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Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that he will “suspend temporarily” his 25% surcharge on electricity exports to three US states after speaking with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

“Tit for tat, I’ve agreed to suspend temporarily, and we always have that tool in our tool kit until we sit down,” Ford told reporters today in Toronto.

In a joint statement with Lutnick on X, Ford wrote that he “had a productive conversation about the economic relationship between the United States and Canada.” He said the two men would meet again with the US Trade Representative “to discuss a renewed USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) ahead of the April 2 reciprocal tariff deadline” on Thursday.

Ford had repeatedly threatened to “shut down” Ontario’s electricity exports to the US if the Trump administration imposed more tariffs on Canadian goods. Asked whether his pulling back the surcharge was a win for Trump, Ford pushed back.

“I wouldn’t call it a win whatsoever, because we still have in our tool kit that we can use at any given time again,” he said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US-Ukraine minerals deal was not the subject of negotiations on Tuesday, but said he anticipated it being finalized.

“That is something that was negotiated through our Treasury (Secretary) and his counterpart on the Ukrainian side,” Rubio told reporters after the meeting.

“Both presidents will instruct the appropriate members of our governments to bring to finality the signature of the deal, the signature of this agreement, so that that was communicated today. And that’s going to happen,” he said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz said that after Kyiv agreed to a full, temporary ceasefire, the onus is now on Russia to take steps to end the war it launched against Ukraine.

“(Ukraine is) ready for peace, and now we’ll take to that to the Russians and get their response,” Waltz told reporters after the over eight-hour-long meeting with the Ukrainians in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.

“We hope that they’ll say yes, that they’ll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court,” Rubio said of the Russians.

“If they say no, then we’ll, unfortunately, know what the impediment is to peace here,” he added.

Waltz said he would speak with his Russian counterpart “in the coming days.” Beyond that, the US officials did not provide specific details about how the offer would be given to the Russians or if special envoy Steve Witkoff would present it during his expected travel to Moscow later this week. However, they said they hoped to move forward as soon as possible.

Both Rubio and Waltz emphasized that Ukraine had demonstrated a commitment to peace — a notion that was publicly doubted by US President Donald Trump.

“The Ukrainian delegation today made something very clear — that they share President Trump’s vision for peace,” Waltz said.

“They made concrete steps and concrete proposals, not only accepting our proposal for a full ceasefire,” Waltz said, “but we also got into substantive details on how this war is going to permanently end, what type of guarantees they’re going to have for their long-term security and prosperity, but also really looking at what it’s going to take to finally end this, the horrific fighting.”

“As a result of this positive step forward, the president has decided to lift the pause on aid and on our security assistance to Ukraine going forward, and that’s effective immediately,” the national security adviser added.

All Department of Education offices will be closed Tuesday evening and Wednesday for “security reasons,” according to a memo sent to all employees and obtained by CNN.

Employees are instructed to take their laptops with them and vacate the building starting at 6 p.m. ET. The offices are set to reopen on Thursday, according to the memo sent by James Hairfield from the department’s office of security, facilities and logistics.

Hairfield did not specify the security reasons in the memo, and the Department of Education did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

The memo comes as the department is weighing large-scale cuts, along with agencies across the federal government, and as President Donald Trump has threatened to shutter the Department of Education entirely.

Several Department of Education employees told CNN that the latest news hit them hard, and they are nervous about impending mass layoffs and the looming executive order from Trump.

In the memo, Hairfield said the shutdown of offices to the Department of Education’s headquarters in Washington, DC and regional offices. The directive allows them to work from home on Wednesday and instructs employees to take their laptops when they leave work Tuesday.

Longtime department staffers told CNN they can’t remember a time that all offices were closed, even when significant VIPs have been on site.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and his team have tucked language into the GOP government funding bill that would help his members avoid a politically painful up-or-down vote on ending President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

The GOP funding plan — which the House is voting on later Tuesday — includes a provision that effectively neuters lawmakers’ powers to force a vote on whether to terminate a president’s ability to impose tariffs. And it comes just days after the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee had signaled he planned to force such a vote.

If the legislation from Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York had been officially ruled “privileged,” it would have been required to see a vote on the floor within 15 legislative days under the decades-old law regulating a president’s economic powers during wartime.

Meeks blasted the GOP’s decision to attempt to circumvent his vote.

“It’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard,” Meeks said. “It just seems to me to show how afraid Speaker Johnson and the Republicans are to take a vote on what Donald Trump is doing with his tariffs.”

Meeks had introduced his measure late last week and was waiting to hear from the House parliamentarian’s office on whether it would be made privileged. He said the stopgap funding bill language is a direct result of his plans to force a vote.

“All of a sudden, now that it was dropped on Friday, this machination of the speaker came up to say, ‘Oh we can’t have. We can’t vote for this,’” Meeks said.

The ceasefire proposal accepted by Ukraine covers the entire frontline of the fighting with Russia, not just the air and sea, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, following talks between US and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia.

“Today, in the conversation, there was a proposal from the American side to take the first step immediately and try to establish a complete ceasefire for 30 days, not only with regard to missiles, drones and bombs, not only in the Black Sea, but also along the entire front line,” he said in his nightly address.

“Ukraine accepts this proposal, we consider it positive, we are ready to take such a step, and the United States of America must convince Russia to do so,” Zelensky said, adding that the ceasefire would start the moment Moscow agrees to it.

According to Zelensky, the US also accepted Ukraine’s proposals in the meeting in Jeddah on Tuesday.

Ukraine proposed “silence” in the sky and at sea, the release of Ukrainian prisoners “to establish confidence in this whole situation,” and the return of Ukrainian children from Russia, Zelensky said in his daily address.

“The American side understands our arguments, accepts our proposals, and I want to thank President (Donald) Trump for the constructive conversation between our teams,” he said.

Ukraine and its partners will use the proposed 30-day ceasefire to prepare steps toward “a lasting peace,” Zelensky said.

This post has been updated with more remarks from Zelensky.

The United States “will immediately lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine,” the US and Ukraine said in a joint statement about their meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Kyiv also “expressed readiness to accept the U.S. proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation,” the statement said.

“The United States will communicate to Russia that Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace,” it said.

The two sides have met for more than eight hours in the Saudi port city Tuesday.

President Donald Trump is continuing to warn GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of a primary challenge, as the Kentucky congressman plans to oppose the stopgap bill to fund the government.

Calling Massie a “GRANDSTANDER” and criticizing him for voting no on “virtually on every other vote,” Trump posted, “The Great People of Kentucky are going to be watching a very interesting Primary in the not too distant future!”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a briefing Tuesday that Trump has been “active in this process” and working to whip Republican votes.

“He believes that everybody needs to get on board with this bill,” Leavitt said. “He’s been making calls to get this over the finish line, and we’re urging every Republican – and Democrats, too – to do what’s right for the American public to prevent a government shutdown,” she added.

Leavitt also told reporters that a vote against the continuing resolution will “kill the incredible momentum” Trump has made since his inauguration.

“He is encouraging all Republicans to vote ‘yes’ on this clean CR, which freezes funding at current levels, and will prevent the Democrats from getting their long awaited government shutdown,” Leavitt said. “Voting against the CR will hurt the American people and kill the incredible momentum that President Trump has built over the past 51 days.”

Earlier, after Trump’s initial post attacking Massie, Republican political strategist and former co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita threatened to find a primary challenger to Massie in a pair of posts on X.

President Donald Trump will welcome the Philadelphia Eagles to the White House for a traditional Super Bowl victory visit on April 28th, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.

“April 28th — I can confirm that the Philadelphia Eagles will be here at the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl victory,” Leavitt said during Tuesday’s press briefing. “I know there was a lot of fake news about an invitation that wasn’t sent or was sent. We want to correct the record — we sent an invitation they enthusiastically accepted, and you will see them here on April 28th.”

Asked during an executive action signing last month if the Eagles would be invited to visit, Trump said, “They will be. We haven’t yet, but we will be.”

When the team won its first championship in 2018, the Eagles decided not to celebrate the championship with Trump, who was in his first term in office.

The decision sparked a storm of criticism from Trump, who falsely accused the Eagles of taking a knee during “The Star-Spangled Banner” that year and disrespecting the National Anthem in other ways before uninviting the whole team.

The White House suggested that numbers Elon Musk has pointed to while highlighting the high cost of federal spending on entitlement programs were “an estimate” and not cited “definitively,” as opponents have noted his Monday remarks as a sign the administration will target Social Security and other programs.

“Most of the federal spending is entitlements. So that’s the big one to eliminate. That’s the sort of half trillion, maybe six, 700 billion,” Musk said told Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow in response to a question about whether there would be a report on targeting waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending.

Pressed by CNN’s Alayna Treene on the $500 billion to $700 billion in “waste, fraud and abuse,” for which there is no evidence, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “If you read his full quote, he said, ‘We think.’ So it’s an estimate based on what he’s seen. He’s not saying definitively.”

She added: “He’s saying that’s what DOGE suspects and thinks. And that’s exactly why DOGE was created: to ensure that we are investigating the fraudulent spending, the wasteful abuse across our federal government.”

Musk also referred to Social Security as “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time” in a recent interview with Joe Rogan.

Trump, Leavitt said Tuesday, “is going to protect Social Security and Medicare benefits and Medicaid for hardworking Americans who paid into these entitlement programs and deserve those hard-earned benefits.”

