The postal service temporarily stopped accepting packages from China as a result of the order, only to reverse course a day later.

The chaos left many in the US wondering about the fate of packages ordered from companies such as Shein and Temu, which had used the exemption for low-value packages to expand rapidly in the US.

Trump made the change last weekend as part of a wider decision raising border taxes on goods from China by 10% on 4 February.

His revision to the order on Friday said tariff-free treatment for packages from China worth less than $800 would remain in place until “adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue”.

The move comes as some of the other rapid-fire changes Trump has announced since taking office last month have also met with roadblocks, including legal challenges.

Last weekend he said he was putting 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, before rapidly suspending those duties for a month to allow talks to continue.

On Friday, Trump said he expected to announce “reciprocal tariffs” on many countries next week, a plan he had outlined on the campaign trail by which the US would levy tariffs at the same rates that other countries apply to the equivalent products made in the US.

The US had started to re-examine the exemption for low-value packages, known as de minimis, before Trump entered office.

The Biden administration in September proposed to tighten the rules on such packages from China, saying the move would help US firms compete and address challenges blocking shipments of illicit drugs.

In 2016, the US had raised the threshold for exemption from tariffs and other fees from $200 to $800 to facilitate trade and allow officials to focus on higher priority shipments.

But that decision has faced criticism as e-commerce has rapidly expanded and the number of packages entering the US under the $800 limit surged from 140 million to more than 1.3 billion last year.

Congressman Mike Waltz, a Florida Republican, said Trump would intervene if the Supreme Court upholds a law that bans the platform in the US unless it is sold by 19 January.

In its last week, the Biden administration is also looking for ways to prevent TikTok suddenly disappearing, reports NBC News.

Chinese owner ByteDance has said it plans to shut off the app for its 170 million US users by Sunday.

“We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark,” said Waltz on Thursday.

He noted that the law allows a 90-day extension for ByteDance if significant progress has been made towards a sale.

“Essentially that buys President Trump time to keep TikTok going,” said Waltz.

A day earlier the incoming national security adviser hinted on Fox News that Trump was planning an executive order in an effort to suspend the ban.

However, it is unclear whether any such measure could circumvent a law passed by Congress.

The app has been banned on national security grounds, because of concerns that its data could be collected by the Chinese Communist Party.

But according to the New York Times, Trump has invited the chief executive of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, to attend his presidential inauguration next Monday, sitting in a position of honour on the dais.

Trump has previously asked the Supreme Court to delay the ban – which would go into effect one day before he is sworn into office – so he can seek a “political” solution.

Congress passed a bipartisan law last year that gave TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, nine months to find a US-approved buyer or face a ban of the platform in the United States.

The legislation does not forbid use of the app, but would require tech giants such as Apple and Google to stop offering it and inhibit updates, which analysts suggest would kill it over time.

President Joe Biden signed the bill into law last April as part of a package that provided aid to Ukraine and Israel.

But NBC News reports that Biden, too, has been considering ways to keep the app available if a ban goes into effect.

Under that plan, they would defer the issue, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke to NBC.

TikTok and ByteDance deny being linked to the Chinese government. They have also ruled out a sale.

The Supreme Court heard TikTok and Bytedance’s arguments against the law last week.

A decision is expected any day.

Both Biden and Trump have reversed their stances on the platform.

Trump attempted to ban the app during his first term in office, but said on the campaign trail this year that he would protect it.

The president-elect’s lawyers have now asked the nation’s top court to consider whether he is entitled to an automatic stay of his sentencing while he appeals against his conviction.

Allowing the sentencing to proceed would cause “grave injustice and harm to the institution of the presidency”, his lawyers wrote.

They argue that the case should not proceed as scheduled until questions around presidential immunity are resolved.

Trump’s lawyers asked the judges to consider “whether a sitting president’s complete immunity from criminal prosecution during his term in office extends to the president-elect of the United States”.

Last year, the Supreme Court issued a sweeping decision granting US presidents immunity from criminal prosecution over official acts conducted while in office.

Trump’s lawyers have argued to a Manhattan judge and higher courts that the immunity protections should apply in his New York criminal case as well. They have also argued that the case should be put on hold due to his imminent return to the White House.

On Wednesday, shortly after the filing, the Supreme Court gave Manhattan prosecutors until Thursday morning to respond to Trump’s request.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a brief statement: “We will respond in court papers.”A jury unanimously found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May after a dramatic six-week trial.

