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US President Donald Trump has launched a volley of tariffs impacting allies and adversaries this year, promising “Liberation Day” on Wednesday with action targeting countries that have persistent trade gaps with his country.What can we expect and what else is in the pipeline?- Tariffs imposed -Trump fired his first salvo in early February, announcing tariffs of up to 25 percent on goods from Canada and Mexico while demanding they do more to stop illegal immigration and the smuggling of the illicit drug fentanyl.While he postponed their implementation to March and later provided partial relief to aid the auto industry, the state of these exemptions after Wednesday remains unclear.China won no such reprieve over the same period. The Trump administration slapped an additional 20 percent tariff on goods from the world’s second-biggest economy, over its alleged role in supply chains of drugs like fentanyl.Trump has separately taken aim at key sectors, with 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports taking effect in mid-March. Tariffs on imported autos, meanwhile, kick in at 12:01am eastern time (0401 GMT) April 3.The president has unveiled blanket 25 percent tariffs on direct and indirect buyers of Venezuelan oil too, which can happen as soon as Wednesday.- Analysts’ expectations -Trump has not detailed the scale of his reciprocal tariffs, aimed at correcting trade imbalances and practices deemed unfair.But these will likely target around 15 percent of US trading partners, dubbed a “Dirty 15” by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.Analysts expect the group could be similar to economies mentioned by the US Trade Representative (USTR) in its call for comments to identify unfair trade practices.Parties on the list which the United States has notable trade deficits with include China, the European Union, Mexico, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Canada.According to the White House, Trump’s reciprocal duties will consider the tariffs that partners impose on US goods, and other factors like value-added taxes or digital service taxes.Trump could unveil further sector-specific tariffs on Wednesday, having earlier indicated plans to target pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber.- Retaliation -US trading partners have pushed back on Trump’s measures.China swiftly imposed counter-levies of 10 percent and 15 percent on US agriculture goods like soybeans, while the EU unveiled countermeasures in response to US steel and aluminum tariffs.The bloc threatened duties to hit some $28 billion of US goods in stages from April, affecting products from bourbon to motorbikes.But their start has been delayed until mid-April to allow more time for dialogue. Trump has warned of punishing 200 percent tariffs on Europe’s wine and spirits sector in the meantime, alarming foreign producers and US businesses.More recently, major European economies urged for firm action by the bloc over Trump’s auto tariffs.Canada has struck back with tariffs on around Can$60 billion ($42 billion) in US goods, hitting steel products, aluminum and items like computers.But Mexico is waiting until early April to respond comprehensively.- Other investigations -Trump’s trade actions can continue past Wednesday, with the president already having ordered new probes into lumber and copper imports.These could form the basis for further charges.And the USTR has an ongoing investigation into China’s practices in the maritime and logistics sectors as Trump looks to “resurrect” American shipbuilding.The trade envoy’s office has found that Beijing’s policies warrant action, proposing remedies like port entrance fees of up to $1.5 million for Chinese-built ships.But businesses are contesting the plan, warning of higher costs and port congestion as carriers seek to avoid paying new fees.- ‘America First’ action -Similarly, a series of reports are due Tuesday under an “America First Trade Policy” that Trump signed on his inauguration day. These could lead to more trade actions.Deliverables include the results of an investigation on the “Phase One” trade agreement marking a truce in Washington and Beijing’s escalating tariffs war in Trump’s first presidency.The order also called for export control recommendations to secure US technological advantages and a probe on the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. It sought a review of proposals surrounding permanent normal trade relations with China as well.

