February 14, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news

It felt like a speech, if delivered on X.com, laden surely with community notes.

US Vice President JD Vance, taking the stage in Munich, to eviscerate totalitarianism in Europe. But not in Moscow, especially after its savage invasion of Ukraine.

Instead, in Ukraine’s allies in the European Union. The “enemy within,” as he called it, in Europe, is jailing opponents, and afraid of its own voters.

But while Munich had been hoping to hear greater detail on the Trump administrations publicly morphing peace plan for Ukraine, they were battered with a bizarre, post-truth litany of culture-war complaints and a bid to sow serious doubt about electoral integrity across Europe.

First up was the suggestion Romania’s recently annulled presidential vote was somehow a bid to deny voters their choice.

To be clear, Romania annulled only the first round of a presidential vote last year in which a far-right pro-Russian candidate very narrowly won a place in a second-round spin-off, because courts agreed with evidence from Romania’s intelligence agencies that there had been significant interference from Russia. Vance was objecting to the rule of law in Romania, and pro-Russian sentiment and electoral interference being tackled.

It is really not clear who he was referring to when he said his European allies were censoring their opponents, or “putting them in jail — whether that’s the leader of the opposition, or a humble Christian praying in her own home, or a journalist trying to report the news.”

It sounded like Eastern Germany in the 1950s — a world geographically just a few hundred kilometers to the north, where these Soviet-era horrors are still living memories.

Vance said, “Old entrenched interests” were “hiding behind ugly Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation.”

To be clear, many in the room would have hailed from the brutal occupation of the former Soviet Union. They didn’t need to be lectured on how authoritarianism spouts falsehood to excuse the poor and cruel governance of the minority.

Read more about the speech here.

President Donald Trump suggested Friday that career prosecutors who quit after being told to the drop the case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams were “going to be gone anyway,” falsely implying that they were political appointees from the previous administration.

The lead prosecutor in the New York case, Danielle Sassoon, was appointed to the role of acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York last month by Trump.

On Thursday night, Trump said he did not direct the Justice Department to dismiss the indictment Adams.

“It looked to me to be very political. But why didn’t they bring this up like four or five weeks ago, six weeks ago, whenever it happened, you know. They just sat around and didn’t complain,” Trump said. “Then all of a sudden, they complained, and they know they’re all being dismissed anyway. So you know, that’s called politics, I guess.”

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer departs from Downing Street for the House of Commons to attend the Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) on January 15, in London, England.

President Donald Trump said he agreed to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the next few weeks.

The president told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that he recently spoke with the prime minister on the phone.

“He asked for a meeting and I agreed to the meeting. We’re going to have a friendly meeting,” Trump said. “We have a lot of good things going on.”

The president said Starmer wanted to come to the US “very soon,” as early as “next week or the week after.” Trump reiterated that the meeting was requested by Starmer and that he was not sure what specifically the prime minister hopes to discuss.

It comes after Trump announced reciprocal tariffs without exceptions on Thursday. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, meanwhile, went to Brussels and told European allies to “take ownership of conventional security on the continent.”

Co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party Alice Weidel gestures as she talks with citizens during the TV Programm 'Klartext,' hosted by the public broadcaster ZDF in Berlin, on Thursday.

US Vice President JD Vance met with Germany’s far-right AfD party leader Alice Weidel after his speech at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, according to a spokesperson for Weidel.

They met in a hotel room for about 30 minutes and spoke about the Ukraine war and German domestic politics.

Earlier this month Weidel, speaking to CNN as she came off stage at a rally in Halle, Germany, with Elon Musk, went out of her way to wish the best for the new administration in Washington.

“I wish (Elon Musk), Donald Trump and JD Vance all the best blessings for their next tenure,” she said.

Vance’s earlier remarks: Vance delivered a controversial speech to the conference Friday as he accused European leaders of suppressing free speech and refusing to work with hard-right parties in government.

CNN’s Eve Brennan contributed reporting.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune insisted that House and Senate Republicans’ plans to pass President Trump’s agenda will eventually “merge,” despite ongoing disagreements within the party over how to approach it.

