Reuters World News - Tariffs, snowstorm and Mexico violence

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

U.S. Customs will stop collecting tariffs ruled illegal by the Supreme Court. A powerful winter storm shuts schools and disrupts travel across the Northeast. Violence in Mexico after a new U.S. military-led group helped in the hunt for the drug lord ‘El Mencho.’ Plus, how the State of the Union has become a stage for political confrontation.   Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Monday, February 23rd. Today, the US will stop collecting tariffs the Supreme Court has ruled illegal. New York City issues a travel ban in the face of a powerful winter storm. And violence breaks out after Mexican authorities kill Kingpin Al-Mancho. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines. 10 minutes, seven days a week. At one minute past midnight tonight, U.S. Customs says it will stop collecting Trump-era tariffs. The move comes after they were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court.

It is a major shift for global trade policy, ending a three-day period during which importers were still shelling out for taxes on shipments, even after the top court had struck them down. The agency told Shippers in a message on its messaging service that it will deactivate all tariff codes associated with President Donald Trump's International Emergency Economic Powers Act as of Tuesday. The tariff collection halt coincides with Trump's new 15% global tariff, which he imposed after the Supreme Court decision. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agency gave no reason why it continued to collect taxes at ports of entry days after the Supreme Court. Supreme Court's ruling, and no information about any possible refunds has been given. For more on the market's reaction to US tariff policy, we've got Mike Dolan from our sister

podcast MorningBid. Hi, Mike. Good morning. Confusion rains in financial markets as much as it does in the capital's all around the world, just as to where US trade policy is at this particular juncture. 15% tariffs across the board is what we're facing, first thing on Monday. market reaction in US at least is that Wall Street stock futures are down ahead of the bell. The dollar is also down. Treasury market a little bit more stable, but gold prices are up. So, you know, very much reflecting the uncertainty.

And remember, US stocks had rallied on the Supreme Court decision on Friday, but now have scaled that back as we face another sweep of new tariffs. Those tariffs will only last 150 days. We don't know what happens after that. probably goes to congressional approval. And of course, the midterm elections take on a whole new importance in that regard. Elsewhere, Asia markets did okay. They're facing probably less tariffs now than they were in the previous regime. In Europe, lots of the bilateral deals all around the world have been kiboshed to some degree. Certainly they've been put on ice.

So lots of uncertainty. Thanks, Mike. You can listen to MorningBid wherever you get your podcasts. The man who breached the security perimeter at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort and was shot dead by police has been named as 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin from North Carolina. That's according to a source familiar with the investigation. Authorities say Martin entered the property carrying a shotgun and a fuel can. Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw says police confronted him and ordered him to drop the items. He put down the gas can raised the shotgun to a shooting position. At that point in time, the deputy and the two secret service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat.

Martin was pronounced dead at the scene. Trump was in Washington at the time, and the FBI is now leading the investigation. New York City has not faced a storm of this scale in the last decade. New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani announcing a state of emergency. in the face of a fierce winter storm, forecast to batter much of the East Coast. The state of emergency closes the streets, highways and bridges of New York City for all traffic. Schools are closed for the day, too. The storms expected to drop up to 28 inches of snow in some parts of New York, alongside dangerous winds.

A state of emergency is also in place in Massachusetts, with the National Guard on standby to help. thousands of flights have already been delayed or cancelled, with snow and storm warnings in effect from the Mid-Atlantic to the northeast. Reuters will stay across the storm as it hits. For developments, head to Reuters.com or the Reuters app. A Mexican drug lord whose capture set off a wave of violence across the country has been killed. Nemesio Oseguera, known as Almencho, was injured in a shootout with Mexican authorities in Halisco State and died in custody.

Helesco governor, Pablo Lemos Navarro, says a code read, the highest security alert, is now in effect. In Guadalajara, the result of a night of violence is everywhere. Water pours from broken pipes in the ceiling of a supermarket. Below it, a burnt-out car, which appears to have been driven into the building. A member of Oseguera's Hellesco New Generation cartel, told Reuters that the violence is revenge for the killing of Ossigwera, warning of further bloodshed as other groups moved to take control of his cartel.

Meanwhile, Reuters has learned the U.S. may well have played a role in Almenchel's capture through what's known as the Joint Interagency Task Force Counter-Catel. Chief National Security correspondent Phil Stewart in D.C. has the details. So this task force is really not well known in the United States. States or anywhere. It was just very quietly launched. Formerly last month, kind of unofficially, it was pulling itself together late last year. And its goal is to map out drug cartels and their networks, just the same way the U.S. military mapped out al-Qaeda or, say, Islamic State. So far, we don't know exactly what the task force provided, but this task force was in charge of

intelligence collection and mapping out these networks and preparing targeting packages on a cartel leaders and on members of the cartels. And a former U.S. official did say, without referring to the task force specifically, that the U.S. did compile a detailed targeting package for this cartel leader and provided it for the Mexican government to take action on. The Mexican government and U.S. officials that Reuters spoke to really emphasized that Mexico was in charge of this operation. President Donald Trump is preparing to give his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

But what was once a procedural presidential presidential? report to Congress has become more and more divisive in an era of fierce polarization. Some Democrats are planning a boycott. About a dozen will instead attend a rally to protest Trump's policies. News editor Howard Gawler says it underscores just how much the speech has become a stage for political confrontation. The speech has become more and more a moment of polarization, particularly in the last, let's say, a couple of decades. standing ovations from one side that supports the president and stony silence on the other. And this represents, I think, more than perhaps anything else, how political theater has turned

into something that is something of a spectacle on the one night during the year that in the past was a unifying message. Howard says this increase in polarization has brought with it an increase in duration. Less and less has it been used as a way to advance policies and more and more to choreograph some sort of political narrative. And this has happened alongside a lengthening of these speeches. Bill Clinton set a record in 2000, an hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds. but Trump and his joint address in 2025 last year topped that with nearly a one hour, 40-minute speech. And again, this is interrupted by applause, sometimes standing ovation, sometimes booing, sometimes insults. And for today's recommended read, it is award season and we know you want to see the outfits.

On Sunday, London hosted the Bafters with everyone from Leo Dio. Lecabrio, to Tiana Taylor, to Timothy Shalamee, stepping out on the red carpet. Check out their looks, and of course read about the winners. There is a link in the show notes. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.