White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made the comments as she pushed back against critics of Republican President Donald Trump’s expansive actions. “We believe these judges are acting as judicial activists rather than honest arbiters of the law,” Leavitt said.

The nation may be edging closer to a constitutional crisis as senior White House officials bristle over a string of court orders stymieing Trump’s agenda.

The federal judge in Rhode Island said the Trump administration had failed to comply with his order unfreezing billions of dollars in federal grants.

The White House blocked an Associated Press reporter from attending an event in the Oval Office after demanding the news agency alter its style on the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump has ordered renamed to the Gulf of America.

The wire service said the decision stemmed from a style guidance to continue using the name Gulf of Mexico instead of Gulf of America.

U.S. President Donald Trump's planned 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports would be added onto other levies on Canadian goods, resulting in a total 50% tariff, a White House official said on Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump's planned 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports would be stacked on top of other levies on Canadian goods, says a White House official who confirmed the plan Tuesday on background.

If stacked on top of broad levies, Donald Trump's tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. would go up to 50 per cent.