As the United States braces for Donald Trump to assume office as the 47th President in January, several top universities have issued advisories urging international students, particularly those from India, to return to the country before the inauguration. Concerns over potential travel bans have fuelled uncertainty amongst students and professionals studying and working in the US. President-elect Trump, who will take the oath of office on 20 January, has outlined plans to implement sweeping executive orders on his first day, targeting immigration and economic policies. These announcements have reignited fears reminiscent of his first term in 2017, when nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries faced immediate travel restrictions. The University of Massachusetts Amherst has released a detailed advisory urging its international students and staff to consider returning to the US before 20 January. “Given that a new presidential administration can enact policies on their first day in office and based on previous experience with travel bans in 2017, this advisory is made out of an abundance of caution,” the university stated. Similarly, Wesleyan University’s Office of International Student Affairs (OISA) has issued guidance, advising students to avoid being outside the country during the transition period. According to The Wesleyan Argus, the office’s email read: “The safest way to avoid difficulty re-entering the country is to be physically present in the US on 19 January and the days thereafter.” At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Associate Dean David Elwell cautioned international students about the risks of travel during this period, citing potential visa processing delays and policy unpredictability. “With every election, there can be changes in policies, regulations, and legislation that impact higher education as well as immigration and visa status matters,” he wrote in a recent post. These warnings have particularly resonated with Indian students, many of whom vividly recall the disruptions caused by Trump’s 2017 executive order. That ban not only sparked protests across the US but also affected thousands of students and professionals, raising significant concerns about the inclusivity of American immigration policies. In response to these anxieties, universities are taking proactive measures to support their international students. Yale University recently hosted a webinar to address concerns about potential immigration policy changes. Other institutions have signalled their readiness to challenge any policies that may disrupt the academic ecosystem. North Korea's Kim vows steadfast support for Russia’s war in Ukraine India’s Ministry of External Affairs has yet to issue a formal advisory but has urged Indian nationals in the US to remain vigilant and stay updated on travel regulations. The US remains a top destination for Indian students pursuing higher education, with India surpassing China in 2023-2024 to become the leading country of origin for international students. According to the Open Doors 2024 Report on International Educational Exchange, 331,602 Indian students were enrolled in American institutions, marking a 23 per cent increase from the previous year. This demographic now represents a vital component of the US academic and cultural landscape. As the date of the presidential inauguration approaches, the international student community continues to navigate this period of uncertainty with a mix of caution and resilience. Source: With inputs from Indian media  

The US Navy is turning a costly setback into a strategic advantage by retrofitting its first stealth destroyer, the USS Zumwalt, to house the nation’s first shipborne hypersonic weapon. At a Mississippi shipyard, workers are replacing the Zumwalt's twin turrets—originally designed for a gun system that was never activated due to its high cost—with new missile tubes. This modification will transform the Zumwalt into a platform capable of conducting fast, long-range, precision strikes, enhancing its operational utility. While the Zumwalt was initially intended for land-attack missions with its Advanced Gun System, the expensive gun system was scrapped and the ship's future became uncertain. However, experts see this new retrofit as a potential turning point. "The Navy could take victory from the jaws of defeat here and make these ships useful with the hypersonic weapon system," said Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute. Hypersonic weapons, capable of traveling at speeds greater than Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound), have become a priority for the US military, spurred on by tests from China and Russia. These weapons' high speed and maneuverability make them difficult to intercept, and the US has accelerated their development to maintain its technological edge. North Korea's Kim vows steadfast support for Russia’s war in Ukraine The system being integrated into the Zumwalt is the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS), a hypersonic weapon that launches like a ballistic missile before releasing a glide vehicle that travels at speeds seven to eight times the speed of sound. The Zumwalt will carry four missile tubes, each containing three hypersonic missiles, for a total of 12 weapons per ship. Despite criticisms of the Zumwalt class as an expensive misstep, the destroyers remain the Navy's most advanced surface warships, featuring innovations such as electric propulsion and a stealthy angular design. The Zumwalt is currently undergoing retrofit work at Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and is expected to return to active duty in the coming months. Entrepreneur who purchased a banana artwork for $6.2 million eats the fruit in Hong Kong While the development and procurement of these hypersonic weapons will cost billions, with an estimated price tag of $18 billion for 300 missiles, experts argue that the strategic advantages outweigh the cost. “The adversary has them. We never want to be outdone,” said retired Navy Rear Admiral Ray Spicer, underscoring the urgency of the US military’s pursuit of hypersonic technology.   Source: With inputs from agencies

