An American federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to suspend some 2,200 employees and eliminate the United States International Development Agency (USAID) on Friday to consider that it is a fraudulent agency.
Two employee representatives had previously filed a lawsuit, arguing that Donald Trump’s government had no authority to suspend employees, as reported by US media such as ‘The New York Times’. The judge clarified that his ruling was provisional while the litigation continued.
At the beginning of this week, the US government announced that all “staff directly hired” that would work for the agency anywhere in the world would be placed in “administrative license” from Friday at 23.59 local time, with the exception of those employees in critical positions.
According to media reports, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, determined that less than 300 employees should be considered essential, so they would be excluded from the suspension. The agency uses about 10,000 people, of which two thirds are based outside the US.
The USAID was created in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to manage American international humanitarian aid. It has billions of dollars of budget that allocates projects in different parts of the world to alleviate poverty, diseases and respond to famine and natural disasters.
However, the agency has been in the spotlight of the Trump administration since the return of the president to the White House, which considers the body an example of waste and fraudulent deviation of assets.
The tycoon Elon Musk, a close advisor to Trump and in charge of the new government efficiency department (Doge) has described the government agency as “criminal organization” and has declared that “it is time to die.”
“The corruption” of the USAID is at levels rarely seen before: that it closes! “Trump said in his account of his own social network, Truthsocial.
Nippon Steel will invest in Us Steel
On the other hand, Donald Trump also pointed out this Friday that the Japanese company Nippon Steel is considering investing in the American Us Steel instead of acquiring it, an operation valued at 14,100 million dollars (13,654 million euros), to which the president He had opposed.
“(Nippon Steel) has agreed to invest strongly in Us Steel instead of possessing it, and that sounds very exciting,” Trump said Friday at a joint press conference with Japanese prime minister, Shigeru Ihiba, in the White House.
In this sense, the tycoon has insisted that he did not “like” the idea of the purchase since Us Steel is “a very important company” for the country.
“It was the largest company in the world for 15 years, many years ago, 80 years ago,” he said, adding that he did not want to “see that (to Us Steel) leave.”
“So they have agreed to invest in Us Steel, instead of having it. And we are going to meet with Nissan next week,” he said, after repeatedly referring to the Nissan Motor automobile manufacturer instead of A Nippon Steel, although close sources The President have confirmed to the Bloomberg agency that referred to the steel producing company.
The offer of 14,100 million dollars from Nippon Steel for Us Steel became a peak during the US presidential elections of 2024 and tense ties between the United States and Japan, two normally unconditional allies.
During the electoral campaign, Trump expressed his opposition to a foreign acquisition by Us Steel, stating that he did not like the idea of selling an emblematic American company based in a politically important state to a foreign buyer. The Asian multinational offered in January to grant the White House Veto Power on any change that affected Us Steel’s operational capabilities, which would guarantee its production levels on North American soil.
According to Bloomberg, Trump met Thursday with the CEO of Us Steel, Dave Burritt, who warned that blocking the sale would endanger thousands of jobs and raised doubts about whether the company’s headquarters could remain in Pittsburgh, a City with deep historical links with the steel industry.
Trade deficit
In the press conference between both leaders in Washington, the tycoon has asked Ihiba to eliminate its commercial deficit with respect to the United States and has highlighted new investments in the automotive industry of their country.
“I want to get other countries to also match the United States in terms of deficit,” he said.
Ishiba has visited Washington to reinforce economic and defense ties between Japan and the US in a context where the Trump administration has imposed tariffs on other countries such as China.
“The United States stressed its unwavering commitment to Japan’s defense, using its entire range of capacities, including nuclear,” said the White House in a statement, in which Trump’s commitment to a new era of bilateral relations has highlighted .
In addition, the two leaders have agreed to improve energy security and diversify supply chains and have reiterated their “firm opposition to any Chinese attempt to change the status quo by force or coercion in the Eastern China Sea” .
They have also discussed aspects such as the modernization of infrastructure and cyber defense cooperation, and in the economic field, they have talked about increasing bilateral investment and collaborating in key technologies.
Trump, in addition, has also accepted the invitation of the Japanese Prime Minister to make an official visit to Japan in the future.
