Tuesday, January 07, 2025

ICYMI
Biden bans new drilling in US coastal waters weeks before Trump handover

Oliver Milman
Mon, January 6, 2025 
THE GUARDIAN

Off-shore oil platform in the Santa Barbara channel, off Ventura, California.Photograph: Russ Bishop/Alamy


Joe Biden has banned offshore drilling across an immense area of coastal waters, weeks before Donald Trump takes office pledging to massively increase fossil fuel production.

The US president’s ban encompasses the entire Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Pacific coast off California, Oregon and Washington, and a section of the Bering Sea off Alaska.

A White House statement said the declaration protected more than 253m hectares (625m acres) of waters. Trump said he would “unban it immediately” as soon as he re-enters the White House on 20 January, although it is unclear whether he will be able to do this easily.

Related: Biden administration warns natural gas expansion would drive up domestic costs

“As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren,” Biden said in a statement.

“In balancing the many uses and benefits of America’s ocean, it is clear to me that the relatively minimal fossil fuel potential in the areas I am withdrawing do not justify the environmental, public health, and economic risks that would come from new leasing and drilling,” he added.

Scientists are clear that oil and gas production must be radically cut to avoid disastrous climate impacts. The ban does not have an end date and could be legally – and politically – tricky for Trump to overturn.

Biden is taking the action under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which gives the federal government authority over the exploitation of offshore resources. A total of eight presidents have withdrawn territory from drilling under the act, including Trump himself who barred oil and gas extraction off the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

However, the law does not expressly provide for presidents to unilaterally reverse a drilling ban without going through Congress.

Despite this, Trump vowed to undo Biden’s move, with the president-elect’s spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, calling it “a disgraceful decision” and saying the incoming administration would “drill, baby, drill”.

In an interview with the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday, Trump said the rule would be overturned on his first day. “I will unban it immediately,” he said. “I have the right to unban it.”

Environmental groups, on the other hand, welcomed the decision. “This is an epic ocean victory!” said Joseph Gordon, climate and energy director at the conservation non-profit Oceana. “Our treasured coastal communities are now safeguarded for future generations.”

“Americans on both sides of the aisle support protecting our oceans from big oil giveaways,” said Lena Moffitt, executive director of Evergreen Action. “President Biden’s bold action today underscores that we cannot afford the continued expansion of oil and gas production if we are to meet our climate targets and avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.”

The White House said: “With today’s withdrawals, President Biden has now conserved more than 670m acres of US lands, waters, and ocean – more than any president in history.

The move is the latest in a string of last-minute climate policy actions by the Biden administration before Trump’s return to the White House.

In mid-December, the outgoing administration issued an ambitious new climate target under the landmark Paris accord, committing the US to reducing economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by between 61% and 66% below 2005 levels by 2035, on the path to achieving net zero by 2050. Trump is expected to ignore this target, and remove the US from the Paris climate deal.

Biden is also expected to announce two new national monuments – protected lands designated at the discretion of the president – in California before he leaves office. When last in office, Trump shrank the size of two previously established national monuments in Utah.

The outgoing Biden administration has styled itself as as historic leader in environmental policy, passing sweeping legislation to bolster clean energy output and electric vehicle uptake, although the president has also overseen a record boom in oil and gas production and handed out drilling leases at a higher rate even than Trump.

Climate advocates have urged Biden to declare a climate emergency and reverse the growing export of gas from US-based shipping terminals before Trump’s new term.

Agence France-Presse contributed reporting


Biden Bars Offshore Oil Drilling in US Atlantic and Pacific

Jennifer A. Dlouhy
BLOOMBERG
Mon, January 6, 2025 

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden is indefinitely blocking offshore oil and gas development in more than 625 million acres of US coastal waters, warning that drilling there is simply “not worth the risks” and “unnecessary” to meet the nation’s energy needs.

Biden’s move is enshrined in a pair of presidential memoranda being issued Monday, burnishing his legacy on conservation and fighting climate change just two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Yet unlike other actions Biden has taken to constrain fossil fuel development, this one could be harder for Trump to unwind, since it’s rooted in a 72-year-old provision of federal law that empowers presidents to withdraw US waters from oil and gas leasing without explicitly authorizing revocations.

Biden is ruling out future oil and gas leasing along the US East and West Coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and a sliver of the Northern Bering Sea — an area teeming with seabirds, marine mammals, fish and other wildlife that indigenous people have depended on for millennia. The action doesn’t affect energy development under existing offshore leases, and it won’t prevent the sale of more drilling rights in Alaska’s gas-rich Cook Inlet or the central and western Gulf of Mexico, which together provide about 14% of US oil and gas production.

The president cast the move as achieving a careful balance between conservation and energy security.

“It is clear to me that the relatively minimal fossil fuel potential in the areas I am withdrawing do not justify the environmental, public health and economic risks that would come from new leasing and drilling,” Biden said in a statement. “We do not need to choose between protecting the environment and growing our economy, or between keeping our ocean healthy, our coastlines resilient and the food they produce secure — and keeping energy prices low.”

Some of the areas Biden is protecting were already withdrawn from oil and gas leasing by Trump during the final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign. But the incoming president’s protections for waters hugging Florida’s west coast and the southeast US were set to expire in 2032, whereas Biden is making them permanent.

Trump on Monday vowed to reverse Biden’s actions as soon as he takes office.

“I’ll un-ban it immediately,” Trump said in an interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show. “I have the right to un-ban it immediately. What’s he doing? Why is he doing it?”

Trump could issue an order revoking the designations as soon as he’s inaugurated, just as he did with President Barack Obama’s withdrawals in 2017. Yet an Alaska-based federal district court rejected Trump’s reversal, and no appeals court has ever ruled on the matter.

Republican and Democratic politicians from coastal states have pushed to keep some of the affected waters free from drilling, especially near Florida and along the US West Coast. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 10 people and spewed millions of barrels of crude, highlighted the enduring risks of offshore drilling, particularly for coastal communities whose economies are intertwined with tourism.

“We are excited and thankful that the Biden administration recognizes the immense value of Florida’s Gulf Coast,” said Martha Collins, executive director of the Healthy Gulf nonprofit advocacy group. “From its white sandy beaches to its vibrant marine life, Florida’s Gulf Coast defines a way of life cherished by millions,” and “today’s decision helps protect this special area from industrial oil and gas operations.”

Industry Reaction

Oil industry leaders panned the move, saying widespread restrictions — even on territory that’s of little interest for drilling now — undermine domestic energy potential.

Such blanket bans “threaten our economic and national security by creating political barriers to our own resources,” said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association. “Even if there’s no immediate interest in some areas, it’s crucial for the federal government to maintain the flexibility to adapt its energy policy, especially in response to unexpected global changes like the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

The US oil industry has long lobbied for more opportunities offshore, where wells tapping conventional reserves can yield crude for decades — unlike the smaller jackpots from onshore shale development. But there’s a long chain of activity between the initial sale of an offshore lease and eventual production.

There are no active oil and gas leases in federal waters in the Bering Sea or along the US East Coast, where Biden is protecting some 334 million acres from Canada to the southern tip of Florida. Roughly four dozen wells were drilled off the US East Coast in the 1970s and 1980s, but the area’s last sale of leases was in 1983, and oil has never been produced from the region.

