Trump live updates: Obama condemns Trump’s ‘ham-handed’ Harvard funding freeze – UK Times

Harvard has become the first of six Ivy League schools to formally oppose the Trump administration’s demands. Josh Marcus reports:

After Colombia agreed to sweeping changes in March, at least 60 universities were warned they could soon be the next to potentially lose hundreds of millions or even billions in federal funding if they didn’t fall in line with president Donald Trump’s vision of campus civil rights.

By late March, the administration was making its boldest push yet, threatening to cut off some $9 billion in federal funding to Harvard.

Then, in the last few days, Harvard, the nation’s oldest and richest university, began to push back more forcefully than any of the other five Ivy League schools that have faced administration funding threats.

Former president Barack Obama has condemned the Trump administration’s freezing $2.3 billion in funding to Harvard University as “unlawful” and “ham-handed”.

Earlier, the White House froze more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts for Harvard University after the school refused to comply with a lengthy list of demands including sweeping leadership and admissions reforms.

Obama said on social media that other schools should follow Harvard’s lead.

“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope other institutions follow suit,” he wrote on X.

The French prime minister said Donald Trump’s tariffs have caused a global storm and hit trust across the world.

Francois Bayrou warned it was a moment of truth for France as it attempts to fix its public finances, adding that in his view, Trump had created “a tsunami of destabilization”.

“The fact that this power has gone over to the side of the aggressors is a dramatic turn of events, a warning shot that ruins our fundamental vision of the world,” Bayrou said.

The U.K’s FTSE 100 index has surged this morning following comments from vice president J.D. Vance that there was a “good chance” of a tariff deal with the U.K.

Ahead of lunchtime in U.K trading the stock was up 1 percent, building on Monday’s strong gains to take it to 8,215 points and up 3.8 percent from five days ago.

Earlier, Vance said the Trump administration was “working very hard” with the British government to find a deal.

“The president really loves the United Kingdom. He loved the Queen. He admires and loves the King. It is a very important relationship. And he’s a businessman and has a number of important business relationships in [Britain]. But I think it’s much deeper than that,” he told UnHerd website.

“There’s a real cultural affinity. And, of course, fundamentally, America is an Anglo country. I think there’s a good chance that, yes, we’ll come to a great agreement that’s in the best interest of both countries.”

The United Nations’ trade body has urged the U.S to exclude vulnerable and small economies from its aggressive tariff increases.

In a new report, UN Trade and Development found that in many instances the reciprocal tariffs risked devastating developing and the least developed economies that trade with America, while doing little to reduce the U.S. trade deficits.

Last week Donald Trump paused reciprocal tariffs that were higher than 10 per cent for dozens of trading partners for 90 days. Those additional tariffs ranged from 11 per cent for Cameroon to 50 per cent for Lesotho.

In all 57 countries are affected. Eleven of them are among the least developed in the world, the UN trade body said, and 28 of those 57 nations account for less than 0.1 per cent of America’s deficits.

The report noted that several of the countries produce agricultural goods that are not produced in the U.S, or which have few subsitutes such as vanilla from Madagascar.

Vice president J.D Vance said there was a “good chance” of a trade deal between the U.S and the U.K, which is good news for Britain given the significance of its trade relationship with America.

The U.S is the U.K’s largest export partner, according to the Office for National Statistics.

In 2023, the U.K exported £60.4 billion ($80 billion) worth of goods to America, making up 15.3 percent of all the U.K’s goods exports that year.

Machinery and transport equipment were the main exports, and the U.S. is the U.K’s largest export partner for cars, taking £6.4 billion in cars in 2023.

The U.K also exports chemicals, including medicines and pharmaceutical products.

Since his inauguration less than three months ago, Donald Trump has made many changes to tariff plans.

Here’s a timeline of the key moments so far:

• January 20 – Announced additional 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico.
• February 1 – Adds 10 per cent tariffs on China.
• February 10 – Introduces 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum exports to the U.S.
• March 4 – Canada, China and Mexico tariffs come into effect.
• March 26 – Announces 25 percent tariff on all cars and car parts shipped to the U.S.
• April 2 – Reveals 10 percent tariff on any country exporting goods to U.S, unless tariffs already exist. Announces even higher reciprocal tariffs for dozens of countries.
• April 9 – Higher tariffs take effect, but within hours Trump announces a 90-day pause – except the general 10 percent increase. China tariffs are lifted to 145 percent.
• April 11 – Trump administration exempts electronic goods.
• April 12-13 – Trump says new tariffs on semiconductors and chips will be introduced, administration says tech exemption will be temporary.