Trump administration latest as IndyCars to race through the capital for Freedom 250 event | CNN Politics

Public roadways in DC have been converted into a speedway for an event hosted by Freedom 250, a nonprofit backed by President Donald Trump. Follow here for the latest.

• Freedom 250 race: Public roadways in Washington, DC, have been converted into an IndyCar speedway for an event hosted by Freedom 250, a nonprofit backed by President Donald Trump. It took an extensive, two-month process to erect safety barriers and viewing areas along the track, which drivers will navigate at speeds up to 180 miles per hour.

• Trump’s projects: The race is the latest in a series of marquee events celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary. The events have dovetailed with Trump’s efforts to remake Washington, DC, through major construction projects at the White House and across the capital.

• Tariff row: The event takes place against the backdrop of an escalation in US trade tensions with Canada. The Trump administration says it will move forward with its own countermeasures after Canada said it would retaliate against Trump’s 50% tariffs on goods.

President Donald Trump is holding firm on imposing 50% tariffs on Canada and reviving past attacks against the longtime ally after a last-minute deal fell through between the two sides Saturday.

“Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!! They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of Tariffs. No more!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social at 1:06 a.m. Sunday.

The comments on Truth Social were Trump’s first since the talks between the neighboring countries collapsed.

Both sides had said previously signaled a deal was near. On Wednesday, Trump paused steep tariffs on Canada for three days, claiming without specifics that the two sides had a deal.

But on Saturday, Prime Minister Mark Carney held a news conference in Ottawa, where he said the US “asked too much and offered too little.” Carney also said on X that Canada would match the US tariffs “dollar for dollar.”

Carney said that the Canadian negotiating team was unified during trade negotiations, adding, “you cannot say that about the United States administration.”

Canada and the US have long held agreeable trade terms. According to the Department of Agriculture, from 1989 to 1998, trade deals dismantled virtually all tariff and quota barriers to Canada-US agricultural trade, with the exception of US imports of dairy products and peanuts.

CNN’s Robert Illich contributed to this report.

Throughout his second term, President Donald Trump has overseen a slew of new construction and repair projects — not just at the White House, but across the city and surrounding region.

Despite an ongoing war with Iran and a national debt that has reached a record $40 trillion, President Donald Trump’s unpopular White House makeover is expanding with a new driveway and helipad.

The president led members of the media on a tour of the ongoing projects last week, his second such impromptu excursion with reporters this year, underscoring how central construction is to how he views his presidential legacy.

“One thing I know how to do is build. … I love construction, I love seeing things properly taken care of,” he said, adding that the projects “will be here long after we’re gone.”

A recent review from Politifact found that in 2026, the president has spent significant time talking about those projects during public remarks — more than any other topic, except for his war with Iran.

Trump also offered a holistic vision for how the new projects would be utilized when the White House welcomes dignitaries for state visits.

“Without even having to go into the White House, they get out of the car on the beautiful new roadway. They get out of the car and they walk down this path onto that (helipad), and they can have cocktails and everything outside of the White House, and then they go into the ballroom,” he said.

Welcome to our coverage. We’ll be bringing you the latest updates from the Trump administration, and the IndyCar race in Washington, DC, taking place later today.

Catch up on the headlines from this weekend so far:

Trade talks collapse: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed “dollar-for-dollar” tariffs in response to the United States’ 50% duties on $20 billion in Canadian goods after the two sides failed to reach a trade deal. Carney’s tit-for-tat measures take effect on September 8.

More tariff updates: US President Donald Trump defended his decision to temporarily pause tariffs on imported beef, despite criticism from some US cattle producers. He earlier said that the US would allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported for the next 90 days without out-of-quota tariffs. He didn’t indicate any plans to reverse course.

Immigration crackdown: A federal judge struck down a ban on visas for immigrants from 75 countries — including Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Haiti, Somalia and Russia — ruling it “contrary to the law” and outside the statutory authority of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Midterms: After several of Trump’s candidates came up short in recent primaries and ahead of the November midterm elections, he encouraged voters to “pretend” he’s on the ballot this year. “The problem that we have, is they say that Trump does great when he’s on the ballot. But when he’s not on the ballot, his people don’t come, and they don’t vote for senators, congressmen and other Republicans,” Trump told a rally for Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina.

Election denier meeting: Former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters traveled to Washington for high-level meetings this week with Trump administration officials, pitching her plan to invoke emergency powers and assert unprecedented federal control over elections. She was recently released from prison after her 2024 conviction of state felonies for conspiring with fellow election deniers to breach her county’s voting systems in hopes of proving Trump’s voter-fraud claims.

CNN’s Elisabeth Buchwald, Auzinea Bacon, Hanna Park, Kit Maher, Betsy Klein, Marshall Cohen, Isabelle Chapman and Andrew Kaczynski contributed reporting.