Oil companies hold about a dozen leases in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and roughly 30 in federal waters near southern California, where the last lease sale was held in 1984. Those are unaffected by the withdrawals.

The US government is currently on track to hold just three auctions of drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico over the next five years, under an anemic plan developed by the Biden administration. Congressional Republicans have been considering mandating more sales as a way to raise revenue that can offset the cost of extending tax cuts.

--With assistance from Stephanie Lai, Michelle Jamrisko and Chloe Whiteaker.

Bloomberg Businessweek

 Biden Moves To Seal Environmental Legacy With Major Conservation Announcement


Chris D'Angelo, Roque Planas
Tue, January 7, 2025

Biden Moves To Seal Environmental Legacy With Major Conservation Announcement

President Joe Biden on Tuesday will travel to California to designate a pair of new national monuments, safeguarding nearly 850,000 acres of ecologically and culturally significant land in the Golden State from new drilling, mining and other development.

The new designations are part of the outgoing administration’s eleventh-hour push to protect sensitive lands and waters before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House later this month. Trump has a record of chipping away at protected landscapes and is pledging to prioritize fossil fuel drilling and other industrial development across the country.

Chuckwalla National Monument will span more than 624,000 acres of desert south of Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. The area is home to rugged mountain ranges and dozens of rare species, including the desert bighorn sheep and the chuckwalla lizard. The Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mojave, Quechan and Serrano nations all have ancestral ties to the newly protected lands.

The monument will connect to a series of other federally protected lands running along the Colorado River from the Mojave Desert in California to the town of Moab, Utah.

The White House described the “Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor,” which also includes Grand Canyon National Park and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, as the largest contiguous stretch of federally protected lands in the Lower 48, running a length of 600 miles and encompassing nearly 18 million acres.

“The stunning canyons and winding paths of the Chuckwalla National Monument represent a true unmatched beauty,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “President Biden’s action today will protect important spiritual and cultural values tied to the land and wildlife.”


Yellow brittlebush flowers bloom near Red Canyon in the then-proposed Chuckwalla Mountains National Monument on April 20, 2024, near Chiriaco Summit, California. The monument is one of two that Biden is designating in California. David McNew via Getty Images

Biden will also designate Sáttítla Highlands National Monument — a 224,000-acre swath of lands managed by the Modoc, Shasta-Trinity and Klamath National Forests in Northern California. The monument includes Medicine Lake, a dormant volcano that now serves as a major source of fresh water, feeding a network of springs whose total volume exceeds the combined capacityof California’s 200 largest manmade lakes, according to Hatch magazine.

While the two new monuments will boost Biden’s conservation legacy — he has protected more than 670 million acres of lands and waters, more than any president in history, according to the White House — they are likely to become targets of the incoming Trump administration.

During his first term, Trump turned national monuments and the Antiquities Act of 1906, which gives presidents broad authority to create protected sites on existing federal lands, into political lightning rods. He famously dismantled the boundaries of two large national monuments in Utah — Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante — in what was the largest rollback of national monuments in U.S. history, only to have Biden restore them to their original boundaries.

Trump and other Republicans have accused recent administrations of abusing the nearly century-old Antiquities Act to “lock up” federal acres, conveniently ignoring that many early monument designations spanned hundreds of thousands of acres. Project 2025, the 920-page policy blueprint that GOP operatives created to guide a second Trump term, explicitly calls for repealing the 1906 law.

The new monuments will not impact existing rights, instead allowing for some resource exploitation to continue, including clean energy initiatives and efforts to reduce flammable vegetation to mitigate wildfires.

Upon signing the proclamations creating Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands, Biden will have created, expanded or restored a total of 15 national monuments, boosting protections for nearly 9 million federal acres.

Tuesday’s action comes a day after Biden permanently banned oil and gas drilling across 625 million acres of federal waters, including the entire Atlantic and Pacific coasts


Biden will honor tribal requests by designating 2 new national monuments in California

ZEKE MILLER, JAIMIE DING and COLLEEN LONG
Mon, January 6, 2025 


President Joe Biden speaks at a reception for new Democratic members of Congress in the State Dining Room of the White House, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Washington. 
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is signing a proclamation to establish two new national monuments in California, in part to honor two tribes, a person familiar with the decision said Monday.

The proclamation will create the Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California near Joshua Tree National Park and the Sáttítla National Monument in Northern California, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the plans that were to be announced Tuesday in California.

The declaration bars drilling and mining and other development on the 600,000-acre (2,400-square-kilometer) area in Southern California and roughly 200,000 acres (800 square kilometers) in Northern California.

The establishment of new monuments were first reported in The Washington Post. Biden, who has two weeks left in office, is in New Orleans on Monday meeting with the families of the victims in the New Year's attack in the French Quarter and was heading to California later Monday.

The flurry of activity has been in line with the Democratic president’s “America the Beautiful” initiative launched in 2021, aimed at honoring tribal heritage, meeting federal goals to conserve 30% of public lands and waters by 2030 and addressing climate change.

The Pit River Tribe has worked to get the federal government to designate the Sáttítla National Monument. A number of Native American tribes and environmental groups began pushing Biden to designate the Chuckwalla National Monument, named after the large desert lizard, at the start of 2023.

The area would protect public lands south of Joshua Tree National Park, spanning the Coachella Valley region in the west to near the Colorado River.

Advocates say the monument will protect a tribal cultural landscape, ensure access to nature for local residents and preserve military history sites. The California Legislature passed a resolution in August 2024 to urge Biden to establish the Chuckwalla National Monument and another National Park Service-managed national monument adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park, as well as the Kw’tsán National Monument, which would border Mexico and Arizona.

Tribal leaders have also called for the Chuckwalla monument to honor tribal sovereignty to include local tribes as co-stewards, following in the footsteps of a recent wave of monuments such as the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, which is overseen in conjunction with five tribal nations.

“The protection of the Chuckwalla National Monument brings the Quechan people an overwhelming sense of peace and joy," the Fort Yuma Quechan Tribe said in a statement. “Tribes being reunited as stewards of this landscape is only the beginning of much-needed healing and restoration, and we are eager to fully rebuild our relationship to this place.”

In May, the Biden administration expanded two national monuments in California — the San Gabriel Mountains in the south and Berryessa Snow Mountain in the north. In October, Biden designated the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary along the coast of central California, which will include input from the local Chumash tribes in how the area is preserved.

Last year, the Yurok Tribe in Northern California also became the first Native people to manage tribal land with the National Park Service under a historic memorandum of understanding signed by the tribe, Redwood National and State Parks and the nonprofit Save the Redwoods League, which is conveying the land to the tribe.

___

Ding contributed to this report from Los Angeles. Long reported from New Orleans.

Biden names two national monuments in California, cementing conservation legacy

Reuters
Tue, January 7, 2025 


(Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday will create two new national monuments in California, solidifying his legacy as the U.S. leader who has conserved more lands and waters than any of his predecessors.

The designation of the Chuckwalla National Monument in the southern California desert and the Sattitla Highlands National Monument near the state's northern border comes a day after Biden protected nearly every U.S. coastline from offshore oil and gas development.

The moves are aligned with his goal of conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

Under federal law, presidents have the authority to create or alter national monuments in recognition of a site's cultural, historical or scientific importance, but a designation can be rescinded by a future president.

