Canadian Prime Minister Visits White House, Highlighting Political News

The week in politics is off to a busy start as President Donald Trump hosted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office on Tuesday, amidst an increasingly strained relationship between the two allies. Here is a look at what is making political headlines this week.

Supreme Court Hands Trump Administration Major Victory

The U.S. Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a major victory on Tuesday when it ruled that transgender individuals should not be able to serve in the military. The case was part of an emergency ruling, meaning that no concrete explanation was offered by the justices. The three liberal justices of the court dissented without offering their opinion.

The issue of trans service members has been a contentious one throughout Trump's time in office. The highest court in the land ruled that Trump could enforce a less rigid ban on transgender people serving during his first stint in the Oval Office. That ban was later overturned when Joe Biden was elected president. Lower courts had ruled that trans service members had been serving for four years without difficulties when Biden was in office. However, the Trump team argued that transgender members of the military are not compatible with the readiness and cohesion of all branches.

India Attacks Pakistan and Kashmir

The world is on edge once again after an early Wednesday military offensive launched by India at Pakistan. India confirmed the strike, detailing that it targeted a total of nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled portions of Kashmir. Tensions between the two neighboring countries have been simmering for years, coming to a head last month when a shooter killed 26 civilians in the India-administered portion of Kashmir.

Pakistani military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that they have confirmed at least eight civilian fatalities with dozens more missing. Women and children are listed among the casualties. Chaudhry vowed that his military would respond to the attacks. Military officials in Pakistan are scheduled to meet and discuss the next steps.

The fear is that the initial attack will escalate into a broader conflict between the two nuclear superpowers. The U.S. State Department confirmed that it is closely monitoring the fluid situation. Pakistani officials also said that they have already spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Visits White House

Newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. The meeting could best be described as a "polite tension" as Trump continued to assert that he wanted to annex Canada and make it a U.S. state. Carney politely but firmly pushed back on that notion, reminding the president that Canada was not for sale.

Adding to the tension of the meeting was that Trump has not yet confirmed his attendance at next month's Group of 7 (G7) summit. This year's annual gathering of the top seven advanced economies of the world is scheduled to be hosted by Carney in the Canadian province of Alberta. U.S. presidents typically attend the G7 summit.

Trump escalated the rift between the U.S. and Canada when he slapped his neighbor to the north with tariffs. Canadians have reacted by refusing to buy American products or travel to the U.S.

Roughly 20% of Federal Student Loan Borrowers Now Seriously Delinquent

A new analysis conducted by TransUnion has found that approximately 4 million federal student loan borrowers are now seriously delinquent, meaning that their payments are 90 days or more late. This translates to about 20% of borrowers who could not make the payments, were unaware that they were due, or made the intentional decision not to pay.

The release of the information came on the same day that the U.S. Department of Education said that it would begin the process of collecting loans listed as in default. These payments had been put into pause mode as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Washington, D.C. and 19 States Suing the U.S. Government

A total of 19 states and Washington, D.C. are joining forces to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as well as various officials associated with the agency. Listed in the lawsuit as a defendant is HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The lawsuit is being headed up by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, alleging that the choices by the HHS to reduce services are an endangerment to Americans.

The Trump administration is working to cut back federal funding for a number of divisions within the HHS as part of a massive reorganization plan. For instance, the current plan is calling for the 28 divisions to be reduced to just 15.

Other News from the White House

President Trump raised eyebrows with a series of comments that he made during an interview that aired on Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. When pressed by NBC's Kristen Welker, Trump refused to say that he would not go forward with his threats to annex Greenland. The president asserts that the island is needed for national security purposes. He told Welker that he would consider the use of military forces to take over Greenland.

Also, during the interview, the president confirmed that he is going to extend the deadline set for ByteDance to divest its U.S. assets of the popular app TikTok so that it could stay in business in America. The current deadline for this to happen is June 19. Trump has extended this deadline for the Chinese-based company twice already following a decision by Congress to ban the app over worries of national security. Democrats say that the president has no constitutional power to continue to extend the deadline.

White House Announces Blueprint for Budget

Buried in the news at the end of last week was the release of a budget blueprint by the White House. The skeleton budget signals that the Trump administration is wanting more funding for defense and homeland security at the cost of reductions to programs investing in foreign aid, health and public assistance, education, and environmental protections. The total cuts from non-defense and discretionary spending amount to about $163 billion, or nearly a 23% decrease.

It should be noted that Congress needs to approve the budget and that the blueprint is simply recommendations provided by the White House. The budget encompasses recommendations for the 2026 fiscal year.

Positive Jobs Report Provides a Boost to Stock Market

The April jobs report was released on Friday, coming in better than expected and sending stocks soaring on the news. The report released by the U.S. Labor Department confirmed that the economy added a total of 177,000 jobs in April, beating the earlier expectation of 135,000 jobs. Investors responded to the positive report by sending the stock market flying to close out the trading week. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 notched nine straight days of gains on the heels of the report.

However, stocks slid back on Monday as Wall Street grew more concerned about the Trump administration's trade wars. The president and his financial team have been urging investors and American consumers to be patient with the trade deal negotiations; however, the markets are growing weary of waiting.

More uncertainty surrounding the issue of trade emerged late in the weekend when Trump signaled that he would levy a tariff on all movies produced on foreign soil. Trump made the announcement of a tariff on the movie industry in a post on Truth Social late Sunday. It is unclear how the president plans on implementing these types of tariffs on a service rather than a tangible good.

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