Trump's Canada takeover threat 'a real thing,' Trudeau warns

Canada aims to strengthen its economic partnership with the European Union, Trade Minister Mary Ng said.

"Canada and the EU are stronger than ever," she posted to social media after speaking with EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic via video link.

"We are doubling down on our strategic partnership through CETA — creating rock-solid trade opportunities for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic," she said, referring to a free-trade agreement between Ottawa and Brussels signed in 2016.

In comments following her meeting with Sefcovic, Ng told the Reuters news agency that Ottawa aims to help Canadian businesses enter the European Union's single market.

She said critical minerals and small businesses would be among the focus areas in talks with the European Union.

The statement comes after US President Donald Trump signed an order imposing 25% tariffs on Canada and then suspended the measure for a period of 30 days.

A memo from USAID said the agency's fight against diseases such as malaria, and its efforts in preventing newborn baby deaths and treating severe malnutrition must resume, according to the Reuters news agency.

Though President Trump froze international aid, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver a week later clarifying that "lifesaving" efforts were exempt during this period. But organizations on the ground have ceased operation, unable to determine what is included.

Now, USAID is presumably going to keep some of the programs for the time being.

"These lifesaving activities must resume or continue in the next 30 days of the 90-day pause on foreign assistance to prevent imminent mortality among USAID beneficiaries," the USAID memo states.

The document also urges that programs to combat disease outbreaks, including mpox, avian flu and Ebola, should restart, in addition to other activities aiding the global health supply chain.

The memo was dated February 4, and cleared by email on February 6, Reuters reported. 

Neither USAID nor the White House have commented on the matter.

The leaders of far-right parties in the European Parliament held a gathering in Madrid, Spain, with the speakers focusing on Donald Trump and his return to power in the United States.

Under the slogan "Make Europe Great Again," the gathering featured Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, as well as the leaders of France's National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen, and the Netherlands' PVV party, Geert Wilders.

"The Trump tornado has changed the world in just a few weeks. ... Yesterday we were heretics; today we're mainstream," Orban told the crowd.

"We're facing a truly global tipping point. Hurricane Trump is sweeping across the United States," Le Pen said, echoing Orban's sentiment.

"For its part, the European Union seems to be in a state of shock," she added.

 "President Trump, to us, is like a brother in arms," Wilders told the crowd.

Spain's far-right Vox party hosted the meeting, which was preceded by a dinner Friday night attended by Kevin Roberts, head of the ultraconservative US think tank the Heritage Foundation. The agency has been credited with masterminding Trump's latest actions against the US federal government, in a document known as"Project 2025."

Vox leader Santiago Abascal has highlighted the ideological affinity between the group and Trump, especially on immigration.

The rally's speakers spoused their anti-immigration views, with many of them called for a new "Reconquista", a reference to the Medieval re-conquest of Muslim-controlled parts of the Iberian Peninsula by Christian kingdoms.

A US State Department spokesperson said the US was ready to resettle "persecuted South African farmers," a day after the country froze aid to the South Africa.

"Persecuted South African farmers and other innocent victims being targeted solely based on their race who choose to resettle in America will be welcome," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said on X. 

"The United States will also defend the rights and interests of those remaining descendants of settlers threatened with expropriation without compensation and other intolerable abuses," she added.

Trump's executive order freezing aid to South Africa is based on a law that the White House has claimed would "enable the government of South Africa to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural property without compensation." 

The South African government has flatly rejected the claims, saying the "premise" of the executive order "lacks factual accuracy."

US President Donald Trump has said he will fire the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and install a new board with him as chairman. 

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, located in Washington DC, serves as a memorial to Democratic President John F. Kennedy, and hosts numerous theater, dance and musical concerts each year. 

"The Kennedy Center is aware of the post made recently by POTUS on social media," the center said in response. "We have received no official communications from the White House regarding changes to our board of trustees. We are aware that some members of our board have received termination notices from the administration."  

The Kennedy Center said it is the first time "such action" has been taken with its board. Members to the board are appointed by presidents. 

