5 things to know for March 4: Trump tariffs, Ukraine aid suspended, storm threat, crypto reserve, SpaceX launch scrubbed
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President Donald Trump will soon head to Capitol Hill for perhaps the most consequential speech of his second term so far. He is set to deliver an address to Congress a day after he decided to halt US military aid to Ukraine, which could have dire consequences for its war against Russia. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. China and Canada are fighting back as new US tariffs against those countries and Mexico went into effect today. President Donald Trump enacted 25% duties on Mexico and Canada, and doubled tariffs on Chinese goods to 20%. Beijing swiftly announced 15% retaliatory tariffs on some American goods, including chicken, wheat, corn and cotton. In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Ottawa would immediately respond with tariffs on $30 billion of US goods. The tariffs threaten to raise the prices Americans pay for a wide array of products that are imported from the three nations, which collectively shipped $1.4 trillion worth of goods to the US last year — more than 40% of the value of US imports. The White House announced it is pausing military aid to Ukraine following last week’s heated clash between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. Officials say Trump and his aides want an acknowledgment or public apology from Zelensky before moving forward with a rare earth minerals deal or any future aid. The halt in aid will remain in place until Trump determines Zelensky has made a commitment to seeking peace talks, one official said, in what is essentially an attempt to force Ukraine to the negotiating table by threatening further losses on the battlefield. More than 55 million people across the central and southern US are at risk of severe weather today as a violent storm sweeps across the country. In New Orleans, officials rushed to reschedule Mardi Gras events and shorten parade routes to avoid ferocious winds, according to the Associated Press. Forecasts show the storm will intensify as it moves east in the hours ahead –– threatening the Lower Mississippi River Valley with strong tornadoes, gusty winds, large hail and heavy rainfall. On Monday, a haboob dust storm also tore through New Mexico with near-zero visibility, shutting down interstates. A haboob is essentially a wall of dust and debris that can grow up to 5,000 feet tall as it’s blown forward by strong winds. The Trump administration is working to develop a cryptocurrency reserve, part of the president’s pledge to make the US the “Crypto Capital of the World.” However, some prominent tech and crypto leaders have criticized the plan to direct the government to stockpile bitcoin, ethereum and three other tokens. Analysts say it has raised obvious questions of conflict of interest, considering that the company that owns Trump’s social media network recently made clear its plans to invest $250 billion in the cryptocurrency industry. Other critics have likened Trump’s plan to a government bailout of crypto, an asset class that just experienced its worst trading month in two years. Bitcoin, a market bellwether, fell 18% in February — its steepest drop since June 2022.
The Trump administration’s sweeping legal effort to obtain Americans’ sensitive data from states’ voter rolls is now almost entirely reliant upon a Jim Crow-era civil rights law passed to protect Black voters from disenfranchisement – a notable shift in how the administration is pressing its demands.
Venezuelan officials, including acting President Delcy Rodriguez, returned to X late Tuesday in an apparent reversal of Nicolas Maduro’s 2024 decision to block the site in the country.
The woman killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last week served on the board of her son’s school, which linked to documents encouraging parents to monitor ICE and directing them to training.
During a marathon Supreme Court session Tuesday over whether states may ban transgender women from participating in women and girls’ sports, some justices were already focused on what may lie around the corner
President Donald Trump appeared to flip someone off as he toured a Michigan Ford plant in an incident caught on video Tuesday, and the White House defended the action as an “appropriate” response to someone screaming at the commander-in-chief.
White House officials are heaping blame on DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro over her office’s criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, faulting her for blindsiding them with an inquiry that has forced the administration into a dayslong damage control campaign, four people familiar with the matter told CNN.
The interim Venezuelan government has freed at least four Americans who were imprisoned in Venezuela, a source familiar with the matter told CNN on Tuesday.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is now providing free internet access via its Starlink satellite service to users in Iran as the country’s regime continues its bloody crackdown on anti-government protests, according to a tech expert in touch with Iranian Starlink users.
The aircraft used in the US military’s first strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a strike which has drawn intense scrutiny and resulted in numerous Congressional briefings, was painted as a civilian aircraft and was part of a closely guarded classified program, sources familiar with the program told CNN. Its use “immediately drew scrutiny and real concerns” from lawmakers, one of the sources familiar said, and legislators began asking questions about the aircraft during briefings in September.
DOJ pleads with lawyers to get through ‘grind’ of Epstein files as criticism of redactions continues
“It is a grind,” the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division said in an email. “While we certainly encourage aggressive overachievers, we need reviewers to hit the 1,000-page mark each day.”
A new classified legal opinion produced by the Justice Department argues that President Donald Trump was not limited by domestic law when approving the US operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro because of his constitutional authority as commander-in-chief and that he is not constrained by international law when it comes to carrying out law enforcement operations overseas, according to sources who have read the memo.
President Donald Trump is working to tighten his grip on his party this week as he faces an unusual threat from Congress: an embarrassing rebuke of his military actions overseas.
Bill and Hillary Clinton refused to appear on Capitol Hill Tuesday to testify in Congress’ Jeffrey Epstein probe in the face of threats from the House Oversight Committee to hold them in contempt.