The Latest: Appeals court allows Trump to continue collecting tariffs under emergency powers law

Trump administration abandons plans to close mine safety agency offices

The Trump administration is dropping plans to terminate the leases for 34 offices in the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Labor said Thursday.

Earlier this year, the Department of Government Efficiency targeted federal agencies for spending cuts, including terminating leases for those MSHA offices. Seven of those offices were in Kentucky alone.

A spokesperson for the Labor Department says the department has been working closely with the General Services Administration “to ensure our MSHA inspectors have the resources they need to carry out their core mission to prevent death, illness, and injury from mining and promote safe and healthy workplaces for American miners.”

MSHA is required to inspect each underground mine quarterly and each surface mine twice a year.

Whitmer decries political violence as Trump considers pardoning men who led a plan to kidnap her

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she was disappointed after Trump said he would “take a look” at pardoning two men serving prison sentences for leading a plan to kidnap her in 2020.

Speaking at a moderated discussion Thursday during a policy conference, Whitmer hinted at greater anger over the possibility and decried political violence, noting the recent arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence and the assassination attempt on Trump himself.

Whitmer says she plans to speak to Trump about the matter.

“We have an ongoing dialogue now, ... very different from the first term,” she said about Trump, turning to smile at the audience.

Trump administration increases pressure on sanctuary cities

The Department of Homeland Security says it is publishing a list of more than 500 sanctuary jurisdictions and will formally notify each that the Trump administration has deemed them noncompliant with immigration enforcement.

The notices aim to increase pressure on communities the administration believes are standing in the way of its mass deportations agenda.

The administration has repeatedly targeted communities, states and jurisdictions that it says aren’t doing enough to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Last month, President Trump signed an executive order requiring the secretary of Homeland Security and the attorney general to publish a list of states and local jurisdictions that they considered to be obstructing federal immigration laws.

▶ Read more about the administration putting sanctuary jurisdictions on notice

Trump commutes sentence of former political fundraiser

Trump commuted the sentence of a former political fundraiser who had corruptly bought access to several high-profile U.S. politicians, including the president's former rivals Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.

Imaad Zuberi was sentenced in 2021 to twelve years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of tax evasion, campaign finance violations and failing to register as a foreign agent.

Federal prosecutors described Zuberi as a “mercenary” donor who gave to anyone he thought could help him. Pay to play, Zuberi explained to clients, was just “how America work(s).”

An investigation by the Associated Press found that Zuberi used a straw donor scheme with cutouts that included a dead person and the names of people prosecutors say he made up. The AP's investigation found several instances where Zuberi-linked donations to members of Congress occurred within a few weeks or even days of him receiving something he sought in return.

Zuberi also claimed to be a CIA asset, according to classified court filings reviewed by the AP. After raising huge amounts for Clinton in the 2016 election, Zuberi became a top donor to Trump’s first presidential inaugural committee.

Appeals court allows Trump to continue collecting tariffs under an emergency powers law for now

A federal appeals court on Thursday allowed President Trump to continue collecting tariffs under an emergency powers law for now, as his administration appeals an order striking down the bulk of his signature set of economic policies.

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted an emergency motion from the Trump administration arguing that a halt is “critical for the country’s national security.”

The appeals court temporarily halted the order from a federal trade court issued a day before.

Trump is facing several lawsuits arguing Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs exceeded his authority and left the country’s trade policy dependent on his whims.

State Department says it may apply a more aggressive vetting approach to all Chinese visa holders and future applicants

The State Department says its aggressive approach to vetting student visa applicants from China and revoking them could be expanded to all current Chinese visa holders along with future visa applicants.

Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters on Thursday that Secretary of State Rubio’s instructions to consular officers about student visa holders is just “the beginning” of a broader review of Chinese visa holders and applicants who may have connections to the Chinese Communist Party or are involved in activities in the United States related to “critical fields” that include anything that could be considered a U.S. national security interest.

She declined to elaborate on any specific criteria that would be used to determine ineligibility and said the vetting would be “up to the people making the decisions.”

“We will not tolerate the CCP’s exploitation of U.S universities or theft of U.S. research, intellectual property or technologies to grow its military power, conduct intelligence collection or repress voices of opposition,” Bruce said.

