BLOGONITY

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korean officials have asked the Trump administration to exclude their country from U.S. plans to impose aggressive tariffs on trade partners, emphasizing that Seoul is already applying low duties on American products under the free trade agreement between the two nations. South Korea’s government on Friday said Deputy Trade Minister Park Jong-won made the request while traveling to Washington this week for meetings with unspecified officials from the White House, the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The South Korean Trade Ministry didn’t say what Park heard from the Americans. Park cited how South Korean companies were contributing to the U.S. economy through large-scale business investments and noted that the country was already imposing low duties on free trade partners such as the United States. He called for South Korea to be excluded from U.S. plans to establish reciprocal tariffs with trade partners and raise duties for imported steel and aluminum, the ministry said. South Korea’s top economic think tank this month slashed its growth forecast for the country’s economy for the second time since November, expressing concern about the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s expanding tariffs and other measures aimed at resetting global trade. The state-run Korea Development Institute projected the national economy to grow by 1.6% in 2025, which was 0.4 percentage points lower than its previous estimate. The group’s economists assessed that Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs won’t likely have a major impact on South Korea’s economy, as those products account for less than 1% of its exports to the U.S. However, they expressed concern that possible increases in U.S. duties for semiconductors and cars would hurt the country’s trade-dependent economy more. South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, on Friday called a meeting with trade and foreign policy officials to discuss the potential impact of Trump’s trade measures, including reciprocal tariffs and possible product-specific duties for semiconductors, cars and pharmaceuticals. Choi, who is also South Korea’s finance minister, instructed officials to examine how other major economies, including the European Union, Japan and China, are responding to Trump’s trade policies, and try harder to effectively communicate South Korea’s position to U.S. officials. South Korea’s trade surplus with the U.S. reached $55.7 billion in 2024. According to the South Korean trade ministry, the country’s tariff rates on U.S. manufacturing imports is around zero percent.  …

The U.S. government flew 177 Venezuelan migrants from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras on Thursday, from where they are set to be transferred on to Venezuela, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security said. Earlier on Thursday, the Honduran government said about 170 Venezuelan migrants were set to arrive in the Central American nation from the United States, before being transported immediately back to Venezuela. The transfer of the migrants would take place at Soto Cano, a joint U.S.-Honduras military air base, the Honduran government said. Venezuela requested the repatriation of the citizens who it said were unjustly taken to Guantanamo naval base, Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said in a statement posted on Telegram, adding they would be flown from Honduras by Venezuelan airline Conviasa. The arrival in Venezuela is expected Thursday evening local time. Lawyers representing at least half a dozen of the deportees said they learned about the deportations on Thursday afternoon. The deportations come after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last week seeking access to dozens of migrants flown to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying they were being denied the right to an attorney. The deportees included 126 people with criminal charges or convictions, 80 of whom were allegedly affiliated with Tren de Aragua, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said, adding that 51 had no criminal record. There are no migrant detainees left at Guantanamo after Thursday’s deportations, the spokesperson said. The U.S. has designated Tren de Aragua a global terrorist organization along with other organized crime groups, as President Donald Trump steps up immigration enforcement against alleged gang members in the United States.  …

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump this week signed an executive order intended to expand the White House’s authority over various independent regulatory agencies that Congress set up to be shielded from direct White House control, including the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. The order, signed Tuesday, would require independent agencies to submit proposed regulations to the White House for review. The order also would require agencies to consult with the White House on their “policies and priorities” and “strategic plans.” “These regulatory agencies currently exercise substantial executive authority without sufficient accountability to the President, and through him, to the American people,” the order said. The executive order, titled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies,” is expected to face challenges in court, according to legal experts. The move came as the president has worked to consolidate power within the executive branch, including by removing more than a dozen inspectors general who provided oversight at various government agencies. In addition to the FCC, agencies that would be affected by the new order include the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The FCC does not directly regulate major news networks, but it does evaluate the actions of broadcasting stations around the U.S. that hold FCC licenses to use public airwaves. Former FCC chairs told VOA that the move would be a significant change for the FCC. “It makes an independent agency that was created to be independent like an agency in the executive branch,” said Tom Wheeler, who served as FCC chairman under former President Barack Obama. Reed Hundt, who served as FCC chairman under former President Bill Clinton, agreed that the order would mark a departure from the agency’s nearly 100-year history. “For 90 years, the governmental idea was that the president should not be regulating the media,” Hundt told VOA. Harold Furchtgott-Roth, a Republican who served as an FCC commissioner under Clinton, told VOA that the order “would have a major effect on rulemaking” at the FCC. He added that other areas, like enforcement, might not be affected. Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez told VOA that she was concerned by the order. “Our informed decision-making is meant to be consistent with our technical expertise, not subject to political pressure,” Gomez told VOA in an emailed statement. Gomez added that Congress already provides oversight over the FCC. “Efforts to expand executive influence on the FCC will only further diminish our standing as … “Trump order challenges independence of FCC, other agencies” →

WASHINGTON — PRC is out. China is in. That is among the significant modifications to the U.S. State Department’s online fact sheet on China, which drops the country’s official name, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in favor of just China. Former President Joe Biden’s administration routinely referenced the Beijing government with the PRC abbreviation. Since former President Richard Nixon began the process to normalize relations with Beijing — which would end recognition of the government in Taipei, officially known as the Republic of China, on Jan. 1, 1979 — the United States has maintained diplomatic ties with the communist-run government on the mainland, while reducing the relationship with Taiwan to unofficial but friendly.  “Taipei should take solace in the fact that the change in the term [from PRC to China] does not represent a policy change in the United States. The fact of the matter is that the U.S. still has its ‘One China’ policy, and under that policy, it maintains diplomatic relations with Beijing and robust unofficial relations with Taipei,” Russell Hsiao, Global Taiwan Institute executive director, told VOA. “Since 1979, Washington has recognized the government in Beijing of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, so the change in term is essentially a different way of presenting the same set of facts, all of which haven’t changed,” Hsiao said. China considers Taiwan a rogue province. Nationalist forces, backed by the United States and commanded by Chiang Kai-shek, fled the mainland for Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to the communist forces led by Mao Zedong. Chiang became Taiwan’s relatively benign dictator until his death in 1975. Mao ruled over the mainland as a rigid authoritarian until his death a year after Chiang died. Washington continues to provide Taipei with weapons and has left the question ambiguous as to whether the United States would use its military to defend the island if Taiwan were to be attacked. The Taiwan Relations Act commits the United States to help Taiwan defend itself, but the final decision on military intervention would rest with the president and Congress. Language changes last week by the State Department eliminated a reference to Washington not supporting Taiwan independence, but left intact was content noting that the United States opposes “unilateral changes to the status quo” by either side of the Taiwan Strait. A significant change to the State Department’s … “US State Department tweaks online fact sheet on China” →

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s makeover of the United States’ national security and law enforcement agencies took a major step forward Thursday, with Senate lawmakers voting 51-49 to confirm Kash Patel as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The vote puts Patel at the helm of the country’s premier law enforcement agency, where he has promised to lead an overhaul of the bureau at a time when critics of President Donald Trump have accused the administration of leading a purge to end the bureau’s tradition of independence and align the bureau with Trump’s priorities. Two Republicans — Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski — voted with Democrats against Patel’s confirmation. But support from the rest of the Senate Republican delegation gave Patel a slim victory, with many hailing the new FBI director as an agent of change. “The FBI has lost trust among the American people in recent years. Much of that stems from a perception that politics has infected the FBI’s important work,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, ahead of Thursday’s vote. “We need all law enforcement working together and focused on the real threats facing our country,” Thune said. “I look forward to working with Mr. Patel to restore the integrity of the FBI and get it focused on its critical mission.” Other Republicans have echoed similar sentiments. “The FBI has been infected by political bias and weaponized against the American people,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley before advancing Patel’s nomination to the full Senate earlier this month, noting “Mr. Patel knows it, Mr. Patel exposed it, and Mr. Patel was targeted.” “The American people are sick and tired of two tiers of access, two tiers of treatment, and two tiers of justice,” said Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, also speaking earlier this month on the need for Patel to head the FBI. Patel is a former public defender and federal prosecutor who previously served as a Trump national security adviser and at the Pentagon. In a statement announcing Patel’s nomination in November, Trump praised him as having “played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability and the Constitution.” Democrats, however, have repeatedly questioned Patel’s qualifications and integrity, accusing him of describing some of the prosecuted, Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioters as “political prisoners,” and of calling for the prosecution of Trump opponents. And … “Trump loyalist Kash Patel takes helm of FBI” →

U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell announced on Thursday, his 83rd birthday, that he will not seek reelection when his current term ends next year. First elected in 1984, McConnell made the announcement from the Senate floor. “Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate. Every day in between, I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here,” he said. “Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.” McConnell, a former Republican Majority Leader, will retire as the longest-serving Senate leader from any party. He has led the Republicans since 2007 both as majority and minority leader before giving up the position to Senator John Thune last year. McConnell’s storied political career saw him guide the Senate chamber through a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul, presidential impeachment trials and fierce political fights. In what may be a lasting feature of his legacy, McConnell aggressively sought to outfit federal courts with more conservative justices. His final years as head of the Senate Republicans saw repeated political clashes with an increasingly populist party under the leadership of President Donald Trump. In recent years, McConnell had a series of health scares, including two separate incidents in which he froze while talking to reporters. He blamed those incidents on a previous concussion. In his comments Thursday, McConnell said he decided last year that he would not run for reelection. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that “strong Ukraine-U.S. relations benefit the entire world,” an apparent attempt to calm tensions with Washington after he and U.S. President Donald Trump traded barbs this week over efforts to end Russia’s three-year war on Ukraine. Zelenskyy said in Kyiv he had a “productive meeting” with Trump envoy Keith Kellogg on the “battlefield situation, how to return our prisoners of war and effective security guarantees” for Ukraine if the war is ended. Earlier in the week, Zelenskyy had complained that Ukraine was excluded from high-level talks in Saudi Arabia between the top U.S. and Russian diplomats as they discussed setting up negotiations about how to end the war and contended that Trump was living in a Russian-influenced “disinformation space.” Meanwhile, Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” and claimed falsely that Ukraine started the war three years ago next week, even though Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated it. Kellogg said he went to Kyiv to listen to Zelenskyy’s views and would report back to Trump. The Trump administration has proposed that part of the settlement of war would involve the U.S. investing in Ukrainian mining operations. The U.S. would gain access to rare earth minerals it needs for the manufacture of American technology products and recoup some of the money for the tens of billions of dollars’ worth of munitions it has sent to Ukraine to fight Russian forces while also boosting the war-ravaged Ukrainian economy. Zelenskyy so far has balked at the proposition for what he sees as lack of adequate security for Ukraine if the war is ended. In Washington, Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, told reporters, “We’re going to continue to have discussions about where that deal is going again. We have an obligation to the taxpayer. I think this is an opportunity. The president thinks this is an opportunity for Ukraine. “Going forward, there can be, in my view, nothing better for Ukraine’s future and for their security than to have the United States invested in their prosperity long term,” Waltz said. “And then a key piece of this has also been security guarantees. Look, the reality that we’re talking about here is, is it in Ukraine’s interest? Is it in Europe’s interest? It certainly isn’t in Russia’s interest or in the American people’s interest, for this war to grind on forever and ever and ever. “Understand, this war … “Zelenskyy: Strong Ukraine relations with US ‘benefit entire world’” →

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA — U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order aimed at ending federal benefits for people in the country illegally, the White House said Wednesday, his latest in a blizzard of moves to crack down on immigration. The White House said the order seeks to end “all taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens,” but it was not clear which benefits will be targeted. People in the country illegally generally do not qualify except for emergency medical care. Children are entitled to a free K-12 public education regardless of immigration status under a 1982 Supreme Court ruling. The order notes that a 1996 welfare overhaul denies most public benefits to people in the country illegally but says that law has been gradually undermined. “Over the last 4 years, in particular, the prior administration repeatedly undercut the goals of that law, resulting in the improper expenditure of significant taxpayer resources.” Trump’s words appear directed at former President Joe Biden’s extensive use of parole authority to allow people in the country temporarily, including more than 900,000 through an online appointment app called CBP One used at border crossings with Mexico and more than 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who flew to the United States at their own expense with a financial sponsor. Trump immediately ended both programs. Biden also granted parole to nearly 300,000 people from Ukraine and Afghanistan. People granted parole for at least a year are considered “qualified noncitizens,” making them eligible for some income-based benefits, but only after five years. They include Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides coverage to children in families that earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Some states have shortened the five-year wait. Trump’s order appears to have other targets, some already subjects of earlier edicts and Justice Department lawsuits. It directs all departments and agencies to identify federal benefit spending that is inconsistent with the 1996 welfare law. It also seeks to ensure that state and local governments are not using federal funds for policies that support “sanctuary” policies or encourage illegal immigration. Trump signed 10 executive orders on immigration on his first day in office. They included ending automatic citizenship for people born in the United States and asylum at the southern border. The birthright citizenship order has been temporarily halted in court. …

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korean state media on Thursday criticized the United States for a nuclear submarine deal with Australia under the AUKUS partnership signed in 2021, calling it a “threat to regional peace.” A commentary carried by KCNA said Washington should be wary of consequences for what it said were nuclear alliances, naming AUKUS and the trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan. Australia just made its first $500 million payment to the U.S. under the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal. Under AUKUS, Australia will pay the United States $3 billion to boost the capacity of the U.S. submarine industry, and Washington will sell several Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia in the early 2030s. The KCNA commentary also argued the U.S. sees North Korea as an obstacle to its establishment of hegemony in the region and said nuclear states will not sit idly by, referring to itself. North Korea has been criticizing the trilateral military cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the U.S. and has called the relationship “the Asian version of NATO.” South Korea’s defense ministry on Thursday said that a joint air drill was held with the U.S. with at least one B-1B strategic bomber taking part. The drill was to show extended deterrent capabilities by the United States in response to threats from North Korea’s nuclear and missile program, the ministry said in a statement. …

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/ WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the United States, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump made the remarks to reporters on Air Force One and said “it’s possible” for the U.S. and China to have a new trade deal. A conversation or interaction between Xi and Trump is seen as crucial to a potential easing or delay of trade tariffs. “We’ll have, ultimately, President Xi, we will have everybody coming (to the U.S.),” Trump said, while also speaking about other leaders potentially visiting the United States. Xi last travelled to the U.S. in November 2023, in his fifth visit to the country as Chinese president, for a summit with then U.S. President Joe Biden, resulting in agreements to resume military-to-military communications and curb fentanyl production. Trump and Xi had spoken just before Trump took office on January 20 and discussed issues including TikTok, trade and Taiwan. Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he was talking to China about TikTok as the United States seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese parent firm ByteDance. Trump said last week he had spoken to Xi since taking office as well, but did not offer details on the topics of that conversation. China’s foreign ministry did not directly comment on Trump’s remarks that day and instead referred reporters to their “scheduled” call before Trump took office. Washington and Beijing have had tense relations for years over differences ranging from trade and tariffs and cybersecurity, and TikTok, Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights and the origins of COVID-19. Trump also again told reporters he could make a deal with Russia over the war in Ukraine. “We can make a deal with Russia to stop the killing,” Trump said, adding he thought the Russians wanted to see the war end. “I think they have the cards a little bit because they’ve taken a lot of territory, so they have the cards,” Trump said.  …

