How does one keep tabs on, and then interpret, a president who in a single year sent out more than 6,000 social media posts, conducted more than 433 open press events and held free-associating press conferences lasting close to two hours? Tracking Trump is not just a problem for exhausted reporters – but also exhausted diplomats, who are tasked with searching for the signal in the ceaseless Trumpian noise. Foreign ministries now also have to look out for the private texts of their boss reappearing on Truth Social. Trump holds press conferences almost every day, and in his first year posted on Truth Social 6,606 times. Research shows that Thursday midnight, Tuesday 11am, Saturday 5pm and Monday 11pm are the witching hours at which he most frequently issues posts, often leaving western diplomats in a different time zone at a disadvantage. For European diplomats, the late-night posts are often the worst since they may be landing on their phones as they make their way into work. A diplomat based in the UK said it is also now becoming a specific skill to be able to translate and sift Trump's often rambling remarks for any hidden policy gems of genuine consequence. He explains: “You can have the speech live on your dinner table at home, and he starts speaking about his childhood of playing at a park next to a mental hospital and his mother telling him he could have been a professional baseball player. Many of these rambling press conferences are pure self-aggrandising junk, but there is always the possibility that he will drop a bombshell that he is, say, planning to send an armada to Iran, or slap 100 % tariffs on Canada. Another diplomat pointed to the opening section of his anniversary press conference last week celebrating his first year in power, in which he spoke for 80 minutes about why America was “the hottest country in the world” before taking questions. Then he set off on a monologue that contemplated the photographs before riffing on “a beautiful place in Switzerland where I am sure I am very happily awaited for”, pivoting to Venezuela and opposition leader María Corina Machado's gift of her Nobel prize and landing on American oil companies' satisfaction at his approach. “You are not getting bored with this right?” he asked. Even in this ramble – revealing his deep fear of being boring – there are some clues that he still wants to work with the existing Venezuelan government, but that Machado is not out of the picture, because her Nobel gesture touched him. Dame Karen Pierce, Britain's ambassador to Washington who famously got on well with the Trump crowd, was recently quizzed by another diplomat on the secret of her success. Some embassies now have a diplomat detailed to cover how Fox is reporting geopolitics, since they believe this is probably the single most important source of Trump's information. The diplomat said: “We believe he does not read, but if there is a Maga commentator on Fox, that will be where he is getting his information.” Some western diplomats even believe the whole week-long row over Trump threatening to impose tariffs on eight European states was purely due to the president being convinced that Europe had sent a reconnaissance mission to start building Greenland's defences in the face of a US invasion. But diplomats cannot dismiss them because they are part of an arsenal to threaten rivals. In a long passage of his speech in Davos, for instance, he claimed the Chinese were selling windmills (as he calls turbines) to Europe, but leave them out of their own energy mix. All of that makes the diplomat's job very much harder.

Prime Minister Mark Carney meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China, on Jan. 16. Mr. Carney says Canada is not pursuing a formal trade deal with China despite claims from U.S. President Donald Trump.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press Mr. Carney, on his way into a Liberal caucus meeting on Parliament Hill Sunday, was responding to U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to impose a 100-per-cent tariff on Canada if it makes a trade deal with China. Mark Carney's survival plan: Canada and other ‘middle powers' must co-operate in order to thrive Opinion: Facing 100%-tariff threat, Canada must swallow its pride and compromise Mr. Carney told reporters that under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free-trade deal, also known as CUSMA, there are commitments not to pursue free-trade agreements with non-market economies without prior notification. “We have no intention of doing that with China or any other non-market economy,” Mr. Carney said. He described the deal with China as going “back to the future” with respect to electric vehicles and other food products. “It's entirely consistent with CUSMA, with our obligations, which we very much respect under CUSMA, and will continue to work that way.” Canada and China struck a strategic partnership earlier this month to boost ties and allow Chinese investors to play a larger role in Canada's economy. During a four-day visit to Beijing, Mr. Carney praised China as a more predictable trading partner than the United States and broke with Washington over tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. The Prime Minister agreed to allow nearly 50,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles into Canada at a low tariff instead of a 100-per-cent tariff Ottawa imposed on these imports in 2024, along with the former Biden administration. In return, Beijing scaled back retaliatory tariffs on canola seed, Canada's No. “If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port' for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken,” Mr. Trump said, in belittling language that cast the Prime Minister as state governor instead of the leader of a sovereign country. “If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% Tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A.,” the President wrote. On Sunday, he posted again about Canada, saying this country “is systematically destroying itself. He also said that China “is successfully and completely taking over the once Great Country of Canada,” adding, “I only hope they leave Ice Hockey alone!” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that new tariffs would be dependent on a new free trade deal between China and Canada that goes further than the recently signed pact. “We can't let Canada become an opening that the Chinese pour their cheap goods into the U.S. We have a USMCA agreement, which is going to be renegotiated this summer, and I'm not sure what Prime Minister Carney is doing here, other than trying to virtue-signal to his globalist friends at Davos,” Mr. Bessent said. Read and watch Mark Carney's Davos speech at the World Economic Forum And it looks like that Prime Minister Carney may have done some kind of about-face,” Mr. Bessent said. The U.S. was finding a way to create market access for their farmers, producers and the American tech sector, Mr. Blois told reporters Sunday morning. Mr. Carney was meeting with Liberal caucus Sunday to prepare for the start of a new parliamentary sitting on Monday. He said his government's priorities include affordability measures for Canadians, and promised those very soon. Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a speech at the World Economic Forum that blamed U.S. President Donald Trump, without naming him, for what Carney described as a rupture in global relations. Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

To his friends and family, Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old intensive care nurse killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents was an “American hero” who “dedicated his life to serving American veterans.” He also felt compelled to stand up and protest against Donald Trump's immigration crackdown in his city. In doing so, Mr Pretti was shot dead by ICE agents, branded a “domestic terrorist” by the secretary for homeland security, and labelled as an “assassin” who was trying to “murder federal agents” by one of the US president's senior advisors. “He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” Michael Pretti, his father said in the hours after the shooting. “He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street. After initially working as a research scientist, he retrained as a nurse and went on to work in the intensive care unit at the Veterans Affairs hospital. One video posted by the son of a veteran who died at the hospital showed Mr Pretti giving his father a final salute. “We may never forget and always remember our brothers and sisters who have served so that we may enjoy the gift of freedom.” Colleagues told local media that he was deeply dedicated to his patients and frequently volunteered for extra shifts. A LinkedIn profile believed to be associated with Mr Pretti states that he also attended Minnesota Medical School. We'd chat between patients about trying to get in a mountain bike ride together. Will never happen now,” he wrote on social media. Other colleagues said Mr Pretti had been working additional shifts in order to save money to buy a house and a car. Activism appears to have been a consistent feature of his adult life, with acquaintances saying he regularly attended protests focused on social justice issues. Mr Pretti is believed to have attended protests following the killing of Renee Good, who was also shot dead by ICE officers in Minneapolis less than three weeks ago, as well as after the death of George Floyd in 2020. Mountain biking and the outdoors were described as his great passions. When not working, he spent time riding trails outside the city or hiking with his dog, Joules. His mother, Susan Pretti, said her son also cared deeply about environmental issues. “He hated that, you know, people were just trashing the land,” she said. Mr Pretti lived in a four-unit condominium building around two miles from the location where he was killed. Neighbours told local media that he was well known in the area and always willing to help. He's the sweetest, kindest, most unoffensive, most non-violent person you'd ever want to meet,” one neighbour told The New York Times. His ex-wife said he obtained a permit around three years ago and owned at least one handgun, but added that she had never known him to be physically confrontational, even when attending protests. In video footage, it can bee seen that Mr Pretti was holding a phone and recording ICE agents when he went to help a female demonstrator they had pushed to the ground. He was pepper sprayed and bundled to the icy pavement himself. The Trump administration has suggested Mr Pretti's death was linked to him carrying a weapon, with Stephen Miller, the US president's chief of staff, describing him as “an assassin” who was trying to “murder federal agents”. On Saturday, Kristi Noem, the US secretary of homeland security, said: “This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers, committed an act of domestic terrorism. Late on Saturday, Mr Pretti's parents released an impassioned statement defending their son. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump's murdering and cowardly ICE thugs,” the statement said. Mr Pretti's father said he had urged his son to be careful while protesting. A fundraiser set up for his loved ones labels Mr Pretti an “American hero”. One donation has the comment: “Thank you for being a perfect human being who was still helping others at the last minute of your life, Alex.

Angel Reese and Ryan Clark also post about shooting Hall of famer Alan Page seen at anti-ICE protests A number of prominent US sports stars have condemned the killing of a registered nurse, Alex Pretti, by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. Pretti, 37, is the second person shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in less than three weeks as protests over Donald Trump's immigration crackdown sweep the city. Senior Trump administration officials have claimed Pretti intended to “massacre” federal officers with a handgun but video of the killing appears to contradict those claims. Another basketball star, Angel Reese, posted “Praying for our country” on X. Former Steelers safety Ryan Clark, who won a Super Bowl with Pittsburgh and is now a broadcaster, paid tribute to Pretti on X. Dwight McGlothern Jr, a cornerback for Minneapolis's NFL team, the Minnesota Vikings, has regularly posted on the recent unrest and did so again on Saturday. NFL hall of famer Alan Page, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Trump in 2018, appears to have been protesting against the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis this week. Saturday's NBA game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors was postponed after Pretti's killing. NBA figures also spoke out after federal officers shot and killed another US citizen, Renee Good, earlier this month. “It's shameful, really, that in our country we can have law enforcement officers who commit murder and seemingly get away with it,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Good's death. Pretti's parents have said they are “heartbroken but also very angry” after their son's death. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump's murdering and cowardly ICE thugs,” they said.

A dingo at an Australian wildlife park in 1998.Russell Mcphedran/The Associated Press The family of Piper James has said the 19-year-old from Campbell River, B.C., ventured out Monday for an early-morning swim on a beach on K'gari, an island off Australia's east coast. teen Piper James found dead in Australia circled by dingoes In an online statement, a spokesperson from the government's Ministry of Environment and Tourism said Saturday they were aware of initial autopsy findings suggesting dingo bites were likely not James's immediate cause of death. “Dingoes involved in Monday's incident will be humanely euthanized.” A brief social media post from Todd James, Piper's father, says the announcement is “simply sad, heart-wrenching information.” He notes a final autopsy report has yet to be issued. He has previously said a “smoke ceremony” for his daughter would be held in Australia, and the family hopes to attend. They are also expected to bring home her remains next week. K'gari, the world's largest sand island, is known for its population of dingoes. The Queensland government actively warns visitors to be “dingo safe.” Two beach camping areas have been closed until the end of February, and ranger patrols have increased since James's death. There has been a series of dingo attacks on K'gari, also known as Fraser Island. Friends and family have said James was a “brave little girl” with an infectious laugh who dreamt of becoming a pilot. A preliminary assessment on James's body, released earlier this week, suggests there were “pre-mortem” bites in addition to evidence consistent with drowning. The process is expected to take several weeks. Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

From UFC matches to the US Open, President Donald Trump has had box seats at some of the most high-profile sporting events in the country during his second term. I've gotten great hands for the Super Bowl, they like me,” Trump said in an interview with the New York Post on Friday. “I would go if, you know, it was a little bit shorter.” Super Bowl LX will be held February 8 at Levi's Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area. Four teams are competing Sunday to earn their place in the game. While Trump blamed his potential absence on the long flight, it's no secret he is not thrilled about this year's halftime performers, Bad Bunny and Green Day, both of whom backed Kamala Harris in 2024. (The president has frequently traveled long distances in his second term, including to the Middle East, Asia and Europe.) After the artists were announced in October, Trump told NewsMax he's “never heard of” Bad Bunny, who has nearly 84 million monthly listeners on Spotify, calling the choice “ridiculous.” Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican singer and rapper, didn't initially include US stops in his 2025-2026 tour because of fear that US Immigration Customs and Enforcement would target concertgoers. “There was the issue that … ICE could be outside (my concert venue). And it's something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” Bad Bunny said in an interview with i-D magazine last year. Green Day's lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, has also called out Trump's administration as a “fascist government,” telling his audience at a concert, “It's up to us to fight back.” Trump has traveled along the East Coast during his second term to attend numerous sporting events, including UFC 314 in Miami, the Ryder Cup golf tournament in New York, the Army-Navy football game in Maryland, a New York Yankees game, and NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia. Trump received a mixed reaction at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City for the US Open men's finals, and similarly at Yankees Stadium, with some cheering and others booing. Another factor for Trump skipping the Super Bowl may be that he does not have any properties in the Bay Area. When traveling the country, Trump rarely stays at hotels that aren't affiliated with his own properties. CNN has reached out to the White House to see whether Trump has plans for a traditional presidential Super Bowl interview, given his criticisms of former President Joe Biden opting out of one in 2024.

Snow, sleet, freezing rain and perilously cold temperatures forecast to sweep eastern two-thirds of nation More than 700,000 households and businesses in the US are without power and more than 10,000 flights were cancelled as a monster winter storm moved into the north-eastern states bringing heavy snowfall. Forecasters said snow, sleet, freezing rain and dangerously frigid temperatures would sweep the eastern two-thirds of the nation on Sunday and into next week. Those warnings came after three people were found dead Saturday afternoon on New York City streets “from weather-related circumstances” amid the brutally cold temperatures, as the local NBC affiliate reported. Calling the storms “historic”, Donald Trump on Saturday approved federal emergency disaster declarations in South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, and West Virginia. The DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, at a news conference on Saturday, warned people to take precautions. “So we'd encourage everybody to stock up on fuel, stock up on food, and we will get through this together.” She added: “We have utility crews that are working to restore that as quick as possible.” As of 6.30am ET (1130 GMT) on Sunday, more than 700,000 US customers were without electricity, according to PowerOutage.us. The National Weather Service warned of an unusually expansive and long-duration winter storm that would bring widespread, heavy ice accumulation in the south-east, where “crippling to locally catastrophic impacts” could be expected. Forecasters predicted record low temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills descending further into the Great Plains region by Monday. More than 10,500 US flights were cancelled on Sunday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. More than 1,800 flight cancellations have also been reported for Monday. Up to 8in of snow with sleet has been reported in and around Little Rock, Arkansas, and almost three-quarter an inch of ice accumulation was reported near Hall Summit, Louisiana, south-east of Shreveport, according to the Weather Channel, with highest snowfall totals surpassing a foot in New Mexico. Major US airlines warned passengers to stay alert for abrupt flight changes and cancellations. Delta Air Lines adjusted its schedule on Saturday, with additional cancellations in the morning for Atlanta and along the east coast, including in Boston and New York City. It would relocate experts from cold-weather hubs to support de-icing and baggage teams at several southern airports, the airline said. JetBlue said that as of Saturday morning it had cancelled about 1,000 flights through Monday. United Airlines said it had cancelled some flights in places with the worst expected weather. US electric grid operators on Saturday stepped up precautions to avoid rotating blackouts.

People film U.S. President Donald Trump during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 21.Markus Schreiber/The Associated Press A recent conversation around my family's dinner table took a weird turn when my teenaged son started talking about the bunker he wants to build. The aggression of our southern neighbour presents a unique challenge to Canadian parents and educators. “Every single day we are given treasures,” says Andrew Champion, a civics, history and economics teacher at Fredericton High School in New Brunswick. “Each one is worth days of discussion,” he says. Champion, who has been teaching for 20 years, believes the volume and pace of recent events is having a numbing effect on today's students. “They open their phones and see Charlie Kirk getting shot in the head, or the Venezuelan president being handcuffed,” says Champion. “Many don't think it's a big deal. Other students may be worried about what they see in the news, or perplexed by the 30-second clips and soundbites that fill their social media feeds. If you're wondering how to support your teen through these troubled times, here are four strategies to keep in mind. Ryland Caravello, a Grade 12 student in Toronto, likes to stay on top of current events but he's aware that information shared on social media is not always trustworthy. Champion recommends CTRL-F, a digital media literacy resource from the Canadian civic education charity CIVIX, to help guide students toward sources they can trust. It also doesn't hurt to have old fashioned news media around. As social media becomes more fractious and trickier to decipher, kids may find reassurance in the fact-checked printed word or newscast. Steve Axworthy, a social studies teacher at Little Black River School and municipal councillor in Victoria Beach, Man., says the single most effective way of helping students understand the current moment of big power aggression is to review the lives of fascist strongmen throughout history. “You teach them about Hitler, Mao, Mussolini, Stalin, Lenin, and they see the pattern,” he says. “And then they understand why history is important.” But Caravello, the Toronto high school student, wishes teachers would bring more of the present world into classroom discussions. He's also surprised by how focused his peers are on American politics, and how ignorant they are of the basic facts of Canadian history and governance. Four ways to get kids engaged in the political world around them Global affairs may soon be top of mind for more students. So did the recent news that Germany, the country of their birth and citizenship, has introduced voluntary military service over concerns about Russian aggression. Suddenly democracy and sovereignty are more than abstract notions. Axworthy makes this point by starting his Grade 8 social science class with required reading of either George Orwell's 1984 or Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. He says students are astonished by how these dystopian novels, written in 1949 and 1953 respectively, seem to have anticipated so many facets of the world they see around them. While some teachers avoid raising political issues in class because they fear reprisal from parents, or accusations of having overburdened students' young minds, he has the opposite concern: that by “protecting” kids from the facts of history, they will ultimately come to resent their gatekeepers. He sees no evidence that students are worried about an imminent American invasion. Champion works hard to create a safe space in his classroom where kids know that opposing views are welcome, and that there are no stupid questions. “It's clear that some students are only hearing one political perspective at home,” he says, “and this is a chance for them to hear others.” Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following. © Copyright 2026 The Globe and Mail Inc. All rights reserved.

MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. Russia and the US have not yet made any progress in the dialogue on the return of diplomatic property and the resumption of air traffic, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS. "These are the irritants. There has been no progress on diplomatic property or the resumption of direct air traffic," the senior diplomat pointed out. Ryabkov explained that "it is counterproductive to hold high-level events that are later deemed fruitless." "Hence the transfer [of the dialogue] to a relatively lower level. So that experts can do the preparatory work," the deputy foreign minister noted. On December 23, Ryabkov confirmed to TASS that Moscow and Washington had held another round of consultations on mutual irritants in relations, noting that efforts to overcome them would continue.

The US intends to establish a logistical support base for its nuclear submarine fleet in Greenland, military expert Alexander Stepanov told TASS. "They will be deploying new military infrastructure there. They need to establish a base to support the logistical needs of the nuclear submarine fleet. <…> They must militarize the Arctic as part of the US strategy of presence and dominance in the region. Therefore, Greenland is a priority springboard for them," the expert pointed out. He recalled that the US also has plans to deploy the ground infrastructure of the Golden Dome missile defense project. "And, of course, with the participation of the American transnational sector lobby, the development of rare earth metals, oil, and gas deposits on the shelf requires maximum government involvement, the establishment of a regulatory framework that corresponds to the interests of the American transnational cluster, and guarantees for future investments in developing the relevant resource base," Stepanov added. The military expert noted that he sees clear prospects for the expansion of US disagreements with Europe in this area. "In my opinion, the US will undoubtedly establish jurisdiction over Greenland. They do not want any third-party involvement, controlling European authorities, or an official Danish presence," he concluded.

MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. Situations when embassies of Russia and the United States do not accept calls or do not give answers are not occurring now, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS. "Diplomatic missions in Washington and in Moscow are working smoothly now. We do not have situations when we cannot, so say, technically reach others. Calls are received and answers are given to emails," Ryabkov said. "However, it does not level out lack of meaningful reaction to certain important themes," he added.

International solidarity, not liberal imperialism, is the only way to stop Trump's global class war. If you think our work is valuable, support us with a donation of any size. President Donald Trump's National Security Strategy (NSS) is the crudest articulation yet of his authoritarian nationalist project. The U.S., of course, repeatedly violated that order's stated principles, like sovereignty and self-determination, most recently with the Biden administration's support for Israel's genocidal war in Gaza. Despite its hypocrisy, the U.S. had attempted to integrate the world's states into multilateral economic and political institutions, forge alliances to deter, contain, or overthrow its rivals, and police countries and regions torn apart by its program of free trade globalization. Trump claims that such liberal imperialism overextended the U.S., caused its relative decline, and enabled the rise of its competitors, especially China. His Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, declared, “The postwar global order is not just obsolete, it is now a weapon being used against us.” Instead of global hegemony, it aims to carve out an exclusive U.S. sphere of influence in the Western Hemisphere, install pliant regimes, plunder their resources, and wield state power against migrants. The strategy as a whole has already born bitter fruit; Trump's ICE agents killed immigrant solidarity activist Renee Good, his special forces carried out a coup in Venezuela, and his administration threatens to annex Greenland. His strategy will bring not “peace through strength,” but class war, brutal scapegoating of the oppressed, and imperial rivalry over the division of global capitalism. Trump's strategy is a response to today's asymmetric multipolar order. While the U.S. remains the dominant imperialist power, it faces a global imperial rival in China, an outsized regional power in Russia, and a host of lesser ones like Iran and Brazil. Russia invaded Ukraine to rebuild its former empire and challenge NATO's hegemony in Europe. China has projected its power in the Asia-Pacific region, threatening Taiwan and clashing with, among others, Japan, the Philippines, and, behind