This week, the Senate Budget Committee approved a bill that would give $150 billion for defense and $175 billion for border security priorities — including increasing detention space and hiring more ICE agents.

Meanwhile, the House Budget Committee approved a much larger, more complex package that also includes tax policy changes and an increase to the debt limit.

He said he anticipates the Senate will “link up with the House and give something to the president that he can eventually sign into law.”

This weekend: Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to hold a caucus call for Senate Democrats to discuss the GOP budget resolution Saturday afternoon, according to a Senate source.

There are now six emergency federal court hearings happening this afternoon — essentially all challenging President Donald Trump’s plans to get rid of federal officials, and whether Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency can access potentially sensitive information within agencies as they carry out that mission.

The hearings concern the following issues:

• The dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

• Privacy concerns at the Labor and Health and Human Services departments, as well as at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

• Privacy and data access concerns at the Department of Education

• Concerns over Musk’s team’s work within the Treasury Department

• A broad challenge to the authority of Musk and DOGE

• The White House’s removal of several agency inspectors general

What’s at stake: Nearly all the proceedings carry the possibility that a federal judge could further lock out Musk from what he’s trying to implement across several agencies.

One judge, Ana Reyes of the DC District Court, could consider reinstating eight of 19 inspectors general whom Trump said he was firing.

That case shows just how fast legal proceedings like these can move: The independent government watchdogs asked for Reyes’ emergency intervention just after 2 p.m. ET. Within 20 minutes, she told them she’d like to hold a hearing before 5 p.m. today.

Big picture: The multi-hearing day is indicative of how the federal courts are responding aggressively to emergency challenges that are being filed daily against Trump’s executive orders and the flexing of his presidential authority.

This may be one of the busiest days for the federal district court in Washington, DC, since the immediate aftermath of January 6, when Capitol rioters were being arrested and appearing before judges daily.

Also in court today: A second federal judge paused Trump’s executive order halting federal support for gender-affirming care for transgender youth under 19, according to the Associated Press.

US District Court Judge Lauren King granted a temporary restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington state, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration last week, the AP reports. The decision came one day after a federal judge in Baltimore temporarily blocked the executive order in response to a separate lawsuit.

CNN’s Matt Egan and John Fritze contibuted reporting to this post.

United States Department of Agriculture building in Washington DC, on June 21, 2023.

More layoffs are coming at the Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said today.

Rollins discussed implementing Trump’s mandate to make “government agencies more efficient and aligned with his vision.” The secretary said USDA has welcomed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk “with open arms.”

Payments to farmers: Rollins said farmers who are stuck with millions of dollars in bills because of the Trump administration’s freeze on federal spending would ultimately get paid, but she declined to say when.

The Iowa Soybean Association said this week that about 1,000 farmers in the Midwest are owed $11 million for planting cover crops and taking other conservation efforts. They signed contracts, which are now frozen, the Des Moines Register reported.

Thousands of federal health workers across agencies including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health are expected to be pushed out Friday by the Trump administration, sources told CNN.

The cuts apply to probationary employees, or those who were recently hired, according to three sources who declined to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Workers are expected to be given four-weeks’ pay.

At the CDC, about 1,300 employees could lose their jobs, a source told CNN. Among those employees is the entire first year class of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, a different source said. The EIS is the public health agency’s applied epidemiology training program. Officers are known as CDC’s “disease detectives,” and they’ve been deployed since 1951 to help with public health threats in the US and abroad, including smallpox eradication, Ebola, HIV, anthrax and Covid-19.

The health news organization STAT reported Friday the cuts are part of about 5,200 across the Department of Health and Human Services, one day after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as secretary.

Exemptions are being made at the NIH for employees involved in patient care, one source said. This week, two longtime leaders of the agency, the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research, said they were retiring from government service.

At CDC, a key departure includes Dr. Nirav Shah, acting principal deputy director, who told CDC staff this week that his last day would be February 28, a source said.

CNN has reached out to HHS for comment.

The Associated Press is banned from the Oval Office and Air Force One indefinitely, the White House said Friday.

The AP, one of the world’s biggest news outlets, was singled out by the White House earlier this week over three words: “Gulf of Mexico.”

