Potential 2028 hopeful challenges Trump’s surgery ban while critiquing women’s sports bill’s supporters
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro drew sharp criticism after joining a lawsuit to block President Donald Trump from placing prohibitions on juvenile gender surgeries and criticizing supporters of a state Senate bill that would ban biological males from competing in girls sports. The potential 2028 Democratic hopeful was careful to distinguish that his opposition to Trump’s move is not necessarily in support of such procedures, but because he believes the doctor’s office is no place for the federal government. “I am suing the Trump administration alongside 16 other states for threatening baseless civil investigations and criminal prosecutions against healthcare providers in Pennsylvania and trying to take medical decisions away from parents and local communities,” Shapiro said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The freedom to make healthcare decisions should be between parents, their children and their doctor, and I will not stand by while the federal government tries to infringe on the rights and freedoms of Pennsylvania families,” the governor said. ‘STAR WARS BAR OF LEFTISTS’: WEINGARTEN, HUNTER, MAMDANI PROVE DEMOCRATIC PARTY LED BY ‘EXTREME FIGURES,’ SEN. SCHMITT SAYS However, that did not quell concerns among the state’s Senate GOP majority. A spokesman for the caucus’ campaign committee called it Shapiro’s “attempt to ingratiate himself with the Democrats’ radical base [that] puts the health of children at risk.” “Josh Shapiro’s presidential aspirations are no secret,” SRCC Executive Director Cody Harbaugh said. Shapiro also explicitly lambasted Trump and potential second-time gubernatorial opponent Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, as “extremist politicians” for “trying to legislate a student’s participation [in scholastic sports] and legislate the restriction on freedom the way they’ve tried to do on many other things.” CHICAGO MAYOR CALLS ICE RAIDS ‘TERRORISM,’ SAYS TRUMP’S AMERICA APPEARS AS IF ‘THE CONFEDERACY WON’ Mastriano is a co-sponsor of the “Save Women Sports Act” from state Sen. Judy Ward, R-Huntingdon, which would ban biological males from girls sports. It mirrors similar efforts at the federal level. He also authored the “Two-Gender Protection Act” to prohibit Harrisburg from recognizing transgender people. “Josh Shapiro just called Senator Mastriano and President Trump ‘extremist politicians’ for standing up for women’s sports. Let’s be honest. It’s Shapiro who’s extreme,” Mastriano countered in comments to Fox News Digital. “He’s denying science and forcing biological males into women’s sports,” Mastriano added, calling such a push from the left “a woke patriarchy that tramples women’s rights.” “We cannot allow the opportunities that Title IX enshrined for women to be lost,” Ward said of her bill in a separate statement. Mastriano, whose populist streak has ruffled feathers with some in his own party, is seen as a top potential opponent to Shapiro again in 2026. He recently dropped a survey on social media asking supporters whether the PAGOP should endorse primary candidates amid reports some donors and county GOP chairs want State Treasurer Stacy Garrity to run. Shapiro expressed his criticisms of Trump and Mastriano in public remarks reported by WHYY as well but added that the Democratic-majority state House of Representatives hasn’t taken up the Senate-passed bill and that he “hasn’t reviewed it specifically.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The White House said the lawsuit Shapiro joined is “exactly why the Democratic Party’s approval continues to hit new lows. “They back radical policies that over 90% of America does not support,” spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. “President Trump took decisive action on day one to stop the despicable mutilation and chemical castration of children, which everyday Americans resoundingly support. The president has the lawful authority to protect America’s vulnerable children through executive action, and the administration looks forward to ultimate victory on this issue.” Shapiro has broken with some in his party on issues or people considered “extreme” on the right. When antisemitic protests broke out at the University of Pennsylvania, Shapiro broke with progressives and demanded the college “act [and] disband the encampment and restore order.” As Republicans criticized his comments on Ward’s bill and he became a party to the lawsuit against Trump, the SRCC suggested many Democrats are being pulled further left, a shift they attribute to the early success of New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral bid. “With the victories of progressive Democrat candidates in places like New York City, Shapiro knows he has no choice but to abandon common sense,” the SRCC said in a statement. Shapiro, however, recently criticized Mamdani for failing to rein in his most radical backers. “You have to speak and act with moral clarity, and when supporters of yours say things that are blatantly antisemitic, you can’t leave room for that to just sit there,” he said. Mastriano said, “don’t believe” Shapiro when he “pretends to be a moderate” in cases like the Trump lawsuit. Shapiro supporters pointed to a July ranking placing him as the nation’s 9th most popular governor.
