Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday:
HEALTHCARE
Trump endorses a plan by Republican lawmakers to replace the Obamacare healthcare law but influential conservative groups come out strongly against it, complicating the proposal’s prospects for passage in Congress.
Shares of large U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are selling off after Trump says he is working on a system to reduce prices in the industry.
TRUMP’S TAXES
Senate Democrats, seeking to capitalise on revelations about the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia, are urging a top Republican lawmaker to obtain the president’s tax returns as a matter of national security.
ADMINISTRATION
The prosecutor tapped to fill the No. 2 position at the Justice Department declines to commit to appointing a special counsel to oversee an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
The Senate Armed Services Committee votes overwhelmingly to approve Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster as Trump’s second national security adviser, despite concern about his handling of a sexual assault case.
WIRETAPPING
White House spokesman Sean Spicer says he has no reason to think Trump does not support FBI Director James Comey after a dispute over the president’s claim without evidence that he was wiretapped last year.
IRAN
The Trump administration pledges in a statement to show “great strictness” over restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities imposed by a deal with major powers but gives little indication of what that might mean for the agreement.
NORTH KOREA
The United States starts deploying the first elements of its advanced anti-missile defence system in South Korea after North Korea’s test of four ballistic missiles, U.S. Pacific Command says, despite angry opposition from China.
AUTOS
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and 11 other Democrats say it is critical that the Trump administration retain new vehicle fuel efficiency rules, arguing that the higher standards are achievable.
TRADE
Mexico has cancelled existing sugar export permits to the United States in a dispute over the pace of shipments in a flare-up industry sources said could temporarily disrupt supplies.
(Compiled by Bill Trott and Jonathan Oatis; Editing by James Dalgleish)