Second court hands down order blocking tariffs

Another federal judge is blocking Trump’s use of an emergency powers law to impose tariffs.

The preliminary injunction from U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras comes after a lawsuit from two Illinois-based educational toy companies, Learning Resources Inc. and hand2mind.

They say the tariffs may force them to raise their prices by 70% “as a matter of pure survival.”

The injunction only applies to those two companies. Contreras, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, delayed its enforcement for two weeks.

The ruling was handed down the day after a similar, broader finding from a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of International Trade.

At least seven lawsuits have been filed over the tariffs.

White House insists that government cost-cutting efforts won’t stop with Musk’s exit

The White House is thanking Elon Musk for his federal workforce-slashing efforts but also insisting that the work to shrink the size of government will continue without him.

“We thank him for his service,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “We thank him for getting DOGE off of the ground. And the effort to cut waste, fraud and abuse will continue.”

Leavitt says many of Musk’s staffers have become political appointees across the government and that “surely the mission of DOGE will continue.” Trump, though, is not naming a new head of the initiative.

“The DOGE leaders are each and every member of the president’s cabinet and the president himself, who is wholeheartedly committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse for our government,” Leavitt says.

Asked about Musk questioning whether a White House-backed proposal approved by the House would really reduce federal deficits, Leavitt insisted that the bill would ultimately save taxpayers money.

“The president is very proud of the one big beautiful bill and he wants to see it pass,” she said.

State Department notifies Congress of reorganization plan with bigger staff cuts

The State Department on Thursday notified Congress of an updated reorganization of the massive agency.

The department is proposing cuts to programs beyond what had previously been revealed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a steeper 18% reduction of staff in the U.S.

The planned changes, detailed in a notification letter obtained by The Associated Press, reflect the Trump administration’s push to reshape American diplomacy and scale back the size of the federal government.

The proposal includes an even higher reduction of domestic staff than the 15% initially floated in April. The department also is planning to eliminate some divisions tasked with oversight of America’s two-decade involvement in Afghanistan, including an office focused on resettling Afghan nationals who worked alongside the U.S. military.

Leavitt says White House hopes Supreme Court will overturn lower court rulings against White House

Leavitt ticked through a list of just some of the court rulings against the Trump administration thus far as an example of what she said were “ridiculous orders.”

“We hope that the Supreme Court will weigh in and rein them in,” she said.

Leavitt said the White House will comply with court orders, but will win on merits in court.

White House says Israel has accepted new US proposal for temporary ceasefire

“I can confirm that special envoy (Steve) Witkoff and the president submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed and supported,” White House press Karoline Leavitt told reporters at her daily briefing.

Israeli tanks taking position next to an humanitarian aid packages distribution center delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed organization approved by Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

But Leavitt said that talks were ongoing and Hamas has not yet accepted the terms of the proposal.

Witkoff on Wednesday said that the U.S. administration was set to present a new proposal that is intended to bring home living as well as dead hostages still being held in Gaza.

White House says judges in tariff case “brazenly abused their judicial power”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt sharply criticized the judges on the federal trade court that blocked Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs, and she defended the president’s tariff policies as “legally sound and grounded in common sense.”

Leavitt said at a press briefing that the judges “brazenly abused their judicial power to usurp the authority of President Trump” and said the courts “should have no role here.”

Fed Chair Powell meets Trump amid President’s calls for lower interest rates

The Federal Reserve said Thursday that the meeting took place at Trump’s invitation and that they discussed the economy, inflation, and jobs. But Powell did not discuss his expectations for interest rates, the Fed said.

Powell told Trump that the central bank would set interest rate policy “based solely on careful, objective, and non-political analysis,” the Fed said.

The meeting comes as Trump has assailed Powell for not reducing the Fed's key interest rate, calling him "Too Late Powell." The Fed's rate typically influences broader borrowing costs for things like mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards. Trump argues that there is "no inflation" and so Powell should cut rates, though such a move might not necessarily reduce the borrowing costs consumers face.

The meeting is the first during Trump’s second term, though the two met and had lunch together in his first term. Fed chairs regularly meet with Treasury secretaries but less often with presidents, given that the Fed’s interest rate decisions are intended to be separate from political concerns.

Judge keeps temporarily restraining Trump from blocking Harvard’s foreign enrollment pending injunction

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs granted Harvard’s request to keep blocking the government’s action, and asked both sides to propose language for an injunction she plans to issue.