The world’s richest man took to the stage in the US state of Wisconsin on Sunday in a bid to swing the local supreme court to the right, with the help of two $1 million checks for voters.Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla and SpaceX and an advisor to US President Donald Trump, deployed his largesse along with his rhetoric to try to turn out the vote on Tuesday in favor of a conservative judge.Wisconsin is a swing state, in the balance between the Democratic and Republican parties, and Musk argued that only a supreme court leaning to the right could protect pro-Trump districts from gerrymandering and voter fraud.”What’s happening on Tuesday is a vote for which party controls the US House of Representatives,” Musk declared, arguing that the federal congress was so evenly balanced Wisconsin’s seats could decide its majority.”And whichever party controls the House … to a significant degree, controls the country, which then steers the course of Western civilization,” said Musk, who arrived wearing the “cheese head” wedge hat favored by local football fans.  “So it’s like, I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it’s going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will.”To back up this ambition, Musk has piled some of his own money into the Wisconsin Supreme Court vote.The race pits conservative Brad Schimel against liberal Susan Crawford. The outgoing judge was backed by Democrats, so a Schimel win would tilt the court right, while Crawford would preserve its liberal leanings.Wisconsin was won by Trump in the 2024 presidential election, but its electoral districts could be redrawn before the next mid-term Congressional elections in November next year. The liberal candidate, 60-year-old Crawford, was campaigning Sunday the old-fashioned way, addressing a crowd at an antiques shop meeting on a rainy morning.”So Elon Musk, folks, that guy, right? He has now spent more than $25 million, it goes up every day,” Crawford told the crowd. “He’s working as the unelected right-hand man to the president. He’s got an agenda.”- Straight-armed salute -There was an enthusiastic crowd at Musk’s Green Bay rally but, at small-town meetings, the South African-born oligarch’s eruption into Wisconsin’s affairs seems to have provoked as much resistance as support. Rob Patterson, a 65-year-old retired electrical engineer, came to a rally in Crawford with a sign showing Musk giving a straight-armed salute. “Oi wanker, our Supreme Court is not for sale,” the sign read.Since buying himself a $277 million role in Trump’s presidential campaign last year, Musk has gained unprecedented un-elected power.Once Trump returned to the White House he invited his sponsor to head a new cost-cutting agency named after an internet meme: the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. In just a few weeks Musk has already sacked or suspended tens of thousands of federal workers, gutted foreign aid and begun the job of dismantling several agencies. “It’s like a bull in a china shop. He has no idea what he’s doing,” complained Patterson.Outside a supermarket in Elkhorn, 70-year-old retired elementary school teacher Linda Suskey says she plans to vote for Crawford to keep balance in the court.And she doesn’t have much time for Musk’s blandishments.”He uses his money to get what he wants, which is more money,” she told AFP.”I think he’s got too much power, and he doesn’t answer to anybody — and yeah, he’s just controlling things to help the rich get richer.”- ‘Activist judges’ -Aside from campaign donations to the conservative, Musk handed two prize checks of $1 million each.This mirrored his scheme during the presidential race to hand out $1 million a day to a voter who registered in a swing state vital to Trump’s victory.Through his political organization, Musk has also offered $100 each to voters who sign his petition against “activist judges” in Wisconsin.When he launched the petition, Crawford accused him of seeking to buy a seat on the state supreme court in order to swing judgements in favor of his companies.Tesla has launched a legal challenge to Wisconsin’s law banning car automakers from directly owning car dealerships. The case could well end up before the court.

