President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday placing tariffs on many U.S. trade partners — the next step in his trade agenda that will test the global economy and alliances.
They are set to go into effect in seven days, and not the Friday deadline that the president initially set. The extension reflects the government’s need for more time to harmonize the tariff rates, according to a senior official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.
The order applies to 68 countries and the 27-member European Union. Nations not listed in the order would face a baseline 10% tariff.
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Trump goes after Susan Collins
In a late-night social media post, the president took a dig at the Maine senator, a moderate Republican who has voted against some of his key priorities.
“Republicans, when in doubt, vote the exact opposite of Senator Susan Collins,” Trump said. “Generally speaking, you can’t go wrong. Thank you for your attention to this matter and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Collins is up for reelection in 2026 and is likely to face a tough campaign in the Democratic-leaning state.
She opposed Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill on taxes and border spending because of its anticipated impact on Medicaid and rural health care providers.
Collins also opposed the nomination of former Trump lawyer Emil Bove, who was confirmed as a lifetime appeals court judge this week.
Trump demands Senate recess be canceled — again
As the Senate remains in a slog of confirmations, the president is again pushing for it to cancel lawmakers’ August breaks back home to install Trump’s key nominees.
Trump wrote on social media that the Senate needs to stay in session until the “entire Executive Calendar is CLEAR!!!” That’s the point at which all nominations submitted to the Senate will have been dealt with.
“We have to save our Country from the Lunatic Left,” the president’s Truth Social post read Thursday night. “Republicans, for the health and safety of the USA, DO YOUR JOB, and confirm All Nominees. They should NOT BE FORCED TO WAIT.
“Democrats have vowed to put up procedural fights against Trump nominees, but they can’t unilaterally stop their confirmations unless enough Republicans defect from the picks.
But for senators of both parties, the August recess remains sacred, and it’s unclear how much longer they will stay in Washington.
Taiwan president says final tariff negotiations with US yet to come
Lai Ching-te said Taiwan had yet to engage in final negotiations with the U.S. due to scheduling difficulties and he was hopeful the final tariff rate would be reduced even further after a final round of talks.
The Trump administration initially hit Taiwan with 32% tariffs but lowered it to 20% on Thursday.
Negotiations have included talks on working together on high-tech supply chains, Lai said in a statement. The U.S. is Taiwan’s most important export market and strategic ally, he added.
Cambodia prime minister thanks Trump for dropping tariff rate
Hun Manet expressed his thanks to the U.S. president for the dropping of tariffs from 36% to 19%.
“This is good news for the people and economy of Cambodia to continue developing the country,” Hun Manet said.
In a post on his social media platform, Hun Manet said Trump had not only helped broker a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand forces after nearly a weeklong clash but also helped Cambodia’s economy by lowering tariffs.
‘These are dark days,’ Biden warns in blistering speech about Trump
Former President Joe Biden also accused the Trump administration administration of “doing its best to dismantle the Constitution” with the help of the Republican-controlled Congress and the Supreme Court.
“Our future is literally on the line,” Biden said in the speech to a National Bar Association convention in Chicago on the the 100th anniversary of the organization, which was founded to support Black lawyers at a time when they were excluded from the legal profession.
Biden celebrated the diversity of his judicial appointments and recounted his work on civil rights throughout a five-decade political career before turning to Trump.
“In our lives, the life of our nation, there are moments so stark that they divide all that came before from everything that follows,” Biden said. “Moments that force us to confront hard truths about ourselves, our institutions and democracy itself. We are, in my view, at such a moment in American history.”
Thailand negotiates lower tariffs
Government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said the U.S. agreed to reduce the tariff rate from 36% to 19%, the same as for a number of other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines.
“It’s one of the major successes of Team Thailand in a win-win approach, to secure the country’s export base and economic security in a long run,” he said in a statement. He did not immediately say what was the latest offer Thailand made to the U.S.
The agreement came days after a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia to halt the nearly weeklong clashes that killed at least 41 people. It was brokered with U.S. pressure as Trump said he would not move forward with trade agreements if the conflict continued.
