Closing summary
This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. Here are some of the day’s leading developments:
Donald Trump made a surprise announcement doubling tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% during a speech in Pittsburgh celebrating a deal between US Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel Corporation.
The exact nature of the US Steel deal Trump blessed remained unclear. Although the president insists that it is “a partnership”, Nippon Steel has never withdrawn its bid to buy and control US Steel as a wholly owned subsidiary. The US Steel website still describes the deal as “US Steel’s agreement to be acquired by NSC”.
If the deal is a purchase of US Steel by its Japanese rival, Trump would be breaking a campaign promise to block any such sale.
Trump held a bizarre press conference in the Oval Office with Elon Musk, during which the billionaire said farewell to his role as a special government employee and the president repeated false claims about government spending his donor-turned-aide had stopped.
The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can, for now, revoke the temporary protected status of more than 500,000 refugees fleeing violence or persecution in Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Those legal immigrants are now subject to deportation if they choose not to leave their new homes in communities like Springfield, Ohio, where they were falsely accused by the president of eating pets.
Trump announced on social media that he had fired Kim Sajet, the first female director of the National Portrait Gallery. Legal experts suggested that Trump does not have the power to fire Sajet, an employee of the Smithsonian, which is not run by the executive branch.
Fox News points out US Steel describes deal blessed by Trump as an acquisition
Even pro-Trump commentators on Fox are baffled at the ongoing uncertainty over the exact nature of the deal between US Steel and its Japanese rival Nippon Steel Corporation celebrated by the president at his rally on Friday.
“This is being described as ‘a partnership’, this deal between Nippon and US Steel; but then its described as an acquisition on the US Steel website,” the Fox host Laura Ingraham pointed out on her show Friday night.
She then asked a guest from another pro-Trump outlet, Breitbart, “Who owns the majority stake in this company?”
When the guest said that he did not know, Ingraham suggested that Trump himself might not be aware of the details. “I don’t know if he was fully informed about the terms of the deal. We just don’t know.”
It is indeed the case that US Steel’s website links to a standalone site with the combined branding of the two companies that features a statement describing the transaction as “U. S. Steel’s agreement to be acquired by NSC.”
The same site also features a statement praising “President Trump’s leadership” that says: “U. S. Steel will remain American, and we will grow bigger and stronger through a partnership with Nippon Steel”.
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