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US President Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs on dozens of economies came into force Wednesday, including over 100 percent in levies against Chinese goods, sending markets into a tailspin again as the devastating global trade war intensified.Following the sweeping 10 percent tariffs that took effect over the weekend, rates on imports to the United States from exporters like the European Union or Japan rose further at 12.01 am (0401 GMT) Wednesday.China — Washington’s top economic rival but also a major trading partner — is the hardest hit, with tariffs imposed on its products since Trump returned to the White House now reaching a staggering 104 percent.Trump said Tuesday his government was working on “tailored deals” with trading partners, with the White House saying it would prioritize allies like Japan and South Korea.His top trade official Jamieson Greer also told the Senate that Argentina, Vietnam and Israel were among those who had offered to reduce their tariffs.Trump told a dinner with fellow Republicans on Tuesday night that countries were “dying” to make a deal.”I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up kissing my ass,” he said.But Beijing has shown no signs of standing down, vowing to fight a trade war “to the end” and promising countermeasures to defend its interests.China’s retaliatory tariffs of 34 percent on US goods are due to enter in force at 12:01 am local time on Thursday (1601 GMT Wednesday).The US president believes his policy will revive America’s lost manufacturing base by forcing companies to relocate to the United States.But many business experts and economists question how quickly — if ever — this can take place, warning of higher inflation as the tariffs raise prices.Trump said Tuesday the United States was “taking in almost $2 billion a day” from tariffs.- China ‘wants to make a deal’ -He originally unveiled a 34 percent additional tariff on Chinese goods. But after China countered with its own tariff of the same amount on American products, Trump piled on another 50 percent duty.Counting existing levies imposed in February and March, that takes the cumulative tariff increase for Chinese goods during Trump’s second presidency to 104 percent.Trump has insisted the ball was in China’s court, saying Beijing “wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started.”Late Tuesday, Trump also said the United States would announce a major tariff on pharmaceuticals “very shortly”.Separately, Canada said that its tariffs on certain US auto imports will come into force Wednesday.- Meltdown -After trillions in equity value were wiped off global bourses in the last days, markets in Asia came under pressure again on Wednesday, with Hong Kong plunging more than three percent and Japan’s Nikkei sinking 2.7 percent.The markets accelerated their losses as the new tariffs came into effect, with Taiwan stocks closing down 5.8 percent in the afternoon.Ahead of European markets’ open, stock futures were also indicating steep drops ahead.Foreign exchange markets likewise witnessed ructions, with the South Korean won falling to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009 this week.China’s offshore yuan also fell to an all-time low against the US dollar, as Beijing’s central bank moved to weaken the yuan on Wednesday for what Bloomberg said was the fifth day in a row.Analyst Stephen Innes said however, that “letting the yuan grind lower at this measured pace won’t offset the blow from a full-blown tariff barrage”. “The levies are simply too big. China is trying to thread the needle, but the runway is short,” he warned.Oil prices slumped, with the West Texas Intermediate closing below $60 for the first time since April 2021.- Avoid ‘further escalation’ -The European Union has sought to cool tensions, with the bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen warning against worsening the trade conflict in a call with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.She stressed stability for the world’s economy, alongside “the need to avoid further escalation,” said an EU readout.The Chinese premier told von der Leyen that his country could weather the storm, saying it “is fully confident of maintaining sustained and healthy economic development.”The EU — which Trump has criticized bitterly over its tariff regime — may unveil its response next week to new 20 percent levies it faces.In retaliation against US steel and aluminum levies that took effect last month, the EU plans tariffs of up to 25 percent on American goods ranging from soybeans to motorcycles, according to a document seen by AFP.In one public sign of friction over tariffs, key Trump ally Elon Musk described senior White House trade advisor Peter Navarro as “dumber than a sack of bricks.”Musk, who has signaled his opposition to Trump’s trade policy, hit out after Navarro described his Tesla company as “a car assembler” that wants cheap foreign parts.burs-oho/hmn

