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Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs are partly off again: From 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 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 Trump is considering a major change to the United States' participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to favor members of the alliance that spend a set percentage of their gross domestic product on defense. Some U.S. allies are weighing scaling back the intelligence they share with Washington in response to the Trump administration's conciliatory approach to Russia. U.S. immigration agents are planning a new operation to arrest migrant families with children as part of a nationwide crackdown. A federal appeals court said Trump can fire a top government watchdog in the latest round of a legal fight over the authority to dismiss federal officials. The CIA has started to fire some of its recently hired officers. A federal judge ordered the reinstatement of a National Labor Relations Board member, calling the attempt to fire them 'a blatant violation of the law.' The firings of over 5,000 probationary employees at the Agriculture Department may have been unlawful, and the workers should be reinstated for at least the next 45 days, a federal civil service board ruled. Federal student loan borrowers experiencing difficulties with their loans could find they have no recourse as Trump's cuts to staff at the Department of Education are carried out. The Social Security Administration wrote in an email that employees can no longer read news websites on work devices. 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.🗣 Address aftermath: The Republican-controlled House voted to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting Trump's speech to Congress. Green is the 28th member of the House to be censured in its history. Read more → 🚫 CHIPS and dip: Trump made an unexpected call to repeal the CHIPS Act during his address to Congress, but Republicans 'don't see a huge appetite' to do so on Capitol Hill. Read more → 💲Budget warning: House Republicans can't meet their own spending target that is necessary to pass Trump's legislative agenda without making significant cuts to Medicare or Medicaid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Read more → ➡️ Pushing back: The National Republican Congressional Committee is facing backlash after falsely referring to Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., as an 'illegal immigrant.' Read more → 🌎 As MAGA world turns, part 1: MAGA activists have turned against one of Trump's own appointees to the Supreme Court: Justice Amy Coney Barrett. She has been the deciding vote against Trump's side in a couple of recent high-profile decisions. Read more → 🌎 As MAGA world turns, pa2t 2: GOP Sen. Thom Tillis slammed Arthur Schwartz, a MAGA-aligned operative, who called for a new candidate in next year's North Carolina Senate race. Read more → 🌎 As MAGA world turns, part 3: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' statement that Andrew and Tristan Tate, the social media figures who had been charged with human trafficking in Romania, were not welcome in his state put him at odds with elements of the MAGA movement. Read more → 👀 New sheriff in town: Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser will remove Black Lives Matter Plaza amid pressure from the White House. Read more → 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 And if you're a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up . This article was originally published on
NBC News
06-03-2025
- Business
- NBC News
Trump walks back tariffs on a range of goods from Mexico and Canada for one month
President Donald Trump issued exemptions on tariffs for a variety of goods coming into the United States from Mexico and Canada — just two days after he put the sweeping tariffs in place — leaving investors and businesses grappling with the whiplash of his back-and-forth trade policy. The exemptions to the 25% tariffs enacted Tuesday would apply to about half of goods coming into the United States from Mexico and around 38% of goods from Canada that comply with the North American trade deal reached during Trump's first term, according to a senior administration official. It's the second time in less than two months that Trump has announced and then backtracked on tariffs on the United States' neighbors. The moves have rattled the stock market, with businesses warning that the added costs could drive prices higher and cut into their profits. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 are on pace for their worst week since September. '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. 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 exemptions Trump issued Thursday will last until April 2, when Trump plans another round of retaliatory tariffs on goods from a range of countries. The exemptions apply to some things like potash, which is used in fertilizers, but some Canadian energy products won't qualify and will be subjected to a 10% tariff. And all other goods, including computers from Mexico, will be subjected to the 25% tariff, the senior administration official said. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which Trump heralded during his first term as a negotiating victory, allows goods to move among the three countries tariff-free if they follow certain rules. The rules require that a product be made entirely in North America or be substantially transformed in North America if it is made of components from other countries. For products like autos, 75% of the content must be from North America. The tariffs for non-USMCA-compliant goods could address c o ncerns past and current U.S. officials have raised about Chinese goods' being shipped into Mexico and then sent to the United States tariff-free, without having met the USMCA requirement of having been substantially transformed in North America. On Tuesday, the Trump administration began charging U.S.