President Donald Trump’s administration has escalated its ongoing battle with Harvard, threatening to block the university from enrolling international students as the president called for withdrawing Harvard’s tax-exempt status
The Latest: Trump administration takes aim at Harvard international students and tax-exempt statusBy The Associated PressThe Associated Press
President Donald Trump’s administration has escalated its ongoing battle with Harvard, threatening to block the university from enrolling international students as the president called for withdrawing Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
The moves raise the stakes of the showdown between the White House and the nation’s oldest, wealthiest and arguably most prestigious university.
Here’s the latest:
Strange sell-off in the dollar raises specter of investors losing trust in the US under Trump
Among the threats tariffs pose to the U.S. economy, none may be as strange as the sell-off in the dollar.
Currencies rise and fall all the time because of inflation fears, central bank moves and other factors. But economists worry the recent drop in the dollar is so dramatic that it reflects something more ominous as President Trump tries to reshape global trade: a loss of confidence in the U.S.
The dollar’s dominance in cross-border trade and as a safe haven has been nurtured by administrations of both parties for decades because it helps keep U.S. borrowing costs down and allows Washington to project power abroad — enormous advantages that could possibly disappear if faith in the U.S. was damaged.
▶ Read more about tariffs and the falling U.S. dollar
It could be a rare day where the president doesn’t appear publicly
He’s slated to participate in a swearing in ceremony for Dr. Mehmet Oz, who was confirmed by the Senate to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But there’s not expected to be press access and there’s nothing else on Trump’s public schedule.
Rubio says the US will drop Ukraine-Russia peace efforts if no progress within days
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the U.S. may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.
He spoke in Paris after landmark talks among U.S., Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress. A new meeting is expected next week in London, and Rubio suggested that could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement.
“We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not,” Rubio told reporters upon departure. “Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on.”
“It’s not our war,” Rubio said. “We have other priorities to focus on.” He said the U.S. administration wants to decide “in a matter of days.”
▶ Read more about Rubio’s comments
Law firms, universities and now civil society groups are in Trump’s sights for punitive action
First the nation’s top law firms. Then its premier universities. Now, Trump is leaning on the advocacy groups that underpin U.S. civil society.
Trump said Thursday that the administration is looking at the tax-exempt status not just of Harvard, but environmental groups and specifically the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW.
The president’s remarks began to confirm what advocacy groups have been quietly warning: Trump’s campaign of retribution is coming next for them.
Trump and his team have been working their way through the nation’s institutions, threatening to chisel away at the independence and autonomy of the law firms, college campuses and now advocacy groups — or putting them at risk of losing their federal funds or professional livelihood.
▶ Read more about Trump’s plans to go after law firms and universities
Trump administration seeks explosive expansion of nation’s immigration detention system
If Trump’s administration has its way, the capacity to hold tens of thousands more migrants will soon be added around the country as the U.S. seeks an explosive expansion of what is already the world’s largest immigration detention system.
Trump’s effort to conduct mass deportations as promised in the 2024 campaign represents a potential bonanza for private prison companies and a challenge to the government agencies responsible for the orderly expulsion of immigrants. Some critics say the administration’s plans also include a deliberate attempt to isolate detainees by locking them up and holding court proceedings far from their attorneys and support systems.
The acting director of the ICE, Todd Lyons, said at a border security conference in Phoenix last week that the agency needs “to get better at treating this like a business” and suggested the nation’s deportation system could function “like Amazon, trying to get your product delivered in 24 hours.”
▶Read more about the administration’s plans
Trump administration takes aim at Harvard’s international students and tax-exempt status
The Trump administration has escalated its ongoing battle with Harvard, threatening to block the university from enrolling international students as the president called for withdrawing Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
The moves raise the stakes of the showdown between the White House and the nation’s oldest, wealthiest and arguably most prestigious university, which on Monday became the first to openly defy the administration’s demands related to activism on campus, antisemitism and diversity.
“I think Harvard’s a disgrace,” President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday.
By taking action against international students and the school’s tax status, the administration struck at two pillars of Harvard, where international students make up 27% of the campus, and the majority of the student body is in graduate school, often conducting globally prominent research. The school has risen to distinction by attracting the world’s top talent and large tax-deductible gifts from the country’s richest donors.
The federal government has already frozen more than $2 billion in grants and contracts to the Ivy League institution.
▶ Read more about the battle between Trump and Harvard
