Published 02/03/2025
Published February 3, 2025
last updated 02/03/2025
last updated February 3, 2025
Mexican President Sheinbaum said she had a “good” conversation with Trump after he announced tariffs. Meanwhile, European leaders are coming together against Trump’s trade plans. DW has more.
Skip next section What you need to know
- Mexico’s leader Sheinbaum says Trump will pause tariff plans for one month
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urges cooperation between EU member states in the face of potential US tariffs on European exports
- Trump earlier announce he was imposing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada
- Trump also said in a separate statement that Washington would cut funding to South Africa until it conducts an “investigation” into alleged mistreatment of “certain classes of people.”
Here is a roundup of headlines onTrump’s early days in office on February 3:
Skip next section Trump says Elon Musk can do nothing without approval
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
US President Donald Trump said his controversial and powerful close advisor, multi-billionaire Elon Musk, cannot take decisions on his own.
Trump told reporters that Musk “can’t do and won’t do” anything without “our approval.”
Democrats, who hold the minority in Congress, have been sounding the alarm over what they say is an unconstitutional power grab by Trump and Musk.
Although Congress has authority over the US budget, Musk says his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) can decide how money is used.
Musk is neither a federal employee nor a government official, and it remains unclear to whom he or his agency are accountable other than Trump.
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Skip next section Trump says wants exchange of Ukraine rare earths for aid
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
US President Donald Trump says he wants to negotiate an agreement with Ukraine whereby Kyiv supplies the United States with rare earth minerals.
The metals, which are used in electronics, would be supplied in exchange for US aid.
“We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine, where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earths and other things,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office.
US shipments of weapons into Ukraine were briefly paused in recent days but reportedly resumed at the weekend as the Trump administration debated its policy towards Kyiv.
Skip next section US top diplomat Rubio says he is in charge of USAID
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he has been put in charge of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), claiming he would stop its “insubordination” to President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“I’m the acting director of USAID,” Rubio told reporters while visiting El Salvador, saying that the agency had not answered questions on their funding and priorities.
“That level of insubordination makes it impossible to conduct a sort of serious review,” said Rubio. “It’s going to stop and it’s going to end.”
Trump’s Tesla tycoon friend and advisor Elon Musk had promised to destroy the USAID, the website of which went dark over the weekend.
Rubio, who supported foreign assistance as a senator, said that many of USAID’s functions would continue, However, he accused it of acting as if it were an “independent non-governmental entity.”
“In many cases, USAID is involved in programs that run counter to what we’re trying to do with our national strategy,” he said.
USAID was established in 1961 during Democratic US President John F. Kennedy’s administration. Assistance provide by USAID provides help to countries across the world, and is also a form of American soft power.
Critics are doubtful that the Trump Administration can shut down the agency unilaterally without congressional approval. However, both the US House of Representatives and Senate are controlled by Trump’s Republican Party, meaning many conservative lawmakers may back the closure of USAID.
Skip next section Rutte: Trump trade tensions won’t undermine NATO’s collective deterrence
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said that he’s “absolutely convinced” that NATO can deal with trade tensions between NATO members US and Canada.
“There is always issues between allies,” he said speaking in Brussels at an informal meeting of EU leaders.
Rutte also said that the world is “increasingly dangerous” and that European defense without the United States “for many reasons, will not work.”
“I’m absolutely convinced that [trade tensions] will not get in the way of our collective determination to keep our deterrence strong,” Rutte told journalists.
Skip next section Trump confirms tariffs on Mexico paused
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
US President Donald Trump has confirmed that in a conversation with Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum, they “agreed to immediately pause the anticipated tariffs for a one month period.”
In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Trump called the talk with Sheinbaum “very friendly.”
He added that the Mexican national guards that Sheinbaum will send to Mexico’s border “will be specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants” into the US.
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Skip next section Mexico’s president says Trump agrees to pause tariffs for 1 month
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said US President Donald Trump would pause 25% tariffs on goods for Mexico for a month from today.
Speaking at a press conference after a call with Trump, Sheinbaum said that Mexico would deploy 10,000 national guards immediately to the border to help stem the flow of drugs to the United States.
She also said the US would work to prevent gun trafficking to Mexico while joint US-Mexican teams would start working on issues of security and business.
The US was set to impose 25% tariffs on goods coming from Mexico starting Tuesday.
Skip next section Trump’s tariffs spook investors, stoke inflation fears
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
Global stock markets dived, the dollar rallied, oil prices jumped and world leaders readied tit-for-tat measures. Those were the almost immediate reactions to US President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, signed into law at the weekend.
Trump’s latest measures are unprecedented in their scope and scale, targeting three of the United States’ largest trading partners simultaneously. Economists have said their impact will likely paralyze economic growth both in the US and around the world.
Read more on the economic impact of Trump’s tariffs here.
Skip next section Trump says spoke to Canada’s Trudeau on tariffs
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
US President Donald Trump has said that he has spoken with Canada‘s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as both countries prepare to impose new tariffs on each other’s imports.
Trump said he will speak with Trudeau again later on Monday.
Trump also used his Truth Social platform to repeat his argument that the tariffs were about a “drug war” aimed at stopping the flow of the deadly drug fentanyl.
Canada has said that, starting Tuesday, it will phase in 25% tariffs on US goods worth 155 billion Canadian dollars ($105.7 billion or €103 billion).