In his first public address since securing a landslide victory in the 2024 election, US President-elect Donald Trump took the opportunity to praise tech mogul Elon Musk at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) Gala in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. Trump highlighted Musk’s significant contributions to American innovation, particularly his work with Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter). The President-elect commended Musk for his bold vision, which he believes aligns with his own agenda of advancing technological progress and reshaping industries. Read: Elon Musk's wealth hits all-time high “Elon Musk is a true leader, a visionary who is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible,” Trump said. “His work in electric vehicles, space exploration, and social media has not only challenged established norms but has set America on a path to remain a global leader in innovation.” Trump’s praise for Musk underscores the growing influence of tech entrepreneurs in shaping the country’s future, with Musk being a key ally in Trump’s broader vision of American greatness. The close relationship between the two has been marked by shared values of disruption and progress. Source: With inputs from agencies

The American economy expanded at a healthy 2.8% annual pace from July through September on strong consumer spending and a surge in exports, the government said Wednesday, leaving unchanged its initial estimate of third-quarter growth. U.S. gross domestic product — the economy's output of goods and services — slowed from the April-July rate of 3%, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. But the GDP report still showed that the American economy — the world's largest — is proving surprisingly durable. Growth has topped 2% for eight of the last nine quarters. Within the GDP data, a category that measures the economy’s underlying strength rose at a solid 3.2% annual rate from July through September, up from 2.7% in the April-June quarter. This category includes consumer spending and private investment but excludes volatile items like exports, inventories and government spending. Still, American voters — exasperated by high prices — were unimpressed by the steady growth and chose this month to return Donald Trump to the White House to overhaul the nation's economic policies. He will be supported by Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity, accelerated to a 3.5% annual pace last quarter, up from 2.8% in the April-June period and fastest growth since the fourth quarter of 2023. Exports also contributed to the third quarter’s growth, increasing at a 7.5% rate, most in two years. Still, the third-quarter growth in both consumer spending and exports was lower than the Commerce Department initially estimated. But growth in business investment slowed sharply on a drop in investment in housing and in nonresidential buildings such as offices and warehouses. By contrast, spending on equipment surged. When he takes office next month, President-elect Trump will inherit an economy that looks broadly healthy. Growth is steady. Unemployment is low at 4.1%. Inflation, which hit a four-decade high 9.1% in June 2022, has fallen to 2.6%. That is still above the Federal Reserve's 2% target, but the central bank felt satisfied enough with the progress against inflation to cut its benchmark interest rate in September and again this month. Most Wall Street traders expect the Fed to cut rates again in December. Trump picks Jay Bhattacharya, who backed COVID herd immunity, to lead National Institutes of Health Wednesday’s report also contained some encouraging news on inflation. The Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge — called the personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE — rose at just a 1.5% annual pace last quarter, down from 2.5% in the second quarter. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core PCE inflation was 2.1%, down from 2.8% in the April-June quarter. The public still feels inflation's sting: Prices are about 20% higher than they were in February 2021, just before inflation started picking up Trump has promised an economic shakeup. On Monday, for example, he vowed to slap new import taxes on goods from China, Mexico and Canada. Mainstream economists view such taxes — or tariffs — as inflationary. That is because they are paid by U.S. importers, who then seek to pass along the higher costs to their customers. Wednesday's report was the second of three looks at third-quarter GDP. The Commerce Department will issue the final report on Dec. 19.  

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen health economist Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates, to lead the National Institutes of Health, the nation's leading medical research agency. Trump, in a statement Tuesday evening, said Bhattacharya, a 56-year-old physician and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, will work in cooperation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, "to direct the Nation’s Medical Research, and to make important discoveries that will improve Health, and save lives.” “Together, Jay and RFK Jr. will restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America’s biggest Health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease," he wrote. Rising price of paying national debt is a risk for Trump's promises on growth and inflation The decision to choose Bhattacharya for the post is yet another reminder of the ongoing impact of the COVID pandemic on the politics on public health. Bhattacharya was one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 open letter maintaining that lockdowns were causing irreparable harm. The document — which came before the availability of COVID-19 vaccines and during the first Trump administration — promoted “herd immunity,” the idea that people at low risk should live normally while building up immunity to COVID-19 through infection. Protection should focus instead on people at higher risk, the document said. “I think the lockdowns were the single biggest public health mistake,” Bhattacharya said in March 2021 during a panel discussion convened by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Great Barrington Declaration was embraced by some in the first Trump administration, even as it was widely denounced by disease experts. Then- NIH director Dr. Francis Collins called it dangerous and “not mainstream science.” His nomination would need to be approved by the Senate. Trump on Tuesday also announced that Jim O’Neill, a former HHS official, will serve as deputy secretary of the sprawling agency. Trump said O’Neill “will oversee all operations and improve Management, Transparency, and Accountability to, Make America Healthy Again,” the president-elect announced. Trump threatens to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China on first day in office O’Neill is the only one of Trump’s health picks so far who brings previous experience working inside the bureaucracy to the job. Trump’s previous choices to lead public health agencies — including Kennedy, Dr. Mehmet Oz for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator and Dr. Marty Makary for Food and Drug Administration commissioner — have all been Washington outsiders who are vowing to shake up the agencies. Bhattacharya, who faced restrictions on social media platforms because of his views, was also a plaintiff in Murthy v. Missouri, a Supreme Court case contending that federal officials improperly suppressed conservative views on social media as part of their efforts to combat misinformation. The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration in that case. After Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, he invited Bhattacharya to the company's headquarters to learn more about how his views had been restricted on the platform, which Musk renamed X. More recently, Bhattacharya has posted on X about scientists leaving the site and joining the alternative site Bluesky, mocking Bluesky as "their own little echo chamber.” Bhattacharya has argued that vaccine mandates that barred unvaccinated people from activities and workplaces undermined Americans' trust in the public health system. He is a former research fellow at the Hoover Institution and an economist at the RAND Corporation. The National Institutes of Health falls under HHS, which Trump has nominated Kennedy to oversee. The NIH's $48 billion budget funds medical research on vaccines, cancer and other diseases through competitive grants to researchers at institutions across the nation. The agency also conducts its own research with thousands of scientists working at NIH labs in Bethesda, Maryland. Among advances that were supported by NIH money are a medication for opioid addiction, a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, many new cancer drugs and the speedy development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.  

