The Latest : Trump warns countries to abide by tariff deals despite Supreme Court decision

news-gazette.com · Feb 23, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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President Donald Trump on Monday threatened countries around the world to abide by any tariff deals they agreed to despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down many of his far-reaching taxes on imports. And he said he wants a global tariff of 15%, up from 10% he had announced immediately after the ruling.The court’s Friday decision struck down tariffs Trump had imposed on nearly every country using an emergency powers law. But the Republican president won’t let go of his favorite tool for rewriting the rules of global commerce and applying international pressure.“Any Country that wants to “play games” with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have “Ripped Off” the U.S.A. for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to,” Trump posted Monday on Truth Social. One of Trump's executive orders says he can bypass Congress and impose a 10% tax on imports from around the world starting Tuesday, the same day as his State of the Union speech.The Latest:Hundreds of children have been wrongly separated from their legal sponsors, lawsuit saysA team of lawyers is filing a suit against federal authorities on behalf of hundreds of children who have been separated from their migrant families and placed into government custody.The lawsuit alleges that over 300 children have been inappropriately detained and separated from their legal sponsors.The children were previously in custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and approved to be released to their families, attorneys said. Now, though, they are being re-detained and sent back to ORR following encounters with immigration officials, according to the federal lawsuit filed in the District of Columbia.Once detained, the government is refusing to send them back to their families unless their previously approved sponsors reapply through a complicated and months-long process, attorneys said. “As a result, children remain detained for months — separated from their families, schools, communities,” according to the suit. “Their loving parents and other family members are ready and eager to care for them — yet are being kept apart.”US military strikes alleged drug boat in Caribbean Sea, killing 3The U.S. military said it killed three people Monday in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Trump administration’s monthslong campaign against alleged traffickers.Monday’s strike brought the death toll to at least 151 people since the administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in small vessels since early September.Like most of the military’s statements on the more than 40 known strikes, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs, but posted a video on X that showed a boat being destroyed.US gives details on allegation of Chinese nuclear testA U.S. official focusing on arms control has provided what he called new, declassified details of a Chinese underground nuclear test nearly six years ago. Christopher Yeaw, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Arms Control and Nonproliferation, also urged countries to press China and Russia to do more on nuclear disarmament.He spoke Monday to the U.N.-backed Conference on Disarmament in Geneva after the last nuclear arms pact between the U.S. and Russia expired this month. The Trump administration has argued for China to be a part of any new treaty.Yeaw says Beijing has “massively expanded” its nuclear arsenal and pointed to an explosion detected at an underground site in western China on June 22, 2020.China’s ambassador to the conference, Jian Shen, says Beijing “resolutely rejects the unfounded accusations” and calls it “unfair, unreasonable and unfeasible” to demand China be part of three-way nuclear talks.Schumer to bring an Epstein survivor and mom of ICE-detained teen to State of the UnionThe Senate Democratic leader is bringing Dani Bensky, who has been an outspoken victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, as well as Raiza Contreras, the mother of a New York City public school student who has been detained by immigration enforcement agents.Schumer’s guests showed how Democrats are trying to confront Trump with the people who are affected by his aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration, as well as his administration’s handling of the release of case files on Epstein. “No mother should have to go through what Raiza is experiencing right now — being unjustly separated from her son. Dylan followed the rules. He entered through a legal process, obtained permission to work to support his family, enrolled in school, and showed up to court as required,” Schumer said in a statement. “Instead, ICE ripped their family apart.”Johnson will host Hong Kong media tycoon’s daughter at State of the UnionHouse Speaker Mike Johnson is bringing Claire Lai, the daughter of Jimmy Lai, to the State of the Union address tomorrow evening.Her presence at the U.S. Capitol comes as she presses for the release of her father, who was sentenced earlier this month to 20 years in prison under a China-imposed national security law that has virtually silenced the city’s dissent.Lai, 78, had been convicted of charges connected to the publication of articles that allegedly harmed China, as well as “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” for meeting with U.S. political officials. The New York Times first reported that Claire Lai will be Johnson’s guest.Trump is visiting China starting at the end of March and has said he felt “so badly” about Lai’s conviction and noted he spoke to Chinese leader Xi Jinping about considering Lai’s release.Johnson discounts Congress addressing tariffs after Supreme Court decision House Speaker Mike Johnson is discounting the House playing a role in cementing Trump’s tariff policy through legislation now that the Supreme Court has struck down the president’s far-reaching global tariffs.Johnson said he believed it’s important to give the White House the time and space to respond to the court’s decisions, “and that’s not something that really involves the House at this point.”Some have suggested that Congress could enact Trump’s tariffs through a Republican-only reconciliation bill. Republicans used such a process to get Trump’s big tax cut bill approved last year.“It’s going to be, I think, a challenge to find consensus on any path forward on the tariffs on the legislative side,” Johnson told reporters. “And so that is why I think we see so much of the attention on the executive side.”Oregon congresswoman to send Epstein survivor to State of the Union in her place“I’m inviting Lisa Phillips, one of the many brave women who survived Epstein’s abuse, to attend the State of the Union on my behalf,” U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter said in a statement. “Her presence will send a clear message: Epstein survivors will not be silenced.”Dexter is among the Democratic lawmakers who won’t be attending President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address before Congress on Tuesday. She will be holding a telephone town hall instead. “I am deeply grateful to Representative Dexter for this honor. I sit in this seat not for myself, but for the girls who were never given a voice — and for the accountability they deserve,” Philips said in the statement.Funding cuts and uncertainty have taken a toll on local communities, nonprofits sayNonprofit leaders said communities are coping with rising demand while also seeing disruptions or reductions in federal funding.“In the last year, nonprofits have faced record demand for food, housing, mental health services, and at the same time, funding freezes, payment delays, and administrative uncertainty, making their ability to respond even more difficult,” said Diane Yentel, president of the National Council of Nonprofits, speaking in advance of Trump’s State of the Union.Danielle Clore, the CEO of the Kentucky Nonprofit Network, said federal funding cuts have reduced the availability of substance abuse counseling and food assistance in her state.“Cuts don’t eliminate need. They simply shift costs elsewhere, often to emergency rooms or law enforcement,” Clore said.Since the 1960s, the federal government has funded a vast network of nonprofits to address social problems or deliver services. The Trump administration’s policies have significantly strained that partnership, with nonprofits warning that neither local government funding nor charitable donations can replace federal support. Court denies GOP effort to block Utah’s congressional remap favoring DemocratsNew Utah voting districts that give Democrats an improved shot at winning a U.S. House seat can be used in this year’s election, a federal court ruled Monday while turning aside a Republican request to block the new map.The ruling marked the second setback in recent days for Republicans, who also lost an appeal at the state Supreme Court.A Utah judge imposed the new districts last November after striking down the congressional districts that the Republican-led Legislature had adopted after the 2020 census. The judge ruled that the Legislature had circumvented anti-gerrymandering standards passed by voters.▶ Read moreDemocrats are not just targeting toss-up suburbs in November midtermsDemocrats’ initial list of top House challengers in 2026 includes several candidates running in districts that cover swaths of rural voters, and the party is touting those contenders’ biographies as perfect fits to reclaim area’s that Trump and Republicans have dominated. Announcing its first slate of “Red to Blue” candidates Monday, Democrats said former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez in Arizona’s sprawling 2nd District is “determined to give rural Arizonans a real seat at the table.”Iowa Democrat Christina Bohannan, the announcement noted, was raised “in a trailer in a rural small town” and wants t