A Canadian deep-sea mining pioneer, The Metals Company, is charting a new course to land the controversial extraction practice’s first commercial contract — by appealing to US President Donald Trump.It wants to collect so-called polymetallic nodules — mineral deposits made up of multiple metals — on the Pacific Ocean floor.TMC originally planned to apply for a contract with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) — the organization with jurisdiction over the seabed in international waters — in June.The company’s subsidiaries had spent years using contracts awarded by the ISA to explore parts of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a section of the Pacific Ocean rich with these nodules.The zone contains an estimated 21 billion tonnes (23.1 billion tons) of nodules containing minerals used in high-demand products like electric car batteries. The ISA has yet to award a contract for industrial extraction, however, as it has spent a decade developing a deep-sea mining code with member states. The extended wait has led the Canadian firm to seek opportunities through different means.Although the area TMC hopes to deep-sea mine is in international waters, a 1980 US law could be used to issue a commercial extraction permit — if the Trump administration allows it.”We are ready,” TMC CEO Gerard Barron said on a conference call last month. “What we need is a fair hearing and a regulator willing to engage.”Originally named DeepGreen Metals upon its creation in 2011, the company rebranded to The Metals Company after going public in 2021.The firm collects nodules more than four kilometers (2.5 miles) underwater, having tested a vehicle that gathers the raw materials from the ocean floor and transports them to a ship on the water’s surface using a giant pipe.The company’s change in strategy to bypass the ISA has angered member nations of the international body, as well as environmental NGOs concerned about the impact of deep-sea mining.Bobby-Jo Dobush, a legal officer with The Ocean Foundation, told AFP that deep-sea mining is “the worst, most environmentally destructive, most expensive way to get minerals.”- ‘Political appetite’ -The Metals Company is banking on Washington — which opted not to join the ISA — and Trump’s desire for minerals not imported from China or other rivals to outweigh the environmental concerns. TMC Chief Financial Officer Craig Shesky said during the March conference call that the legal precedent for the United States to authorize extraction “has always been there.” “What has been missing is the political appetite in the United States to take advantage of it. And that’s the main change that has come with this administration,” Shesky said.He estimated that allowing the company to collect a billion tonnes of nodules via deep-sea mining could provide the United States with “456 years of manganese, 165 years of cobalt, 81 years of nickel and four years of copper” based on current consumption patterns.Dmitry Silversteyn, an analyst with Water Tower Research, said TMC could begin production some time in 2026, especially “with the administration in the United States now being very focused on standing up a domestic critical metals and critical materials industry that’s independent of Chinese supply chain.”Dobush, of The Ocean Foundation, said the apparent rush to nail down a contract shows TMC is “really in dire financial straits.”But Silversteyn said TMC was progressing steadily enough for “getting into production commitment” by the end of 2026.Barron touted his company’s progress, saying last month: “We’ve shown that we can pick up nodules from the seafloor, we can lift them to the surface and process them onshore, all the way to the refined products, with minimal environmental impacts and limited capital expenditure.”

Learning to sew is what spared Guatemalan Francisca Lares the perilous migrant journey to the United States, crippling smuggler debt and likely deportation. Instead, she found the better life she was seeking right on her doorstep.The 30-year-old single mother is a beneficiary of a scholarship program of the government and the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) for young Guatemalans to learn a trade and make a living in their own country.More than half the Central American country’s 18 million residents live in poverty, according to official figures. The ratio is even higher in Indigenous villages such as Estanzuela in Joyabaj municipality, where Lares lives.It is a significant push factor, and some 3.2 million Guatemalans are believed to live in the United States — hundreds of thousands of them illegally.Lares had herself considered pursing the “American dream” at a time she was earning $75 a month producing handmade fabrics and barely getting by.Then she heard about a sewing course offered at the “Quedate” (Stay) training center.After completing the course she bought a sewing machine, and now makes traditional Mayan tunics known as huipiles that she sells from a small shop at her home. Lares also markets her wares on social media, and has already sent a few blouses all the way to the United States.She does not want to speak about how much she earns, but told AFP she can now easily cover her needs and those of her daughters aged five and nine.It was the training, she said, “that made me stay here and say: I can get ahead.”