Leaders from Mexico, Canada, China Warn of Retaliation to Trump’s Tariff Trade War

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Leaders from Mexico, Canada, China Warn of Retaliation to Trump’s Tariff Trade War

(, The Center Square) President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to hit America’s top trading partners with 25% tariffs on imported goods prompted a cool response from neighbors and China.

Mexico’s lower house leader Ricardo Monreal, a member of the ruling Morena party, said a trade war would hurt the entire continent.

“An escalation of trade retaliation would only hurt people’s pockets, far from solving underlying problems,” he wrote on X. “This measure would cause severe damage to the economy and the population of North America.”

Trump said he plans put the tariffs in place on his first day in office and keep them in place until problems at the northern and southern border are fixed.

“As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before,” Trump announced on Truth Social.

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” he continued. “This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”

Mexico and Canada “have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem,” Trump said. “We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”

Trump also accused China of failing to prevent smuggling of the chemicals used to make fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that has fueled overdose deaths in the U.S. He singled China out for a 10% tariff. Trump previously suggested tariffs of up to 60% on Chinese imports.

“I have had many talks with China about the massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl, being sent into the United States – But to no avail,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Representatives of China told me that they would institute their maximum penalty, that of death, for any drug dealers caught doing this but, unfortunately, they never followed through, and drugs are pouring into our Country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before,” he continued. “Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America.”

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said a trade tiff would hurt all countries.

“No one will win a trade war or a tariff war,” he said, according to a USA Today report. “The idea of China knowingly allowing fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States runs completely counter to facts and reality.”

Trump’s proposal appears to violate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, the trade pact between the three countries that allows for duty-free trade. Trump signed the deal into law in 2020.

Mexico’s finance ministry said: “Mexico is the United States’ top trade partner, and the USMCA provides a framework of certainty for national and international investors.”

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said she would write to Trump to warn him that his pledge to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada will cause inflation and job losses in both countries.

“To one tariff will come another and so on, until we put our common businesses at risk,” Sheinbaum said at a news conference Tuesday, Reuters reported.

A Canadian government official told the BBC that Trump spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for about 10 minutes, discussing trade and border security.

The source said they had a “good discussion.” During the call, Trudeau pointed out that the number of migrants crossing the Canadian border was much smaller compared to the US–Mexico border, the official said.

Canadian officials said in a statement Tuesday that their country is committed to border security.

“Canada places the highest priority on border security and the integrity of our shared border,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc said in a joint statement. “Our relationship today is balanced and mutually beneficial, particularly for American workers.”

Tariffs could raise prices for U.S. consumers and slow economic growth. S&P Global, a credit-rating agency, reported that Trump’s proposed tariffs—a 10% across the board hike and up to 60% for China—could boost inflation by 1.8% and lower U.S. economic output by 1%, according to a post-election report.

DNC Union Announces GoFundMe in Response to Committee Layoffs

Matthew Doarnberger
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DNC Union Announces GoFundMe in Response to Committee Layoffs

(Matthew Doarnberger, Headline USA) The staff union that represents members of the Democratic National Committee has created a GoFundMe page to raise money for staffers who were recently laid off.

Members of the union claim on the fundraising page that two thirds of the staffers were let go last week with little notice and no severance.

DNC staff union organizer Jill Brownfield expressed her frustration over the lack of money given by the DNC amid the abrupt layoffs.

“We are heartbroken to see our colleagues–who dedicated countless hours to electing Democrats up and down the ballot–depart under these circumstances, and we are furious with DNC leadership for failing to provide severance to those affected,” Brownfield said.

In response, a DNC spokesperson told Fox News Digital that parting ways with the employees was a difficult decision.

But it was also stressed that the DNC had met the terms of their agreement with the union.

“Every cycle, political organizations scale up to meet the demands, and as the cycle comes to a close, it’s a tough reality of our industry that we must part with talented, hardworking staff,” the spokesperson said.

They stressed that the DNC had met the terms of their agreement with the union.

“While the DNC has met the terms of the union agreement negotiated by the CBA, we share the entire DNC family’s frustration and continue to provide resources to all members of the team to support them in this transition,” the spokesperson continued.

