President Donald Trump said he is going to double the tariff rate on steel from 25% to 50%, a dramatic increase that could further increase prices for the metal used to make housing, autos and other goods.
Trump was speaking at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works–Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, to announce investments by Japan’s Nippon Steel.
The price of steel products has increased roughly 16% since he became president, according to the government’s producer price index.
Also Friday, Trump hosted an Oval Office news conference alongside billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency architect Elon Musk. The world’s richest man is leaving his job having accomplished far less than he set out to do, although his tumultuous tenure will likely leave a lasting mark on the federal government.
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Trump calls it ‘an incredible deal’ for steelworkers
The president has not said whether the deal between Japan-based Nippon and U.S. Steel has been finalized, and there are no details on how much control U.S. Steel will retain. But he nonetheless hailed it as “an incredible deal for American steelworkers.”
Trump said all steelworkers would keep their jobs, there would be no layoffs and all facilities would remain open. He also said every U.S. Steel worker will soon receive a $5,000 bonus.
He said currently operating blast furnaces will remain at full capacity for at least 10 years.
“You’re not going to have to even think about that. Frankly it won’t matter, because they’re going to be here for a long time, a lot longer than that,” Trump said.
Trump to double the tariffs on steel to 50%
The president said he’s going to double the tariff rate on steel to 50%, a dramatic increase that could further push up prices for a metal used to make housing, autos and other goods.
Trump was speaking at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works–Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, to announce investments by Japan’s Nippon Steel.
The price of steel products has increased roughly 16% since he became president, according to the government’s producer price index
Trump says domestic steel production is a ‘matter of national security’
The president made the remark at a rally in Pennsylvania to celebrate a deal for Japan-based Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel.
Trump said jobs in Pittsburgh’s iron and steel mills were obliterated. He said the country was getting army tanks, boats and ships produced in China.
“The strong steel industry is not just a matter of dignity or prosperity or pride,” he said. “It’s, above all, a matter of national security.”
Trump takes the stage in West Mifflin
The president told a friendly crowd inside the steel fabrication plant that he was there “to celebrate a blockbuster agreement that will ensure this storied American company stays an American company.”
Trump told the workers there is “a lot of money coming your way” and said, “You’re going to stay an American company. You know that, right?”
He thanked Nippon Steel’s chief negotiator Takahiro Mori, without getting into any details of the deal. He also thanked members of his cabinet and Republican lawmakers in attendance.
Trump gets a golden hard hat, peers at large coils of steel backstage
Before taking the stage at a steel plant in Pennsylvania, the president spoke to three workers who gave him a golden hard hat.
Trump smiled as he held it up and pointed at it for nearby reporters to see. But he didn’t put it on his head.
He then chatted with the workers as the group walked past large rolls of steel.
Trump looked in different directions, closely examining the coils. Other products that include steel were on display nearby, including appliances.
Steel workers say details on the deal Trump is set to announce remain scarce
Steel workers attending the president’s rally at a plant in Pennsylvania said they still are not sure what the agreement between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel will entail.
Clifford Hammonds, a line feeder, said that at the very least it will upgrade an aging and underproducing plant.
“It’s putting money back into the plant to help rebuild it, because this plant is old, it’s falling apart,” he said.
Kevin McNeil, who works in the facility’s hot mill, said the constant rumors of a shutdown are like “living in limbo.”
But McNiel said the assertion that the federal government could prevent layoffs or plant shutdowns in the Nippon Steel acquisition was important in giving workers confidence.
“I think it’s really important to get the government behind us,” McNiel said.
Before beginning his speech, Trump chatted briefly with a small group of workers.
Kristi Noem said an immigrant threatened to kill Trump. The story quickly fell apart
A claim by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that an immigrant threatened the life of the president has begun to unravel.
Noem announced an arrest of a 54-year-old man who was living in the U.S. illegally, saying he had written a letter threatening to kill Trump and would then return to Mexico. The story received a flood of media attention and was highlighted by the White House and Trump’s allies.