- ‘They are being caught’ -The project, which launched in 2021 at a municipal center in Joyabaj and has received donations from Japan, also trains young Guatemalans in hairdressing, baking, computer repair and other skills to help them find jobs or open their own businesses.Courses last from two weeks, like the one Lares took, to nine months.For many in a country where 70 percent of people work in the informal sector and almost one in six are illiterate, the only alternative is putting their lives in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers.”They are being caught,” Lares told AFP of her countrymen and women being expelled from the United States in a deportation wave under President Donald Trump. “They are returning and one starts to think: what if I had left (Guatemala), what if I was just starting to pay off my debt and had to leave (the United States) — how would I have paid my debt?” she said.Smugglers, also known as “coyotes,” charge desperate clients as much as $20,000 to get them to the United States from Joyabaj.”Some die” on the journey, pointed out Lares, speaking to AFP at the training center she credits with offering her a new lease on life.”There is suffering there (in the United States) too… Let’s spare our families the suffering.”Many among Lares’s classmates are deportees.- ‘Better to stay’ -Fellow graduate Marleny Tino, 25, also considered emigrating. In the end, only her husband went.He now lives in Florida “afraid” of being deported, she told AFP.”It is better to stay here than risk your life going there and then being deported as soon as you arrive,” said the mother of two, who also makes huipiles and runs a small business from her home.Remittances sent home by migrants amounted to some $21 billion last year, almost a fifth of GDP.Last year, the United States deported 61,680 Guatemalans, according to the government of the Central American country.Pedro Miranda, the director of the training center, said the goal was to equip more than 600 young people with new skills in 2025.So far, 814 youngsters have learnt a trade at the center and two similar ones in Huehuetenango and Solola.

Migrants who obtained temporary permission to live in the United States through the CBP One app under former president Joe Biden have received orders to self-deport “immediately,” US media reported Tuesday.A US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told AFP that “formal termination notices” had been issued to certain “illegal aliens,” but did not provide details on how they were selected.”Formal termination notices have been issued, and affected aliens are urged to voluntarily self-deport using the CBP Home App,” the senior DHS spokesperson told AFP. “Those who refuse will be found, removed, and permanently barred from reentry.”Starting in January 2023, the CBP One app allowed migrants to schedule appointments at certain southwestern US ports of entry, and was a central part of the Biden administration’s humanitarian parole strategy. The latest orders could affect more than 930,000 migrants, National Public Radio reported.President Donald Trump canceled any further entries via the CBP One app on the first day of his second term. Doing so blocked access to a platform that allowed migrants in Mexico to make appointments with US officials at designated border crossings, where they could apply for temporary residency. Trump vowed to deport “millions” of undocumented migrants as he was sworn in for his second term, after running an election campaign that focused on illegal immigration.On the campaign trail, Trump likened migrants to “animals” and “monsters,” claiming they were responsible for violent crime across the country. “Canceling these paroles is a promise kept to the American people to secure our borders and protect national security,” the DHS spokesperson said Tuesday.Those whose parole was cancelled were informed via email that DHS was exercising its discretionary authority under US law to do so.The latest orders come after the Trump administration terminated the legal status of 532,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan migrants last month, giving them weeks to leave the country.