Dem governor defies FBI: ‘Unwelcome’ to pursue Texas Democratic lawmakers
Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Wednesday that the FBI would be “unwelcome” to pursue Texas lawmakers who fled to his home state to stall a redistricting vote. In an interview with “News Not Noise with Jessica Yellin,” Pritzker argued that the Texas lawmakers had not broken any federal law, and, therefore, the FBI doesn’t have jurisdiction. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, disagreed, sending a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel earlier this week asking the bureau to help locate or arrest “potential lawbreakers” who fled Texas in a maneuver to avoid legislative responsibilities “in violation of their oath of office.” “They’re grandstanding. There’s literally no federal law applicable to this situation. None,” Pritzker told the podcaster on Wednesday. “They can say that they’re sending FBI. FBI agents might show up to, I don’t know, put a show on. But the fact is, our local law enforcement protects everybody in the state in Illinois. Our state troopers protect anybody in Illinois, and anybody who’s here in Illinois. And so, whether it’s federal agents coming to Illinois or state rangers from Texas, if you haven’t broken federal law, you’re basically unwelcome, and there’s no way that our state legislators here, Texas state legislators, can be arrested.” COLBERT CONFRONTS JB PRITZKER WITH MAP SHOWING ILLINOIS GERRYMANDERING Pritzker categorized Cornyn’s plea as political theater, noting that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging his U.S. Senate seat. The Illinois governor also took swipes at President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. “We follow the law,” Pritzker said. “But as you know, Donald Trump does not follow the law. Indeed, he’s a convicted felon. And in Texas, they are also not following the law. They are thwarting the Constitution with the Voting Rights Act and making threats that they can’t carry out. John Cornyn, of course, is running against Ken Paxton, for his seat in the U.S. Senate, and so they’re fighting, bickering over who can be tougher on this topic. But the fact is, I think they’re demonstrating as a result of that bickering, and Abbott has weighed in as well, that this really is all about politics.” Abbott convened a special session to try to advance a congressional redistricting plan which could add five new Republican-leaning House seats before the midterms next year. Trump is pushing Republican states to open the process for redistricting mid-cycle to give the GOP a better chance of maintaining control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections. In Texas, more than 50 Democratic lawmakers fled the state earlier this month to prevent a necessary quorum in the Texas House, which requires at least 100 members of the 150-member body to be present. WATCH: TRUMP SAYS FBI ‘MAY HAVE TO’ HELP TEXAS ROUND UP AWOL DEM LAWMAKERS Pritzker and fellow Democrats, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, offered sanctuary to those Texas Democrats, applauding the gridlock as a fight to save democracy. Both Newsom and Hochul vowed to “fight fire with fire.” Meanwhile, Texas state Republicans voted to issue civil arrest warrants and $500 daily fines for Democratic colleagues who abandoned their duties. Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the FBI “may have to” intervene. In a phone interview on CNBC’s “The Squawk Box” on Tuesday, Trump argued that Democratic states, including Massachusetts, California and Illinois, have already pushed redistricting to benefit their own party, so Republicans will do the same. “In Illinois, where you have probably the dumbest of all governors, Illinois. That guy’s really sending – I mean, the business is flowing out of his state. It’s terrible. It’s a terrible thing that Pritzker is doing. He’s you know, he was the black sheep of the family. They threw him out of the business,” Trump said. “But in Illinois, what’s happened is, is terrible what they’re doing – You notice they go to Illinois for safety. But that’s all gerrymandered.” “California’s gerrymandered,” the president continued. “We should have many more seats in Congress in California. It’s all gerrymandered. And we have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know. And, we are entitled to five more seats.”