The lack of severance paid to the staffers after their departure looks even more shocking after reports surfaced from the New York Times that the Harris campaign spent roughly $100 million per week trying to get her elected president.

Officials for the union say that the money raised by the GoFundMe will be equally distributed to any laid off member opting to receive the funds.

The initial target amount for the GoFundMe page was set at $25,000.

As of this writing, close to $18,000 was raised.

Pentagon Fires Back after Musk Calls Its Most Expensive Project ‘Obsolete’

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Pentagon Fires Back after Musk Calls Its Most Expensive Project ‘Obsolete’

(, The Center Square) Pentagon officials declined to comment on billionaire Elon Musk’s critical assessment of its most expensive project, the F-35 stealth fighter.

The Tesla CEO and SpaceX leader, now tasked with co-managing the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, called the Pentagon’s stealth fighter “obsolete.”

“The F-35 design was broken at the requirements level, because it was required to be too many things to too many people,” Musk wrote on X.

This made it an expensive & complex jack of all trades, master of none,” Musk continued. “Success was never in the set of possible outcomes.”

He went on to note that with the expansion of drone warfare, it was impractical to have “manned fighter jets” that would “just get pilots killed.”

 

In May, The U.S. Government Accountability Office found the cost of the Pentagon’s most expensive weapon system was projected to increase by more than 40% despite plans to use the stealth fighter less, in part because of reliability issues.

The Department of Defense’s F-35 Lightning II is the most advanced and costly weapon system in the U.S. arsenal. It’s a joint, multinational program that includes the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, seven international partners and foreign military sales customers.

The Pentagon has about 630 F-35s. It plans to buy about 1,800 more. And it intends to use them through 2088. DOD estimates the F-35 program will cost over $2 trillion to buy, operate, and sustain over its lifetime.

On Tuesday, a reporter asked Defense Department Press Secretary Air Force Major General Pat Ryder about Musk’s comments on the F-35.

“Yeah, as I’m sure you can appreciate, Mr. Musk is, currently, a private citizen, I’m not going to make any comments about what a private citizen may have to say about the F-35.”

The GAO report found the F-35 program fell short of its goals.

“The F-35 fleet is not meeting most of its performance goals, including those for availability and for reliability and maintainability, according to DOD and contractor data,” according to the report. “We have consistently found that the F-35 fleet is not meeting its availability goals, which are measured by mission capable rates despite increasing projected costs.”

President-elect Donald Trump recently picked Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy leaders of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Trump said the new group will allow his administration to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulation, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.”

Ramaswamy and Musk detailed some of their plans for DOGE last week. Those plans include a focus on military spending after the Pentagon failed another audit.

“The Pentagon recently failed its seventh consecutive audit, suggesting that the agency’s leadership has little idea how its annual budget of more than $800 billion is spent,” they wrote in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal.

The Defense Department’s annual audit once again resulted in a disclaimer opinion. That means the federal government’s largest agency—with a budget of more than $840 billion—can’t fully explain its spending.

The disclaimer this year was expected. And it’s expected again next year. The Pentagon previously said it will be able to accurately account for its spending by 2027.

N.C.’s Lame-Duck Democrat Gov. Vetoes $227M in Hurricane Helene Relief

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N.C.’s Lame-Duck Democrat Gov. Vetoes $227M in Hurricane Helene Relief

(, The Center Square) Outbound Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed legislation from the Republican General Assembly sending $227 million to western North Carolina to assist in recovery from Hurricane Helene.

Thirty-six days from exiting the governor’s mansion, Cooper, a 67-year-old lawyer from Nash County, called the bill “a sham” and cited the appointment authority removed from the governor’s office and authority of the attorney general blocked from advocating “for lower electric bills for consumers.”

For context, only the first 13 of 132 pages in the proposal is about Helene, a Category 4 hurricane when it landed in Florida on Sept. 26.

In its ninth week of recovery in the North Carolina mountains, the staggering numbers include 103 deaths, $53 billion in estimated damage according to the governor, and 30 inches of rainfall that fateful weekend in places.

A $50 million transfer to the financially troubled Office of Recovery and Resiliency, where Chief Operating Officer Laura Hogshead on Thursday lost her job, is also blocked by the veto. That office has at least a $175 million budget hole, according to Cooper’s earlier proposal, and could be as high as $265 million according to Hogshead’s testimony before a state legislative panel.