Like many Canadian border cities, Sarnia has seen a surge of patriotism in response to President Donald Trump’s aggressive behavior, but residents of the community on Lake Huron have focused on one threat in particular: local waters. Trump’s trade war has raised fears of a Canadian recession and his repeated references to annexation have sparked outrage.But in Sarnia, Ontario, Trump’s reported musings about scrapping agreements related to the Great Lakes have triggered added contempt. “Lake Huron means a lot to me. I grew up on the lake,” said Jay Casbourn, who is part of a group of Sarnia residents making red “Proud to be Canadian” signs that are increasingly being displayed across the city of some 72,000 people.  “If Mr. Trump wants to move that border, he is going to have a big fight on his hands.”The US president — and which Canadian leader can best confront him — are dominant topics in Sarnia ahead of the April 28 general election. The city has elected a conservative member of parliament in several consecutive votes, even as liberals won elections elsewhere in Ontario. But midway through this year’s campaign, some voters said partisan preferences had taken a back seat to concerns about US tensions.  “In my lifetime, at 87 years old, I have never seen anything like this,” said Marilyn Madery, another Sarnia resident selling red patriotic signs. She told AFP the Liberal Party leader, Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre were “both very strong candidates.”The election, she added, “is very important because of Trump being in the White House.”Stan Latewiec, who also lives on the lake, said he wants to vote for “somebody strong who will stand up for Canada.”Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports and his questioning of Canadian sovereignty are “making me feel more patriotic,” said Latewiec, 76, speaking on the porch of his home a few dozen meters from the lake. “We do have a good country. And we want to keep it that way.”- Massive water reserves -Trump, who is known to take a keen interest in water resources, has reportedly questioned the validity of the US-Canada agreements regulating access to water.In early February, Trump reportedly challenged the border treaty in calls between the two countries, and told then prime minister Justin Trudeau, who has since resigned, that he didn’t like their shared water agreements about rivers and lakes.The New York Times also reported last month that Trump, in discussions with advisers, has specifically discussed tearing up agreements and conventions that govern management of the shared Great Lakes — Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario.Combined with the Lake Michigan in the United States, the Great Lakes account for roughly 20 percent of the world’s surface fresh water reserves. They are a source of drinking water for tens of millions of people in Canada and the United States and have been governed by a network of treaties and arrangements since the start of the 20th Century, said Western University historian Mary Baxter, who specializes in the Great Lakes. “It has been a long-term cooperative arrangement,” Baxter told AFP. It’s an arrangement Trump appears to be breaking, she added. – ‘Just neighbors’ now -Looking out through the windows at Sarnia’s city hall, across the St. Clair River that feeds into Lake Huron, Mayor Mike Bradley can see the United States. But Bradley said that lately he’s spent more time watching the news on TV than enjoying the view.Trying to keep up with Trump’s latest comments about Canada causes “a lot of anxiety,” he told AFP. “You just cannot track what’s going to happen next,” he said.  He voiced fear the Trump administration may be serious about some of the scenarios that have circulated concerning the Great Lakes, including drilling on lake beds or diverting water to US areas facing water shortages, like California or Arizona. He’s been Sarnia’s mayor for 37 years and sits on a cross-border Great Lakes mayors group that was once unified but is now riddled with fractures. The Americans “used to be our friends,” he said. “Now they’re just our neighbors.”

A 48-year-old man was executed by lethal injection in the southern US state of Florida on Tuesday for the 2000 murder of a newspaper employee who was abducted while on her lunch break.Michael Tanzi was put to death shortly after 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) at the Florida State Prison in Raiford for the murder of Janet Acosta, 49, prison officials said in a statement.Tanzi is the third Death Row inmate to be executed in Florida this year and the 11th in the United States.Tanzi confessed to the murder of Acosta, an employee of the Miami Herald newspaper, and was sentenced to death in 2003.He kidnapped Acosta while she was eating lunch in her van, forced her to withdraw money from ATM machines and sexually assaulted her before strangling her and dumping her body.He also confessed — but was never charged — with the murder of another woman, and a police detective described Tanzi to the Miami Herald as a “fledgling serial killer.”Tanzi’s lawyers had tried to halt his execution arguing that there could be problems with the lethal injection because he was “morbidly obese.”Tanzi’s execution is one of two scheduled to be carried out in the United States this week.Mikal Mahdi, 42, is to be executed by firing squad in South Carolina on Friday for the 2004 murder of an off-duty police officer.Mahdi would be the second person executed by firing squad in South Carolina this year.The vast majority of US executions since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976 have been performed using lethal injection.There were 25 executions in the United States last year.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and on his first day in office called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”Attorney General Pam Bondi announced last week that federal prosecutors would seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, charged with the December 4 murder in New York of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

