United States

White House Moves to Rescind $810 Million in Health and Education Funds: September 28, 2026

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration moved to cancel about $810 million in congressionally approved health, education and related spending through a so-called pocket rescission days before the fiscal year ends, drawing sharp bipartisan protests from top appropriators who called the maneuver unlawful, wire and Capitol Hill reports said Monday.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the White House budget office “intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation” of bipartisan appropriations and vowed to work with colleagues to challenge it. The package includes roughly $567 million from HHS refugee-resettlement accounts, plus cuts to migrant-student aid, foreign-exchange education grants, health research and HUD housing counseling the administration branded wasteful or DEI-focused.

Pocket rescissions exploit the Impoundment Control Act’s 45-day clock so withheld money can lapse when a fiscal year ends before Congress acts. The administration hailed “historic action to eliminate wasteful and harmful spending”; House Appropriations ranking Democrat Rosa DeLauro accused the White House of unlawfully impounding funds all year to reach this point. The Supreme Court last year allowed a prior foreign-aid rescission to proceed without a final merits ruling.

Sources: Roll Call, ABC News

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Trump Approves Sharply Lower Fuel Economy Standards, Ends Biden EV Push: September 27, 2026

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will finalize sharply lower vehicle fuel-economy standards through 2031 on Monday, reversing a Biden-era push that steered automakers toward building more electric vehicles, officials said Saturday, Reuters reported.

President Donald Trump said he had approved the new standards, which he cast as a win that will lower new-vehicle prices. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said “a major victory for America’s auto workers is coming Monday.” The department previously proposed a fleetwide average of about 34.5 miles per gallon by 2031, down from 50.4 under Biden rules, estimating average new-vehicle costs would fall by roughly $930.

The same analysis projected higher fuel use — on the order of 100 billion gallons through 2050 — and about 5% more carbon dioxide emissions. Former Biden transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said lowering standards would hand clean-tech leadership to China and leave Americans paying more at the pump. The move lands as U.S. drivers face elevated fuel prices since the wider Middle East war began in February.

Sources: Reuters, Al Jazeera

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Nor’easter Floods Northeast U.S., Kills Brooklyn Man: September 27, 2026

NEW YORK — A powerful early-season nor’easter battered the northeastern United States over the weekend, flooding coastal towns, knocking out power for tens of thousands and killing a 56-year-old man in Brooklyn when a tree toppled in high winds, authorities and wire reports said.

Police said the man suffered fatal trauma after gusts downed a tree on Euclid Avenue in East New York on Saturday afternoon. Around 100,000 customers across the mid-Atlantic and New England lost electricity as heavy rain, high tides and winds whipped the Jersey Shore, Long Island and parts of New England. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned that coastal flooding was the biggest threat and that more rain was still coming.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled at Boston Logan and other regional airports, and major outdoor events including Ed Sheeran concerts near Boston were scrubbed. National Weather Service forecasters said strong northeast winds coinciding with high tides would keep coastal hazards elevated into early next week.

Sources: Associated Press via CBC, Al Jazeera

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Trump Sees No Urgency for Canada Trade Deal as Dispute Deepens: September 26, 2026

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration is comfortable maintaining its trade standoff with Canada even as new U.S. import bans on Canadian products take effect next week and Washington threatens 50% tariffs on Canadian autos, parts and steel from January, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Friday, Reuters reported.

“We’re comfortable with where we are. … There’s no urgency on our side,” Greer told CNBC, noting the United States is still receiving Canadian oil, gas and potash. The looming bans cover a broad range of Canadian goods including alcoholic beverages, motorcycles and dairy. Canada’s own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods took effect earlier this month after the United States imposed 50% tariffs on some $20 billion of Canadian goods last month.

The breakdown has strained the longtime allies and cast doubt on the future of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Some experts say Washington may first seek a deal with Mexico to gain leverage with Ottawa. The Canadian Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.

Sources: Reuters

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Fed Expected to Raise Rates Wednesday, Defying Trump: September 15, 2026

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is widely expected to lift its short-term interest rate Wednesday for the first time in three years to fight stubbornly high inflation, a move that would put the central bank at odds with President Donald Trump’s support for a cut, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

A quarter-point increase from a rate currently about 3.6% is not guaranteed because Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has avoided the forward guidance his predecessors used. Still, most analysts expect a hike after Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech two weeks ago arguing the Fed had not yet put inflation in check. Futures markets priced roughly a 90% chance of a move after Friday’s inflation report showed core prices picking up in August.

The decision is due at 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, followed by Warsh’s news conference. Trump has demanded cuts and said Sunday the United States “should be paying the lowest interest rate in the world.” White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Trump “100% respects the independence of Kevin Warsh,” while also suggesting the Fed should stay out of the way of midterm elections seven weeks away.

Oil near $100 a barrel from Middle East conflict and AI-related investment have kept inflation above the Fed’s 2% target. Economists say a hike would be Warsh’s first major credibility test since taking the chair in May; traders already price further increases in December and March.

Sources: Associated Press via WTOP, Reuters

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Trump Downplays Report China Entities Aided Iran Before Jordan Attack: September 14, 2026

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday brushed aside a Wall Street Journal report that Iran acquired satellite images of a base in Jordan from Chinese entities before a July attack that killed three U.S. troops there, Reuters reported.

Asked whether he would raise the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a planned September 24 meeting, Trump equated Chinese and American surveillance. “They basically do what we do,” he told reporters. “When they say China spies on us, I say you’re right and we spy on them too.”

The Journal report, which Reuters could not independently verify, said U.S. officials declined to identify the Chinese entities and did not allege direct involvement by Beijing. China on Monday said it “firmly oppose[s] unfounded suspicions and accusations made without evidence,” foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.

Trump reiterated that he has a good relationship with Xi and said China had “behaved reasonably well.” At least 18 U.S. service members have been killed since the U.S.–Israeli war with Iran began at the end of February.

Sources: Reuters

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South Korea Aims to Finalise U.S. Investment Plan Details This Week: September 13, 2026

SEOUL — South Korea will hold further talks with the United States early this week to finalise details of Seoul’s proposed $350 billion investment commitment to the U.S., Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said Sunday, Reuters reported.

Speaking after returning from the United States, Kim said a $200 billion ceiling for strategic investments — part of the broader $350 billion package — including a $20 billion annual cap, had already been agreed and would not change.

Kim said the two sides were close on many issues but that several matters remained unresolved. This week’s talks will be by videoconference. He declined to name specific projects before negotiations are finished.

Kim travelled to the United States last week for talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other officials on the scale and conditions of the proposed package, tied to last year’s tariff agreement that lowered reciprocal U.S. rates from 25% to 15% in exchange for the investment pledge.

Sources: Reuters, Yonhap

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Trump Says He Could ‘Settle’ Falklands Dispute With Argentina: September 13, 2026

DUBLIN — President Donald Trump said Saturday he expects to be called on to “settle” any potential conflict over the Falkland Islands, describing rising U.K.–Argentina tension as a “potential disaster,” The Independent and Bloomberg reported.

Speaking alongside Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Trump questioned whether Britain would “be willing to travel that far” if Argentina invaded as in 1982, saying it would take “weeks by boat.” He added: “I’m sure I’ll be called into that potential disaster, but if they do, I’ll probably be able to settle it out.”

The remarks follow earlier comments in which Trump suggested Washington might not back Britain over the islands and said he was reviewing the traditional U.S. position. Argentine President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, has stepped up sovereignty claims and oil-related sanctions threats over the territory Argentina calls Las Malvinas.

In the Commons on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the United Kingdom would be “relentless” in defending the Falkland Islanders’ right to remain British. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has said the islands “are British and will remain so” because that is the islanders’ overwhelming preference.

Sources: The Independent, Bloomberg

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Trump Says U.S.-Canada Trade Deal Likely ‘Fairly Soon’: September 12, 2026

DUBLIN — President Donald Trump said Saturday that Canada wants a trade deal with the United States “very badly” and that an agreement could come “fairly soon,” Reuters reported after his meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.

“Canada has to treat our farmers better. They can’t charge our farmers tariffs,” Trump told reporters, adding: “You’ll probably see a deal with Canada fairly soon.” He did not say whether formal negotiations had resumed after talks collapsed last month.

Asked whether he intended to have the United States leave the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Trump sidestepped the question and returned to demands for better terms for U.S. farmers, Bloomberg and Reuters reported.

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs covering about $20 billion of U.S. goods took effect September 8 after Ottawa suspended negotiations, intensifying an 18-month trade dispute between the neighbors.

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg

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Peru Joins U.S.-Led Shield of the Americas Alliance: September 11, 2026

Peru will join the U.S.-led Shield of the Americas, a regional security alliance that shares intelligence and cooperates against drug cartels, President Keiko Fujimori announced Thursday after talks in Lima with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Fujimori, sworn in in July after a security-focused campaign, said Peru knew from past fights with terrorism how hard it is to confront today’s criminal networks. Rubio called the pact a shield against transnational groups that “in many cases, have more money and better military equipment than the state.”

Peru is the world’s second-largest cocaine producer after Colombia. Protesters outside the government palace opposed deeper U.S. military involvement. Rubio said Washington would act only at partners’ request.

The visit capped Rubio’s three-country South America tour. Washington has also pressed Lima over Chinese investment, including the Chancay megaport, and earlier designated Peru a major non-NATO ally while advancing a possible $1.5 billion foreign military sale tied to Callao Naval Base.

Sources: Al Jazeera, Andina

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