The 29th veto of this two-year session with just a month to go is expected to be challenged by overrides from the Senate and House of Representatives, where Republicans currently have a super-majority.

A three-fifths majority in each would make Disaster Relief-3/Budget/Various Law Changes, also known as Senate Bill 382, the law.

Labeling each as an installment, lawmakers on Oct. 9 approved $273 million, and on Oct. 25 Cooper signed for another $604 million, plus $40 million for disaster relief toward Tropical Storm Debby, what was known as Potential Tropical Cyclone 8, and a tornado that touched down in Nash County.

Should SB382 become law, total Helene relief from state lawmakers would be $1.1 billion ($1,104,000,000 to be exact); total disaster aid including other storms adds $40 million.

“This legislation was titled disaster relief,” Cooper said in a statement, “but instead violates the constitution by taking appointments away from the next governor for the Board of Elections, Utilities Commission and commander of the North Carolina Highway Patrol, letting political parties choose appellate judges and interfering with the attorney general’s ability to advocate for lower electric bills for consumers.”

Cooper said the bill bypassed small-business grants to disaster counties in “a cruel blow by blocking the extension of better unemployment benefits for people who have lost jobs because of natural disasters.”

He said a provision taking away two judges elected by voters and adding two appointed by the Legislature, as well as removing some of the authority entrusted to the lieutenant governor and superintendent of public instruction, “plays politics.”

If going to an override, Republicans hold exactly three-fifths majorities in each chamber – 30 in the Senate, 72 in the House. In the House, the vote was 63-46 with no Democrats approving and Republican Reps. Mike Clampitt of Swain County, Karl Gillespie of Macon County and Mark Pless of Haywood County voting nay. All three are from mountain counties.

In the Senate, the vote was 30-19 with no Republicans against and no Democrats approving.

At time of passage Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said of the State Board of Elections changes, “For years Republicans have tried to bring true bipartisanship to the state board by giving Republicans and Democrats equal representation, but Democrats have fought us every step of the way.”

The board has come under fire several times during the recent election cycle, drawing a multitude of lawsuits and a damning report from the Electoral Education Foundation, a watchdog founded by recent GOP lieutenant governor candidate Hal Weatherman, which uncovered numerous irregularities in the board’s voter data.

The five-member state board is a 3-2 split with the party of the governor having the advantage. Republicans originally in this session pushed for an eight-member board. SB382 drops it back to five, no more than three from the same political party, all appointed by the state auditor, and terms of four years.

County boards also would be five members, two each appointed by the state board from the two political parties with highest number of registered affiliates. The state auditor would appoint the chairman. Terms are two years.

Among the election-law changes are correcting registration forms. Instead of 5 p.m. the day before the county canvass, it will be at noon on the third business day after Election Day for provisional ballots to be cured.

That issue has played a substantial role in several recent election challenges by Republicans, including Jefferson Griffin, the Republican candidate for a seat on the state Supreme Court, who had a 10,000 vote lead on election night only to see it dwindle away into a deficit of just under 650 votes as his opponent continued to add new votes to the overall tally until 10 days after the election.

In a recent lawsuit, Griffin contended that some 60,000 of Democrat Justice Allison Riggs’s votes were potentially invalid, having come from voters who were inelligible or unregistered—and, in some cases, dead.

Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.

Judge Allows SJSU Trans Volleyball Player to Compete, Appeal Filed

Maire Clayton
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Judge Allows SJSU Trans Volleyball Player to Compete, Appeal Filed

(Maire Clayton, Headline USA) A Biden-appointed judge denied to disqualify a transgender volleyball player on the San Jose State University women’s team and ruled the Wednesday conference tournament would proceed as scheduled.

Judge S. Kato Crews also ruled losses due to forfeiting against SJSU during the normal season would not be removed, according to OutKick.

Twelve women, including some current student athletes, brought the lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference over safety concerns due to the trans player.

An appeal was filed immediately after the Monday decision.

“We respectfully disagree with the decision of the Colorado District Court and have filed an emergency appeal with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals,” the lawyer for the women told Cowboy State Daily.