4 key Senate seats Republicans aim to flip in 2026 midterms to expand their majority
Republican Sen. Tim Scott’s goal in next year’s midterm elections is not only to defend the GOP’s 53-47 margin in the Senate, but to expand the majority. Scott, the conservative senator from South Carolina, told Fox News Digital soon after taking over late last year as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) that he aimed to increase the GOP’s control in the chamber to at least 55 seats. And he’s standing by his goal. “The bottom line is, I believe that we can defend our current seats while adding at least two more seats to our numbers,” the NRSC chair told Fox News Digital earlier this year. THIS REPUBLICAN JUST JUMPED INTO BATTLEGROUND GEORGIA’S HIGH-PROFILE SENATE RACE Senate Republicans enjoyed a favorable map in the 2024 cycle as they flipped four seats from blue to red to win back the majority. But the party in power—clearly the Republicans right now—traditionally faces political headwinds in the midterm elections. Nevertheless, a current read of the 2026 map indicates the GOP may be able to go on offense in some key states. In battleground Georgia, which President Donald Trump narrowly carried in last year’s White House race, Republicans view first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Democrat incumbent up for re-election next year. TRUMP-BACKED RNC CHAIR JUMPS INTO THE NATION’S ‘MARQUEE’ SENATE RACE They’re also targeting battleground Michigan, where Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is retiring at the end of next year, and swing state New Hampshire, where longtime Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen decided against seeking a fourth six-year term in the Senate. Also on the NRSC’s target list is blue-leaning Minnesota, where Democratic Sen. Tina Smith isn’t running for re-election. At the top of their list is Ossoff, who narrowly won election to the Senate in a January 2021 runoff contest. But Ossoff is off to a very hot fundraising start, and a GOP primary in Georgia between Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter, and former college and professional football coach Derek Dooley, is starting to turn combustible. DNC CHAIR TELLS FOX NEWS DIGITAL DEMOCRATS HAVE HIT ‘ROCK BOTTOM’ – HERE’S HIS PLAN TO REBOUND Republicans are also confident they can flip Michigan, another battleground Trump narrowly carried last November. Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the 2024 GOP Senate nominee who lost last year’s race by a razor-thin margin, has at this point cleared the Republican primary field, thanks in great part to Trump’s endorsement. Democrats, meanwhile, have a very competitive primary on their hands. The primary race includes three well-known Democrats: Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who enjoys the backing of progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. With Shaheen, who made history as the first woman in the nation’s history to win election as a governor and a senator, out of the running in New Hampshire, the GOP is hoping to win a Senate election in the Granite State for the first time in 16 years. They’re encouraged by the gains Trump made in New Hampshire in last year’s election, as he improved on his showing from four years earlier and came close to carrying the state. But four-term Rep. Chris Pappas’ announcement in early April that he would run to succeed Shaheen has cleared the Democratic primary field, as of now, of any potential rivals for the party’s Senate nomination. Meanwhile, a Republican primary in the state—where the GOP hasn’t won a Senate race in 15 years—is heating up between former Sen. Scott Brown and state Sen. Dan Innis, with the possibility of more candidates entering the race. In Minnesota, the leading candidates in the Democratic primary to succeed Smith are Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Rep. Angie Craig. Former professional basketball player Royce White, who won the 2024 Senate nomination in Minnesota, and former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze are currently running in the GOP primary. But another Republican Senate hopeful may soon enter the field. While Republicans will work to defy political history in next year’s midterms, they point to the Democratic Party’s current brand issues. “Democrats have historically low approval ratings because candidates like Jon Ossoff and Chris Pappas keep prioritizing radical policies like men in women’s sports, protecting sanctuary cities for criminal illegal aliens, and raising taxes on working families,” NRSC communications director Joanna Rodriguez argued in a statement to Fox News. And Rodriguez touted that “Republicans are delivering on policies that keep Americans safe and let families and workers keep more of their hard-earned paychecks. Voters will reward us for it in 2026.”