President Donald Trump said last month that the US government would rename the body of water the “Gulf of America.” The change has taken effect at government agencies. But other countries do not recognize the new name, and the AP has customers around the world, so it still refers to the Gulf of Mexico while also acknowledging Trump’s decree.

Other global news outlets have made similar decisions. But this week the White House singled out the AP and barred its reporters from presidential events. Photographers for the AP were still allowed to attend.

Shortly before Trump departed the White House for Mar-a-Lago on Friday, the administration confirmed that the AP would not be allowed on Air Force One for the trip, either.

In a statement on X, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich pointed to the Gulf dispute, saying the AP’s decision “is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press’ commitment to misinformation.”

He said AP journalists would retain credentials to the White House grounds. But blocking the AP from what are known as “pooled” events, such as Air Force One flights, interferes with the news outlet’s ability to do its job.

The “press pool” travels with the president at all times and shares information with the wider press corps. The AP is so foundational to White House coverage that it helped create the pool in the first place.

The AP did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Friday statement. The wire service has repeatedly signaled that it is preparing a legal challenge.

US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov attend a bilateral meeting, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), in Munich, Germany, on Friday.

Vice President JD Vance met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday.

It’s been a week of major moves for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine. President Donald Trump had calls with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky has urged the United States “not to make any decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

After today’s meeting, Zelensky thanked the US for its support and said he anticipates there will be more meetings to come.

Vance said that while the conversations were “fruitful” there are still a “number of things to follow up and work on.”

Asked how this will move forward if Ukraine is not ready to speak with Putin at the table, Vance was reluctant to speak to the parameters of negotiations, saying he wants to “preserve the optionality” for those working to end the war. Ultimately, the goal is to achieve “durable, lasting peace,” the vice president said.

There is imminent risk that critical records held by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will be destroyed causing “serious and sweeping damage” to the consumer watchdog and financial system, a former top official warned Friday.

Erie Meyer, who served as the CFPB’s chief technologist until last week, urged a federal court to take action to prevent the deletion of sensitive data the bureau has built up over the past dozen years.

The CFPB’s data includes record of exams, enforcement actions, consumer complaints, personal consumer information and other vital data.

Meyer’s sworn statement with the court comes among a pile of legal challenges to Trump administration plans to get rid of thousands of federal workers and dismantle some agencies, including the CFPB, an independent agency meant to protect consumers from potentially predatory banks and lenders that was formed after the financial cris and has been a frequent political targeted of Republicans.

In the filing, which is part of a lawsuit filed by the National Treasury Employees Union against acting CFPB director Russell Vought, Meyer cited information she said she has received from officials at the CFPB and public reporting indicating databases will be wiped out “soon.”

Meyer argued those effects include the potential loss of the CFPB’s consumer response database, the loss of sensitive consumer information, market manipulation and “financial system instability.”

Demonstrators rally in support of federal workers outside of the Department of Health and Human Services on Friday, in Washington, DC.

A group of protesters gathered outside the Department of Health and Human Services on Friday morning to rally against the Trump administration’s measures to shrink the federal workforce and the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary yesterday.

Dante, a federal worker who was introduced as having spoken at numerous anti-Trump rallies in the past few days, gave a speech assailing the Trump administration’s efforts, including its moves to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Kelly Daly, who said she is a union president who represents federal workers from around the country, characterized the Trump administration’s actions as an “attack on all federal workers” and said “solidarity matters in this moment” as federal employees are laid off.

Lynn Kanter, who told CNN she does not work for a federal agency but chose to attend the rally to support the federal employees, condemned Kennedy’s confirmation.

Kanter said she worries that diseases that once posed little threat to the public could become more prevalent again because of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine rhetoric.

Demonstrators rallying in support of federal workers spread Valentine's Day themed messages for them outside of the Department of Health and Human Services on Friday, in Washington, DC.

Protesters joined together to sing “This Little Light of Mine,” while carrying signs with messages such as “No one voted for Elon Musk.”

At the end of the rally, participants scattered heart cutouts on the ground in the shape of a larger heart in a message of support for federal workers, chanting, “We love you.”

