President Trump told a group of Republicans on Tuesday evening that foreign leaders were essentially groveling to avoid the new tariffs, CNN reports.
Said Trump: “These countries are calling us up. Kissing my ass. They are dying to make a deal… Please, please sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything sir.”
Reality check from Politico: Countries say White House hasn’t responded on tariff talks..
At least a dozen House Republicans are considering signing onto Rep. Don Bacon’s (R-NE.) bill to restrict the White House’s ability to impose tariffs unilaterally, Axios reports.
“As the breadth of the Trump revolution has spread across Washington in recent weeks, its most defining feature is a burn-it-down-first, figure-out-the-consequences-later recklessness. The costs of that approach are now becoming clear,” the New York Times reports.
“Administration officials knew the markets would dive and other nations would retaliate when President Trump announced his long-promised ‘reciprocal’ tariffs. But when pressed, several senior officials conceded that they had spent only a few days considering how the economic earthquake might have second-order effects.”
“And officials have yet to describe the strategy for managing a global system of astounding complexity after the initial shock wears off, other than endless threats and negotiations between the leader of the world’s largest economy and everyone else.”
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“President Trump’s next round of punishing tariffs on some of America’s largest trading partners was set to go into effect just after midnight on Wednesday, including stiff new levies that will increase import taxes on Chinese goods by at least 104 percent,” the New York Times reports.
“The House Republican leadership has again delayed consideration of the joint House-Senate budget resolution, punting a Rules Committee meeting once again as GOP opposition remains stubbornly high,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The opposition to the Senate proposal from conservative hardliners has been somewhat unmovable. And that should be alarming to Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer.”
“Conservatives aren’t folding despite the meeting with President Donald Trump. This is unprecedented since Trump’s return to office. Let’s not forget that House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-MD) skipped the meeting completely, saying that Trump wouldn’t be able to change his mind.”
“The reality of a global trade war is starting to push corporate bosses to do what they tried for months to avoid: criticize President Trump’s policies,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In the days after Trump announced the sweeping levies last week, chief executives stuck to privately channeling their frustrations to trade groups and lobbyists. Some hastily arranged new meetings on trade with Trump officials, sometimes receiving unsatisfying answers, executives and corporate advisers say.”
“Now, after a three-day market selloff and warnings from Wall Street titans such as Bill Ackman and Jamie Dimon, more business leaders are openly voicing concern.”
Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) told the Pulse of New Hampshire that he will not run for the U.S. Senate, a setback for Republicans’ hopes to flip the open seat.
“Ultra-conservatives in the House are threatening to block a budget blueprint to kickstart tax cut negotiations, potentially delaying passage of President Donald Trump’s economic plan,” Bloomberg reports.
“The lawmakers oppose a Senate-passed tax outline and are threatening to hold up a key vote this week over concerns it does not adequately address the deficit. Both the House and Senate must agree to the parameters of tax and spending cuts before they can advance the president’s signature economic plan.”
A new Navigator Research poll finds that the share of Americans who say the economy is “getting worse” is now higher than it was before Donald Trump won the election in November 2024, and that 58% of Americans disapprove of his tariffs, while only 30% approve.
“A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore the Associated Press’s access to key White House spaces after it exiled AP reporters over the organization’s refusal to use “Gulf of America” in its popular stylebook,” The Hill reports.
” President Donald Trump is set to impose an astounding 104% in levies across all Chinese imports on Wednesday,” CNN reports.
“This comes on top of Chinese tariffs that were in place prior to Trump’s second term.”
“China was already set to see tariffs increase by 34% on Wednesday as part of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs package. But the president tacked on another 50% after Beijing didn’t back off its promise to impose 34% retaliatory tariffs on US goods by noon Tuesday, adding an additional 84% in duties.”
“Elon Musk slammed President Trump’s top trade adviser as ‘dumber than a sack of bricks’ on Tuesday as tensions between the two exploded over wide-ranging tariffs that have upended the global economy,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Musk directed the criticism at the trade adviser, Peter Navarro, who on Monday said Mr. Musk was not a ‘car manufacturer’ but a “car assembler” because Tesla, his electric vehicle company, relied on parts from around the world.”
“Mr. Musk fired back, defending his company and calling Mr. Navarro a ‘moron.”’ Mr. Navarro, he said, should consult ‘the fake expert he invented, Ron Vara’ — the imaginary source Mr. Navarro invented for many of his economic books.”
“In a series of narrow and technical rulings, the justices have seemed to take pains to avoid a showdown with a president who has challenged the judiciary’s legitimacy,” the New York Times reports.
Washington Post: Supreme Court halts order to rehire probationary workers fired by Trump.
“After three days of global market turmoil not seen since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, stocks regained a measure of calm on Tuesday despite little letup in the escalating trade tensions caused by President Trump’s tariffs,” the New York Times reports.
“The S&P 500 posted a big gain at the open of trading, but the rally steadily faded and the index wavered between small gains and losses in the afternoon. The moves came after a brutal three-day slide that pulled the benchmark close to a bear market, or a drop of 20 percent or more from its recent high. The index remains nearly 18 percent below its mid-February record, having tumbled more than 10 percent in the days since Mr. Trump announced sweeping tariffs on major U.S. partners last week.”
“President Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles, which went into effect last week, are already sending tremors through the auto industry, prompting companies to stop shipping cars to the United States, shut down factories in Canada and Mexico and lay off workers in Michigan and other states,” the New York Times reports.
A new Pew Research poll finds that by more than a two-to-one margin, Americans oppose rather than favor the U.S. taking over Greenland or Gaza.
More Republicans support (41%) than oppose (28%) Trump’s proposal to take over Greenland, though around three-in-ten (31%) are unsure. But, in the case of taking over Gaza, more Republicans oppose (44%) than support (27%) the idea.
“The Trump administration is considering launching drone strikes on drug cartels in Mexico as part of an ambitious effort to combat criminal gangs trafficking narcotics across the southern border,” NBC News reports.
“Senior Defense Department officials are considering a proposal to withdraw as many as 10,000 troops from Eastern Europe, sparking concern on both continents that it would embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin,” NBC News reports.
“The units under consideration are part of the 20,000 personnel the Biden administration deployed in 2022 to strengthen the defenses of countries bordering Ukraine after the Russian invasion. The numbers are still being discussed, but the proposal could involve removing up to half of the forces sent by Biden.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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