Veteran Biden insider Anita Dunn appears in House Oversight autopen probe
Veteran Democratic operative Anita Dunn is on Capitol Hill on Thursday for a closed-door interview with House Oversight Committee investigators. Arriving minutes before 10 a.m. with her counsel in tow, Dunn did not speak to reporters on her way into the door despite a myriad of shouted questions being thrown at her about her upcoming interview. She is the tenth former White House official to appear before the panel’s lawyers, as Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., probes whether former President Joe Biden’s inner circle worked to cover up signs of mental decline in the elderly leader – and whether executive actions signed via autopen were done without his awareness. Dunn is appearing voluntarily before the committee’s lawyers for a transcribed interview that will likely last several hours into the afternoon. RON KLAIN DODGES REPORTERS AFTER MARATHON GRILLING IN BIDEN COVER-UP PROBE Dunn told House Oversight investigators in her opening statement, obtained by Fox News Digital via a source familiar, that Biden “made all of the important decisions expected of someone serving as the President of the United States.” “As is typical and necessary for that role, President Biden relied on senior advisors to execute his priorities and manage the day-to-day operations that allow the White House to run effectively, but his authority and involvement in decision making was clear. In my meetings and other interactions with him, President Biden was engaged on the substance – editing press statements and working with us to map out communications strategy,” Dunn said. Dunn acknowledged that Biden “aged physically during his time in office, which is something that happens to every President,” but maintained “he remained throughout my interactions with him fully engaged and clear in his directions and supervision.” “I did not observe White House staff making key decisions or exercising the powers of the presidency without President Biden’s knowledge or consent,” Dunn said. “The President made it clear that decisions rested with him, and White House staff brought issues to him for him to decide. I believed strongly then, and I believe just as strongly today, that Joe Biden was an effective President who accomplished many important things for the American people.” A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee criticized Dunn after the statement came out in the media, however. “It’s no surprise Anita Dunn is telling the American people not to believe their own eyes, claiming Joe Biden was sharp and ‘fully engaged.’ This opening statement, leaked to media before Ms. Dunn even delivered it, is yet another example of the absurd lengths Biden loyalists will go to defend his failed presidency,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. Three of the 10 former Biden administration officials who have appeared so far have come under subpoena, and each pleaded the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering material questions. Appearing voluntarily does not give people the ability to invoke the constitutional right against self-incrimination, but it’s possible Dunn will give House investigators little to work with. The six former White House aides who appeared voluntarily before her have all defended Biden’s mental acuity and ability to serve as president, sources said, even as some, like ex-Chief of Staff Ron Klain, have conceded the 82-year-old’s age has worn on him over time. Dunn, like those who appeared before her, has known Biden for years. She’s been a key player in Democratic communications and public relations strategies for decades, and reportedly was a central figure in Biden’s messaging strategy both at the White House and during his short-lived 2024 campaign. “She’s running everything,” one unnamed White House advisor told CNN in June 2023 while discussing Biden’s re-election bid. LONGTIME BIDEN AIDE SAYS HE STOOD TO EARN UP TO $8M HAD PRESIDENT WON RE-ELECTION A January 2023 report by NBC News described Dunn and her husband, former Obama administration White House counsel Robert Bauer, as central figures in Biden’s orbit. Bauer also reportedly served as Biden’s personal lawyer. “If it’s a room of five people, Anita and Bob are two of them,” an unnamed former White House aide told the outlet. Dunn was also a central figure amid the fallout after Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate against then-candidate Donald Trump. NBC News reported in July 2024 that Biden family members discussed whether he should fire Dunn and Bauer, though White House chief of staff Jeff Zients dismissed the reports as “unfounded and insulting rumors” in a statement to the outlet at the time. Dunn served as White House communications director under former President Barack Obama, and Biden brought her onto his 2020 campaign to help with his own communications strategy. She also served as senior advisor to the president for communications in the Biden White House before playing a key role in his 2024 campaign. Comer wrote in his letter summoning Dunn, “You served as former President Biden’s ‘most senior communications adviser.’ Former President Biden confided in you extensively over the past decade.” “The Committee seeks to understand your observations of former President Biden’s mental acuity and health as one of his closest advisors. If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive’s condition—or to perform his duties—Congress may need to consider a legislative response,” Comer wrote.
