President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

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The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

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Christopher Krebs, the former head of the federal government’s top cybersecurity agency, said the 2020 elections were won by Joe Biden, contradicting Trump’s claim that the election was stolen.

Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official, wrote an anonymous memoir that criticized Trump’s handling of classified documents and other conduct during his first term.

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One memorandum signed by Trump directed the Attorney General and the Homeland Security secretary to “take all appropriate action to review” the activities of Krebs. Another directed the Homeland Security secretary to review Taylor’s activities as a government employee.

The memo relating to Krebs described him as a “significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his Government authority.”

The other memo said Taylor “stoked dissension by manufacturing sensationalist reports on the existence of a supposed ‘resistance’ within the Federal Government.”

Krebs declined to comment. Taylor said on X that he wasn’t surprised by the president’s actions.

“I said this would happen,” Taylor wrote. “Dissent isn’t unlawful. It certainly isn’t treasonous. America is headed down a dark path.”

He added: “Never has a man so inelegantly proved another man’s point.”

Taylor wrote an anonymous op-ed while he was working at the Department of Homeland Security in which he said many senior administration officials were trying to limit Trump’s impulses and frustrate his agenda. 

In his memoir, Taylor describes having heard about Trump’s interest in “tapping” the phones of White House aides in a bid to stanch media leaks.

Krebs was the first director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, of CISA, which under the Trump administration began offering cybersecurity and physical security help to state and local election officials.

Trump fired Krebs in a tweet in November 2020 over the agency’s Rumor Control website, which corrected falsehoods about election integrity, many of which Trump and his allies promoted.

Krebs was among the most vocal government officials debunking baseless claims about election manipulation, particularly addressing a conspiracy theory centered on Dominion Voting Systems machines that Trump’s lawyers have pushed.

As a prominent critic of Trump’s false claims that the election 2020 was stolen, Krebs has been a consistent target for Trump.

NBC News’ Chloe Atkins contributed.

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Not long after trading opened at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, Trump took to his Truth Social platform and wrote:

“BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!”

Four minutes later, he wrote:

“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT”

Just before 1:30 p.m., Trump announced the pause, sending stocks soaring. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index saw its biggest one-day gain since 2008, rising nearly 12%; while the S&P 500 climbed 9.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 8% or about 2,800 points.

Trump could have been generally urging people to buy into the market while prices were relatively low. That was the response Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick gave when asked about the posts Wednesday evening on CNBC.

“Donald Trump understands that … America is the greatest country, all right? We are the greatest country, and we have the capacity for incredible greatness. But someone needs to take the shackles off.”

But on social media, some users raised the prospect — without evidence — of market manipulation, while others began referring to the market’s sharp turn upwards as the “Trump Pump.”   

There is no evidence to suggest the president was seeking to manipulate markets or that he or any of his advisers acted on inside information

For Richard Painter, chief ethics lawyer for former President George W. Bush who now teaches government ethics and security regulation at the University of Minnesota’s law school, the morning posts, at a minimum, leave Trump open to questions about his intentions.  

“This is a scenario that could expose the president to accusations that he engaged in market manipulation,” Painter said. 

Even before he’d been sworn in for his second term, Trump faced insider-trading criticisms amid the launch of his $TRUMP meme coin. In that incident, the Trump organization was explicit that a group of investors who were helping launch the coin stood to benefit from its release assuming its price went up. Still, reports showed other investors reaping outsized profits from the launch, including one crypto-wallet owner or owners who earned $109 million according to a New York Times analysis.

Some Democrats were quick to blast the president’s actions on Wednesday.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, told NBC News Wednesday that the Trump administration was “replete with grifters” and that “corruption was its middle name.” 

“Insider trading is a real threat, and I hope there will be a surge of penetrating investigations into the potential for manipulation and insider trading of securities,” Blumenthal said. “Since the knowledge of what Trump’s plans have been and may be is widely spread.”

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Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California — a frequent object of Trump’s scorn — also suggested an inquiry was warranted.

“Trump is creating giant market fluctuations with his on-again, off-again tariffs,” Schiff wrote on social media. “These constant gyrations in policy provide dangerous opportunities for insider trading. Who in the administration knew about Trump’s latest tariff flip flop ahead of time? Did anyone buy or sell  stocks, and profit at the public’s expense? I’m writing to the White House — the public has a right to know.”

A White House spokesman rejected the Democrats’ assertions.

“It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to reassure the markets and Americans about their economic security in the face of nonstop media fearmongering,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. “Instead of grasping at straws to try landing a punch on President Trump, Democrats should focus on working with the administration to restore American Greatness.” — WH Spokesman Kush Desai

A Department of Justice spokesperson declined to comment. The Securities and Exchange Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Painter said the incident could result in investigations “into who knew what and when before [Trump] announced he was going to postpone the tariffs on all the countries except for China.”

“This was a terrible idea to make those posts,” Painter said of Trump’s suggestion that it was “a great time to buy.” 

Painter further admonished Trump, saying “I would hope that he would focus on doing his job  — and try to calm the markets and have a predictable trade policy and let the markets do their thing without the White House giving what appears to be investment advice,” he said.

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The decision to grant the administration’s request means the federal government doesn’t have to take steps to bring back some workers who were laid off while litigation moves forward before a federal judge in California, NBC News reports.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, two of the court’s liberal justices, noted they dissented from the unsigned decision.

The order indicated that some of the nonprofit groups that sued may not have legal standing to press their claims.

Further complicating matters, a judge in Maryland issued a similar ruling that applies to the same agencies at issue in the California case as well as others. That decision, which requires affected employees in 19 states and the District of Columbia to be kept on paid administrative leave while litigation continues, remains in place.

The affected agencies in the California case are the departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Energy, Interior, Agriculture and Treasury.

The Trump administration, in an initiative spearheaded by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, has sought to dramatically decrease the number of federal employees, sparking a fierce legal fight.

California-based U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that fired probationary employees should be reinstated because the process used was legally flawed.

The Trump administration argued Alsup did not have the authority to reinstate the workers and made the problem worse by micromanaging the process. Lawyers also argued that the various labor unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees, and other groups that sued did not have a direct stake in the firings.

The Supreme Court decision only addressed the claims made by the nonprofit groups, as those were what Alsup’s ruling was based on. The union claims could yet lead to further court action.

No individual federal employees are involved in the lawsuit.

Alsup’s ruling “violates the separation of powers, arrogating to a single district court the Executive Branch’s powers of personnel management on the flimsiest of grounds and the hastiest of timelines,” then-acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris said in court papers.

“That is no way to run a government,” she added. 

Harris said the Maryland case is different because the judge, James Bredar, only required the workers to be put on administrative leave and did not order that they be fully onboarded. Bredar’s case is also at an earlier stage of the legal process, meaning his ruling is only provisional.

Harris noted that the Department of Agriculture is also subject to a decision issued by the Merit System Protection Board, a federal agency set up to protect federal workers, that required thousands of workers to be reinstated.

Lawyers for the challengers pointed out in court papers that the government had already said in a different filing that it has “substantially complied” with the reinstatement order, reducing the need for the Supreme Court to intervene.

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After dropping two of three games in Philadelphia over the weekend, the Dodgers’ White House visit coincides with a three-game series against the Washington Nationals as they look to build on a 9-2 start. The team participated in an East Room ceremony in honor of the 2024 World Series victory, entering the room to a rendition of Randy Newman’s “I love LA.”

Pitcher Clayton Kershaw presented the president with a No. 47 Dodgers jersey with “Trump” on the back.

“After seeing how successfully you’ve begun the season, you can plan on being back here. I hope you’re going to be back here next year,” Trump said.

Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young winner, spoke on behalf of the team.

“As a spectator for a championship run, I was in awe of this group,” Kershaw, who was injured during the postseason, said. “Their unwavering confidence coupled with a selfless pursuit for team excellence was an inspiration.

“Moving forward, I hope the 2024 Dodgers can serve as an inspiration to many as they were to me, not just in sports, but in life, remembering to put others before ourselves and move the team and society forward.”

Trump called Kershaw the “heart and soul” of the pitching staff.

“Unbelievable,” Trump said. “I’m glad to meet him.”

The Dodgers confirmed in a social media post lasts month that “in keeping with long-standing baseball tradition,” President Donald Trump invited them to the White House and team accepted. The Dodgers last visited the White House as World Series champions in July 2021 when Joe Biden was president.

“We’re very please to participate in the tradition of bringing champions to the White House,” team Chairman Mark Walter said Monday.

Manager Dave Roberts called the visit an honor that each World Series champion gets to experience. Roberts said the decision to go to the White House was not a formal conversation involving players and coaches.

The White House tradition dates back decades with a visit by the 1925 Washington Senators during the administration of President Calvin Coolidge, according to the nonprofit White House Historical Association. Coolidge and first lady Grace were passionate baseball fans.

Trump shook hands with several players, including superstar Shohei Ohtani after praising the National League MVP, who became the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season.

“He looks like a movie star,” Trump said. “An accomplishment unparalleled.”

Trump asked if Ohtani was that good, and Roberts responded, “He’s only getting better.”

Roberts said Friday he expected 100% participation at the ceremony and that it was “good we have full representation.”

Shortstop Mookie Betts told reporters Friday he would join the team on the visit. Betts declined to join the Boston Red Sox on their visit in 2018 during President Trump’s first term.

Betts was among several Dodgers, including NL MVP Shohei Ohtani, who shook hands with Trump during the ceremony.