Microsoft was shaped by Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer and Satya Nadella over the course of the last half-century in the male-dominated tech world.Friends since childhood in Seattle, Gates and Allen founded Microsoft in 1975 with a stated goal of putting a computer in every office and home.- Gates -Born William Henry Gates III in 1955 in Seattle, he began writing software programs while a 13-year-old schoolboy.Gates dropped out of Harvard in his junior year to start Microsoft with Allen.The childhood friends created MS-DOS operating system, since renamed Windows, which went on to dominate office work.Gates built a reputation as a formidable and sometimes ruthless leader.Critics argue he unfairly wielded Microsoft’s clout in the market, and the US pressed a winning antitrust case against the company in the late 1990s.In 2000, Gates ceded the CEO job to Ballmer, whom he befriended while the two were students at Harvard.Gates chose to devote himself to a charitable foundation he established with his then-wife, Melinda.He resigned from Microsoft’s board of directors in 2020 — shortly after the firm acknowledged the existence of an “intimate” relationship with an employee in the past.The following year, the couple divorced. Melinda Gates faulted him for his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was found guilty of sexually exploiting under-age girls.His support of Covid-19 vaccine campaigns and agriculture programs that focus on climate change and women made Gates a favorite target of conspiracy theorists.Baseless accusations aimed at Gates include him putting tracking chips in vaccines.- Allen -Paul Allen, born in 1953 in Seattle, was a schoolmate of Gates.Allen was 10 when he started a science club at home, and would later bond with young Gates over computers.”Microsoft would never have happened without Paul,” Gates wrote in tribute to Allen, who died of cancer complications in 2018.Gates told of Allen showing him a magazine featuring a computer running on a new chip, and warning that a tech revolution was happening without them.Allen is credited with combining “microcomputer” and “software” to come up with “Micro-Soft”.He left Microsoft in 1983, but remained a board member until 2000. He went on to accuse Gates and Ballmer of scheming to “rip him off” by getting hold of his shares while he battled cancer.- Ballmer -Ballmer was seen as a devoted salesman who ramped up Microsoft revenue while neglecting innovation.A Michigan native with a talent for mathematics, he graduated from Harvard.Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 and was best man at the 1994 wedding of Bill and Melinda Gates.Ballmer, now 69, succeeded Gates as chief executive in 2000.His enthusiastic gestures, awkward dance moves, and voice-straining shouts made him the stuff of internet memes and company lore.Ballmer oversaw the launch of Xbox video game consoles, Surface tablets, and Bing online search engine. Microsoft bought Skype and Nokia’s mobile phone division on Ballmer’s watch.During his tenure, Microsoft was seen as clinging to PCs while lifestyles raced toward mobile devices and cloud-based software.His product failures include Zune digital music players, Kin mobile phones, and a Vista version of Windows.- Nadella -Nadella took over as chief executive in early 2014 and says he learned leadership skills playing cricket as a boy growing up in India.Nadella, who will turn 58 in August, was hired in 1992 while studying at the University of Chicago.Early in his academic career, a drive to build things led him to pursue computer science, a focus not available during his engineering studies at Mangalore University.Nadella’s Microsoft bio shows stints in research, business, server and online services units.For relaxation, he turns to poetry, which he likened to complex data compressed to express rich ideas in few words.Nadella held firm that for Microsoft to succeed, it needed to adapt to a “cloud-first, mobile-first world”.Soon after becoming chief, he ordered the biggest reorganization in Microsoft’s history.He is credited with guiding Microsoft from a fading packaged software business to the booming market for cloud services.Microsoft has been pumping billions of dollars into AI, investing in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and infusing the technology across its products.In a rare stumble, Nadella triggered an uproar his first year as chief by suggesting during an on-stage discussion that working women should trust “karma” when it comes to securing pay raises.Microsoft’s acquisitions under Nadella include Sweden-based Mojang, maker of the popular video game Minecraft; social network LinkedIn, and the GitHub online platform catering to software developers.