Trump orders work on new census, says people in US illegally ‘WILL NOT BE COUNTED’
President Donald Trump declared in a Thursday morning Truth Social post that he has directed the Commerce Department to start working on a new census, noting that illegal aliens in the U.S. will not be included in the population count. “I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024,” the president said in the post. “People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he added. The U.S. conducts a census every decade — the last decennial census was conducted in 2020 and another is scheduled for 2030. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS POTENTIALLY COUNTED IN US CENSUS TAKE CENTER STAGE IN REDISTRICTING BATTLE The decennial census is key to determining the balance of political power each state holds, because the population counts are used in apportionment, the determination of how many seats each state gets in the House of Representatives. MUSK CALLS OUT UNFAIR BLUE STATE ADVANTAGE GAINED FROM ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION Consequently, the count also ultimately determines how many electoral votes each state gets for presidential elections, since a state’s electoral vote count equals the number of House and Senate seats in each state. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads in part, “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.” The U.S. Census Bureau, which falls under the Department of Commerce, indicates that “unauthorized immigrants” are counted in the resident population figures, noting on a frequently asked questions web page that “all people (citizens and noncitizens) with a usual residence in the United States are included in the resident population for the census.” SUPREME COURT DISMISSES CASE ON EXCLUDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM CENSUS COUNT AS ‘RIDDLED’ WITH ‘SPECULATION’ During his first term in office, Trump issued an memorandum in 2020 declaring that he “determined that respect for the law and protection of the integrity of the democratic process warrant the exclusion of illegal aliens from the apportionment base, to the extent feasible and to the maximum extent of the President’s discretion under the law.” President Joe Biden issued an executive order in 2021 which revoked Trump’s memorandum, but Trump revoked Biden’s order this year.
Why Trump’s secondary tariffs on Russia could bite the US, its allies too
Top United States diplomatic negotiator Steve Witkoff visited Moscow on Wednesday in a last-ditch push to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine before an August 8 deadline set by President Donald Trump. After Witkoff’s meeting with Putin, the White House said that Russia had sought a meeting with Trump. The US president, the White House said, was open to meeting both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump, who during his re-election campaign had promised he would be able to end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours if he came to power, has so far failed to mediate a truce despite months of hectic diplomacy, direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv, and phone calls with Putin. Increasingly frustrated by Putin’s unwillingness to agree to a pause in fighting without imposing conditions unacceptable to Ukraine or the West, Trump has threatened a new wave of economic measures punishing Russia if it does not accept a ceasefire. Since Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the US and its allies, including the United Kingdom and the European Union, have imposed more than 21,000 sanctions on Russia’s economy. The new tariffs Trump has threatened are unlike any of those earlier sanctions, however. They target Russia by hitting out against its trading partners, in the hope that they will stop buying from or selling to Moscow. But these secondary tariffs also carry risks for the US and its allies. What are the secondary tariffs Trump is threatening? In mid-July, as peace talks stalled despite Trump’s efforts, the US president threatened Russia with 100 percent secondary tariffs if it did not work towards a ceasefire. He gave the Kremlin a 50-day deadline to cooperate. Advertisement After Moscow suggested that it wouldn’t bow to US pressure, Trump moved up the deadline, which now expires on August 8. It is unclear if Trump’s openness to talks with Putin and Zelenskyy following Witkoff’s Moscow visit has changed that deadline. On Wednesday, Trump doubled the tariff rate on Indian imports from 25 percent – which he had announced in late July – to 50 percent, as punishment for New Delhi’s refusal to stop buying Russian oil. That makes India the country facing the highest US tariffs at present – along with Brazil. If Trump’s secondary tariffs go into effect, goods that the US imports from