“I’m happy he’s going,” Roberts said. “I’m happy we’re all going to go together just to celebrate our 2024 championship.”

Betts told reporters in Philadelphia that his choice to go was not political, but rather because of his desire to be there for the team. Betts said he regrets not joining the Red Sox in 2018. Boston manager Alex Cora and pitcher David Price also skipped the Red Sox visit. Betts said he felt like his absence distracted from that team’s accomplishment.

“No matter what I say or what I do, people are gonna take it as political,” Betts said. “But that’s definitely not what it is. This is about what the Dodgers were able to accomplish last year.”

The NHL’s reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers became the first team to visit Trump in his second term when they were honored during a ceremony in the East Room in early February.

The White House also said recently the NFL’s Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles accepted their invitation for April 28.

“It’s a baseball thing for us,” Roberts said. “It’s tradition and we’re doing it unified. So I’m excited about it.”

Sarah Boardman said in a statement Saturday that the portrait she was commissioned for in 2019 was approved throughout her artistic process by the Colorado State Capitol Advisory Committee. In the six years it was hung in Denver, Boardman insisted she’d received “overwhelmingly” positive feedback on the painting.

That changed after Trump demanded the portrait be taken down in a March 23 Truth Social post, insisting his likeness “was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before.”

The portrait was removed the next day and placed in storage after Republican leadership requested it be taken down, a spokesperson for Colorado House Democrats said.

Boardman denied the allegation, saying the work was completed without “political bias, or any attempt to caricature the subject, actual or implied.”

“President Trump is entitled to comment freely, as we all are, but the additional allegations that I ‘purposefully distorted’ the portrait, and that I ‘must have lost my talent as I got older’ are now directly and negatively impacting my business of over 41 years which now is in danger of not recovering,” she said.

According to her website, Boardman was born in England and traveled the world through her travel business until ultimately studying art in Germany.

She was previously chosen to paint the portrait of former President Barack Obama for the Colorado Capitol. Boardman painted him again in 2012 when she was privately commissioned for portraits of Obama and former President George W. Bush as part of a wider presidential series, her website said.

Boardman’s family said that Bush had written her a letter thanking her for his portrait. Her family and friends described her as remaining “gracious” despite the divisive attention directed toward her in recent days.

Her sister-in-law, Sandi Bartels, said Boardman was “absolutely amazing.”

“We all know Trump. We all know how he talks,” Bartels said. “Maybe he’ll regret at some point having said that.”

She added that artists are aware that “there are going to be things that people might not like.”

“I can’t imagine her letting something like this get her down and say, ‘I’ll never paint again,'” Bartels said.

Boardman’s niece, Elizabeth Paris, said the artist’s loved ones rallied around her on social media, with some changing their cover photos to the portrait of Trump that Boardman had created.

“Great art elicits emotion. It’s obviously done its job. Hats off to you, my dear auntie,” Paris said she wrote on Facebook following the fallout.

Paris said despite Trump’s comments, many in their family have been supportive of the president when he took office for his second term. The unexpected attack on Boardman’s abilities caught them off guard.

But “she’s a strong woman,” Paris said of her aunt.

“She’ll probably soar with this,” Paris said. “She doesn’t have thin skin.”

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He woke up on Friday morning at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, and headed to his nearby golf course a few miles away after writing on social media that “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH.”

Several supporters stood on the sidewalk as Trump, wearing his signature red “Make America Great Again” hat and white polo shirt, glided down a street lined with palm trees. They waved to him and he waved back, part of a ritual that plays out every weekend that he’s in town.

The Republican president was not expected to appear publicly, although he’s scheduled to attend a candlelit dinner for MAGA Inc., an allied political organization, on Friday evening. He spent Thursday in Miami at a different one of his golf courses, where he attended a Saudi-funded tournament. He landed in Marine One and was picked up in a golf cart driven by his son Eric.

Trump has often proved impervious to the kind of scandals or gaffes that would damage another politician, but his decision to spend the weekend at his gilded properties could test Americans’ patience at a time when their retirement savings are evaporating along with the stock market. The tariffs are expected to increase prices by thousands of dollars per year and slow economic growth, and there are fears about a potential recession.

Democrats called out Trump for being in a “billionaire bubble,” as Sen. Chuck Schumer put it, while millions watched their investments sink.

“While the American people are trying to put food on the table, I see that Donald Trump’s out there playing golf,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat from New Mexico. “The president should be listening to people across the country. Maybe he should go into a grocery store, do some walking, talking to folks.”

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that the tariffs were “significantly larger than expected” and are “highly likely” to cause more inflation — at least in the short term but possibly in the long term as well.

However, Trump has described his policies as a painful yet necessary step to encourage companies to relocate their operations to the United States, and he spent the morning defending himself on Truth Social, his social media platform, vowing he is sticking with his policies.

The president spent Friday morning defending himself on Truth Social, his social media platform, and vowing to stay the course.

“TO THE MANY INVESTORS COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES AND INVESTING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF MONEY, MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE,” he wrote.

Although experts have harshly criticized the tariffs, he’s found some support on TikTok. He shared a video that said “Trump is crashing the stock market” and “he’s doing it on purpose” as part of a “secret game he’s playing, and it could make you rich.”

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The video featured a supposed quote from legendary investor Warren Buffett praising Trump, but Buffett’s company issued a statement saying it was fabricated. The video also said that Trump’s goal is to push the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, something that the president explicitly called for later in the morning.

“This would be a PERFECT time” for Powell to cut interest rates, he wrote. “CUT INTEREST RATES, JEROME, AND STOP PLAYING POLITICS!”

With foreign leaders scrambling in response to Trump’s announcement this week, the president lashed out and looked to cut deals.

He said he spoke with Vietnamese leader To Lam and claimed Vietnam wants to eliminate its tariffs on U.S. goods if it can make a deal with the U.S.

He also criticized China for announcing its own tariffs on U.S. imports.

“CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG, THEY PANICKED – THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO!” he wrote.

Republicans suggested that Trump’s policies would be the start of a parley with foreign countries.

“The president is a dealmaker if nothing else, and he’s going to continue to deal country by country with each of them,” said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming. He added that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had told Senate Republicans this week that the tariffs would be a “high level mark with the ultimate goal of getting them reduced” unless other countries retaliate.

Meanwhile, Trump also celebrated a new report showing the U.S. added 228,000 jobs in March, beating expectations. Although the numbers were a snapshot of the economy before the tariff announcement, Trump claimed vindication, saying they already show his moves are working.

“HANG TOUGH,” he wrote. “WE CAN’T LOSE!!!”

___

Megerian reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report from Washington.

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

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The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

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Trump confirmed the meeting Thursday but denied that Loomer — whom he called a “patriot” and a “very strong person” — recommended any terminations.

The president told reporters on Air Force One that it was customary to let go of “people that we don’t like, or people that we don’t think do the job, or people that may have loyalty to somebody else.” He said he wasn’t sure how many officials had been fired.

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Among those let go were senior officials Brian Walsh, Thomas Boodry and David Feith, the three sources told NBC News.

Walsh previously was a top aide to Marco Rubio on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Boodry was a legislative director for national security adviser Michael Waltz when he was in Congress, and Feith worked for the State Department during Trump’s first term.

Donald Trump Mar 29

Trump discusses foreign car prices and controversial Signal chat in interview

Trump administration Mar 27

Trump privately fumes about top security official who started Signal group chat

Loomer met with Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon in a meeting attended by Waltz and Vice President JD Vance, two people familiar with the meeting told NBC News. One person also said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, was present.

According to one of these people, Loomer pressed Trump to fire members of his national security staff, and Waltz defended them. It’s not clear whether Loomer specifically named Walsh, Boodry or Feith. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes declined to comment. Reached by phone, Boodry declined to comment. Walsh and Feith did not reply to requests for comment.

In a Newsmax interview Thursday, Vance acknowledged the firings but did not say whether Loomer was involved.

“The president just decided those folks there, they can be good people, but that they weren’t helping his agenda,” Vance said. “So he’s going to hire the people who do.”

Loomer confirmed the meeting in a statement, calling it “an honor” to share with Trump her research on the staff, and said “strong vetting” is needed for the sake of national security.

“Out of respect for President Trump and the privacy of the Oval Office, I’m going to decline on divulging any details about my Oval Office meeting with President Trump,” Loomer said in her statement. “It was an honor to meet with President Trump and present him with my findings, I will continue working hard to support his agenda, and I will continue reiterating the importance of strong vetting, for the sake of protecting the President and our national security.”

Trump said Thursday that at the meeting, Loomer recommended “certain people for jobs.”

“She makes recommendations of things and people, and sometimes I listen to those recommendations, like I do with everybody. I listen to everybody and then I make a decision,” he told reporters on Air Force One.

Status was first to report that Loomer visited the White House on Wednesday. The New York Times was first to report that she told Trump to fire members of his national security team during the meeting.

Trump has defended his national security team after The Atlantic magazine revealed last week that its top editor was added to a high-level group chat about U.S. military strikes in Yemen. Waltz has said he was responsible for the error; Vance also participated in the group chat.

Loomer’s access to Trump became an internal flashpoint during last year’s campaign. Aides and advisers were not always successful in shielding him from her. For example, she traveled on Trump’s jet to his debate in September with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in Atlanta and to 9/11 memorial services in New York the next day. Her presence at the latter infuriated some Democrats and Republicans, because one of the many conspiracy theories she has promoted is the false notion that the 2001 terrorist assault on the United States was an “inside job.”