Ever year, the Kennedy Center holds the Kennedy Center Honors event, which features awards to those in the performing arts and musical performances. Trump has earlier refused to attend the events as recipients of the awards have made criticisms of him.   

South Africa said the "premise" of an executive order signed by Donald Trump to freeze aid to South Africa "lacks factual accuracy."

The order also prioritizes the resettling of white "Afrikaner refugees" whom Trump claimed suffered "government-sponsored race-based discrimination."

"It is ironic that the executive order makes provision for refugee status in the US for a group in South Africa that remains amongst the most economically privileged, while vulnerable people in the US from other parts of the world are being deported and denied asylum despite real hardship," South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement.

The comments come amid unraveling diplomatic relations between Pretoria and Washington over an Expropriation Bill; the government may, in some circumstances, offer "nil compensation" for property where land is expropriated in the public interest.

Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen, whose party forms part of a coalition government with President Cyril Ramaphosa's African National Congress, said a delegation must be dispatched to Washington to inform the Trump administration of what is really happening in the country.

He told South African news outlet Netwerk24 that, though his party is challenging the Expropriation Bill in the courts, "It is simply untrue that land is being repossessed on a large scale in South Africa."

The issue of land is a highly emotive one in a country where, historically, racist laws saw Black families forcibly removed from their land by the apartheid government.

The South African government has to navigate a political tightrope of redressing past injustices while taking into account private land ownership.

A US Federal Judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency team from gaining access to sensitive US Treasury Department records. 

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, blocked Treasury payment systems from "all political appointees, special government employees, and government employees detailed from an agency outside the Treasury Department." 

The ruling comes after 19 Democratic attorneys general sued US President Donald Trump, saying his administration was unlawfully trying to enter the central payment system, which is responsible for tax refunds, veterans benefits and payments made by the US government-run pension system, Social Security.

Engelmayer acted on their request for emergency relief, which will run until February 14, when the case will be brought before another judge.

The White House and Treasury Department did not immediately on the ruling.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has derided Trump's foreign policies in regard to aid for Ukraine and trade.

"Ukraine is under attack, and Germany is helping without expectations of getting paid for it later. That should be everyone's attitude," Scholz told the German media group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland.      

Trump has pushed for Ukraine to give its rare earths to the US in exchange for financial aid as it fights off Russia's invasion. Scholz has labeled this move by Trump as "selfish" and "self-centered."

The German chancellor also rebuked Trump's tariff policies.

"The global economy needs fewer trade barriers, not more," Scholz said. He suggested that if Trump enacts tariffs on EU goods, "the European Commission is able to react within hours." 

Trump has threatened the EU with tariffs. Germany recently announced a trade surplus with the US. 

Trump has already imposed 10% tariffs on Chinese goods and delayed similar measures for Canadian and Mexican imports until March 1. He said he would announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries next week. 

Nineteen Democratic attorneys general on Friday filed a lawsuit to stop Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing Treasury Department systems that process trillions of dollars in payments.

According to the lawsuit, DOGE has no legal power to access the records containing sensitive personal information of millions of Americans.

DOGE's access to the system "poses huge cybersecurity risks that put vast amounts of funding for the States and their residents in peril," according to the attorneys general.

Tax refunds, Social Security benefits and veterans' benefits, among others, are handled on the payment system. Social Security is the main government-run US pension system for American's aged 65 and older. 

The DOGE team headed by Musk consists mostly of young men in their 20s. Critics have raised alarm about Musk as an unelected official without any congressional oversight and who has financial ties to rivals of the US, such as China.     

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from putting 2,200 US-based employees of the US Agency of International Development on paid leave.

US District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington said he would issue the order in light of a lawsuit by the largest government workers union and an association of foreign service workers.

Both sued on Thursday to stop the administration's attempts to dismantle the agency.

In a notice to the foreign aid agency's workers on Thursday, the administration said it would keep on board 611 essential workers out of a global labor force of more than 10,000. 

"The major reduction in force, as well as the closure of offices, the forced relocation of these individuals were all done in excess of the executive’s authority in violation of the separation of powers," lawyer for the unions Karla Gilbride told the hearing.

