Donald Trump news live: France says its relations with US are ‘transactional’

France on Wednesday said that its bilateral relations with the US are “transactional”.

"Neither Europe nor the USA has any interest in a trade escalation. We have entered a new phase of negotiations with the U.S.," French government spokesperson Sophie Primas told reporters on Wednesday.

She added that Europe must have the same resolve as the USA and must assert its power.

The EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said on Wednesday that the bloc must heed US President Donald Trump's demand to spend more on defence. She issued a stark warning about Russia's threat.

"President Trump is right to say that we don't spend enough. It's time to invest," Kallas said, adding that the United States must remain Europe's "strongest ally".

Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino said that the Panama Canal was not a gift from the United States after President Donald Trump threatened to take it back during his inaugural address.

"We reject in its entirety everything that Mr Trump has said. First because it is false and second because the Panama Canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to Panama," Mulino said during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"The Panama Canal was not a concession or a gift from the United States."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that Moscow sees a small window of opportunity to forge agreements with the new U.S. administration of President Donald Trump, the Interfax news agency reported.

Trump, who took office on Monday, has said he could end the war in Ukraine swiftly, without specifying how.

He warned on Tuesday that he would likely impose more sanctions on Russia if President Vladimir Putin refused to negotiate to end the nearly three-year-old conflict.

Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council told Reuters that Donald Trump's order to halt foreign aid for 90 days would have immediate and disastrous consequences in Afghanistan where relief operations are already stretched thin.

"A 90-day suspension of all aid, no new grants, no new transfer of funding, will have disastrous consequences immediately ... for an already starved aid operation for very poor and vulnerable girls and women and civilians in Afghanistan," he said during a video interview from Kabul late on Tuesday.

Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission said that changes in policy promised by the Trump administration foreshadow a future in which uncertainty will be "the new normal" for financial markets amid rising geopolitical risks.

"We will closely monitor the effects any Trump policies will have on the markets in Taiwan," commission chairman Peng Jin-lung told reporters, adding geopolitical risks and Trump's policies would make market uncertainty the "new normal".

"This is true not only for Taiwan. Other global markets are also paying close attention," Peng said.

The island's yawning trade surplus with the United States could draw US President Donald Trump's ire, reported Reuters.

Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House a day after his inauguration, also warned the European Union (EU) it could face stiff levies, while taking aim once again at Beijing over fentanyl trafficking.

"They treat us very, very badly. So, they're going to be in for tariffs," Trump said of the EU. “You can't get fairness unless you do that,” Trump said.

Donald Trump news live: China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday that Beijing was "willing to maintain communication with the US, properly handle differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote the stable, healthy, and sustainable development of China-US relations".

She also stated that China was ready to safeguard its national interests in response to Donald Trump's threat of a 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports.

Donald Trump news live: The Spanish-language version of the official White House website was taken down after US President Donald Trump's inauguration.

The site — currently https://www.whitehouse.gov/es/ — now gives users an “Error 404” message.

Donald Trump news live: China has vowed to defend its “national interests” after US President Donald Trump stated that he was considering imposing a 10% tariff on all imports from the country, reported AFP.

The Trump administration announced that it was discussing tariffs on China due to the latter supplying fentanyl to Mexico and Canada.

US President Donald Trump said that he is considering to impose 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports starting February 1.

He said that his decision is aimed at curbing the flow of deadly drug fentanyl that Beijing sends to Mexico and Canada.

As per the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), fentanyl is a highly addictive synthetic opioid, which presents the deadliest drug threat in the country. The DEA has also said that the global fentanyl supply chain "often starts with chemical companies based in China".

Donald Trump news live: Donald Trump on Wednesday called a Washington bishop "nasty" and demanded an apology, after she told the US president to show mercy to the country's immigrants and LGBTQ people.

"The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. She and her church owe the public an apology!", Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Donald Trump news live: Vietnam's PM Pham Minh Chinh said party general secretary To Lam recently spoke with Donald Trump and is ready to deal with the new US president and his administration.

Chinh told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday in Davos, “We think we can handle the relationship with the US.”

When asked about whether he would travel to Mar-a-Lago to play golf with Trump, Chinh said, “If playing golf can help bring benefits to my country and my people, then I can play golf all day long.”

