Top Stories — Tuesday, April 21, 2026
What is trending in the USA today? Here is Breaking News:
- Trump says 'I'll remember' companies that don’t seek tariff refunds — CNBC
- U.S. Military Stops and Boards M/T Tifani, Tanker Carrying Iranian Oil, Pentagon Says — nyt News
- Europe Wanted a Say on the Iran War, but It’s Still on the Sidelines — nyt News
Trump says 'I'll remember' companies that don’t seek tariff refunds
Source: CNBC • Published: 4/21/2026, 8:04:02 PM
President Donald Trump on Tuesday told CNBC that he will gratefully "remember" U.S. companies that do not seek refunds for the tariffs he unilaterally imposed, which the Supreme Court later ruled were illegal.
Trump's comment on "Squawk Box" came a day after U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened a portal for importers to seek more than $160 billion in potential refunds for the so-called IEEPA tariffs.
He was asked about a number of large companies, among them Apple and Amazon, that have not filed requests for refunds for the tariffs they paid, potentially because they are worried about "offending" Trump.
Asked if he would find it offensive for them to seek a refund, Trump said, "Brilliant if they don't do that."
"Actually, if they don't do that, they've got to know me very well," he said. "I'm very honored by what you just said."
"If they don't do that, I'll remember them," Trump said.
The president again complained about the 6-3 Supreme Court decision that voided those tariffs. That ruling, he griped, did not include a sentence that said, "You don't have to pay back tariffs that have already been received."
"So, I'm not happy with the Supreme Court, I'll be honest with you," Trump said.
Major U.S. retailers have been crushed by Trump's trade war and stand to benefit materially from refunds.
Earlier this month, Levi Strauss Chief Financial Officer Harmit Singh told CNBC that the company expects to receive around $80 million in refunds for tariffs it paid on importing denim and other apparel items from manufacturers around the world.
Gap, the retail giant whose brands include its namesake, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta, also has said it stands to benefit from potential tariff refunds, but did not reveal an amount when the company reported fourth-quarter earnings in March.
"We've been clear that the tariff impact has been significant to our performance," Gap CFO Katrina O'Connell told CNBC in March.
"As an importer of record, we're definitely working on gaining clarity on whether we can recognize a refund," O'Connell said. "Because the situation is fluid right now as to how, when, or whether any refunds will ultimately be realized."
"We've not assumed that benefit in our outlook, but certainly we're tracking it closely, realizing that it could be important to us," she said.
Many retailers that reported earnings in recent months did not factor into their guidance either the Supreme Court's decision to void the tariffs imposed by Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or potential refunds from that ruling.
As refunds start being processed, retailers do stand to benefit and could end up raising their financial outlooks for the year.
U.S. Military Stops and Boards M/T Tifani, Tanker Carrying Iranian Oil, Pentagon Says
Source: nyt News • Published: 4/21/2026, 8:02:30 PM
The U.S. military on Tuesday stopped and boarded a sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean carrying oil from Iran, the Pentagon said in a statement.
It was the latest effort by the Trump administration to squeeze Iran’s oil-reliant economy since the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on Feb. 28.
“We will pursue global maritime enforcement efforts to disrupt illicit networks and interdict sanctioned vessels providing material support to Iran — anywhere they operate,” said a statement from the Defense Department, which included a video that appeared to show Navy SEALS landing by helicopter on the ship, the M/T Tifani.
The Pentagon added that it would “continue to deny illicit actors and their vessels freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.”
With the M/T Tifani now at least temporarily in the custody of the military, a U.S. military official said it was up to the White House to decide what to do with the sanctioned vessel and its cargo, which the official said was in the Bay of Bengal. The administration had previously seized several tankers carrying illicit oil from Venezuela following the U.S. commando raid there in January that seized former President Nicolás Maduro.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hinted at operations like the one overnight Tuesday when he said last week that U.S. military commanders elsewhere in the world, and especially in the Indo-Pacific region, would “actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran.”
The U.S. Navy has turned back 27 ships trying to enter or exit Iranian ports since an American blockade outside the contested Strait of Hormuz began about a week ago, the military’s Central Command said on Monday.
On Sunday, a Navy destroyer disabled and seized the Touska, an Iranian cargo ship, after it tried to evade the blockade. It was the first time a vessel was reported to have tried to evade the U.S.-imposed blockade on any ship entering or exiting Iranian ports since it took effect last week.
Eric Schmitt is a national security correspondent for The Times. He has reported on U.S. military affairs and counterterrorism for more than three decades.
Read the full story at nyt News.
Europe Wanted a Say on the Iran War, but It’s Still on the Sidelines
Source: nyt News • Published: 4/21/2026, 8:02:04 PM
When President Emmanuel Macron of France welcomed the leaders of Britain, Germany and Italy to the Élysée Palace in Paris last Friday, it looked as if Europe had finally found a worthy role to play in the Iran war.
They had gathered for a meeting of nearly 50 countries to discuss how to reestablish freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, a complex military mission that plays to Europe’s self-image as a guardian of international law in an increasingly lawless time.
Yet after a tense weekend, Europe once again finds itself where it was when the war broke out 52 days ago: watching from the sidelines.