After the ruling, SJSU sent a statement to OutKick stating its support for the ruling.

“We are gratified that the Court rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to change those rules,” SJSU said. “Our team looks forward to competing in the Mountain West volleyball tournament this week.”

Outspoken women’s sports activist (and former college swimmer) Riley Gaines was appalled with the judge’s decision.

“A federal judge just ruled in favor of a male athlete who has been injuring defenseless women in volleyball for years,” she wrote. “It’s time to remove these activist judges who refuse to uphold the law as it was intended.”

SJSU previously suspended its associate head volleyball coach Melissa Batie–Smoose (who is one of the 12 women who filed the suit) in early November after she filed a Title IX complaint.

In the complain she alleged the university was showing favoritism toward trans player Blaire Fleming.

Batie-Smoose said the university was trying to censor her after her ousting.

“This is just another form of what San Jose State has been trying to do: Silence people that are speaking up for their First Amendment rights and for what’s right,” Batie–Smoose said.

Trump Golf Course Assassin Shares Reasons for Failed Attempt in Jailhouse Letter

Kyle Becker
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Trump Golf Course Assassin Shares Reasons for Failed Attempt in Jailhouse Letter

(Kyle Becker, Headline USA) Ryan Routh, accused of attempting to shoot President-elect Donald Trump at his Florida golf course in September, has written letters from jail addressed to Politico and the Palm Beach Post.

Politico reported that its letter was verified as Routh’s, based on handwriting and signature comparisons to documents linked to him by the Justice Department. Routh’s lawyers were provided with a copy of the envelope but declined to comment.

The letter to the Palm Beach Post arrived the Saturday before the Nov. 5 election, in which Trump swept the swing states in an Electoral College landslide and became the first Republican presidential candidate in 20 years to win the popular vote.

Routh is also reported to have sought out news agencies prior to the Sept. 15 attempt.

While Routh didn’t confess to the assassination attempt, he referred to himself in the Politico letter as the “Trump Alleged Shooter.”

He also drew comparisons to another man who tried to attack Trump earlier this year—Pennsylvania sniper Thomas Crooks, who succeeded in grazing Trump’s ear and injuring three others, one fatally, at a July 13 rally before he was neutralized.

In deciding to publish the letter, Politico emphasized caution, noting the risks of amplifying the political views of someone accused of attempted murder. They highlighted the fact that claims from such individuals may stem from agendas, delusions, or both.

Some have speculated that Routh’s ties to Ukrainian militants may have been a motivator. Trump has pledged to end its war with Russia through forced negotiations that would likely involve territorial concessions from Ukraine.

Routh is also reported to have had contact with an Afghan militant in Iran shortly before the assassination attempt.

In his letter, Routh expressed frustration with the U.S. political system, criticizing the two-party structure, congressional deadlock, and Trump’s policies, particularly in the Middle East.

“I am unclear how we allowed ourselves to fall into just a two-party system, but it infuriates me,” Routh wrote.

“My entire life has been plagued by D’s and R’s. It seems not long ago there was a push for the libertarian party and now a green party and maybe Truth party,” he added. “But for some reason our leaders have not allowed any other party [to] be recognized in any race.”

Routh denied being a Democrat or Republican, calling himself an independent voter. He also urged reforms like limiting presidential power and publicly funding campaigns to eliminate private donations.

“We all wonder why we end up with such flawed candidates when our system is designed to exclude most everyone,” Routh wrote.

He condemned the decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, blaming Trump for instability in the region.

However, the Biden administration’s Iranian appeasement policies have had a more direct role in fueling instability in the Middle East. After Hamas’s October 2023 invasion of Israel, the Islamic terror state funded Hezbollah to intervene in the military conflict.

With Trump’s re-election, there is already major progress being made toward a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah.

Trump is the single greatest threat to the two-party system that has dominated American politics for the last century. Indeed, he brought on former Democrats into his Cabinet, such as former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (who is now a Republican), and lifelong Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (who ran as an independent prior to joining Trump’s campaign).

In other words, much like the official story about what motivated Trump’s would-be assassins, the narrative in Ryan Routh’s letter does not add up.