Donald Trump news live: A poll conducted by the Associated Press showed that only 3 out of 10 adults in America supported President Donald Trump's decision to end automatic birthright citizenship for children born in the US to illegal immigrants or temporary residents.

Among Democrats, only 1 in 10 supported the policy change.

Donald Trump news live: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he is considering going to the Middle East, but not immediately amid the return of hostages.

“We're thinking about going to the Middle East. But not yet, as hostages are coming back right now,” he said during a joint news conference at the White House with Oracle CTO Larry Ellison, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Open AI CEO Sam Altman.

Donald Trump news live: In a news conference at the White House, President Trump on Tuesday said that “at least” $500 billion will be invested to build new infrastructure for OpenAI, including data centres and physical campuses.

The venture will immediately deploy $100 billion and increase it further aimed at speeding development of the emerging technology.

“We’re starting off with tremendous investment coming into our country at levels that nobody’s really ever seen before,” Trump said at the White House on Tuesday.

Donald Trump news live: President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would be open to Tesla CEO Elon Musk or Oracle Corporation's chairman Larry Ellison purchasing video-sharing application TikTok as part of a joint venture with the US government.

Trump during an event alongside Ellison at the White House said, “So what I’m thinking about saying to somebody is buy it and give half to the United States of America, half, and we’ll give you the permit, and they’ll have a great partner.”

Donald Trump news live: China's currency yuan fell against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday following President Donald Trump's comments about a potential 10% tariffs on Chinese imports due to fentanyl being sent from China to Mexico and Canada.

During Trump's first term, the yuan weakened more than 12% against the dollar during a series of tariff announcements made by the US between March 2018 and May 2020.

Donald Trump news live: North Korea's state media reported U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration in a two-sentence dispatch, with a neutral tone.

The Rodong Sinmun announced that Trump was elected as the 47th president in a November election and an inauguration ceremony was held in Washington on Monday.

It did not make any comments on Trump or US affairs, however the newspaper carried a photo of young students receiving propaganda education about the Korean War and “soaring in rage at the atrocities committed by the enemy, the U.S.”

Donald Trump news live: Abed Elrazeg Abu Jazer, Charge D'affaires of the Palestine Embassy in India, on Tuesday expressed his hopes about President Trump bringing “peace and stability in the region."

In an interview with ANI, he said that the President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas had sent a message congratulating Trump and spoken about, "the importance of the collective cooperation between all the countries and the stability in the region, guided by the two state solution".

Donald Trump news live: Singapore’s prime minister Lawrence Wong said that competition between the US and China will grow as the Trump administration takes over, reported the Straits Times newspaper.

“We are in a new environment, a more dangerous, more turbulent environment,” Wong told university students on Tuesday and also flagged the risk of new trade barriers and issues around the South China Sea or Taiwan Strait.

Donald Trump news live: President Donald Trump's administration has ordered all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on paid leave, according to a memo from the Office of Personnel Management released on Tuesday.

They have all asked the agencies to develop plans to lay off employees.

The memo orders agencies to place DEI office staffers on paid leave by 5 p.m. Wednesday and take down all public DEI-focused webpages by the same deadline.

Donald Trump news live: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday told reporters that his team is still discussing imposing a 10 per cent tariff on China from February 1.

"We're talking about a tariff of 10 per cent on China based on the fact that they're sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada," Trump said during a joint news conference at the White House with Oracle CTO Larry Ellison, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Open AI CEO Sam Altman.

Donald Trump news live: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed with concerns related to "irregular migration" on Tuesday with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, reported Reuters citing the State Department.

President Trump on Monday signed an executive order putting an end to birth right citizenship in the country. The administration has taken a strong stance against immigration.

Rubio also met his counterparts from Australia and Japan on Tuesday, marking the beginning of formal foreign policy discussions under the Trump administration.

Donald Trump news live: The Nielsen Company said Tuesday that an estimated 24.6 million television viewers watched President Donald Trump's second inauguration, the smallest audience for the ceremony since Barack Obama's second inauguration in 2013.

They added that viewership was down from Joe Biden's 2021 inauguration, which reached 33.8 million, and Trump's first term, seen by 30.6 million in 2017.