She claimed that Musk’s comments have been “taken out of context.”

“What he was specifically referring to cutting was the waste and the fraud and abuse that does exist in these programs,” she said, noting that an inspector general report from the Social Security Administration found more than $70 billion was improperly paid, a fraction of the numbers Musk has cited.

GOP Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told reporters Tuesday that he spoke on the phone with President Donald Trump within the last hour about the House spending bill vote, which is on track to take place around 4 p.m. ET.

Burchett said he remains undecided on his vote, but the lawmaker said his conversations with the president have been “cordial” and Trump has not pressured him but instead “asked me what my concerns are.”

He said he would still like to “see some reduction, and I need a commitment there, and so we’re working in that direction.”

Asked when he’ll make a decision, the congressman from Tennessee said he’s going to “sweat it out.”

Remember: House Republicans are hoping to vote Tuesday on a stopgap bill aimed at funding the federal government through September 30 and preventing a shutdown after Friday.

Republicans are counting on a sizable chunk of members to vote for the continuing resolution to fund the government who have never done so before in order to pass their bill without relying on Democratic votes.

The chamber’s GOP leaders are racing to lock down support among their members for the package so they can send it this week to the Senate, where it faces hurdles in securing the backing of enough Democrats to reach the 60 votes needed to pass.

CNN’s Alayna Treene, Annie Grayer and Tami Luhby contributed reporting to this post.

The White House said Tuesday that “perhaps” Canada is “becoming a competitor now,” though press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted the country is a “partner” and “an ally.”

“Well, I think Canada is a neighbor. They are a partner. They have always been an ally. Perhaps they are becoming a competitor now,” she said.

“But as the president also laid out in his Truth Social post today, he believes that Canadians would benefit greatly from becoming the 51st State of the United States of America,” Leavitt added. “So the president has made it clear that he believes Canadians would be better served economically, military, militarily if they were to become the 51st state of the United States of America.”

On Truth Social earlier Tuesday, Trump pitched Canadian statehood as an opportunity for them to have reduced taxes and stronger security.

“Canada pays very little for National Security, relying on the United States for military protection. We are subsidizing Canada to the tune of more than 200 Billion Dollars a year. WHY??? This cannot continue. The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State,” Trump wrote. “This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.”

CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this report.

The Department of Homeland Security is spending millions of dollars on campaign-style ads featuring Secretary Kristi Noem touting the administration’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants.

DHS has spent nearly $4 million on the ad campaign so far, with bookings that began late last month and run through mid-July, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact.

And the agency has given contracts worth more than $200 million total to a pair of conservative firms for the media campaign, noting that the contracts were awarded without a fully competitive process and citing the “national emergency at the Southern Border.”

The ads have aired in several major media markets including Los Angeles, New York, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Phoenix, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, and as far north as Boston, with Spanish-language versions of the spots also in rotation.

According to federal contracting documents, DHS awarded the pair of “marketing consulting services” contracts to two firms — “People Who Think LLC” and “Safe America Media LLC” — totaling more than $200 million in mid-February.

“People Who Think LLC,” awarded the larger contract with a value up to $200 million, was founded by Jay Connaughton, who served as a media advisor to Trump’s 2016 campaign. Connaughton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In documents, DHS described the expenditures as “National Emergency at the Southern Border: Task Order 1 for Stronger Borders, Stronger America Campaign Advertising and Media Support Services.”

In addition, DHS noted that the contracts were awarded without a fully competitive process, citing federal regulations that allow for an “unusual and compelling urgency,” permitting the agency “to limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals, full and open competition need not be provided for.”

In a statement provided to The Associated Press, DHS still called it a “competitive process.”

The talks in Jeddah between senior American and Ukrainian officials about ending the war in Ukraine have lasted more than eight hours.

The delegations started just after noon local time and took around an hour break about three hours in. As of 8:30 p.m. local time, there was no word yet that they had ended.

The lengthy discussions could indicate positive moment in the relationship that took a major hit after the meeting in the Oval Office last month deteriorated into a shouting match between US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

At the beginning of the hour-long break, US national security adviser Mike Waltz told reporters, “We’re getting there.” Journalists following the talks in Saudi Arabia are camped out in various holding rooms in the Ritz-Carlton hotel, where Tuesday’s discussions are taking place.

Topics on the table: The two sides were expected to talk about Ukraine’s proposal for a partial aerial and maritime ceasefire, the suspension of US military and intelligence assistance and US security guarantees, among other subjects.

The meeting between the US and the Russians in Riyadh last month, by comparison, lasted roughly four and a half hours.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the administration’s decision to detain — and attempt to deport — Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, telling reporters during Tuesday’s press briefing tht the decision to revoke his visa falls under Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s authority.