Kyle Becker is a former writer and associate producer for Fox News’s Hannity. He was also the director of viral media at IJReview. Follow him at x.com/kylenabecker or visit thekylebecker.com.

Harris Staffers Blame the Media and Its ‘Dumb’ Questions for Kamala’s Defeat

Julianna Frieman
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Harris Staffers Blame the Media and Its ‘Dumb’ Questions for Kamala’s Defeat

(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Harris campaign staffers blamed the media and its “dumb” questions for Vice President Kamala Harris’s defeat by President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday’s episode of Pod Save America.

Podcast host and former Obama staffer Dan Pfeiffer sat down with three core members of Harris’s team, including campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, who bemoaned Harris’s 107-day-short campaign caused by President Joe Biden’s abrupt withdraw in July.

“I am not a media hater by any measure, and I think that, you know, we women don’t get far in life talking about double standards, so that’s not the point. But I do think a narrative—107 days, two weeks f**ked up because of a hurricane. Two weeks talking about how she didn’t do interviews,” O’Malley Dillon said, flanked by Harris campaign staffers David Plouffe, Quentin Fulks and Stephanie Cutter.

O’Malley Dillon told Pfeiffer that the Harris campaign had to balance Harris becoming the Democrat nominee with selecting her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and executing a rollout.

Harris did not hold her first sit-down interview until 39 days after she was endorsed by Biden, and she sat beside Walz as the pair were peppered by softball questions by CNN’s Dana Bash.

“People heard in some ways that we were not going to have interviews, which was both not true, and also, so counter to any kind of standard that was put on Trump that I think it was a problem,” O’Malley Dillon said.

The Harris campaign chairwoman complained about the media’s questions toward the failed Democrat nominee, which she described as unfair.

“The questions were small, and process-y, and about, like—” O’Malley Dillon began before Cutter called the questions “dumb.”

O’Malley Dillon said the questions Harris was asked did not inform voters or help them understand the vice president as a presidential hopeful.

“I’m not here to say that the whole system was focused on us incorrectly,” she said. “I’m just saying, like, again, of the things we need to explore as we move forward as campaign and as a country.”

O’Malley Dillon lamented the Harris campaign falling short on leveraging podcasts early on.

Trump appeared on dozens of podcasts throughout the duration of Harris’s entire campaign, but most notably, his three-hour-long conversation with popular host Joe Rogan received millions of views instantly.

“We had a limited amount of time to try to reach the people we were trying to reach and to go to them, but being up against a narrative that we weren’t doing anything or we were afraid to have interviews… it is completely bulls**t,” O’Malley Dillon raged.

Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and The American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.

2nd Failed Trump Assassin’s Son Hit w/ More Child Porn Charges

Ken Silva
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2nd Failed Trump Assassin’s Son Hit w/ More Child Porn Charges

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Oran Alexander Routh, the son of failed Trump assassin Ryan Routh, was hit with more child pornography charges in a superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday.

Routh was initially arrested on Sept. 24 for possessing child pornography, after FBI agents allegedly found it on his electronic devices while searching his home in relation to his father’s alleged Sept. 15 assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

Oran Routh was indicted on two counts of child-porn possession on Sept. 30, and then hit with another superseding indictment on Oct. 28.

And now, he faces still more charges. Tuesday’s indictment lists five additional charges. The illicit content was allegedly found on the same devices that were seized in the initial searches.

Routh has pled not guilty to all of the charges thus far, and is on house arrest pending trial. An FBI agent who testified at his initial hearing on Oct. 1 said the FBI found more than 20 devices linked to Oran. At least two were found to contain child pornography, and the bureau is continuing to search the others, he said.

Law enforcement started investigating Oran for child pornography last year, when the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, or NCMEC, flagged a video allegedly on his phone. NCMEC passed that tip along to the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office, which visited his mother’s home in February. Law enforcement didn’t follow up until Oran’s father allegedly tried to kill Trump.

Meanwhile, a recent court filing in Ryan Routh’s assassination case suggests that child porn was also found on the father’s computer.