A US federal judge ordered the White House on Tuesday to restore the Associated Press’s access to President Donald Trump’s official events, saying it had no right to bar media for their “viewpoints.”AP journalists and photographers have been barred from the Oval Office and from traveling on Air Force One since mid-February because of the news agency’s decision to continue referring to the “Gulf of Mexico” — and not the “Gulf of America” as decreed by Trump.District Judge Trevor McFadden said the “viewpoint-based denial of the AP’s access” was a violation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and of the press.”If the Government opens its doors to some journalists — be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere — it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints,” McFadden said.”The Government has singled out the AP because of its refusal to update the Gulf’s name in its Stylebook,” the judge said. “The Government offers no reason besides the Gulf issue for the exclusion.”He ordered the White House to “immediately rescind the denial of the AP’s access to the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other limited spaces… when such spaces are made open to other members of the White House press pool.”The judge put off implementation of his order for five days to give the White House time to reply or to file an appeal with a higher court.AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton welcomed the court’s decision.”Today’s ruling affirms the fundamental right of the press and public to speak freely without government retaliation,” Easton said in a statement. “This is a freedom guaranteed for all Americans in the US Constitution.”The AP filed suit against the White House after it began denying access to some of Trump’s official events to the wire service’s reporters and photographers.At a hearing last month before McFadden, a Trump appointee, AP lawyer Charles Tobin said the news agency was the victim of “abject retaliation” by the White House.- ‘Economically hemorrhaging’ -Since Trump returned to the presidency, his administration has sought to radically restructure the way the White House is covered, notably by favoring conservative podcasters and influencers.Two weeks after barring the AP, the White House stripped journalists of the nearly century-old power to decide which of the profession’s own number will be members of a pool of reporters and photographers covering presidential events.”The White House changed its policy to a rotation system that happens to exclude the AP,” Tobin said.In his ruling, McFadden said “access restrictions must be reasonable and not viewpoint based.””So while the AP does not have a constitutional right to enter the Oval Office, it does have a right to not be excluded because of its viewpoint,” he said.McFadden also noted that the restrictions have “cut deeply into the AP’s business, both financially and in terms of lost opportunities.””The AP has been economically hemorrhaging for the last two months, and its condition will only worsen as its customers flee to other news services absent injunctive relief,” he said.In its style guide, the AP notes that the Gulf of Mexico has “carried that name for more than 400 years” and the agency “will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.””As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences,” the AP said.The 180-year-old organization has long been a pillar of US journalism and provides news to print, TV and radio outlets across the United States and around the world.

The United States and China hurtled towards an all-out trade war Tuesday, locked in a high stakes game of brinkmanship as President Donald Trump prepared to unleash a new wave of tariffs against dozens of partners.The global economy has been rocked since sweeping 10 percent US tariffs took effect over the weekend, triggering a dramatic market sell-off worldwide and sparking recession fears.Rates on imports to the United States from dozens of economies are set to rise further at 12.01 am (0401 GMT) Wednesday, and this will see tariffs imposed on Chinese products since Trump returned to the White House reach a staggering 104 percent.The new tariffs come after Beijing’s pushback against Trump, who remained defiant despite major US indexes tumbling again Tuesday.The US president believes his policy will revive America’s lost manufacturing base by forcing companies to relocate to the United States.But many business experts and economists question how quickly — if ever — this can take place, warning of higher inflation as the tariffs raise prices.Trump said Tuesday the United States was “taking in almost $2 billion a day” from tariffs.He originally unveiled a 34 percent additional tariff on Chinese goods. But after China unveiled its own 34 percent counter tariff on American products, he vowed to pile on another 50 percent duty.Counting existing levies imposed in February and March, that would take the cumulative tariff increase for Chinese goods during Trump’s second presidency to 104 percent.Beijing blasted what it called US blackmail and vowed to “fight it to the end.”Trump insisted the ball was in China’s court because Beijing “wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started.”Separately, Canada said that its tariffs on certain US auto imports will come into force Wednesday.