countries still trading with Russia would face duties of 100 percent on top of the tariffs Trump has already imposed on those nations. That would at least double the price of those products, making them less competitive in the US market. The idea behind these tariffs is to persuade Russia’s trading partners to stop buying and selling with the country, isolating its economy and depriving it of revenue it earns from exports, especially from energy. Despite the sanctions it already faces, Russia has consistently earned more than 500 million euros ($580m) a day from energy exports since 2022. That will be disrupted if countries stop buying all oil and gas from Russia. Which countries could Trump’s secondary tariffs hit? The countries most affected by such secondary tariffs would be: China: Russia’s most important ally, China is by far the largest consumer of its northern neighbour’s exports. In 2023, China bought almost a third of all Russian exports. It also bought almost half of Russia’s oil exports. India: An old friend, India has been buying up large volumes of Russian crude since 2022, including almost 40 percent of Russia’s total oil exports in 2023. That year, 17 percent of Russia’s overall exports went to India. Trump had already imposed a 25 percent tariff on Indian goods. On Wednesday, he doubled that rate as punishment for India’s continued oil purchases from Russia. Turkiye: The third-largest buyer of Russian energy, 8 percent of Russia’s exports in 2023 went to Turkiye. It is a NATO ally of the US. Turkiye isn’t the only ally that could be hit if Trump truly targets all those who trade with Russia. Could US allies be hit? Pushing back against Western threats over its ties with Russia, India has pointed to the EU’s own trade with Moscow. And while that trade has plummeted since 2022, it is still substantial. According to the EU, its total trade with Russia was worth 67.5 billion euros ($77.9bn) in 2024. India’s total trade with Russia in 2024-25, by contrast, was worth $68.7bn. Advertisement The bloc still relies heavily on Russia for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies. In fact, its import of Russian LNG has been rising: In 2024, EU imports of Russian LNG were 9 percent higher than the year before. Europe has already been hit with a 15 percent tariff from Trump. Will Trump punish his closest supporters to pressure Russia to end the war? Could the US face risks, too? It is not just allies – secondary tariffs on those who trade with Russia carry risks for the US itself, too. Trump’s team is currently working on a trade deal with China, and those talks have led to a pause in a tariff war between the world’s two largest economies. That detente would break down if Trump imposes 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods simply because Beijing also trades with Russia. China, Europe and India are all major suppliers of goods to the US: If the cost of those products – from clothes to lamps to iPhones – doubles, American consumers will feel the pinch. The US also buys chemicals, including uranium hexafluoride – used in uranium enrichment – from Russia. Will India and China stop buying Russian energy? That looks unlikely. China continues to buy oil from Iran, despite US sanctions – and Russia is arguably its closest strategic partner. India has also shown no sign of loosening its ties with Russia. Witkoff isn’t the only foreign envoy visiting Moscow at the moment. India’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, is also in the Russian capital. India’s foreign minister, S Jaishankar, is expected to visit
Trump announces 100 percent tariff on semiconductor imports
US President Donald Trump said the tariff will not impact companies if they have already invested in US facilities. United States President Donald Trump says he will impose a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made semiconductors, although exemptions will be made for companies that have invested in the US. “We’ll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100 percent on chips and semiconductors, but if you’re building in the United States of America, there’s no charge, even though you’re building and you’re not producing yet,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on Wednesday evening. The news came after a separate announcement that Apple would invest $600bn in the US, but it was not unexpected by US observers. Trump told CNBC on Tuesday that he planned to unveil a new tariff on semiconductors “within the next week or so” without offering further details. Details were also scant at the Oval Office about how and when the tariffs will go into effect, but Asia’s semiconductor powerhouses were quick to respond about the potential impact. Taiwan, home of the world’s largest chipmaker TSMC, said that the company would be exempt from the tariff