin Newsom, from running again.
Harris has retained her tightly knit team of advisers since leaving the vice-presidency in January and attended a series of political events, repeatedly telling people: “I am staying in this fight,” according to Politico.
Chris Deluzio, the Democratic congressman, has a warning for his party: don’t ignore the appeal of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
In an essay for the New York Times, Deluzio writes that for deindustrialized areas of the United States, such as his western Pennsylvania district, voters are hopeful tariffs will restore the prosperity they view as being lost to free trade deals that shipped jobs abroad:
If you oppose all tariffs, you are essentially signaling that you are comfortable with exploited foreign workers making your stuff at the expense of American workers. I am not and neither are most voters. Many polls show that Americans – especially the three-fifths without college degrees – support tariffs in part, economists have suggested, because communities harmed by global competition view them “as a sign of political solidarity”. The Biden administration, to its credit, tripled tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum imports. So, why is the Democrats’ only message on tariffs that they raise prices? That was the play during the 2024 election and it flopped.
That being said, Deluzio criticizes Trump for a haphazard approach to imposing the levies. The president has alternated between slapping tariffs on countries, then announcing temporary pauses and exemptions, which Deluzio said will undermine their effectiveness, particularly if Trump supports the repeal of legislation intended to stimulate domestic manufacturing:
For one thing, tariffs are effective only when used in a predictable and stable way – and the Trump administration’s approach has been anything but. On Feb. 1, Mr. Trump announced he was imposing new 10 percent tariffs on China and fixing part of a trade scam that allows four million packages to enter the United States daily without facing tariffs, taxes or meaningful inspection – simply because they’re labeled “low value.” Not only does this “de minimis” loophole undermine U.S. producers and retailers, but traffickers also often exploit it to sneak in deadly fentanyl-laced pills and fentanyl precursor chemicals. Days after his announcement, Mr. Trump flip-flopped and reopened the loophole. He raised China tariffs another 10 percent on March 4 – good! But still, the loophole means billions in Chinese imports can evade tariffs and inspections.
Mr. Trump’s chaotic tariff two-step – imposing, delaying, threatening and then again imposing tariffs, including on allies like Canada with whom we mainly have balanced trade – is bad business for America. Entrepreneurs ready to invest in production here sit on the sidelines, wondering where the tariff roller coaster will stop.
Democrats should emphasize that tariffs alone will not create jobs or build new plants.
Trump to make unscheduled address from Oval Office
The White House just announced that Donald Trump will soon speak from the Oval Office.
He was scheduled to talk at 11am, but the Associated Press now expects it to begin an hour late.
The White House did not specify the subject of the unscheduled address. We’ll let you know what the president has to say when he begins speaking.
Trump says exempting many Canadian and Mexican products from tariffs is ‘a fair thing to do’
In an interview with Fox Business Network, Donald Trump vowed to press on with tariffs on a wide range of countries beginning next month, but said he decided to temporarily exempt many Canadian and Mexican imports from tariffs to give US businesses relief.
“I wanted to help Mexico and Canada to a certain extent. We’re a big, big country, and they do a lot of their business with us, whereas in our case, it’s much less significant. We do very little with Canada by comparison. And I wanted to help the American carmakers until April 2nd. April 2nd, it becomes all reciprocal,” Trump said, referring to his plan to place levies on foreign imports equal to what they put on American products.
“But this is short-term. And I felt that for the good of the American carmakers … I thought it would be a fair thing to do. And so I gave them a little bit of a break for this short period of time.”
While Trump talks a big game on tariffs, he has repeatedly delayed or lessened levies on Mexico and Canada, two of the United States’s largest trading partners. Here’s the latest on that:
Lauren Gambino
On Tuesday night, a federal judge temporarily blocked an attempt by Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) to takeover a small federal agency that promotes economic development in Africa, after a tense standoff between staff and the billionaire’s cost-cutting team ensued earlier this week.
The ruling by US district court in Washington judge Richard Leon, an George W Bush appointee, was an initial victory for the United States African Development Foundation, whose CEO and president, Ward Brehm, filed a lawsuit on Thursday, after Doge, with the White House’s blessing, attempted to remove him and install the Trump loyalist Peter Marocco. The agency’s dissent has inspired federal workers across the government, as it fights efforts to effectively shutter its operations.
Democracy Forward filed the legal challenge on Brehm’s behalf. The ruling means that, for now, Brehm remains in charge of the agency, which has roughly 50 staff. A hearing will take place next week.
The complaint accuses Doge and Marocco, a state department official tasked with dismantling USAid, of violating the agency’s founding statute and asserts that Congress, not the White House, can eliminate it.
Doge’s team, accompanied by US marshals and Marocco, gained access to the building on Thursday, after staffers prevented them from entering on Wednesday. In the complaint, the foundation details the incident that led to Wednesday’s showdown. It says Doge members attempted to enter the building under “false pretenses of modernizing and streamlining USADF’s computer systems”. When staffers refused to grant them access, the Doge officials responded by threatening to terminate the foundation’s board of directors.
Randomly enough, Donald Trump also took time out of his morning to attack South Africa, writing on Truth Social:
South Africa is being terrible, plus, to long time Farmers in the country. They are confiscating their LAND and FARMS, and MUCH WORSE THAN THAT. A bad place to be right now, and we are stopping all Federal Funding. To go a step further, any Farmer (with family!) from South Africa, seeking to flee that country for reasons of safety, will be invited into the United States of America with a rapid pathway to Citizenship. This process will begin immediately!
“Long time Farmers” appears to be code for white South Africans, who control most of the country’s land and wealth. They are a group Trump cares for quite a bit, as opposed to, say, the estimated 500,000 people in South Africa who could die in the next decade due to his cuts to US-funded HIV programs.
Here’s more about Trump’s latest salvo against South Africa:
Trump threatens tariffs and sanctions on Russia until ceasefire is reached in Ukraine
Donald Trump says he is considering imposing sanctions and tariffs on Russia to encourage the country to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine, noting that they have stepped up their attacks on their neighbor recently.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said:
Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely “pounding” Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED. To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!
The president’s threat came after Moscow mounted a major attack on Ukraine’s infrastructure. We have the latest on that in our live blog covering European news:
While the February employment report showed no significant changes to the labor market, there was at least one sign that Donald Trump’s often haphazard government downsizing effort was having an effect.
The labor department’s data showed federal government employment decreased by 10,000 overall, with 3,500 fewer jobs in the postal service and 6,700 in the rest of the government. Those numbers could increase, perhaps dramatically, in the months to come, if Trump’s mass firing efforts continue.