February 3, 2025

Good morning. We’re covering revoked protections for Venezuelans in the U.S. and Syria’s first foreign diplomatic trip.

Plus, a lobster war in Nova Scotia.

Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

Trump targeted protected Venezuelans in the U.S.

The Trump administration revoked Temporary Protected Status yesterday for more than 300,000 Venezuelans in the U.S., leaving the population vulnerable to potential deportation in the coming months.

Those under T.P.S. from Venezuela who received the protections in 2023 will lose their temporary status 60 days after the government publishes the termination notice. The move could face legal challenges from immigrant rights activists.

Background: T.P.S. is meant for migrants who cannot be returned to a country that is facing a natural disaster or conflict. In recent years, migrants have fled Venezuela as its government has unraveled under President Nicolás Maduro. Republicans have criticized T.P.S., describing it as a temporary measure that turned into a permanent arrangement.

Tariffs: Canada said yesterday that it would place retaliatory tariffs of 25 percent on more than $100 billion worth of U.S. goods, after President Trump imposed stiff tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico. U.S. items that would be affected beginning tomorrow include honey, tomatoes, whiskey, peanut butter and garments. Justin Trudeau, Canada’s leader, added that more measures, including curbing or taxing energy exports, were being considered.

China’s commerce minister vowed “countermeasures” and said it would file a legal case at the World Trade Organization against the U.S. Mexico’s president promised retaliatory “tariff and nontariff measures.”

Analysis: Trump took to social media yesterday to defend the tariffs while acknowledging that there could be “some pain.” They could upend the world economic order in China’s favor.

More on Trump More than 50 interviews with Democratic leaders reveal how the party is struggling to agree on a unified message. For his first official trip as secretary of state, Marco Rubio went to Panama. The transportation secretary and Vice President JD Vance blamed diversity hiring practices for last week’s deadly collision between a commercial jet and a military helicopter. Many Americans say they don’t believe the Democratic Party is focused on the economic issues that matter most to them, according to a poll from The Times and Ipsos. The top security officials at U.S.A.I.D. were put on administrative leave after they refused to give Elon Musk’s representatives access to internal systems, U.S. officials said. The Education Department placed a number of employees on leave, as the administration continued its purge of diversity efforts.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, right, with Ahmed al-Shara. via Associated Press

Syria’s leader went to Saudi Arabia for his first foreign visit

Ahmed al-Shara, Syria’s newly appointed interim president, landed in Saudi Arabia yesterday to forge a partnership with the oil-rich Gulf nation. He met with the kingdom’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, according to Syrian and Saudi state news media.

The trip reflected Syria’s political shift away from Iran, a key ally of its longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad. For Saudi Arabia, recent events have presented an opening to reassert influence in both Syria and Lebanon, two countries where the kingdom had once vied for sway and largely lost out to Iran.

Negotiations: A Kremlin delegation arrived in Syria last week to see if Russia could keep its military bases in the country. To do so, the delegation would need to win over a country that Russia bombed ruthlessly while al-Assad was in power.

Rescuers at the aftermath of a missile strike in Poltava, Ukraine, on Saturday. Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters

Strikes killed 18 civilians, Ukraine said

At least 14 people were killed on Saturday in a Russian missile attack on the city of Poltava, Ukrainian officials said. Later, a bomb smashed into a boarding school, killing four people in Sudzha, a Russian town held by Ukraine. Each country blamed the Sudzha attack on the other.

It was one of the highest single-day tolls this year and a grim reminder of the war’s enduring devastation and brutal toll on civilians. Since Russia’s invasion began, more than 12,300 civilians have been killed, the U.N. reported.