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te holds a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, on Friday.

Taiwan will increase defense spending to more than 3 percent of its gross domestic product, its president pledged on Friday, in a bid to allay US concern over its security costs.

President Lai Ching-te told reporters he would move to increase defense spending from 2.5 percent of the island’s annual economic output – where it currently stands – to more than 3 percent.

Washington is bound by law to provide self-ruled Taiwan – viewed by China’s Communist Party as part of its own territory – with weapons to defend itself, but Trump has repeatedly said the island needs to “pay more” for US protection.

Raising defense spending may be difficult for Lai, who leads a minority government.

In January, hours after Trump’s inauguration, Taiwan’s legislature, voted to freeze billions of dollars in defense spending.

The island has spent huge sums on American weaponry over recent decades and – unlike regional neighbors like Japan, the Philippines and South Korea – is not protected by a mutual defense treaty with the US.

US Vice President J.D. Vance speaks at the 61st Munich Security Conference on Friday in Munich, Germany.

Vice President JD Vance slammed Europe for attacks on free speech and “running in fear” of voters during remarks at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, while also saying Europe faces a “threat from within.”

Vance is expected to meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky after he warned on Thursday that the US could hit Russia with economic and military “tools of leverage” if it doesn’t push for peace with Ukraine.

Zelensky urged the US “not to make any decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine,” ahead of his expected talks Vance.

Here’s what Vance said during the conference in Munich:

“Threat from within”: Vance said the greatest threat Europe faces is “from within,” in his opening remarks. “The threat that I worry most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, not China, it’s not any other external actor. What I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values,” Vance said Friday.

Slamming European leaders: Vance delivered a long diatribe against European leaders for allegedly cracking down on free speech and “running in fear” of their own voters. He slammed the United Kingdom for arresting a citizen for protesting near an abortion clinic, and Sweden for convicting an anti-Islam campaign who publicly burned Qurans, along with a string of other incidents.

Cold War comparison: Vance compared today’s European leaders with autocrats who oversaw repressive regimes across the continent during the Cold War. “When we see European courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we need to ask whether we’re holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard,” Vance said.

Follow here more updates on Vance’s remarks in Munich.

CNN’s Billy Stockwell contributed reporting to this post.

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be FBI director, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, DC on January 30.

The Senate is moving ahead with more of President Donald Trump administration picks, setting up key votes next week.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed Thursday to serve as one of the nation’s leading public health officials.

The US Department of Health and Human Services, which Kennedy will lead, is comprised of a number of key federal health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here’s the latest on Trump’s picks:

Not all lawsuits are created equal. That’s become clear in the fourth week of Donald Trump’s administration, where more than 60 lawsuits are now on file in federal courts against the president’s attempts to remake the federal government.

Latest court moves: A judge in Massachusetts unfroze the federal government’s exit plan, finding unions hadn’t mustered the ability at this time for him to block Trump’s “Fork in the Road” plan, which will usher thousands of federal civil servants out of their jobs.

And a second judge in Washington, DC, had extensive questions at a hearing Thursday for lawyers representing United States Agency for International Development workers about how they are harmed by the administration’s plans to dismantle that agency.

The judge hasn’t ruled yet on this legal question and others, but says he will by next Friday. In these two cases and perhaps many more, the question of whether the plaintiffs have standing could be a harsh initial hurdle in court.

When Trump says “you’re fired”: Some lawsuits, like a challenge from eight inspectors general wanting their jobs back that was filed by high-profile lawyers, still has no emergency provision to prompt quick court action.

Yet two other cases from government watchdogs Trump fired moved at lightning speed. They ask major questions about the president’s power, especially in firing officials who are supposed to act with some level of independence. One was from federal workforce’s whistleblower watchdog Hampton Dellinger, to be restored as special counsel.

Challenges against Musk and DOGE: Several suits against Elon Musk also highlight how some of these lawsuits will gather momentum while others atrophy. There are more than a dozen against Musk or his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) actions as of Friday morning.