Harvard sued the Department of Homeland Security on Friday after Secretary Kristi Noem revoked its ability to host foreign students.

The Trump administration also announced a new effort to revoke Harvard’s certification to enroll foreign students, sending a letter Wednesday that gives Harvard 30 days to respond to the alleged grounds for withdrawal, which include accusations that Harvard coordinated with foreign entities and failed to respond sufficiently to antisemitism.

Harvard grad disses the Trump administration, in Latin

Salutatorian Aidan Robert Scully addressed his fellow Harvard graduates in Latin, in a speech laced with references to Trump policies.

“I say this ... Neither powers nor princes can change the truth and deny that diversity is our strength,” Scully said in the ancient language. (A printed translation was provided for the audience).

He also quoted the Trojan hero Aenas from Greek mythology, urging his fellow graduates to “endure, and preserve yourselves for better times to come.”

Anti-war demonstrators hold silent vigil outside Harvard’s walls

Protesters held signs reading “Ceasefire Now” and “Not Another Bomb” as they stood silently just outside Harvard’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Among them was Carole Rein, a Harvard graduate who has been an activist for 50 years and wants the university to speak out against Israel’s response to the attacks by Hamas.

“As a U.S. citizen, my money is supporting the genocide that’s happening in Gaza and I’ve got to stand out against it,” Rein said. “I have to stand out against it, and there’s many of us who are standing out against it.”

Harvard speakers address the graduates

Harvard President Alan Garber didn’t directly address the Trump administration threats when he spoke to the graduates Thursday. But he did get a rousing applause when he referenced the university’s global reach, noting that it is “just as it should be.”

Another speaker was Yurong Luanna Jiang, a Chinese graduate who studied international development. She said she found a global community at Harvard, including classmates from more than 30 countries. Now she’s concerned that “the promise of a connected world is giving way to division, fear and conflict.”

“We’re starting to believe those who think differently, vote differently or pray differently, whether they are across the ocean or sitting right next to us, are not just wrong — we mistakenly see them as evil,” she said. “But it doesn’t have to be this way.”

Academic freedom under threat

The Trump administration's latest salvos include asking federal agencies to cancel about $100 million in contracts with the Ivy League school. The government already canceled more than $2.6 billion in federal research grants, moved to cut off Harvard's enrollment of international students and threatened its tax-exempt status.

Visa interviews for international students admitted to schools nationwide were halted on Tuesday, and Trump said Wednesday that Harvard should reduce its international enrollment from 25% to about 15%.

Sustained by a $53 billion endowment, the nation's wealthiest university is testing whether it can be a bulwark against Trump's efforts to limit what his administration calls antisemitic activism on campus, which Harvard sees as an affront to the freedom to teach and learn nationwide.

Harvard holds commencement in the vortex of Trump pressure

It’s a pivotal moment for Harvard University. Its place as one of the world’s leading higher education institutions is under threat by an administration that wants to slash the school’s federal funding and block international students from enrolling, among other shifting demands.

Students cheer during Harvard University’s commencement ceremonies, Thursday, May 29, 2025 in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Harvard’s students have endured their share of challenges — they started college as the world was emerging from the pandemic and grappled with student-led protests over the war in Gaza. Other universities also face unprecedented pressure from the Trump administration, but Harvard, which was founded more than a century before the nation itself, is taking the lead on defying the White House in court — and paying a significant price.

▶ Read more about today's developments between Harvard and the Trump administration

Trump administration tries again to block Harvard’s enrollment of foreign students

The Trump administration issued a notice of intent to withdraw the university's certification enabling it to enroll international students.

The letter sent Wednesday by acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Todd Lyons gives Harvard 30 days to respond to the alleged grounds for withdrawal, which include accusations that Harvard coordinated with foreign entities and failed to respond sufficiently to antisemitism on campus.

The government’s earlier attempt to stop Harvard from enrolling international students was swiftly blocked by a federal court.

White House confident court ruling blocking tariffs won’t stop trade talks

Economic adviser Kevin Hassett said negotiations with other countries won’t be disrupted by a court striking down most of Trump’s tariffs.