President-elect Donald Trump threatened on Monday to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China as soon as he takes office as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders. The tariffs, if implemented, could dramatically raise prices for American consumers on everything from gas to automobiles to agricultural products. The U.S. is the largest importer of goods in the world, with Mexico, China and Canada its top three suppliers, according to the most recent U.S. Census data. Trump made the threats in a pair of posts on his Truth Social site in which he railed against an influx of illegal migrants, even though southern border apprehensions have been hovering near four-year lows. “On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders," he wrote, complaining that "thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before,” even though violent crime is down from pandemic highs. Rising price of paying national debt is a risk for Trump's promises on growth and inflation He said the new tariffs would remain in place “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!" "Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power," he went on, “and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!” Trump also turned his ire on China, saying he has “had many talks with China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl, being sent into the United States – But to no avail.” “Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America,” he wrote. It is unclear whether Trump will actually go through with the threats or if he is using them as a negotiating tactic before he returns to the White House in the new year. Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent — who if confirmed, would be one of several officials responsible for imposing tariffs on other countries — has on several occasions said tariffs are a means of negotiation. He wrote in a Fox News op-ed last week, before his nomination, that tariffs are “a useful tool for achieving the president’s foreign policy objectives. Whether it is getting allies to spend more on their own defense, opening foreign markets to U.S. exports, securing cooperation on ending illegal immigration and interdicting fentanyl trafficking, or deterring military aggression, tariffs can play a central role.” Trump won the election in large part due to voter frustration over inflation, but his threatened tariffs pose the risk of pushing prices even higher for food, autos and other goods. If inflationary pressures increase, the Federal Reserve might need to keep its benchmark interest rates higher. Trump's threats come as arrests for illegally crossing the border from Mexico have been falling. The most recent U.S. numbers for October show arrests remain near four-year lows, with U.S. Border Patrol making 56,530 arrests in October, less than one third of the tally from October last year. Trump vows JFK files release; experts doubt major revelations Meanwhile, arrests for illegally crossing the border from Canada have been rising over the past two years. The Border Patrol made 23,721 arrests between October 2023 and September 2024, compared with 10,021 the previous 12 months. More than 14,000 of those arrested on the Canadian border were Indian — more than 10 times the number two years ago. Last week, a jury convicted two men on charges related to human smuggling for their roles in an international operation that led to the deaths of a family of Indian migrants who froze while trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border during a 2022 blizzard. Much of America’s fentanyl is smuggled from Mexico. Border seizures of the drug rose sharply under President Joe Biden, and U.S. officials tallied about 21,900 pounds (12,247 kilograms) of fentanyl seized in the 2024 government budget year, compared with 2,545 pounds (1,154 kilograms) in 2019, when Trump was president. If Trump were to move forward with the threatened tariffs, the new taxes would pose an enormous challenge for the economies of Canada and Mexico, in particular. The Canadian dollar weakened sharply in foreign exchange markets immediately following Trump’s post. During Trump’s first term, his move to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and reports that he was considering a 25% tariff on the Canadian auto sector were considered an existential threat in Canada. Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, and 75% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S. The tariffs would also throw into doubt the reliability of the 2020 trade deal brokered in large part by Trump with Canada and Mexico, the USMCA, which replaced NAFTA and is up for review in 2026. It’s unclear from Trump’s social media post how he would legally apply tariff hikes on those two pivotal U.S. trade partners, but the 2020 deal allows for national security exceptions. Trump transition team officials did not immediately respond to questions about what authority he would use, what he would need to see to prevent the tariffs from being implemented and how they would impact prices in the U.S. When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term in office, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada, for instance, announced billions of new duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a tit-for-tat response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum. US envoy pushes for cease-fire in Lebanon as food crisis worsens after looting in Gaza Many of the U.S. products were chosen for their political rather than economic impact. For example, Canada imports just $3 million worth of yogurt from the U.S. annually and most of it comes from one plant in Wisconsin, the home state of then-Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. That product was hit with a 10% duty. The Canadian government, in a joint statement from Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc, emphasized the close relationship between the two countries and said they will discuss the border and vast economic ties with the incoming administration. “Canada places the highest priority on border security and the integrity of our shared border. Our relationship today is balanced and mutually beneficial, particularly for American workers,” the statement read. Freeland, who chairs a special Cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations to address concerns about another Trump presidency, has said the president-elect's promise to launch a mass deportation and concern that that could lead to an influx of migrants to Canada, is a top focus of the committee. A senior Canadian official had said before Trump's posts that Canadian officials were expecting him to issue executive orders on trade and the border as soon as he assumes office. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department and Economy Department also had no immediate reaction to Trump’s statements. Normally such weighty issues are handled by the president at her morning press briefings. Last week, a senior Chinese commerce official said higher tariffs on Chinese exports would backfire by raising prices for consumers. Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen also said China can manage the impact of such “external shocks." Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Mark Stevenson in Mexico City, and Fatima Hussein, Josh Boak and Didi Tang in Washington contributed to this report.  