A wave of lawsuits in the first day of Trump’s presidency were aimed to dismantle DOGE, but those cases may be dead in the water now because they landed before anyone even knew what DOGE was. Lawsuits fighting DOGE emissaries’ access to protected, personal or otherwise private data at several departments were the next, more pointed round of cases.

There are three cases along these lines with major court hearings today. They each challenge DOGE access to data: at the Treasury Department, the Department of Education and the Department of Labor.

A new round of cases challenging Musk and DOGE were filed on Thursday, from two sets of well-known litigators. These are more general challenges to the authority given to Musk, and it remains to be seen how quickly the courts might look at them.

When it comes to the judiciary, each judge runs their courtroom exactly as they please.

Demonstrators protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deportations carried out by President Donald Trump's administration, in New York, on Thursday.

States across the nation are enacting more and more strict immigration measures.

The moves come as Trump has quickly mobilized wide swaths of the federal government to arrest and detain undocumented immigrants in the United States, part of a broader strategy to amass a large enforcement machine.

Here’s what you should know:

New legislation in Florida: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law new legislation Thursday that strengthens punishments against undocumented immigrants, including mandating the death penalty for murder convictions, in a clear sign that the Sunshine State is in lock step with the Trump administration.

The Republican governor called it “the strongest legislation to enhance interior enforcement and to combat illegal immigration amongst the fifty states.”

ICE in NYC jails: New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday he will use his executive power to place US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers back on Rikers Island and increase cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agencies.

Tennessee taco truck: Federal agents detained and arrested three employees of a Memphis-based taco truck Monday, a senior official from Department of Homeland Security confirmed to CNN.

Video of the arrests was posted by the business on social media, which showed plain-clothes federal agents entering the truck and physically escorting the three male employees out.

US deports migrants from Asian countries to Panama: A US military plane deporting 119 non-Panamanian citizens, including migrants from several Asian countries, arrived Wednesday.

The migrants were received by Panama due to a cooperation program with the United States and after the Trump administration made the request.

Probationary staff at the Office of Personnel Management were fired in a conference call on Thursday.

The Trump administration has broadened its effort to terminate thousands of probationary workers, instructing agencies on a call to move forward with the layoffs.

Officials have set their sights on probationary workers, who have typically been employed for less than a year, or two years in some cases, because they have fewer job protections and lack the right to appeal.

More than 200,000 employees have worked within the federal government for less than a year, according to the most recent 2024 data from the US Office of Personnel Management, which conducted Thursday afternoon’s call.

Until recently, federal employees across all government agencies had only been placed on paid administrative leave.

Here’s what we know:

Read more about the mass firings.

CNN’s Tami Luhby, Rene Marsh, Matt Egan and Sean Lyngaas contributed reporting to this post.

US Vice President JD Vance delivers his speech during the 61st Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany on February 14, 2025. (Photo by TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Vice President JD Vance has come out swinging against European allies – not for how they manage their national security or for not enough defense spending, but for not listening to their citizens and suppressing voices they disagree with.

“Whether that’s the leader of the opposition, a humble Christian praying in her own home or a journalist trying to report the news,” Vance said Friday in a speech at the Munich Security Conference.

Vance singled out migration as Europe’s most critical issue and highlighted the attack Thursday night carried out by an Afghan migrant.

He took jabs at Sweden, Romania, the UK and the host nation of the conference, Germany.

Vance dismissed disinformation and misinformation as “Soviet-era words” and blasted efforts including, he said, by the Biden Administration, to stifle speech on social media.

“There is no room for firewalls,” he said, adding that there is either free speech or not.

Vance barely touched on the issue of Ukraine and a potential settlement of Russia, which has been the main subject at the conference for the past few years.

Earlier, Vance told the Wall Street Journal that the Trump administration is keeping all options on the table, including using economic and military “tools of leverage” to get Russia to negotiate.

Follow here more updates on Vance’s remarks in Munich.

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday.

Call it the Thursday afternoon massacre.

The Justice Department is in crisis after the stunning resignation of the top prosecutor in Manhattan and five other senior officials over the DOJ’s decision to halt the prosecution of New York City Mayor Eric Adams on corruption charges.