But investigators actually believe the man may have been framed so that he would get arrested and be deported from the U.S. before he got a chance to testify in a trial as a victim of assault, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Law enforcement officials believe the man, Ramon Morales Reyes, never wrote the letter.
As part of the investigation, officials contacted Morales Reyes, asked for a handwriting sample and concluded that his handwriting did not match the threatening letter and that the threat was not credible, the person said. It’s not clear why Homeland Security officials still decided to send a release making that claim.
▶ Read more about the unraveling claim
— Mike Balsamo, Scott Bauer and Adriana Gomez Licon
Musk put a spotlight on federal spending but cut less than he wanted
Elon Musk’s effort to dramatically cut government spending is expected to fall far short of his grand early pronouncements, and perhaps even his most modest goals.
According to experts across the ideological spectrum, a major problem was a failure to deploy people who understood the inner workings of government to work alongside his team of software engineers and other high-wattage technology talent.
Even that might not have achieved Musk’s original target of $2 trillion, which is roughly the size of the entire federal deficit.
Musk, whose last day spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency is Friday, slashed his goal for savings from $2 trillion to $1 trillion to finally only $150 billion.
The current results put Musk’s efforts well short of President Bill Clinton’s initiative to streamline the federal bureaucracy, which saved the equivalent of $240 billion by the time his second term ended. The effort also reduced the federal workforce by more than 400,000 employees.
▶ Read more about Musk and DOGE
Trump lands in Pennsylvania
The president has arrived in Pennsylvania for a rally in suburban Pittsburgh.
The president disembarked Air Force One under a large umbrella and waved to reporters but did not offer any comments before climbing into his motorcade.
Trump is set to speak shortly about a details-to-come deal between U.S. Steel and Japan-based Nippon Steel.
Trump picks right-wing lawyer and podcaster who promoted 2020 election lies as watchdog agency head
The president’s pick to lead a federal watchdog agency is a former right-wing podcast host who has praised criminally charged influencer Andrew Tate as a “extraordinary human being” and promoted the false claim that the 2020 election was rigged.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Paul Ingrassia would lead the Office of Special Counsel, an agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers that is also responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act, which restricts the partisan political activities of government workers.
In a social media post on Thursday, Trump called Ingrassia a “highly respected attorney, writer and Constitutional Scholar.” Ingrassia was most recently working as the White House liaison for Homeland Security after briefly serving in the liaison position at the Justice Department.
Ingrassia called his nomination the “highest honor.”
Ingrassia has also promoted the lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
PBS sues Trump administration over defunding, 3 days after NPR filed similar case
PBS filed suit Friday against the president and other administration officials to block his order stripping federal funding from the 330-station public television system, three days after NPR did the same for its radio network.
In its lawsuit, PBS relies on similar arguments, saying Trump overstepped his authority and engaged in “viewpoint discrimination” because of his claim that PBS’ news coverage is biased against conservatives.
“PBS disputes those charged assertions in the strongest possible terms,” lawyer Z.W. Julius Chen wrote in the suit. “But regardless of any policy disagreements over the role of public television, our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of the content of PBS’s programming, including by attempting to defund PBS.”
It is the latest of many legal actions against the administration for its moves, including several by media organizations impacted by Trump’s orders.
US Steel plant gets ready for Trump speech on Nippon Steel deal
Workers, supporters of the president and others streamed into a massive warehouse on the grounds of the Irvin finishing plant in Pennsylvania to hear him speak about a details-to-come deal with Japan-based Nippon.
Stands were flanked with giant American flags hanging from the ceiling, and a banner read, “The Golden Age.”
Trump has pitched it as a partnership in which Nippon will have “partial ownership” of an enterprise that will keep the iconic American steelmaker under U.S. control. However, Nippon Steel has not said it is backing off its intention to buy the company outright for $14.9 billion.
Trump is holding the rally at a plant where local United Steelworkers union leaders broke with the international union to support the deal out of fear that the plant could close otherwise.
Workers say there is some split among unionized employees over the deal, but they like Nippon’s pledges to invest in the aging plant.