Iran and the United States still call the shots in the strait, a reality underscored even as the European leaders rallied their counterparts in Paris. Midway through the meeting, in Tehran, the Iranian foreign minister announced that his country had reopened the waterway, prompting President Trump to exult on social media that the strait was “READY FOR BUSINESS.”
The two combatants then promptly undercut those statements, with the United States seizing an Iranian-flagged vessel trying to transit the strait while Iran fired warning shots at several ships, including one from France. The strait remains closed, stalling Europe’s postwar plans.
“This has been quite an awful time for Europe,” said Célia Belin, head of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “As long as the Europeans are not willing to play the brutal game, using force to achieve their objectives, they will not matter as much.”
Europe’s lack of influence on the war’s endgame is partly a result of its decision not to get involved at the war’s start. European leaders declined to join the American-Israeli attacks on Iran after being neither consulted nor forewarned.
That decision is politically popular in Europe, but it has imposed burdens on leaders as the conflict inevitably washes up on their doorstep, causing economic pain across the continent. Having spurned Mr. Trump earlier in the conflict, European governments have little leverage over him now.
“Europeans must learn to cope with this new era,” said Arancha González Laya, who served as foreign minister of Spain from 2020 to 2021. “Europe is not following the U.S. in Iran, and the U.S. is not letting Europe play a role in the Iran endeavor.”
France embodies Europe’s predicament. Despite refusing to join the attacks on Iran, it still found itself in the crossfire on Saturday when Iran fired shots at a French ship trying to exit the strait. Mr. Macron blamed “both sides” for the incident, which caused no injuries or damage. He said it was partly prompted by Mr. Trump’s decision to leave an American blockade in place, which caused the Iranians to renege on opening the waterway.
In Europe’s Strait of Hormuz initiative, there is a clear echo of the Coalition of the Willing, the European operation to secure a postwar Ukraine. Both are jointly led by Britain and France; both comprise an unwieldy roster of members; and neither will take effect until the fighting stops, a factor that is out of Europe’s hands.
Thirteen months after being unveiled by Mr. Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, the Coalition of the Willing exists mainly in blueprints. Some Western diplomats predict the plans will never come to fruition, given the hostility of Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, to the idea of Western troops in Ukraine.
The Hormuz mission is far more likely, experts say, in part because Mr. Trump himself has called on European countries to reopen the strait, by force if necessary. Escorting commercial ships and clearing the waters of mines is laborious and risky, but it is generally considered less dangerous than deploying thousands of European troops to patrol Ukraine within range of Russian drones and artillery.
There is also an economic incentive to act quickly over Iran, given how the strait’s closure has driven up energy costs across Europe. While European leaders agree that the conflict needs to stabilize before they commit military forces, French officials have said that they do not need to wait for a definitive peace settlement, provided they win assurances from Iran that no further ships will be attacked.
Part of the frustration for Europe, analysts say, is that it is not being taken seriously by either side. Iran has said little about the European initiative, focusing on Mr. Trump’s threats. Mr. Trump all but ignored the Paris meeting, instead keeping up his vitriol against NATO, a term he apparently uses interchangeably with Europe, for its lack of support.
“Now that the Hormuz Strait situation is over, I received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help,” he posted on social media. “I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, he said, adding: “They were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!”
French officials hope that their Strait of Hormuz initiative could help accelerate a broader settlement between Iran and the United States. Mr. Macron said last week it could help the cease-fire “stick in the long term.”
That is in keeping with the French president’s vision of a “third way,” one that seeks to position Europe midway between competing powers. That could mean brokering between China and the United States, when it comes to global trade, or between Iran and the United States, when it comes to the Middle East.
The problem with Mr. Macron’s vision is that it is not fully shared by his fellow Europeans. Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany said that he wanted the United States to take part in the operation to reopen the strait. France has pointedly excluded Washington, saying the meeting in Paris last Friday was for “nonbelligerents.”
Britain, too, has shown greater willingness to keep the United States in the loop. Last month, the British sent officials to the United States to help plan military operations to reopen the strait.
That is one of several issues that raise hackles between the partners. British officials mutter that Mr. Macron is grandstanding, while French officials sniff at Britain’s military presence in the region. For now, the British deployment is a small fraction of that of France, which includes an aircraft carrier, six frigates, and 50 fighter jets.
Until last week, the two countries had kept their planning quite separate, according to a Western diplomat, prompting some countries to question whether they had to choose between backing the British or the French approach. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
Nick Childs, an expert in naval security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a research organization in London, said, “There has been a challenge in getting alignment on some of these issues.”
Ms. González Laya, now a dean at Sciences Po, a French university, played down the tensions as “different expressions of one reality.”
“At the end of the day,” she said, “we’re all around the table to talk about how to open Hormuz.”
“The skeptics would say, ‘This is all for show,’” Ms. González Laya added. “But people like me, who have been doing this for a long time, would say ‘This is learning how to operate in a world without the U.S.’”
Mark Landler is the Paris bureau chief of The Times, covering France, as well as American foreign policy in Europe and the Middle East. He has been a journalist for more than three decades.
Read the full story at nyt News.
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