Evening Report — Trump pitches sweeping agenda to anxious lawmakers

Evening Report

Trump pitches sweeping agenda to anxious Washington

PRESIDENT TRUMP WILL PITCH his sprawling agenda to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, as anxiety grows over a burgeoning global trade war that economists warn could strangle the economy.

Six weeks into his presidency, Trump will turn the spotlight on his achievements: Securing the border; drawing hundreds of billions of dollars in manufacturing investment commitments to the U.S.; smoking out government waste; and his efforts to change the culture by dismantling Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs across the nation.

But Trump’s early days in office have also been marked by a radical and occasionally chaotic overhaul of the government, which has provoked unease among some Republicans and threatens to cut short his honeymoon period with the voting public.

• Tariffs are not a priority in any survey taken of voter attitudes. A new Morning Consult poll found only 38 percent support Trump’s moves against Mexico and Canada. Some companies warn that higher prices are on the way. The tariffs pushed the stock market lower, and economists are warning in dire terms about the potential for widespread economic contraction.

• Congress is barreling toward a government shutdown in 10 days with no long-term fix in sight, which presents a threat to Trump’s promised tax and spending cuts.

• Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has unilaterally fired thousands of government workers and slashed federal programs, provoking scores of court challenges.

• Trump’s indifference to historical norms has left global alliances in shambles and led to accusations that he’s siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Trump’s fifth speech before Congress is expected to touch on these issues and many more. Vice President Vance told Fox News that Trump will “talk a lot about his successes” and is going to “poke a little fun,” as well.

Trump will begin speaking shortly after 9 p.m. EST. His speeches to Congress have generally gone on for about 80 minutes.

Vance and first lady Melania Trump will be in attendance.

Find the full White House guest list here, including the family of Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student who was killed by a Venezuelan migrant with a criminal record.

Here’s how to watch tonight’s address.

SKITTISH REPUBLICANS SEEK ASSURANCES

Most Republicans are fully behind Trump and eager to implement his agenda.

There are, however, signs of cracks over Trump’s more controversial actions.

House GOP leaders advised their members in a private meeting Tuesday to avoid in-person public town hall events in their home districts, as protests against Musk’s sweeping government cuts grow across the country.

Musk will meet with House Republicans privately Wednesday in the Capitol, as the DOGE head seeks to explain and clarify some of the moves he’s made that lawmakers have criticized as belligerent and lacking empathy.

The Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday updated its guidance to department heads that demanded the firing of federal workers, saying it would leave it up to the agency on whether to dismiss their employees.

And the looming government shutdown deadline will be top of mind.

Trump will meet with a group of House conservatives Wednesday, as the White House makes its case for a clean funding stopgap to keep the government open through the end of the fiscal year.

That means keeping spending flat, including for the military. It punts on codifying Trump’s tax and spending cuts.

“Never in recent history has Washington forced the U.S. military to spend a full year applying yesterday’s budget to tomorrow’s challenges,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post. “ Today, we’re closer than ever to making ignoble history on this front.

DEMS PREP OPPOSITION

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said it’s important for Democrats to have a “strong, determined and dignified” presence at the speech, although several Democrats announced they’d be boycotting.

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) won’t attend, and will instead be “be live posting and chatting.”

• Rep. Gerry Connolly (Va.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is boycotting “in solidarity” with federal government employees who have been fired by the Trump administration.

The Hill’s Mike Lillis reports that several Democrats plan to bring fired government workers to Trump's address to show the human toll of the mass firings.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) invited Kyle Rahn, a disabled Army veteran who served three tours in Iraq before going to work for the Department of Homeland Security as a national security specialist. Rahn was fired last month by email.

Freshman Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who narrowly won a Senate seat in 2024 in a state Trump carried in the presidential election, will give the Democratic rebuttal.

💡Perspectives:

• The Economist: Trump’s new tariffs are his most extreme ever.

• The Hill: Separating show and substance as Trump addresses Congress.

• The New Republic: Trump’s second term is so much worse for Democrats.

• The Liberal Patriot: Is a common-sense faction of Democrats rising?

• Spiked: The Dems’ coming civil war.

Read more:

• Looming shutdown deadline presents minefield for Speaker Johnson.

• Pentagon orders thousands more troops to southern border.

• Trump threatens to stop funding for any colleges allowing ‘illegal protests’.

• Trump’s crypto strategic reserve: Key questions.

• GOP bill to ban trans athletes from women’s sports blocked in Senate.

NEWS THIS AFTERNOON

Global trade war escalates

President Trump ignited a full-blown trade war between the U.S. and its top trading partners, with Mexico, Canada and China all slapping new retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.

Trump’s new 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico went into effect at midnight. He also doubled the tariffs on goods from China, raising them from 10 percent to 20 percent.

Here’s how foreign leaders responded:

• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced 25 percent tariffs on more than $20 billion of U.S. goods, with about $80 billion more scheduled to kick in later this month. Ontario responded by halting the sale of U.S.-made alcohol.

