Donald Trump pauses all US military aid to Ukraine – live

A spokesperson from China’s commerce ministry has meanwhile responded to the US tariffs, urging the US to ‘immediately withdraw’ its unilateral tariff measures that it called unreasonable and groundless, and harmful to others while being beneficial to the US, Reuters reports.

The official added that it hoped the US side will return to the right track of properly resolving differences through dialogue on an equal footing as soon as possible.

Bloomberg reports that the pause applies to all US military equipment not currently in Ukraine and that this includes weapons in transit on aircraft and ships or waiting in transit areas in Poland.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday told employees they can apply for early retirement by the end of the day 14 March under authority granted to agencies undergoing substantial restructuring or downsizing, according to an email seen by Reuters.

The Conservative blueprint Project 2025 says of the department that:

The Office of the Secretary should eliminate the HHS Reproductive Healthcare Access taskforce and install a pro-life taskforce to ensure that all of the department’s divisions seek to use their authority to promote the life and health of women and their unborn children.

Additionally, HHS should return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care and by restoring its mission statement under the Strategic Plan and elsewhere to include furthering the health and wellbeing of all Americans “from conception to natural death.”

The official who spoke to Reuters said that the, “President has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution. The official spoke to the news agency on the condition of anonymity.

Zelenskyy’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside office hours.

The decision comes after Trump upended US policy on Ukraine and Russia upon taking office in January, adopting a more conciliatory stance towards Moscow – and after an explosive confrontation with Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday in which Trump criticized him for being insufficiently grateful for the Washington’s backing in the war with Russia.

On Monday Trump again said Zelenskyy should be more appreciative of American support after earlier responding angrily to an Associated Press report quoting Zelenskiy as saying the end of the war is “very, very far away.”

“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, using an alternative spelling of the Ukrainian leader’s name.

But Trump also suggested on Monday that a deal to open up Ukraine’s minerals to US investment could still be agreed despite his frustration with Kyiv, as European leaders floated proposals for a truce in Russia’s war with its neighbor.

The Trump administration views a minerals deal as America’s way of earning back some of the tens of billions of dollars it has given to Ukraine in financial and military aid since Russia invaded three years ago.

When asked on Monday if the deal was dead, Trump said at the White House: “No, I don’t think so.”

Trump described it as a “great deal for us” and said he would give an update on the situation on Tuesday night when he addresses a joint session of Congress.

• The US will press ahead with steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico from Tuesday, Donald Trump has said, setting the stage for a trade war with his country’s two largest economic partners. The US president claimed there was “no room left” for a deal to avoid their imposition.

• The CEO of a giant in the semiconductor chip industry joined Trump to announce the Taiwanese company’s new $100bn investment in production in the United States. CC Wei, the chief executive of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) said the new investment brings TSMC’s total investment in chip manufacturing in the US to $165bn.

• The US is drawing up a plan to potentially give Russia sanctions relief as Trump seeks to restore ties with Moscow and stop the war in Ukraine, a US official and another person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The White House has asked the state and treasury departments to draft a list of sanctions that could be eased for US officials to discuss with Russian representatives in the coming days.

• The US Senate has confirmed Linda McMahon as the nation’s next education secretary, entrusting the former wrestling executive with a department marked for dismantling by Trump. The 76-year-old billionaire businesswoman and longtime Trump ally was approved 51-45, reflecting deep divisions over her qualifications and the administration’s education agenda.

• The US has paused all military aid to Ukraine following Trump’s clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, according to two media reports on Monday. This has not yet been independently confirmed by the Guardian.

• US stocks plunged Monday afternoon as selling intensified after Trump said there was “no room left” for tariff negotiations with Canada and Mexico. The ISM survey showed manufacturing PMI slipped to 50.3 last month from 50.9 in January.

• A spokesperson for health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has resigned after two weeks on the job, reportedly over his handling of the measles outbreak in Texas. Politico reports that Thomas Corry stepped down as assistant secretary for public affairs amid tensions over the epidemic of the disease, which had been declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.