It took less than a month for Donald Trump’s new DOJ to be engulfed by a controversy that supercharges concerns the president’s political aims are compromising the application of the law.

The drama is the most high-profile effort yet by Justice Department officials to push back against Trump’s DOJ leadership, which is tasked with ending the “weaponization” of justice but which critics fear is perpetuating it.

Danielle Sassoon, who quit as the acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, laid out allegations of political interference in a letter to new Attorney General Pam Bondi. And she said that the New York City mayor’s attorneys had repeatedly urged a quid pro quo under which Adams would help Trump’s hardline immigration policy if the case were dropped.

Sassoon wrote that the DOJ’s order for her to dismiss the case against the Democratic mayor was “inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good-faith arguments before the courts.”

An attorney for Adams on Thursday said the idea that there was quid pro quo is “a total lie” and said that the mayor’s legal team was asked by prosecutors whether the case had any bearing on national security and immigration enforcement “and we truthfully answered it did.”

The administration’s handling of the Adams case seems to show that what Trump says is an effort to purge the “weaponization” of justice is already substituting political, rather than legal, rationales for prosecutorial decisions.

Read the full analysis.

President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, on Tuesday.

After accruing immense governmental power over the past month, tech billionaire Elon Musk got his biggest boost yet this week when President Donald Trump signed an executive order giving him broad authorities over the hiring and firing of federal workers.

Musk heads into the weekend not only as the wealthiest man on the planet but also, as described by one critic, the “most powerful bureaucrat in the history of America.”

Over three weeks, Musk’s role leading the Department of Government Efficiency has ballooned far beyond what many foresaw, raising fundamental questions of a possible constitutional crisis and spurring dozens of lawsuits. Hardly a few hours go by without fresh headlines about DOGE staffers imposing new rules on government agencies, sidelining and firing career officials, and cutting budgets for programs they don’t like.

The new executive order Trump signed Tuesday paves the way for mass layoffs across the federal workforce by installing a “DOGE Team Lead” at each agency and directing cabinet secretaries and all agency directors to coordinate staffing decisions with Musk’s operation.

It also gives DOGE authority to block agencies from filling vacancies with new hires, unless the top official at that agency personally overrules that recommendation. And, it imposes a strict new rule that only one new federal employee can be hired for every four that leave as part of the DOGE cuts, with some exceptions for law enforcement and immigration.

The swiftness and scope of Musk’s work has sent a jolt throughout Washington. And good government groups are raising red flags about Musk’s conflicts of interest.

Read more about Musk’s rise to power.

Shipping containers are reloaded at the port of Stuttgart, Germany, on Tuesday.

The European Union said on Friday that it will “react firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair trade” after US President Donald Trump threatened to slap “reciprocal tariffs” on America’s trading partners.

The commission said that “the removal of trade barriers” such as tariffs have been “fundamental to the European Union’s success.”

The bloc has yet to announce specific counter-measures to Trump’s executive action signed on Thursday. In that action, the US president ordered his government agencies to investigate plans to impose new reciprocal tariffs on goods entering America. Those could come in early April, and set the stage for potential negotiations between the US and its trading partners.

Some background: Tariffs are essentially a tax on imports that tend to raise prices for consumers. That, in theory, can make foreign goods less competitive than domestic goods not subject to the same taxes.

But Trump wants to impose reciprocal tariffs — altering the rate of tax placed on a foreign country’s imports into the US to match the rate that that country puts on its own imports of American goods.

“They charge us a tax or tariff and we charge them the exact same,” Trump told reporters Thursday in the Oval Office.

The White House, in a fact sheet published Thursday, gave an example of the discrepancy in EU-US tariffs, saying that the bloc imposed a 10% tariff on imports of American cars while the US imposed a 2.5% tariff on European cars arriving on its shores.

That is one example of an “unfair” trade practice contributing to America’s “large and persistent annual trade deficit,” the White House said.

A police officer watches for Russian drones from an apartment building damaged by Russian military strikes in Orikhiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday.

It’s been a week of major moves for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, with President Donald Trump appearing to make key concessions to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Here’s the latest:

Follow live updates on the Ukraine war here.