In 2021, Biden restored the boundaries of three national monuments that had been reduced in size by President-elect Donald Trump during his first term in the White House, following their original designations as monuments by former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

By contrast, national parks are created by acts of Congress, largely to protect outstanding scenic features or natural phenomena, giving them a much higher level of protection.

According to a White House statement, the Chuckwalla National Monument preserves more than 624,000 acres just south of Joshua Tree National Park. The area holds cultural and historical significance for tribes including the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mojave, Quechan and Serrano. The monument will protect habitats for species including the desert tortoise, bighorn sheep and the Chuckwalla lizard, for which it is named, and will provide outdoor recreation opportunities for nearby poor communities.

The monument's creation seeks to strike a balance between conservation and clean energy development, another Biden priority. The White House said the Chuckwalla monument will allow the construction and expansion of electric transmission lines to transport clean energy to population centers in the West. Renewable energy projects will be able to be developed near or adjacent to the monument.

"The establishment of Chuckwalla National Monument demonstrates that we can balance conservation and drive toward a clean energy future that serves everyone," Laura Daniel-Davis, the Interior Department's acting deputy secretary, said in a statement.

The Chuckwalla monument will be managed by Interior's Bureau of Land Management. Its establishment creates a 600-mile corridor of protected lands from southwestern Utah to Chuckwalla, the White House said.

The Sattitla Highlands National Monument in northern California will preserve 224,000 acres across three national forests. The area is sacred to the Pit River and Modoc tribes.

A dormant volcano, known as Medicine Lake, creates a dramatic landscape of craters and lava tubes. Rainfall in the area is filtered through the volcanic rock, filling underground aquifers for Northern California communities.

Brandy McDaniels, a Pit River tribe member who has advocated for the creation of the monument, said her people have fought geothermal energy development in the area for decades, and welcomed lasting protection.

"As tribal people that are socio-economically suppressed, we are constantly faced with corporations that have endless resources to come and exploit and degrade our water resources and our land," McDaniels said.

The Sattitla monument will be managed by the U.S. Forest Service, a division of the Department of Agriculture.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Nippon Steel Says There’s No Plan B to Blocked US Steel Deal





Shoko Oda
Tue, January 7, 2025 

(Bloomberg) -- Nippon Steel Corp. is not weighing any alternatives to its thwarted $14.1 billion takeover of United States Steel Corp., its chairman and CEO said on Tuesday, shortly after both companies filed US lawsuits to rescue the acquisition.

The Japanese firm’s planned purchase of its US rival was blocked last week by President Joe Biden after a year of diplomatic tension, political debate and lobbying efforts from the companies and unions. Biden, who had previously said he opposed the tie-up, cited national-security risks, despite Japan being a close ally.

The companies have filed a petition with the federal appeals court in Washington, arguing that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States failed to consider the deal on national security grounds, and that Biden’s order to block it was made for “purely political reasons.” They also filed a lawsuit against rival Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. and United Steelworkers President David McCall, alleging anticompetitive activities.

“There is no reason — or need — to give up on this deal,” Eiji Hashimoto, chairman and chief executive officer of the Japanese steelmaker, told reporters in Tokyo, adding that Nippon Steel and US Steel were focused on pushing ahead with the current agreement. “I have no thoughts of alternative plans.”

The two companies are asking the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to set aside an “unlawful” review and Biden’s subsequent order, and to demand a new review, they said in a joint statement.

“There will be truths revealed through the lawsuit, like the fact that the review violated the law,” Hashimoto said. “By revealing that the review was not conducted with national security in mind, we believe there is a chance for us to win the lawsuit.”

A months-long court battle is now likely, but it is not clear that will improve the prospects for the deal to ultimately succeed — US law gives the president the power to kill any merger deemed a threat to national security. President-elect Donald Trump, meanwhile, has also voiced his opposition to the takeover.

The deal did create a split within the Biden administration, though. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, currently on a visit to Japan for farewell talks with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, was among those who pitched an option to allow the deal with conditions. Proponents argued the block was an affront to a close ally, and undercut Biden’s efforts to reinvigorate alliances and create friendly supply chains.


Blinken and Japanese foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya met on Tuesday and exchanged views on the deal, according to a statement from Japan’s foreign ministry. The ministers “reaffirmed the importance of Japan-U.S. economic relations, including investments by Japanese companies in the U.S.,” the ministry said.

The head of Japan’s biggest business lobby group expressed worries over the impact of the deal being blocked on Japanese firms’ business activity in the US.

“We’re very concerned that this kind of decision will impact US-Japan economic relations,” said Masakazu Tokura, chairman of Keidanren. “It’s regrettable that America, which has been promoting an open and free trade and investment environment, has made such a decision.”


Hashimoto said the US market was “the most promising” among developed nations and “essential” for the company’s strategy — but Nippon Steel would continue to look at other growth markets, including India and Southeast Asia.

Nippon Steel’s deal to buy US Steel included a $565 million break fee for the American company. Hashimoto said that the penalty fee only comes into play if the merger contract breaks. That has not happened, he added.

--With assistance from Stephen Stapczynski, Yoshiaki Nohara and Koh Yoshida.

(Updates story with statement from Japan’s foreign ministry and comment from Japanese business lobby group from 9th paragraph.)

Bloomberg Businessweek

Blinken visits Japan as Nippon Steel decision weighs on relations

David Brunnstrom, Simon Lewis, Trevor Hunnicutt and Tim Kelly
Updated Tue, January 7, 2025 





WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to block Nippon Steel's $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel cast a shadow over Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Japan on Tuesday for farewell meetings with Washington's most important ally in Asia.

The rejection, announced on Friday, has jolted U.S. efforts to boost ties just as neighbouring South Korea's political crisis potentially complicates a deepening trilateral relationship between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo formed to counter China's growing military power.

On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba described Biden's decision to block the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel as "perplexing".

While Japanese investment into the U.S. could also be chilled, analysts say that given the two countries' shared security concerns about China, any damage to their wider relationship will probably be limited amid political transition in the U.S. where Donald Trump becomes president on Jan. 20.

MEETINGS

Accompanied by White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Blinken met Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya in Tokyo followed by meetings with other senior Japanese officials including Ishiba.

Seven trips to Japan over the last four years "is evidence not just of the importance, but of the centrality the United States attaches to our partnership. President Biden asked me to come on this last trip to underscore that," Blinken told Iwaya.

"We have, between our two countries, a partnership that started out focusing on bilateral issues, that worked on regional issues and that now is genuinely global," he added.

Ahead of his trip, the State Department said that Blinken wanted to build on the momentum of U.S.-Japan-South Korea trilateral co-operation.

In Seoul on Monday, Blinken reaffirmed confidence in South Korea's handling of its political turmoil as investigators there sought to extend a warrant for the arrest of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Trump's allies have also reassured Seoul and Tokyo that he will support continuing efforts to improve ties and advance military, economic and diplomatic co-operation to counter China and North Korea, Reuters reported ahead of Trump's Nov. 5 re-election.

TENSION, LIMITED DAMAGE FROM NIPPON STEEL DECISION

Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel filed a lawsuit on Monday charging that Biden violated the U.S. Constitution by blocking their $14.9 billion merger through what they termed a sham national security review. They called for the U.S. federal court to overturn the decision.