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“The unity of the three nations″ was the overriding theme articulated by Carlos Cordeiro, then-president of the U.S. Soccer Federation. “A powerful message,” he called it.

Well, here we are now, with the soccer showcase arriving in North America in about 15 months, and President Donald Trump back in office — inciting trade wars between the neighbors, not to mention across the globe, by levying tariffs that come, then go, then return, with more promised, including what the Republican calls “ reciprocal tariffs ” starting Wednesday.

It’s hard to know how, exactly, the current geopolitical fissures, made all the more stark every time Trump or those in his administration talk provocatively about making Canada the 51st state, might affect the World Cup, its organization and coordination, fans’ travel plans and more.

“Oh, I think it’s going to make it more exciting,” was Trump’s take during an Oval Office appearance with FIFA President Gianni Infantino last month. “Tension’s a good thing.”

Will the world come to the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics?

Given that the U.S. also is preparing to welcome the world for FIFA’s Club World Cup in June, golf’s Ryder Cup in September and the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, the question becomes: Will the world want to come?

And, taking Trump’s border and visa policies into account, will the world be able to?

Alan Rothenberg, who ran the 1994 World Cup and successfully oversaw the bid to host the 1999 Women’s World Cup as then-president of U.S. Soccer, thinks the answers to those questions are “Yes.” Pointing to concerns about the last two World Cups, in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, he noted those still attracted attendance totals above 3 million apiece.

“People love the United States around the world — frankly, we wouldn’t have the immigration issue that we’re dealing with if that weren’t the case — so a lot of this is government-to-government,” Rothenberg said. “A passionate soccer fan is not going to be held up by that.”

He doesn’t think one of the host nations would drop out of the World Cup, say, or that other countries might boycott, as happened at the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics.

“More than anything, they’ll see it as an opportunity for, perhaps, rapprochement, rather than escalating the tensions,” Rothenberg said.

“Besides, from an organizing standpoint, if either Canada or Mexico withdrew” from the World Cup, he said, “the U.S. would pick up the games in a heartbeat.”

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Spectators booing the U.S. national anthem

Still, as the White House stance on tariffs and Russia’s war in Ukraine have put Europe on edge, and relations with other countries have become fraught, it might not be a surprise if soccer stadiums for the U.S. games at the World Cup offer the same sort of anti-American sentiment heard when spectators in Canada booed “The Star-Spangled Banner” during hockey’s 4 Nations Face-Off in February.

FIFA, soccer’s governing body, did not respond to Associated Press requests for comment, but Infantino has never hidden his admiration for Trump, which he often demonstrates via social media. They have met at least five times since the U.S. election in November.

Last week, when Kirsty Coventry was elected president of the International Olympic Committee — becoming the first woman in that position — she was asked how she would work with Trump and what she would tell athletes about traveling to the U.S. for the next Games.

“I have been dealing with, let’s say, difficult men, in high positions since I was 20 years old,” Coventry said with a chuckle, “and first and foremost, what I have learned is that communication will be key. That is something that will happen early on. And my firm belief is that President Trump is a huge lover of sports. He will want these Games to be significant. He will want them to be a success.”

Referring to concerns about whether the administration might deny some athletes visas, she added: “We will not waver from our values … of solidarity in ensuring that every athlete that qualifies for the Olympic Games has the possibility to attend the Olympic Games and be safe during the Olympic Games.”

The overriding assumption among those involved in the Olympics is that Trump will assure the 2028 Games are a success.

As U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee chairman Gene Sykes put it: “I can’t speak for him, but I think he’s the kind of person who probably believes that having these go very, very well is a reflection of his leadership.”

Will Trump’s tariffs and other policies affect soccer’s World Cup?

“The most likely outcome is that Trump’s nonsense won’t have an impact,” said Smith College professor Andrew Zimbalist, an expert on the economics of sports.

“My guess is that if relations between Canada and the U.S. deteriorate to the point that there are travel restrictions and spending restrictions,” Zimbalist said, “Trump would — just like he’s making exceptions all the time on his tariffs policies — make an exception for a month or six weeks.”

The U.S. and Canadian soccer federations declined AP requests for comment on how White House policies might affect the 2026 World Cup.

Gabriela Cuevas, who represents Mexico’s government in meetings with FIFA, said she considers the tariffs and the soccer event “separate issues,” adding that she believes “the World Cup could be a route to engage in a conversation.”

Observers tend to agree, saying logistics such as security cooperation or team transportation from city to city — or country to country — should not be hampered when it comes to the World Cup, scheduled to take place in 16 cities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, 2026.

The borders might become an issue, though.

“The main thing FIFA needs to move for this event is not car parts, and it’s not wheat, and it’s not electricity. It’s people. That’s your real concern,” said Victor Matheson, an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

“What were previously pretty reasonable border crossings could become much more challenging, simply because both sides amp up their level of inspections and the United States, in particular, cuts down government services that allow people to move effectively between countries.”

As for the fans, 29-year-old Mexican businessman German Camacho Pacheco said “soccer is religion” in his country, so when it comes to the World Cup, “I don’t think they care about tariffs.”

Camacho, wearing the Monterrey club jersey of defender Sergio Ramos while on the way to watch a game at a sports bar in Mexico City, said he doesn’t expect there to be any effect at all on the World Cup “unless this goes from a trade war to an actual war.”

___

AP writers Greg Beacham in Inglewood, California; Nancy Benac in Washington; Ronald Blum in New York; Graham Dunbar in Costa Navarino, Greece; Eddie Pells in Denver; Anne M. Peterson in Portland, Oregon, and Carlos Rodriguez in Mexico City contributed.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and national security adviser Michael Waltz are also expected to participate in the Oval Office meeting, one of the sources said.

The scheduled meeting was first reported by CBS News. White House spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for additional details.

TikTok’s fate in the U.S. has been in doubt since last year, when then-President Joe Biden signed bipartisan legislation that forced the app’s Chinese-based owner, ByteDance, to sell the app to a non-Chinese buyer or face a nationwide ban. No such deal came to fruition, and Trump extended the deadline via an executive order on his first day in office, effectively giving TikTok until Saturday to find a solution that would keep it online. Trump also tapped Vance and Waltz to shepherd a deal.

Vance, in an interview last month with NBC News, said he was optimistic he would deliver a workable proposal before the new deadline.

“There will almost certainly be a high-level agreement that I think satisfies our national security concerns, allows there to be a distinct American TikTok enterprise,” Vance said.

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Rumors have swirled for months about potential buyers for the app, which has millions of users and has been valued at up to $50 billion. But there have been few details shared publicly. 

Wyoming entrepreneur Reid Rasner, CEO of the wealth management company Omnivest Financial, told NBC News last month that he offered $47.45 billion. Other suitors have also put their names in the running, including Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who recently announced he had joined a bid with businessman Frank McCourt.

Speaking to reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One, Trump said there are “a lot of potential buyers” for TikTok. 

“There’s tremendous interest in TikTok,” Trump said. “The decision is going to be my decision. … We have a great team of people thinking, essentially taking bids. We have a lot of people that want to buy TikTok. We’re dealing with China also on it, because they may have something to do with it.”

Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner contributed.

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Booker took to the Senate floor on Monday evening saying he would remain there as long as he was “physically able.” More than 19 hours later, the 55-year-old senator, a former football tight end, was plainly exhausted but still going.

“These are not normal times in our nation,” Booker said at the start of his speech. “And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them.”

Pacing, then at times leaning on his podium, Booker railed against cuts to Social Security offices led by Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and spoke to concerns that broader cuts to the social safety net could be coming, though Republican lawmakers say the program won’t be touched.

Donning and doffing reading glasses, Booker read what he said were letters from constituents. One writer was alarmed by the Republican president’s talk of annexing Greenland and Canada and a “looming constitutional crisis.”

“I hear you. I see you, and I’m standing here in part because of letters like yours,” Booker said.

As his speech rolled into Tuesday afternoon, Booker got some help from Democratic colleagues, who gave him a break from speaking to ask him a question. Booker said he would yield for questions but would not give up the Senate floor. He stayed standing to comply with Senate rules.

“Your strength, your fortitude, your clarity has just been nothing short of amazing and all of America is paying attention to what you’re saying,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said as he asked Booker a question on the Senate floor. “All of America needs to know there’s so many problems, the disastrous actions of this administration.”

As Booker stood for hour after hour, he appeared to have nothing more than a couple glasses of water to sustain him.

“I shall not complain,” Booker said with a laugh after one colleague asked how he was doing Tuesday afternoon.

Democratic aides watched from the chamber’s gallery, and Sen. Chris Murphy accompanied Booker throughout his speech. Murphy was returning the comradeship that Booker had given to him in 2016 when the Connecticut Democrat held the floor for almost 15 hours to argue for gun control legislation.

According to the Senate’s website, the record for the longest individual speech belongs to Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

As it rolled past 19 hours, Booker’s speech marked the fifth longest in Senate history. Only one other sitting senator has spoken for longer. In 2013, Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican of Texas, held the floor for 21 hours and 19 minutes to contest the Affordable Care Act.

Booker repeatedly invoked Thurmond and the civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis of Georgia on Tuesday morning, arguing that changing history would require the public to get involved, and more than just talking.

“You think we got civil rights one day because Strom Thurmond — after filibustering for 24 hours — you think we got civil rights because he came to the floor one day and said, ‘I’ve seen the light,’” Booker said. ”No, we got civil rights because people marched for it, sweat for it and John Lewis bled for it.”

