First Thing: Trump’s vow of tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China attacked as ‘sales tax’ for Americans

Trump threatens 25% tax on Mexican and Canadian products and 10% increase on Chinese goods. Plus, prosecutors drop Trump criminal charges for election interference as he prepares to retake the presidency

Good morning.

Donald Trump has said he will sign an immediate executive order imposing a 25% tariff on all products from Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% tariff on China.

Trump said the tariffs would remain in place until the US’s two neighbors clamp down on drugs, particularly fentanyl, and people crossing the border illegally.

While on the campaign trail in October, Trump called the word tariff “the most beautiful word in the dictionary”, and made clear his intentions to reduce US companies’ use of foreign goods and parts by raising their cost.

The plans were attacked as a regressive move that will hit the poorest hardest. “A tariff is basically a sales tax, raising the price of almost everything you buy,” said Robert Reich, a secretary of labor under Bill Clinton.

How much trade will this affect? Canada, Mexico and China account for about 40% of the goods the US imports each year, according to official statistics. Beijing said “nobody will win in a trade war”.

What’s behind Trump’s love of tariffs? Bill Ackman, the chief executive of the hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, said Trump is going to use tariffs as a foreign policy “weapon” to “achieve economic and political outcomes”.

Prosecutors drop election interference and documents cases against Trump

Special counsel prosecutors dismissed the two federal criminal cases against Donald Trump in separate court filings on Monday, as they bowed to the reality that they would not be completed or proceed to trial before Trump returns to the presidency next year.

Trump’s election victory ended the criminal cases against him – over his retention of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election – beccause of a justice department policy that prohibits taking criminal action against a sitting president.

What does this tell us about Trump’s legal strategy? Just how successfully Trump managed to navigate the justice system with an audacious play of using a presidential campaign and the political calendar to sidestep deeply perilous charges.

Israeli cabinet to decide on ceasefire deal with Lebanon

Israel’s security cabinet is due to meet on Tuesday to decide on a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon after more than a year of fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.

Under the deal being considered, the Israel Defense Forces would reportedly withdraw from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah would pull its heavy weapons north of the Litani River, about 16 miles (25km) north of the Israeli border, and the Lebanese army would move in to provide security in the border zone alongside an existing UN peacekeeping force, during an initial 60-day transition phase.

Hezbollah has not been a direct party to the talks, in which the Lebanese government has given assurances that the militia would abide by the terms of the deal.

Meanwhile, Israel carried out intensive airstrikes on Monday. The IDF said it had struck 25 command centres in Lebanon associated with Hezbollah’s executive council, including in southern Beirut.

Why might Netanyahu agree a ceasefire? His government is under domestic political pressure to agree a deal that would allow about 60,000 Israelis from the border region to return home, after spending a year in displacement camps.

Here’s how the war ramped up recently: In October, Israel launched a ground invasion and accelerated bombing across Lebanon. The campaign has killed about 3,500 Lebanese people, striking into the heart of Beirut, as well as killing much of Hezbollah’s leadership.

In other news …

Russia fired the highest number of drones into Ukraine over a single night since the 2022 invasion began, with Ukrainian forces saying they shot down about 76 of 188 drones.

Three bodies were found after a capsized tourist boat sank off Egypt’s Red Sea coast, but 13 people are still missing.

At least five police and paramilitary personnel have been killed and dozens of people injured in Pakistan, as thousands of supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan marched on parliament.

Macy’s said one employee hid up to $154m in expenses over three years, delaying its important quarterly earnings report.

Stat of the day: Samoa faced deadly measles outbreak killing at least 83 and hospitalising 1,867 after RFK Jr visit

A few months before a deadly measles outbreak in 2019, Robert F Kennedy Jr travelled to Samoa and met with anti-vaccine figures, contributing to what health experts claim was a “significant disinformation campaign”. Samoa has a population of under 200,000 but scores died and thousands were treated in hospital amid low vaccination rates.

Don’t miss this: How an Indigenous man was made the public face of an atrocity

In 2004, 29 people were killed by members of the Cinta Larga tribe in Brazil’s Amazon basin. The story shocked the country – but the truth is still being fought over. Alex Cuadros spent years of immersive reporting to understand what happened.

Climate check: UK braces for more flooding after Storm Bert overwhelms towns

More UK flooding is likely this week after Storm Bert brought torrential rain over the weekend, the environment secretary said. Extreme rainfall is more common and more intense because of human-caused climate breakdown across most of the world, particularly in Europe, because warmer air can hold more water vapour.

Last Thing: Mystery after humbug vandal smashes fake gravestone of Ebenezer Scrooge

A vandal in Shropshire, England, has smashed a gravestone for the fictional character EbenezerScrooge, used in a 1984 film adaptation of the Charles Dickens novella. Police say the identity and motive of the humbug-spirited culprit is unknown.

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