One of Musk’s biggest impacts: dismantling USAID
DOGE worked to eviscerate the U.S. Agency for International Development, which had provided a lifeline for impoverished people around the world.
Boston University researchers estimate that hundreds of thousands of people have already died as a result of the cuts.
The State Department responded by saying most of USAID’s programs on HIV, known as PEPFAR, remained operational. However, the statement did not address any of the other cuts while calling on “other nations to dramatically increase their humanitarian efforts.”
US says Ukraine has right to defend itself from Russia
A U.S. diplomat at the United Nations says the United States supports Ukraine’s right to defend itself from Russia’s invasion.
Political adviser Anton Jongeneel said Russia called a U.N. Security Council meeting about Ukraine on Friday “to advance the claim that European countries, by providing assistance to Ukraine, are ‘undermining’ efforts to restore peace.”
“That is not the case. Ukraine, as a sovereign country, has the right to defend itself from aggression,” Jongeneel said.
He said Ukraine is ready to accept an immediate ceasefire and that Russia is the obstacle.
“We share the concern expressed by other members of this Council that Russia could be uninterested in peace and instead bent on achieving a military victory,” Jongeneel said. said.
He urged China, North Korea and others to stop supplying weapons or troops to fuel the war.
A reporter asked Musk a question about Tesla. Trump answered for him
The tech billionaire who dominated administration briefings early in the term didn’t even get to answer a question about his own company at his farewell press conference.
Trump answered most of the questions and at the end even took one that was addressed to Musk, about the impact of his tariffs on Tesla.
The president praised Musk for assembling most of his autos in the United States, but noted that several parts are still imported both by Tesla and its competitors. He said that’ll stop.
“You build a car,” Trump said, “make it in America.”
And then the joint appearance was over. It was clear who remains at center stage.
Trump says Harvard ‘trying to be a bigshot’ in lawsuit
“I don’t think Harvard has been acting very nicely,” Trump said before praising Columbia and other schools that have yielded to demands by the Trump administration as a pre-condition for restoring federal funding.
Trump accused Harvard of “trying to be a bigshot” by suing his administration to stop the freeze of more than $2 billion in grants.
Musk’s black eye from ‘horsing around’
The tech billionaire stood in the oval office for more than 30 minutes with a visible black eye before a reporter was able to ask him directly about it.
Initially Musk quipped that he wasn’t “anywhere near France,” a reference to video of President Macron being pushed in the face by his wife.
Then Musk said he was “just horsing around” with his 5-year-old son, named X, “and I said ‘go ahead and punch me in the face.’”
It turns out, he said, that even a 5-year-old can give you a black eye.
Taking oddball questions, Trump says he’d ‘look at the facts’ when deciding whether to pardon ‘Diddy’
Trump and Musk have taken questions on an odd assortment of topics -- from colonizing Mars to the possibility of a presidential pardon for Diddy, who is still on trial.
Asked about pardoning Sean “Diddy” Combs, Trump responded, “Nobody’s asked. But I know people are thinking about it.”
The reporter acknowledged that his question was fodder for gossip columnists. But Trump took it seriously, as he did other strange queries.
The president didn’t commit one way or the other on Combs’ case, nothing, “I haven’t seen him, I haven’t spoken to him in years” but also adding, “I would certainly look at the facts.”
Trump has pardoned several high-profile supporters lately. But he insisted that Combs’ politics wouldn’t sway him.
“If I think somebody was mistreated -- whether they like me or the don’t like me -- it wouldn’t have any impact on me,” Trump said.
Trump weighs in on Macron getting pushed by his wife
Trump said he spoke with French President Emanuel Macron after his wife appeared to push him as their plane landed in Vietnam.
Video captured Macron’s wife, Brigitte, pushing her husband away with both hands on his face. The couple later claimed they were just playfighting.
Asked if he had any advice for Marcon, Trump said: “Make sure the door remains closed. That was not good.”
Trump said that Macron was doing “fine” and “they’re two really good people.”
Mars or DOGE?
Musk got a softball question about what would be tougher: colonizing Mars or cutting government spending.
“It’s a tough call,” Musk replied.
He then began to detail how difficult it was to get his arms around government spending and cut it.
Trump says Israel-Hamas ‘very close’ on temporary truce deal
“They’re very close to an agreement on Gaza, and we’ll let you know about it during the day or maybe tomorrow,” Trump told reporters.
Trump’s optimistic outlook comes after the White House announced Thursday that Israel has accepted a new U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Hamas. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Israel “backed and supported” the new proposal.
Hamas officials, however, gave the Israeli-approved draft a cool response, but said they wanted to study the proposal more closely before giving a formal answer.
Musk bemoans his team becoming ‘DOGE bogeyman’
Musk says his government cost-cutting team was unfairly blamed for actions it never took.
He complained that about any efforts to reduce the size of government “people would assume that was done by DOGE.”
Musk added that his Department of Government Efficiency team became essentially “the DOGE bogeyman.”
Musk says he expects to remain ‘friend and advisor’ to Trump
“I hope to continue to provide advice whenever the president would like,” Musk said at Friday’s news conference.
“I hope so,” Trump cut in before Musk said he hopes to still achieve $1 trillion in federal spending cuts over time.
Trump gives Musk a key for his DOGE work
President Trump gave Musk what appeared to be a gold-colored key for his work establishing the “Department of Government Efficiency,” which sought to layoff federal workers and close government agencies to achieve cost savings.
Trump said that he would only bestow this gift to “very special people” and that it was a “presentation from our country.”
Musk compares his work cutting government to personal Buddhism
Musk likened his work in cutting the size of government to a personal form of Buddhism, saying it will continue to permeate through the government even after he’s left his post.
“It’s a way of life,” Musk said.
He also promised to continue visiting the White House and “be a friend and adviser to the president.”
Musk said that, even in his absence, his team would continue to try and cut the size of government – despite greatly exaggerating the cost savings and fiscal impact of his team’s work so far.
Elon’s not really leaving, Trump says
Trump said that even though Musk is formally departing the administration he will still be involved.
“He’s going to be back and forth, I imagine,” Trump said.
Trump noted that DOGE employees will remain embedded with government agencies and said the billionaire will probably want to keep tabs on “his baby.”
Musk himself followed the president’s oval office remarks by saying he’d be back in “this amazing room.” He praised Trump’s gold leaf additions and renovations of the fabled space.
Trump talks making DOGE cuts permanent
Trump listed examples of what he called “countless wasteful and unnecessary contracts” that DOGE has cancelled, including Education Department diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; temporary housing for migrants in New York City and “social and behavioral change” in Uganda.
“We are totally committed to making the DOGE cuts permanent,” he said.
While Trump celebrated DOGE’s slashing of federal government contracts, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk accomplished far less than he hoped. He dramatically reduced his target for cutting spending — from $2 trillion to $1 trillion to $150 billion — and increasingly expressed frustration about resistance to his goals.
Trump ousts head of the National Portrait Gallery
Trump is terminating the head of the National Portrait Gallery, continuing his aggressive moves to reshape the federal government’s cultural institutions.
Trump announced Friday on his Truth Social platform that he was ousting Director Kim Sajet, calling her a “ highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position.”
Sajet, a Dutch citizen raised in Australia, was appointed to the post in 2013 by President Barack Obama. She had previously served as president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania..
Trump has repeatedly criticized the national network of museums and cultural centers as leftist and anti-American. Earlier this spring, he ousted the leadership of the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, dismissing the chairman and president and replacing most of the board with loyalists, who then voted Trump the new chairman.
In early May, he abruptly dismissed Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.
Trump offers kind words for Musk
Trump kicked off his Oval Office press conference with Musk with some warm words for the billionaire Tesla CEO.
“Today it’s about a man named Elon,” Trump said.
He praised Musk’s “very great talents” and said that he’d led “the most sweeping and consequential” efforts to slash the federal workforce and reduce the size of government.
Trump added to Musk, “We’ll remember you” while announcing more cuts in the future.
But Trump also lamented that the process was taking a long time: “Sadly, it takes a long time.”
Musk wore a black baseball cap reading “DOGE” and offered brief comments like “yeah” and other words of agreement to Trump’s comments.
Trump celebrates appeals court decision allowing him to continue collecting tariffs
During a Friday news conference, Trump celebrated an appeals court decision made Thursday that allowed him, for now, to continue collecting tariffs under an emergency powers law.
“The tariffs are so important,” he said. “That’s why were were so happy with the decision yesterday where the tariffs continued. Because without the tariffs, our nation would be imperiled.”
Musk and Trump start billionaire’s farewell appearance
Musk’s status as a special government employee is expiring. He says he’s stepping back from politics to spend more time running his embattled companies.
His DOGE initiative fell vastly short of the $2 trillion the tech mogul initially promised to save. It did gut some agencies like USAID, the United States’ main foreign aid arm.
Former USAID global health chief Atul Gawande and researchers at Boston University estimate that disease and malnutrition deaths from the cuts will be in the hundreds of thousands in the first year alone.
Tensions flare up again between Trump and Beijing
In a response to the earlier post by President Trump, the Chinese embassy in Washington said the two sides “have maintained communication over their respective concerns in the economic and trade fields on various bilateral and multilateral occasions at multiple levels” since the Geneva talk.
But the embassy also said the Chinese government had “repeatedly raised concerns with the U.S. regarding its abuse of export control measures in the semiconductor sector and other related practices.”
“China once again urges the US to immediately correct its erroneous actions, cease discriminatory restrictions against China and jointly uphold the consensus reached at the high-level talks in Geneva,” the embassy said.
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst quips ‘we are all going to die’ while discussing Medicaid
Ernst was fielding another question on potential changes to Medicaid eligibility at a town hall in north-central Iowa on Friday when she quipped that “we all are going to die.”
She had largely kept her cool as shouts and groans emerged from the crowd at a high school in Parkersburg, Iowa, as she defended President Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax and immigration package. But as she talked through the types of people that Republicans say should not be covered by Medicaid, including immigrants in the U.S. illegally, someone in the crowd yelled that people are going to die.
“People are not ... well, we all are going to die,” Ernst said as the crowd booed. “So, for heaven’s sakes. For heaven’s sakes, folks.”
“What you don’t want to do is listen to me when I say that we are going to focus on those that are most vulnerable,” Ernst went on. “Those that meet the eligibility requirements for Medicaid we will protect.”
Former President Joe Biden honors his late son
Biden used his first public remarks since his office announced his diagnosis with an aggressive form of prostate cancer to honor his late son, Beau, and other military veterans.
The Democrat spoke in a loud steady voice as he addressed an annual gathering in honor of Memorial Day at Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware, not far from his home in Wilmington.
“This day is the 10th anniversary of the loss of my son Beau, who spent a year in Iraq, and, to be honest, it’s a hard day,” Biden said. “Being with all of you, quite frankly, makes things a little bit easier, it really does. So, thank you for allowing me to grieve with you.”
Biden called upon the group to remember the sacrifices of those lost in battle, whose echoes he said can still be heard urging citizens to “stay true to what America stands for.”
“They’re not asking us to do their jobs,” he said. “They’re asking us to do our job, to protect our nation, in our time, now, to defend democracy, be part of something bigger than ourselves.”
Wall Street is drifting toward the end of its winning week and month
The major indexes aren’t moving much as companies navigate the challenges created by President Donald Trump’s on-and-off tariffs.
Despite stronger than expected quarterly profit and revenues, shares in Gap fell nearly 20% after the clothing retailer said import taxes could cost it up to $300 million this fiscal year.
Investors worry that Trump’s policies could grind the economy into a recession, slash companies’ profits and layer even more challenges on households already sick of inflation. Stocks rallied after Trump paused his tariffs on China and the European Union. A U.S. court then on Wednesday blocked many of Trump’s sweeping tariffs. But the White House is appealing, so uncertainty continues.
Trump briefly shook markets Friday y posting a fresh threat against China, “So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!” But its impact seems limited, and futures for U.S. stock indexes quickly pared their losses.
▶ Read more on today’s market movements
The Associated Press