Nicholas Szechenyi, a Japan expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Biden's decision would make Blinken's Tokyo visit "awkward."

However, "Japan won't let the Nippon Steel decision poison the U.S.-Japan relationship; it's too important for Japan's national security," he said.

After meeting Ishiba at his residence on Tuesday, Blinken did not respond to questions shouted by reporters about the potential impact of Biden's U.S. Steel decision on bilateral ties.

They discussed security and economic ties including the "importance" of Japanese investments in the United States, according to a Japanese government press release.

A Japanese diplomat told Reuters Biden's decision could chill foreign direct investment, but hoped close U.S.-Japan relations would continue, with a strong emphasis on re-establishing the strong ties with Trump seen during his previous administration, and taking advantage of the increasingly hawkish mood in Washington on China.
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Business lobbies in both Japan and the U.S. pushed hard for the merger, backing their arguments with warnings about the effect on the U.S.-Japan relationship.

But the merger faced opposition from both Biden and Trump, who was assiduously courted by Japan in the run up to his re-election.

Trump reiterated after his election win that he was "totally against" the merger and vowed to block it as president and support U.S. Steel with tax breaks and tariffs.

A former senior official in Trump's first administration told Reuters he believed Trump would have taken the same approach as Biden.

Marc Busch, a fellow at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, forecast "significant fallout" for U.S. efforts to work with allies to create resilient supply chains in the face of Chinese dominance or competition in key areas.

"Japan and other allies will have doubts about investing in or aligning with politically sensitive U.S. supply chains. China must be chuckling to itself that it could never have hoped for a better outcome."

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Simon Lewis, Andrea Shalal, Steve Holland, Trevor Hunnicutt, Alexandra Alper, Richard Chang and Tim Kelly; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Kate Mayberry)


Blinken seeks to strengthen relations with Japan in final visit

Euronews
Tue, January 7, 2025 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Tokyo on Tuesday during what is likely to be his final overseas trip in office, which includes visits to South Korea, Japan, and France.

In Tokyo, Blinken will “review the tremendous progress the US-Japan alliance has made over the past few years,” the US State Department said in a statement.

That includes a major arms sales approval announced on Friday under which the US will deliver some €3.5 billion in medium-range missiles, related equipment and training to Japan.

China has repeatedly complained about the potential sale, saying it will affect stability and security in the region, allegations that both Japan and the US reject.

The meeting comes just a day after the US accused Russia of supplying military equipment and training to North Korea.

Speaking with South Korean leaders on Monday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken expressed concern over deepening ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong-un.

"We have reason to believe that Moscow intends to share advanced space and satellite technology with Pyongyang and that Putin may be close to reversing a decadeslong policy by Russia and accepting DPRK's nuclear weapons program," he said.

These comments came just hours after North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the Eastern Sea, and also at a time of political turmoil in South Korea. The country's president Yoon Suk-yeol has been impeached after his short-lived martial law decree on 3 December.

Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba expressed concern that the North’s accelerated pace in missile tests is advancing its capabilities, just weeks before US president-elect Donald Trump's return to office.

North Korea last year tested various nuclear-capable systems that threaten its neighbours and the US, including a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile that achieved both the highest altitude and longest flight time of any missile the country has launched.

Blinken will wrap up his trip in Paris in meetings with French officials to discuss developments in the Middle East and European security, particularly in Ukraine.


Biden blocked US Steel and Nippon merger. The companies are now suing the US government

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy,
 USA TODAY
Mon, January 6, 2025 

U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel of Japan filed a lawsuit Monday against the U.S. government over President Biden’s decision to block their $14.3 merger.

The two companies alleged Biden’s actions were motivated by “purely political reasons.”

“Today’s legal actions demonstrate Nippon Steel’s and U. S. Steel’s continued commitment to completing the Transaction – despite political interference,” the companies said in a statement.

On Friday, Biden issued an executive order to halt the transaction saying Nippon’s acquisition of U.S. Steel would place America’s largest steel producers under foreign control and create a “national security” risk.


A US Steel sign is seen outside the Carrie Furnace which was once part of the abandoned Homestead Steel Works that continues to be further converted for public use after being designated as a historical landmark on January 21, 2020, in Swissvale, Pennsylvania.

In a statement on Friday, Biden said "a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry represents an essential national security priority and is critical for resilient supply chains."

"That is because steel powers our country: our infrastructure, our auto industry, and our defense industrial base," he said. "Without domestic steel production and domestic steel workers, our nation is less strong and less secure."The lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia alleges that the Biden administration “ignored the rule of law” and rejected the merger to curry favor with the United Steelworkers (USW) labor union.

The companies also alleged that the Committee of Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal interagency committee, which reviewed the transaction, was “deeply corrupted by politics, and the outcome was pre-determined” to satisfy the political objectives of the Biden White House.

White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson responded to the lawsuit Monday by reiterating Biden's stance.

"A committee of national security and trade experts determined this acquisition would create risk for American national security," Patterson told USA TODAY in a statement. "President Biden will never hesitate to protect the security of this nation, its infrastructure, and the resilience of its supply chains.”

At the end of 2023, Japan was the top foreign investor in the U.S, investing $783.3 billion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

“It is shocking − and deeply troubling − that the U.S. government would reject a procompetitive transaction that advances U.S. interests and treat an ally like Japan in this way,” the companies said in a statement after Biden’s announcement.

The companies petitioned the court to set aside Biden’s order and instruct CIFIUS to conduct a new review.

The companies also filed a second lawsuit against rival steel company Cleveland-Cliffs, its CEO Lourenco Goncalves and Dave McCall, president of the United Steelworkers labor union (USW) for colluding to block the transaction.

The lawsuit alleged they had engaged in a “coordinated series of anticompetitive and racketeering activities” illegally designed to prevent “any party other than Cliffs from acquiring U. S. Steel.”

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nippon and US Steel allege 'political interference' after Biden block

Nippon Steel could face growth challenges after U.S. Steel purchase blocked, analysts say


Noriyuki Hirata, Yuka Obayashi and Katya Golubkova
Updated Mon, January 6, 2025 


The logos of Nippon Steel Corp. are displayed at the company headquarters in Tokyo


TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's Nippon Steel may need to look at a revamp of its growth strategy after U.S. President Joe Biden blocked its proposed $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel, but its share price could bounce back in the near-term, analysts said.

Shares in Nippon Steel fell only slightly on Monday in their first trading since Biden on Friday rejected the deal after a year-long review, citing national security concerns.

Biden's opposition to the deal had been well-flagged and U.S. Steel shares had been trading far below the offer price as a result. Nevertheless, Japan's largest business lobby said the decision was a cause for concern regarding future U.S. investment.

Nippon Steel shares closed down 0.75% at 3,158 yen ($20.03) on Monday, compared with a 1% fall in broader Topix index. They settled at 3,182 yen on Dec. 30, the final trading day of 2024 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which was closed for the remainder of last week for the New Year holiday.

"Some investors may view the failure of the U.S. Steel acquisition as alleviating financial concerns due to the substantial amount of money involved in the deal," said Yoshihiko Tabei, chief strategist at Naito Securities.