them all, the U.S. Washington backed Israel to crush Hamas and destroy Iran's so-called axis of resistance to reassert U.S. dominance over Middle East's strategic energy reserves, which China relies on to fuel its economy. In his first term, Trump introduced a new strategy of illiberal hegemony focused on great power competition with China and Russia, but his regime's incompetence and divisions prevented its implementation, leaving the U.S. weaker, its allies alienated, and rivals emboldened. Biden exploited Russia's invasion of Ukraine to rally its allies together against both Moscow and Beijing. But he undermined this project with his support for Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, which enabled China and Russia to expose Washington's hypocrisy. It retreats from the pursuit of global hegemony to restore U.S. power within its borders, claim exclusive hegemony over the Western Hemisphere, and establish “a balance of power” against its imperial rivals. At home, the Trump administration aims to rebuild U.S. domestic manufacturing, particularly in high tech and AI, through a program of protectionist tariffs, tax cuts, incentives for corporate investment, and deregulation. To divide and conquer working class resistance, it scapegoats oppressed groups, in particular migrants. Abroad, its main goal is to establish neocolonial dominance in the Western Hemisphere. At the same time, Trump demands that U.S. allies shoulder the burden of their own defense, compelling them to raise military spending, setting off regional arms races. Trump promises this strategy will end forever wars and secure peace. The NSS even claims he's already ended eight conflicts and intends to conclude another in Ukraine. That is simply false; the ceasefires he's brokered are either a sham like the one in Gaza, where Israel continues its bombing and siege, or he had little to nothing to do with them like the one between India and Pakistan. Moreover, Trump's actual policies prove that he's an old-fashioned warmonger. He backed Israel's genocide, bombed Iran's nuclear facilities, ordered an airstrike on a village in Nigeria on Christmas, and staged a coup in Venezuela to seize control of the country's oil. And his new strategy will enflame more imperial conflict with China and Russia over the division of the world into spheres of influence. Remember, the last epoch of great powers fighting to establish empires led directly to World War I and World War II. While the NSS never names its rivals in the region, except with euphemisms like “Non-Hemispheric competitors,” its main one is obviously China. Beijing has established itself as a key economic power in the region; it invests huge sums of money through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), imports raw materials from a variety of countries, and exports finished products back to them. In the process, China has established alliances with countries like Brazil, which is part of the BRICS alliance, as well as Venezuela, which it depended on before Trump's coup for 4 percent of its oil. In another, he seized six tankers and cut off Venezuela's oil exports to China after overthrowing Maduro. Trump's threat to seize Greenland has further enflamed rivalries not only with China and Russia, but also NATO countries. These states are engaged in a scramble for the Arctic's territory, military basing rights, shipping lanes, and natural resources. In the Asia-Pacific, Trump's NSS sustains Washington's commitment to containing China, but it downplays their conflict, holding out hope for commercial deals to rebalance their trade relations, a dramatic climbdown for an administration that had previously launched an all-out trade war with Beijing. It cut off its exports of rare earth minerals, which are essential for the U.S. automobile and defense industry, and stopped its imports of soybeans from U.S. agribusinesses, a crucial electoral constituency for the GOP. Facing economic and electoral disaster, Trump chickened out, lowered tariffs on China from 100 percent to 30 percent, still a record high but with countless carveouts and loopholes. At this point, Trump is trying to avoid a fall out with China in the run up to April's trade talks in Beijing. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly intervened in the drafting of the NSS to mute criticisms of China, overriding hawks like Elbridge Colby and Marco Rubio. Nevertheless, the Trump administration realizes that China is Washington's main imperial rival. For now, it wants to cut a trade deal, while it overcomes its vulnerabilities, especially its inability to independently extract and process rare earths. For now, the NSS upholds current U.S. policy, pledging to maintain its military in the region, support its allies, and cut trade deals with them, while pressuring them all to increase their defense spending. That puts it at odds with China's assertion of imperial power in the Asia Pacific. It even opted to reject the use of Nvidia's second most advanced chips, pushing its companies to use domestically produced ones instead. It is also diversifying its exports market in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Africa to make up for those lost in the U.S. because of Trump's tariffs. He is pressuring it to gut its Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act, which The American Prospect reports, “require tech companies to take down illegal content on their platforms, restrict the transfer of user data to multiple platforms run by the same companies, refrain from ‘steering' users toward their own products, and allow for fair competition in app stores and interoperable social media sites.” One of Trump's on-and-off allies, Elon Musk, called for the abolition of the EU after X was hit with a $140 million fine for violating its digital rules. To secure this rapprochement with Moscow, Trump is trying to force Ukraine into a land for peace deal that rewards Russia's colonial aggression. He's willing to concede Moscow a sphere of influence in its former empire in exchange for lucrative deals for minerals, natural gas, and oil in both Ukraine and Russia, perhaps under the illusion that he can pry Moscow away from Beijing. That's why Putin's spokesperson praised the NSS as “consistent with our vision” and “gratifying.” At the same time, Trump's demand that Washington's NATO allies shoulder their own security burden will force them into an arms race with Russia. In reality, Israel is a pariah state, and the Middle East remains an explosive tinder box of conflicts within and between its countries. Moreover, imperial rivalries, especially between the U.S. and China, will persist as they angle for access to the Middle East resources, markets, and growing finance capital. The current uprising in Iran against economic inequality and skyrocketing inflation is a taste of the class and social struggles to come. The U.S. and Israel have tried to exploit this revolt for their own purposes, threatening military action against Tehran. Trump has also announced 25 percent tariffs on any country that trades with Iran, including China, India, and the United Arab Emirates. A spokesperson for Beijing responded, saying, “China firmly ‍opposes ⁠any illicit ⁠unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction and will take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.” This conflict threatens to disrupt Trump's attempt to calm relations with Beijing before their trade talks. Washington's foreign policy establishment and the Democratic Party have denounced Trump's Donroe Doctrine, arguing that it will compromise Washington's ability to contain China and Russia. But, under Biden, that program did not restore manufacturing, failed to improve the lives of working class and oppressed people, and led not to peace but continued imperial rivalry between the U.S., China, and Russia as well as genocidal war in Gaza. The left must oppose both Trump's authoritarian nationalism and the Democrats' liberal imperialism and fight for international solidarity from below against all imperialist states. At the same time, we should extend our solidarity to the struggles of workers and oppressed people in countries such as China, Russia, and Iran. Such solidarity must include support for all oppressed nations' right to self-determination, regardless of which imperialist power rules over them. That means championing struggles for liberation from Palestine to Puerto Rico, Ukraine, and Taiwan. In such struggles from below against imperialism, exploitation, and oppression a new international left can be forged that offers an alternative to the right and the capitalist establishment. Their system offers nothing but crisis, militarism, and war. Progressive nonprofits are the latest target caught in Trump's crosshairs. With the aim of eliminating political opposition, Trump and his sycophants are working to curb government funding, constrain private foundations, and even cut tax-exempt status from organizations he dislikes. We're concerned, because Truthout is not immune to such bad-faith attacks. We can only resist Trump's attacks by cultivating a strong base of support. The right-wing mediasphere is funded comfortably by billionaire owners and venture capitalist philanthropists. Truthout has launched a fundraiser, and we must raise $31,000 in the next 4 days. Ashley Smith is a socialist writer and activist in Burlington, Vermont. He has written in numerous publications including Truthout, The International Socialist Review, Socialist Worker, ZNet, Jacobin, New Politics, and many other online and print publications. He is currently working on a book for Haymarket Books entitled Socialism and Anti-Imperialism. Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day. Truthout must raise $31,000 for our basic publishing costs this month.

