President Trump’s approval rating dropped to 43% — its lowest level since his return to office, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

“Economists say the crude formula the White House used to calculate what it’s calling ‘reciprocal tariffs’ is too simplistic to achieve its goal of wiping out U.S. trade deficits — and, for that matter, they say that goal doesn’t make sense, either,” the Washington Post reports.

Former President Barack Obama hammered President Trump’s moves against law firms and universities during remarks at Hamilton College, CNN reports.

Said Obama: “It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me or a whole bunch of my predecessors.”

He added: “Let me just close this portion of my remarks by saying – it is up to all of us to fix this. It’s not going to be – its not going to be because somebody comes to save you. The most important office in this democracy is the citizen.”

“Kirkland & Ellis, the largest U.S. law firm by revenue, is in talks with the White House to avoid an executive order similar to those levied against several of its rivals,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“If Congress doesn’t like it, they should ask themselves why they’ve given presidents, not this one, but presidents, this authority over 50 years. It’s like, ‘Hello, wake up, smell the coffee; this is what Congress has done for 50 years.’ Some of my colleagues suddenly just discovered it, it’s like, ‘Wait, he has this authority?’ It’s like, ‘Yeah, you gave it to him.’”

— Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), quoted by NOTUS, on President Trump’s power to levy tariffs.

“In the final run-up to President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff announcement, aides were left with a difficult task,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“They were struggling to square the president’s seemingly contradictory goals for sweeping new duties. He wanted them to raise significant revenue for the government, as well as provide a durable signal for companies to invest in the U.S., according to people with knowledge of the discussions. Those goals would align with a permanent, across-the-board tariff. A universal approach would also help prevent companies from avoiding tariffs by shifting production to other countries—a key issue for Trump’s economic team.”

“But the president also liked the idea of reciprocity, the people said—or charging nations ‘what they charge us,’ as Trump has put it publicly. That pointed to individualized tariff rates for nations that could be calibrated according to their tariffs and other economic policies.”