-based companies importing goods from Canada and Mexico a 25% tariff for bringing those goods into the country. Trump also increased the tariff on goods from China to 20%, on top of tariffs already in place from his first term. Target, Best Buy and other companies warned the added costs from the tariffs could drive prices higher on thousands of products, including alcohol, fresh produce, cars and electronics. "Tariffs hit families where it hurts: groceries, school supplies and apparel. This continuous tariff uncertainty increases pocketbook anxiety for families and also throws a wrench into future business planning and investment," said Michael Hanson, executive vice president of public affairs for the Retail Industry Leaders Association. A day after the tariffs went into effect, the White House said it would begin exempting autos if the companies complied by standards in the USMCA deal, which automakers said they have been doing. The tariffs could have added $4,000 to $10,000 to the cost of cars made in North America, according to estimates from Anderson Economic Group. In announcing them, Trump said he was using the tariffs as a tool to pressure Canada and Mexico to do more to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States, though less than 1% of fentanyl seized at the U.S. border was coming from Canada. The United States recorded 87,000 drug overdose deaths from October 2023 to September 2024, a decrease from 114,000 the previous year, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trump said he decided to issue the exemptions after he spoke with U.S. automakers' CEOs on Wednesday, giving them some time to adjust before he puts wider tariffs in place next month. "There will always be a little short-term interruption. I don't think it's going to be big, but the countries and companies that have been ripping us aren't particularly happy with what I'm doing," Trump told reporters Thursday. "But the United States will be very happy. And, you know, our farmers are going to be very happy, and again, there'll be disruption." Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a news conference Thursday that, in her call with Trump, she cited a graph from U.S. Customs and Border Protection showing a drop in fentanyl seizures, which she said Trump hadn't previously seen. "In February alone, the reduction in fentanyl seizures on the United States side of the border with Mexico was reduced by 41.5%. He didn't know about this graph until I sent it to him," she said. Trump also spoke Wednesday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said earlier in the week that there had been a 97% drop in fentanyl seizures from January compared with December, with less than half an ounce seized in January.
NBC News
06-03-2025
- Automotive
- NBC News
Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs are partly off again: From 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. — 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. What else to know from the Trump presidency today Trump is considering a major change to the United States' participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to favor members of the alliance that spend a set percentage of their gross domestic product on defense. Some U.S. allies are weighing scaling back the intelligence they share with Washington in response to the Trump administration's conciliatory approach to Russia. U.S. immigration agents are planning a new operation to arrest migrant families with children as part of a nationwide crackdown. A federal appeals court said Trump can fire a top government watchdog in the latest round of a legal fight over the authority to dismiss federal officials. The CIA has started to fire some of its recently hired officers. A federal judge ordered the reinstatement of a National Labor Relations Board member, calling the attempt to fire them 'a blatant violation of the law.' The firings of over 5,000 probationary employees at the Agriculture Department may have been unlawful, and the workers should be reinstated for at least the next 45 days, a federal civil service board ruled. Federal student loan borrowers experiencing difficulties with their loans could find they have no recourse as Trump's cuts to staff at the Department of Education are carried out. The Social Security Administration wrote in an email that employees can no longer read news websites on work devices. 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. 🗞️ Today's other top stories 🗣 Address aftermath: The Republican-controlled House voted to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting Trump's speech to Congress. Green is the 28th member of the House to be censured in its history. Read more → 🚫 CHIPS and dip: Trump made an unexpected call to repeal the CHIPS Act during his address to Congress, but Republicans 'don't see a huge appetite' to do so on Capitol Hill. Read more → 💲Budget warning: House Republicans can't meet their own spending target that is necessary to pass Trump's legislative agenda without making significant cuts to Medicare or Medicaid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Read more → ➡️ Pushing back: The National Republican Congressional Committee is facing backlash after falsely referring to Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., as an 'illegal immigrant.' Read more → 🌎 As MAGA world turns, part 1: MAGA activists have turned against one of Trump's own appointees to the Supreme Court: Justice Amy Coney Barrett. She has been the deciding vote against Trump's side in a couple of recent high-profile decisions. Read more → 🌎 As MAGA world turns, pa2t 2: GOP Sen. Thom Tillis slammed Arthur Schwartz, a MAGA-aligned operative, who called for a new candidate in next year's North Carolina Senate race. Read more → 🌎 As MAGA world turns, part 3: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' statement that Andrew and Tristan Tate, the social media figures who had been charged with human trafficking in Romania, were not welcome in his state put him at odds with elements of the MAGA movement. Read more →