Booker’s speech was not a filibuster, which is a speech meant to halt the advance of a specific piece of legislation. Instead, Booker’s performance was a broader critique of Trump’s agenda, meant to hold up the Senate’s business and draw attention to what Democrats are doing to contest the president. Without a majority in either congressional chamber, Democrats have been almost completely locked out of legislative power but are turning to procedural maneuvers to try to thwart Republicans.

Booker, 55, is serving his second term in the Senate. He was an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2020, when he launched his campaign from the steps of his home in Newark. He dropped out after struggling to gain a foothold in a packed field, falling short of a threshold to meet in a January 2020 debate.

But as Democrats search for a next generation of leadership, frustrated with the old-timers at the top, Booker’s speech could cement his status as a leading figure in the party’s opposition to Trump.

Even before taking to the national political stage, Booker was considered a rising star in the Democratic Party in New Jersey, serving as mayor of Newark, the state’s largest city, from 2006 to 2013.

During college, he played tight end for Stanford University’s football team. He became a Rhodes scholar and graduated from Yale Law before starting his career as an attorney for nonprofits.

He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2013 during a special election held after the death of incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg. He won his first full term in 2014 and reelection in 2020.

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

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The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

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In the wide-ranging interview, Trump also discussed his commitment to annexing Greenland and reiterated that a military option was not off the table.

Following a week of headlines about Signal, tariffs and Greenland, the president waved off concerns that his agenda is causing volatility on Wall Street or decreasing consumer confidence, pointing to polling that shows that the share of Americans who believe the country is on the right track is at record highs.

“What I see is right track, wrong track. And the right track was the first time in like 40 years where it was right track,” the president said, at one point putting Alexander Stubb, the president of Finland, on the phone as well. The two men were golfing in Florida on Saturday.

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No concern if automakers raise their prices

The president said he “couldn’t care less” if automakers raised prices after he announced he would impose 25% tariffs on all foreign-made automobiles.

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Asked what his recent message was to motor industry CEOs, and whether he had warned them against raising prices, Trump said, “The message is congratulations, if you make your car in the United States, you’re going to make a lot of money. If you don’t, you’re going to have to probably come to the United States, because if you make your car in the United States, there is no tariff.”

When pressed if he told CEOs not to raise prices, as reported in the The Wall Street Journal, Trump added, “No, I never said that. I couldn’t care less if they raise prices, because people are going to start buying American-made cars.”

Trump continued, “I couldn’t care less. I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are gonna buy American-made cars. We have plenty.”

 Asked if he was concerned about car prices going up, Trump said, “No, I couldn’t care less, because if the prices on foreign cars go up, they’re going to buy American cars.”

After the interview, an aide to the president followed up with NBC News to say that Trump was referring specifically to foreign car prices. 

NBC News reported earlier this week that foreign auto parts would also be taxed at 25% even if the vehicles they go into are assembled domestically. Companies that import vehicles under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will get special consideration until the government establishes a process for levying the 25% duties, according to the  White House.

Until that time, USMCA-compliant auto parts will remain tariff-free.

The president also said the tariffs would be permanent.

“Absolutely, they’re permanent, sure. The world has been ripping off the United States for the last 40 years and more. And all we’re doing is being fair, and frankly, I’m being very generous,” Trump said.

Trump’s tariff announcement on Wednesday came just weeks before his planned April 2 “Liberation Day,” when tariffs on a variety of consumer goods are set to take effect. They drew swift condemnation from international leaders like Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

In remarks on Thursday, Carney told reporters the tariffs were “unjustified” and that “the old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over.”

Trump on Saturday maintained that he does not plan to further delay the imposition of the April 2 tariffs, and he would consider negotiating on that point “only if people are willing to give us something of great value. Because countries have things of great value, otherwise, there’s no room for negotiation.”

Signal incident

Trump said he has no plans to fire anyone following news that national security adviser Michael Waltz added a journalist to a Signal app group chat with senior members of the Trump administration who were discussing plans to strike Houthi militants in Yemen earlier this month.

“I don’t fire people because of fake news and because of witch hunts,” Trump said, calling the story “fake news” throughout the interview.

“I do,” the president said when asked whether he still has confidence in Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was also in the Signal chat and sent a detailed timeline of the planned strikes before they happened.

“I think it’s just a witch hunt and the fake news, like you, talk about it all the time, but it’s just a witch hunt, and it shouldn’t be talked [about],” Trump added. “We had a tremendously successful strike. We struck very hard and very lethal. And nobody wants to talk about that. All they want to talk about is nonsense. It’s fake news.”

Trump’s comments come as he has faced calls — including from his allies — to fire Waltz after The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg wrote on Monday that he had been added to a chat group on a private messaging app with senior administration officials.

In the chat, the officials appeared to discuss their plans to strike Houthi rebels, which the Trump administration has since repeatedly claimed were not classified.

“I have no idea what Signal is. I don’t care what Signal is,” Trump said on Saturday. “All I can tell you is it’s just a witch hunt, and it’s the only thing the press wants to talk about, because you have nothing else to talk about. Because it’s been the greatest 100-day presidency in the history of our country.”

Everything is on the table to obtain Greenland

The president on Saturday also said he has “absolutely” had real conversations about annexing Greenland, which is currently a semiautonomous Danish territory.

“We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%,” Trump said.

He added that there’s a “good possibility that we could do it without military force” but that “I don’t take anything off the table.”

This comes one day after Vice President JD Vance visited Greenland with his wife, Usha, and spoke to service members at Pituffik Space Base, a U.S. Space Force base on the northwestern coast of Greenland.

While there, Vance said, “Our message to Denmark is very simple — you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland.”

Asked what message acquiring Greenland would send to Russia and the rest of the world, Trump said, “I don’t really think about that. I don’t really care. Greenland’s a very separate subject, very different. It’s international peace. It’s international security and strength.”

“You have ships sailing outside Greenland from Russia, from China and from many other places. And we’re not going to allow things to happen that are going to be — that are going to hurt the world or the United States,” he added.

CLARIFICATION: This article was updated to reflect that after the interview, an aide to Trump followed up with NBC News to say that Trump was referring to foreign car prices.

Rob Wile contributed.

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:

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President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

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And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

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Trump’s frustration is two-fold, the sources said. The president is angry that Waltz fumbled a Signal group chat created to coordinate among senior national security officials. According to screenshots published by The Atlantic, a Signal user with Waltz’s name added Jeffrey Goldberg, the magazine’s editor in chief, to the group chat. The episode has created a multi-day controversy for the White House.

But Trump is also annoyed that the race to replace Waltz in Congress seat is shaping up to be more competitive than it should be for Republicans — and next week’s special election in Florida only opened up because Trump selected Waltz for his post in the administration.

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Even though GOP leaders are confident the Republican candidate in that special election, Randy Fine, will pull off a win, Trump is still worried that the optics are fueling a negative narrative and making the party look bad, the sources said. Trump is holding tele-town halls Thursday night for Fine and another Republican candidate in a second Florida special election. Had Stefanik been confirmed as U.N. ambassador, it would have created another special election and removed a Republican from the tightly divided House amid efforts to pass Trump’s legislative agenda.

The White House did not comment on questions about Trump’s conversations Thursday.

Trump’s frustration with Waltz comes as a chorus of allies have called for Trump to fire the national security adviser Waltz as a fall guy for the group chat fiasco.

But while Waltz comes in for criticism because Goldberg’s inclusion in the chat ultimately resulted in its publication, others have scrutinized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth more closely, because he shared details of military plans over a commercial app instead of using traditional government channels for sensitive information.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Thursday asked the Defense Department’s inspector general to open an investigation into the Signal chat and, specifically, whether department policies on classification and sharing sensitive information were broken. Wicker the ranking member on the panel, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., sent the letter to the inspector general together.

“The information as published recently appears to me to be of such a sensitive nature that, based on my knowledge, I would have wanted it classified,” Wicker told reporters on Wednesday.

Yet Hegseth has gotten full-throated backing from Trump and others.

“Hegseth is doing a great job. He had nothing to do with this. Hegseth? How do you bring Hegseth into it? He had nothing to do,” Trump said Wednesday in response to questions from reporters.

In the same media availability, Trump said of Waltz, “Mike Waltz, I guess he said he claimed responsibility,” before adding, “But again, the attacks were unbelievably successful, and that’s ultimately what you should be talking about.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that Trump “continues to have confidence in his national security team.”

Hegseth has defended himself by telling reporters there was “no classified information” in the chat, a refrain the administration and many other Republicans have adopted as well.

“There’s no units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information,” Hegseth said Wednesday.

Other MAGA allies have come to Hegseth’s defense, too.

“We dare the media and these radical Democrats to come after Pete Hegseth,” said Steve Bannon, a longtime Trump ally and aide in his first administration, who said attacks on Hegseth We have his back.”

Still, one House Republican lawmaker with experience in national security matters told NBC News Thursday that Hegseth should resign, saying that if Biden-era Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had done what Hegseth did, “we would have already drawn up, you know, impeachment and asked for his resignation.”

NBC News’ Jonathan Allen, Matt Dixon, Katherine Doyle, Scott Wong, Kate Santaliz and Benjamin Deeter contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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House Democrats said in a statement that the oil painting would be taken down at the request of Republican leaders in the Legislature. Colorado Republicans raised more than $10,000 through a GoFundMe account to commission the oil painting, which was unveiled in 2019.

Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, a Republican, said that he requested for Trump’s portrait to be taken down and replaced by one “that depicts his contemporary likeness.”

“If the GOP wants to spend time and money on which portrait of Trump hangs in the Capitol, then that’s up to them,” the Democrats said.