Nippon Steel had not finalised a permanent financing plan for the all-cash deal but said raising equity was among the possibilities.

Tabei, however, noted that uncertainty remains, as achieving medium- to long-term growth will likely be challenging without expanding operations in the U.S.

With U.S. Steel, Nippon Steel aimed to raise its global crude steel production capacity to 85 million metric tons per year from 65 million tons now, nearing its long-term goal of lifting production capacity to 100 million tons.

The proposed deal has not yet been terminated by the companies even after Biden blocked the purchase.

In a joint statement, Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel called Biden's decision "unlawful" and said they will take all appropriate action to protect their legal rights.

Nippon Steel will owe U.S. Steel a $565 million break fee if it is not completed.

Still, some analysts think the failure of the deal could boost shares in Nippon Steel.

"Even if the deal does not proceed, Nippon Steel's earnings outlook remains unchanged, with significant growth expected in the next financial year starting in April," Yuji Matsumoto, an analyst at Nomura Securities said in a note.

"Additionally, the removal of financing uncertainty related to the acquisition is likely to support a near-term increase in the stock price," he said.

POTENTIAL LEGAL ACTION

Japan is the biggest investor into the U.S. economy and some business leaders and officials have voiced a concern that the deal's failure may cool down investment flow from the country.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday that he viewed Biden's decision as a "grave matter" that has led to concerns among Japanese businesses over the future of bilateral investment.

"We will strongly request the U.S. government to dash such concerns," he said. "Although (the U.S.) is an allied nation, for the future of our relations, we must insist on an explanation as to why there are security concerns."

The government has already conveyed its position to the Biden administration and will consider concrete support measures for Nippon Steel based on the company's response to the decision, Japanese industry minister Yoji Muto said on Monday.

Keidanren, the Japanese business lobby, echoed the government's response, adding Biden's decision to block the deal was "extremely disappointing".

"Despite the fact that Japan is the U.S.'s largest investor and ally, the decision, which was made on the grounds of economic security, is a cause for concern about the impact on future investment in the U.S. and on Japan-U.S. economic relations," the organisation said in a statement.

For both companies, the path forward is unclear.

Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel could sue the U.S. government, another buyer could swoop in for U.S. Steel, or Republicans who favour the deal could urge President-elect Donald Trump to find a way to approve it.

But some lawyers and consultants have said a legal challenge would be tough.

"Even if Nippon Steel is somehow able to resuscitate the deal, it faces a similarly dire prognosis from Trump. He would probably move quickly to kill it," said David Boling, a director at consultants Eurasia Group.

On Monday, Nippon Steel President Tadashi Imai told reporters filing a lawsuit against the U.S. government is one of the "important options", Nippon Television reported.

Imai said that the U.S. government's reviewing process and the decisions over its acquisition proposal did not seem properly handled, adding Nippon Steel is "entitled to a proper review," according to the report.

Imai said that it would not take long for the company to announce countermeasures to the U.S. government's decision, the report said.

($1 = 157.6300 yen)

(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura, Noriyuki Hirata, Yuka Obayashi, Katya Golubkova and Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Jamie Freed and Christian Schmollinger, Kirsten Donovan)

Nippon, US Steel file suit after Biden administration blocks $15 billion deal

Mon, January 6, 2025 






WASHINGTON (AP) — Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel are filing a federal lawsuit challenging the Biden administration's decision to block a proposed nearly $15 billion deal for Nippon to acquire Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel..

The suit, filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, alleges that it was a political decision and violated the companies' due process.

Nippon Steel had promised to invest $2.7 billion in U.S. Steel’s aging blast furnace operations in Gary, Indiana, and Pennsylvania’s Mon Valley. It also vowed not to reduce production capacity in the United States over the next decade without first getting U.S. government approval.

Biden on Friday decided to stop the Nippon takeover — after federal regulators deadlocked on whether to approve it — because “a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry represents an essential national security priority. ... Without domestic steel production and domestic steel workers, our nation is less strong and less secure," he said in a statement

While administration officials have said the move is unrelated to Japan's relationship with the U.S. — this is the first time a U.S. president has blocked a merger between a U.S. and Japanese firm.

Biden departs the White House in just a few weeks.

The president's decision to block the deal comes after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, failed to reach consensus on the possible national security risks of the deal last month, and sent a long-awaited report on the merger to Biden. He had 15 days to reach a final decision.

Fatima Hussein, The Associated Press
Trump promises to replace national archivist after the agency's role in documents case against him
PETTY TYRANT

Will Weissert
Mon, January 6, 2025 



WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is promising to replace the head of the National Archives, thrusting the agency back into the political spotlight after his mishandling of sensitive documents led to a federal indictment.

“We will have a new archivist," Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday.

The agency piqued Trump's ire after it alerted the Department of Justice about potential problems with Trump’s handling of classified documents in early 2022. That set in motion an investigation that led to a dramatic FBI search of Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago, which culminated in him becoming the first former president charged with federal crimes.

The current archivist, Colleen Shogan, the first woman in the role, wasn't in the post at that time. David Ferriero, who had been appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009, announced in January 2022 that he'd be retiring effective that April.

Shogan was nominated by President Joe Biden in August 2022, just days before the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida. But she was not confirmed until May of the following year, after a monthslong partisan battle over the agency’s role in the documents investigation.

The national archivist can be removed from office by the president, who can choose a successor who is then confirmed by the Senate, so Trump's promise to do so is not unusual.

Still, Trump has vowed to smash what he calls the “ deep state,” a nebulous term referring generally to the federal government, including civil servants and bureaucrats he argues are hostile to his ideological views and those of Republicans more broadly.

Presidents are legally required to provide most of their records to the National Archives once they leave office. When the National Archives realized that some documents were missing from its collection after Trump left office, they made repeated demands for him to return them, according to the federal indictment.

Trump eventually turned over some of the documents but hid others, the indictment charged. He was indicted by special counsel Jack Smith on charges including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements and representations.

He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. Prosecutors moved to abandon the case after his Election Day victory in November. That was consistent with long-standing Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution.

Will Weissert, The Associated Press


Trump says he’ll replace National Archives leader

Tara Suter
THE HILL
Mon, January 6, 2025


President-elect Trump said on Monday that he’ll replace the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) leader.

“We will [have a] new archivist,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on his show.

According to federal law on the NARA website, Trump has the power to fire the archivist but must “communicate the reasons for any such removal to each House of the Congress.”

One of the prominent legal cases the president-elect has had to deal with in the past two years, the Mar-a-Lago documents case, centered around his retention of sensitive documents from his first presidency, in the face of work by NARA and the FBI to get them back.

Special counsel Jack Smith formally withdrew from the documents case last week, referring the continuing prosecution of the president-elect’s two co-defendants to Southern District of Florida federal prosecutors. Smith also formally dropped charges against Trump in both of his federal cases two months ago, dismissing them without prejudice and citing Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.

“We also had a very brilliant and very fair judge on the case,” Trump told Hewitt on Monday, referring to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who ruled to toss the documents case in July.

“And as you know, we won that case … we won it convincingly,” the president-elect added.

The current Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan has been in the role since May 2023. While still a nominee, she faced confrontation from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) about past posts on the social platform X, including those in which she went after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and backed mask mandates for young children.