- China ‘confident’ -In the war of words between the world’s two biggest economies, China also condemned remarks by US Vice President JD Vance in which he said the United States had for too long borrowed money from “Chinese peasants.”The European Union sought to cool tensions, with the bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen warning against worsening the trade conflict in a call with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.She stressed stability for the world’s economy, alongside “the need to avoid further escalation,” said an EU readout.The Chinese premier told von der Leyen that his country could weather the storm, saying it “is fully confident of maintaining sustained and healthy economic development.”China’s offshore yuan fell to an all-time low against the US dollar Tuesday, while oil prices slumped with the West Texas Intermediate closing below $60 for the first time since April 2021.The EU — which Trump has criticized bitterly over its tariff regime — may unveil its response next week to new 20 percent levies it faces.French President Emmanuel Macron called on Trump to reconsider, adding if the EU was forced to respond “so be it.”In retaliation against US steel and aluminum levies that took effect last month, the EU plans tariffs of up to 25 percent on American goods ranging from soybeans to motorcycles, according to a document seen by AFP.- ‘Tailored deals’ -Trump said Tuesday his government was working on “tailored deals” with trading partners, with the White House saying it would prioritize allies like Japan and South Korea.His top trade official Jamieson Greer told the Senate that Argentina, Vietnam and Israel were among those who had offered to reduce their tariffs.Wall Street’s major indices closed lower Tuesday, with the broad-based S&P 500 falling 1.6 percent.Europe’s main indices finished with gains however, and Asia’s leading indices rose after heavy falls Monday.In one public sign of friction over tariffs, key Trump ally Elon Musk described senior White House trade advisor Peter Navarro as “dumber than a sack of bricks.”Musk, who has signaled his opposition to Trump’s trade policy, hit out after Navarro described his Tesla company as “a car assembler” that wants cheap foreign parts.Trump has ruled out any pause in his aggressive stance, despite China’s retaliation and growing domestic criticism.burs-bys/bgs

Meghan Markle, the wife of Prince Harry, revealed Tuesday that she faced medical complications related to her pregnancy in the debut episode of her new podcast.In the episode, Markle hosted Bumble dating app founder Whitney Wolfe Herd and said “we both had very similar experiences — though we didn’t know each other at the time — with postpartum, and we both had preeclampsia. Postpartum preeclampsia.””It’s so rare and so scary,” said the 43-year-old former actress. Postpartum preeclampsia is a rare condition that occurs when the mother has high blood pressure and excess protein in the urine soon after childbirth, according to the Mayo Clinic.”You’re still trying to juggle all of these things, and the world doesn’t know what’s happening quietly,” Markle said. “And in the quiet, you’re still just trying to show up, mostly for your children, yeah, but those things are huge medical scares.”The Duchess of Sussex and Harry have two children, Archie and Lily, currently aged five and three respectively. Markle’s new podcast “Confessions of a Female Founder” is part of a broader evolution of her professional persona as an inspirational lifestyle content producer. In March, she unveiled a new culinary series on Netflix, and she has an adjacent line of home decor products, cookbooks and yoga equipment called As Ever.In 2020, Meghan and Harry stepped back as working royals and moved to California. They are now largely estranged from the royal family.

US President Donald Trump planted a new sapling on Tuesday to replace a nearly 200-year-old tree at the White House — dubbing it a “MAGAnolia” after his “Make America Great Again” slogan.The historic “Jackson Magnolia”, believed to have been planted by president Andrew Jackson in the 19th century, was chopped down for safety reasons on Monday.The tree had shaded the White House’s South Portico for the majority of US presidencies. But it had been in bad shape since a small plane landed on the South Lawn and crashed into it in 1994, killing the pilot.The White House said in a post on X that Trump had “planted a new MAGAnolia sapling at the White House — a direct descendant of the historic “Jackson Magnolia.”‘Reporters were not given access to the planting ceremony but the White House posted a video on social media of Trump digging into the ground with a gold-plated shovel and posing with a gardener.The new, 12-year-old sapling is descended from the original tree which, according to tradition, Jackson planted to honor his wife, who died just before his swearing-in in 1829.The old tree was itself purportedly a sapling brought from his home in Tennessee.The tree was the oldest on the White House grounds, according to the National Park Service, which notes that starting in the 1870s most presidents began planting their own commemorative trees.”The bad news is that everything must come to an end,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform in March as he announced that the tree would have to be chopped down.He said the magnolia was “in terrible condition, a very dangerous safety hazard, at the White House Entrance, no less, and must now be removed.”Trump added that some of its wood would be preserved “and may be used for other high and noble purposes.”A report by arborists said the tree could cause  harm because of a “risk of structural failure.”The White House gardens already made headlines this year when Trump said he was planning to pave over the grass of the famed Rose Garden, to give it the patio-like feel of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.