Please support our boldly independent journalism with a donation of any size. Health care workers who spoke to Truthout report that the number of agents in hospitals has risen sharply since the beginning of the year, with ailing or injured detainees regularly brought into emergency departments at multiple city hospitals at all hours, including overnight. “This is a human rights crisis that we will be talking about for years to come in health care and what happened in these hospitals, and at the same time, grassroots organizing is the only thing that has prepared us to begin to respond,” Jamey Sharp, an area health care worker and member of the health justice committee at immigrant advocacy organization Unidos MN, told Truthout. Several high-profile cases of ICE agents violating patient rights in Minneapolis hospitals have already made headlines. Several high-profile cases of ICE agents violating patient rights in Minneapolis hospitals have already made headlines. On December 31, 2025, agents entered the Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Emergency Department without a valid judicial warrant in an attempt to detain a patient receiving care. Additional reports have since surfaced of agents shackling at least one other patient in the same hospital, even after health care workers confronted them. “I don't think anyone could have expected the onslaught of ICE agents descending on our metro the way that it has,” Alycia Garubanda, an acute rehab therapist at another Minneapolis hospital, told Truthout. For many health care workers across the metro area, meeting the moment has meant drawing on knowledge gained from “know your rights” trainings that Unidos MN began offering in March 2025. According to Unidos MN, more than 300 health care workers have participated in the trainings thus far, including many union members. “The labor movement is at its best when we have unity, share resources and knowledge, and grow bonds of trust — not only with one another within the labor movement, but stretching those relationships into the community as well,” he said. The “know your rights” trainings for Minneapolis health care workers focus largely on preparing them for two scenarios: how to respond if federal immigration agents arrive at their workplace without a patient to conduct a raid, and how to respond if agents arrive with a patient. That second situation is behind the current surge of agents in Minneapolis hospitals, according to Sharp and two sources familiar with local emergency departments who spoke anonymously to Truthout. When agents bring someone to an emergency department, it could be because the person has suffered a medical emergency or otherwise requires care while already in detention; because a person who was recently arrested reported a medical condition requiring medication or clearance before detention; or because agents injured or brutalized a person during their arrest. “The main point that we try to help people understand at these trainings is that civil detention [i.e., immigration detention] is very different than criminal custody,” Sharp explained to Truthout. “People who are in civil detention deserve to have all of the rights that any other civilian would have when they go to the hospital.” According to Unidos MN, those rights include family visits, keeping family members apprised of a patient's condition if that patient so chooses, private conversations with the patient's care team, independent medical decision-making, and freedom from being shackled or bound. Three health care workers at different Minneapolis hospitals, who spoke to Truthout anonymously, said they have observed federal agents seemingly denying patients these rights in their hospitals. “They're not being afforded the same rights as our other patients,” one emergency department nurse said. But with the knowledge and connections gained from “know your rights” trainings, a growing number of health care workers now know that they can push back and report suspected abuses. Through the trainings, workers have built communication and rapid response networks, developed a system for whistleblowing on violations of patient rights, and learned how to press for improved hospital policies. Those communication and rapid response systems kicked into gear following the reports that agents were guarding a patient's bedside at HCMC on December 31, 2025, without a valid judicial warrant. Paulsen told Truthout that many AFSCME 2474 members were among the roughly 100 employees, elected officials, and rights advocates who gathered outside HCMC on January 6 “to call attention to the cruelty and injustice of allowing ICE to roam freely in our neighborhoods and in the hospital.” Under pressure following the press conference, HCMC used model policies and best practices provided by Unidos MN to implement new guidelines to better protect patients from warrantless harassment. Hospitals across the city have done similar in recent months following demands from organized health care workers and community groups. For many workers, improving their workplace policies began with reviewing models. Sharp told Truthout he encourages health care workers to review a model policy from People's Care Collective, a coalition of California unions and rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California: “It's not only a best practice, but also legal and possible,” said Sharp. Unidos MN has also produced a shorter version of similar guidelines. “But now we have health care workers who feel empowered, [and] that ultimately leads to a better chance that people will at least have one or two people looking out for them and their rights and fighting for them during these impossible situations.” It is a difference that benefits both patients and staff. Among the guidance in Unidos MN's best practices for navigating ICE presence in hospitals is a rule that staff requests for unit reassignment when ICE is on campus must be accommodated immediately. At HCMC, agents have reportedly been observed in staff break rooms and parking lots. “We're health care workers with moral and ethical obligations to our patients. We have to push for better rights, care, protections, safety measures.” For health care workers across the U.S. who may be wondering how best to prepare their own workplaces in case federal agents head their way next, Minneapolis health care workers who spoke to Truthout had a unified message: If you haven't already begun to organize, train, and strengthen policies, the best time to do so is now. That's ridiculous; we're health care workers with moral and ethical obligations to our patients. With the aim of eliminating political opposition, Trump and his sycophants are working to curb government funding, constrain private foundations, and even cut tax-exempt status from organizations he dislikes. We're concerned, because Truthout is not immune to such bad-faith attacks. We can only resist Trump's attacks by cultivating a strong base of support. The right-wing mediasphere is funded comfortably by billionaire owners and venture capitalist philanthropists. Truthout has launched a fundraiser, and we must raise $31,000 in the next 4 days. Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day. Truthout must raise $31,000 for our basic publishing costs this month.