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The portrait was installed alongside other paintings of U.S. presidents. Before the installation, a prankster placed a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin near the spot intended for Trump.

Initially, people objected to artist Sarah Boardman’s depiction of Trump as “nonconfrontational” and “thoughtful” in the portrait, according to an interview with Colorado Times Recorder from the time.

But in a Sunday night post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he would prefer no picture at all over the one that hangs in the Colorado Capitol. The Republican lauded a nearby portrait of former President Barack Obama – also by Boardman – saying “he looks wonderful.”

“Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the state Capitol, put up by the Governor, along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before,” Trump wrote.

The portraits are not the purview of the Colorado governor’s office but the Colorado Building Advisory Committee. The ones up to and including President Jimmy Carter were donated as a collection. The others were donated by political parties or, more recently, paid for by outside fundraising.

The Legislature’s executive committee, made up of both Democratic and Republican leadership, signed a letter directing the removal of Trump’s portrait. Lundeen, the Republican senator who requested it, noted that Grover Cleveland, whose presidential terms were separated like Trump’s, had a portrait from his second term.

Boardman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. In interviews from the time with The Denver Post, Boardman said it was important that her depictions of both Obama and Trump looked apolitical.

“There will always be dissent, so pleasing one group will always inflame another. I consider a neutrally thoughtful, and nonconfrontational, portrait allows everyone to reach their own conclusions in their own time,” Boardman told the Colorado Times Recorder in 2019.

Trump’s Sunday night comments had prompted a steady stream of visitors to pose for photos with the painting before the announcement that it would be taken down.

Aaron Howe, visiting from Wyoming on Monday, stood in front of Trump’s portrait, looking down at photos of the president on his phone, then back up at the portrait.

“Honestly he looks a little chubby,” said Howe of the portrait, but “better than I could do.”

“I don’t know anything about the artist,” said Howe, who voted for Trump. “It could be taken one way or the other.”

Kaylee Williamson, an 18-year-old Trump supporter from Arkansas, got a photo with the portrait.

“I think it looks like him. I guess he’s smoother than all the other ones,” she said. “I think it’s fine.”

___

Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

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And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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The U.S. men’s national team coach believes it is only a matter of time before America leads the way in the world’s most popular sport.

“I think we can dominate soccer, football, maybe in 10 or 15 years’ time, or maybe less: five, six, seven years. The potential is massive,” Pochettino told English media. ”In five or 10 years, for sure we can be No1 in the world.”

Pochettino was hired last September to succeed Gregg Berhalter as coach and lead the country into the 2026 World Cup, which it co-hosts with Canada and Mexico.

Notably, the 53-year-old Argentinian, stopped short of saying his team could produce a shock victory at next year’s tournament, but he believes with Trump as president, much will be expected of his team.

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“For us, the pressure is going to be there because we are a host,” he said. “In sport, in everything that Americans are involved in, they want to win. The players know it’s going to be massive pressure and now our president (Trump) likes to put pressure on, but it’s welcome. That means we are going to feel the adrenaline we need to feel. We are ready to deliver.”

Pochettino might welcome that pressure, but he was uneasy with FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s response when, on a recent White House visit, Trump asked him if the U.S. could win the World Cup.

“Gianni said yes, but I was disappointed with this answer,” he said. ”He should say: ‘You need to ask your great coach, Pochettino.’ Because for sure, he can give a better opinion.”

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

Trump orders probes of two former officials who defied him

And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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• Inside the DHS task force scouring foreign students’ social media
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It was his first time at the marquee arts institution since he began remaking it at the start of his second term in office. Trump fired the previous board of the Kennedy Center, writing on social media that they “do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.” He replaced them with loyalists, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President JD Vance, and installed himself as chairman.

The Republican president’s allies have complained that the Kennedy Center, which is known for its annual celebration of notable American artists, had become too liberal and “woke” with its programming.

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Trump complained of “tremendous disrepair” Monday speaking to reporters ahead of the board meeting, saying the center “represents a very important part of D.C. and actually our country.” He expressed displeasure with the recent expansion of the complex, known as “The Reach,” which features studios, rehearsal spaces and meeting facilities, suggesting he would move to close up the spaces because they lack windows.

Trump also discussed plans to “improve very greatly” the Kennedy Center and its upcoming artistic programming.

“We are going to have some really good shows,” he said, adding, “The thing that does well are Broadway hits.”

Several artists and productions, including Broadway smash “Hamilton,” have backed out of performances at the Kennedy Center in protest of the Trump takeover. “I was never a big fan, I never liked ‘Hamilton’ very much,” Trump said in response.

Trump also complained about staging costs at the center, saying musician Lee Greenwood wanted to perform Monday at the first board meeting he chaired, but it would cost $30,000 to “move a piano.”

The Kennedy Center, which sits on the banks of the Potomac River, opened in 1971 and has enjoyed bipartisan support over the years.

However, Trump has a fraught relationship with it, dating to his first term as president. He skipped the annual honors ceremony each year he was in the White House. Trump posed for photos in the Opera House’s president’s box behind the presidential seal Monday.

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor at Brown Medicine, held an H-1B visa when she traveled to her home country to visit her family, according to the petition, which was filed in federal court by a cousin who learned of her situation.

Court documents alleged that upon returning to the United States at the end of last week, she was held at Boston Logan International Airport for 36 hours before she was sent back to Lebanon this weekend in violation of a federal judge’s order to halt her deportation.

The initial petition Friday claimed that Customs and Border Protection had detained her “without any justification,” during which Alawieh had been uncontactable and unable to access legal counsel.

Trump administration Mar 16

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Trump administration Mar 16

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“CBP has refused to provide any information on the reason for her detention and expedited removal, nor to confirm the flight,” the petition said.

The same day, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ordered that Alawieh should not be removed from the state without 48 hours’ notice and a reason in order to “give the Court time to consider the matter.”

An attorney for Alawieh confirmed that she is now back in Lebanon but declined to comment further. 

Customs and Border Protection said in an emailed statement, “Arriving aliens bear the burden of establishing admissibility to the United States.” 

“Our CBP Officers adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats, using rigorous screening, vetting, strong law enforcement partnerships, and keen inspectional skills to keep threats out of the country,” Hilton Beckham, CBP’s assistant commissioner of public affairs, said in the statement. 

A notice of court order violation filed Saturday said CBP “had actual notice of this Court’s order and willfully disobeyed this Court’s order.” It further requested an order to return Alawieh to Massachusetts immediately and to schedule an emergency hearing as soon as practicable.

Alawieh, a Lebanese citizen, had been issued an H-1B visa for her employment at Brown Medicine, the petition said. She obtained her medical degree from the American University of Beirut in 2015 and completed her residency in 2018 at the American University of Beirut Medical Center.

Since she entered the United States on a J-1 visa in 2018, Alawieh went on to complete programs at Ohio State University, the University of Washington and the Yale Waterbury Internal Medicine Program before she started her assistant professorship at Brown.

“The Division of Nephrology at Brown Medicine is extremely distressed at this treatment of their colleague,” the court petition said. “She is an assistant professor and has serious responsibilities. Her colleagues have been covering for her, but that is no solution.”

Brown University spokesperson Brian Clark said in a statement that the university is “seeking to learn more about what has happened, but we need to be careful about sharing information publicly about any individual’s personal circumstances.”

The next hearing is scheduled for Monday morning. 

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:

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The agreement follows discussions between El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio about housing migrants in El Salvador’s notorious prison. Bukele’s government has arrested more than 84,000 people, sometimes without due process, since 2022 as part of his crackdown on gang violence in the small country.

Memos detailing the transfer did not disclose how the Trump administration identified the roughly 300 people as members of Tren de Aragua, a gang Trump repeatedly highlighted in the campaign and declared to be a terrorist organization.

Trump administration Mar 15

Judge expands block on Trump's plan to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected Venezuelan gang members

Trump administration Mar 15

The Alien Enemies Act: What to know about a 1798 law that Trump has invoked for deportations

“The Republic of El Salvador confirms it will house these individuals for one (1) year, pending the United States’ decision on their long term disposition,” wrote El Salvador’s ministry of foreign affairs in a memo obtained by the Associated Press.

The Central American nation and Trump administration last month struck a deal to house migrants detained in the United States. The Trump administration contended that El Salvador could even house American citizens, though the U.S. cannot deport citizens to another country.

Rubio and Bukele discussed the specifics of the new transfer, which include a cost of about $20,000 to house each prisoner for the year. A State Department document also suggests that it may set aside $15 million to send to El Salvador to house additional members of the gang.

The Salvadoran memo also confirmed the country would take two men it said were members of the MS-13 gang, an organization that was initially comprised of Salvadoran migrants to the U.S. and had gained an increasing foothold in El Salvador prior to Bukele’s crackdown.

One man, Cesar Eliseo Sorto Amaya, was convicted of double homicide in El Salvador before he was caught illegally entering the United States, according to the U.S. Justice Department. The other was charged under President Joe Biden’s administration with being a high-ranking leader of the MS-13 gang.

Bukele’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

The Tren de Aragua gang originated in a prison in the South American country and accompanied an exodus of millions of Venezuelans, the overwhelming majority of whom were seeking better living conditions after their nation’s economy came undone last decade.

Trump and his allies have turned the gang into the face of the alleged threat posed by immigrants living in the U.S. illegally and formally designated it a “foreign terrorist organization” last month.

Authorities in several countries have reported arrests of Tren de Aragua members, even as Venezuela’s government claims to have eliminated the criminal organization.