Another round of wintry weather could complicate travel leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, according to forecasts across the U.S., while California and Washington state continue to recover from storm damage and power outages. In California, where two people were found dead in floodwaters on Saturday, authorities braced for more rain while grappling with flooding and small landslides from a previous storm. The National Weather Service office in Sacramento, California, issued a winter storm warning for the Sierra Nevada through Tuesday, with heavy snow expected at higher elevations and wind gusts potentially reaching 55 mph (88 kph). Total snowfall of roughly 4 feet (1.2 meters) was forecast, with the heaviest accumulations expected Monday and Tuesday. The Midwest and Great Lakes regions will see rain and snow Monday and the East Coast will be the most impacted on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, forecasters said. A low pressure system is forecast to bring rain to the Southeast early Thursday before heading to the Northeast. Areas from Boston to New York could see rain and breezy conditions, with snowfall possible in parts of northern New Hampshire, northern Maine and the Adirondacks. If the system tracks further inland, there could be less snow and more rain in the mountains, forecasters said. “The system doesn’t look like a powerhouse right now,” Hayden Frank, a meteorologist with the weather service in Massachusetts, said Sunday. “Basically, this is going to bring rain to the I-95 corridor so travelers should prepare for wet weather. Unless the system trends a lot colder, it looks like rain.” Frank said he isn't seeing any major storm systems arriving for the weekend anywhere in the country so travelers heading home Sunday can expect good driving conditions. Temperatures, however, will get colder in the East while warming up out West. More rain expected after deadly 'bomb cyclone’ on West Coast Two people died in the Pacific Northwest after a rapidly intensifying “ bomb cyclone ” hit the West Coast last Tuesday, bringing fierce winds that toppled trees and power lines and damaged homes and cars. Hundreds of thousands lost electricity in Washington state before powerful gusts and record rains moved into Northern California. Fewer than 25,000 people in the Seattle area were still without power Sunday evening. Two bodies were found Saturday in Sonoma County wine country, north of San Francisco, authorities said. Someone walking on a trail near Santa Rosa found the body of a man in a swollen creek, according to the sheriff's department. Hours later, rescue crews recovered a body inside a vehicle bobbing in floodwaters in nearby Guerneville, Deputy Rob Dillion said. Investigators are trying to determine if the deaths were storm-related. Santa Rosa saw its wettest three-day period on record with about 12.5 inches (32 centimeters) of rain by Friday evening, the National Weather Service in the San Francisco Bay Area reported. Vineyards in nearby Windsor were flooded. Forecasters said the risk of flooding and mudslides remained as the region gets more rain starting Sunday. But the latest storm won't be as intense as last week's atmospheric river, a long plume of moisture that forms over an ocean and flows over land. “However, there’s still threats, smaller threats, and not as significant in terms of magnitude, that are still going to exist across the West Coast for the next two or three days,” weather service forecaster Rich Otto said. As the rain moves east throughout the week, Otto said, there’s a potential for heavy snowfall at higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada, as well as portions of Utah and Colorado. California's Mammoth Mountain, which received 2 feet (.6 meters) of fresh snow in the recent storm, could get another 4 feet (1.2 meters) before the newest system clears out Wednesday, the resort said. Northeast gets needed precipitation Into Thanksgiving, parts of the Midwest and East Coast can expect to see heavy rain, and there’s potential for snow in Northeastern states. A storm last week brought rain to New York and New Jersey, where wildfires have raged in recent weeks, and heavy snow to northeastern Pennsylvania. The precipitation was expected to help ease drought conditions after an exceptionally dry fall. “It’s not going to be a drought buster, but it’s definitely going to help,” said Bryan Greenblatt, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Binghamton, New York. Heavy snow fell in northeastern Pennsylvania, including the Pocono Mountains. Higher elevations reported up to 17 inches (43 centimeters), with lesser accumulations in valley cities including Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Around 35,000 customers in 10 counties were still without power, down from 80,000 a day ago. In the Catskills region of New York, nearly 10,000 people remained without power Sunday morning, two days after a storm dumped heavy snow on parts of the region. Precipitation in West Virginia helped put a dent in the state’s worst drought in at least two decades and boosted ski resorts as they prepare to open in the weeks ahead.

Donald Trump has big plans for the economy — and a big debt problem that will be a hurdle to delivering on them. Trump has bold ideas on tax cuts, tariffs and other programs, but high interest rates and the price of repaying the federal government’s existing debt could limit what he’s able to do. Not only is the federal debt at roughly $36 trillion, but the spike in inflation after the coronavirus pandemic has pushed up the government's borrowing costs such that debt service next year will easily exceed spending on national security. The higher cost of servicing the debt gives Trump less room to maneuver with the federal budget as he seeks income tax cuts. It's also a political challenge because higher interest rates have made it costlier for many Americans to buy a home or new automobile. And the issue of high costs helped Trump reclaim the presidency in November's election. “It's clear the current amount of debt is putting upward pressure on interest rates, including mortgage rates for instance," said Shai Akabas, executive director of the economic policy program at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “The cost of housing and groceries is going to be increasingly felt by households in a way that are going to adversely affect our economic prospects in the future.” Akabas stressed that the debt service is already starting to crowd out government spending on basic needs such as infrastructure and education. About 1 in 5 dollars spent by the government are now repaying investors for borrowed money, instead of enabling investments in future economic growth. It's an issue on Trump's radar. In his statement on choosing billionaire investor Scott Bessent to be his treasury secretary, the Republican president-elect said Bessent would “help curb the unsustainable path of Federal Debt.” The debt service costs along with the higher total debt complicate Trump's efforts to renew his 2017 tax cuts, much of which are set to expire after next year. The higher debt from those tax cuts could push interest rates higher, making debt service even costlier and minimizing any benefits the tax cuts could produce for growth. “Clearly, it's irresponsible to run back the same tax cuts after the deficit has tripled,” said Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a former Republican congressional aide. “Even congressional Republicans behind the scenes are looking for ways to scale down the president’s ambitions.” Democrats and many economists say Trump's income tax cuts disproportionately benefit the wealthy, which deprives the government of revenues needed for programs for the middle class and poor. NATO head and Trump meet in Florida for talks on global security "The president-elect’s tax policy ideas will increase the deficit because they will decrease taxes for those with the highest ability to pay, such as the corporations whose tax rate he’s proposed reducing even further to 15%,” said Jessica Fulton, vice president of policy at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington-based think tank that deals with issues facing communities of color. Trump's team insists he can make the math work. “The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail, including lowering prices. He will deliver,” said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump transition spokeswoman. When Trump was last in the White House in 2020, the federal government was spending $345 billion annually to service the national debt. It was possible to run up the national debt with tax cuts and pandemic aid because the average interest rate was low, such that repayment costs were manageable even as debt levels climbed. Congressional Budget Office projections indicate that debt service costs next year could exceed $1 trillion. That's more than projected spending on defense. The total is also greater than nondefense spending on infrastructure, food aid and other programs under the direction of Congress. What fueled the increased cost of servicing the debt has been higher interest rates. In April 2020, when the government was borrowing trillions of dollars to address the pandemic, the yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell as low as 0.6%. They're now 4.4%, having increasing since September as investors expect Trump to add several trillions of dollars onto projected deficits with his income tax cuts. Trump chooses Bessent to be treasury secretary, Vought as budget chief, Chavez-DeRemer for Labor Democratic President Joe Biden can point to strong economic growth and successfully avoiding a recession as the Federal Reserve sought to bring down inflation. Still, deficits ran at unusually high levels during his term. That's due in part to his own initiatives to boost manufacturing and address climate change, and to the legacy of Trump's previous tax cuts. People in Trump's orbit, as well as Republican lawmakers, are already scouting out ways to reduce government spending in order to minimize the debt and bring down interest rates. They have attacked Biden for the deficits and inflation, setting the stage for whether they can persuade Trump to take action. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the wealthy businessmen leading Trump's efforts to cut government costs, have proposed that the incoming administration should simply refuse to spend some of the money approved by Congress. It's an idea that Trump has also backed, but one that would likely provoke challenges in court as it would undermine congressional authority. Russell Vought, the White House budget director during Trump's first term and Trump's choice to lead it again, put out an alternative proposed budget for 2023 with more than $11 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years in order to potentially generate a surplus. Michael Faulkender, a finance professor who served in Trump's Treasury Department, told a congressional committee in March that all the energy and environmental components of Biden's Inflation Reduction Act from 2022 should be repealed to reduce deficits. Trump has also talked up tariffs on imports to generate revenues and reduce deficits, while some Republican lawmakers such as House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, have discussed adding work requirements to trim Medicaid expenses. The White House was last pressured by high rates to address debt service costs roughly three decades ago during the start of Democrat Bill Clinton's presidency. Higher yields on the 10-year Treasury notes led Clinton and Congress to reach an agreement on deficit reduction, ultimately producing a budget surplus starting in 1998. Clinton political adviser James Carville joked at the time about how bond investors pushing up borrowing rates for the U.S. government could humble the commander in chief. “I used to think that if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president or the pope or as a .400 baseball hitter," Carville said. "But now I would like to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.”  

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and the head of NATO have met for talks on global security, the military alliance said Saturday. In a brief statement, NATO said Trump and its secretary general, Mark Rutte, met on Friday in Palm Beach, Florida. “They discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance,” the statement said without giving details. It appeared to be Rutte's first meeting with Trump since his Nov. 5 election. Rutte had previously congratulated Trump and said “his leadership will again be key to keeping our Alliance strong" and that he looked forward to working with him. Trump has for years expressed skepticism about the Western alliance and complained about the defense spending of many of its member nations, which he regarded as too low. He depicted NATO allies as leeches on the U.S. military and openly questioned the value of the alliance that has defined American foreign policy for decades. He threatened not to defend NATO members that fail to meet defense-spending goals. Rutte and his team also met Trump's pick as national security adviser, U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, and other members of the president-elect's national security team, the NATO statement said. Rutte took over at the helm of NATO in October.  

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she felt “sorrow” at Donald Trump's return to power and recalls that every meeting with him was “a competition: you or me.” In an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel published Friday, Merkel said that Trump “is a challenge for the world, particularly for multilateralism.” “What awaits us now is really not easy,” she said, because “the strongest economy in the world stands behind this president” with the dollar as a dominant currency. Merkel worked with four American presidents while she was German chancellor. She was in power throughout Trump's first term — easily the most tense period for German-U.S. relations of her 16 years in office, which ended in late 2021. She recalled as “a typical scene” a famously awkward moment in the Oval Office when she first visited Trump at the White House in March 2017. Photographers shouted “handshake!” and Merkel quietly asked Trump: “Do you want to have a handshake?” There was no response from Trump, who looked ahead with his hands clasped. “I tried to coax him into a handshake for the photographers because I thought in my constructive way that maybe he hadn't noticed they wanted such a picture,” Merkel was quoted as saying. “But of course his refusal was calculation.” The pair did shake hands at other points during the visit. Asked what a German chancellor should know about dealing with Trump, Merkel said he was very curious and wanted details — “but only to read them for his own advantage, to find arguments that strengthen him and weaken others.” “The more people there were in the room, the greater was his urge to be the winner,” she added. “You can't chat with him. Every meeting is a competition: you or me.” Read: Hungary's Orbán vows to disregard international arrest warrant for Netanyahu Merkel said she felt “sorrow” at Trump's victory over Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 presidential election. “It was already a disappointment for me that Hillary Clinton didn't win in 2016. I would have liked a different outcome.” The 70-year-old Merkel, a center-right Christian Democrat who has generally kept a low profile since leaving office, is due to release her memoirs next week.