US President Donald Trump lashed out Sunday at the leaders of both warring parties in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, expressing frustration as efforts to kick-start ceasefire talks remain deadlocked.Trump first criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin for questioning the credibility of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky as a negotiating partner, saying he was “very angry, pissed off” with the Kremlin chief.But the US leader later softened his tone on Putin and instead turned his ire on Zelensky, warning him Ukraine would have “big, big problems” if he got cold feet over a deal to sign over mineral rights to the United States.Trump is trying to broker a ceasefire between Ukraine and its Russian invader, and has been pushing Zelensky to sign an agreement to give US firms exclusive access to Ukrainian rare earth minerals.Earlier Sunday, NBC News journalist Kristen Welker said Trump had called her to express his fury over Putin questioning Zelensky’s future — something Trump himself has done — and threatening secondary tariffs on firms dealing in Russian oil.Later, Trump spoke to reporters on his plane flying back to Washington from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and toned down some of his criticism.  – ‘Big problems’ -“I was disappointed in a certain way,” Trump said. “Some of the things that he said over the last day or two having to do with Zelensky because when he considers Zelensky not credible. He’s supposed to be making a deal with him, whether you like him or you don’t like him.”So I wasn’t happy with that, but I think he’s going to be good and I certainly wouldn’t want to put secondary tariffs on Russia.”Trump then turned his fire on Zelensky, saying: “I see he’s trying to back out of the rare earth deal. And if he does that he’s got some problems. Big, big problems.”We made a deal on rare earth and now he’s saying, well, you know, I want to renegotiate the deal. He wants to be a member of NATO. Well, he was never going to be a member of NATO. He understands that. So if he’s looking to renegotiate the deal, he’s got big problems.”The US president has been pushing for a speedy end to the more than three-year war since taking office, but his administration has failed to reach a breakthrough despite negotiations with both sides.Putin rejected a joint US-Ukrainian plan for a 30-day ceasefire, and on Friday suggested Zelensky be removed from office as part of the peace process.Warming ties between Washington and Moscow since Trump’s return to office and his threats to stop supporting Kyiv have bolstered Russia on the battlefield as it pursues its floundering invasion.Ukraine has accused Russia of dragging out talks with no intention of halting its offensive, with fresh attacks on the northeastern border city of Kharkiv.Six strikes hit overnight Saturday into Sunday, wounding personnel undergoing treatment at a military hospital and killing at least two people in a residential building, according to Ukrainian officials.Russian forces also captured a village just seven kilometers (four miles) from the border of Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region in their latest advance, Moscow said Sunday.The Kremlin’s troops have not crossed the boundary of the region since their offensive began in 2022, but they have been grinding toward it for months in the hope of a breakthrough.- No ceasefire -Putin, in power for 25 years and repeatedly elected in votes with no competition, has often questioned Zelensky’s “legitimacy” as president, after the Ukrainian leader’s initial five-year mandate ended in May 2024.Under Ukrainian law, elections are suspended during times of major military conflict, and Zelensky’s domestic opponents have all said no ballots should be held until after the conflict.Trump has himself had rocky relations with Zelensky, calling him a “dictator” and clashing with him live on camera at the White House last month.Zelensky, in his evening address on Saturday, sought to rally his country’s allies against Putin.”For too long now, America’s proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table without an adequate response from Russia,” Zelensky said. “There could already be a ceasefire if there was real pressure on Russia.” 

Donald Trump on Sunday repeated his suggestion he might seek a third term as president, which would defy the two-term limit stipulated in the US Constitution.In a Sunday morning phone call with NBC News, Trump said “I’m not joking,” when asked to clarify a remark on seeking another term, adding: “There are methods which you could do it.”The 78-year-old billionaire has a long history of suggesting he might serve more than two terms, but Sunday’s remarks — followed by comments to reporters aboard Air Force One — were the most concrete in terms of referring to plans in place to achieve the goal.Trump has launched his second presidency with an unprecedented demonstration of executive power, using the world’s richest man Elon Musk to dismantle swaths of the government, and said his supporters want even more.”We have almost four years to go and that’s a long time but despite that so many people are saying you’ve got to run again. They love the job we’re doing,” Trump said Sunday aboard the presidential jet, apparently referring to his political allies and supporters.Trump appeared to wave off a reporter’s question about whether he is planning not to leave office on January 20, 2029, the next Inauguration Day, saying: “I’m not looking at that, but I’ll tell you, I have had more people ask me to have a third term.”Earlier in the day Trump told NBC he had been presented with plans that would allow him to seek reelection.When the network asked Trump of a possible scenario whereby Vice President JD Vance would run for president and then abdicate the role to Trump, the president said “that’s one” method.He added that “there are others,” but refused to share further details.Amending the US Constitution to allow a third presidential term would require a two-thirds majority in both the House of Representatives and Senate, which Trump’s Republican Party does not have, or a constitutional convention called by two thirds of the states that would propose changes to the charter.Both routes appear to be unlikely, given the current number of states and Congressional seats under Republican control.Whether he goes through Congress or the states, he would then require ratification from three-quarters of all state legislatures.A constitutional convention has never been successfully called in the United States, where all 27 constitutional amendments have been passed by the congressional method.In January, days after Trump took office, Republican Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced a House joint resolution to amend the constitution to allow presidents up to three terms.

