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America First Legal files briefs in support of Trump executive order ending birthright citizenship

America First Legal filed two amicus briefs this week in support of President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants.

The firm filed the briefs on behalf of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and 17 other committee members.

Despite there being nearly two dozen Democrat-run states and civil rights groups suing to stop the order and two federal judges ruling to temporarily block it, America First is arguing that there is a clear constitutional basis for denying citizenship to illegal migrants who have broken the country’s immigration laws.

‘BLATANTLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL’: US JUDGE TEMPORARILY BLOCKS TRUMP’S BAN ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Trump’s order titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” states that “the privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States” when that person’s parents are either unlawfully present in the U.S. or when the parents’ presence is lawful but temporary.

The briefs — which were filed in the federal courts for the Western District of Washington and the District of Massachusetts — argue that based on the “text and history” of the 14th Amendment, the Constitution does not confer citizenship on the children of unlawfully present aliens. The briefs claim that citizenship in the U.S. is a political right, not an automatic entitlement.

The 14th Amendment was passed in 1868 and was designed to extend citizenship to African-American former slaves. The amendment states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Dan Epstein, vice president of America First Legal, told Fox News Digital that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” means that citizens must owe their political allegiance to the U.S., not some foreign power or culture. He said that Trump’s order would restore the constitutional principle that only those who are subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. — that is loyal, law-abiding Americans — are citizens.

NUMEROUS US STATES SUE TRUMP OVER BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP EXECUTIVE ORDER AS SUPREME COURT COULD MAKE FINAL DECISION

President Donald Trump’s executive order is an effort to end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci | Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“This executive order is constitutional and legally valid,” said Epstein. “The Constitution makes clear that it is not the ‘natural born citizen clause.’ It is a ‘natural born and subject to the jurisdiction thereof clause.’ And we can’t just scratch out ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ ‘Jurisdiction thereof’ means something; it means you are a loyal subject to American jurisdiction and if you’re a disloyal subject — which is clearly someone whose parents entered here illegally — it means you don’t believe in the law.”

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“Congress has not specifically authorized that any individual born to illegal aliens on U.S. soil is by definition a citizen. That’s nowhere in the statute,” he explained. “If Congress decided to pass a law and the courts said it was constitutional, and it said that, in fact, if you’re born on American soil, you’re a citizen, well, then, we’re bound by that law and the Supreme Courts and the federal courts affirming that. But that’s just not the law.”

Epstein said that the U.S. policy of extending citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, including those born to illegal immigrants, breaks with American tradition and disrupts the rule of law.

REPUBLICAN STATE AGS BACK TRUMP BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER IN COURT FILING: ‘TAXPAYERS ARE ON THE HOOK’

Dan Epstein, vice president of America First Legal, said that the U.S. policy of extending citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, including those born to illegal immigrants, breaks with American tradition and disrupts the rule of law. (U.S. Border Patrol)

“There’s a lot that hangs in the balance here,” he explained. “If we have an interpretation of the 14th Amendment that says that anyone born here is like African-Americans who have a history of slavery or of terrible things, then we actually dilute that American tradition of enfranchising the rights of the descendants of former slaves and that is not what the 14th Amendment was designed to do.”

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Despite Trump’s executive order being currently blocked, Epstein said that he is optimistic that the Supreme Court will eventually rule in Trump’s favor.

“My expectation is that this is a no-brainer. The law is clear, ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ has to mean something,” he said. “And whether you’re looking at the legislative history of that phrase or you’re looking at how it’s been applied — even in [U.S. vs.] Wong Kim Ark, the kind of preeminent case on this — makes clear that jurisdiction means allegiance. So, it’s not a very hard question. It’s a very clear question. And the law has a very clear answer.”

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

February 7, 2025
Trump’s Gaza ‘takeover’ rankles America First conservatives, allies suggest negotiator-in-chief is at work

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President Donald Trump’s comments about the U.S. “taking over” Gaza sent shock waves through Washington – but allies suggest the negotiator-in-chief is using the suggestion as a tactic to apply pressure on the region and find workable solutions to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump said Tuesday in remarks that set off a media firestorm. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexplored bombs and other weapons on the site.”

He suggested that Palestinians be cleared out of Gaza and taken in by neighboring nations like Egypt and Jordan – an idea Arab leaders have roundly rejected.

Trump’s proposal would be a momentous departure from current policy – and run afoul with America First conservatives who want to see the U.S. less involved in the Middle East, not more.

ARAB AMERICANS FOR TRUMP GROUP CHANGES NAME AFTER PRESIDENT’S GAZA TAKEOVER PROPOSAL

Trump suggested the U.S. “take over” Gaza and Palestinians be cleared out (Reuters )

“I thought we voted for America First,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., wrote back to the president’s suggestion on X. “We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers’ blood.”

The idea of a U.S. takeover of Gaza originated with Trump himself, who questioned why Palestinians would want to live among the rubble, and was not formally mapped out by his aides before he announced it next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Sources told the New York Times that Trump had been toying with the suggestion for weeks, and his thinking was reaffirmed when Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff returned from Gaza and described the dismal conditions there.

ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER ORDERS IDF TO PLAN FOR GAZANS TO LEAVE IN LINE WITH TRUMP’S CONTROVERSIAL PROPOSAL

Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings during a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Feb 6, 2025. (Reuters/Dawoud Abu Alkas )

Taking over ownership of Gaza would suggest U.S. forces on the ground to ensure security – and require Congress to get on board with appropriating funds to rebuild the territory.

Trump explained his idea further in a Truth Social post Thursday morning.

“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting. The Palestinians, people like Chuck Schumer, would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region,” he wrote, calling out the Senate’s Jewish Democratic leader.

“They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free. The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth. No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also sought to quiet fears from the briefing podium.

“I would reject the premise of your question that this forces the United States to be entangled in conflicts abroad,” she told a reporter on Wednesday. “The president has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza. He has also said that the United States is not going to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza.”

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu answer questions during a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House, Feb. 4, 2025. (Reuters/Leah Millis)

“This is an out-of-the-box idea. That’s who President Trump is. That’s why the American people elected him. And his goal is lasting peace in the Middle East for all people in the region.”

Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who typically finds little common cause with Trump, told Puck News his idea is a “provocative” way to “to kind of shake things up and to start a very more honest conversation of Gaza.”

“Trump is speaking the language of the Middle East,” Simone Ledeen, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East during Trump’s first term, told Fox News Digital.

“Middle East negotiations, they often happen in public, and public posturing is kind of part of the process. This is not President Trump’s messaging to the U.S., he is messaging to the Middle East… [that] the paradigm has failed, and so we need new ideas.”

“I think it’s going to bring the entire region to come with their own solutions,” national security advisor Mike Waltz mused about the comments on CBS on Wednesday.

Waltz went on: “He’s not seeing any realistic solutions on how those miles and miles and miles of debris are going to be clear, how those essentially unexploded bombs are going to be removed, how these people are physically going to live there for at least a decade, if not longer, it’s going to take to do this.”

More than 46,000 Palestinians had been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry as of last month. Nearly 2 million have been displaced from their homes.

TRUMP SAYS US WILL ‘TAKE OVER’ GAZA STRIP, REBUILD IT TO STABILIZE MIDDLE EAST

“Why would they want to return? That place has been hell,” Trump said of Gaza. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)

An Israeli official suggested that Trump’s idea may not actually be met with opposition by Gaza’s neighbors.

“Egypt and Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates that in the end of the day are threatened by Hamas would not shed a tear to see that the United States is actually taking control over the Gaza strip, because they don’t really want to do that,” Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and Arab affairs adviser for Jerusalem, told Fox News Digital.

“They will not, of course, express formally, because it will be breaking the cause of unity in the Arab world.”

“Trump is being presented right now a construct of a ceasefire deal that is headed for a train wreck,” said Rich Goldberg, president of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, adding that there is a “fundamental disconnect” between what Israelis will accept and what Hamas will accept.

“So he’s moving the Overton window, changing the strategic paradigm.”

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Goldberg said the first priority was convincing other Muslim nations in the region to take in Palestinians.

“The Egyptians and the Jordanians should be honest with the world. We don’t want the Gaza population. We’re afraid of the Gaza population. We think they may be radicalized. We think they might bring down our government. Or we don’t want to give up the political weapon against Israel.” He suggested Trump could leverage U.S. relationships with Middle Eastern countries – offering those who accept Palestinians major-non-NATO status and threatening to revoke such a status for countries who don’t. “The status itself is gravitized in the world.”

February 6, 2025
‘America has DOGE fever’: States from NJ to TX draft similar initiatives as federal leaders celebrate

The spread of DOGE-centric legislation and bureaucracies has taken off like a SpaceX rocket in several states across the country since Elon Musk and lawmakers like Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., began their work on that front this year.

Bean, chair of the bipartisan DOGE Caucus, was asked about copycat initiatives popping up around the country and remarked, “America has DOGE fever.”

“As elected officials, we must ensure we are good stewards of taxpayer dollars. This means we must identify, investigate and eliminate wasteful spending.”

With a governor’s race in November and President Donald Trump only losing their state by a historically small margin, Garden State Republicans appeared bullish this week as they put forth a proposal to “bring DOGE to New Jersey.”

‘DOGE MEETS CONGRESS’: LAWMAKER LAUNCHES NEW PANEL ON GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY

The Congressional DOGE Caucus is led by Rep. Aaron Bean. (House of Representatives/Getty)

GOP Assemblymen Alex Sauickie and Christopher DePhillips recently introduced Resolution 213 to create the NJ Delegation on Government Efficiency within the Treasury Department.

Sauickie quoted former President Ronald Reagan’s 1985 retort that “government is like a baby – an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.”

“Except babies, if raised and disciplined rightly, grow into adults who usually become productive members of society. Those adopting our state budgets show no such discipline,” Sauickie said, adding that it is time for “grownups to take responsibility and say ‘no’” to reckless spending.

Some Trenton lawmakers have painted New Jersey’s financial outlook as a “fiscal cliff,” and DePhillips blamed outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy for claiming he inherited the problem from Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

“Taxpayers want accountability for how their hard-earned money is spent,” DePhillips said.

He also called on Murphy to “stop fighting Trump” and lower New Jersey’s business taxes before the third-founded state in the union “loses out” on the potential upswing of the new administration.

Republican state Sen. Joe Pennacchio added in a recent Fox News Digital interview that he would be forming a DOGE committee in the state legislature.

“We’re mirroring what the federal government and what [Musk is] doing,” said Pennacchio.

TOP DOGE LAWMAKER SAYS TRUMP ALREADY RACKING UP WINS

The “Trenton Makes” bridge that spans the Delaware River between Trenton, New Jersey, and Morrisville, Pennsylvania. (Getty)

This week, Kentucky lawmakers also prioritized government efficiency measures, with Republican state Rep. Jared Bauman forwarding a bill to establish a working group to help the state treasury modernize its tax collections and accounting.

In Texas, lawmakers in both the state Senate and House are working on DOGE-centric initiatives.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Brandon Creighton, a Republican, first oversaw the passage of the strongest DEI ban in the U.S. during the 2023 session, which eliminated billions in taxpayer-funded waste and refocused public universities on education over social issues.

After DOGE formed at the federal level, Creighton said Texas is already a model for how a jurisdiction that prioritizes government efficiency will work.

“Seeing the swift action by President Trump and Elon Musk with DOGE is a welcome and necessary new era in Washington, D.C. – and I know they are just getting started,” Creighton told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

“Many have said that Washington should take notes from Texas – because the Texas economic engine is proof that when government is committed to efficiency, accountability and conservative results, taxpayers win.”

Meanwhile, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, officially the president of the Senate, announced a bill late last month called “Texas DOGE – Improving Government Efficiency,” according to Bloomberg.

Another reported bill by Republican state Sen. Bryan Hughes would form a DOGE office in the executive branch.

Meanwhile, the Texas House is considering forming a DOGE committee to analyze government efficiency through a 13-member panel.

The St. Louis, Missouri, skyline along the Mississippi River (Getty)

It would investigate fraud claims, inefficient use of tax dollars, and the use of AI, according to FOX-7.

In Missouri, Republican state Rep. Ben Baker told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Missourians believe the state government is not as efficient or responsive as it should be.

“We want to look into that,” said Baker.

Baker recently announced he was named to lead the state’s new DOGE Standing Committee, adding his work will “align with federal efforts.”

In New Hampshire, newly-inaugurated Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s first executive order created a 15-member Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE).

“COGE will make us smarter than ever before when it comes to saving taxpayer dollars and finding better ways to serve the people of our state,” she said in her inaugural address.

It will be led by former Gov. Craig Benson and businessman Andy Crews.

North Carolina also sought to get in on the DOGE trend.

Republican House Speaker Destin Hall unveiled the new NC Select Committee on Government Efficiency.

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Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (Reuters)

State Reps. Keith Kidwell and John Torbett, both Republicans, will lead the initiative, looking into waste, duplication, mismanagement and constitutional violations.

“As the new Trump administration rightfully takes aim at Washington D.C.’s wasteful spending and inefficient bureaucracy, it is time for us in Raleigh to do the same,” Kidwell said in a statement.

Bean, the U.S. House’s DOGE leader, further remarked on the collective efforts:

“It’s exciting to see states pick up the DOGE baton, and I applaud their efforts to improve government efficiency and stop the abuse of taxpayer dollars.”

Some in Congress, however, have cast doubt on DOGE. Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., said at an anti-DOGE rally that some of the actions at the federal level are “completely illegal.”

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.

Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].

February 5, 2025
Rand Paul recoils at Trump’s Gaza takeover plans: ‘I thought we voted for America First’

After President Donald Trump announced that America “will take over the Gaza strip,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., pushed back against the idea, suggesting that the move would betray the “America First” principle Trump voters expected.

During his inauguration speech last month, Trump unequivocally declared that throughout his administration he will “put America first,” echoing a longstanding pillar of his political philosophy, which he also expressed during his 2017 inaugural address.

But Paul is throwing a red flag in response to Trump’s newly unveiled Gaza plans.

“The pursuit for peace should be that of the Israelis and the Palestinians. I thought we voted for America First. We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers blood,” Paul declared in a Wednesday post on X.

The senator made the comment in response to a post in which Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared on Tuesday, “Gaza MUST BE FREE from Hamas. As @POTUS shared today, the United States stands ready to lead and Make Gaza Beautiful Again. Our pursuit is one of lasting peace in the region for all people.”

‘LEVEL IT’: TRUMP SAYS US WILL ‘TAKE OVER’ GAZA STRIP, REBUILD IT TO STABILIZE MIDDLE EAST

Trump has indicated that the U.S. will “take over” the embattled region. (Left: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Right: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

While delivering remarks alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhyahu on Tuesday, Trump said that Palestinians should be settled outside the Gaza Strip, and that the U.S. will transform the region, which he described as a “demolition site.”

“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip,” Trump declared, saying, “we’ll own it, and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site … level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”

“I do see a long term ownership position,” Trump said of the region.

THE HISTORY OF GAZA AMID TRUMP’S PLAN TO REBUILD ENCLAVE

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., called Trump’s proposal “ethnic cleansing.”

“This president is openly calling for ethnic cleansing while sitting next to a genocidal war criminal. He’s perfectly fine cutting off working Americans from federal funds while the funding to the Israeli government continues flowing,” she declared in a post on X.

In a post on another X account she declared, “Palestinians aren’t going anywhere. This president can only spew this fanatical bulls— because of bipartisan support in Congress for funding genocide and ethnic cleansing. It’s time for my two-state solution colleagues to speak up.”

TRUMP’S MIDDLE EAST ENVOY EXPLAINS GAZA TAKEOVER PROPOSAL: ‘MORE HOPE’ FOR PALESTINIANS’ FUTURES

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Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., welcomed the president’s remarks.

“This is what the leader of the free world looks like, folks. President Trump campaigned on securing peace in Gaza, and he’s doing just that. Promises made, promises kept — it’ll never get old,” she said in a tweet.

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

February 5, 2025
‘Making America expensive again’: Democrats find a tax they don’t like in Trump tariffs

Democrats are warning that Americans will face higher costs and end up paying the price for new tariffs President Donald Trump is imposing against Mexico, Canada and China.

The White House announced Friday that in response to an “invasion of illegal fentanyl” to the U.S., it would impose a 25% tariff on all goods entering the United States from Mexico and Canada, a 10% tariff on Canadian energy and a 10% tariff on all goods entering the U.S. from China.

Tariffs against China went into effect Tuesday, although Trump agreed to push back tariffs against Mexico and Canada by at least one month after discussions with each respective country about securing the border.

While Trump acknowledged Friday the tariffs might result in “temporary, short-term disruption,” Democrats claim American taxpayers will end up hurting and paying the price.

According to one Washington think tank, the nonpartisan Peterson Institute for International Economics, these rounds of tariffs are expected to cost U.S. households roughly $1,200 a year annually.

As a result, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., took a jab at Trump and mocked the president’s coined expression about a “golden age” of economic prosperity.

WHITE HOUSE TO IMPOSE TARIFFS ON MEXICO, CANADA AND CHINA DUE TO ‘INVASION OF ILLEGAL FENTANYL’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, poked fun at President Donald Trump’s “golden age” of economic prosperity after announcing new tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China. (Reuters)

“President Trump kickstarted a golden age of higher costs for American families with his 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico,” Schumer said Monday on the Senate floor. “Two of our four biggest trading partners by issuing his tariffs. Donald Trump is yet again rigging the game for his billionaire friends, while doing nothing to lower costs for American families.”

“The Trump tariffs will make gas prices go up, and we should not listen at all to Donald Trump when he says it’s about stopping fentanyl,” Schumer said. “That’s nonsense. There are other ways to stop fentanyl without making inflation worse and raising costs on the American family.”

Additionally, Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced legislation Thursday that would increase legislative branch oversight before imposing new tariffs. Specifically, the legislation would require the president to brief Congress on tariff proposals and impacts on the U.S. economy and foreign policy interests.

The measure, known as the Stopping Tariffs on Allies and Bolstering Legislative Exercise of (STABLE) Trade Policy Act, also would require approval from Congress before executing any new tariffs on U.S. allies or other free trade agreement partners.

‘THIS IS ABOUT FENTANYL’: TARIFFS ARE CRUCIAL TO COMBATTING ‘DRUG WAR,’ TRUMP AND CABINET OFFICIALS SAY

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., introduced legislation that would increase Congressional oversight of tariffs. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Coons warned that the American people would pay the price for the tariffs, which he labeled the “largest tax increase” on Americans in a long time. Coons also cautioned that imposing tariffs on Mexico and Canada would turn them into “nervous neighbors” and could jeopardize relationships with allies.

“China, Mexico, and Canada are our three largest trading partners,” Coons said in a statement Friday. “It’s the largest tax increase on working Americans in a long time, and it will cost them thousands of dollars every year. President Trump is making America expensive again.”

Experts have warned that the costs of foods like avocados, dairy and certain meats could go up as a result of the tariffs. For example, Kelly Beaton, the chief content officer at The Food Institute, noted that the U.S. receives a large portion of hog and beef imports from Canada. These tariffs “will undoubtedly” lead to higher import costs, and, ultimately, higher beef and pork prices for American consumers, she said, Fox Business reports.

Likewise, Democratic Reps. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., and Don Beyer, D-Va., also introduced legislation in January that would block Trump from using emergency powers to implement tariffs, amid concerns that American consumers would end up footing the bill.

“Not only would widespread tariffs drive up costs at home and likely send our economy into recession, but they would likely lead to significant retaliation, hurting American workers, farmers, and businesses,” DelBene said in a statement on Jan. 15.

In response to Americans absorbing costs from the tariffs, Trump said in a post Sunday on Truth Social: “WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!). BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID.”

While Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told NBC News’ “60 Minutes” he predicted tariffs would drive up consumer costs, other Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. told Fox News Sunday that the tariffs are designed to “get these countries to change their behavior.”

The tariffs were being imposed due to an “unprecedented invasion of illegal fentanyl that is killing American citizens,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday.

MEXICO AGRESS TO DEPLOY 10,000 TROOPS TO US BORDER IN EXCHANGE FOR TARIFF PAUSE

The tariffs were being imposed due to an “unprecedented invasion of illegal fentanyl that is killing American citizens,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Jan. 31, 2025.

Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke on Monday, resulting in the postponement of the tariffs against Mexico for one month. Additionally, Sheinbaum promised to dispatch 10,000 troops to the U.S.–Mexico border.

Likewise, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled plans for a $1.3 billion border plan, requiring reinforcements at the border with “new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl.”

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“Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel are and will be working on protecting the border,” Trudeau said in a social media post on X on Monday.

While Trudeau initially unveiled plans for Canada’s own 25% tariffs on up to $155 billion in U.S. imports on items such as fruit and alcohol. But Trudeau said Sunday the tariffs were on pause for at least 30 more days amid negotiations with the U.S.

Trudeau also said that “we will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada- U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering.”

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.

Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.

February 4, 2025
‘America First’: Largest steel producer in US announces support of Trump tariffs

FIRST ON FOX: The CEO of the largest steel producer in the U.S., Nucor Corp., endorsed President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, Fox News Digital learned.

“Nucor applauds the first steps taken by President Trump in his America First Trade Agenda,” Leon J. Topalian, the chair, president and CEO Nucor Corp., wrote in a statement dated Friday that was obtained by Fox News Digital. “We look forward to working with President Trump to enforce our trade laws and strengthen American manufacturing!”

The subject line of the letter reads, “Presidential Executive Orders on Canada, Mexico, and the People’s Republic of China.”

Nucor is based out of North Carolina and serves as the nation’s largest steel producer and scrap metal recycler.

TRUMP DEFENDS TARIFFS, ACCUSES CANADA OF BEING ‘VERY ABUSIVE OF THE UNITED STATES’: VIDEO

The company’s CEO recently joined CNBC’s Jim Cramer and celebrated Trump’s then-upcoming tariffs as tools to end “currency manipulation” and the “subsidization” of steel coming to the U.S. from abroad.

“We saw the memo last Monday on tariffs and what they’re going to do,” Topalian said Tuesday. “And I think they’re going to be far-reaching, and I think they’re going to be very broad to, again, stop the illegal dumping, the manipulation, currency manipulation and subsidization of steels coming into the shores of the U.S.”

“We’re the largest steel company in North America, so, of course, we took a look a year and a half ago and, and, we’ll continue to look and see if those assets come back,” he said. “But, part of the reason we didn’t move forward is valuation. We’re not going to overpay for assets.”

NUCOR ONCE THWARTED A CHINESE ATTEMPT TO STEAL ITS TECHNOLOGY

Trump signed an executive order on Saturday authorizing tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China through the new International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The tariffs take effect on Tuesday and include 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on imports from China. Energy resources from Canada will have a lower 10% tariff.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 1, 2025, authorizing tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China through the new International Emergency Economic Powers Act. (Getty Images)

The tariffs were created in light of “extraordinary” threats stemming from “illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl,” according to the order.

NUCOR CEO ON TARIFFS: WE’VE BEEN IN A TRADE WAR FOR 30 YEARS

“This challenge threatens the fabric of our society,” the executive order states. “Gang members, smugglers, human traffickers, and illicit drugs of all kinds have poured across our borders and into our communities.

“Canada has played a central role in these challenges, including by failing to devote sufficient attention and resources or meaningfully coordinate with United States law enforcement partners to effectively stem the tide of illicit drugs.”

The tariffs were created in light of “extraordinary” threats stemming from “illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl,” according to President Donald Trump’s executive order. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Foreign leaders have railed against the tariffs. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Saturday that her country “categorically reject[s] the White House’s slander against the Mexican government of having alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention of intervention in our territory.”

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau encouraged residents to “buy Canada” by checking labels at stores to ensure a product is made in the Great White North.

TRUMP SAYS CANADA WOULD HAVE NO TARIFFS AS 51ST STATE, AS OBSERVERS BRACE FOR TRADE WAR

Trump defended the tariffs Sunday evening while talking to reporters gathered at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

The CEO of the largest steel producer in the U.S., Nucor Corp., endorsed President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico. Pictured here is a Nucor steel recycling plant in Seattle. (Getty Images)

“Canada has been very abusive of the United States for many years. They don’t allow our banks,” Trump said. “And you know that Canada does not allow banks to go in, if you think about it. That’s pretty amazing. If we have a U.S. bank, they don’t allow them to go in.”

“Canada has been very tough for oil on energy. They don’t allow our farm products in, essentially. They don’t allow a lot of things in. And we allow everything to come in as being a one-way street.”

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Former President Joe Biden also imposed tariffs during his administration, including on steel and aluminum shipped from Mexico to the U.S. but made elsewhere.

Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.

February 3, 2025
Rubio heads to Panama, Latin America to pursue Trump’s ‘Golden Age’ agenda

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio leaves for his first overseas trip as the nation’s top diplomat on Saturday. Rubio’s first stop on the six-day visit is Panama as he sets out on pursuing President Donald Trump’s geopolitical agenda.

Trump used his inaugural address to proclaim his intent to “take back” the Panama Canal, and in a call with reporters on Friday, Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone said Rubio’s chief purpose of the trip would be in re-establishing a “Golden Age” for America.

“This trip signifies… that era of American greatness and the Golden Age,” he said, adding that “the 21st century will also be an American century.”

Former President Donald Trump listens as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks during a rally at the Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition in Miami on Nov. 6, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

MARCO RUBIO LAYS OUT AMERICA FIRST AGENDA IN NEW OP-ED, SAYS DAYS OF NEGLECTING US ‘END NOW’

Claver-Carone pointed out that Rubio’s trip to Latin America is the first time a secretary of state has traveled to the region as their first official visit abroad in over 100 years.

“Last time that happened, I believe, was in 1912, when Philander Chase Knox went to Panama… to oversee the conclusion of the Panama Canal’s construction and operations,” he told reporters. “What a great message to harken back to that Golden Age of the Americas, as President Trump himself has mentioned.”

Rubio is scheduled to meet with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino.

The pair are expected to discuss migration, combating drug trafficking and China’s presence in the Panama Canal, which Rubio and Trump have argued has become overrun by Chinese companies operating at either end of the crucial waterway.

The Trump administration has argued that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) tight grip over all Chinese companies means that, in extension, the CCP is operating out of the canal and could, in theory, close it to U.S. trade if it chose to — posing a significant security threat.

New Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino waves before giving a speech at his swearing-in ceremony at the Atlapa Convention Centre in Panama City on July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

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Mulino has repeatedly denied that Chinese companies have any influence over the operations of the Panama Canal, and on Thursday said he would not be negotiating ownership of the canal with Rubio.

“It’s impossible, I can’t negotiate,” Mulino said during a Thursday press conference when asked about negotiating control of the canal, The Associated Press reported. “That is done. The canal belongs to Panama.”

Mulino apparently claimed confusion over control of the canal was attributed to his predecessor, who severed ties with Taiwan and established diplomatic relations with China in 2017, eventually allowing a Hong Kong consortium to operate ports at both ends of the canal.

Panama maintains that it controls the canal.

The Marshall Islands cargo ship Cape Hellas, left, and the Portuguese cargo ship MSC Elma sail on Gatun Lake near the Agua Clara Locks of the Panama Canal in Colon City, Panama, on Dec. 28, 2024. (Arnulfo Franco/AFP via Getty Images)

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Claver-Carone argued that Chinese companies control “everything from force and logistics to telecommunications, infrastructure, and otherwise,” which he said is not only a security threat to U.S. interests in the canal, but to the national security of Panama and the Western Hemisphere.

Rubio is also slated to visit El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, where he will meet with the presidents of each nation before returning to the U.S. on Thursday.

Addressing Chinese influence in these countries, along with gang violence, migration and drug trafficking, will also be top of Rubio’s agenda.

February 1, 2025
LARRY KUDLOW: Trump tells Mexico and Canada — America First!

If President Donald Trump believes that Mexico and Canada are damaging America’s national security by failing to sufficiently help us on the border to prevent illegal crossings and the influx of fentanyl and other drugs, or not helping us defeat the Mexican cartels – then I believe he is absolutely right to use his tough tariff diplomacy by slapping 25% tariffs on both countries.

And that includes the 10% tariff hike on China, which is supplying the fentanyl drug components that are then manufactured in Mexico and sent across the U.S. line. China is also subverting the USMCA North American free trade deal by building plants in Mexico and then dumping cheap cars into the U.S., without adhering to U.S. domestic content and other rules.

With today’s announcement by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that President Trump has made up his mind and will impose these tariffs tomorrow, it’s very clear that that is the President’s conclusion.

Whether he has any specific metrics in mind regarding illegal border crossings or drugs, or sex trafficking, remains to be seen. Whether he will engage in additional negotiations with Canada and Mexico remains to be seen.

But he has laid down the law. Tariffs are a legitimate tool to engage in national security policy as well as economic policy.

Presumably, if Mexico and Canada meet Mr. Trump’s requirements, then the tariffs could be lifted. But we don’t know that. And we await some sort of statement from the President himself, perhaps tonight or tomorrow.

‘Kudlow’ panelists Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., and Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., analyze President Donald Trump’s foreign economic policies.

By the way, Mexico’s ties to China have become a major problem. Mexican imports from China have increased 50% over the last 5 years. And Chinese investment in Mexico is up the same 50%. USMCA rules must be changed to place explicit limitations on Chinese content.

Right now, the U.S. is running a $170 billion trade deficit with Mexico, sustained across numerous product groups.

Canada is a different story. The U.S. is running a $60 to $70 billion trade deficit with them, but if energy is removed we actually have a surplus with Canada – including auto and manufacturing goods. 60% of U.S. oil imports come from Canada.

But Canadian oil companies provide us with a 20% discount because their heavy crude has to be refined into gasoline and diesel fuels. As some oil experts point out, a 25% tariff wipes out the 20% discount. And they fear that gasoline prices in the Midwest and the northern states could jump by 40 to 75 cents. So, the oil industry is hoping for a carve-out from the 25% tariff.

On the tariff news announced by Mrs. Leavitt, the Dow Jones fell 330 points. Wall Street continues to believe that tariffs are inflationary.

As I’ve suggested before, they are not.

‘Kudlow’ panelists Taylor Riggs, Steve Forbes and John Carney unpack President-elect Donald Trump’s economic policies.

Sure, there might be some minor one-time product price increases. But exporters to the U.S. will bear 50% or more of the tariff increase by lowering their prices in order to sell to American consumers and businesses. That was our experience with China during Trump’s first term.

The only way inflation is going to pick up in any sustained fashion is if the Federal Reserve keeps the printing presses wide open.

In Mr. Trump’s Truth Social post on Wednesday, he criticized the Fed for failing to stop the massive Bidenflation that ruined blue-collar affordability with a 20%-plus price hike over the past four years.

But Mr. Trump’s economic program of lower tax rates, deregulation, unleashing energy production, large reductions in federal spending and the DC bureaucracy, is itself profoundly counter-inflationary and pro-growth. That is why inflation is not the issue.

And, yesterday, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that he will not tolerate any replacement of the mighty U.S. dollar in international trade. He threatened 100% tariffs on the so-called BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. King Dollar is also counter inflationary.

Instead, Mr. Trump’s tariff diplomacy is geared toward protecting America’s national security – and its economic security.

And he insists… that America comes first.

January 31, 2025
5 things to know about President Donald Trump’s ‘Iron Dome’ plan for America

Trump signs executive order to build American Iron Dome

Veterans on Duty chairman Jeremy Hunt discusses why he supports the dome’s construction for national security purposes, how the possible missile defense system would work and how the DOD is restoring military readiness.

President Donald Trump has ordered the construction of an advanced, next-generation missile defense shield to protect the United States from aerial attack.

On Monday, the president signed an executive order that tasks Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with drawing up plans to build an “Iron Dome for America” that will protect Americans from the threat of missiles launched by a foreign enemy. In doing so, Trump kept a campaign promise to prioritize missile defense.

“By next term we will build a great Iron Dome over our country,” Trump said during a West Palm Beach event on June 14. “We deserve a dome…it’s a missile defense shield, and it’ll all be made in America.”

TRUMP SAYS THAT IRON DOME CONSTRUCTION WILL BE ‘IMMEDIATE,’ SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER

But what exactly are Trump’s plans for an “Iron Dome”? Here’s what you need to know:

1. Israel’s first defense

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on Oct. 1, 2024. (REUTERS/Amir Cohen)

The Iron Dome missile defense system Trump has called for is similar to one that Israel has developed to intercept thousands of rockets.

Israel’s first line of defense, a missile defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, is labeled the Iron Dome. It was first deployed in 2011, and has since rebuffed and destroyed rockets from Hamas terrorists, Hezbollah forces and Iranian drones and missiles.

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The Iron Dome is land-based and built to keep the citizens of Israel safe from barrages of rockets deployed most often by Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials claim the Iron Dome has been 90% effective in intercepting thousands of rockets fired into Israel.

The U.S. has contributed at least $2.6 billion to the development of Israel’s Iron Dome system since 2011.

2. The threats facing the U.S.

Russia said it tested a hypersonic Zircon cruise missile in the Barents Sea, on May 28, 2022. (Russian Ministry of Defense)

Critically, the Iron Dome is a short-range defense system capable of tackling missiles with ranges between 2.5 miles and about 43 miles. Trump’s executive order identifies attack by long-range ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles as “the most catastrophic threat facing the United States,” so his proposed defense system will need to be adapted and redesigned to defend against intercontinental missiles.

Russia currently has an arsenal of 1,250 deployed weapons, according to the New York Times. Pentagon analysts believe China will have a weapons stockpile of similar size within 10 years, if not earlier, and North Korea has continued development of intercontinental ballistic missiles under both Trump and President Joe Biden’s watch.

Most recently, Russia and China have experimented with hypersonic missiles, which are designed to exceed Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. Intercepting missiles at such speeds is a challenge the U.S. has partnered with Japan to confront at an estimated cost of $3 billion, the Associated Press reported.

3. Reagan tried it first

Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States and 33rd Governor of California. (Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

President Ronald Reagan was the first U.S. president to call for a national defense system that would counter the threat of the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons, including warheads attached to ballistic missiles.

On March 30, 1983, Reagan proposed “a vision for the future that offers hope” that he called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). The idea was to develop a space-based missile defense program that would protect the country from large-scale nuclear attack. Reagan proposed to develop technology that would allow the United States to identify and automatically destroy numerous incoming ballistic missiles before they reached their targets.

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Acknowledging that the technology to realize his vision did not yet exist, Regan urged the scientific community to partner with the defense community and work towards a future where Americans need not fear nuclear attack.

“I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace, to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete,” Reagan said.

The president’s critics derided the plan, nicknaming it, “Star Wars,” and questioned why his administration would pursue a costly defense initiative with no guarantee that it would work. The Soviet Union accused Regan of violating a 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty that committed both countries to refrain from developing missile defense systems. Arms control measures stalled during Reagan’s term because he refused to give up the project.

After Regan left office, interest in SDI waned and the program was canceled before the U.S. could develop a functional missile defense system. However, research conducted while SDI was active contributed to the Iron Dome’s development. In 2002, the U.S. withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which now allows Trump to pick up where Reagan left off.

4. Hegseth’s to-do list

Pete Hegseth is surrounded by his wife Jennifer Rauchet and his 7 children as he is sworn in as the new US Secretary of Defense by Vice-President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 25, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

Under Trump’s order, freshly confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth must submit to the president “a reference architecture, capabilities-based requirements, and an implementation plan for the next-generation missile defense shield.”

The plans must include defense against “ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries.”

Hegseth is also instructed to accelerate the deployment of a satellite-based sensor system developed by the Missile Defense Agency that is currently in its prototype phase. Called the Hypersonic Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, the system uses “birth-to-death” tracking to follow missile threats from launch through interception, according to the Defense Department.

Additionally, Trump’s order instructs the development and deployment of several space-based missile interception technologies, including systems that could disable a missile prior to launch, as well as a “secure supply chain” to ensure that the ordered missile defense infrastructure is made in America.

Hegseth must also submit a plan to pay for these dense systems before the president puts together his fiscal year 2026 budget.

5. Cooperating with U.S. allies

Trump’s order calls to “increase bilateral and multilateral cooperation on missile defense technology development, capabilities, and operations,” as well as to “increase and accelerate the provision of the United States missile defense capabilities to allies and partners.”

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Hegseth is also directed to conduct a review of the U.S. military’s missile defense posture in theaters across the globe and identify areas for cooperation with allies.

Fox News Digital’s Gabriele Regalbuto contributed to this report.

Chris Pandolfo is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.

January 29, 2025
White House economist teases the ‘biggest’ fiscal reform ‘America has ever seen’

National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett analyzes the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on ‘Kudlow.’

President Donald Trump’s economic plans are being set into motion, according to one of the newest top White House officials, who believes America will see the “biggest” fiscal reform on trade, energy, regulations and tax and spending cuts.

“When the people who are trying to cause panic over President Trump’s trade policy simulate what it’s going to do, they don’t account for all the other policies. So President Trump is drill, baby, drill and deregulate and tax cuts and reduce spending,” National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said in an exclusive interview on “Kudlow,” Monday.

“And if you look at tariffs as part of an overall strategy, you’re going to see, as President Trump says, a golden age,” he added. “And it’s going to be the biggest supply side reform that America has ever seen.”

On the presidential campaign trail, Trump repeatedly proposed tariffs on trade countries like Mexico, Canada, China and others to be used more as a negotiation tactic. This proved to work earlier this week when Colombian President Gustavo Petro swiftly backtracked on his refusal to accept deportation flights from the United States after Trump threatened tariffs and other measures.

ODDS OF U.S. RECESSION DECLINING: N.A.B.E. ECONOMISTS

“I think that you saw from the Colombia negotiation that the president is going to use tariffs if he needs to, in order to get people to make policy concessions that are good for America, that put America first,” Hassett reacted.

National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett talks President Trump’s top fiscal priorities, from taxes and tariffs to AI and energy. (Getty Images)

“The bottom line is that a tariff isn’t necessarily just a weapon, but economically, if you do the math, a tariff can be part of a supply side strategy that includes a big tax bill as well,” the director continued, while confirming that a universal tariff is something that Trump and House lawmakers will “negotiate” in a reconciliation bill.

Also under reconciliation negotiations is the 15% corporate tax rate, which currently sits at 21%.

Hassett also emphasized the impact that domestic energy and gas production has on minimizing inflation, claiming Wall Street analysts had hypothesized wrongly about the extra costs of Trump’s economy.

Trump senior advisor for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro discusses the battle over TikTok and bringing ‘prosperity’ to the United States on ‘The Claman Countdown.’

“If you spend $1.5 trillion a year more on government spending, you’re going to get inflation. If you don’t let people drill, baby, drill, energy prices are going to go up… If you do, as Biden did over the last couple of years, kill 130 million chickens, then egg prices are going to go up. So the fact is that we’re doing micro things correctly, deregulatory things correctly, and we’re going to get the macro stuff right, too,” he argued.

The newly appointed economic director also pointed out: “Inflation under Joe Biden was just under 5% for his whole term, about a little bit less than it was under Jimmy Carter and way more than double what it was under President Trump. And we’re 100% on the ball going after inflation, but it’s going to require an all-of-the-above approach. And right now, we’ve inherited really high inflation.”

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Poland President Andrzej Duda joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to discuss the impact Trump’s presidency will have on the global economy.

Trump is also aware of the artificial intelligence (AI) race’s future impacts on the economy, according to Hassett, but remains immediately focused on reversing consequential effects from Biden’s “reckless spending.”

“One of the really fun things in the last week… is to walk around and to see the DOGE people, to see Elon Musk in the halls and to see all the great ideas that people have to make sure that Americans are not seeing their money wasted by a wasteful government,” he said. “There’s a heck of a lot for our team to fix, and I think we’re very optimistic about our ability to rein in spending.”

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Fox News staff contributed to this report.

January 28, 2025