Trump updates: President shuts down hope of trade talks with Canada after Reagan ad

Trump closed negotiations with Canada after the province of Ontario aired a negative ad about tariffs

Carney says 'we stand ready' to resume trade talks after Trump ends them with Canada over TV ads

President Donald Trump maintained that he would not reopen negotiations with Canada, for now, after the province of Ontario aired a negative advertisement about tariffs featuring former President Ronald Reagan.

“What they did is wrong,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Friday afternoon as he made his way to his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Despite his anger about the ad, which used an old Reagan speech in which he voiced opposition to tariffs, Trump said he likes Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Trump said Carney “apologized” for the ad and “was very nice.” The two leaders spoke with each other during a trip to Southeast Asia this past week.

The president returned from his trip on Thursday and is expected to be in Florida over the weekend. That comes as states scramble for solutions to keep low-income Americans fed as SNAP loses funding on November 1.

When asked about the SNAP situation, Trump told reporters it was Democrats’ fault – a position he has maintained since the start of the government shutdown.

Key Points

• Judges call on Trump team to use emergency funds for SNAP
• Trump will not negotiate with Canada, for now
• Donald Trump demands Republicans take 'nuclear option' to end shutdown
• Progress in Senate shutdown talks but Mike Johnson and the House still stand in the way of any deal
• Trump heads to Palm Beach on day 31 of government shutdown

[31 October 2025 08:55 · Joe Sommerlad]

Good morning

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s liveblog on the Donald Trump administration and the U.S. government shutdown.

The president has now returned from his tour of the Far East and appears to be refocusing his attention on Washington, D.C., as the deadlock approaches its one-month anniversary with no obvious end in sight.

The impasse is already the second-longest in American history, behind only the 35-day stoppage that took place between 2018 and 2019 in Trump’s first term.

[31 October 2025 09:10 · Joe Sommerlad]

Donald Trump demands Republicans take 'nuclear option' to end shutdown

The president has called on his party to “play their ‘TRUMP CARD’” and take “the Nuclear Option” to end the U.S. government shutdown after almost a month of deadlock in negotiations.

Posting on Truth Social after returning to the White House from his tour of Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, Trump urged his party to “get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” but declined to strike a more conciliatory tone with opposition Democrats, instead calling them “Crazed Lunatics that have lost all sense of WISDOM and REALITY.”

The filibuster is the Senate rule that requires 60 of the chamber’s 100 members to agree to pass most legislation. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, meaning that legislation can be stalled if members vote along party lines.

The GOP could eliminate the filibuster using their simple majority, although many have historically been opposed to doing so, arguing that it would ultimately benefit the Democrats when they return to power.

Here’s more from Mike Bedigan.

[31 October 2025 09:25 · Joe Sommerlad]

In pictures: President and first lady host White House Halloween event

Trump’s first official business after returning jetlagged from South Korea yesterday was to join Melania in hosting a gaggle of costumed trick-or-treaters knocking at the door of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

(AP)

(AP)

(AFP/Getty)

(Reuters)

(Reuters)

(AP)

[31 October 2025 09:40 · Joe Sommerlad]

Trump puts candy on kid’s costumed head – again

The president created a difficult logistical problem for one of his guests yesterday by balancing a treat on top of their costume, forcing them to waddle away carefully without dropping it.

He has form in this area, as Katie Hawkinson explains.

[31 October 2025 09:55 · Joe Sommerlad]

Progress in Senate shutdown talks but Mike Johnson and the House still stand in the way of any deal

The upper chamber of Congress reached boiling point on Wednesday over the government shutdown and the fight to stop families losing their food aid.

Yesterday, however, saw a little progress, with Democrats appearing more willing to talk with Republicans.

Here’s Eric Garcia with the very latest from Capitol Hill.

[31 October 2025 10:10 · Joe Sommerlad]

Trump’s overhaul of refugee system branded ‘blatantly racist’

After freezing refugee admissions and cutting off funding to groups that support them, Donald Trump’s administration is now drastically reducing the number of refugees admitted into the United States each year – and handing most of those limited slots to white South Africans.

White House proposals previously reported by The Independent were formally added to the federal register Thursday.

Refugee admissions will now explicitly prioritize Afrikaners for resettlement and the ceiling for admissions has been radically reduced from 125,000 people to only 7,500 for the next year.

The move represents a stark break from a refugee policy informed by humanitarian needs, not ideology or identity, according to refugee resettlement groups.

Alex Woodward has the story.

[31 October 2025 10:25 · Joe Sommerlad]

Americans are seriously hating Trump’s decision to tear down the East Wing for his ballroom, poll finds

The majority of Americans hate the president’s decision to tear down the East Wing of the White House to construct a 90,000 square foot ballroom, according to a new poll.

The joint survey by ABC News, Ipsos and The Washington Post found that just 28 percent of U.S. adults support the demolition project while 56 percent oppose it and 16 percent are undecided.

The poll shows sharp partisan divides as nearly 9 in 10 Democrats and roughly six in 10 independents oppose the ballroom decision, while only two in 10 Republicans disapprove of it.

Democrats also feel more strongly on the issue, with 78 percent strongly opposed versus 35 percent of Republicans strongly in favor.

Erin Keller has more.

[31 October 2025 10:45 · Joe Sommerlad]

Companies involved in Trump ballroom ‘taking websites offline’

Such is the animosity towards the president’s pet construction project, some of the firms involved in its construction appear to have taken their websites offline.

Mike Bedigan reports.

[31 October 2025 11:05 · Joe Sommerlad]

How the shutdown is hitting families this Halloween

The meme wars are continuing this All Hallow’s Eve, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom pitching a ghoulish Robert F Kennedy Jr costume and Trump strategist Jason Miller again attempting to tie the shutdown to the Democrats by reviving the president’s nonsensical sombrero attack.

But for many Americans hard hit by the impasse in Washington, which has seen federal workers spend a month without pay, this spooky season is one of economizing and cutbacks.

[31 October 2025 11:25 · Joe Sommerlad]

Former Trump official says the president ‘doesn’t give a s***’ about SNAP as funding set to end

Miles Taylor, who served as deputy chief of staff for the Department of Homeland Security in 2019 and was subsequently unmasked as the author of an anonymous op-ed in The New York Times attacking the administration, has lashed out over the president’s handling of the shutdown, accusing him of not caring about Americans losing their food stamps.

States like California, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia have pledged emergency food programs to help with the current crisis but the situation nevertheless threatens to leave one in eight Americans forced to make difficult choices about their limited household budgets, in many cases having to divert funds away from their rent, heating or medical prescriptions to buy food.

Here’s more.