Stopping aid to Ukraine at a time when Russia's military spending and production is so high could result in a dangerous situation for the West.
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President Donald Trump on Thursday said he's granting a one-month tariff pause to a greater range of Mexican goods, just a day after handing automakers an even more sweeping reprieve.
"After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This Agreement is until April 2nd. I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum."
The USMCA, a trade deal negotiated between the US, Mexico, and Canada during Trump's first term as a replacement for the NAFTA trade pact, exempts most goods that are produced in the three signatory countries from most tariffs.
Trump did not immediately announce a similar deal for Canada. Trump spoke to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday. Trudeau later said it was a "colorful" conversation.
Trump's newest pause dovetails with the White House's efforts to calm markets. Shares on Wall Street tanked after Trump decided to forge ahead on Tuesday with his latest round of tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China before rebounding on Wednesday as traders appeared to hope that further reduction in tariffs would be forthcoming.
Stocks slid on Thursday, with weakness in tech joining tariff concerns to bring the S&P 500 down as much as 2% in afternoon trading.
The White House has said the first round of tariffs are related to Trump's frustration with the nations failing to do more to stop the spread of fentanyl. Leaders of all three countries have disputed that claim.
The White House said the Big 3 US automakers — General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis — requested the earlier exemption for cars. That exemption applies to Canadian auto imports as well. At the time, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was open to cutting further deals.
Another round of tariffs targeting foreign agricultural goods and other products is set to go into effect on April 2. During his joint address to Congress, Trump mentioned South Korea, India, and the European Union as potential targets to even out what he views as unfair trade relations.
China and Canada immediately responded to Tuesday's announcement with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Mexico was originally set to implement their measures on Sunday.
Beijing has taken particular exception to Trump's actions. China's US embassy wrote on X that it was ready for a "war" of any kind.
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Looking at Samson Dauda, you'd never guess he used to be a skinny kid.
But the winner of the 2024 Mr. Olympia — the most prestigious award in bodybuilding — said he once had a hard time gaining muscle.
"When I was young, I struggled to put on weight. I was one of those guys that could get away with eating everything and I didn't put on a pound," he told Business Insider in an interview on his partnership with energy drink brand Celsius.
Now Dauda weighs in at as much as 330 pounds in the off season as he packs on muscle for competition.
Born in Nigeria, Dauda moved to the UK as a teenager, and started his athletic career in rugby, where a teammate introduced him to bodybuilding. He started competing in 2014.
In 2020, at age 34, he quit his job as a construction worker to focus on bodybuilding full time.
He said two changes to his diet and workout routine have helped him break through muscle-building plateaus: eating heaps of nutritious food, and hitting high-rep, time-saving workouts.
Dauda said that, as someone who struggled to make gains, his workouts involve as much time under tension as possible to prompt muscle growth.
To do that, his typical routine involves back-to-back sets of exercise that start with a high number of reps at light weight, and then decrease the reps while increasing the weight over time.
The strategy allows him to get the benefits of lifting heavier weights, while also maximizing the time his muscles are working.
"You're putting a lot of strain in the muscle over a long period," Dauda said.
Supersets — performing two exercises one after another without rest — can also be useful for muscle building because it saves time. Switching up the exercise allows you to let one muscle group rest while the other is working, so you don't have to wait between sets.
All that work in the gym needs fuel, and Dauda said eating nutrient-dense whole foods instead of processed food improved his gains.
"You have to give your body the building blocks for you to be able to use to build muscle," he said.
For a pro bodybuilder, eating becomes a full-time job.
Dauda said his off-season diet, when he's trying to build muscle, involves 7,500 calories a day, the vast majority of which is whole foods.
"We cook all my meals at home, so we control everything. We know that the quality of food is there and are able to put on quality size with it," he said.
Typical meals include protein sources like eggs, chicken breast, steak, ground beef — research suggests the ideal amount of protein for muscle gains is about 0.7 grams of protein per pound of your body weight daily. Dauda also eats plenty of carbs for energy from foods like oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and pasta.
He supplements with whey protein shakes to make sure he's getting enough protein to build muscle. He also relies on caffeine, including Celsius, to keep his energy up in the weeks before a competition, when intense prep can be exhausting and makes it difficult to sleep.
Dauda still gives himself a break, especially right after competition. His favorite post-show meal is pizza, ideally washed down with a big bottle of Coke. But after a few days of indulgence, Dauda is typically happy to go back to his routine of home-cooked healthy meals.
"You are so deprived for weeks and months on end that you have all these things you want to eat," he said. "And after one week you're kind of like, I've had enough, I want to go back to diet food."