“Counsel for the defense and members of the defense team shall not possess for any purpose discovery material that contains Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM); alternative arrangements will be made for reviewing such discovery,” a protective order in Ryan Routh’s case said. The father hasn’t been charged with possessing child porn.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

MSNBC Surprised by Contributor Al Sharpton’s Half-Million-Dollar Conflict of Interests

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MSNBC Surprised by Contributor Al Sharpton’s Half-Million-Dollar Conflict of Interests

(Headline USA) MSNBC claimed this week that it was unaware Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign paid $500,000 to Rev. Al Sharpton’s nonprofit ahead of an interview Sharpton conducted with her on the network.

Harris sat down with Sharpton for the friendly interview on Oct. 20.

Federal Election Commission filings showed the Harris campaign made two $250,000 donations to the National Action Network, which Sharpton runs, just weeks prior to the interview.

According to MSNBC, Sharpton did not inform the network of the conflict of interest before or after the interview.

“MSNBC was unaware of the donations made to the National Action Network,” a spokesperson for the network told the Washington Free Beacon.

However, the spokesperson declined to say whether Sharpton would face consequences. He was on air with MSNBC’s Morning Joe just last week.

MSNBC has punished employees for similar missteps, including in 2010 when Joe Scarborough was suspended for making several political donations.

At the time, MSNBC’s public policy stated, “Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest.”

During his October interview with Harris, Sharpton heaped praise on the vice president, at one point comparing her to Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress.

“Some little girl or little boy is gonna be talking about you like you talked about Ms. Shirley Chisholm,” he told her.

The news about Sharpton came as MSNBC struggles to stay afloat.

The network’s parent company, Comcast, is reportedly planning to get rid of most of its cable networks amidst sharp drops in viewership on both MSNBC and NBC.

MSNBC President Rashida Jones told “panicked” employees that “change is always complicated,” according to the New York Post.

Trump’s Election Victory Paves Way for Israel–Hezbollah Ceasefire

Kyle Becker
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Trump’s Election Victory Paves Way for Israel–Hezbollah Ceasefire

(Kyle Becker, Headline USA) Israel was poised on Tuesday to finalize a permanent ceasefire agreement with the Islamic extremist group Hezbollah, concluding more than a year of bloody conflict in the Middle East—although the larger conflict with Hamas had yet to be resolved, with dozens of Israeli hostages still in captivity.

The recent hostilities with Hezbollah—which maintains operational control of the Lebanese capital of Beirut and other areas north of Israel—have claimed nearly 3,800 lives and led to approximately 16,000 casualties.

President Joe Biden was expected to announce the U.S.-mediated deal on Tuesday afternoon, a U.S. official informed CBS News.

President-elect Donald Trump’s team and Iran, a key backer of Hezbollah, have also been briefed.

Under the terms of the agreement, hostilities would cease immediately. Israel would begin a phased withdrawal of troops over 60 days to enable Lebanese forces to secure the area.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah agreed to pull back heavy weaponry and troops 20 miles from the Israeli border to the Litani River, with initial withdrawals anticipated within 10 days.

While France did not directly broker the agreement, it will play a role in its implementation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet in Tel Aviv to deliberate on and approve the accord. Similarly, Lebanon’s government was set to finalize its endorsement, signaling an end to the deadliest conflict since the conclusion of Lebanon’s civil war in 1990.

Netanyahu was scheduled to address the Israeli public at 8 p.m. local time, followed by remarks from Biden in Washington.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the extensive diplomatic efforts that culminated in the agreement, involving months of collaboration among the U.S., France, Israel and Lebanon.

“This agreement will save lives and livelihoods on both sides and create conditions for displaced individuals to return safely,” Blinken stated.

However, some have credited Trump’s recent re-election with being the primary catalyst.

Trump, who presided over the historic Abraham Accords between Israel and several of its neighbors during his prior term, has signaled his intention to promote global peace—even before officially taking office.

Despite the impending ceasefire, rockets continued to be exchanged along the northern Israeli border on Tuesday.

The conflict—sparked by Hezbollah rocket fire in October 2023 in support of Hamas’s actions in Gaza—escalated with intensified Israeli airstrikes and ground operations in Lebanon.

Kyle Becker is a former writer and associate producer for Fox News’s Hannity. He was also the director of viral media at IJReview. Follow him at x.com/kylenabecker or visit thekylebecker.com.

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