An election to choose a new supreme court judge in the northern US state of Wisconsin wouldn’t usually make much noise.But when the world’s richest man took an interest in the race, people began to notice, and protests on Sunday drew crowds.Tech baron and political provocateur Elon Musk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, has poured money into the Tuesday election, hoping to secure a conservative win.The liberal candidate, 60-year-old Susan Crawford, was campaigning the old-fashioned way, addressing a crowd at an antiques shop meeting on a rainy Sunday morning.”So Elon Musk, folks, that guy, right? He has now spent more than $25 million, it goes up every day,” Crawford told the crowd.”He’s working as the unelected right-hand man to the president. He’s got an agenda.”If Crawford’s Republican-backed opponent, Brad Schimel, beats her, he will tip the balance on the Wisconsin court to the right.Once every four years Wisconsin — home to six million people and mainly known for beer and cheese production — becomes a vital swing state in a presidential election.- Straight-armed salute -And if the conduct or result of that poll are challenged, it is the Wisconsin Supreme Court that will have to rule on that.      Musk’s support for Schimel could, therefore, be a political game-changer.But at small-town rallies, the South African-born oligarch’s eruption into Wisconsin’s affairs seems to have provoked as much resistance as support. Rob Patterson, a 65-year-old retired electrical engineer, came to a rally in Crawford with a sign showing Musk giving a straight-armed salute. “Oi wanker, our Supreme Court is not for sale,” the sign read.Since buying himself a $277 million role in Trump’s presidential campaign last year, the Tesla and SpaceX chief has gained unprecedented power for an unelected official.Once Trump returned to the White House he invited his sponsor to head a new cost-cutting agency named after an internet meme: the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. In just a few weeks Musk has already sacked or suspended tens of thousands of federal workers, gutted foreign aid and begun the job of dismantling several agencies. “It’s like a bull in a china shop. He has no idea what he’s doing,” complained Patterson.Outside a supermarket in Elkhorn, 70-year old retired elementary school teacher Linda Suskey says she plans to vote for Crawford to keep balance in the court.And she doesn’t have much time for Musk’s blandishments.”He uses his money to get what he wants, which is more money,” she told AFP.”I think he’s got too much power, and he doesn’t answer to anybody — and yeah, he’s just controlling things to help the rich get richer.”These views are not universal. Wisconsin is a swing state for a reason, and conservative voters like 60-year-old Matt Edler thinks Musk’s DOGE work is “excellent.””Elon Musk has been appointed… by the president to do it. If it wasn’t his name, it could be anybody else’s name, but the actions I think are warranted,” he said.- ‘Activist judges’ -But Edler’s not sure yet whether he will vote on Tuesday, and he said he wasn’t aware of what Musk has been doing to help Schimel defeat Crawford.Aside from campaign donations to the conservative, Musk has promised two prize checks of $1 million each to two voters who turn out in the court race.This mirrored his scheme during the presidential race to hand out $1 million a day to a voter who registered in a swing state vital to Trump’s victory.Through his political organization, Musk has also offered $100 each to voters who sign his petition against “activist judges” in Wisconsin.When he launched the petition, Crawford accused him of seeking to buy a seat on the state supreme court in order to swing judgements in favor of his companies.Tesla has launched a legal challenge to Wisconsin’s law banning car automakers from directly owning car dealerships. The case could well end up before the court. 

