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Category: Politics

New tariffs and expired tax credits put a dent in U.S. solar panel sales, but there’s reason for optimism

New tariffs and expired tax credits put a dent in U.S. solar panel sales, but there’s reason for optimism

By Dan Gearino August 27, 2026 This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. Rooftop solar installers feel like a dog that’s been repeatedly kicked. President Donald Trump has made solar more expensive—or at least slowed the long-term decline in costs—by imposing tariffs on imported photovoltaic panels and other parts. Trump also signed a measure last year that phased out the main…

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Trump’s trade war on Canada has virtually no support

Trump’s trade war on Canada has virtually no support

Zack Beauchamp reports: President Donald Trump seems dead set on escalating his trade war with Canada. And no one is really sure why. On Monday, Trump threatened another round of 50 percent tariffs on top of the ones he just implemented — this one targeting Canada’s auto industry, which is so deeply integrated with its American counterpart that large duties would do major damage on both sides of the border. By Tuesday morning, he had begun musing about renaming Lake…

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Iran has caused ‘billions’ in damage to American intelligence assets, report says

Iran has caused ‘billions’ in damage to American intelligence assets, report says

The Independent reports: Iran has caused “billions” of dollars in damage to U.S. intelligence infrastructure, according to a new report, which comes as the war continues to drag on with no clear end in sight. Iranian drones and missiles have struck “intelligence posts and surveillance hardware in the Middle East that is more extensive than any destruction America’s spy agencies have endured,” NBC News reported, citing four unnamed sources. The damage is expected to cost billions to repair. A CIA…

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CIA chief used Moscow visit to warn Russia against attacks on NATO allies, helping Iran

CIA chief used Moscow visit to warn Russia against attacks on NATO allies, helping Iran

Politico reports: CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russian officials in Moscow this week not to escalate conflict with America’s NATO allies, in particular Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, in response to Moscow’s stalemated invasion of Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter. The U.S. spy chief also used the rare, unannounced trip to the Russian capital on Tuesday to press Russia to reduce military and economic support for Iran, according to one of those two people and a U.K….

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U.S. issues sanctions against UK-based direct action group Palestine Action

U.S. issues sanctions against UK-based direct action group Palestine Action

The Guardian reports: The US ⁠has ​issued sanctions against ⁠the UK-based direct action organisation Palestine ⁠Action, describing it as a “transnational terror group”. The US Department of the Treasury labelled Palestine Action a specially designated global terrorist on Wednesday, which allows the US to freeze the assets of foreign individuals and entities. Palestine Action became the first direct action group to be proscribed under the UK’s Terrorism Act in July last year, placing it alongside the likes of Islamic State…

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‘AI is going to be a massive issue for the presidential election’

‘AI is going to be a massive issue for the presidential election’

Politico reports: The intensifying late-summer backlash against data centers is inspiring panic among some corners of the tech sector — amid fears that the industry is mishandling a political crisis that will stretch into 2028 and beyond. Those worries have deepened in recent weeks as politicians across the political spectrum embraced various curbs on data center construction, with Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, potential Democratic White House hopeful Josh Shapiro and Michigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers being among the…

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In effort to promote AI, EPA moves to cut out public input on data centers

In effort to promote AI, EPA moves to cut out public input on data centers

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is moving to make it harder for communities to weigh in on proposed data centers, even as a backlash against the behemoth projects grows across the country. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate a federal requirement that states publicize and solicit public input on applications for air pollution permits for a range of industrial facilities, including new data centers and the power plants needed to run them. The move could prevent…

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Canada has one important edge in the North American trade war: unity

Canada has one important edge in the North American trade war: unity

Politico reports: President Donald Trump is threatening Canada with economic destruction amid an escalating trade war. He’s not factoring in one key U.S. disadvantage. Americans are not nearly as gung-ho for a tariff stand-off as their northern neighbors, who have been seething for months over Trump’s rhetoric against their country. “The U.S.A. will always be far bigger, richer, and stronger than Canada,” Trump wrote in a second Truth Social post. “Someone should get these clowns to ‘fall in line’ or,…

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Judge issues setback to Trump administration plans to restrict mail-in ballots

