News Brief: Trump Says Deal Reached to Delay Tariffs on Canada and Mexico; Musk Says Trump Has Agreed to Shut Down USAID

President Donald Trump greets Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau upon his arrival at the White House in Washington on June 20, 2019. AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File

Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. I’m Bill Thomas, we have some compelling stories to share with you right now, and here’s what’s happening nationally and around the world.

President Donald Trump puts tariff plans on hold with a pair of our nation’s largest trade partners; Elon Musk says Trump has agreed to shutter a controversial federal aid agency, and our nation’s new border czar reveals startling progress regarding the number of illegal border crossings into the United States.

Also, federal officials sound the alarm over cybersecurity issues concerning hospital equipment manufactured in China, and a new report says that U.S. homes are selling at their slowest pace in years.

We have a number of urgent stories making headlines today and we begin with this one: President Donald Trump announces big changes regarding his tariff plans for both Mexico and Canada, and here’s what we’ve learned.

Trump Says Deal Reached to Delay Tariffs on Canada and Mexico

Trump has agreed to temporarily pause 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for 30 days after reaching agreements with the leaders of both of those countries regarding additional border security.

As part of the arrangement made between Trump and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada will appoint a “fentanyl czar,” designate drug cartels as terrorist organizations, and commit nearly $140 million to intelligence operations to combat both organized crime and fentanyl. The Canadian prime minister also says that about 10,000 frontline personnel will be working to protect the border.

Additionally, Trump and Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum say they’ve just reached a deal to delay the tariffs on Mexican goods that were due to take effect today. In return, Mexico has agreed to immediately send 10,000 members of its National Guard to the U.S.–Mexico border.

Trump says those Mexican troops will be in place to stop the flow of both fentanyl and illegal immigrants into the United States. He also says that the one-month pause will allow for continuing negotiations between high-level officials from both countries.

For her part, Sheinbaum says that the United States has committed to help in preventing the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico.

In case you missed it, on Saturday, Trump signed an order directing 25 percent tariffs on both Canada and Mexico, as well as 10 percent tariffs on China. In return, Canada had planned to retaliate with 25 percent tariffs on more than $100 billion worth of goods imported from the United States.

Meanwhile, Trump says that the 27-member European Union is next in line to face significant tariffs from the United States and that they will “definitely happen” soon.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron says that Trump’s comments are a “wake-up call” for Europe regarding their collective security. Also, one EU official says that if a trade war breaks out between the United States and Europe, then “the one laughing on the side is China.”

More now regarding our country’s relationship with the world, and Trump’s chosen efficiency expert now says that the president has agreed to completely dismantle the federal agency that provides foreign aid to needy countries, farmers, and schools, and here’s what we know.

Musk: Trump Has Agreed to Shut Down USAID

Elon Musk, who runs the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), says that government officials are now shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with the president’s blessing.

Musk says that the agency is “beyond repair” and that basically, it’s necessary to “get rid of” the entire organization. He compared USAID to an apple which instead of having one worm in it has become what he called “a ball of worms,” and he went on to say that the government spent this past weekend feeding the agency “into the wood chipper.”

However, while Trump says that USAID “has been run by a bunch of radical lunatics” and that his administration is in the process of “getting them out,” he also says that a decision about the organization’s ultimate fate has not yet been made.

For their part, USAID staffers have been told by the agency’s leadership to stay out of their headquarters in Washington.

Additionally, USAID’s website went offline over the weekend, and one person familiar with the latest developments at the agency tells The Epoch Times that hundreds of contractors have recently been laid off.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio now says that he’s the acting director of USAID. He says that the agency is “not functioning,” that it’s “not a global charity,” and that it needs to be aligned with the national interest of the United States.

For their part, Democratic lawmakers say that Trump lacks the constitutional authority to shut down USAID without congressional approval.

By the way, USAID was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as an independent agency that provides foreign assistance. In recent years, it has had more than 10,000 workers stationed in dozens of countries around the world, and its available budget has ballooned to over $50 billion a year.

Good news to report now regarding our country’s border security with an enormous drop in the number of people illegally crossing into the United States. More now on what we’ve just learned.

Border Czar: Illegal Crossings Down 93 Percent

Our country’s border czar, Tom Homan, says recent data indicates that since Trump took office on Jan. 20, there’s been a 93 percent drop in crossings and encounters at our southern border.

Homan attributed that drop to the president’s policies. He went on to describe Trump as a “game-changer,” saying that “no one has had the success he’s had in securing the border.”

Just a reminder—since taking office, Trump has issued a series of executive orders related to illegal immigration, including declaring a national emergency at the southern border and deploying additional military troops to the area.

Homan says that Trump “clearly understands” that the United States can’t have strong national security if we don’t have border security, and that we need to know “who’s coming in, what’s coming in, where, and why.”