“Secretary Rubio reserves the right to revoke the visa of Mahmoud Khalil,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Secretary of State has the right to revoke a green card or a visa for individuals who serve or are adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States of America. And Mahmoud Khalil was an individual who was given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation’s finest universities and colleges, and he took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege, by siding with terrorists – Hamas terrorists who have killed innocent men, women and children.”

Khalil, who helped lead Columbia’s student protest movement demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, was arrested Saturday night by federal immigration authorities who said they were acting on a State Department order to revoke his green card, according to his attorney.

More context: A federal judge blocked efforts to deport him until a conference Wednesday, according to court documents. Khalil is currently being held at a detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, according to a source with direct knowledge of the case.

During Tuesday’s briefing, Leavitt blasted Khalil, claiming he “distributed pro-Hamas propaganda flyers with the logo of Hamas,” during student protests at Columbia University, where he completed his master’s degree in December.

And she left the door open to further arrests for those who participate in anti-war demonstrations, telling reporters, “We fully believe that we are going to move forward with more arrests, as President Trump previewed in his statement yesterday.”

President Donald Trump is expected to view a Tesla at the White House on Tuesday, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“He is going to be viewing a Tesla that is making its way to the White House complex now, I can confirm. Perhaps the press pool today will have an opportunity to witness this very exciting moment later this afternoon,” Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday.

Asked if the president will purchase the vehicle, Leavitt added that the president is “definitely going to buy one.”

“He’s definitely going to buy one, but he’ll take a look at it when it gets here later this afternoon,” she added. “Full market price.”

As CNN has previously reported, the market broadly slumped on Monday, but shares of Tesla fell even more sharply.

In a show of support, Trump said early Tuesday morning he would buy a Tesla.

“Elon Musk is’ ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American.”

Musk thanked Trump in a post on X.

CNN’s Hadas Gold contributed to this report.

Responding to what he called “a moment of crisis for veterans,” the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs unveiled new legislation on Tuesday designed to protect Department of Veterans Affairs employees from being targeted by sweeping staffing cuts being undertaken by the Trump administration.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s bill, entitled the “Putting Veterans First Act,” calls for the reinstatement of VA employees who he said were “illegally fired,” demoted or suspended during the terminations so far. It also seeks to protect others from being fired during planned cuts in the future.

Congressional staffers who have corresponded with VA employees tell CNN that about 2,400 workers have been terminated so far, including many veterans.

Asked about plans to lay off about 80,000 employees, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins told Fox News on Monday: “That is our goal, our target.”

The VA employed more than 470,000 people as of October 2024, according to the department.

In addition to trying to protect VA employees from being fired, Blumenthal’s bill would require the department to certify to Congress that, for each removal of an employee, the move will not impact veterans’ care or benefits.

CNN has reached out to the VA for response.

A congressional staffer tells CNN the bill will be formally introduced later this week in the committee. The Republican chair of the committee, Sen. Jerry Moran, would then decide whether to move it forward.

The White House framed significant stock market losses in recent days caused by President Donald Trump’s shifting tariff policies as a “period of economic transition” and cast blame on the Biden administration amid major concerns from the business community.

“When it comes to the stock market, the numbers that we’ll see today, the numbers we saw yesterday, the numbers we will see tomorrow are a snapshot of a moment in time,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday when asked about concern about the stock market and Trump’s refusal to rule out the possibility of a recession.

On Tuesday, Trump threatened an additional 25% tariff on Canadian electricity and a 50% tariff on all steel and aluminum exports, continuing to rock markets, which the president closely follows and often points to as an indicator of his success.

His press secretary claimed Tuesday that the “economic nightmare” Trump inherited from President Joe Biden is to blame.

“We are in a period of economic transition. We are in a period of transition from the mess that was created under Joe Biden and the previous administration. Joe Biden left this country in an economic disaster,” she said.

President Donald Trump has not yet spoken with the newly elected leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, the White House said on Tuesday.

“But certainly his phone is always open to leaders who wish to speak with him,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Tuesday’s press briefing.

Mark Carney was elected Sunday to lead Canada’s Liberal Party into the next federal elections later this year. Carney will replace Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister after a short transition period.

Asked whether Trump would call Carney “governor,” a taunt that he’s aimed toward Trudeau after saying he wants Canada to become the 51st US state, Leavitt did not directly answer.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt officially announced that President Donald Trump will welcome Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Micheál Martin to the White House for the annual “shamrock ceremony” on Wednesday.

Vice President Vance and second lady Usha Vance are also hosting Martin and his wife Mary for a St. Patrick’s Day breakfast at the vice president’s residence.

Looking ahead to Thursday, Leavitt said that Trump will welcome NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte for “a working meeting and lunch.”