The conviction stemmed from Trump’s attempt to disguise a reimbursement for a $130,000 hush-money payment made to an adult film star, who said she had a past sexual encounter with Trump.

Manhattan prosecutors argued that the scheme was tantamount to election interference, because the payment occurred just days before the 2016 election and kept a potentially damaging story from voters.

Trump denies the encounter and any wrongdoing.He was originally set to be sentenced in July, but Justice Merchan granted a delay as the presidential election played out. Subsequent sentencing dates in September and November were also moved.

Trump’s lawyers have also unsuccessfully sought to have the conviction thrown out entirely.

Justice Juan Merchan indicated in a recent ruling that he will not consider a jail term for Trump, but rather lower-level punishments.

On Tuesday, Trump reiterated his desire to acquire the autonomous Danish territory, saying it was “critical” for national and economic security.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told French radio “there is obviously no question that the European Union would let other nations of the world attack its sovereign borders, whoever they are”.

Barrot said he did not believe the US was going to invade the vast Arctic island, but he was clear the EU should not let itself be intimidated.

It is difficult to imagine how the European Union might prevent any potential attack. The EU has no defensive capabilities of its own and most of its 27 member states are part of the US-led Nato alliance.

Trump has repeatedly expressed an interest in buying Greenland, having mooted the idea during his first term as president.

Denmark, a long-time US ally, has made clear that Greenland is not for sale and that it belongs to its inhabitants.

Greenland’s prime minister, Mute Egede, is pushing for independence and has also made clear the territory is not for sale. He was visiting Copenhagen on Wednesday.

Trump made the remarks at a free-wheeling news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, less than two weeks before he is sworn in for his second term as president on 20 January.

Asked if he would rule out using military or economic force in order to take over Greenland or the Panama Canal, Trump said: “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two.”But I can say this, we need them for economic security.”

Greenland has been home to a US radar base since the Cold War and has long been strategically important for Washington.

Trump suggested the island was crucial to military efforts to track Chinese and Russian ships, which he said are “all over the place”.

“I’m talking about protecting the free world,” he told reporters.

Speaking to France Inter radio, Barrot said: “If you’re asking me whether I think the United States will invade Greenland, my answer is no.

“Have we entered into an era that sees the return of the survival of the fittest? Then the answer is yes.

“So, should we allow ourselves to be intimidated and overcome with worry, clearly not. We must wake up, build up our strength.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish TV on Tuesday that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders” and that only the local population could determine its future.

However, she stressed Denmark needed close co-operation with the US, a Nato ally.Greenland MP Kuno Fencker told the BBC that the population had been preparing for “some bold statements” from Trump, but that the island’s “sovereignty and self-determination are non-negotiable”.

Fencker, whose Siumut party is part of Greenland’s governing coalition, said local authorities would welcome “constructive dialogue and mutually beneficial partnership with the United States and other nations”.

He did not rule out a free association including both Denmark and the US, but said “this is a decision that Greenlandic people must take, it’s not one politician’s decision”.

Greenland has a population of just 57,000 and wide-ranging autonomy, although its economy is largely dependent on subsidies from Copenhagen and it remains part of the kingdom of Denmark.

It also has some of the largest deposits of rare earth minerals, which are crucial in the manufacture of batteries and high-tech devices.

Danish Broadcasting Corporation senior international correspondent Steffen Kretz, who has been reporting in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, said most of the people he had spoken to were “shocked” by Trump’s suggestion he could use military force to take control of the territory.

While a majority of people in Greenland hoped for independence in the future, he said there was widespread acknowledgment that it needed a partner who could provide public services, defence and an economic foundation, as Denmark did now.

“I have yet to meet a person in Greenland who is dreaming of the island becoming a colony for another outside power like the USA.”

Kretz told the BBC that while the Danish government had sought to “downplay” any confrontation with Trump, “behind the scenes I sense the awareness that this conflict has the potential to be the biggest international crisis for Denmark in modern history”.

The president-elect’s son, Donald Trump Jr, paid a brief visit to Greenland on Tuesday, in what he described as a “personal day trip” to talk to people.

He then posted a photo with a group of Greenlanders in a bar wearing pro-Trump caps.

Posting on social media, Trump urged the government to open up the North Sea and “get rid of windmills” after the chancellor raised a windfall tax on oil and gas companies in October.

Dave Laister, director of Humber Marine and Renewables, said the industry, including offshore wind, had reinvigorated the maritime economy and created hundreds of jobs in the region.

However, Lincolnshire MP Richard Tice agreed with Trump, saying the “growth in renewable wind turbines has been a catastrophe”.

Trump said Britain was “making a very big mistake” on its energy policy and had posted a link to an article about Labour’s decision to increase taxes for North Sea oil and gas producers.

In October, the government said it would raise the tax on companies drilling in the North Sea to 38% from 35% in a bid to generate money for more renewable energy projects.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has said gas production in the North Sea will be around for decades.

Responding to Trump’s post, Mr Laister, who co-runs a company supporting businesses in the maritime and offshore sectors, said: “I’d really like to invite Donald Trump to Hull to come… understand what offshore wind has done for the Humber region.

“I’d like him to hear first hand from countless leaders in the industry about what it means to the area, what it’s delivered and what the opportunities are.

“I know for a fact that the east coast, certainly in the US, is looking very hard at offshore wind.”

Mr Laister said the sector had created “thousands of opportunities” for people on both sides of the Humber Estuary, including Grimsby and Immingham, with Siemens Gamesa one of the major employers in Hull, manufacturing blades for wind turbines.

Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace, said renewable energy was much cheaper than fossil fuels but Tice, the Reform MP for Boston and Skegness, said the growth in wind turbines was “directly linked to the increase in electricity bills”.

He said: “Explain to me why our electricity bills are now the highest in the western world and those countries who have not got lots of renewable energy have got much lower bills?

“Why has America got electricity bills a third of ours? I will tell you why, because they use their own gas.”

Colin Davie, councillor for economy, environment and strategic planning at Lincolnshire County Council, said he supported offshore turbines but believed Trump was right to question the UK’s policy.

He said: “We should use oil and gas in the short term while we transition to more nuclear reactors and an investment in nuclear to make sure we have a zero carbon future.”

A DESNZ spokesperson said: “Our priority is a fair, orderly and prosperous transition in the North Sea in line with our climate and legal obligations, and we will work with the sector to protect current and future generations of good jobs.

“We need to replace our dependency on unstable fossil fuel markets with clean, homegrown power controlled in Britain, which is the best way to protect billpayers and boost our energy independence.”

By the end of a frenetic Monday, a new finance minister was in place, but Trudeau was facing calls from members of his own Liberal Party to quit.

Without directly referring to the news, the prime minister told party donors at an event in Ottawa: “It’s obviously been an eventful day. It has not been an easy day.”

In her scathing resignation letter – published on the day she was due to deliver an economic statement – Freeland cited disagreements with her long-time ally on how to respond to the threat of tariffs from Donald Trump.

The US president-elect, who will return to the White House in January, has vowed to impose a levy of 25% on imported Canadian goods unless the shared border is made more secure.

Economists say the tariffs could have a devastating effect on Canada’s economy.In her letter, Freeland accused Trudeau of choosing “costly political gimmicks” over addressing the threat posed by Trump’s “aggressive economic nationalism”.

Trump himself later responded to Freeland, posting that her “behaviour was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada”.

Freeland said her decision came after Trudeau told her last week that he no longer wanted her to be the government’s top economic adviser.

Her departure blindsided the government, leaving the fate of the scheduled economic update in the air for hours and bringing Trudeau and his shaky minority Liberals to the brink.

In a further blow, the Liberals lost control of the Cloverdale-Langley City seat in British Columbia, after a by-election win for rival Conservatives. It was the Liberals’ third by-election defeat of the year.

Freeland’s sudden exit as finance minister earlier in the day “just makes Canada look quite confused and uncertain”, Chris Sands, director of the Wilson Center’s Canada Institute said.

“Trudeau finds himself a little bit alone, not super close to any of his ministers, with the big, talented ones mostly now having left,” he added.

Mr Sands said Trump’s win in November’s US presidential election has caused a split among US allies, including Canada.

“Do you respond to Trump by pushing back and standing firm, or do you respond by trying to find a way to avoid conflict?” he said.

Trudeau has made overtures to Trump, including flying to Mar-a-Lago, the president-elect’s Florida estate, last month to dine with the president-elect.

But Freeland’s perspective, said Mr Sands, was closer to that of Mexico – also facing a tariff threat – and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Mexico has positioned itself under the idea that “now is the time to say no, to push back, to take a fighting stance”, he said.

Many politicians remember the challenges they faced during Trump’s first term in office, he added.

“He hasn’t been inaugurated yet, but people are already reacting as though he was the president and taking serious measures.”

Freeland, who also served as deputy prime minister, had been Ottawa’s lead during the first Trump administration in the successful re-negotiation of the US-Canada-Mexico free trade pact.