Judge issues setback to Trump administration plans to restrict mail-in ballots

The Washington Post reports: A federal judge in Massachusetts on Tuesday issued a setback to the Trump administration’s plans to issue sweeping new restrictions on mail-in balloting for November’s crucial midterm elections. The ruling is not the final word in a complex and rapidly escalating legal fight over the president’s executive order that would bar the U.S. Postal Service from sending mail-in ballots to voters not on lists of citizens created by federal agencies. A separate case challenging the order…

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The Qataris gave Trump a $400 million airplane. He crippled their country in return

The Qataris gave Trump a $400 million airplane. He crippled their country in return

Shane Harris writes: Donald Trump really wanted the plane. The Qataris had flown the $400 million Boeing 747 to West Palm Beach just after he returned to the White House so he could run his hands over the soft leather chairs and inspect the sycamore- and wacapou-wood veneers. A sales brochure had described the en-suite master bathroom, with its mother-of-pearl inlays, as “almost a piece of art.” The plane was a flying palace fit for a Persian Gulf monarch, or…

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Engineering lawlessness: Under Israel’s watch, Palestinian gangs are sowing chaos in the West Bank

Engineering lawlessness: Under Israel’s watch, Palestinian gangs are sowing chaos in the West Bank

Sami Sawalmeh reports: When I arrived in the central West Bank town of Qarawat Bani Hassan for a reporting trip on July 31, residents were dealing with the immediate aftermath of an explosion outside a local businessman’s property. An extortion ring operating from Jaljulia, a Palestinian town inside Israel, had detonated the device after demanding money from him, according to prominent figures from the town who preferred not to be named. (A video from the blast site, seen by +972,…

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Trump says communities that oppose data centers are ‘making a mistake’

Trump says communities that oppose data centers are ‘making a mistake’

Axios reports: President Trump defended the expansion of data centers in an interview with his former fixer, Michael Cohen, that aired in full on Sunday. Why it matters: Trump’s support comes as data centers face growing backlash in both red and blue states. What he’s saying: Trump told Cohen during their interview that the U.S. was leading China in AI “by a lot” and that data centers were not taking power from the grid. “They’re making their own power plants. They’re building the most beautiful, you’ve never seen power plants…

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Carney will not allow Canada to be turned into a North American Belarus

Carney will not allow Canada to be turned into a North American Belarus

Toronto Star‘s Allan Woods writes: Trump has yet to publicly comment on the breakdown in trade talks, but U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters that Canada was offered “the best treatment of any major exporter to our market.” Without going into detail, he said Canadian negotiators made “new demands and walkbacks of other commitments” that had “upended the careful balance reached in the past days.” Doing a deal under the conditions Carney described would clearly have undermined Canada’s pivot…

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Canada should be ready to cut electricity, critical minerals as trade woes worsen, says Ontario’s premier

Canada should be ready to cut electricity, critical minerals as trade woes worsen, says Ontario’s premier

The Associated Press reports: Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday that Ronald Reagan would be “throwing up” over President Donald Trump’s trade policies and threatened to cut off electricity and critical minerals to the United States as Trump escalated the trade fight. Ford, speaking in an interview with The Associated Press, said Trump has underestimated Canadians’ willingness to endure economic pain rather than give in to U.S. pressure. “He underestimates Canada. We’re all in,” Ford said. “Up here, we’re at…

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How Trump is trying to crush California’s environmental policies

How Trump is trying to crush California’s environmental policies

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration has taken a series of extraordinary steps to attack California’s position as a national leader in environmental protection, enlisting at least a half-dozen federal agencies to undermine the state’s efforts to pivot away from fossil fuels. The stakes are high. Because of its market muscle as the world’s fourth largest economy, California’s environmental regulations have influenced the manufacturers of automobiles and other consumer goods. And its green policies have spread to some…

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Washington Post ordered to reinstate opinion writer fired over Charlie Kirk posts

Washington Post ordered to reinstate opinion writer fired over Charlie Kirk posts

The Guardian reports: An independent arbitrator has ordered the Washington Post to rehire the high-profile opinion columnist Karen Attiah, abruptly fired by the news organization last September over comments she made on social media about Charlie Kirk, the then recently slain conservative activist. On Monday, an arbitrator ruled that the Post had violated her rights as a union-protected employee and ordered the newspaper to reinstate her and compensate her for lost wages. “This decision confirms what we’ve said from the…

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