He also pointed out that these new numbers represent an even bigger decrease in border crossings than those seen during the first Trump administration.

Meanwhile, during a recent visit to the Texas–Mexico border, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem doubled down on Homan’s comments, pointing to a massive drop in border incidents during the first two weeks of Trump’s second term.

By the way, a Pew Research Center analysis shows that U.S. border crossings reached “a record high” in 2023 under the Biden administration before dropping last year. According to a House Republican report, nearly 11 million border encounters have occurred since 2021, including almost 9 million at the U.S.–Mexico border.

Another story we’re watching very closely today concerns an urgent warning from the FDA to medical facilities regarding Chinese-manufactured medical devices, patient privacy, patient safety, and more, and here’s what we know.

CISA, FDA Issue Warning About China’s Contec Patient Monitors

Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) say that a patient monitor made by Chinese manufacturer Contec contains what they call a “backdoor,” which could allow a remote user to access patient data and remotely manipulate the devices.

The FDA now recommends that all hospitals and caregivers check their Contec CMS8000 model monitors and disconnect them from the internet—or stop using them altogether if those devices rely on remote monitoring features.

That particular device is used to monitor a patient’s vital signs in hospitals and clinics throughout both the United States and the European Union.

The FDA warns that once the monitor is connected to the internet, it begins gathering personal patient data, including protected health information, and then extracts that data outside of the treatment environment.

They say that the device also contains a backdoor, which can allow unauthorized people to cause the device to crash, malfunction, or to corrupt data on the device. However, they also say that right now, they’re not aware of any cybersecurity or health-related incidents related to the problem.

The potential vulnerabilities were first identified by a research team from CISA, who discovered that the monitor connects to a hard-coded IP address and transmits patient data to that IP address by default when a patient is hooked up to it. The agency did not disclose the location of that IP address; however, they say it belongs to a “third-party university.”

CISA also says that when the backdoor function on the device is executed, “files on the device are forcibly overwritten” without the knowledge of the end user—so hospitals won’t know what software is running on the device.

And finally as we enter the home stretch on today’s program, a brief look at the housing market where properties are taking longer to sell. A number of factors are at play including weather, natural disasters, and of course soaring prices, and here’s what we’ve learned.

Typical US Home Taking 2 Months to Sell

Real estate brokerage firm Redfin says that last month, homes in the United States sold at their slowest pace in nearly half a decade.

They say that for the four weeks ending on Jan. 26, the typical U.S. home listing that went under contract had remained on the market for almost two months before the seller accepted an offer.

The wait was the longest since March 2020 and a week longer than during this same time period last year. As a comparison, Redfin pointed out that during this period in 2022, during the pandemic-driven buying boom, the typical home was selling in just over a month.

The brokerage firm says that both elevated mortgage rates, which are hovering near 7 percent, as well as high prices are impacting potential buyers and making purchasing a home an expensive affair. They say that extreme weather including snow, frigid cold, and wildfires are also keeping would-be buyers at bay.

However, some good news may be on the horizon in the near future. Redfin expects the market to pick up soon, once mortgage rates drop and new listings improve. They also say that some buyers who are waiting for both home prices and mortgage rates to come down may get tired of waiting and decide it’s time to make a move.

Almost time for us to wrap things up, but before we go, a couple of additional items we’re watching very closely here in The Epoch Times News Brief newsroom:

In Washington, several Democratic lawmakers say that if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. becomes the next secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services, he should commit to avoiding all decisions related to vaccines.

Also in Washington, Trump has just signed an executive order to create a government-owned sovereign wealth fund, which could potentially serve as an investment vehicle to purchase an interest in the Chinese social media app TikTok.

And now, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re gonna call it a wrap for the Tuesday edition of the Epoch Times News Brief.

To make contact with the News Brief crew, simply reach out to us via email and we’re at [email protected]. You can also leave comments for us on the Epoch Times app, which you can download for free on either the App Store or Google Play.

Don’t forget the News Brief Motto: We’re portable, affordable, and we’re always on-demand.

And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote, and this one comes to us from Billy Joel, who said:

“More than art, more than literature, music is universally accessible.”

Joel is also known as the Piano Man and he’s an American singer, songwriter, and by all accounts, a brilliant piano player—he plays a pretty good harmonica too.

For all of us here at the Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.

The Epoch Times News Brief program is written each day by David Ross.

Thank you for making us your one-stop source for a concise, accurate, and unbiased daily synopsis of many of the news stories you need to know about.

Enjoy the remainder of your day and we’ll see you right back here next time for another edition of the Epoch Times News Brief.

For now, it’s imperative that we all continue to watch out for one another and have an absolutely superb day today. Bye for now.