Trump affirms Mexico, Canada tariffs will take effect Tuesday and announces $100bn Taiwanese chipmakers investment: Live – UK Times

Trump announced that the sweeping 25 percent tariffs, which were supposed to be enacted on Mexico and Canada last month, would be implemented beginning on Tuesday.

During a press conference on Monday, Trump said there was “no room left” for either country to negotiate to starve off the tariffs.

“No room left for Mexico or Canada. The tariffs, they’re all set. They go into effect tomorrow,” Trump said.

President Trump announced that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company will invest at least $100 billion in the United States to build semiconductor manufacturing facilities over the next four years.

The new investment arrives after a push to ramp up domestic manufacturing of semiconductors. Under the Biden administration, Congress passed the CHIPS Act, which sought to make the U.S. less reliant on foreign semiconductors

TSMC is the world’s largest chip manufacturer.

The new investment will support building facilities in Arizona, Trump said on Monday afternoon.

First Lady Melania Trump arrived at Capitol Hill on Monday afternoon to speak on a roundtable in support of the “Take it Down Act”, which intends to protect victims of real and deepfake “revenge pornography”

The Department of Government Efficiency deleted or altered hundreds of its claims from its “wall of receipts” website on Sunday evening – the second time in a week the group had to correct its record.

The team within the executive office edited or deleted more than 1,000 contracts that it claimed to cancel, resulting in what it claimed to be $4 billion in savings, according to the New York Times.

Deleted items included five of the seven largest savings it took credit for, including a $1.9 billion IRS project which was actually canceled under the previous administration

The Royal Society, a fellowship of renowned scientists, is holding a meeting on Monday to discuss potentially expelling Elon Musk from its membership after several members raised concerns about Musk promoting conspiracy theories.

Geoffrey Hinton, a fellow of the society known as the “godfather of AI”, wrote on X saying Musk should be expelled, “Not because he peddles conspiracy theories and makes Nazi salutes, but because of the huge damage he is doing to scientific institutions in the US.”

More than 3,000 people signed an open letter in February, saying Musk broke the Royal Society’s code of conduct by promoting “unfounded conspiracy theories.”

Musk responded on X saying, “only craven, insecure fools care about awards and membership.”

“Your comments above are carelessly ignorant, cruel and false,” Musk told Hinton.

But he added, “That said, what specific actions require correction? I will make mistakes, but endeavor to fix them fast.”

Trump announced he will impose tariffs on external agricultural products on April 2, but did not specify which agricultural products that will include.

“To the Great Farmers of the United States: Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States. Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday afternoon.

The U.S. has been importing more agricultural products than exporting over the last few years.

In 2023, the U.S. exported around $178 billion in products – a $17 billion decrease from 2022, according to USDA.

Meanwhile, the value of imports has grown.

At least half of the value in U.S. agricultural imports are in horticultural products – a broad category that includes fruits, vegetables, spirits, wine, essential oils, tree nuts and more.

Representative Victoria Spartz, the Ukrainian-born Republican congresswoman, defended President Trump’s aggressive Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he acted “disrespectful.”

“It is outright stupid from a president of foreign country who is really in need of the American support to act like that,” Spartz told Newsmax on Monday.

“Mr. Hollywood got all offended that he’s not under the table, but it’s not time for the show, it’s a time for serious conversation. But act like that and come into the White House and be disrespectful for the American people is as dumb as it gets.”

The warning about the cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development came in a statement from the American Academy of Diplomacy, which is led by former secretaries of State and other senior former diplomats.

The group stressed the importance of foreign aid to U.S. policy aims, and expressed concern that even popular farmer-backed programs donating food abroad would no longer have enough skilled people left to run them. “America First need not mean America the Callous,” the diplomatic group said.

The warning comes after the Trump administration has pulled thousands of USAID workers off the job and begun widescale firings.

Donald Trump has said the U.S. should prioritize curbing illegal migration rather than “worrying about Putin”, days after the president’s explosive row with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnky.

The US president claimed Washington was planning to return to the Bagram Air Base, a large airfield in the Parwan province of the embattled nation due to the alleged presence of Chinese troops.

He suggested the US should move to reclaim disused and demilitarised military equipment that was not brought home with departing troops during the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports.