LIMA, Peru (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday expressed concern that China was costing Peru its sovereignty in solidifying control over the South American nation’s critical infrastructure, a blunt warning after a Peruvian court ruling restricted a local regulator’s oversight of a Chinese-built mega port.

The $1.3 billion deepwater port in Chancaynorth of Peru’s capital of Lima, has become a symbol of China’s foothold in Latin America and a lightning rod for tensions with Washington.

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said on social media that it was “concerned about latest reports that Peru could be powerless to oversee Chancay, one of its largest ports, which is under the jurisdiction of predatory Chinese owners.”

It added: “We support Peru’s sovereign right to oversee critical infrastructure in its own territory. Let this be a cautionary tale for the region and the world: cheap Chinese money costs sovereignty.”

The concern comes as the Trump administration seeks to assert dominance over the Western Hemisphere, where China has long built influence through massive loans and high trade volumes.

The Chinese government on Thursday strongly rejected the U.S. comments.

“China firmly opposes and strongly deplores the U.S.’s blatant rumor-mongering and smearing of Chancay port,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian at a daily briefing in Beijing.

Chancay, along the Pacific coast, is part of Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative, an infrastructure program that has seen Chinese state-owned banks offer sizable loans or financial guarantees to construct seaports, airports and highways, among other projects, across multiple continents.

As Latin America’s deepest port, Chancay is capable of berthing some of the world’s largest cargo ships traveling between Asia and South America. China has been Peru’s biggest trading partner for more than a decade now.

China’s state-owned shipping and logistics company Cosco, a majority shareholder in the port, dismissed the U.S. claims.

In response to questions from The Associated Press, it said the court ruling “in no way involves aspects of sovereignty” and insisted that the port remains “under the jurisdiction, sovereignty and control of Peruvian authorities, subject to all Peruvian regulations.”

It added there were plenty of Peruvian authorities monitoring the port’s activities, including police forces, environmental regulators and customs officials.

The ruling issued Jan. 29 by a lower court judge orders Peruvian authorities to refrain from exercising “powers of regulation, supervision, oversight and sanction” over the port in Chancay.

The regulator, Ositran, which has oversight over all of the country’s other major ports, said it would appeal the decision, arguing that there was no reason to exempt Cosco Shipping from the agency’s oversight.

“(Cosco Shipping) would be the only company providing services to the public that could not be supervised,” Verónica Zambrano, president of Ositran, told a local radio station Wednesday.

Although it’s privately owned, the Chancay Port covers 180 hectares (about 445 acres) of Peruvian territory, Zambrano added, making it subject to government efforts to monitor and enforce compliance with local user protection standards.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Four Democratic-led states that have become frequent targets of President Donald Trump sued Wednesday to try to block his administration from cutting off hundreds of millions in public health grants.

The Department of Health and Human Services told Congress on Monday that it planned to withhold about $600 million in grant funding allocated to the four states: California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota. Their attorneys general argue the cuts are backlash for the states’ opposition to Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The lawsuit says the cuts violate the Constitution by imposing retroactive conditions on funding and asks a federal court in Illinois to block them from taking effect.

Some grants could be terminated as soon as Thursday, and others in the coming weeks, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said.

Health officials have said the grants — several focused on LGBTQ+ people and communities of color — are “inconsistent with agency priorities” as the Trump administration has shifted away from supporting programs for specific populations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its priorities in September, dubbing health equity an “ideologically-laden” concept that “has undermined core American values.”

Health department officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

The administration also plans to pull hundreds of millions in transportation funding from the same four states.

Courts have temporarily blocked similar efforts by the administration to restrict federal funds.

A judge last week ruled that, for now, the administration cannot cut off billions in child care subsidies and other social service programs for lower-income people in those four states plus New York.

Several of the largest planned health funding cuts are to programs aimed at preventing the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in Chicago and Los Angeles, with a focus on adolescents, ethnic minorities and gay men.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called the funding cuts “a slap in the face” to public health leaders who have stepped up as the Trump administration “takes a sledgehammer to public health infrastructure.”

The administration is also targeting a $7.2 million grant for the Chicago-based American Medical Association, noting its support for gender-affirming care for minors, which a Trump executive order opposes.

Other grants help the states track disease outbreaks and collect public health data that the CDC also uses.

California faces the largest share of the planned cuts, which Attorney General Rob Bonta said will “irreparably harm” public health in the state.

“President Trump is resorting to a familiar playbook. He is using federal funding to compel states and jurisdictions to follow his agenda,” Bonta said. “Those efforts have all previously failed, and we expect that to happen once again.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted Wednesday to slap back President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, a rare if largely symbolic rebuke of the White House agenda as Republicans joined Democrats over the objections of GOP leadership.

The tally, 219-211, was among the first times the House, controlled by Republicans, has confronted the president over a signature policy, and drew instant recrimination from Trump himself. The resolution seeks to end the national emergency Trump declared to impose the tariffs, though actually undoing the policy would require support from the president, which is highly unlikely. It next goes to the Senate.

Trump believes in the power of tariffs to force U.S. trade partners to the negotiating table. But lawmakers are facing unrest back home from businesses caught in the trade wars and constituents navigating pocketbook issues and high prices.

“Today’s vote is simple, very simple: Will you vote to lower the cost of living for the American family or will you keep prices high out of loyalty to one person — Donald J. Trump?” said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who authored the resolution.

Within minutes, as the gavel struck, Trump fired off a stern warning to those in the Republican Party who would dare to cross him.

“Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!” the president posted on social media.

The high-stakes moment provides a snapshot of the House’s unease with the president’s direction, especially ahead of the midterm elections as economic issues resonate among voters. The Senate has already voted to reject Trump’s tariffs on Canada and other countries in a show of displeasure. But both chambers would have to approve the tariff rollbacks, and send the resolution to Trump for the president’s signature — or veto.

Six House Republicans voted for the resolution, and one Democrat voted against it.

From Canada, Ontario, Premier Doug Ford on social media called the vote “an important victory with more work ahead.” He thanked lawmakers from both parties “who stood up in support of free trade and economic growth between our two great countries. Let’s end the tariffs and together build a more prosperous and secure future.”

Trump recently threatened to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada over that country’s proposed China trade dealintensifying a feud with the longtime U.S. ally and Prime Minister Mark Carney.

GOP defections forced the vote

House Speaker Mike Johnson tried to prevent this showdown.

Johnson insisted lawmakers wait for a pending Supreme Court ruling in a lawsuit about the tariffs. He engineered a complicated rules change to prevent floor action. But Johnson’s strategy collapsed late Tuesday, as Republicans peeled off during a procedural vote to ensure the Democratic measure was able to advance.

“The president’s trade policies have been of great benefit,” Johnson, R-La., had said. “And I think the sentiment is that we allow a little more runway for this to be worked out between the executive branch and the judicial branch.”

Late Tuesday evening, Johnson could be seen speaking to holdout Republican lawmakers as the GOP leadership team struggled to shore up support during a lengthy procedural vote, but the numbers lined up against him.

“We’re disappointed,” Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House’s National Economic Council, told reporters at the White House on Wednesday morning. “The president will make sure they don’t repeal his tariffs.”

Terminating Trump’s emergency

The resolution put forward by Meeks would terminate the national emergency that Trump declared a year ago as one of his executive orders.

The administration claimed illicit drug flow from Canada constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat that allows the president to slap tariffs on imported goods outside the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, said the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. is a dire national emergency and the policy must be left in place.

“Let’s be clear again about what this resolution is and what it’s not. It’s not a debate about tariffs. You can talk about those, but that’s not really what it is,” Mast said. “This is Democrats trying to ignore that there is a fentanyl crisis.”

Experts say fentanyl produced by cartels in Mexico is largely smuggled into the U.S. from land crossings in California and Arizona. Fentanyl is also made in Canada and smuggled into the U.S., but to a much lesser extent.

Torn between Trump and tariffs

Ahead of voting, some rank-and-file Republican lawmakers expressed unease over the choices ahead as Democrats — and a few renegade Republicans — impressed on their colleagues the need to flex their power as the legislative branch rather than ceding so much power to the president to take authority over trade and tariff policy.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said he was unpersuaded by Johnson’s call to wait until the Supreme Court makes its decision about the legality of Trump’s tariffs. He voted for passage.

“Why doesn’t the Congress stand on its own two feet and say that we’re an independent branch?” Bacon said. “We should defend our authorities. I hope the Supreme Court does, but if we don’t do it, shame on us.”

Bacon, who is retiring rather than facing reelection, also argued that tariffs are bad economic policy.

Other Republicans had to swiftly make up their minds after Johnson’s gambit — which would have paused the calendar days to prevent the measure from coming forward — was turned back.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to have to support our president,” said Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said he doesn’t want to tie the president’s hands on trade and would support the tariffs on Canada “at this time.”

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Associated Press writers Rob Gillies in Toronto and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.