An enormous tree known as the Jackson Magnolia which has shaded the White House’s South Portico for the majority of US presidencies will be taken down this week, Donald Trump said Sunday.Arborists have struggled for years to keep alive the sickly southern magnolia, whose striking figure marks a focal point along the building’s southern facade.According to tradition, the tree was planted by former president Andrew Jackson to commemorate his wife who died just before his swearing-in in 1829. It was purportedly a sapling brought from his home in Tennessee.The tree is the oldest on the White House grounds, according to the National Park Service, which notes that starting in the 1870s most presidents began installing their own commemorative trees.”The bad news is that everything must come to an end,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, explaining that the magnolia was “in terrible condition, a very dangerous safety hazard, at the White House Entrance, no less, and must now be removed.”Trump said the historic magnolia would be replaced by “another, very beautiful tree” and that its wood would be preserved “and may be used for other high and noble purposes.”The White House gardens already made headlines earlier this year when Trump said he was planning to pave over the famed Rose Garden that the Oval Office overlooks, to give it the patio-like feel of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.”The grass just doesn’t work,” Trump told Fox News, adding that it gets “soaking wet.”During Trump’s first term, his wife Melania oversaw a renovation of the Rose Garden, controversially rearranging the fabled plot’s traditional design.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday he was “very angry, pissed off” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, NBC reported, marking a sharp change of tone as Washington seeks to end the war in Ukraine.NBC’s Kristen Welker said Trump had called her to express his fury over Putin questioning Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s future as a leader — something that Trump himself has done.Welker, on her NBC show “Meet The Press” on Sunday, quoted directly from an early-morning telephone conversation with the president.”If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault… I am going to put secondary tariffs on all oil coming out of Russia,” Trump said.Trump told Welker that he “was very angry, pissed off” over Putin’s recent comments about Zelensky’s credibility and talking about new leadership in Ukraine.The US president has been pushing for a speedy end to the more than three-year war since taking office, but his administration has failed to reach a breakthrough despite negotiations with both sides.Putin rejected a joint US-Ukrainian plan for a 30-day ceasefire, and on Friday suggested Zelensky be removed from office as part of the peace process.Trump told NBC that Putin knows he is angry, but said that he has “a very good relationship with him” and “the anger dissipates quickly… if he does the right thing.”- Russia bolstered -Warming ties between Washington and Moscow since Trump’s return to office and his threats to stop supporting Kyiv have bolstered Russia on the battlefield as it pursues its floundering invasion.Ukraine has accused Russia of dragging out talks with no intention of halting its offensive, with fresh attacks on the northeastern border city of Kharkiv.Six strikes hit overnight Saturday into Sunday, wounding personnel undergoing treatment at a military hospital and killing at least two people in a residential building, according to Ukrainian officials.Russian forces also captured a village just seven kilometers (four miles) from the border of Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region in their latest advance, Moscow said Sunday.The Kremlin’s troops have not crossed the boundary of the region since their offensive began in 2022, but they have been grinding toward it for months in the hope of a breakthrough.- No ceasefire -Putin, in power for 25 years and repeatedly elected in votes with no competition, has often questioned Zelensky’s “legitimacy” as president, after the Ukrainian leader’s initial five-year mandate ended in May 2024.Under Ukrainian law, elections are suspended during times of major military conflict, and Zelensky’s domestic opponents have all said no ballots should be held until after the conflict.Trump has himself had rocky relations with Zelensky, calling him a “dictator” and clashing with him live on camera at the White House last month.Zelensky, in his evening address on Saturday, sought to rally his country’s allies against Putin.”For too long now, America’s proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table without an adequate response from Russia,” Zelensky said.”There could already be a ceasefire if there was real pressure on Russia,” he added, thanking those countries “who understand this” and have stepped up sanctions pressure on the Kremlin.Both Moscow and Kyiv agreed to the concept of a Black Sea truce following talks with US officials earlier this week, but Russia said the deal would not enter into force until Ukraine’s allies lifted certain sanctions.Explaining the secondary tariffs threat, Trump told NBC it would be that “if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States.””There will be a 25 percent tariff on all oil, a 25 to 50 point tariff on all oil,” he said, without giving further details.UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo told AFP that targeting buyers — as Trump has done with Venezuela’s oil — could mean China and India.”We need to see, however, what will be announced over the coming days,” he cautioned.

