Trump's USA

The cuts
Trump makes sweeping changes to the State Department – ​​Africa department to be scrapped completely

US President Donald Trump is planning a major reorganization of the State Department that will mean the elimination of several departments. The New York Times and Bloomberg report this, citing a draft of a presidential order.

According to the draft, the departments that work on climate, refugee and democracy issues would disappear. The Africa department would also be completely abolished.

Bloomberg writes that the reorganization, if it becomes a reality, would mean the largest reshuffle of the State Department since its inception in 1789.

The conflict with universities
Governor: Healthcare will be affected by Trump's Harvard attack

Donald Trump's battle against Harvard and other top universities will also affect healthcare facilities and research laboratories that are linked to the universities. This is what Democratic Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey warns, writes The Guardian.

In an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation," she says she recently visited Boston Children's Hospital, where some of the sickest children in the United States are cared for.

- Reduced funding for Boston Children's and other hospitals is a direct result of Donald Trump's actions, because they are part of a system of university hospitals, says Healey.

It is impossible for the states to replace the billions in public funding that Trump is withdrawing from universities that do not obey him, she adds.

American aid
WHO: US aid freeze has major consequences

The US aid freeze has made the humanitarian situation in conflicts such as Gaza, Sudan and Yemen even more difficult. This is stated by the World Health Organization (WHO) according to AFP.

Since Donald Trump took office, the United States has practically completely frozen aid, and the president has also aired plans to withdraw from the WHO. The United States, previously the largest donor, paid nothing to the organization last year and does not appear to have any plans to do so this year either.

The WHO is suffering from a large deficit and has proposed cutting its budget by a fifth, which is expected to mean layoffs and reduced activities.

“Many of our programs have been stopped or will not be able to continue,” says Hanan Balkhy, WHO’s director for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Trump’s tariff policy
Analysis: Stock markets and households will pay the price if Trump succeeds

Those who believe that Donald Trump will achieve his goals – to reduce the trade deficit and rebuild industry – should ask themselves what it would cost. The Wall Street Journal’s James Mackintosh writes in a commentary. He predicts a general increase in prices, higher interest rates, lower stock prices and a weaker dollar.

“I doubt that Trump’s tariffs will bring much manufacturing back to the US. If they do, investors and consumers will pay the price,” writes Mackintosh.

SvD Näringsliv’s Katrine Kielos is on the same track, but based on Trump’s ambition to let tariffs replace taxes.

“This is how the US economy worked to a large extent in the 19th century,” she writes and continues:

“One of the many problems with all of this is that today’s world is quite different from the world in 1899. Not least technologically.”

On Wall Street, all the uncertainty is likely to reinforce the herd mentality among analysts and make them place their forecasts closer together. This is the reasoning of Bloomberg’s Jonathan Levin.

“This, in turn, can cause investors to limit themselves to too narrow a range of possible outcomes – which in practice makes stocks appear less risky than they are,” he writes.

Border issue
Demonstrations against Trump: "Stand against tyranny"

People across the United States took to the streets on Saturday for a second wave of protests against President Donald Trump, several media outlets report.

The largest demonstrations took place in New York and Washington, where many protested against deportations of undocumented migrants and the immigration agency ICE by chanting "No ICE, no fear, migrants are welcome here".

Outside New York's largest library, signs with slogans such as "No kings in America" ​​and "Stand against tyranny" were seen.

Organizers say they oppose "Trump's violations of civil rights" and "constitutional violations". This concerns both the deportation of immigrants, the reduction of the federal government by laying off thousands of state employees, and the shutdown of entire agencies, according to the AP.

El Salvador proposes prisoner exchange with Venezuela

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele is prepared to send home the 252 Venezuelans who are in prison in the country after being deported from the United States. He writes this in a post on X addressed to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

In exchange, he wants Venezuela to release an equal number of political prisoners and send them to El Salvador.

"The only reason they are in prison is because they opposed you and your electoral fraud," he writes.

In the post, Bukele lists a number of prisoners he wants to be included in the agreement, including journalists, activists and family members of high-ranking Venezuelan opposition figures.