The tariffs will “remain in place until the US eliminates its tariffs against Canada,” according to a Canadian government website.
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Skip next section German companies in Mexico, Canada worried about US tariffs
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
Germany is concerned about US tariffs on Mexico and Canada, a government spokesperson has said.
“Many German companies producing for the US market are present in both Mexico and Canada,” an Economy Ministry spokesperson said on Monday, according to German news agency DPA.
The US is to hit its two neighboring countries with 25% tariffs, starting on Tuesday.
Some 2,100 German-backed businesses in Mexico are affected by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, DPA reported.
Germany’s major carmakers and many of their suppliers are particularly dependent on Mexico as a manufacturing location.
German car maker Volkswagen‘s factory in Puebla is the largest auto plant in Mexico. It produced nearly 350,000 cars there in 2023 as well as another 176,000 cars at its Audi plant.
BMW also manufactures cars in Mexico.
Around 90% of auto exports from both Mexico and Canada go to the US, according to Reuters news agency.
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Skip next section Canada’s Ontario to ‘rip up’ Musk’s Starlink contract
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
The premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, Doug Ford, has said he’ll cancel the province’s contract with Starlink.
The satellite internet company Starlink is controlled by Elon Musk, a key backer of US President Donald Trump who is seen as having significant influence over the US leader.
“We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink,” Ford posted on X.
“Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy. Canada didn’t start this fight with the U.S., but you better believe we’re ready to win it.”
Ontario’s government awarded Starlink a $100 million (€97.4 million) contract in November 2024 to bring internet to remote communities, according to Canada’s CTV news.
Ford also said Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, was banning US companies “from provincial contracts.”
Other provinces, such as British Columbia, Quebec and Nova Scotia are also moving to restrict how they do business with US companies, Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper reports.
The move comes in response to Trump imposing 25% tariffs on goods from Canada starting Tuesday.
Skip next section What’s the US trade deficit with the EU?
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
A trade deficit is when a country imports more goods and services than it exports.
When it comes to the trade between the United States and the European Union, the US consistently imports more goods from the EU than the bloc imports from the US.
The 27 nations that make up the EU exported €503 billion ($516 billion) in goods to the US in 2023, with the top three exports medicines, motor vehicles and pharmaceutical products.
In turn, the EU imported €347 billion worth of goods from the US in 2023, making the US its second biggest trade partner after China.
Import mostly consisted of petroleum oils and crude, medicinal and pharmaceutical products and natural gas.
This resulted in a US trade deficit of €156 billion to the EU in 2023, according to EU data
.
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Skip next section What exactly are Trump’s EU tariff threats?
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
US President Donald Trump has threatened several times in the past months to hit the European Union with tariffs.
He’s been particularly vocal about what he has called unfair trade practices, particularly regarding the automotive and agricultural sectors and the US trade deficit with the EU.
But what exactly has Trump threatened?
Sunday, February 2
Trump said on Sunday that tariffs would be coming “pretty soon” for the EU but didn’t go into more details.
Friday, 31 January
He would “absolutely” put “substantial” tariffs on goods coming from EU countries, Trump said, because the bloc had treated the US “so terribly.”
“Am I going to impose tariffs on the European Union? Do you want the truthful answer or should I give you a political answer? Absolutely, absolutely,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
“They don’t take our cars, they don’t take our farm products, essentially, they don’t take almost anything,” he said.
And we have a tremendous deficit with the European Union. So, we’ll be doing something very substantial with the European Union. We’re going to bring the level up to where it should be.”
Friday, 20 December
The EU “must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social while still president-elect.
“Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!”
Skip next section ‘No winners in trade wars,’ EU foreign policy chief says
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat in Brussels, has warned that there are “no winners in trade wars.”
“We are very interlinked,” she said. “We need America, and America needs us as well.”
If the US and Europe started a trade war “then the one laughing on the side is China,” she said.
The US is the biggest source of EU imports after China, while the US is the largest market for EU exports, according to the European Commission.
Kallas made the comments ahead of EU talks expected to focus on defense and on countering a growing threat from Russia.
EU heads are also expected to discuss their reponse to US President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on imports from the EU.
Skip next section EU must ‘react’ if hit by Trump tariffs, Macron says
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
“If we are attacked on trade issues, Europe … would have to react,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday as he arrived in Brussels for talks with EU leaders.
He added that recent declarations from the United States are pushing Europe to be stronger and more united.
“What is happening … pushes the EU to be more united and more active to respond to issues of collective security,” Macron said.
Skip next section ‘Europe can act,’ Germany’s Scholz says
02/03/2025
February 3, 2025
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that the European Union is strong enough to react to any tariffs imposed by the United States.
“It’s clear that as a strong economic area we can shape our own future and respond to tariff policies with tariff policies,” he said on Monday on his arrival at an informal EU leaders meeting in Brussels.
But compared to other EU leaders arriving in Brussels, Scholz struck a more cautionary tone, stressing that the “goal should be cooperation” between Europe and the USA.
Scholz emphasized that both sides would benefit from the exchange of goods and services.
“If customs policy now makes this difficult, it would be bad for the US and bad for Europe.”
Trump’s threat of tariffs against the EU, which he repeated on Sunday, are expected to overshadow the EU leaders’ talks, that had been slated to focus on defense.