The government of President Nicolás Maduro has not taken back immigrants deported from the U.S., except on a few occasions. Over the past few weeks, about 350 people were deported to Venezuela, including some 180 who spent up to 16 days at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Trump’s government has alleged Venezuelans sent to the naval base are Tren de Aragua members, but it has offered little evidence to back that up.

On Saturday, the government’s centralized press office in Caracas did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the agreement between the U.S. and Salvadoran governments.

___

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

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Trump on Saturday invoked the rarely used wartime authority, accusing Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua of “infiltrating” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime, including its “military and law enforcement apparatus”; perpetuating “irregular warfare” within the United States and using drug trafficking as a weapon against American citizens.

Hours before the White House published Trump’s proclamation, the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit accusing the White House of preparing to imminently deport five Venezuelan men under the Alien Enemies Act.

Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court James E. Boasberg initially issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from deporting the five Venezuelans named in the lawsuit for at least 14 days.

Boasberg has now expanded the decision to apply to “all non-citizens in U.S. custody” who are subject to Trump’s proclamation.

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The Justice Department appealed the decision Saturday night.

The ruling means all Venezuelan citizens 14 years or older who are members of Tren de Aragua, currently in the country and are not naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are to remain in the United States for 14 days or until further order of the court.

“Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off, or is in the air, needs to be returned to the United States,” the judge said. “Those people need to be returned to the United States.”

The judge’s ruling does not apply to individuals who have already been ordered to leave the country for reasons separate from Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, nor does it include individuals who have already landed and disembarked in a foreign country. The judge said once those individuals are off the plane and on the ground in a foreign country, they are no longer in the court’s jurisdiction.

The judge scheduled another hearing on Friday, March 21, for further arguments.

“Today was a horrific day in the history of the nation, when the President publicized that he was seeking to invoke extraordinary wartime powers in the absence of a war or invasion and claiming virtually unlimited authority to remove people from the country,” Skye Perryman, the president of Democracy Forward, said in a statement. “But, tonight the rule of law prevailed. The government has been forced to turn planes around and our lawsuit — filed in the very early hours this morning — has resulted in broad relief.”

During a hearing on Saturday afternoon, the judge was assured by Justice Department lawyers that the five Venezuelans ordered to remain in the country were not currently on deportation flights.

Attorneys for the nonprofit groups challenging Trump’s order told the judge they were aware of flights that had taken off from Texas with other Venezuelans on board, heading to both Honduras and El Salvador.

The judge in response warned the government that it must comply with the court’s order.

“This is something you need to make sure is complied with immediately,” Boasberg said. “These folks are going to be sent to Salvadorian and Honduran prisons, which are not going to be terribly receptive to Venezuelans.”

A source familiar with the migrant deportation flights told NBC News that two flights with Venezuelans onboard were in transit today and will be turned around following the judge’s order.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 enables the president to quickly detain and deport immigrants from a “hostile” nation, either during times of “declared war” or when a foreign government perpetuates an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” into the United States. Only Congress has the constitutional power to declare war.

“Over the years, Venezuelan national and local authorities have ceded ever-greater control over their territories to transnational criminal organizations, including TdA [Tren De Aragua],” Trump’s proclamation reads. “The result is a hybrid criminal state that is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States, and which poses a substantial danger to the United States.”

Legal experts have challenged Trump’s interpretation of the Alien Enemies Act, arguing that it was designed only to be used in times of war, and invoking it to deport immigrants could be unlawful.

Ilya Somin, a professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, wrote earlier this year that “illegal migration and cross-border drug-smuggling do not qualify as ‘invasion’ and certainly not as an invasion by a ‘hostile nation or government.’” 

According to an analysis of the law by the Brennan Center for Justice, “the Alien Enemies Act permits the apprehension, restraint, securing, and removal of noncitizens. It also explicitly grants the president the power to determine when and how to do so.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization after Trump signed an executive order creating a process for him to do so.

Trump in the order accused the group of engaging in a “campaign of violence and terror” and flooding “the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs.” In the same order, Trump directed federal officials to “make operational preparations” for the “implementation” of the Alien Enemies Act.

Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act fulfills a pledge he made on the campaign trail to use the law to target suspected gang members, drug dealers and cartel members.

“I’ll invoke immediately the Alien Enemies Act to remove all known or suspected gang members, the drug dealers, the cartel members from the United States, ending the scourge of illegal alien gang violence once and for all,” Trump said during a 2023 campaign speech in Dubuque, Iowa.

Trump is the first president in nearly a century to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, and the first to do so outside of a major military conflict. It was last invoked in 1941 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who used the law to target people of Japanese, German and Italian descent during World War II, an act that the United States has since apologized for.

Democratic lawmakers have tried for years to repeal the Alien Enemies Act, with Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, introducing legislation in January to do so.

“We cannot allow antiquated laws to continue enabling discriminatory practices that harm immigrant communities,” Omar said in a January statement.

Sarah Dean, Lawrence Hurley and Julia Ainsley contributed.

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:

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President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

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Trump called U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who helped dismiss his classified documents case, a “brilliant” judge, while condemning “horrible human beings” whom he accused of disparaging Cannon.

“It’s totally illegal what they do. I just hope you can all watch for it, but it’s totally illegal, and it was so unfair what they were doing to her,” Trump said.

After deeming the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 as “the most humiliating time in this history of our country,” Trump called for the people behind the decision, officials from the Biden administration, to be imprisoned.

“The people who did this to us should go to jail. They should go to jail,” he said.

He also said he would “insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred.”

Follow live politics coverage here.

Calling former special counsel Jack Smith “deranged,” Trump referred to the hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants he pardoned on his first day in office as “hostages” and said the Justice Department would not return to what he declared as an era of weaponization.

“Those days are over, and they are never going to come back,” Trump said.

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Trump was indicted in two separate federal cases: one involving his handling of classified documents, and another involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The cases were dismissed after the 2024 election, and career prosecutors who had worked on Smith’s team were fired when Trump took office, as were numerous federal prosecutors who handled Jan. 6 cases.

Trump’s remarks are not the first time he has called to imprison his political opponents. But the venue of his speech — delivering the remarks at the Justice Department to a room full of its top officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel — demonstrates how his previous campaign threats of vengeance and retribution have taken on significantly higher stakes now that he wields the enormous power of the presidency.

Trump noted the significance of his remarks at the Justice Department, on Friday becoming the third president this century to deliver a speech at the agency’s headquarters.

“I was asked to do it, and I said, ‘Is it appropriate that I do it?’ And then I realized it’s not only appropriate, I think it’s really important, and I may never do it again,” Trump said. “I may never have another chance to do it again, because this is something that I’m leaving to the greatest people I know, the best people, the smartest people, the toughest people I know, and they’re going to do an incredible job.”

When Trump finished his speech, a mainstay of his campaign rallies, the song “Y.M.C.A.,” played over the speakers inside the Justice Department’s Great Hall.

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The speech was meant to rally support for Trump’s tough-on-crime agenda. But it also functioned as victory lap after he emerged legally and politically unscathed from two federal prosecutions that were dismissed after his election win last fall.

The venue selection for the speech underscores Trump’s keen interest in the department and desire to exert influence over it following criminal investigations that shadowed his first four years in office and subsequent campaign. The visit, the first by Trump and the first by any president in a decade, brought him into the belly of an institution he has disparaged in searing terms for years but one that he has sought to reshape by installing loyalists and members of his personal defense team in top leadership positions.

“We will expel the rogue actors and corrupt forces from our government. We will expose, very much expose their egregious crimes and severe misconduct of which was levels never seen anything like it,” Trump said in a wide-ranging speech that touched on everything from Russia’s war against Ukraine to the price of eggs.

“It’s going to be legendary. And going to also be legendary for the people that are able to seek it out and bring justice. We will restore the scales of justice in America, and we will ensure that such abuses never happen again in our country.”

Although there’s some precedent for presidents to speak to the Justice Department workforce from the building’s ceremonial Great Hall, Trump’s trip two months into his second term was particularly striking because of his unique status as a onetime criminal defendant indicted by the agency he is now poised to address and because his remarks are likely to feature an airing of grievances over his exposure to the criminal justice system — including an FBI search in 2022 of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, for classified documents.

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Trump’s visit also comes at a time when Attorney General Pam Bondi has asserted that the department needs to be depoliticized even as critics assert agency leadership is injecting politics into the decision-making process.

The relationship between presidents and Justice Department leaders has waxed and waned over the decades depending on the personalities of the officeholders and the sensitivity of the investigations that have dominated the day. The dynamic between President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and his attorney general, Merrick Garland, was known to be fraught in part because of special counsel investigations that Garland oversaw into Biden’s mishandling of classified information and into the firearms and tax affairs of his son Hunter.

When it comes to setting its agenda, the Justice Department historically takes a cue from the White House but looks to maintain its independence on individual criminal investigations.

Trump has upended such norms.

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Immigration Feb 15

Justice Department fires multiple immigration judges amid case backlog

He encouraged specific investigations during his first term and tried to engineer the firing of Robert Mueller, the special counsel assigned to investigate ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign. He also endured difficult relationships with his first two handpicked attorneys general — Jeff Sessions was fired immediately after the 2018 midterm election, and William Barr resigned weeks after publicly disputing Trump’s bogus claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

Arriving for a second term in January fresh off a landmark Supreme Court opinion that reaffirmed a president’s unshakable control of the Justice Department, Trump has appeared determined to clear from his path any potential obstacles, including by appointing Bondi — a former Florida attorney general who was part of Trump’s defense team at his first impeachment trial — and Kash Patel, another close ally, to serve as his FBI director.