Trump's administration has claimed, without providing evidence, that the aid agency is rife with fraud.

The gutting of USAID, which supports humanitarian programs in some of the world's poorest countries, has largely been overseen by the world's richest man, Elon Musk.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy earlier warned that cutting USAID is a "strategic mistake."

Lammy, a member of the center.-left Labour Party, pointed to the former UK Conservative government deciding to shut down the Department for International Development (DfID) in 2020 and merge it into the Foreign Office. The Trump administration is seeking to not only to downsize USAID but also put it under the auspices of the US Department of State. 

Lammy said that development is a "very important soft power tool" and he is worried that "China and others" fill the aid gap left by the US.    

President Donald Trump said that he is revoking former President Joe Biden's security clearance and ending his daily intelligence briefings.

"There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden's Security Clearances, and stopping his daily Intelligence Briefings," Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after arriving at Mar-a-Lago for the weekend.

Trump said Biden "set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents."

Biden halted Trump's intelligence briefings after Trump's role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

At the time, Biden said Trump should not be given access to the classified intelligence briefings due to his "erratic" behavior.

Trump was indicted in 2023 for the mishandling of classified documents during his first term of in office from 2017 to 2021.

The case was later dismissed by Judge Aileen Cannon because she ruled that the appointment of Jack Smith, the special prosecutor who brought the charges, was unconstitutional. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland has defended the appointment of Smith. 

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order formalizing his announcement earlier this week that he'll freeze assistance to South Africa.

The White House claims the order will address human rights issues in the African nation for legislation aimed at addressing some of the wrongs of South Africa's racist apartheid era. In that time, Black people had land taken away from them and were forced to live in areas designated for non-whites.

Washington claims the Expropriation Act, which allows the government to take land in specific instances. The act was signed into law by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last month.

"As long as South Africa continues to support bad actors on the world stage and allows violent attacks on innocent disfavored minority farmers, the United States will stop aid and assistance to the country," the White House said in a summary of the order.

The White House said Trump would also announce a program to resettle "Afrikaner refugees."

South African-born Elon Musk has highlighted that law in recent social media posts, casting it as a threat to South Africa's white minority.

The order also references South Africa's role in accusations of genocide against Israel before the International Court of Justice.

The signing of the order comes after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to attend a G20 meeting in Johannesburg, repeating Trump's claims.

South Africa's President Ramaphosa has rejected Trump's claims about the expropriation law, saying it is "not a confiscation instrument" but a "constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution."

Speaking in parliament this week, Ramaphosa said: "We will not be deterred. We are a resilient people. We will not be bullied."     

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a group of business and labor leaders that US President Donald Trump's desire to control Canada "is a real thing," major Canadian news outlets CBC and Toronto Star have reported. 

Trudeau made the remarks in a closed-door setting, but they were mistakenly transmitted via loudspeaker.

Trump has frequently said that Canada should become the 51st state and has insulted Trudeau, calling him governor rather than prime minister. 

"They're very aware of our resources, of what we have and they very much want to be able to benefit from those," Trudeau said. "But Mr. Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country. And it is a real thing."  

Canada has oil, natural gas, diamonds and many other natural resources. The country is also a major potash producer, which is used in fertilizer to grow crops. 

Trudeau also discussed the trade relationship with Canada. Last week, Trump threatened Canada with 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports and a lower 10% tariff on energy.

If such tariffs were to go through, it could drive Canada into a recession due to Canada's integrated trade economy with the US. It would also drive up the cost of gasoline, groceries and other items for American consumers.   

"The strategic reflection we have to have right now is... how we get through, and thrive, and grow stronger over the next four years and into what may be a more challenging long-term political situation with the United States?" Trudeau said earlier in the meeting. 

Trump's trade and annexation threats could lead to Canada seeking stronger economic and political ties with other powers such as China and the EU.   

This blog will include the latest on today's events concerning US President Donald Trump's second term.

In addition to news, DW will bring you in-depth analysis, reporting and video coverage of how the Trump adminstration is both impacting the US and the world.