Donald Trump on Sunday repeated his suggestion that he might seek a third term as US president, NBC News reported, which would defy the two-term limit stipulated in the US constitution.In a Sunday-morning phone call with NBC News, Trump said “I’m not joking,” when asked to clarify a remark on seeking another term, adding: “There are methods which you could do it.”The 78-year-old billionaire has a history of suggesting he might serve more than two terms, but Sunday’s remarks were the most concrete in terms of referring to plans to achieve the goal.Trump has launched his second presidency with an unprecedented blitz of executive power, using the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, to dismantle swaths of the government, and said his supporters want even more.”A lot of people want me to do it,” Trump told NBC News on Sunday. “But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”Amending the US constitution to allow a third presidential term would require a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate, which Trump’s Republican Party does not have.Trump said it was “far too early to think about it,” but told NBC he had been presented with plans that would allow him to seek reelection.When NBC asked Trump of a possible scenario whereby Vice President JD Vance would run for president and then abdicate the role to Trump, the US president said “that’s one” method.He added that “there are others,” but refused to share further details.If Trump does not approach Congress for the constitutional amendment, he would need to get support from two-thirds of the country’s 50 states to call a constitutional convention that would propose changes to the charter.Whether he goes through Congress or the states, he would then require ratification from three-quarters of all states.Both routes appear to be unlikely, given the current number of states and Congressional seats under Republican control.A constitutional convention has never been successfully called in the United States, where all 27 constitutional amendments have been passed by the congressional method.In January, days after Trump took office, Republican Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced a House joint resolution to amend the constitution to allow presidents up to three terms.

MGM’s new thriller “A Working Man,” with Jason Statham, emerged atop a flock of new films this weekend in North America, earning an estimated $15.2 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.The action film, from “Suicide Squad” director David Ayer, features Statham as a military veteran who comes out of retirement to seek the kidnappers of his boss’s daughter.It grabbed the top spot from Disney’s “Snow White” remake, which saw ticket sales plunge.The big-budget Disney film plummeted from last weekend’s $45 million opening to just $14.2 million despite showing in 4,200 theaters — the year’s lowest debut for a movie opening in at least 3,000 theaters, analysts said.For “Snow White,” “any hopes of a box office rebound evaporated with a very poor showing,” said Daniel Loria, a vice president at the Boxoffice Company. While it “should still cross the $100 million mark domestically, (it) stands out as the first major box office disappointment of 2025.”Three other new releases rounded out the weekend box office.”The Chosen: Last Supper Part I,” part of a Fathom Events series about the life and teachings of Jesus, scored an unexpectedly strong $11.5 million, placing third for the Friday-through-Sunday period.Universal’s psychological horror film “The Woman in the Yard,” about a widowed single mother who receives an ominous warning from a strange woman, placed fourth, at $9.5 million. Danielle Deadwyler stars.And A24’s comedy horror film “Death of a Unicorn,” with Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as a father and daughter who accidentally kill a young unicorn — drawing the wrath of its parents — scored $5.8 million in ticket sales.The year’s first quarter, Loria said, will be the worst such three-month stretch since 2022, “but we expect the market to begin its rebound in April before a strong summer season kicks off.”Rounding out the top 10 were:”Princess Mononoke 4K” ($4 million)”Captain America: Brave New World” ($2.8 million)”Black Bag” ($2.2 million)”Mickey 17″ ($1.9 million)”Novocaine” ($1.5 million)