2 Colorado deputies disciplined for helping federal immigration agents
One was sued by Colorado’s attorney general last week after his cooperation with the agents on a drug task force was revealed following the arrest of a Brazilian college student whose visa expired.
A second Mesa County Sheriff’s Office deputy and task force member was then found to have also shared information.
The two relayed the information in a Signal chat, according to sheriff’s office documents. They were placed on three and two weeks of unpaid leave, respectively, and both were removed from the task force.
The deputies told officials they thought they were operating according to longstanding procedure. However an internal investigation found that they both received and read two emails prior to the passage of a new law on limits on cooperation with immigration officials.
Their sheriff said task force members from other law enforcement agencies also shared information with immigration agents.
▶ Read more about the case
A green card holder was held at an airport for over a week. Now he faces deportation
The man, a legal permanent resident who flew back to the U.S. after visiting family in South Korea, was detained by immigration authorities and held for more than a week at San Francisco International Airport. While there he slept in a chair and lived off concession food.
Attorneys for Tae Heung “Will” Kim, a researcher at Texas A&M University, said Thursday they still don’t know why he was detained. Kim, 40, has lived in the U.S most of his life after arriving at age 5. He is now being held at an Arizona immigration detention facility, according to his lawyer.
Customs and Border Protection said any green card holder who has a drug offense can be detained. His attorneys say Kim was charged in 2011 with misdemeanor marijuana possession in Texas and fulfilled a community service requirement.
Trump has launched an unprecedented campaign of immigration enforcement that has pushed the limits of executive power.
▶ Read more about Kim’s case
US and Ecuador sign agreement to strengthen cooperation in fighting transnational crime
The agreement was signed Thursday during a visit by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to the South American country.
It facilitates the exchange of information on suspected criminal offenders and risk assessments of cargo and travelers. Noem told reporters that the efforts are “crucial steps to improve security and ensure that migration is carried out within the framework of the law.”
The agreement comes as the Trump administration seeks to bolster regional cooperation in its clampdown against immigration and transnational criminal groups.
Noem signed a similar agreement with Chile the previous day.
All but 250 National Guard troops are being pulled from Los Angeles
The Pentagon said Thursday that it is ending the deployment of all but 250 Guard members who were sent to deal with protests over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered 1,350 National Guard members to leave this week. The rest will remain to protect federal personnel and property, according to a statement.
Roughly 4,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines were deployed to Los Angeles in early June. Half the Guard members were pulled back roughly two weeks ago, and the Marines were ordered to leave a few days later.
State and local officials objected to the presence of federal troops, saying they were unnecessary and inflamed tensions.
The presence of Guard troops in the city was mostly limited to two locations at federal buildings, including the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office and detention facility downtown. Some soldiers protected federal agents during immigration raids.
A few notable tariff rates that were outlined in Trump’s executive order
After initially threatening the African nation of Lesotho with a 50% tariff, the country’s goods will now be taxed at 15%.
Taiwan will be tariffed at 20%, Pakistan at 19% and Israel, Iceland, Fiji, Ghana, Guyana and Ecuador among the countries with imported goods taxed at 15%.
Judge extends TPS expiration dates for 60,000 people from Central America and Nepal
The judge’s order affects about 7,000 people from Nepal along with 51,000 Hondurans and 3,000 Nicaraguans. The protections were set to expire Tuesday for the Nepalese people, and Sept. 8 for the Central Americans.
The Trump administration had moved to remove their temporary protected status, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem saying the government had determined that conditions in their home countries no longer warranted protections.
Temporary Protected Status prevents beneficiaries from being deported and allows them to work. The Trump administration has aggressively been seeking to end the protections and make more people eligible for removal.
U.S. District Judge Trina L. Thompson in San Francisco said plaintiffs had provided evidence that the government’s decision to end protections was racially motivated. She granted the request for an extension made by the National TPS Alliance, an advocacy group that says the terminations were unlawful.
What to know about Trump’s new tariffs
First of all they start on Aug. 7, not the Friday deadline that the president had set. The reason for this is the government needs time to harmonize the tariff rates, according to a senior official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.
The order applies to 68 countries and the 27-member European Union. Countries not listed in the order signed Thursday by Trump would face a baseline 10% tariff.
— Josh Boak
Trump signs order for new tariffs to go into effect in 7 days
The president has signed an executive order that would have new tariffs on a wide swath of U.S. trading partners to go into effect in seven days — the next step in his trade agenda that will test the global economy and alliances.
The order was issued shortly after 7 p.m. It came after a flurry of tariff-related activity in recent days, as the White House announced agreements with various nations and blocs ahead of Trump’s self-imposed Aug. 1 deadline.
Oregon attorney g
eneral sounds confident after hearing in lawsuit over tariffs
Dan Rayfield of Oregon, one of the states that filed suit, asserted that the judges “didn’t buy’’ the Trump administration’s arguments.
“You would definitely rather be in our shoes going forward,” Rayfield said.
He said Trump’s tariffs — which are paid by importers in the United States who often try to pass along the higher costs to their customers — amount to one of the largest tax increases in American history.
“This was done all by one human being sitting in the Oval Office,’’ Rayfield said.
Trump says he has been planning ballroom construction for some time
“They’ve wanted a ballroom at the White House for more than 150 years, but there’s never been a president that was good at ballrooms,” the president told reporters. “I’m good at building things, and we’re going to build quickly and on time. It’ll be beautiful, top, top of the line.”
He said the ballroom would not interfere with the mansion itself.
“It’ll be near it but not touching it and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” he said. “It’s my favorite. It’s my favorite place. I love it.”
Trump said the ballroom will serve administrations to come: “I think it will be really beautiful.”
A look at colleges with federal money targeted by the Trump administration
Several elite colleges have made deals with the administration, offering concessions to the president's political agenda and financial payments to restore federal money that had been withheld.
Ivy League schools Columbia, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania reached agreements to resolve federal investigations. The Republican administration is pressing for more, citing the deal it negotiated with Columbia as a “road map” for other colleges.
There is a freeze on billions of dollars of research money for other colleges including Harvard, which has been negotiating with the White House even as it fights in court over the lost grants.
Like no other president, Trump has used the government’s control over federal research funding to push for changes in higher education, decrying elite colleges as places of extreme liberal ideology and antisemitism.
▶ Read more about universities pressured by the administration
Hawley says he had ‘good chat’ with Trump after dustup over stock trading bill
Josh Hawley is brushing off the president’s quip that he’s a “second-tier” senator after the Missouri Republican’s proposal to ban stock trading by members of Congress — and the president and vice president — won bipartisan approval to advance in a committee vote.
Hawley told Fox News late Wednesday that it’s “not the worst thing” he’s ever been called and that he and the president ”had a good chat,” clearing up confusion over the bill.
The misunderstanding, Hawley said, was that Trump would have to sell his Mar-a-Lago private club and other assets.
“Not the case at all,” Hawley said on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
ICE says it has made over 1,000 tentative job offers
The agency responsible for carrying out Trump’s agenda of mass deportations announced that Thursday as it ramps up hiring following the passage of legislation giving ICE a massive infusion of cash.
Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that the job offers were made after July 4, when when Trump signed into law a broad package of tax breaks and spending cuts that also included about $170 billion for border security and immigration enforcement over five years.
“Many of these offers were to ICE officers who retired under President Biden because they were frustrated that they were not allowed to do their jobs,” McLaughlin said.
The administration has been ramping up immigration-related arrests across the country, including in immigration courts, worksites, neighborhoods and elsewhere.
Trump ally Jeffrey Clark should be disbarred over 2020 election effort, disciplinary panel says
The former Justice Department official should be stripped of his law license, the D.C. Board of Professional Responsibility ruled Thursday. Its recommendation now goes to the D.C. Court of Appeals for a final decision.
Clark played a key role in Trump’s efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election and clashed with Justice Department superiors who refused to back his false claims of fraud.
In the second Trump administration, he has been serving as acting head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a part of the Office of Management and Budget that is responsible for reviewing executive branch regulations.
OMB spokesperson Rachel Cauley said in a post on the social platform X that “this latest injustice is just another chapter in the Deep State’s ongoing assault on President Trump and those who stood beside him in defense of the truth.”
The Associated Press