“Because of the tariffs imposed by the U.S., Americans will pay more for groceries, gas, and cars, and potentially lose thousands of jobs,” Trudeau said. “Tariffs will disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship. They will violate the very trade agreement that was negotiated by President Trump in his last term.”

• Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum will announce retaliatory tariffs Sunday.

• China imposed additional tariffs of up to 15 percent on some U.S. goods and will restrict exports to more than a dozen U.S. companies, with an emphasis on U.S. farm exports.

Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the tariffs are part of a “drug war” not a “trade war,” with the aim being to reduce the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S. He said reductions in the flow of fentanyl could lead to an end of the trade war.

The markets responded negatively, with economists warning the trade war will lead to higher prices for consumers, choke the economy and lead to “stagflation” — a period of slow growth and high inflation.

The Dow dropped by triple digits for a second consecutive day.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett called the tariffs “an act of war.”

Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi called the tariffs a “tax on American consumers” that would add about $1,250 in expenses for the average American over the course of the year.

A top adviser at the International Chamber of Commerce warned the world economy could crash like it did during the Great Depression.

U.S. business are caught in the crossfire, with executives expecting the prices of some goods to rise sharply. Target warned that higher prices are on the way.

The tariffs were denounced from nearly every corner of the ideological spectrum.

“US tariffs inevitably bring Canadian, Mexican, and Chinese tariffs which means higher prices for lumber, steel, aluminum and more expensive homes and cars,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) posted on X.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said he hopes the tariffs are temporary.

“I think the president is looking at this as a means to an end. I don’t think it’s the end itself – I certainly hope it isn’t,” he told CNN.

However, the United Auto Workers union praised the tariffs, calling them "a powerful tool in the toolbox for undoing the injustice of anti-worker trade deals."

This comes as the Atlanta Federal Reserve altered its projection for a contraction of the nation’s gross domestic product from negative 1.5 percent in the first quarter to negative 2.8 percent.

Trump was transparent over the course of the campaign about his intention to use tariffs as a bargaining tool to bring manufacturing to the U.S., but polls show deep concern over the trade war and direction of the economy.

The latest Marist survey found 46 percent believe the direction of the economy is changing for the worse, as opposed to 42 percent who believe it’s changing for the better.

CNN polling analyst Harry Enten noted that presidents traditionally hold high marks on the economy heading into their first address to Congress, with the average president 15 points positive. Trump is currently at 4 points negative on the economy, according to CNN’s model.

💡Perspectives:

• The Wall Street Journal: Trump takes the dumbest tariff plunge.

• The Nation: Ro Khanna is doing more than voting ‘no’

• The Wall Street Journal: Eliminate the debt ceiling.

• Free Press: Will Josh Shapiro hold Dems to account?

Read more:

• Trump trade war intensifies as tariffs go into place.

• Store-brand supplier feels the pain as shoppers pull back.

• How Trump’s new tariffs will affect Americans: 5 things to know.

IN OTHER NEWS

Officials optimistic about U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal

U.S. and Ukrainian officials sounded optimistic Tuesday that a rare Earth minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine could be signed soon, despite President Trump’s move to pause aid to Ukraine after his clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The deal to give the U.S. an economic interest in Ukraine as part of an implicit security guarantee against future Russian aggression was supposed to be signed last week but was postponed indefinitely after the Oval Office spat between Trump and Zelensky.

Vice President Vance wants a full-fledged apology from Zelensky before the countries move ahead in discussions about ending the war with Russia.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Zelensky struck a note of contrition, although he stopped short of an apology.

“We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence,” Zelensky said. “And we remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins. We are grateful for this. Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who had been a longtime ally to Zelensky but questioned his leadership after last week’s debacle, reposted Zelensky’s remark and stated: “Better days are ahead.”

Vance told reporters he wants Ukraine to come to the Trump administration with a private apology and a plan for peace.

But Vance also said he thinks the minerals deal could be reached in short order, setting the countries back on the right path.

“I certainly do,” Vance said. “The president is interested in the mineral deal and heard some positive things. Not yet the signature from our friends in Ukraine.”

Zelensky reiterated that he’s “ready to sign it in any time and in any convenient format.”

"We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively,” he said.

A new survey from Emerson College found Americans are split on the U.S. — Ukraine dust-up, with 46 percent saying neither party walked away as the winner.

💡Perspectives:

• USA Today: Trump's aggressive approach is the best way to end Russia's war.

• The Hill: GOP now stands for: ‘Good ole’ Putin’

Read more:

• GOP senators urge Trump to salvage negotiations with Zelensky.

• EU ponders 800 billion euro plan to beef up defenses.

• Arab leaders gather to endorse counterproposal to Trump’s Gaza plan.

• OPEC+ will start long-delayed oil production hike.

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Evening Report — Trump pitches sweeping agenda to anxious lawmakers

Evening Report

Trump pitches sweeping agenda to anxious Washington

NEWS THIS AFTERNOON

Global trade war escalates

IN OTHER NEWS

Officials optimistic about U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal

Stay Engaged

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