Trump launches tariff programme on drones: tariffs of up to 100 per cent on imports

According to the White House, the programme of tariffs on drones promoted by President Donald Trump aims to ‘safeguard US national security and its defence industrial base, and in related sectors, whilst supporting and creating American jobs”.

The statement issued by the administration emphasises that drones are now a crucial technology in contemporary conflicts and a strategic asset for US military operations, both now and in the future. Washington also highlights the United States’ heavy reliance on foreign suppliers for essential components of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), a situation which, according to the White House, exposes the country to risks in terms of national security and cybersecurity. For this reason, the document states, ‘US drone production must be rapidly expanded to ensure the national and economic security of the United States’.

‘Trump has long recognised that US national security and economic strength depend on revitalising key sectors of our industrial base,’ the White House also points out. The document concludes by stating that ‘through negotiations with foreign trading partners and the strategic use of tariffs, the President has secured trillions in private and foreign investment to bring jobs and manufacturing back to the United States, whilst diversifying global supply chains and reducing dependence on adversarial nations”.

A new chapter in the battle that Donald Trump has waged since the start of his second term against one of the world’s most prestigious universities and America’s oldest. A judge in Boston has dismissed the anti-Semitism case brought by the administration against Harvard last March. In his ruling, Richard Stearns stated that a violation of federal civil rights laws affecting Jewish students on campus had not been plausibly demonstrated, and that the incidents of anti-Semitism were “isolated and sporadic”.

The lawsuit, the latest in a long series, forms part of a wider pressure campaign aimed at forcing the University of Massachusetts to comply with various demands from the White House, concerning not only the handling of anti-Semitism but also racial policies in admissions and other issues linked to so-called ‘woke’ culture. In this complaint in particular, Trump accused the university of having “turned a blind eye to anti-Semitism and discrimination against Jews and Israelis” during and after the protests against the war in Gaza, and of allowing anti-Israel demonstrators to violate internal regulations “with impunity”. In particular, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in programmes receiving federal funds. “Harvard condemns anti-Semitism and is committed to ensuring that Jewish and Israeli students, like all members of the community, can study and participate fully in campus life without suffering harassment or exclusion,” the university had replied. The judge also ruled that the Department of Justice could not pursue a claim for damages, as the law requires the administration to first serve the university with a formal notice of regulatory violation. The legal action marked a further escalation in the clash between the government and the prestigious Ivy League university.