It was “a really stressful and overwhelming process for Canada”, Mr Sands said.

In addition to the members of the prime minister’s own party who called on him to quit, Canada’s three opposition party leaders said on Monday that Trudeau must go.

Pierre Poilievre, leader of the opposition Conservative Party of Canada, called for a federal election as soon as possible.

“Everything is spiralling out of control. We simply cannot go on like this,” he said.

Canada’s next federal election must be held in October, at the latest.

Laura Stephenson, chair of the political science department at Western University, told the BBC that it was not clear that a change in leadership would affect the current US-Canada dynamic.

“I have no confidence that Trump will react any differently to Poilievre than he does to Trudeau,” she said.

After nine years in power, Trudeau has faced growing calls to resign over concerns he is a drag on his party’s fortunes.

The Liberal leader’s approval rate has plummeted from 63% when he was first elected to 28% in June of this year, according to one poll tracker.

Opinion polls also suggest the Liberals could face a devastating loss to the Conservatives if an election was held today.

Some Liberal members of parliament have been pressuring Trudeau for months to step down – eight MPs publicly expressed this sentiment on Monday, Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reported.

In a meeting with his caucus following Freeland’s resignation on Monday, Trudeau reportedly heard some of those calls for him to quit directly. Others also expressed their concerns and reservations about his leadership.

Trudeau addressed them by saying he is not immediately stepping down, but that he will reflect on the day’s events, according to sources who spoke to Canadian media about the meeting.

Trudeau did not take questions on his way to the fundraiser in Ottawa, but he told the crowd he was “damn proud” of his government’s accomplishments.

In brief remarks, he said working for Canadian values was “at the core of what makes us Liberals”.

“That’s why we show up here, even on the toughest days as a party.”

Trudeau has defied previous calls to step aside and has said repeatedly that he plans to run in the next federal election.

Also on Monday, the leaders of Canada’s provinces and territories met in Toronto to address Trump’s tariff threat.

“It’s chaos right now up in Ottawa”, said Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Ford said the premiers will “make sure that we tell the world there is stability here, there is certainty here in Canada”.

Trump made the remarks – in apparent praise of Ankara – during a wide-ranging news conference on Monday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. His comments offered a window into his foreign and domestic policy weeks before he is to re-enter the White House on January 20.

I think Turkey is very smart… Turkey did an unfriendly takeover without a lot of lives being lost. I can say that Assad was a butcher, what he did to children,” Trump said, referring to the December 8 ousting of the longtime Syrian leader.

Al-Assad’s forced departure followed a surprise offensive across the country by rebel groups, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had long opposed al-Assad’s rule and supported the Syrian National Army (SNA) opposition group, based in northwestern Syria.

Trump had previously weighed in on the conflict, saying it is “not our fight”.

During his first term, he had sought to withdraw about 900 US soldiers based in Syria in advisory roles for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed opposition group, but reneged due to pressure from allies concerned about the resurgence of ISIL (ISIS).

Trump demurred on Monday when asked if he would withdraw the US forces.

He said that “nobody knows” what the future holds for Syria, which has been at war since 2011.

However, he added that he thinks “Turkey is going to hold the key to” the nation.

Ankara has broadly supported the opposition offensive but the full extent of its support for groups like HTS has remained unclear.

The SNA has continued to fight the predominantly Kurdish SDF since the fall of al-Assad.

Staying on the Middle East, Trump also said he “had a very good talk” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they discussed efforts to negotiate the release of captives held in Gaza before he takes office.

Those talks have long stalled, with critics accusing Netanyahu of blocking progress under the current administration of US President Joe Biden.

“I gave warning that if these hostages aren’t home by that date, all hell’s going to break out,” Trump said, repeating an earlier threat he made on social media about releasing the Israeli captives in Gaza in return for a ceasefire.

“It was a recap call more than anything else,” Trump added of his talk with Netanyahu.

He did not say when he spoke with the prime minister, but Netanyahu’s office said the two men spoke on Saturday.

On Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Trump deflected when asked about conversations he may have had with Russian President Vladimir Putin since winning the election in November.

He later said he planned to talk to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump has repeatedly pledged to bring a swift end to the war, but statements from his allies have sparked concerns he would pressure Ukraine to relinquish territory to Russia.

We’ll be talking to President Putin, and we’ll be talking to the representatives, Zelenskyy and representatives from Ukraine. We gotta stop it. It’s carnage,” Trump said.