due to its existing investments in the US. “Because Taiwan’s main exporter is TSMC, which has factories in the United States, TSMC is exempt,” National Development Council chief Liu Chin-ching told the Taiwanese legislature. In March, TSMC – which counts Apple and Nvidia as clients – said it would increase its US investment to $165bn to expand chip making and research centres in Arizona. A semiconductor wafer displayed at Touch Taiwan, an annual display exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 16, 2025 [Ann Wang/Reuters] South Korea was also quick to extinguish any concerns about its top chipmakers, Samsung and SK Hynix, which have also invested in facilities in Texas and Indiana. Advertisement Trade envoy Yeo Han-koo said South Korean companies would be exempt from the tariff and that Seoul already faced “favourable” tariffs after signing a trade deal with Washington earlier this year. TSMC, Samsung and SK Hynix are just some of the foreign tech companies that have invested in the US since 2022, when then-President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan CHIPS Act offering billions of dollars in subsidies and tax credits to re-shore investment and manufacturing. Less lucky is the Philippines, said Dan Lachica, president of Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation. He said the tariffs will be “devastating” because semiconductors make up 70 percent of the Philippines’ exports. Trump’s latest round of blanket tariffs on US trade partners is due to go into effect on Thursday, but the White House has also targeted specific industries like steel, aluminium, automobiles and pharmaceuticals with separate tariffs. Adblock test (Why?)
US soldier charged with attempt to provide Russia with battle tank info
Lee is accused of going online and offering to assist Russian authorities in exchange for Russian citizenship. An active duty soldier has been charged with seeking to pass sensitive information about the United States Army’s main battle tank to the Russian government, the US Justice Department has announced. The suspect, Taylor Adam Lee, has been charged with “attempted transmission of national defense information to a foreign adversary and attempted export of controlled technical data without a license”, the Justice Department said in a statement on Wednesday. Lee, a 22-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas, has yet to enter a plea in the charges, filed at the US District Court for the Western District of Texas. John A Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said Lee sought to “transmit sensitive national defense information to Russia” regarding the operation of the M1A2 Abrams – the main battle tank used by the US Army. In June, Lee is said to have gone online and offered assistance to Russia in exchange for Russian citizenship. In the alleged messages, Lee, who holds a top-secret security clearance, allegedly “transmitted export-controlled technical information” about the M1A2’s operation and vulnerabilities. “The USA is not happy with me for trying to expose their weaknesses,” Lee reportedly said. “At this point, I’d even volunteer to assist the Russian Federation when I’m there in any way,” he added. Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, said Lee then shared a memory card containing documents and information about the tank and other US military operations during an in-person meeting in July with someone he believed to be a Russian intelligence officer. Advertisement “Today’s arrest is a message to anyone thinking about betraying the US – especially service members who have sworn to protect our homeland,” Rozhavsky said. The documents contained technical data Lee was not authorised to provide, with some marked “Controlled Unclassified Information”, according to prosecutors. “Throughout the meeting, Lee stated that the information on the SD card was sensitive and likely classified,” prosecutors said. Lee is also alleged to have attempted to provide the Russian government with a piece of hardware from the M1A2 Abrams tank at a July 31 meeting at a storage unit in El Paso, Texas. “After doing so, Lee sent a message to the individual he believed to be a representative of the Russian government stating, ‘Mission accomplished’,” according to prosecutors. Adblock test (Why?)
Months after tragic Ahmedabad crash, Air India now set to resume international flights from…
Over a month after the ghastly Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, which had claimed more than 200 lives, the airline is now set to resume its international operations. Let’s dive into details.
After UP, this state govt makes FREE travel for women on Raksha Bandhan; check details
Free travel will be available on the ‘ordinary buses’ operating within Haryana, as well as those travelling to Chandigarh and Delhi.