Morning Report — Trump’s clashes abound

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In today’s issue:

Trump’s clashes spiral
Democrats warn of “Trump shutdown”
Who wins and loses with Trump’s tariffs?
Gaza ceasefire in jeopardy

President Trump, as he said he would, bolstered tariffs Monday on steel and aluminum imports to crack down on China and Russia, and he focused on plastic straws (he likes them) and pennies (too costly to mint).

Meanwhile, some of his prominent executive moves are temporarily blocked by the courts.

On Capitol Hill, some Senate Democrats insist they’re willing to shut down the government next month to protest Trump’s efforts to shutter parts of the government. It may be a tough strategy to explain to the average voter.

Flashback: The president in his first term presided over a 35-day partial government shutdown, the longest in history, in an attempt to gain $5 billion from Congress for a wall at the southern border. After an uproar about resulting airline delays and missing paychecks for federal workers, Trump relented, saying he might declare a national emergency if continued negotiations with lawmakers in 2019 failed. This time around, Trump came into office and declared a national security emergency at the border at the outset as the foundation for migrant arrests and deportations.

The president as early as today says he’ll announce reciprocal tariffs — this time aimed at European imports. The European Union vowed to retaliate. Trump is adding to the list of trading nations he’s willing to threaten with economic punishment as a way to bring his “America First” agenda to life.

“This is a big deal — making America rich again,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

The Wall Street Journal: The president’s conflicting business policies sow economic uncertainty.

TANGLED BRANCHES: Is Trump battling a “weaponized” judicial branch, or does he face reasoned pushback for alleged unconstitutional interpretations of his executive powers? More than 40 lawsuits have been filed objecting to a range of the president’s orders and some actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Legal analysts are dissecting potential repercussions if Trump, as part of his executive strategy, opts to defy court rulings, including the Supreme Court.

Rhode Island federal Judge John J. McConnell Jr. on Monday said the White House defied his order to release billions of dollars in federal grants and loans, marking the first time a judge has asserted the Trump White House was disobeying a judicial mandate. The administration immediately appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit to stay the judge’s order while the case is being heard. McConnell’s initial ruling ordered Trump administration officials to comply with what he called “the plain text” of an edict he issued on Jan. 29. That order, he wrote, was “clear and unambiguous, and there are no impediments to the Defendants’ compliance with” it.

Meanwhile, Trump’s Justice Department has its own ideas about how it will operate. It told federal prosecutors in Manhattan to drop a corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D), who is seeking reelection and recently worked to forge a closer relationship with the president. Alex Spiro, Adams’s defense attorney, also represents the president's adviser Elon Musk.

▪ The Hill: Administration actions to freeze research grants for the National Institutes of Health remain temporarily blocked by a federal judge.

▪ The Hill’s Niall Stanage in The Memo notes how Trump has ramped up his broadsides aimed at the courts.

SHRINKING THE FEDERAL RANK AND FILE: Federal civil servants who signed up for an administration program encouraging workers to resign now and be paid through September while doing no work remained in limbo late Monday. A federal judge in Massachusetts is still weighing the program’s legality. Last week’s court pause is in place, creating uncertainty for some 65,000 federal employees who signed up by the deadline to exit their jobs amid warnings from some Democratic lawmakers that the offered buyouts are unfunded, illegal and provide employees little recourse if something goes awry. Trump and Musk maintain the government can achieve budget savings and shrink government using inducements to retire or be fired.

EXPANDING FEDERAL ENFORCERS: Trump’s ambitious vow to deport 11 million or more migrants without legal status from the U.S. requires federal manpower. How to round it up fast with existing resources? The administration wants to deputize IRS law enforcement personnel, an unusual work-around, to join forces with the Department of Homeland Security to concentrate on deportations.

ETHICS: The president on Monday fired the Office of Government Ethics chief, David Huitema, and appointed Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to expand his portfolio to take over the government’s ethics office in an acting capacity. Huitema was nominated by former President Biden last year and confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 50-46 to serve a five-year term. He started the job less than two months ago.

Footnotes: On ethics questions, the president and the vice president are the only executive branch officials who are exempt from a conflict of interest law that requires federal officials to divest of any holdings that could benefit from actions they take or to recuse themselves from actions that could result in profits to themselves or their families. The Trump Organization last month issued an ethics pledge for the second term, which it said would guide the family about potential conflicts of interest. Ethics experts explained their criticism.

