US politics as it happened: Trump posts wild new vision for US

Canada’s tariffs on US goods have kicked in, opening another front in the worsening economic spat between the two neighbours.

The measures took effect at 12.01am US Eastern Time on Tuesday, hitting more than 700 products and imposing duties of up to 50 per cent on nearly $30 billion (AUD $41.67 billion) worth of American imports.

Steel, household appliances, farm machinery and dairy products are among the goods affected.

The move is a direct response to tariffs Washington imposed on Canadian exports. Those duties range from 15 to 50 per cent and cover machinery, textiles and consumer goods.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said in August that Ottawa would match the US tariffs dollar for dollar to protect Canadian workers, farmers, families and businesses.

President Donald Trump introduced the 50 per cent duties on Canadian products in July, accusing Canada of treating US goods unfairly.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has promised a firm response following Houthi attacks targeting civilian and economic sites across Saudi Arabia that reportedly left 73 people injured.

Coalition spokesperson Brigadier General Turki Al-Maliki labeled the assault a "dangerous escalation", confirming that Joint Forces Command will take additional operational measures to deter the Iran-backed militia and neutralise incoming threats.

“The escalation by the terrorist Houthi militia and its attempts to target the Kingdom, its national assets, its citizens, and residents on its lands constitute a dangerous escalation that confirms the hostile and irresponsible approach of this terrorist militia,” Al-Maliki said in a statement.

He added that the strikes represent a flagrant violation of Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty and pose a direct threat to public safety.

In the same vein, PM Carney’s Labour Day message isn’t short of potshots at the rapidly deteriorating friendship with the US.

Referring to a “global rupture”, he said Canada was responding by expanding its own industry and worker base.

“And it is why, in the face of unjustified and unprovoked tariffs from the United States, we are stepping up to protect our workers and businesses – helping them retool, retrain, diversify, and build,” he said.

“Canada is growing stronger and less dependent on any single partner. We are already giving ourselves far more than anyone can take away.”

Canada’s retributive tariffs against the US are just hours away from taking effect.

It’s just past 10pm on Monday, September 7, in the countries’ respective capitals of Ottawa and Washington DC - and the tariffs kick in on Tuesday, September 8, local time.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the tariffs, which will target cross-border imports worth nearly US$30 billion ($41.67 billion), were a retaliatory move after Trump decided to impose 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports when trade talks between the two countries broke down.

Canada’s tariffs will range from 15 to 50 per cent for over 700 US products, and could push prices up on steel and dairy products for Canadian buyers.

Carney said recently he was willing to talk when the US stopped “posting memes”, but his office confirmed to national broadcaster CBC today that there were no plans for last-minute talks.

Houthi rebels in Yemen accused Saudi Arabia of striking a prison on Monday in the country’s north, killing seven, including a child, as tensions escalate between the Iran-backed group and Saudi-backed Yemeni forces.

The strike on the Central Corrective Facility in the strategic city of Hazm in Jawf province also wounded at least seven people, including a woman, said Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi-run health ministry.

The prison’s warden told the Houthi al-Masirah news channel that 35 prisoners and a woman who was visiting her husband were trapped under the rubble.

Strikes on prisons haven’t been uncommon during the war.

In 2022, a strike by the Saudi-led coalition hit a detention facility in the northern province of Saada, killing at least 87 prisoners and wounding about 266 others.

Another strike in September 2019 hit a Houthi-run detention facility in southwestern Dhamar province, killing over 100 people and wounding dozens.

The civil war in Yemen has killed at least 150,000 people, according to UN estimates, and at times pushed the country to the brink of famine. A ceasefire that had mostly held since 2022 is now in tatters.

Israel-based international security expert and former intelligence operative Danny Citrinowicz has mocked a claim by an Israeli official that mass protests by Iranian civilians are imminent.

“The spark for protests in Iran has not yet come - but it will,” i24NEWS quoted an Israeli official as saying.

“My numbers in the lottery has not yet come - but they will!” Citrinovich wrote in reply on X.

“In both cases, this is not an assessment it is crystal-ball strategy. And no serious national security policy should be built on predictions that no one can make with confidence.“

He said mass protests could happen in Iran “tomorrow”, or not for years, and in any case would face extreme violence from the regime.

“Right now, the regime appears stable,” he said.

He called waiting for economic pressure to trigger civil uprising an educated guess “at best”.

“Hope for regime collapse is not an exit strategy,” he said.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman has lashed out at Canada for continuing to support US military actions against Iran despite the ongoing “contempt” from the White House.

“Canada knows full well that the Strait of Hormuz was open and secure before (the US and Israel) launched a war of aggression against Iran on 28 February,” Esmail Baqaei said on X.

He said Canada could not present itself as a champion of freedom of navigation while continuing to support the US.

“If freedom of navigation is truly the issue, why does Canada - having itself experienced American bad faith and knowing that US signatures are ‘written in pencil’ - choose to support US military aggression and economic terrorism instead of calling for an end to American aggression, blockade, and economic warfare?,” he said.

“This is neither ‘diplomacy’ nor ‘responsible statecraft’. It is a display of strategic confusion and submission to intimidation - a choice that will not even shield Canada itself from American bullying and aggression.”

The White House has posted a bizarre AI video showing Trump as the superhero Green Lantern, or at least wielding the DC Comics character’s famed power ring.

It’s captioned word-for-word with the character’s on-page oath: “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might beware my power... Green Lantern’s light!“

The footage shows Trump using the ring to raise a border wall, build what looks like a factory, and summon warships and fighter planes.

The timing is pretty clear - the latest episode of HBO’s high-profile adaptation of the comics series, Lanterns, aired overnight (Australia time).

The White House social media team have in Trump’s second term relished acting as keyboard warriors when celebrity artists demand posts stop using their images or music, including Taylor Swift.

But so far it doesn’t appear that HBO or DC, or owner of both Warner Bros Discovery, has so far responded, at least publicly.

Trump’s put up another post about the Iran war - in text, this time.

“Oil prices will drop precipitously, like everything else is dropping (but more!), when we WIN the war with Iran,” he said.

“Three Dollars a gallon, but ultimately, below Two Dollars a gallon.

“It will all happen quickly, and Iran will never have a Nuclear Weapon. MAGA!“

Trump’s repeated reassurances of imminent victory may finally be ringing hollow for (some) supporters, with recent polling showing he’s losing favour among Republican and even MAGA voters.