“It’s just rubble,” Trump said of cities destroyed by the fighting. “Just like when I knock down a building in Manhattan, which is actually, this is worse actually, because we do it step by step.”

Trump also weighed in on a looming federal ban on the China-based TikTok social media platform. The US Congress passed a law in 2023 that said the popular social media platform must cut ties with its China-based parent company or be banned in the US by mid-January.

Without going into detail, Trump credited the platform – popular among young people and less politically engaged Americans – with helping him win the election. He said he would review the pending ban.

“We’ll take a look at TikTok,” he said. “You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok.”

On the domestic front, Trump weighed in on a slate of reported drone sightings in the eastern US.

Federal law enforcement officials have said most of the sightings are believed to be of crewed aircraft flying regular routes and there did not appear to be a national security threat.

Trump called for more transparency.“The government knows what is happening,” Trump said. “For some reason, they don’t want to comment. And I think they’d be better off saying what it is our military knows and our president knows.”

He added, “I can’t imagine it’s the enemy,” without elaborating.

Trump also took some time to defend his pick for health secretary, prominent vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr.

The political scion is meeting with lawmakers this week to shore up support for his appointment, which must be approved by the Senate.Over the weekend, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, spoke out in defence of the polio vaccine after a recent report disclosed that one of Kennedy’s advisers filed a petition to revoke approval for the polio vaccine in 2022.

Trump said he remained a “big believer” in the polio vaccine and would preserve access to it.“You’re not going to lose the polio vaccine,” he said. “That’s not going to happen.”

“He’s going to be much less radical than you would think,” Trump said of Kennedy.

“I think he’s got a very open mind, or I wouldn’t have put him there.”

On Thursday, Trump’s incoming press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed reports of the invitation in an appearance on the conservative TV channel Fox News. She framed the invitation as an effort to strengthen ties between the two countries, long seen as rivals.

“This is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just our allies but our adversaries and our competitors, too,” Leavitt told the programme Fox & Friends.

Experts say that it would be unprecedented for a Chinese leader to attend a US presidential inauguration, given the frosty relations that have persisted between the two countries for decades.

“This is diplomatic theater, nothing more. Other heads of state, let alone Xi Jinping, haven’t attended US presidential inaugurations,” Scott Kennedy, a China specialist at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the news agency Reuters.

 Experts say Xi is unlikely to accept the invitation. When asked at a briefing about Trump’s invitation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning responded: “I have nothing to share at present.”

But the symbolism behind his appearance at Trump’s second inauguration would likely be fraught.

Danny Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, told The Associated Press that Xi’s attendance – if he accepts – could be construed as the Chinese president “celebrating the triumph of a foreign leader”.

“Can you imagine Xi Jinping sitting outdoors in Washington, DC, in January at the feet of the podium, surrounded by hawkish members of Congress, gazing up at Donald Trump as he delivers his inaugural address?” asked Russel.

Xi and Trump have also butted heads in the past. During Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021, he initiated a trade war with China that saw the two countries impose tariffs on each other’s imports.

In 2019, the United Nations Trade and Development organisation issued a report warning that the trade war was “economically hurting both countries”. Experts have also warned that the cost of tariffs is often offset onto consumers.

Trump also exchanged a war of words with Xi’s government during the COVID-19 pandemic, which he called the “China virus”. He demanded China be held accountable for its spread. China, for its part, condemned Trump’s accusations as “baseless” and called his rhetoric stigmatising.

A second Trump term may spark further tensions with China. Already, he has pledged to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods if more is not done to curb the trade of the synthetic drug fentanyl.

And his incoming administration is stacked with several notable foreign policy hawks, including Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio, who has accused China of deploying “theft” and “predatory tactics” to strengthen its economy. China sanctioned Rubio in 2020.

The current administration of US President Joe Biden has also left some tariffs from Trump’s first term largely in place and taken aggressive steps meant to hobble China’s tech sector.

But this week, there was evidence the US could seek to increase cooperation with China moving forward.

The Biden administration announced a delegation of senior Treasury Department officials would travel to Nanjing, China, while other officials would coordinate with their Chinese counterparts at a meeting for the Group of 20 (G20) forum in South Africa.

Trump too has signalled a willingness to warm relations. Speaking from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, Trump also said his incoming administration would engage in “a lot of talks with China”.

“We have a good relationship with China. I have a surprising relationship. Now, when the COVID came in, I sort of cut it off. That was a step too far,” he said.

Some are hopeful that the two global powers will find room for collaboration where possible.