At her January confirmation hearing, Bondi appeared to endorse Trump’s false claims of mass voter fraud in 2020 by refusing to answer directly whether Trump had lost to Biden. She also echoed his position that he had been unfairly “targeted” by the Justice Department despite the wealth of evidence prosecutors say they amassed. She regularly praises him in Fox News Channel appearances and proudly noted that she had removed portraits of Biden, Garland and Vice President Kamala Harris from a Justice Department wall upon arriving.

“We all adore Donald Trump, and we want to protect him and fight for his agenda. And the people of America overwhelmingly elected him for his agenda,” Bondi said in a recent Fox interview with Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump.

Even before Bondi had been confirmed, the Justice Department fired department employees who served on special counsel Jack Smith’s team, which charged Trump with plotting to overturn the 2020 election and with hoarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Both cases were dismissed last November in line with longstanding Justice Department policy against indicting sitting presidents.

Officials also demanded from the FBI lists of thousands of employees who worked on investigations into the Jan 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the building in an effort to halt the certification of the electoral vote, and fired prosecutors who had participated in the cases. And they’ve ordered the dismissal of a criminal case against New York Mayor Eric Adams by saying the charges had handicapped the Democrat’s ability to partner in the Republican administration’s fight against illegal immigration.

Leavitt is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First and Fifth Amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

___

Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

NBC Washington asked government workers and contractors to weigh in on the impact of the cuts and other actions by the White House and Department of Government Efficiency.

“The current treatment of civil servants isn’t just a slap in the face; it’s a punch in the gut. The majority of civil servants are in that role because they genuinely care about serving the public in critical-need areas like housing, education, and veterans’ support,” someone who identified themselves as a Department of Veterans Affairs employee wrote.

Dozens of others wrote about their work ethic, their feelings of betrayal and heartbreak, and their trouble finding child care on short notice after employees were ordered to return to offices. Here’s a glimpse of what federal workers say they’re going through now.

The NBC Washington I-Team wants to hear from federal workers, government contractors and local viewers impacted by the upheaval in federal government. To reach us, you can email tips@news4iteam, call 202-885-4444 or find us on Signal. Reporter Ted Oberg can be found on Signal at tednbc4.06. Producer Rick Yarborough can be found on Signal at RickonTV.24. Producer Katie Leslie can be found on Signal at kleslienbc4.52

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

Trump orders probes of two former officials who defied him

And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Musk and Trump fan the flames of the conspiracy theory that Fort Knox’s gold was stolen
• Inside the DHS task force scouring foreign students’ social media
• Senators vow to continue probe of Meta over its China record after ex-employee testifies

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

Trump orders probes of two former officials who defied him

And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Musk and Trump fan the flames of the conspiracy theory that Fort Knox’s gold was stolen
• Inside the DHS task force scouring foreign students’ social media
• Senators vow to continue probe of Meta over its China record after ex-employee testifies

The March for Drag began in Washington Circle and came together about a month after President Donald Trump posted on truth social, “No more drag shows or anti-American propaganda,” saying it was time for a “golden age of American arts and culture.”

But the protesters who came together Saturday night were having none of it.

“So by attacking drag and attempts to outlaw drag on local and national levels, Trump is simultaneously trying to outlaw trans people’s very existence,” said one activist.

“Things are really scary right now,” another said. “We will overcome it, obviously, but we have to stick together as a community.”

The demonstrators marched toward the Kennedy Center to protest Trump’s hostile takeover and what they are calling the exclusion and villainization of drag. As one person put it, “diversity makes the world go round.”

Trump’s decision to remove and replace the board of directors at the Kennedy Center has led to a number of shows being canceled by artists or producers, including Saigon Nights and Hamilton.

The protesters ended their demonstration outside the main entrance to the Kennedy Center, where they listened to speakers, and, at times, blocked traffic for people trying to get inside for evening performances.

“I think it’s going to make it more exciting,” Trump said of playing the World Cup amid sharp rhetoric between leaders of the host nations. “Tension’s a good thing.”

The task force, which Trump will chair, will coordinate the federal government’s security and planning for the tournament, which is expected to draw millions of tourists to the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“It’s a great honor for our country to have it,” Trump said of the World Cup after meeting with officials from FIFA, the international soccer governing body. He said he’d like to attend multiple games.

Preparations are ramping up across the continent alongside tensions between the United States and its neighbors as Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose tariffs before backing off, spooking markets and leading to fears of a trade war and economic downturn. He also speaks pejoratively of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and muses about Canada becoming a U.S. state, which has boosted national pride north of the border.

For 2026, the World Cup will expand to 48 teams playing 104 matches across three nations, the first time the tournament will be split between countries. Seventy-eight of 104 matches will be played in the U.S., with 13 games each in Mexico and Canada, and as many as six matches a day. The final will be played July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the task force will ensure that each of the visitors who will travel from around the world “feels safe, feels happy and feels that we are doing something special.”

World Cup Mar 6

FIFA could expand World Cup again in 2030 to 64 teams: Here's what we know

World Cup Mar 5

FIFA to hold Super Bowl-style halftime show for 1st time at 2026 World Cup final

“So we’re here to create and to make the best show on the planet ever,” Infantino said. He gave Trump a personalized game ball and unveiled an elaborate trophy that will go to the winner of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, which will pit top soccer clubs against each other this summer ahead of next year’s matchup of national teams.

Trump later brought Infantino to show off the trophy at the start of a White House cryptocurrency summit. The United States, where soccer has grown in popularity but remains a niche sport, represents a major growth area for soccer, he said.

Infantino likened producing the World Cup to holding three Super Bowls daily for a month, a dizzying security and logistical challenge for the host governments.

The Trump administration will face a second test on the global sports stage in 2028, when the summer Olympics will be held in California, the first time the Games will have been in the U.S. since Salt Lake City hosted in 2002.

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

Trump orders probes of two former officials who defied him

And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Musk and Trump fan the flames of the conspiracy theory that Fort Knox’s gold was stolen
• Inside the DHS task force scouring foreign students’ social media
• Senators vow to continue probe of Meta over its China record after ex-employee testifies

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

Trump orders probes of two former officials who defied him

And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Musk and Trump fan the flames of the conspiracy theory that Fort Knox’s gold was stolen
• Inside the DHS task force scouring foreign students’ social media
• Senators vow to continue probe of Meta over its China record after ex-employee testifies

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

Trump orders probes of two former officials who defied him

And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Musk and Trump fan the flames of the conspiracy theory that Fort Knox’s gold was stolen
• Inside the DHS task force scouring foreign students’ social media
• Senators vow to continue probe of Meta over its China record after ex-employee testifies

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

Trump orders probes of two former officials who defied him

And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Musk and Trump fan the flames of the conspiracy theory that Fort Knox’s gold was stolen
• Inside the DHS task force scouring foreign students’ social media
• Senators vow to continue probe of Meta over its China record after ex-employee testifies

The caucus’ chair, New Mexico Democrat Teresa Leger Fernández, called pink a color of “power and protest” in a statement. Fernández said Congress members are protesting increased costs, tariffs, funding cuts for women’s health research and domestic violence survivors, among other plans.

“We stand united in our fury at how Trump and Republicans are harming women and families at every turn to give tax breaks to billionaires. Everything Trump has done has raised costs for America’s women,” Fernández said.

Trump administration Mar 4

Key takeaways from Trump's speech: A focus on culture wars and GOP unity, as Democrats protest

Trump administration Mar 4

Trump addresses Congress for first time since return to White House

In the past, Democrats have worn suffragist white as a form of solidarity and protest against infringements of women’s rights.

“We’re standing together in pink — the color of the Women’s March, the color of persistence — as we continue to fight for our rights. This is a movement by, for, and about women,” vice chair Hillary Scholten said, a Democrat from Michigan.

Roughly 30 Democratic women were seen sporting pink outfits, including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.

Other Democratic groups have plans to wear different colors as a form of symbolism or protest. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus plan to wear black, while supporters of Ukraine said they will wear blue and yellow, the national colors of Ukraine.

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, a Democrat from Illinois who is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and has Ukrainian ancestry, said she plans to wear pink, black, blue and yellow.

U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland were both seen sporting blue and yellow in support of Ukraine.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood is wearing black, while U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez is wearing pink. They’re both Democrats from Illinois.

“It’s really a reminder that this color is also a color of resistance and that every single woman that’s in that State of the Union wearing that pink is going to continue to fight back for women and girls,” Ramirez said.

In addition to the colors they’re wearing, some Democratic members of Congress plan to wear stickers that are meant to protest the Trump administraion. the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is organizing a movement involving stickers that read “Elon is stealing social security,” referring to Elon Musk’s downsizing of the federal government.

Still other Democrats, including Illinois’ Jan Schakowsky, Mike Quigley and Sean Casten, plan to boycott the speech altogether.

The list published by the General Services Administration includes some of the country’s most recognizable buildings and spans nearly every state, with properties ranging from courthouses to office buildings and parking garages. In Washington, D.C., it includes the J. Edgar Hoover Building, which serves as FBI headquarters, the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, the Old Post Office building, where President Donald Trump once ran a hotel, and the American Red Cross headquarters. The headquarters of numerous agencies, including the Department of Labor and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, are listed as well.

Also on the list are the enormous Major General Emmett J. Bean Federal Center in Indiana, the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center and the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francisco. Roughly 80% of the country’s 2.4 million federal workers are based outside of metropolitan Washington, D.C.

