2 days Ago By The Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk , an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. In today’s edition, Shannon Pettypiece breaks down another roller-coaster day for President Donald Trump’s tariff plans. Plus, Jonathan Allen explains that speed has proven to be Trump’s ally in his efforts to slash the government.
Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here. — Adam Wollner Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs are partly off again President Donald Trump on Thursday issued exemptions on tariffs for some goods coming into the U.S.
from Mexico and Canada, two days after putting in place sweeping 25% tariffs that rattled stock markets, as businesses warned the move would increase prices for consumers, NBC News’ Shannon Pettypiece reports . It’s the second time in less than two months that Trump has announced and then backtracked on tariffs on the United States’ neighbors. But the exemption comes with an expiration date, just like Wednesday’s exemption for automakers, continuing to rattle the stock market and a wide range of industries.
“The can keeps getting pushed, kicked down the road, and we don’t know what that means,” said Chuck Dardas, president of AlphaUSA, an auto parts manufacturer in Livonia, Michigan. Speaking to NBC News’ Christine Romans, he later added: “To make investments and to do things we need to do, we need some certainty. Not that we can have perfect certainty — but not be on a constant diet of, well, we’ll wait till next month to see if the ax is going to fall.
” “The only thing, I guess, to be certain is that we’ve got 30 more days to worry about it,” Dardas said. The new exemption Trump signed on Thursday would apply to goods compliant with the North American free trade agreement reached during Trump’s first term — and will last until April 2, when Trump plans another round of retaliatory tariffs on goods from a range of countries. About half of goods coming into the U.
S. from Mexico would fall under the exemption, and around 38% of goods from Canada would qualify, said a senior administration official. That includes potash, which is used in fertilizers.
But some Canadian energy products won’t qualify and will be subject to a 10% tariff. And all other goods, including computers from Mexico, will be subject to the 25% tariff, the senior administration official said. Read more: Stocks fall as markets grapple with Trump’s rapid shifts in tariff policy , by Rob Wile What else to know from the Trump presidency today Trump’s biggest advantage in his bid to slash the government: Speed By Jonathan Allen Speed kills.
Especially when it comes to slashing government. President Donald Trump has run into a few snags in his rush to slay the bureaucracy, including having to reverse some of his own decisions to summarily fire federal workers and watching courts intervene. But Trump learned a valuable strategic lesson from his first term: The executive can move faster than the other branches of government.
In less than seven weeks, Congress has become a bystander branch as Trump hacks up departments, agencies, programs and workforces that lawmakers created and funded. Federal judges have noted that the Trump administration is ignoring orders to stop various aspects of its downsizing campaign. It remains to be seen whether he will listen to the Supreme Court.
Some of his supporters are arguing that he should tell the justices to pound sand. “I don’t know why President Trump can’t defy the Supreme Court & refuse to send the money,” Amy Kremer, an activist who helped organize Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, rally, wrote on X Wednesday after the high court ruled against the president’s freeze of $2 billion in foreign aid.
“He is doing the work of the American people & trying to save our tax dollars from being abused & wasted. He has presidential immunity.” But for the intended recipients, the money dried up weeks ago.
It’s hard to imagine that even if the spigot is turned back on, there will have been no harm to the beneficiaries. Likewise, whether Trump can legally fire hundreds of thousands of federal workers — as he has done — there is zero chance that any court order will restore them all. The same goes for domestic-program grants halted by the Trump White House.
Judges and lawmakers spend a lot of their time theorizing about the balance of power. Trump is wasting no time in turning it toward him. That’s all From the Politics Desk for now.
Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner, Scott Bland and Faith Wardwell. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at [email protected] And if you’re a fan, please share with everyone and anyone.
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