“Dr. Shogan has had a strong working relationship with President Trump and his team. We look forward to continuing that relationship with the new administration,” National Archives Public and Media Communications said in an emailed statement to The Hill Sunday.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 




HEGEMONIC HUBRIS

Trump Suggests Using Military Force To Take Control Of Panama Canal And Greenland

S.V. Date
HUFFPOST
Tue, January 7, 2025 

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday in Palm Beach, Florida. Evan Vucci/Associated Press

President-elect Donald Trump refused to rule out using military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal on Tuesday in a rambling media appearance during which he also complained about electric heaters that cause itching and continued lying about the criminal cases against him.

“No, I can’t assure you on either of those two,” he said in response to a question about use of the military in the two territories, one controlled by Denmark and the other by Panama. “It might be that you’ll have to do something.”

“We need Greenland for national security purposes,” he said, adding that it has only 45,000 residents. “People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it. But if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security.”

Trump won't rule out military, economic action as he seeks control of Panama Canal, Greenland

Steve Holland and Joseph Ax
Tue, January 7, 2025 

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump makes remarks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach

PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) -President-elect Donald Trump declined on Monday to rule out military or economic action as part of his avowed desire to have the U.S. take back control of the Panama Canal and acquire the Danish territory of Greenland.

Asked at a press conference whether he could assure the world that he would not use military or economic coercion as he tries to gain control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, Trump said, "No, I can't assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security."

The extraordinary statement came as Trump further outlined an expansionist agenda, two weeks before he is sworn into office at the Jan. 20 inauguration in Washington.

He reiterated his interest in making Canada into a U.S. state and criticized American spending on Canadian goods and military support for Canada, one of the country's closest allies.

Trump suggested he would impose tariffs on Denmark if it resists his offer to purchase Greenland, which he said is vital to U.S. national security. Denmark has said Greenland is not for sale.

Trump also vowed to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and repeated his promise to impose significant tariffs on Mexico and Canada.

"It covers a lot of territory," he said of the Gulf. "'The Gulf of America.' What a beautiful name."

His promise to rename the Gulf echoed his previous vow to revert the name of Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, to Mount McKinley. Former President Barack Obama changed the name of the Alaskan mountain in deference to Native Americans.

Typically, the U.S. Board of Geographic Names sets geographic names, though presidents have also renamed geographic features via executive action.

Mexican and Panamanian authorities did not immediately comment. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino has previously rejected the notion of turning the canal back to the U.S., which had owned it before handing over control to Panama in 1999.

Trump said NATO members should spend 5% of their gross domestic product on defense, a significant increase from the current 2% target.

"I think NATO should have 5%," he said. "They can all afford it, but they should be at 5%, not 2%."

Trump has frequently complained that most NATO members are not paying their fair share, and he floated demanding an increase in NATO defense contributions during the campaign.
The press conference, Trump's second since he won the Nov. 5 election, took place one day after Congress formally certified his victory.

The Jan. 6 certification, a basic and largely ceremonial step required by the U.S. Constitution, was disrupted in 2021 when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in a failed effort to forestall President Joe Biden's win over Trump. Monday's ceremony took place under heavy security but proceeded without drama.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Costas Pitas, Helen Coster, Timothy Reid, Doina Chiacu and Gram Slattery; Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Howard Goller)


Elon Musk Trying to Scrap NASA's Moon Program

Victor Tangermann
Mon, January 6, 2025 


SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is calling for NASA to ditch its Artemis program, arguing that the "Moon is a distraction" and that "we're going straight to Mars" instead in a recent tweet — and directly contradicting the agency's long-established plans.

In a separate tweet on Christmas Day, Musk accused the space agency's Moon program of being "extremely inefficient as it is a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program."

The broadsides once again highlight the mercurial entrepreneur's obsession with establishing a city on Mars, a starry-eyed vision he wants to see facilitated by his space company's next-generation heavy-lift rockets.

And while the idea of ditching the Artemis program — which was officially formed by Musk's new ally, president-elect Donald Trump, in 2017 — seems bafflingly counterintuitive and shortsighted, his emboldened calls to skip the Moon can't be dismissed given his immense new influence.

Musk now holds huge sway not only over the fate of his many businesses, but the political landscape as well, most recently helping Trump win the election and even playing a major role in the torpedoing of a US Congress funding bill last month.

Consequently, the South African billionaire has been put in charge of a so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" to excise $2 trillion from the national budget. Whether this advisory group will be able to take aim at the Artemis program remains to be seen.

Nonetheless, now that Musk has a significant foothold in Washington, DC, NASA's efforts to land the first astronauts on the surface of the Moon before the end of this decade could be in serious trouble — or at least look dramatically different after some high-powered meddling.

What's perhaps most likely, at least in the short term, is that instead of scrapping NASA's plan, the Trump-Musk alliance could make significant adjustments instead, perhaps by ditching the agency's expensive and inefficient Space Launch System in favor of SpaceX's reusable Starship or Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, as Ars Technica's Eric Berger suggests.

One unknown is NASA's incoming administrator Jared Isaacman, a billionaire and private astronaut who has been to space twice with the help of SpaceX — but who so far has expressed support for NASA's existing lunar gameplan.

In a statement Isaacman tweeted following his nomination, the billionaire proclaimed that "Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars and in doing so, we will make life better here on Earth."

That vision directly contradicts Musk's desire to aim our sights exclusively at Mars, a striking difference in tune that will be fascinating to watch play out.

Will Trump's administration and Isaacman bend the knee, calling off upcoming Artemis missions — or will it be a matter of appeasing Musk's plans while simultaneously pursuing American boots on the Moon?

Chances are, we'll have to wait quite some time until we get a definitive answer. The Artemis program has formed an intricate web between NASA and its private contractors, SpaceX included, which likely can't be ripped apart or burned down overnight.

More on Artemis: NASA's Moon Landing Gets Pushed Back Yet Again



Muslim, Arab voters face uncertain political future under Trump

Jared Gans
Mon, January 6, 2025 
THE HILL

Muslim and Arab American voters in the U.S. face an uncertain political future as President-elect Trump prepares to take office later this month.

Long considered a reliable part of the Democratic base, Muslim Americans scrambled the political calculus in 2024 amid growing fury over President Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, with many abandoning the party altogether.

Now, many Muslim and Arab Americans say they are without a clear political home, angry at what they say was Democrats’ refusal to heed their warnings and anxious about what a Trump presidency means for both them and the conflicts in the Middle East.

“That home is not as solid anymore,” said Haris Tarin, the vice president of policy and programming for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, referring to the Democratic Party as a political “home.” “Post-9/11 it was quite solid in many ways, specifically because of civil rights issues, but I think that vote is no longer as solid as many thought.”

Although President Biden easily clinched enough delegates to become the presumptive Democratic nominee during his run and Vice President Harris quickly wrapped up the nomination after Biden dropped out, both saw significant discontent among Democratic voters who wanted more of a choice.

This was particularly organized around those who opposed the administration’s support for Israel amid its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Two major campaigns organized during Biden’s candidacy and continued with Harris’s candidacy based around this frustration, one encouraging voters to vote “Uncommitted” in the primaries and remain that way unless the candidate agrees to certain policies, such as putting conditions on aid to Israel.

The other one was an “Abandon” campaign, calling on voters to reject the Democratic ticket altogether. That group ultimately endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein, while the Uncommitted movement came out against Trump’s candidacy but avoided endorsing Harris.

Both groups particularly sought to appeal to Muslim Americans frustrated with the administration and those who sympathize with them. They argued that warning signs existed for Democrats with these voters who couldn’t be counted on to back the ticket as they had reliably done for the past two decades.

The exact breakdown varies based on exit polls conducted and the location, but the results widely showed a significant shift in voting behavior compared to past elections.

An exit poll from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) found Stein won among American Muslims nationwide, with 53 percent of the vote compared to 21 percent for Trump and 20 percent for Harris. One specifically for Michigan showed Stein ahead with 59 percent to Trump’s 22 percent and Harris’s 14 percent.

Polling ahead of the election from CAIR also found Harris struggling with this group that had overwhelmingly voted for Democrats this century.

After the election, the Abandon movement is seeking to have this moment mark a turning point in the political identity for Muslim Americans to not feel beholden to any one side.

“Now we’re sort of going to build towards a collective whose loyalty does not belong to either party or any party, for that matter, even the Green Party,” said Hudhayfah Ahmad, who served as a spokesperson for the movement. “We want to build a collective that votes based on morals and principles.”

Ahmad said the movement is expecting Trump will “absolutely disappoint” in his second term and will tell people they should try a “third way.”

“It’s not about winning — it’s about changing the conversation,” he said. “It’s not about winning. It’s about doing the right thing. Winning isn’t important because we’ve sacrificed a lot of our principles in the name of winning, in the name of lesser-evilism, in the name of some … greater good that never really materialized.”

Tarin said Muslim Americans want politicians to earn their vote and the lesson is: “You need to listen to us. You need to engage us.”

“I think that’s a newer thing for this community. Historically they haven’t had that level of responsiveness for a few years in the Democratic Party because of civil rights issues,” he said.

A few advocates involved in Muslim or Arab American organizations mentioned the frustrations that those voters felt with no Palestinian American speaker being allowed to address the Democratic National Convention in the summer.

James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute, noted that having a Palestinian speaker had support from numerous people, including the Israeli American family who addressed the convention, and that those who blocked it were “out of touch” with where the electorate was.

Zogby noted that Muslim Americans and Arab Americans often are conflated as the same group, even though most Muslims are not Arab and most Arab Americans are not Muslim.

But both groups received attention over their frustration and supported the Democratic ticket less than in the past, posing possible warning signs for the future.

In the majority-Arab city of Dearborn, Mich., Trump won a plurality of the vote after Biden overwhelmingly won it in 2020.

The Arab American Institute found Biden won among Arab Americans by 25 points in 2020, but Zogby said this year the community was probably an “even split.” He said every other demographic group was represented on stage at the Democratic National Convention, but not someone of Arab descent, and the administration wasn’t willing to change its stance.

“This is a wound in the heart that’s going to take a long time to heal,” Zogby said. “Will it be decisive in elections? I don’t know. It depends on the candidates, and it depends on the policy mix, the other issues at stake.”

Wa’el Alzayat, the CEO of Emgage, which works to educate and rally Muslim voters to be civically active, noted that while the Muslim community was more divided in their vote, they were still united on their policy stance.

“Unlike typical fracturing, this wasn’t people fighting about a position on gun violence or abortion. Everyone was saying, ‘We need to end the war.’ We want the hostages to come home. We want humanitarian aid to be delivered,” he said. “But the tactic of how we want to get there, there was different approaches, and obviously and unfortunately, none of it worked, that the war is still ongoing.”

“Obviously, now the community is grappling with two issues. One is the war still continuing and Trump is returning,” Alzayat added.

But the fact Muslim voters were largely on the same page despite their ultimate choice at the polls shows how either side can try to win them over in the future, advocates said.

“I don’t think the Democrats have necessarily lost the American Muslim world forever, or Republicans have gained this forever,” Tarin said. “I don’t think that’s the case either way.”

But Tarin noted many Muslim voters didn’t feel enough of a difference between how Trump would address the war and how Biden has been addressing the war. Trump has more recently said he wants the war to end but also reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “Do what you have to do.”

“A lot of people say, ‘Well, I mean, how much worse can Trump be on Gaza?’” Tarin said. “That’s a line that you hear quite often in American Muslim communities. How much worse can he do? What has Biden not done or not allowed Netanyahu to do that Trump would allow him to do so on that issue, it’s really hard.”

Adding to the uncertainty for the demographic going forward is renewed concerns over Islamic terrorism in the wake of a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, which has been linked to a suspect with apparent ties to ISIS. What this means for the American Muslim community under Trump obviously remains to be seen.

Alzayat said one reason for hope is Muslim voters demonstrated their political power and that they need to be taken seriously and be listened to.

“If you have 200,000 registered Muslim voters in Michigan, and 70 percent of them voted for Democrats in 2020, and only 30 percent of them voted for Democrats in 2024 that’s an 80,000-vote swing,” he said. “That’s too large of a margin to ignore.”

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Trump Goes Easy on Tariffs After CEOs Pay Homage

Leigh Kimmins
Mon, January 6, 2025 

President-elect Donald Trump’s aides have suggested that the MAGA chief will row back slightly on his campaign promise of sweeping tariffs on all imports entering the U.S., according to the Washington Post.

Trump campaigned on aggressive tariffs despite many economists’ warning about subsequent price increases for American consumers. Now, sources familiar with the matter have told WaPo that they will only cover critical imports. Industries deemed vital to national and economic security will now be targeted instead of the original proposal of “universal tariffs” going ahead, the insiders said.

WaPo reported that the change in tone “would jettison a key aspect of Trump’s campaign pledge,” but cited the insiders who said that nothing is set in stone yet.

It is likely, however, that industries that Trump wants to return to the U.S. will be the main focus of the import duties. Tariffs on steel, iron, aluminum and copper, were earmarked by aides, the sources said.

So too were critical medical supplies like syringes, needles, vials and pharmaceutical materials; and energy production implements like batteries, rare earth minerals and even solar panels, they added.


Trump campaigned on aggressive tariffs. / Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images


Trump’s campaign promise would have seen the price of food imports and cheap consumer electronics skyrocket, but the latest reported tweaks mean producers in these fields may be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

However, people familiar with the matter said slated tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China could be imposed along with the universal tariffs.

“The sector-based universal tariff is a little bit easier for everybody to stomach out the gate. The thought is if you’re going to do universal tariffs, why not at least start with these targeted measures?” one of the people told WaPo. “And it would still give CEOs a massive incentive to start making their products here.”

Bezos dined at Mar-a-Lago last month, and his company donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration. / The Washington Post / The Washington Post via Getty Im

It comes after a host of billionaires enjoyed an audience with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in recent weeks. Among them was Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, who reportedly jostled for the president-elect’s attention with his right hand man Elon Musk.

Bezos has pledged to donate $1 million to the Trump inauguration through Amazon, while Musk, the SpaceX CEO and X owner, is believed to have poured at least $277 million into backing his main ally.

Apple’s Tim Cook dined with Trump at the Florida resort a few weeks ago, and just last week announced that he too plans to donate $1 million.

Among the others to bend the knee was OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, who pledged to personally donate $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. “President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead,” Altman said in a statement.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, also plans to send $1 million towards the kitty. The inaugural committee is projected to raise more than $150 million, according to reports. “There is an absolute deluge of interest,” a Republican fundraiser told ABC News.


Traditionally Musk-critical Mark Zuckerberg has pledged $1 million for his inauguration / Manuel Orbegozo/Reuters

Even Bill Gates, who reportedly backed Kamala Harris to the tune of $50 million, is said to have courted Trump. Writing on Truth Social last month, Trump said the former CEO of Microsoft—whom Forbes says is the 16th richest in the world—personally asked for an audience with him.

“In the first term, everyone was fighting me,” Trump said at Mar-a-Lago last month. “This time, everyone wants to be my friend.”

Meanwhile, Trump addressed the Washington Post tariffs story on Truth Social, calling it “fake news.” He wrote on Monday morning: “The story in the Washington Post, quoting so-called anonymous sources, which don’t exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong. The Washington Post knows it’s wrong. It’s just another example of Fake News.”
WAIT, WHAT?!

CIA releases documents showing past surveillance of Latino civil rights groups,
MLK Jr.

CIA NOT ALLOWED TO DO DOMESTIC SPYING

Kanishka Singh
Mon, January 6, 2025 

CIA's secret museum adds new spy exhibits in Virginia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA has released documents showing it monitored Latino activists who had supported late civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. and who opposed police brutality and the Vietnam War.

The files were reported first by Axios on Monday, posted on the CIA's website and ranged from 1968 to 1983.


WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Surveillance by U.S. agencies has a long history, with historians and rights advocates having condemned its sweeping and abusive nature in periods like the Vietnam war, the civil rights movement, as well as the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The latest documents were requested by Democratic U.S. Representatives Joaquin Castro and Jimmy Gomez on CIA's Operation Chaos, which was a domestic espionage program that targeted American citizens and voices of dissent.

CONTEXT

The documents released by the CIA showed that the work of activists like Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales and farmworker union leader Cesar Chavez was viewed by the agency as a threat and with suspicion. They also showed that the movements of those leaders were tracked.

The documents also revealed surveillance of Mexican American students in universities in that period.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

ORIGINALLY A REPUBLICAN DECLARED FEDERAL HOLIDAY


When is Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2025? Everything to know about the federal holiday

Grace Tucker and Haadiza Ogwude, Cincinnati Enquirer
Mon, January 6, 2025 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the federal holiday honoring the life and birthday of an icon of America's civil rights movement, is this month.

The holiday, observed annually on the third Monday of January, falls on Jan. 20 this year.

Here's everything to know about Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2025, including why we celebrate it.

What day is MLK Day 2025?

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed annually on the third Monday of January. This year, it takes place on Monday, Jan. 20.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed annually on the third Monday of January.


When was Martin Luther King Jr. born?

King, a civil rights icon, was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on Jan. 15, 1929.

Is MLK Day always on a Monday?

Yes, the holiday is observed each year on the third Monday of January due to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which former President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law in 1968. The law moved several federal holidays, including Memorial Day, Labor Day and Washington's Birthday, to Mondays to create long weekends for federal employees.

Even though King's birthday is Jan. 15, the holiday is commemorated on Monday like the other holidays under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.

When did Martin Luther King Jr. Day become a federal holiday?

Ceremonies commemorating King's birthday and legacy have been held since his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. However, the road to naming a federal holiday in his honor was a long one.

It wasn't until nearly 20 years after his assassination that Martin Luther King Jr. Day became federally recognized in 1983, when President Ronald Reagan signed it into law.

 The holiday was observed for the first time three years later, in 1986, and celebrated in every state by 2000.

Efforts from King's widow, Coretta Scott King, lawmakers, activists and others helped bring the holiday to fruition, USA TODAY reports. Stevie Wonder also played a role in the law's passage, writing about the importance of recognizing King's legacy in his 1980 song "Happy Birthday."

"I just never understood / How a man who died for good / Could not have a day that would / Be set aside for his recognition," Wonder wrote.

Why and how do we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day?

The federal holiday honors the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights leader who dedicated his life to speaking out against injustice, inequality, poverty and war. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the holiday is usually celebrated with marches, parades, speeches by civil rights leaders and politicians, volunteering and special programming at museums and other cultural institutions nationwide.

Each year, Cincinnati's National Underground Railroad Freedom Center hosts a King Legacy Celebration on the holiday, featuring a keynote speaker and musical performances. The MLK Coalition is also hosting its 50th anniversary Freedom March this year with the theme “Jubilee for MLK’s Beloved Community" inspired by King's 1960 Freedom Jubilee speech.

MLK Day is the only federal holiday that is "designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer and improve their communities," per the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Who killed Martin Luther King Jr.?

According to the National Archives, James Earl Ray, a 40-year-old convicted armed robber who escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary, pleaded guilty on March 10, 1969, to shooting King nearly a year prior on April 4, 1968.

King was shot and wounded on the second-floor balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was pronounced dead at St. Joseph Hospital later that day.

Ray was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 99 years at the state prison. In 1998, he died at the age of 70 from kidney disease and liver failure after serving 29 years in prison.

Indonesia dishes out first free meals in programme targeting 83 million people

Reuters
Mon, January 6, 2025 

Indonesia launches free meals programme

Indonesia launches free meals programme

Indonesia launches free meals programme

Indonesia launches free meals programme

Indonesia launches free meals programme


JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's ambitious multi-billion dollar programme to provide free meals to more than a quarter of his people was officially underway on Monday, officials said, with 570,000 mouths to feed on its opening day.

Despite being the centrepiece of an election campaign that catapulted Prabowo to power last year, the scheme was rolled out with little fanfare on Monday, with no official launch and just 190 kitchens involved in preparing the first meals to school children and pregnant women in more than 20 provinces.

The free meal plan will be a Herculean logistical effort when in full swing, with a target by 2029 of reaching 82.9 million of the country's 280 million population.

Prabowo's signature policy has been controversial, however, with previous estimates of its cost of $28 billion over five years triggering concern among some economists that it could dent Indonesia's hard-won reputation for fiscal prudence.

Prabowo has defended the programme and last month described it as strategic in countering child malnutrition and spurring growth in Indonesia's economy at regional level. It is estimated to cost 71 trillion rupiah ($4.39 billion) in its first stage this year, providing meals for 15 million people.

At an elementary school in West Jakarta, staff carried food trays to class and students picked them up one by one, finding rice, fried chicken, fried tofu, beans, and an orange.

Hana Yohana, a parent of a first grader, said she hoped the programme continues as it made her morning routine easier.

"Thank God, this helps us. We normally had to work hard preparing food every morning, and now we don't," she said.

The government and military, who will help prepare and distribute the meals, have been running pilot programmes where they have handed out trays of food including rice, chicken and milk.

The number of meal recipients will gradually expand to 3 million by March and more throughout the year, according to Dedek Prayudi, a spokesperson for Prabowo's office.

Dedek said milk would be given but not every day. Indonesia has imported dairy cows from Australia to boost milk production.

($1 = 16,193.0000 rupiah)

(Reporting by Yuddy Cahya Budiman and Stanley Widianto; Editing by Martin Petty)