BELCOURT, NORTH DAKOTA — Native American activist Leonard Peltier was defiant toward the government but grateful for his supporters as they welcomed him home to North Dakota on Wednesday, a day after his release from a Florida prison where he had been serving a life sentence in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.  Peltier, 80, grew emotional as he addressed about 500 people who gathered at the festive event that included food, a drum circle and dancers at a center in Belcourt. The small town is just south of the Canadian border on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians’ reservation.  “I’m so proud of the showing and support you’ve given me,” Peltier said. “I’ve got a hard time keeping myself from crying. A strong warrior can’t be up crying in front of his people.”  Before leaving office, former President Joe Biden commuted Peltier’s life sentence to home confinement, leading to his release Tuesday from the Coleman penitentiary. Peltier was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and given two consecutive life sentences stemming from a 1975 confrontation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were killed, and while Peltier acknowledged firing shots during the confrontation, he denied being the person whose shots killed the men. Native Americans widely believe he was a political prisoner who was wrongly convicted because he fought for Indigenous rights as a member of the American Indian Movement.  For years, many in law enforcement argued against freeing Peltier. Current and former FBI agents disputed his claims of innocence. As Biden considered his options as his term ended, former FBI Director Christopher Wray sent the president a letter in which he called Peltier “a remorseless killer” who should remain in prison.  In a statement about the commutation, Biden said numerous individuals and groups supported releasing Peltier due to the time he spent in prison, his age and his leadership role among Native Americans.  For decades, Peltier has maintained he was innocent of the murder charges, and he said Wednesday: “I spent 49 years straight in prison for something I didn’t do.”  Peltier said he went into prison a young man and emerged far older at age 80. During all that time, Peltier said he tried to keep Native American issues in the forefront of his activism, and he thanked tribes across the nation for their decades of … “Native American activist Leonard Peltier, freed from prison, welcomed on reservation” →

Conservative leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and politicians from Argentina, Britain, Poland and Italy, are among those set to address a three-day meeting of conservatives outside of Washington beginning Thursday. U.S. Vice President JD Vance leads off the Conservative Political Action Conference, with other sessions Thursday set to include discussions of cryptocurrency and Middle East peace, and a panel featuring relatives of hostages being held in Gaza. The CPAC conference helped Trump emerge as a figure in conservative politics and one which he addressed every year during his prior term in office. He used an address last year at the conference to pledge that a victory in the November presidential election would bring “judgment day” for “the liars and cheaters and fraudsters and censors and imposters who have commandeered our government.” In addition to U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Thursday’s agenda also includes remarks from former British Prime Minister Liz Truss and Balazs Orban, the political director for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Santiago Abascal, head of the far-right Spanish political party Vox is set to address the event Thursday, as is British lawmaker Nigel Farage and former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Later conference speakers include Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press. …

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday evening he has not seen the proposal being discussed by Arab leaders as an alternative to his plan to take over Gaza once the war between Hamas and Israel ends. “I haven’t seen it,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question on Air Force One. “Once I see it, I’ll let you know,” he added. Trump said early this month he wants to forcibly relocate almost 2 million Palestinians from Gaza into neighboring Jordan and Egypt. He said the United States will “own” the territory and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” which prompted rejection by Arab countries. It’s unclear whether Trump is serious or merely threatening to extract concessions from Arab states. During a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh this week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that it could be the latter, urging regional leaders to make a counteroffer. Envoys of Egyptian, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will meet Friday in Riyadh to discuss options, including an Egyptian plan to raise up to $20 billion over three years from Arab and Gulf states for Gaza’s reconstruction. Under this plan, Gazans would not be forced out and the strip would be governed by Palestinians. Saudi connection Trump spoke en route to Washington after delivering remarks at a conference in Miami, hosted by the Future Investment Initiative Institute, the nonprofit arm of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund led by the crown prince. His speech marked the first time a U.S. president addressed the annual gathering of global financiers and tech executives. It is a testament to how the Saudi crown prince, known by his initials MBS, has leveraged his connection to Trump, Laura Blumenfeld, senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, said. The prince established close ties during Trump’s first term and continued business ties with the Trump organization while the president was out of office, including investing $2 billion to a firm belonging to Trump’s son-in-law and former aide, Jared Kushner. “Trump believes in the Golden Rule, but not the Golden Rule from Sunday school,” Blumenfeld told VOA. “It’s if you’re rich, you’re right.” As Riyadh leads the charge to unify Arab nations to support postwar Gaza, there may be signs that Trump is softening his demand. In … “Trump says he has not seen the Egyptian counter to his plan for Gaza” →