“We should choose dialogue over confrontation and win-win cooperation over zero-sum games,” Xi said in the letter read aloud at a US-China Business Council gala in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.

The lawsuit stemmed from on-air comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos that Trump had been “found liable for raping” writer E Jean Carroll.

The network and the anchor also agreed to offer public apologies for the comments during a live This Week interview with Representative Nancy Mace, according to documents filed on Saturday.

The terms of the settlement require ABC News to make a $15m donation to a fund dedicated to “a presidential foundation and museum” for Trump. The broadcaster will pay an additional $1m in lawyer fees, the documents said.

Trump sued ABC and Stephanopoulos in federal court in Miami days after the network aired the segment, in which the longtime Good Morning America anchor and This Week host repeatedly misstated the verdicts in Carroll’s two civil lawsuits against Trump.

Trump had been found liable for sexual abuse – a different transgression from rape under New York law – in a 2023 case filed by the writer.

In the first of the lawsuits to go to trial, Trump was found liable last year for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll. A jury ordered him to pay her $5m.

In January, at a second trial in federal court in Manhattan, Trump was found liable on additional defamation claims and ordered to pay Carroll $83.3m.

Trump is appealing both verdicts.

Carroll, a former advice columnist, went public in a 2019 memoir with her allegation that Trump raped her in the mid-1990s at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury Manhattan department store across the street from Trump Tower after they crossed paths at an entrance.

The case was settled one day after Judge Lisette M Reid requested depositions from both Trump and Stephanopoulos.

The settlement is the latest addition to Trump’s string of legal successes since his victory in the November 5 presidential election.

Last month, a US appeals court dismissed charges against Trump related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House.

US Special Counsel Jack Smith also paused a separate federal case concerning Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election results, though Trump still faces racketeering charges on the same issue in a Georgia case.

A judge has also indefinitely postponed sentencing in Trump’s May conviction in the hush money case, the only criminal charges against him to go to trial.

In a social media post on Friday, Trump said that the conservative Republican Party would “use its best efforts” to end the practice, which he criticised as inefficient.

“The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t!” he wrote. “Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”

Trump is set to be sworn into office on January 20, and his incoming administration includes several members who vocally oppose daylight saving time.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, for instance, has made multiple pushes in Congress to end the clock-switching practice, including one as recently as this year. In 2022, his bill, the Sunshine Protection Act, passed the Senate before ultimately failing to gain traction in the House of Representatives.

Rubio who has been tapped to serve as Trump’s secretary of state, has called daylight saving time a “stupid practice”.

Meanwhile, two close Trump allies — entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — openly weighed nixing daylight saving time on the social media platform X earlier this year.

Responding to a user’s complaint about daylight saving in November, Musk wrote, “Looks like the people want to abolish the annoying time changes!” Ramaswamy quickly chimed in: “It’s inefficient [and] easy to change.”

Under Trump, the two businessmen have been tasked with leading a yet-to-be-established, nongovernmental body called the Department of Government Efficiency, which will provide advice on how to streamline federal regulations, spending and bureaucracy.

But previous efforts to eliminate daylight saving time all have fallen flat.

The practice was first instituted in the US in 1918, as a means of preserving energy during World War I. The law mandating daylight saving was later repealed in 1919, shortly after the war ended.But in 1942, after World War II began, the practice remerged “to promote the national security and defense”.

Ever since, the merits of daylight saving have been consistently debated in US politics, on both sides of the aisle.

Some argue the practice of switching the clocks back and forth negatively affects human sleep patterns, resulting in increased risks for health problems like heart attacks. But a 2024 study from the Mayo Clinic says the threat to heart health is “likely minimal”.

Nowadays, most Americans turn their clocks back one hour in early November and forward one hour in mid-March.

What’s known as “daylight time” therefore runs from March to November, during the warmer, summer months in the US. “Standard time”, by contrast, runs during the winter, from November to March.

Only two states opt out of this practice: Arizona and Hawaii.

Still, many Americans support no longer having to switch time frames twice per year. More than 60 percent of people say they would like to see the changing of the clocks eliminated, according to a 2023 survey conducted by the research firm YouGov.

About 50 percent of people support making daylight time — and the later sunrises and sunsets that accompany it — permanent. About 32 percent, by contrast, support making standard time, which comes with earlier sunrises and sunsets, permanent.

Most countries have no such practice, and some medical associations have said that making standard time permanent would align more closely with the natural cycle of the sun and people’s sleeping needs.