The United States is pausing military aid to Ukraine, days after US President Donald Trump clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, a White House official confirmed with Reuters on Monday.

The official said the US is pausing and reviewing aid to ensure it is contributing to a solution, Reuters reports.

The pause will last until Trump determines the country’s leaders demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace, according to Bloomberg and Fox News reports.

“This is not permanent termination of aid, it’s a pause,” Fox News quoted a Trump administration official as saying.

Bloomberg reported that all US military equipment not currently in Ukraine would be paused, including weapons in transit on aircraft and ships or waiting in transit areas in Poland.

It added that Trump ordered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to execute the pause.

The reports come hours after Trump told reporters at the White House that he had not discussed suspending military aid to Ukraine, but added that Zelenskyy “should be more appreciative” of Washington’s support.

Nearly three years into the war, Washington has committed billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine.

Reuters reports now that, according to an unnamed White House official, the US is pausing and reviewing Ukraine aid “to ensure that it is contributing to a solution”.

More shortly.

The US has paused all military aid to Ukraine following Trump’s clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, according to two media reports on Monday.

This has not yet been independently confirmed by the Guardian.

The pause will last until Trump determines the country’s leaders demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace, according to reports in Bloomberg and Fox News.

“This is not permanent termination of aid, it’s a pause,” Fox News quoted a Trump administration official as saying.

This is Helen Sullivan taking over the Guardian’s live US politics coverage.

The US Senate has confirmed Linda McMahon as the nation’s next education secretary, entrusting the former wrestling executive with a department marked for dismantling by Donald Trump.

The 76-year-old billionaire businesswoman and longtime Trump ally was approved 51-45, reflecting deep divisions over her qualifications and the administration’s education agenda. McMahon, who previously led the small business administration during Trump’s first term, now faces the paradoxical task of running an agency while simultaneously working toward its potential elimination.

McMahon’s ascension comes amid reports that Trump is preparing an executive order instructing her to slash the department’s operations to the legal minimum while pushing Congress for its complete closure. During the confirmation process, she explicitly endorsed this vision, saying in her opening statement that she “wholeheartedly” supports Trump’s mission to “return education to the states, where it belongs”.

Critics have questioned McMahon’s qualifications, pointing to her limited educational background – a one-year stint on Connecticut’s state board of education and service as a trustee at Sacred Heart University – and lack of traditional experience in education policy or administration.

But the incoming education secretary currently chairs the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-aligned thinktank home to many of the education department’s nominees for senior-level positions – an indication that McMahon will have idealogical allies that will position her to implement sweeping changes with minimal internal resistance.

At her confirmation hearing, McMahon attempted to soften the administration’s hard-line stances, promising to maintain critical programs like Title I funding and Pell grants while acknowledging that only Congress holds the authority to eliminate the department entirely.

Read the full story by The Guardian’s Joseph Gedeon here:

Former Trump appointee condemns cuts at US education department

A former education department commissioner appointed by Donald Trump has condemned the recent massive cuts to the federal agency.

James Woodworth, who served as commissioner for the department’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) from 2018 to 2021, said the cuts to the agency made by the so-called department of government efficiency, led by Elon Musk, were made by someone “without knowing what they were doing”.

Woodworth told the Hechinger Report: “You’re talking about millions of dollars’ worth of investment just vanishing because someone canceled a contract too early without knowing what they were doing.”

Doge’s budget cuts to the DoE, which total nearly $1bn, have severely affected its research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences, which has historically garnered bipartisan support.

The National Center for Education Statistics, a part of the IES mandated by Congress to collect data on the state of public education, includes information about enrollment, student achievement, poverty, and other financial information.

The cancellation of many contracts means the maintenance of historical data, collection of new data, and publication of data has been made impossible.

It’s not clear what will happen to this data.

Woodworth said: “The NCES existed for over 100 years, before the Department of Education was ever founded, because one of the legitimate purposes of the federal government in education is collecting data so that people can see how schools are doing. We need to make data-driven decisions.”

Read Erum Salam’s full story here: