Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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?? Trump plans military parade in D.C.

Trump is planning a military parade through Washington, D.C., on June 14, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the Army's founding and his 79th birthday, Axios D.C.'s Cuneyt Dil reports.

• Why it matters: Trump wants to remake the nation's capital — and a military parade is one thing he never got in his first term.

The Trump administration contacted D.C. officials on Friday about the early planning for a parade, reported first by Washington City Paper.

• Federal officials "reached out to our special events task force," Mayor Muriel Bowser told the press on Monday, but it's "at its early stages."

? The route would stretch almost four miles — starting at the Pentagon, crossing the Potomac River and ending at the White House.

Deportations

The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a significant victory yesterday when it ruled that he may invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act and give immigration officials the wartime authority to rapidly deport alleged gang members. The unsigned decision also noted that going forward, people who are deported should be told they are subject to the act so they have “reasonable time” to bring habeas complaints. By granting Trump’s request, the high court tossed out a district judge's order, which temporarily blocked the president from enforcing the act against five Venezuelans who sued. Chief Justice John Roberts also temporarily paused a court-imposed midnight deadline to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the US. ICE mistakenly deported the Maryland man to El Salvador where he was placed in a notorious mega-prison. The Trump administration has conceded in court filings that Abrego Garcia was deported “because of an administrative error” but claims it cannot get him back because he’s in Salvadoran custody.

 

Military official fired

President Trump has fired Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, the US military representative to the NATO Military Committee, according to Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. It was not immediately clear why Chatfield was fired. The Senate unanimously confirmed her to the post in December 2023. A Navy pilot, Chatfield earned her “wings of gold” in 1989 and was deployed in helicopter detachments to the western Pacific and the Arabian Gulf. According to her official bio, Chatfield was the recipient of numerous honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal, the Bronze Star and commendation medals from the Navy, Army and Air Force. She also taught political science at the US Air Force Academy and was the first female president of the US Naval War College. Her firing was just the latest in an ongoing purge of senior military brass.

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Supreme Court allows Trump to deport Venezuelans under wartime law, but only after judges’ review The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to use an 18th century wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants, but said they must get a court hearing before they are taken from the United States. Read more.

Why this matters: In a bitterly divided decision, the court said the administration must give Venezuelans who it claims are gang members “reasonable time” to go to court. But the conservative majority said the legal challenges must take place in Texas, instead of a Washington courtroom.   The court’s action appears to bar the administration from immediately resuming the flights that last month carried hundreds of migrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The majority said nothing about those flights, which took off without providing the hearing the justices now say is necessary.   In dissent, the three liberal justices said the administration has sought to avoid judicial review in this case and the court “now rewards the government for its behavior.” Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined portions of the dissent.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Chief Justice Roberts pauses deadline for return of Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador   Appeals court restores DOGE access to sensitive information at US agencies   Trump administration fires senior Navy female officer at NATO. She appeared on a ‘woke’ list   RFK Jr. says he plans to tell CDC to stop recommending fluoride in drinking water   US ends life-saving food aid for millions. The World Food program calls it a ‘death sentence’   Federal grants to fight child labor worldwide are axed in DOGE cuts   Colleges around the US say some international students’ visas are being revoked   Trump’s DHS revokes legal status for migrants who entered the US on Biden-era CBP One app   National Weather Service no longer translating products for non-English speakers   Army reenlists nearly two dozen soldiers ousted for refusing COVID-19 vaccine   Trump appointment of junior official to oversee State Department personnel meets resistance   Fired Justice Department pardon attorney accuses the agency of ‘ongoing corruption,’ abuse of power   Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to New York’s ban on guns in ‘sensitive’ locations   Weedkiller maker asks US Supreme Court to block lawsuits claiming it failed to warn about cancer   Trump says the US will hold direct talks with Iran; Tehran says they’ll be indirect negotiations   Contract for Hong Kong company to operate Panama Canal ports had irregularities, audit finds   Brazil will require visas for US, Canadian and Australian citizens   Former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who led 2020 election probe agrees to surrender law license

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China says it will ‘fight to the end’ after Trump threatens to impose still more tariffs China said Tuesday it would “fight to the end” and take countermeasures against the United States to safeguard its own interests after President Donald Trump threatened an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports. Read more.

Why this matters: Trump’s threat Monday of additional tariffs on China raised fresh concerns that his drive to rebalance the global economy could intensify a financially destructive trade war. Stock markets from Tokyo to New York have become more unstable as the tariff war worsens.   China, the world’s second-largest economy, has announced retaliatory tariffs and the ministry hinted in its latest statement that more may be coming. China is one of the U.S.'s top trading partners, especially for consumer goods, and the tariffs — essentially a tax on imports paid by U.S. companies — will eventually be passed on to the consumer.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ World shares advance, led by 6% jump in Tokyo as markets calm somewhat after Trump's tariff shocks   Speaker Mike Johnson says the House will give Trump ‘space’ on tariffs   Trump says high tariffs may have prevented the Great Depression. History says different

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Don't believe fake Trump post about George Soros paying protesters

According to the screenshot, people who protested Trump in cities nationwide April 5 were paid actors.

Claim:

After April 5, 2025, protests against U.S. President Donald Trump, a screenshot authentically showed a Truth Social post by the president claiming billionaire George Soros paid millions of people to participate in the demonstrations.

Rating: Fake

Following nationwide protests against U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on April 5, 2025, a screenshot circulated online allegedly showing a Truth Social post by the president claiming billionaire George Soros paid millions of people to participate in the demonstrations.

According to the purported post, the president described the so-called "Hands Off!" demonstrations as "fake" and said the protesters were "actors" paid by Soros.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-george-soros-paying-protesters/?

ps:The only thing fake is the criminal-in-chief.

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CHART OF THE DAY

 

Trump’s tariffs aren’t very reciprocal at all. (Source: The Financial Times)

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Elon Musk Pleaded With Trump to Stop Tariffs While Feuding With Trade Guru

Musk and his brother have sparred with Trump and Peter Navarro on the issue.

Elon Musk tried but ultimately failed over the weekend to convince Donald Trump to pull back his tariff plans as he feuded with a key trade adviser.

In the most public break from the Trump administration since taking office, The Washington Post reported Monday, Musk openly disagreed with Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on a host of countries as the “first buddy” and Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, took shots at one another over the issue.

The tit-for-tat began on Saturday after Musk replied to a video of Navarro explaining the tariffs on CNN, criticizing the 75-year-old’s background. Navarro then shaded the Tesla CEO, telling Fox News, “Elon, when he’s in his DOGE lane, is great, but we understand what’s going on here... Elon sells cars. He’s simply protecting his own interests.”

Navarro made similar comments Monday on CNBC, while insisting that “everything’s good with Elon, I promise.”

Musk, whose car company has lost more than $100 billion in market cap in the last few days, has also publicly criticized tariffs by posting a clip of free trade economist Milton Friedman.

Musk’s brother also contributed to the conversation by criticizing Trump’s move.

“Who would have thought that Trump was actually the most high tax American President in generations,” Kimbal Musk wrote on X.

“Through his tariff strategy, Trump has implemented a structural, permanent tax on the American consumer,” he continued. “Even if he is successful in bringing jobs on shore through the tariff tax, prices will remain high and the tax on consumption will remain the form of higher prices because we are simply not as good at making all things.”

Musk himself seems to be on his way out of the administration, with Trump estimating a time frame of “a few months.” Like Navarro, Trump pointed to his businesses that also require his attention.

As for Navarro, all signs point to him being around for the foreseeable future. He did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post, but when the publication quizzed the Trump administration, it replied: “The President has put together a remarkable team of highly talented and experienced individuals who bring different ideas to the table, knowing that President Trump is the ultimate decision maker.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not address the apparent rift, adding, “When he makes a decision everyone rows in the same direction to execute. That’s why this Administration has done more in two months than the previous Admin did in four years.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musk-pleaded-with-donald-trump-to-stop-tariffs-while-feuding-with-trade-guru/?

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“They Don’t Care About Civil Rights”: Trump’s Shuttering of DHS Oversight Arm Freezes 600 Cases, Imperils Human Rights

On Feb. 10, more than a dozen Department of Homeland Security officials joined a video conference to discuss an obscure, sparsely funded program overseen by its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. The office, charged with investigating when the national security agency is accused of violating the rights of both immigrants and U.S. citizens, had found itself in the crosshairs of Elon Musk’s secretive Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

https://www.propublica.org/article/homeland-security-crcl-civil-rights-immigration-border-patrol-trump-kristi-noem?

ps:Of course he doesn't and never has!!!!!

Trump Said Cuts Wouldn’t Affect Public Safety. Then He Fired Hundreds of Workers Who Help Fight Wildfires.

President Donald Trump’s executive orders shrinking the federal workforce make a notable exception for public safety staff, including those who fight wildland fires. But ongoing cuts, funding freezes and hiring pauses have weakened the nation’s already strained firefighting force by hitting support staff who play crucial roles in preventing and battling blazes.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-doge-cuts-forest-service-firefighting?

No, President Trump, the Income Tax Wasn’t A Mistake. But It Was an Accident.

In his Rose Garden speech launching a global trade war by announcing the most sweeping tariffs in modern history, President Donald Trump bestowed a history lesson on his audience that diverged from the factual record:

https://www.propublica.org/article/history-income-tax-history-16th-amendment-trump-tariffs-great-depression?

Tariffs on China set to rise to at least 104% on Wednesday, White House says

President Donald Trump is set to impose an astounding 104% in levies across all Chinese imports on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Tuesday. This comes on top of Chinese tariffs that were in place prior to Trump’s second term.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/08/business/trump-china-tariff?

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Supreme Court blocks order requiring Trump administration to reinstate thousands of federal workers

The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked an order for the Trump administration to return to work thousands of federal employees who were let go in mass firings aimed at dramatically downsizing the federal government. It’s the third time in less than a week that the justices have sided with the Republican administration in its fight against federal judges. Read More.

Live updates: Trump expected to sign executive orders to boost coal

The reliable, polluting energy source has long been in decline, but Trump will use emergency authority to allow some older coal-fired power plants set for retirement to keep producing electricity to meet rising U.S. power demand, according to two senior White House officials. Read More.

White House keeps world guessing as clock ticks down to Trump's new tariffs

President Donald Trump tried to have it both ways this week, saying “there can be permanent tariffs, and there can also be negotiations.” That has left world leaders and businesses holding their breath as the stock market craters and the clock ticks down to the new tariffs taking effect Wednesday. Read More.

Joe Rogan and Dave Portnoy are among the Trump backers now questioning his tariff policies

As President Donald Trump’s tariffs roil global markets, some of the thought leaders and influential podcasters who backed the Republican’s campaign are voicing doubts. Read More.   US expected a big travel year, but overseas visitors — angered by Trump — are heading elsewhere The U.S. tourism industry expected 2025 to be another good year in terms of foreign travelers. The number of international visitors to the United States jumped in 2024, and some forecasts predicted arrivals from abroad this year would reach pre-COVID levels. But three months into the year, international arrivals are plummeting. Read More. Netanyahu-Trump meeting reveals unexpected gaps on key issues Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington this week for a hastily organized White House visit bringing a long list of concerns: Iran’s nuclear program, President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the surging influence of rival Turkey in Syria and the 18-month war in Gaza. He appeared to leave largely empty-handed. Read More. Why water fluoridation, long considered a public health success story, is under scrutiny U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he wants communities to stop fluoridating water, and he is setting the gears of government in motion to help make that happen. Read More. National Park Service restores original Harriet Tubman, Underground Railroad webpage The changes, first reported by The Washington Post, included removing Harriet Tubman’s picture from the top of the page and making multiple edits to the text. A side-by-side analysis of the pages revealed changes that removed references to slavery and changed descriptions about the issue and its brutal realities. Read More.

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Trump says Ukraine started the war that’s killing its citizens. What are the facts?

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Donald Trump this week falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war that has cost tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives, causing outrage and alarm in a country that has spent nearly three years fighting back a much larger Russian military.

https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russia-trump-war-zelenskyy-putin-7fe8c0c80b4e93e3bc079c621a44e8bb

Federal judge says White House’s punishment of Associated Press is unconstitutional

The White House’s decision to punish the Associated Press by eliminating its access to President Donald Trump’s events, the Oval Office and Air Force One is unconstitutional, a federal judge said Tuesday.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/08/politics/judge-restores-associated-press-access-to-white-house?

SCOTUS comes to Trump's rescue

The Supreme Court is clearing away many of the speed bumps lower courts have put in President Trump's path, Axios' Sam Baker writes.

• The court said today that the administration does not have to comply with a lower-court order directing it to rehire thousands of fired federal workers.
• Last night, the justices lifted a judge's order prohibiting the administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected criminals en masse.
• They also allowed the administration to proceed with a plan to freeze funding for teachers.
• And Chief Justice John Roberts granted the Justice Department's request for more time to litigate whether the U.S. must return a man who was deported due to an administrative error.

? The big picture: The Supreme Court's interventions have been narrow, procedural and temporary.

• None of them are rulings on the underlying merits of any big legal questions, and the legal battles over just about every element of Trump's second-term agenda are still raging.
• But even temporary wins are still wins. Letting the White House carry out its policies is no small victory, especially when you consider just how many of those policies lower courts have blocked.

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Catch me up

Data: Financial Modeling Prep; Chart: Axios Visuals ? Stocks fell again, despite a morning "relief rally." The S&P 500 ended the day down 1.6%; the Nasdaq fell by 2.2%. Both the S&P 500 and the Dow posted their worst four-session stretches since October 2008. (CNBC) ? At least a dozen House Republicans are considering signing onto a bill to restrict the White House's ability to impose tariffs unilaterally, Axios' Andrew Solender scoops. Trump has said he would veto the bill. Go deeper. ? Trump plans to sign executive orders today that will let old coal-fired power plants keep operating. Go deeper.

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ICE under Trump is attacking labor rights by targeting a farmworker advocate

The Trump administration has ramped up its immigration enforcement over the last month, and claims to be targeting  “the worst of the worst” for detention and deportation. However, several reports detail how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is targeting individuals simply for exercising their right to free speech, even going as far as repealing the immigration status of those who are lawfully in the United States and removing them without any due process. Further, ICE has wrongfully detained a growing number of U.S. citizens in Trump’s crackdown on immigration.

https://www.epi.org/blog/ice-under-trump-is-attacking-labor-rights-by-targeting-a-farmworker-advocate/?

Trump’s massive ‘reciprocal’ tariffs upend global trade

Despite rattled financial markets, threats of retaliation and some of President Donald Trump’s biggest supporters encouraging him to back off his signature economic policy, he didn’t give in. His administration piled on heaps of new “reciprocal” tariffs Wednesday on dozens of American allies and adversaries alike, aiming to — as he claims — restore fairness and boost American manufacturing.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/business/recession-effects-trump-reciprocal-tariffs-hnk-intl/index.html?

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In just 80 days...

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

President Trump has done more unprecedented, lasting things in 80 days than many presidents do in a four-year term, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column. Why it matters: There are 1,382 days to go in this term. So let's step back and appraise the indisputable acts of power that have changed America in Trump's first two months and three weeks, as synthesized by Axios' Zachary Basu: 1. A new global economy. Trump has declared an all-out war on globalism, detonating every one of America's trading relationships — allies and adversaries alike — by imposing the largest tariffs in nearly a century. Trump's push for a manufacturing renaissance has helped secure at least $1.6 trillion in U.S. investment pledges. But his tariff rollout melted markets globally and dramatically raised the threat of a recession. The renewed trade war with China carries the biggest potential blast radius, with the world's two largest economies engaged in a tit-for-tat escalation that could snarl global supply chains. 2. A new world order. The rules-based system forged after World War II is dead: Trump has withdrawn from multilateral institutions, threatened to expand U.S. territory to Greenland, Gaza and Panama, and alienated America's closest allies. Canada, stewing in nationalist fervor from Trump's tariffs and his "51st state" mockery, has declared our close relationship "over" and is looking to other allies for security and economic cooperation. Europe is in the midst of its own radical transformation, singed and stunned by Trump's tariffs, constant insults, undermining NATO and siding with Russia over Ukraine. Years of U.S. strategy designed to isolate China is up in flames, with Asian allies turning to Beijing for trade refuge and Taiwan fearing it could meet the same fate as Ukraine. 3. A vast expansion of executive power. Trump is testing — and in some cases, obliterating — legal boundaries around presidential authority, including by punishing his political enemies and major law firms caught in the crossfire. Courts are grappling with hundreds of lawsuits challenging Trump's ability to override Congress on spending, immigration and federal employment — and facing intense pressure from his base over "traitorous" rulings. Attorney General Pam Bondi said this weekend on "Fox News Sunday" that since the inauguration, "we've had over 170 lawsuits filed against us. That should be the constitutional crisis right there. Fifty injunctions — they're popping up every single day." Trump has installed loyalists atop the Justice Department and FBI — declaring himself the country's "chief law enforcement officer" — and purged career officials and lawyers viewed as insufficiently MAGA. 4. A shrinking federal government. Elon Musk's DOGE cost-slashing has resulted in mass layoffs and the dismantling of whole agencies, including USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. An estimated 60,000 federal workers have been fired in a broad effort to reduce the size of government, with deeper cuts still coming. Thousands have been reinstated, either through court orders or because officials moved impulsively. Cuts to Social Security's phone services are threatening disruptions for millions of seniors. 5. A sealed border. Illegal border crossings have plummeted to the lowest levels in decades, a testament to Trump's aggressive approach to curbing immigration through any means possible. That includes the unprecedented invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which Trump used to deport hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members to a notorious mass prison in El Salvador. Trump also has taken aim at legal immigrants, revoking visas for college students involved in pro-Palestinian activism on the grounds that their presence could have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences." In both cases, lack of due process has deeply alarmed immigration activists and civil libertarians — while Trump's broader crackdown has had a chilling effect on foreign travel to the U.S.

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? Trump team shrugs at Navarro-Musk feud

Photo illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios. Photos: Getty Images

Backstabbing was rampant in President Trump's first White House. In Trump 2.0, it's front-stabbing, Axios' Marc Caputo and Alex Isenstadt write. Peter Navarro, Trump's trade adviser, says on CNBC that Elon Musk is "not a car manufacturer — he's a car assembler." Musk tweets that Navarro "is truly a moron" and "dumber than a sack of bricks." At the White House, staffers shrug and chuckle. "Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the podium. "We have the most transparent administration in history. Why it matters: The Navarro-Musk feud over tariffs — Navarro is their biggest cheerleader, Musk thinks they're too much — reflects the smashmouth, unapologetic style that's part of Trump's policymaking process. Via X As Trump's controversial tariffs, layoffs, budget cuts and power grabs rip through American society, he and his top aides don't seem to mind the images of a couple of advisers airing their policy differences in very personal terms. "The fact is, we like it," a senior White House adviser said with a chuckle. ? Reality check: Trump's advisers squabble but are generally aligned with him. As a globalist free-trader who does significant business in China, Musk is this White House's odd man out on tariff policy. So it's one of the few areas where he has little input.

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⛏ Trump pushes coal to power AI

President Trump signed executive orders yesterday to use emergency authorities and a wartime law to boost the sagging coal industry, Axios' Daniel Moore writes.

• Why it matters: The White House is seeking to lean on coal-fired power —which has been in a steady decline in the U.S. over the last 15 years — to feed rising energy demand driven by artificial intelligence.

"We're ending Joe Biden's war on beautiful, clean coal," Trump said, flanked by coal miners in hard hats in the East Room.

• The orders slash "unnecessary regulations" and "rapidly expedite leases and coal mining on federal lands," Trump said.

Data: EIA; Chart: Axios Visuals

? Reality check: Reversing the long-term decline in U.S. coal demand will be a tall task.

• While the orders focus on trying to ramp up U.S. coal mining, virtually no coal plants are being proposed.

About 96% of upcoming generation projects are wind, solar and battery.

• See the executive orders.

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AP ruling

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the White House’s decision to punish The Associated Press and limit its reporters’ access to President Trump’s events, the Oval Office and Air Force One was unconstitutional. Trump curtailed the AP’s ability to cover the White House because the wire service continued to use the phrase “Gulf of Mexico” after he renamed the body of water the “Gulf of America.” The judge also noted that while the AP wasn’t entitled to the “first in line every time” permanent press pool access it previously had, it cannot be treated worse than its peer wire services. “The Court merely declares that the AP’s exclusion has been contrary to the First Amendment, and it enjoins the Government from continuing down that unlawful path,” the judge ruled. The White House has one week to appeal the decision.

College funding

The Trump administration is targeting two more elite schools in connection with what it calls “ongoing, credible and concerning Title VI investigations.” The federal statute prohibits discrimination in programs and activities that receive federal funding. A White House official said the administration plans to freeze $790 million in funding for Northwestern University and more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell University, though neither school had been notified yet. The administration took similar actions against Brown, Columbia, Harvard and Princeton as punishment for how the institutions handled last year’s student demonstrations against Israel’s war in Gaza and in protest of the schools' diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Cornell said it also received more than 75 stop-work orders from the Department of Defense related to research projects.

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LIVE: President Trump’s new tariffs go into effect, including a combined 104% levy on China Asian shares sank again on Wednesday as the latest set of U.S. tariffs, including a 104% levy on Chinese imports, went into effect. The sharply higher tariffs kicked in after midnight Eastern time in the U.S., even as investors have no idea what to make of President Donald Trump’s trade war. Read more.

Why this matters: BREAKING: China is raising its retaliatory tariff on the US to 84%, up from 34%, effective April 10.   Asian and European shares slid early Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipping more than 5%.   Uncertainty is still high about what President Donald Trump will do with his trade war. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.6% after wiping out an early gain of 4.1%. That took it nearly 19% below its record set in February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8%, while the Nasdaq composite lost 2.1%.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ AP wins reinstatement to White House events after judge rules government can’t bar its journalists   Republicans are going public with their growing worries about Trump’s tariffs   Trump’s top trade rep under fire before Senate committee after days of market chaos   Will the tariffs lead to a recession? Here’s how to know if we’re in one   WATCH: Despite market tumult, Trump says 'we're making a fortune with tariffs'   Justice Department will disband its crypto-related enforcement team   Senate confirms Trump’s nominee for top Pentagon policy job   Trump fails to sway many House GOP holdouts as his ‘big’ bill of tax breaks and spending cuts stalls   Trump signs executive orders to boost coal, a reliable but polluting energy source   Trump administration halts $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell, $790 million for Northwestern   Trump administration says it cut funding to some life-saving UN food programs by mistake

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China announces 84% tariffs on US goods in showdown with Trump. Europe also hits back

China unveiled retaliatory tariffs of 84% on imports of US goods on Wednesday, matching additional tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump earlier in the day and further inflaming a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/business/china-us-tariffs-retaliation-hnk-intl?

Live updates: EU approves new tariffs on $23 billion in US goods as global markets shake

The U.S. stock market is shaking through twitchy trading Wednesday after most other markets tumbled as President Donald Trump’s trade war keeps escalating. Read More.

Judges take steps to stop deportation of five Venezuelans held in Texas and New York

Federal judges in New York and Texas on Wednesday took legal action to block the government from moving five Venezuelans out of the country until they can fight the government’s attempt to remove them under a rarely-invoked law that gives the president the power to imprison and deport noncitizens in times of war. Read More.

Michigan Democratic Gov. Whitmer strays from her party in moving closer to Trump

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivered a speech emphasizing points of agreement with President Donald Trump on economic policy, just hours before their scheduled meeting — a reflection of the high-profile Democrat’s more diplomatic approach toward the president as her party ramps up its attacks on him. Read More.

Justice Department suggests federal agencies are free to blacklist law firm despite judge’s order

The Justice Department has suggested to federal agencies that they are free to blacklist a law firm targeted by President Donald Trump despite a judge’s ruling that halted enforcement of a White House executive order that was meant to punish it. Read More.   The Trump administration withdrew 11 pieces of ADA guidance. How it might affect compliance President Donald Trump’s administration has withdrawn 11 pieces of guidance related to the Americans with Disabilities Act that helped stores, hotels and other businesses understand their obligation to the law. Read More.

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Trump says he's applying 90-day pause on new tariffs, except for China, which is being raised to 125%

President Donald Trump said he is applying a 90-day pause on new tariffs as his trade war shakes the world economy.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-tariffs-cnn-town-hall-04-09-25?

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Hegseth Deletes Key Admission From Statement on Panama Canal

Two versions of a joint statement by the Defense Secretary and Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino had a major difference.

Pete Hegseth omitted a key point about the Panama Canal in the English version of a joint statement he released with the Panamanian leader.

The tattooed former Fox News star traveled to Panama for talks with Panama’s government, becoming the first U.S. defense secretary to visit the Central American country in decades.

His visit came amid mounting tensions sparked by President Donald Trump’s claims that Panama was “severely” overcharging for ships transiting the U.S.-built canal. He has also claimed that China controlled the waterway and has pledged that Washington would take it back.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino and Hegseth released a joint statement following their talks, the Spanish version of which included the line: “Secretary Hegseth recognized the leadership and inalienable sovereignty of Panama over the Panama Canal and its adjacent areas.”

That detail was nowhere to be seen in the English-language version released by the Pentagon, the Associated Press first reported.

White House

It’s unclear whether the Hegseth’s apparent recognition of Panama’s control over the historically contested waterway was intentionally omitted.

Both versions note that the officials reaffirmed the historic security relationship between the Republic of Panama and the United States of America and that they agreed to continue strengthening bilateral security cooperation.

When approached for comment, a Pentagon spokesperson didn’t elaborate on why the two versions differed, but instead redirected the Daily Beast to Hegseth’s comments during a joint press briefing With Panamanian Public Security Minister Frank Abrego in Panama City on Wednesday, where he said: “[w]e certainly understand that the Panama Canal is in Panama, and protecting Panamanian sovereignty from malign influence is important. Which is why when President Trump says we’re taking back the Panama Canal from Chinese influence, that involves partnership with the United States and Panama. And we’re grateful that they’ve welcomed US troops on Panamanian soil by invitation through rotational joint exercises.”

Hegseth said Tuesday the U.S. and Panama “have done more in recent weeks to strengthen our defense and security cooperation than we have in decades.”

“China-based companies continue to control critical infrastructure in the canal area,” the defense secretary said.

“That gives China the potential to conduct surveillance activities across Panama. This makes Panama and the United States less secure, less prosperous and less sovereign. And as President Donald Trump has pointed out, that situation is not acceptable.”

In December, Trump threatened to retake the canal “or something very powerful is going to happen.”

In a commentary in March for Harvard Kennedy School, economic development scholar Ricardo Hausmann said of Trump’s threats to take back the canal and of his claims that his country is being overcharged, that “it’s not that the United States is being unfairly treated, it’s that it is not being preferentially treated.”

“I would argue that’s what Trump doesn’t like,” he said.

“A treaty is a treaty, right? That’s why you have to have a two-thirds majority approval in the Senate. One of the conditions of the treaty is creating neutrality in the Panama Canal. The United States has to pay the same as anybody else even though it built the canal.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/hegseths-panama-canal-statement-leaves-out-a-major-detail-from-spanish-version/?

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Now Trump’s Tariffs Are Coming For Your Medicine

The president earlier said tariffs on pharmaceuticals could be around 25 percent.

President Donald Trump’s tariffs have tanked the markets, but he’s only just getting started.

The White House will soon announce a “major” tariff on pharmaceuticals, Trump said Tuesday night at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual dinner in Washington, D.C.

The president did not provide an exact date for an announcement, however Trump described pharmaceutical tariffs as “something that we have to do.”

“Once we do that, they’re going to come rushing back into our country because we’re the big market,” he said. “We’re going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals. And when they hear that, they will leave China, they will leave other places, because they have to sell.”

Though pharmaceuticals were spared from sweeping new tariffs unveiled by Trump in a “Liberation Day” ceremony last week, the president has long expressed interest in putting levies on medicines.

“The pharmaceutical companies are going to come roaring back. They’re coming roaring back, they’re all coming back to our country because if they don’t, they got a big tax to pay,” he said in a Rose Garden event for the announcement what he labelled “reciprocal” tariffs.

In February, Trump said the tariff on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors could be around 25 percent.

“It’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll go very substantially higher over the course of a year,” he told reporters at the time. “But we want to give them time to come in because, as you know, when they come into the United States and they have their plant or factory here, there is no tariff. So we want to give them a little bit of a chance.”

The U.S. imported about $200 billion in pharmaceutical products last year—more than double the amount it exported, according to investment research and management firm Morningstar.

“With roughly $200 billion in pharmaceutical imports in 2024, a 10 percent tariff could amount to a $20 billion headwind across the industry, with the biggest firms seeing potential annual tariffs as high as $1 billion,” Morningstar director Karen Andersen wrote.

Markets crashed in levels not seen since March 2020 after Trump announced a baseline tariff of 10 percent on all imports and additional levies ranging from 17 percent to 50 percent on some 60 other countries.

Still, the president is unbothered. Trump touted his “legendary” tariffs at the dinner with Republicans, bragging about how world leaders have been “kissing [his] a–” to negotiate deals.

“This is the largest transaction in the history of our country,” he said. “I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up kissing my a--. They are. They are dying to make a deal.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/now-trumps-tariffs-are-coming-for-your-medicine/?

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Trump Tariffs Trigger Even More Dangerous Bond Market Chaos

The president’s super-charged levies on China are eroding investor confidence and hitting the reputation of U.S. Treasury bonds as a safe haven asset.

Spooked investors fear that the current high yield on government bonds inspired by President Donald Trump’s tariff chaos is beginning to echo a COVID-era low, as a mass sell-off intensifies.

Trump’s new 104 percent tariffs on Chinese imports, and China’s promise to hit back with between 34 and 84 percent duties on U.S. goods, has created a volatile picture for U.S. stock futures.

And experts from Deutsche Bank have warned that this week’s trading so far represents “simultaneous collapse in the price of all U.S. assets”—including bonds—and a step into “uncharted territory.”

In real terms, this leads to “heightened risk of negative shock to growth, disinflationary so eventually rate cuts,” according to Kenneth Broux from Societe Generale in London.

The Deutsche Bank strategists added that Trump’s administration is encouraging the sell-off of Treasury bonds, long regarded as a stable cornerstone in portfolio construction. This encouragement, the experts warned, is “functionally equivalent to lowering demand for U.S. assets as well.”

Higher yields—or interest rates—mean bond prices are falling and, with global economies already reeling from stock market chaos, jittery investors are dumping Treasuries to raise cash.

The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Treasury’s reputation as a “safe-haven asset” now appears “tarnished.”

After Trump’s latest tariffs were announced Wednesday, the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield sky-rocketed to 4.5 percent, up from around 3.9 percent just days prior. It was 10.5 basis points up this week. The yield on a 30-year bond went above 5 percent just briefly, before retreating. However, according to Tradeweb data, it was still up 45 basis points this week.

A surging yield means price dips as demand wanes. This is particularly hazardous as Treasury yields affect everything from mortgage costs to loan rates.

Even Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent admitted to a “convulsion” in the bond market. In an interview on Mornings with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Wednesday, he reassured that this is normal. “I’ve seen it, very often in my market career, there’s one of these deleveraging convulsions that’s going on right now in the markets and I think it’s in the fixed income market. There’s some very large leverage players who are experiencing losses that are having to deleverage,” he said.

Bessent argued that the bond market will soon stabilize.

“I believe that there is nothing systemic about this. I think that it is uncomfortable but normal deleveraging that’s going on in the bond market and I expect that as we see the leverage come down, the risk managers tapping people on the shoulders, telling them to bring their books down which is what happens every couple years as leverage builds up, then the market will calm down,” he said.

Even still, the “volatility” has inspired investors to start to “pull money out to brace for what could be to come next,” Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.

“This is a fire sale of Treasuries,” portfolio manager at the hedge fund Blue Edge Advisors Calvin Yeoh warned. “I haven’t seen moves or volatility of this size since the chaos of the pandemic in 2020,” he told Bloomberg.

Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, a vocal critic of Trump’s economic policy of late, wrote on X: “Our stock market is down. Bond yields are up and the dollar is declining. These are not the markers of successful policy.”

Yields could come down if the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates. On Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social to appeal to the institution’s chairman, Jerome Powell, to do exactly that.

“This would be a PERFECT time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut Interest Rates. He is always ‘late,’ but he could now change his image, and quickly,” he said. “CUT INTEREST RATES, JEROME, AND STOP PLAYING POLITICS!”

The picture is starting to mirror that of Britain in 2022, when the Bank of England had to step in to steady the bond market there. This ultimately cost Prime Minister Liz Truss her job after she was forced to do away with slated tax cuts to quell market tumult. She lasted just 49 days, less than a cabbage pitted against her by British tabloid the Daily Star.

Harvard educator and economist Jason Furman told that title Monday: “This is now much worse than a Liz Truss moment.”

And, speaking on California Governor Gavin Newsom’s podcast last month, former White House advisor Steve Bannon said “the bond market has turfed out more governments than howitzers.” He name-checked Truss as he listed off regimes toppled by bonds.

Wednesday’s $39 billion sale of 10-year U.S. Treasuries will now be watched intently as an indicator of market sentiment. A 30-year sale follows on Thursday.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-tariffs-trigger-even-more-dangerous-bond-market-chaos/?

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Trump scales back tariffs

Data: Financial Modeling Prep; Chart: Axios Visuals Markets were ecstatic today after President Trump said he would pause some — but not all — of his sweeping tariffs. Trump offered a 90-day reprieve on the reciprocal tariffs he had imposed on dozens of countries. But he kept a baseline 10% tariff in place, and increased levies on Chinese goods to 125%. ? "People were jumping a little bit out of line," Trump told reporters as he explained his decision. "They were getting a little bit yippy. They were getting a little bit afraid." "Over the last few days it looked pretty glum," Trump said. Screenshot: Truth Social ⚡️ Between the lines: The 90-day pause brings the policy roughly in line with what many investors thought Trump would do in the first place. And it shifts a global trade war largely into a U.S.-China trade war — which will still have enormous impacts for U.S. consumers. ? By the numbers: The move sent stocks on a blistering rally. The S&P 500 index ballooned by more than 9%. The Nasdaq closed up 12%, its biggest one-day gain in 24 years. The Dow soared nearly 8%, topping 40,000 points again. Go deeper.

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• ⚖️ Federal judges blocked two specific deportations today — an indication that the legal dispute over Trump's authority is still an active one, despite a narrow Supreme Court order in the administration's favor. NYT (gift link)

White House "will consider options" if Chinese are fighting for Russia in Ukraine

The White House threatened on Wednesday to take steps against China if it allows its citizens to join the Russian military in fighting against Ukraine.

https://www.axios.com/2025/04/09/russia-chinese-soldiers-urkaine-white-house?

ps:Oh this should be interesting!!

Rising prices

Supermarkets sell food imported from all over the world, and industry executives and experts say you’ll have to pay more for groceries if President Donald Trump maintains his tariffs enacted last week. These are the items that will get more expensive.

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A Catch-22

For the past few days, investors, foreign leaders, and members of Congress have gradually gotten more and more frantic about the Trump administration’s huge tariffs. The White House, meanwhile, projected equanimity. “They feel like everything is going according to plan,” an adviser told Politico.

And then, suddenly, the plan— if there ever was one—changed. This afternoon, President Donald Trump announced a partial pivot on social media. On the one hand, he ratcheted up tariffs on China to 125 percent. On the other hand, he announced that he was reducing tariffs on “more than 75” other countries to 10 percent for the next 90 days. In an odd wrinkle, this appears to also mean new tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which will now be subject to a 10 percent rate, having been previously exempted from this round of tariffs—though they are still subject to a 25 percent tariff imposed earlier.

Are you confused yet? Imagine being an importer or a manufacturer.

The simplest way to read this is that Trump has blinked. I’ve written previously that Trump, despite his obsession with strength, almost always folds. He’s actually not much of a negotiator at all, and can be induced to back down pretty easily. Bill Ackman, the activist investor and Democrat turned Trump cheerleader, has spent the past few days freaking out on X about “a self-induced, economic nuclear winter.” Today, trying to save some dignity for himself and perhaps for the president, he posted, “This was brilliantly executed by @realDonaldTrump. Textbook, Art of the Deal.”

This assumes that Trump has gotten something in return. If that is true, no one seems to know what it is, and Trump is not usually shy about proclaiming his achievements. He said last night that foreign leaders “are dying to make a deal. ‘Please, please, sir, make a deal, I’ll do anything, I’ll do anything sir.’” But no new agreements have been announced yet, and Europe was on the verge of retaliation. Trump hasn’t totally given up his leverage—the 90-day pause allows him to bring the tariffs back later—but it removes a great deal of urgency for foreign negotiators.

A better answer is that Trump is responding to domestic concerns. Markets were heading toward bear territory, major financial institutions were warning about recessions, and a Treasury bond sell-off may have spooked the White House. As the president put it this afternoon, “People were jumping a little bit out of line; they were getting yippy.” Markets responded just as Trump must have hoped, rising sharply after the news.

Yet just calling this a fold is simplistic. Trump has moved to a stance of trade war that is belligerent in comparison with everything except his position as of this morning. He continues to ratchet up tariffs with China. This tit for tat could still produce immense jumps in prices, especially for tech products, as my colleague Damon Beres explained yesterday. Trump has added new tariffs on Canada and Mexico, two other important trade partners, and maintained the lower, but still significant, tariffs on everyone else.

Even more to the point, Trump is committing himself even more strongly to unpredictability. If tariffs can be firmly on in the morning and then paused in the afternoon, with no clear explanation or prologue, they can be back on again soon. This is certainly the story of Trump’s interactions with Mexico and Canada so far. Tariffs are crushing for small businesses; for large businesses, they’re frustrating but not fatal. The greater problem for the big companies is instability. An executive can’t make a solid plan if they don’t know what sort of regime they’ll be dealing with in two months or six months.

This is the catch-22 of treating tariffs as a negotiating tool. Trump wants corporations to build new factories in the United States, but they need predictability to do that. It can take years to put a new factory into operation. How many times will Trump change his mind over that period? Yet unpredictability is what Trump views as the source of his leverage. If he promises stability to companies, he’s giving other governments the same assurance that he won’t switch things up.

Wall Street is delighted now—markets soared at the end of the day. The exuberance is based on the idea that Trump blinked. They’re not exactly wrong, but he hasn’t given any indication that his underlying theory of trade has changed. When the party buzz wears off, businesses will be facing the same volatile future they were this morning.

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? Trump family complicates crypto legislation

The Trump family's digital asset ventures are making some Republican lawmakers uneasy about long-awaited, bipartisan crypto legislation.

Why it matters: The White House is boosting stablecoin legislation just as World Liberty Financial, a company tied to the Trump family, is promising to launch such a token.

• Since 2023, the Trump family has lent its name to NFT projects, meme coins, decentralized finance initiatives and, most recently, bitcoin mining.
• Democrats argue it exposes taxpayers to a bailout risk if the stablecoin fails and Trump decides to save it.

Zoom in: "I've had several Democrats approach me about it," Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who chairs the new digital assents subcommittee, told us.

• Lummis said Trump family crypto investments make it harder to advance bills on the issue.

The big picture: Stablecoins, blockchain assets designed to have a fixed value so they can be used for payments, have been the killer app of cryptocurrency.

• Their issuers get to keep the interest generated by the billions of dollars of assets set aside to back the tokens.

What they're saying: "People need to be careful to stay away from anything ... where they may be wading into the gray," said Sen. Tillis, who also sits on the newly formed digital assets subcommittee.

• Tillis stressed he didn't know the details of the Trump family's investment to weigh in specifically.

The other side: Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), another committee member, has no issues with the Trump family getting involved in the crypto space.

• He slammed House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), saying she has conflicts of interest because of her husband's stock trading.
• The major crypto-linked super PAC, Fairshake, spent more than $40 million to help elect Moreno last year.

— Stef Kight and Axios Crypto author Brady Dale