“If there are little hiccups here or there because of decisions that activist judges make, then it shouldn’t just concern you at all,” Hassett said on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria. “And it’s certainly not going to affect the negotiations, because in the end, people know President Trump is 100% serious. They also have seen that President Trump always wins.”

He also suggested that the administration would not pursue other legal avenues to relaunch the tariffs, as the judges advised, since those “would take a couple of months to put” into place and the White House is “very, very confident” that the ruling by the New York-based U.S. Court of International Trade is incorrect.

The US military, eyeing China deterrence, could draw down deployments to South Korea

The Trump administration is not ruling out a reduction in forces deployed to South Korea as it determines what regional presence it needs to best counter China.

That’s according to two senior American defense officials traveling with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to Singapore.

There are 28,500 U.S. troops deployed to South Korea to help defend against any North Korean attack. But the U.S. is also trying to optimize its forces and ships across the Indo-Pacific to defend Taiwan and other allies against aggression from China.

No decision has been made on the number of troops deployed to South Korea, and any future footprint would be optimized to defend against moves by both Pyongyang and Beijing, according to the two officials, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss deliberations that have not been made public.

A possible reduction in forces was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

16 states sue over National Science Foundation cuts

A spokesperson for the NSF isn’t commenting.

Recent cuts to the independent federal agency with a $9 billion budget affect hundreds of university researchers across the U.S. who were working on a wide variety of projects, including artificial intelligence, PTSD in VA patients and efforts to make science, technology and engineering more diverse. And the White House is proposing a 55% cut for the next fiscal year.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Southern District of New York argues that Congress has for years authorized the NSF to create programs to increase the number of women, minorities and people with disabilities in science, math, technology and engineering, and that the NSF’s new priorities are “irreconcilable with its statutory mandates.”

The cuts “weaken the very foundation” of areas that “power innovation, create high-paying jobs and keep our economy strong,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement.

Plaintiffs applaud tariffs ruling

Lawyers for small businesses who challenged Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are applauding the ruling that struck them down.

“It’s great to see that the court unanimously ruled against this massive power grab by the president,” said Ilya Somin, a George Mason University law professor who worked on the case with the libertarian-leaning Liberty Justice Center. They represent small businesses who said the tariffs were a major threat to their livelihoods.

Victor Schwartz, a small wine importer, calls the ruling a “win” for his businesses and others across the country. He said he’s ready to see the case through the Supreme Court as the Trump administration appeals.

Trump administration quickly appeals tariffs ruling

The Trump administration says they’ll go to the Supreme Court if necessary as they appeal a ruling striking down sweeping tariffs the president imposed under an emergency powers law.

The Justice Department argues that the Court of International Trade must pause it ruling now. It calls this halt “critical for the country’s national security and the president’s conduct of ongoing delicate diplomatic efforts.”

The Trump administration is first asking the same three judges who ruled against him to halt their own order pending the appeal. If those judges refuse, it plans to go to a federal appeals court and then the Supreme Court if necessary.

The Trump administration has canceled $766 million paid to Moderna for vaccine development

The drugmaker is developing a vaccine against potential pandemic influenza viruses, including the H5N1 bird flu.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed deep skepticism regarding mRNA vaccines, despite real-world evidence that the vaccines are safe and saved millions of lives.

The company said it was notified Wednesday that the Health and Human Services Department had withdrawn funds awarded in July 2024 and in January. The new vaccine, called mRNA-1018, uses the same technology that enabled the development and rollout of vaccines to fight Covid-19 in record time.

The cancelation came as Moderna announced positive interim results from an early-stage trial of the vaccine that targeted H5 bird flu virus, tested in 300 healthy adults.

▶ Read more about RFK Jr.'s cancellation of mRNA vaccine research

Financial indexes jump on trade court ruling against Trump tariffs

Wall Street and financial markets around the world jumped after a U.S. court ruled that President Donald Trump is not authorized to impose sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law.

Futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq — home to chipmakers and the biggest American technology companies — all rose before U.S. trading began Thursday. Nvidia shares jumped 6% in off-hours trading.

The White House immediately appealed the ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, and it's unclear if Trump will abide by the ruling before a final resolution. The long-term outcome remains uncertain, but investors appeared to take heart after months of turmoil from Trump's on-again, off-again trade war.

US says economy contracted 0.2% in first quarter amid Trump trade war tumult

Trump has now overseen the first shrinking of the U.S. economy in three years. The gross domestic product was brought down by a surge in imports as companies in the United States hurried to bring in foreign goods before the president imposed massive import taxes.

The January-March drop in the nation’s output of goods and services reversed a 2.4% gain in the fourth quarter of 2024. The Commerce Department also says that consumer spending also slowed sharply.

And the Labor Department says more Americans filed for jobless aid last week, with applications jumping by 14,000 higher than the forecast. The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits increased to 1.92 million.

Chinese students anxious and angry after Rubio vows to revoke visas

Chinese students studying in the U.S. are scrambling to figure out their futures after Rubio announced that some students would have their visas revoked.

This is a “new version of Chinese Exclusion Act,” said Linqin, a Chinese student at Johns Hopkins University, who asked to be identified only by his first name out of fear of retaliation. He was referring to a 19th-century law that prohibited Chinese from immigrating to the U.S. and banned Chinese people already in the U.S. from getting citizenship. He said Wednesday was the first time he thought about leaving the U.S. after spending one-third of his life here.

The issue of Chinese students studying overseas has long been a point of tension in the bilateral relationship. During Trump’s first term, in 2019, China’s Ministry of Education warned students about visa issues in the U.S., with rising rejection rates and shortening of visas.

▶ Read more about the reaction from students

Trump rejects claim he’s ‘chickening out’ on tariffs just because he keeps changing rates

Trump wants the world to know he's no "chicken" just because he's repeatedly backed off high tariff threats.

The U.S. Republican president’s tendency to levy extremely high import taxes and then retreat has created what’s known as the “TACO” trade, an acronym coined by The Financial Times’ Robert Armstrong that stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out.” Markets generally sell off when Trump makes his tariff threats and then recover after he backs down.

Trump was visibly offended when asked about the phrase Wednesday and rejected the idea that he’s “chickening out,” saying that the reporter’s inquiry was “nasty.”

“You call that chickening out?” Trump said. “It’s called negotiation,” adding that he sets a “ridiculous high number and I go down a little bit, you know, a little bit” until the figure is more reasonable.

▶ Read more about Trump's comments

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the US will begin revoking the visas of Chinese students

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday the U.S. will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those studying in “critical fields.”

China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the United States, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the United States.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” Rubio wrote.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment Wednesday night.

The action comes at a time of intensifying scrutiny of the ties between U.S. higher education and China. House Republicans this month pressed Duke University to cut its ties with a Chinese university, saying it allowed Chinese students to gain access to federally funded research at Duke.

▶ Read more about the U.S. revoking Chinese student visas

What happens to Trump’s tariffs now that a court has knocked them down?

The court's decision blocks the tariffs Trump slapped last month on almost all U.S. trading partners and levies he imposed before that on China, Mexico and Canada.

Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade official who is now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, says the court’s decision “throws the president’s trade policy into turmoil.”

“Partners negotiating hard during the 90-day day tariff pause period may be tempted to hold off making further concessions to the U.S. until there is more legal clarity,” she said.

Likewise, companies will have to reassess the way they run their supply chains, perhaps speeding up shipments to the United States to offset the risk that the tariffs will be reinstated on appeal.

For now, the trade court’s ruling “destroys the Trump administration’s rationale for using federal emergency powers to impose tariffs, which oversteps congressional authority and contravenes any notion of due process,” said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University. “The ruling makes it clear that the broad tariffs imposed unilaterally by Trump represent an overreach of executive power.’′

▶ Read more about what could happen to Trump's tariffs

Federal court blocks Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs under emergency powers law

A federal court on Wednesday blocked Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law, swiftly throwing into doubt Trump's signature set of economic policies that have rattled global financial markets, frustrated trade partners and raised broader fears about inflation intensifying and the economy slumping.

The ruling from a three-judge panel at the New York-based U.S. Court of International Trade came after several lawsuits arguing Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs exceeded his authority and left the country’s trade policy dependent on his whims.

Trump says he has the power to act because the country’s trade deficits amount to a national emergency.

The court found the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the use of tariffs. The plaintiffs argued that the trade deficit is not an emergency because the U.S. has run a trade deficit with the rest of the world for 49 consecutive years.

▶ Read more about the federal court's ruling

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP