US updates: Trump imposes 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum

US President Trump has reversed a federal ban on the use of plastic straws, instead banning federal government purchases of paper straws.

"It's a ridiculous situation. We're going back to plastic straws," said Trump who has long railed at the use of paper straws.

Trump signed an executive order on Monday reversing Biden administration federal policy to phase out purchases of single-use plastics, including straws by 2027. 

The new order directs federal agencies to stop buying paper straws "and otherwise ensure that paper straws are no longer provided within agency buildings."

Trump's order is "more about messaging than finding solutions," Christy Leavitt from the environmental group Oceana told the Associated Press news agency. 

She added that most Americans support requiring companies to reduce single-use plastics.

Often used for only minutes, plastic straws are lightweight, easily carried by wind or water, take hundreds of years to decompose and aren't easily recyclable because of their small size.

As a result, they accumulate in landfills and oceans, posing a serious threat to the health of ecosystems and people. 

The largest sources of US steel imports are Canada, Brazil and Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam. 

Australia is only responsible for a minor share, providing 1% of steel and 2% of iron ore imports.

But Australian-processed steel was purchased by the largest US military shipbuilder, the Australian government said in 2024.

It's also unclear what role Australia's multibillion dollar AUKUS submarine agreement will play in Trump's tariff exemption consideration.

Under the AUKUS (Australia, the UK and the US) deal, the US will provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. In return, Australia has agreed to pour about $3 billion (€2.91 billion) toward US submarine building capacity. 

"Our steel and aluminum are both key inputs for the US-Australia defense industries in both of our countries," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Australia last Friday confirmed its first $500 million payment to the US under the agreement. 

Trump said he would give "great consideration" to exempting Australian steel and aluminum imports from tariffs. 

Trump's comment came after talking to Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Albanese argued for an exemption during the call, which was scheduled before the US president announced new 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on Monday.

Trump said the US trade surplus with Australia was one of the reasons he was considering an exemption from the tariffs.

"We actually have a surplus," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office about trade with Australia. "It's one of the only countries which we do. And I told [Albanese] that that's something that we'll give great consideration to."

Trump's statements came shortly after he announced the new tariffs, saying they are "without exception or exemption."

Australia, a key US security ally in the Indo-Pacific, had an exemption from such tariffs during Trump's first administration.

Google has officially renamed the Gulf of Mexico for its map users based in the United States.

People using Maps in the US will see Gulf of America, and people in Mexico will see Gulf of Mexico, Google announced in a blog post. 

Users outside of these two countries will see the Gulf of Mexico, the original name, with the Gulf of America in brackets. 

The change is visible in both the mobile and web versions of Maps. 

Google made the change after US President Trump formally changed the gulf's name on his inauguration day. 

Before making the change, Google said the company had a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.

You can read more here about how Google Maps handles name changes.

What about Apple Maps?

Apple Maps, another popular geolocation service, hasn't updated the geographical name yet. 

When we searched on Tuesday for the Gulf of America on the app (from outside of the US), it showed a clothing store based in Louisiana. 

The body of water surrounded by the United States to the north, Mexico to the west and Cuba to the southeast was still called the Gulf of Mexico. 

And despite Trump renaming an Alaskan mountain to Mount McKinley, Google Maps and Apple Maps both still refer to it as Denali.

Trump has officially pardoned convicted Democratic governor Rod Blagojevich.

Blagojevich was convicted to 14 years imprisonment in 2011 on wide-ranging corruption charges committed during his stint as governor of the US state of Illinois.

Charges included trying to sell Barack Obama's vacated US senate seat to the highest bidder and attempted extortion related to state funding of a children's hospital.

Trump described the former governor, who once appeared on his reality TV show "Celebrity Apprentice," as a "very fine person."

Blagojevich served eight years in prison before Trump commuted the rest of his sentence during his first term in office.

Already this term, Trump has granted clemency to some 1,500 people, all of whom were charged in connection with the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. 

The US Justice Department has ordered federal prosecutors to drop bribery and corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams. 

Adams, a Democrat, has cultivated a warm relationship with President Donald Trump.

In a memo cited by news agencies on Monday, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said that the decision to dismiss the charges was reached without an assessment of the strength of the prosecution.

Bove also wrote that the pending prosecution has "unduly restricted" Adams' ability to "devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime."

Adams is running for reelection in 2025. 

Public officials at the highest level of government are routinely investigated by the Justice Department, including Trump while he was president.

But prosecutors don't normally advance a claim that they should be let off the hook to attend to government service.

Adams was accused of accepting lavish travel perks and illegal campaign contributions.

A group of investors led by Elon Musk is offering about $97.4 billion (€94.5 billion) to buy OpenAI, the maker of the ChatGPT.

Musk and his own AI startup, xAI, and a consortium of investment firms want to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. This comes months after the billionaire sued the startup to block it from transforming into a for-profit enterprise.

However, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly rejected the deal on Musk's social platform X, saying, "no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk, who bought Twitter, now called X, for $44 billion in 2022, replied to the post with: "Swindler.".

Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015, which has become the world's leading AI startup since his departure in 2018. He launched his own generative AI startup, xAI, in 2023. Musk and Altman are both embroiled in a legal battle over OpenAI.

US President Trump signed executive orders for new tariffs of 25% on all steel and aluminum imports into the US.

"Today I'm simplifying our tariffs on steel and aluminum," Trump said in the Oval Office as he signed executive orders. "It's 25% without exceptions or exemptions."

In doing so, he is fulfilling a campaign promise to impose tariffs on imports that match those levied by other countries on US exports.

Trump also signaled that he would consider imposing additional tariffs on automobiles, pharmaceuticals and computer chips.

US District Judge George O'Toole Jr. has extended his freeze on President Donald Trump's plan to buy out federal workers while he weighs a longer-term extension.

The decision prevents the Trump administration from implementing the buyout plan for now. The freeze is a temporary victory to unions that sued to stop it altogether. It is unclear when O'Toole would make a definitive decision on the matter.

Trump wants to use financial incentives to encourage government workers to quit. As of Friday, 65,000 employees had already signed up for the offer, according to the White House.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who serves as Trump's Secretary of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has been pushing for the deferred retirement program.

Two planes of Venezuelans deported from the United States arrived late Monday at the international airport in Caracas. 

A reporter for Latin America station TeleSur as well as AFP news agency reported the landings. 

This is the first transfer of its kind since a deal struck in January between Trump, soon after his inauguration, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. 

The South American country and its socialist government has long struggled with stringent US sanctions.

Several analysts perceived the deal on repatriating migrants to be an attempt by the government in Caracas to secure some kind of relief from these economic restrictions going forward. 

German steel maker ThyssenKrupp on Monday says it expects possible US tariffs of up to 25% on all steel and aluminum imports would have only a "very limited impact" on its business.

"The main market for ThyssenKrupp's steel is Europe," the company said after US President Donald Trump suggested the tariff would come into force.

"The announced tariffs on imports to the US would only have a very limited impact on ThyssenKrupp's business based on the current state of knowledge," it added. 

ThyssenKrupp's steel subsidiary is Germany's biggest steel producer, with a large site in the western city of Duisburg. 

The share of steel exported to the United States is "negligible and mainly relates to high-quality products with a good market position," the Essen-based company said.

Most of ThyssenKrupp's turnover in the United States comes from trading and its automotive supply division.

"Much of the production for US customers takes place within the US," the company added. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was too early to comment in detail on Trump's tariff threats, given that for now they hailed solely from verbal comments to the media.

But, Scholz said, one simple principle did apply: 

"Whoever imposes tariffs should reckon with tariffs in return," he said at a Social Democrat election campaign event in the eastern German city of Schwerin on Monday. 

"It's clear that we will look at this very closely as the European Union, when it reaches us officially," Scholz added.

Scholz said there was little more to say amid the uncertainty, but said it would be important for Europeans to demonstrate "clarity" on the issue if it solidified.

Trump's threatened steel and aluminum tariffs would likely hit the Americas, and particularly Canada, hardest. 

American Iron and Steel Institute figures show Canada, Brazil and Mexico as the three most prolific steel importers into the US, in that order. 

South Korea, Vietnam and Japan follow that trio from the Americas, with Germany next in line, ahead of Taiwan and the Netherlands. 

China, the world's biggest steel producer and exporter, has a meager foothold of less than 2% in the US import market. That's because it is already subject to 25% tariffs, imposed in 2018. 

Trump's proposal as outlined verbally would effectively remove the relative disadvantage Washington had imposed on Beijing in recent years. 

In the case of aluminum, Canada dominates imports to the US. Its total imports to the US, according to Department of Commerce figures, are almost 10 times that of any other importing country — and twice as much as the next nine most prolific importers combined. 

Germany has warned that higher duties would "harm all sides" after US President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 25% levy on steel and aluminum imports.

"In the end, higher tariffs would harm all sides," Economy Ministry spokesman Korbinian Wagner told a regular press briefing in Berlin, urging talks to stop the tariffs from being imposed.

Meanwhile, Germany's economy minister says Europe plans to act in a "united and determined manner." 

"In the long term, a tariff conflict only has losers," Robert Habeck, who is also vice chancellor of Europe's biggest economy, said in a statement. 

"For Germany and the EU, the most important thing is that we continue on the path of cooperation with the United States, from which both sides benefit.

"But it is also clear that Europe must and can only react to unilateral trade restrictions in a united and determined manner. And we are prepared for that."

France has warned the United States against a trade war with the European Union, adding that the EU is ready to respond to tariffs placed upon member states.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said there was "no hesitation when it comes to defending our interests."

In an interview with broadcaster TF1 after President Trump announced that the US would impose 25% levies on steel and aluminum products, Barrot said the EU would adopt the same course that it had during his previous term.

"Of course. It's not a surprise," said Barot. "This is already what Donald Trump did in 2018."

"At that time we replicated. So we will replicate again this time," he said. "No one has an interest in entering into a trade war with the European Union."  

The tariffs on steel and aluminum imports are the latest in a string of trade duties announced by Trump that have raised fears of a global trade war.