The Hill: A federal judge on Monday temporarily reinstated through Thursday the head of the government’s whistleblower protection office who sued, asserting he was illegally fired without cause by the administration last week.

U.S. corporate right to bribe? Trump on Monday put the brakes on a law that forbids U.S. companies from bribing foreign officials to win business. The president believes the law disadvantages American firms because they can’t do what overseas rivals do, and excessive enforcement limits the president’s authority to conduct foreign affairs, the White House said.

SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN:

Two different headlines from two different corners of the world, with the same theme.

The Wall Street Journal reported how China’s strategy in an ongoing trade war could target U.S. tech companies, while a Brazilian newspaper reported the South American country is considering raising taxes on tech firms if President Trump raises tariffs. (Brazil has denied that report.)

The last time the U.S. and China went back and forth on tariffs, Beijing tried to target parts of the president's base as he was heading for reelection. Trump responded in part by authorizing roughly $28 billion in aid to American farmers in 2018 and 2019.

As Trump's latest tariff threats escalate, keep an eye on how the countries targeted by those actions respond — and whether the tech giants whose CEOs were featured prominently at his inauguration get swept up in the back-and-forth.

Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:

▪ Musk’s personal business offer for the assets of OpenAI could end up costing CEO Sam Altman.

▪ Hawaii’s Supreme Court ruled that insurance companies can’t bring their own legal actions against those blamed for Maui’s catastrophic 2023 wildfires. The move allows a $4 billion settlement that had been threatened to proceed.

▪ The Hill’s second of a three-part “Future of Energy” series explores whether Trump's new term will change the future of energy, reported by Zack Budryk. Catch up on the first report in the series HERE.

LEADING THE DAY

© The Associated Press | Jose Luis Magana

“TRUMP SHUTDOWN”: Congressional Democrats are threatening to shut down the government next month to stop Trump and Musk’s efforts to freeze government funding, lock out federal workers and close federal agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Rank-and-file members such as Sens. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are brandishing the shutdown threat, writes The Hill’s Alexander Bolton. Democratic leaders are leery of this route, fearing it could give the president the high ground in the debate over government and could, ironically, make it easier for Musk and DOGE to furlough and lay off federal workers.

“I never support a shutdown, but I can see where it could happen in this situation. It’s an extreme situation,” said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.).

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned of the possibility of a “Trump shutdown” in a letter to colleagues on Monday and reminded fellow senators that Democrats have the power to make or break any bill to fund the government past March 14.

“Legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes and Senate Democrats will use our votes to help steady the ship for the American people in these turbulent times,” Schumer wrote. “It is incumbent on responsible Republicans to get serious and work in a bipartisan fashion to avoid a Trump Shutdown.”

Meanwhile, House Republicans remain divided over some of the thorniest issues at the center of their plan to pass Trump’s legislative agenda, disagreements that are threatening to derail their timeline just days before the Senate is planning to advance a competing set of bills. A budget resolution would unlock the process Republicans are aiming to use to pass large swaths of Trump’s ambitious goals.

“Everybody relax,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Monday. “We’re right on the time that we need to be and we’re working through it, so we’ll get there.”

▪ Politico: Johnson is quietly shopping a new budget blueprint. The rough plan would cut less spending than hard-liners want while also scaling back potential tax cuts.

▪ The Hill: Schumer and Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said they are launching a portal for whistleblowers to expose wrongdoing and abuses of power in the Trump administration.

▪ The Hill: Senate tees up the final vote on former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s (Hawaii) nomination to be nation’s intelligence chief.

CFPB: The administration moved rapidly over the weekend to gut the CFPB, halting the agency’s work, cutting off its funding and shutting down its headquarters. The push is not unlike the effort launched in the early years of Trump’s first term to defang the agency, which has faced staunch opposition from Republicans during its 13-year existence. However, as DOGE sweeps into one agency after another with the directive to slash wide swaths of government funding, the new assault on the CFPB has sparked concerns from consumer advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers about just how far the new administration will go this time.

“I think everyone assumes this is the USAID playbook, and I think everyone’s operating off of the assumption that we’re about to get annihilated, the way that they were annihilated,” a CFPB employee told The Hill.

The Hill: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday accused the Trump administration of trying to shut down the CFPB to benefit Musk’s payment platform “X Money.”

DEMOCRATIC RESISTANCE: House Democrats on Monday announced that they have created a task force to respond to the “harm” inflicted by the administration. In a “Dear Colleague” letter, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) announced the formation of a Rapid Response Task Force and Litigation Working Group to further the party’s “ongoing effort to push back against the far-right extremism that is being relentlessly unleashed on the American people.”

The New York Democrat said the party wants to drive down costs of living for struggling Americans and will continue efforts to address their problems. He also slammed the Republican Party for “repeatedly” promising over the past year to make life more affordable while “apparently, they didn’t mean it.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) is taking a front-and-center role in the efforts to push Democrats toward becoming the party of economic populism. The Connecticut senator has emerged as one of the loudest and most prominent voices among party members looking to convince Democrats to change the party’s focus around America’s working-class coalition, writes The Hill’s Hanna Trudo. Murphy argues his party has lost its way with the voters they need the most. Without an obvious leader to counter Trump in the early days of the administration, Murphy is one of the figures seeking to fill that void as the party tries to rebuild from the ground up.

“He’s really interesting right now,” said Matt Duss, a former senior policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has worked with Murphy to co-sponsor legislation in the Senate. “He’s articulating a really powerful theory of the case about rebuilding an American political consensus. And he’s doing so in a unifying and constructive way.”

The Hill: Murphy said Sunday that Trump’s attempts to “seize control of power” were threatening democracy and causing a constitutional crisis with little precedent.

WHERE AND WHEN

The House will convene at 10 a.m.
The Senate meets at 10 a.m.
The president will welcome King Abdullah II of Jordan to the White House at 11:30 a.m. Trump will hold bilateral meetings with the king in the Oval Office at 11:35 a.m., followed by lunch in the Cabinet Room at midday. Trump will sign executive orders in the Oval Office at 3 p.m.
Vice President Vance is in Paris where he has delivered a speech today during the AI Action Summit co-hosted by France and India. Vance said the U.S. plans to dominate artificial intelligence technology and he criticized “excessive regulation.”
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testifies today and Wednesday on Capitol Hill about the economy and monetary policy.

ZOOM IN

© The Associated Press | Martin Meissner

STEEL AND ALUMINUM TARIFFS: Trump’s Monday order imposing 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports came just a week after the president promised to suspend tariffs on Canada and Mexico. They echo steel and aluminum tariffs imposed during his first term, though at that point those were imposed explicitly on national security grounds.

Now, the White House rationale for the tariffs is more ambiguous: The president promised to punish countries “taking advantage of” U.S. businesses, and many analysts see the tariffs as a negotiating tool to extract concessions from other nations.

Bloomberg News: The European Union said it will impose countermeasures on U.S. tariffs.

For example, Trump pumped the brakes last week on a pledge to shut down an import tax exemption for cheap consumer goods, his latest last-second swerve in a global game of chicken playing out in the realm of international trade. While the pause opens up another front in the president’s promised trade war, The Hill’s Tobias Burns reports the backtracking on the so-called de minimis loophole has businesses scrambling to make preparations and policy groups scratching their heads over the chaotic start to Trump's trade overhaul.

“Consumers would notice the cost of these tariffs … and would quickly realize that U.S. consumers, not foreigners, pay tariffs. Highly visible tariffs lead to a quick retreat,” UBS economist Paul Donovan wrote in a Monday analysis, contrasting the consumer goods tariffs with the more upstream levies on steel and aluminum imports.

“Trump risks becoming the boy who cried tariff,” Lori Wallach, director of the advocacy group Rethink Trade, wrote in a social media commentary.

▪ Reuters: It’s too early to see the impact of U.S. tariffs on the world economy, the head of the International Monetary Fund said.

▪ The Washington Post: The winners and losers of Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs

▪ CBC: Trump said “I don’t mind” when asked about countries retaliating against tariffs.

THIRD TERM? Trump and his allies have voiced interest in a third term despite a constitutional limit to two. The president has remarked on a few occasions since being sworn in for a second term that he wouldn’t be running again unless people insist and decide to “figure it out.” And Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) has even introduced a constitutional amendment that would specifically allow Trump to run for another term but not any of his two-term predecessors.

These efforts, which aren't entirely unheard of in recent history, would require a number of steps that make a third Trump term a considerably long shot. The Hill’s Jared Gans breaks down what to know.

▪ Roll Call analysis: Why Trump will (probably) run again for president in 2028.

▪ The Hill: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced Monday he’s selecting ex-Ohio State University football coach Jim Tressel to be the state’s next lieutenant governor.

ELSEWHERE

GAZA CEASEFIRE: Hamas said Monday it is suspending the upcoming hostage release in Gaza and blamed Israel for not following the terms of the ceasefire agreement that paused the 15-month war in the Palestinian enclave. The two sides are in the midst of a six-week ceasefire during which Hamas is releasing dozens of the hostages captured in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Qatar, the United States and Egypt have helped mediate the talks, with negotiators due to hammer out details of the deal's second phase now. The suspension of the truce will likely worsen the uncertainty surrounding the fragile ceasefire, as well as the next steps for the region as a whole. Trump on Monday said the ceasefire should be canceled if Hamas doesn’t release all the remaining hostages by midday on Saturday, though he did acknowledge the decision is ultimately up to Israel.

Meanwhile, Trump’s proposal to permanently resettle Palestinians from the Gaza Strip is complicating relationships with allies in the Arab world. His meeting today with Jordan’s King Abdullah II stands to be an awkward moment as the president continues to pressure Abdullah’s country to take in more Palestinians, who already make up millions of the population. But Trump’s proposal has been met with steep opposition from the greater Arab world, who see Palestinian resettlement as a nonstarter, in addition to going against decades of U.S. foreign policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Arab nations and global leaders have been clear in their opposition to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the urgent need to rebuild Gaza so its people can live with dignity and security,” Iman Awad, national director of policy and advocacy at Emgage Action, a Muslim American advocacy group, said in a statement.

▪ The Hill: Trump in a new interview said Palestinians would not have the right to return to the Gaza Strip if it is taken over and developed by the U.S.

▪ The Hill: Trump said Monday he would consider withholding aid to Jordan and Egypt if they do not agree to take in Palestinians.

▪ The New York Times: Some who left Lebanon in successive waves of emigration have felt drawn back to aid recovery efforts after the bloody and destructive war between Israel and Hezbollah.

RUSSIAN OFFICIALS have expressed openness to renewed talks with Ukraine but have not indicated any willingness to downgrade Moscow's long-standing goals of annexing swaths of Ukraine and blocking Kyiv's ambitions to join NATO. The diplomatic maneuvering continues as White House officials prepare to travel to both Germany and Ukraine, where new high-level peace talk discussions are expected.

Ukraine is welcoming Trump’s offer to trade American military support for Ukraine’s rich deposits of critical minerals. The majority of these rare earth metals are located in territory occupied by Russia.

“We are going to have all this money in there, and I say I want it back. And I told them that I want the equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare earth,” Trump told Fox News on Monday. “And they have essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid.”

▪ Reuters: U.S. funding freeze threatens Ukraine investigations of alleged Russian war crimes.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: “Be cruel”: Inside Russia’s torture system for Ukrainian prisoners of war.

▪ CNN: Trump pushes for quick end to Ukraine war, but much could go very wrong.

OPINION

■ Five former Treasury secretaries: Our democracy is under siege, by Robert Rubin, Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, Jacob Lew and Janet Yellen, guest essayists, The New York Times.

■ The truth about Trump’s steel tariffs, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board.

THE CLOSER

And finally … 🥚 It’s a whodunit the police have yet to crack. Last week, thieves stole 100,000 eggs from the back of a Pete and Gerry’s Eggs trailer in Pennsylvania, and law enforcement officials are still working to crack the case.

The value of the stolen eggs? $40,000.

“In my career, I’ve never heard of a hundred thousand eggs being stolen,” said Trooper First Class Megan Frazer, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Police. “This is definitely unique.”

The theft comes as U.S. egg prices are skyrocketing, rising to more than double the rates in the summer of 2023. Bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, and there appears to be no relief in sight with Easter approaching. The average price per dozen eggs nationwide hit $4.15 in December, and the Department of Agriculture predicts egg prices are going to soar another 20 percent this year.

Tom Flocco, the CEO of Pete and Gerry’s Eggs, told “Good Morning America” his company is upping security after the heist.

KOMO News: 500 eggs were whisked away in a Seattle breakfast heist.

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