Ukraine ceasefire, metal tariffs and Columbia student
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Today, Ukraine has signed a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire with Russia. Will the Kremlin agree to a 30-day halt in fighting? Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs take effect as a global trade war intensifies. And the Columbia University student who was arrested for protesting the war in Gaza heads to court. It's Wednesday, March 12th.

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Learn more at phrma.org/ipworkswonders. Ukraine has agreed to accept a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in its conflict with Russia. U.S. President Donald Trump is welcoming the development and says now the ball is in Moscow's court. Ukraine, ceasefire, just agreed to a little while ago. Now we have to go to Russia and hopefully President Putin will agree to that also.

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, did not participate in the talks, but says the ceasefire is a positive proposal. And that it covers the front line in the conflict, not just fighting by air and sea. Our foreign policy editor, Don Durfee, is following the developments.

So this is really significant. One of the things that the United States has agreed to do immediately is to restore intelligence sharing and military supplies to Ukraine. Both of those had gotten cut off after a really disastrous meeting between Trump and Zelensky at the Oval Office.

the other week. And intelligence sharing is crucial for the Ukrainians. This is what they used for the long-range targeting of Russian forces. The next really big question is whether Russia agrees to this proposed ceasefire. Trump envoy Steve Witkoff is headed to Moscow later this week to discuss it with the Russians. And it's not clear. The Russians are doing pretty well on the battlefield right now. They don't have a great deal of incentive to compromise, although they have signal that they're willing to talk.

So is there any indication how Trump might approach Russian President Vladimir Putin to complete the ceasefire deal? One thing that's been really striking about this is

how willing Trump has been to really apply some pressure to a U.S. ally. He's really willing to play hardball. I mean, the Trump administration has said that they are also willing to apply pressure to Vladimir Putin, but we really haven't seen anything that's comparable to the kind of pressure that they've put on Ukraine. Trump's 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. have hit.

Europe's been quick to respond, saying it will impose counter-tariffs on $28 billion worth of U.S. goods from next month. Trump says his economic policy of sweeping tariffs, which has sent global markets reeling this week, is having, quote, tremendously positive impact.

At a business roundtable meeting in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Trump told around 100 CEOs of America's biggest companies that his tariffs would entice companies to build new facilities in the U.S. The biggest win is if they move into our country and produce jobs. That's a bigger win than...

The tariffs themselves. Our White House reporter, Jeff Mason, was at the business roundtable meeting and was able to gauge the mood of the room. Often when President Trump is speaking before a crowd, you get the sense that he has them in the palm of his hand.

I would not say that that was the case here. These were business executives, and no doubt a bunch of them were not super happy about their stock prices. He did start by talking about tariffs, and I would describe the reaction as fairly muted, maybe stoic, certainly not...

I mean, you can see how they could be suffering from tariff whiplash, right? At one point on Tuesday, Trump threatened a 50% metal tariff rate on Canada after Ontario's premier, Doug Ford, threatened a 25% tariff on electricity from the province to the U.S.,

We will not back down, pausing some tariffs, making last-minute exemptions. It won't cut it. We need to end the chaos. Which he then suspended. Jeff, how is the Trump administration responding to concerns about how his economic policy and the tumultuous back-and-forth on tariffs are affecting the economy? So the Trump administration feel very confident that his economic policy is going to have a long-term positive effect.

And the president spoke about the potential for small disturbances. There's a lot of back and forth on tariffs all the time in D.C. and specifically at this White House and with this president. Tuesday was that on steroids, which, of course, had an impact on the stock market. And during the event at the White House where President Trump was looking at Tesla vehicles with the intention of buying one,

What's your best of these cars? What do you think? Well, the car that I drive is the Model S. I was out there with the press pool, and when the president came out to look at these cars, he mentioned that the Ontario premier had decided to walk back his plan. And I asked him while we were out there, does that mean you're now going to reduce the tariffs on Canada?

And then his administration ended up making clear after that, in fact, they were walking back from that initial pledge. But he feels strongly that the tariffs are the right way to go and that there may be a little bit of pain involved.

A mother begging for news of her child after a train hijacking in Pakistan. The Baloch Liberation Army, an ethnic armed group, have claimed responsibility for blowing up a railway track and opening fire on a passenger train. Pakistani forces have rescued over 150 people and an operation is underway to free the rest. The militants say they were holding over 200 people hostage.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a stopgap bill to keep the federal government funded past Friday. The continuing resolution averts a partial shutdown that would begin this weekend, even as President Trump dramatically cuts the government. The bill still needs to be passed by the Republican-majority Senate and signed into law by Trump by Friday in order to avert a shutdown.

The U.S. Department of Education will lay off nearly half its staff. The news comes as federal agencies try and meet President Trump's Thursday deadline to submit plans for a second round of mass layoffs. Affected employees will be placed on administrative leave starting March 21st.

The legal battle over the Palestinian student arrested over the weekend by Immigration and Customs Enforcement heads to federal court today. Mahmoud Khalil, who was a legal permanent resident until his green card was revoked, had been a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University in New York. Trump on Tuesday warned of more arrests.

But so far, the White House has not presented any evidence that Khalil supported Hamas or distributed pro-Hamas flyers.

Our legal reporter, Tom Howes, has been looking into the arrest. So, Tom, I imagine a lot of other green card holders in the U.S. are worried that can the U.S. government deport someone for taking part in a protest? If they were just taking part in a protest, probably not. But if they were taking part in a protest that involves, say, handing out literature clearly produced by Hamas, encouraging people to

commit violence towards Israel, they might be deportable because that might be defined as an activity espousing support or engaging in terrorist activity.

But there's gray areas of what support means, right? Like if you hand out a flyer that supports Hamas, is that speech or is that a deportable offense? Interesting point. And Khalil would probably bring that up in immigration court, which is where this initially will start out. He will bring that up that, hey, I was exercising my free speech rights. The immigration judge can't determine constitutional issues like that, but it will come up when he appeals that, okay,

case to a federal court of appeals. So then they would also look at whether he was exercising his free speech, which means that at the very least, if he doesn't get released ahead of his immigration court proceeding, he might be in detention for years. I can say to my new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, hey, find a keto-friendly restaurant nearby and text it to Beth and Steve. And it does without me lifting a finger. So I can get in more squats anywhere I can. One, two, three.

Three. Will that be cash or credit? Credit. Galaxy S25 Ultra, the AI companion that does the heavy lifting so you can do you. Get yours at Samsung.com. Compatible with select apps requires Google Gemini account results may vary based on input check responses for accuracy.

And for today's recommended read, Greenland's election result. The opposition Democratic Party and its slow-go approach to independence from Denmark has won. Trump's threats to take control of Greenland really raise the stakes and global interest in the election.

And for everything you need to know about why the island has been caught up in a geopolitical race to dominate the Arctic, then take a listen to our special Greenland episode. There's a link to the story and to that podcast in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.