Key to your diplomacy
For its part, the Japanese Prime Minister’s office has defended that “United States” is the most important country for Japan’s diplomacy and security. “” The Japan-EEU alliance to new heights to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific. “
Both leaders have agreed to strengthen “the capabilities of deterrence and response” of the Alliance. “Trump highlighted the unwavering commitment of the United States with the defense of Japan, using its entire range of capacities, including nuclear,” they have maintained, in the same line as the White House.
“The two leaders said that Japan and the United States are also close partners in the economic field, and that Japan is the largest investor in the world in the United States for five consecutive years,” they have reiterated.
As the Trump administration has defended, both exchanged views on regional matters. “The two leaders shared the views on the situation related to North Korea, and affirmed the need to address their nuclear and missile issues together, as well as their determined commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea,” the Japanese authorities.
Meeting with Zelenski
On the other hand, Trump has advanced this Friday that next week he will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodimir Zelenski, and that he does not rule out a telephone conversation with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
“I will probably meet with President Zelenski next week, and I will probably talk to President Putin,” said the Chief of the White House to journalists during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister, Shigeru Ihiba, on the occasion of His official visit to Washington.
Trump stressed that he has always had a “good relationship” with Putin and has again influenced that if he had been in the White House during the previous mandate, the Ukraine War would not have occurred.
“I want to see the end of the war, in the first place because thousands of people are dying,” said Trump, who has advanced that one of the conversation issues during this encounter with President Zelenski will deal with the security of those known as’ Rare earths’.
Later, Zelenski has recognized that “the next few weeks can be very intense in diplomatic matters,” and has recognized that at all times he has valued a very positive way to work with Trump. “We will do everything necessary for this time to be effective and productive,” he said.
“We are planning meetings and negotiations at the team level. The Ukrainian and American teams are already finalizing details. A strong and lasting peace must come true,” said Ukrainian President in a brief publication in his official Telegram profile.
Fair and lasting
In parallel, the head of the office of the president of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, has maintained a telephone conversation with the special American envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, to specify the details of the next visit of the latter to Ukraine in February.
Yermak has underlined the “importance” of this event and thanked the “continuous support” of Washington to kyiv in “the fight against Russian aggression, emphasizing that” the priority of Ukraine is to achieve a fair and lasting peace. “
In this regard, the representative of the presidential office has defined as “essential” the existence of an “active commitment” between the two countries that allows to prepare the “effectively” peace negotiations and so that they offer security guarantees.
“Ukraine must receive solid security guarantees in any circumstances. It is about preventing any future aggression by Russia. This is not a country that respects international law or human rights. No decision will be effective if it is not supported by guarantees of guarantees Reliable security, “he added, according to a presidency note.
Trump has also taken the occasion to shine again that Europe, or NATO -“call it as you want” -, it is allocating “much less money” than the United States in the defense of Ukraine, when, as pointed out, they should be The most interested. “We have an ocean in the middle,” he said.
This alleged disparity, he has advanced, will be another of the issues that he will address with the Ukrainian President in a meeting that has not specified where it will occur. “Where he wants, here I am, or the best I go there,” he said.
New Office for Faith
In addition, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced on Saturday the appointment of telepredict Paula White at the head of the newly created White House office for faith, an agency dedicated “to the support of religious entities, organizations community and places of worship in their efforts to strengthen US families “, as well as the” protection of religious freedom. “
This new agency replaces the so -called Office for Neighborhood Societies and based on the FE promoted in 2001 by the then president of the United States, George W. Bush, and preserved with certain changes for its successors Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
In the order, Trump or the office that identifies ways to reduce loads to the free exercise of religion and requires all federal agencies to designate a “religious link” within 90 days.
Trump announced this decision this past Friday and added the next issuance of an order to create a “working group against anti -Christian bias to” pursue antichristian violence and vandalism in society “, and to” defend the rights of Christians and Religious believers worldwide. “
The America United Association, defender of the separation between Church and State, has denounced the creation of this working group in understanding that “instead of protecting religious beliefs, this group will misuse religious freedom to justify intolerance, The discrimination and subversion of our civil rights laws “, according to statements by its president, Rachel Laser, to the newspaper ‘The New York Times’.
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A judge prevents Donald Trump from saying goodbye to 2,200 employees of the USAID