“We are identifying buildings and facilities that are not core to government operations, or non-core properties for disposal,” the GSA said of the list of 443 properties. Selling the properties “ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal space,” it said, and “helps eliminate costly maintenance and allows us to reinvest in high-quality work environments that support agency missions.”

The designations are part of Trump and billionaire Elon Musk‘s unprecedented effort to slash the size of the federal workforce and shrink government spending. Selling the designated buildings could save the federal government hundreds of millions of dollars, they claim, while also dramatically reshaping how major Cabinet agencies funded by Congress operate. The Trump administration has also demanded that federal workers report to the office every day.

Several of the buildings on the chopping block house agencies that Trump has long criticized and targeted, notably the FBI and Justice Department. The FBI and HUD headquarters are also prime examples of the brutalist architectural style that Trump has tried for years to eliminate, preferring traditional, neo-classical architecture instead.

Trump administration Mar 4

Trump addresses Congress for first time since return to White House

Washington DC Mar 4

DC mayor to remove Black Lives Matter Plaza amid pressure from White House

Eliminating federal office space has been a top priority of the new administration. Last month, GSA regional managers received a message from the agency’s Washington headquarters ordering them to begin terminating leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide.

In a follow-up meeting, GSA regional managers were told that their goal is to terminate as many as 300 leases per day, according to the employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has listed scores of canceled office leases on DOGE’s official website, raising questions around the country about what will happen to services provided from those offices.

Among the buildings on the list released Tuesday are a large federal building and courthouse in Los Angeles; a federal building in Oklahoma City that replaced one destroyed in a 1995 bombing; an IRS computing center in West Virginia and IRS service centers in Ogden, Utah; Memphis, Tennessee; Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Andover, Massachusetts; and Holtsville, New York.

Also on the list: the National Museum of American Diplomacy in Washington, D.C., federal buildings bearing the names of civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta and Rosa Parks in Detroit, and the Montgomery, Alabama bus station that was pivotal in the civil rights movement and now serves as the Freedom Rides Museum.

In a statement, the GSA’s Public Buildings Service said the bulk of properties it has classified as unnecessary are office spaces.

“Decades of funding deficiencies have resulted in many of these buildings becoming functionally obsolete and unsuitable for use by our federal workforce,” they wrote.

They said GSA will consider the buildings’ futures “in an orderly fashion to ensure taxpayers no longer pay for empty and underutilized federal office space, or the significant maintenance costs associated with long-term building ownership — potentially saving more than $430 million in annual operating costs.”

The 443 buildings, which are currently owned and maintained by GSA, span almost 80 million rentable square feet, the agency says.

Trump has made numerous threats to take control of D.C.’s government, and one of the reasons he’s given over the years is litter and graffitti.

Last year, after travelling to D.C.’s courthouse to plead not guilty in the federal case alleging he tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Trump claimed that the city had declined since his first term ended.

“It was also very sad driving through Washington, D.C., and seeing the filth and the decay and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti,” Trump said on the tarmac of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. “This is not the place that I left. It’s a very sad thing to see it.”

Since 2024, before Trump’s reelection, the District has been deploying beautification crews. On Tuesday, they met with News4 along New York Avenue and North Capitol Street.

“Mayor Bowser started an initiative where we’re focusing on the highways and graffiti, and the major corridors in and out of the city and just handling everything from the illegal dumping to the graffiti to posters,” said Anthony Crispino, deputy director of operations for the D.C. Department of Public Works.

Crispino pointed to discarded tires as one of the biggest problems.

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“In some areas we’re encountering 70, 80, 100 tires, [on] 295, same kind of thing where we’re removing significant tonnage,” Crispino said. “I think last year on 295 alone we removed 23 tons of illegally dumped tires.”

While the beautification crews have been attacking the problem since before Trump’s reelection, Crispino acknowledges his teams are targeting exactly what the president has been complaining about.

“And we will take over the horribly run capital of our nation, horribly run,” Trump said at a campaign stop in Iowa last year. “We have a capital that we all love. Right now it’s a rat-infested, graffiti-infested, and we’re going to take it away from the mayor. And again, that doesn’t make me popular there, but I have to say it. We have to take the graffiti off those magnificent statuary marble columns all over the city where they have swastikas printed on them.”

Crispino said his crews have been working proactively on the problems.

“Yes, we’re addressing issues that the president is mentioning, but we’ve been doing this all along,” he said. “Just since November we have removed over 1600 pieces of graffiti, 400 posters across the city. We have an agreement in place with the National Park Service where we’re cleaning Rock Creek Park, all of the major bridges that are crossing the park we’ve been cleaning graffiti off. We’re having our vendor do that.”

The beautification crews have also been assisting the National Park Service with homeless encampments in the area, Crispino said.

One noticeable, immediate upside to the graffiti removal is that the area smells like lemons when the work is done.

“Yes that’s the silver lining to the graffiti removal,” Crispino said. “The chemical that we apply to take the graffiti off, the manufacturer puts in some sort of citric acid, so it leaves it with a nice smell when we’re done.”

Residents of D.C. can call 311 to report graffiti or illegal dumping in the District. This Thursday, D.C. is holding a hazardous waste drop-off event at RFK, in lot three.

The speech comes as Trump is making a sharp break from the previous administration, both on the international and domestic fronts. On Friday, Trump and Vice President JD Vance had a heated confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, rocking international relations and prompting concerns from critics that the White House is moving away from a democratic ally and hewing closer to Russia, an authoritarian adversary.

Tuesday’s speech — Trump’s first address to Congress of his second term — gives him the opportunity to further justify the shake-ups, both at home and abroad, to lawmakers and the public, and to preview what’s coming next.

The president plans to use the address to tout what he views as his administration’s initial successes, while also hosting guests the White House said benefited from Trump’s first term, according to an administration official and a senior White House official.

The theme of Trump’s speech is “the renewal of the American Dream,” a senior administration official said.

Donald Trump Mar 3

What to watch for during Trump's address to joint session of Congress

Donald Trump Mar 3

How to watch the first joint address to Congress of Trump's second term

The president is likely to focus his remarks on immigration, new tariffs and the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to slash budgets and fire federal workers, as well as the administration’s efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government, a senior administration official told NBC News last week.

Elon Musk, who has spearheaded DOGE’s efforts despite not being the acting administrator of the initiative, will attend the speech, according to a White House official. 

“There will be a lot of surprises and a lot of made-for-TV moments,” another administration official said.

In his last joint address to Congress, his 2020 State of the Union speech, Trump awarded right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh the Medal of Freedom — the country’s highest civilian honor. (Limbaugh, 70, died a year later.)

Trump may not travel the country to amplify his message in the days after the address, as is typical for presidents, according to a White House official. The official said that the president and his team believe he’s accomplishing much of his agenda from the White House, adding that they were comfortable with him explaining his message to Americans from his perch in the Oval Office.

“The priority is making sure business here at the White House is settled,” the official said, adding that post-address plans could change.

Instead, Vance will travel outside of Washington to highlight the key points in the president’s address, a senior administration official said. He will begin with a trip to the southern border Wednesday, according to a spokesperson for the vice president. Vance is expected to tour a processing facility in Eagle Pass, Texas, becoming the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit the border so far during Trump’s second term.

Vance played a key role in Friday’s combative meeting with Zelenskyy, an unprecedented public confrontation with a U.S. ally that was later cheered by current and former Russian officials. The move was slammed by Democrats, and many Republicans have since doubled down on the administration’s criticisms of Zelenskyy.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, of Michigan, will deliver the Democratic response to the joint address. The president’s opposing party typically selects someone considered to be a rising political star to lay out the party’s priorities and perspectives on the administration. Slotkin won Michigan’s competitive open Senate seat in November, outperforming then-Vice President Kamala Harris in her presidential bid.

Slotkin’s speech will lean into her security background as a former CIA analyst, according to a source familiar with her speech, who said her background gives her a unique perspective on the Oval Office confrontation between Trump, Vance and Zelenskyy. The senator will also highlight a proactive economic vision and discuss what Democrats see as the path forward, the source said.

Members of Congress also typically invite guests to presidential joint addresses in an effort to highlight specific issues.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked the Democratic caucus to bring guests who “have suffered under the Trump administration’s policies,” according to a spokesperson. The spokesperson said that Schumer planned to bring two Medicaid recipients, a child with spinal muscular atrophy, whose survival was credited to a National Institutes of Health program, and two fired federal workers.

Trump’s State of the Union speech in 2020 echoed campaign speeches, touting his economic and migration records just a month before the country ground to a halt because of Covid. At the end of his remarks, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up a copy of the president’s speech.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Trump puts tariffs on thousands of goods from Canada and Mexico, risking higher prices
• Trump trades public attacks for a behind-the-scenes approach to influence Congress
• Understanding Trump’s tariffs, in five charts

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

Trump orders probes of two former officials who defied him

And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Musk and Trump fan the flames of the conspiracy theory that Fort Knox’s gold was stolen
• Inside the DHS task force scouring foreign students’ social media
• Senators vow to continue probe of Meta over its China record after ex-employee testifies

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

Trump orders probes of two former officials who defied him

And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Musk and Trump fan the flames of the conspiracy theory that Fort Knox’s gold was stolen
• Inside the DHS task force scouring foreign students’ social media
• Senators vow to continue probe of Meta over its China record after ex-employee testifies

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

Trump orders probes of two former officials who defied him

And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Musk and Trump fan the flames of the conspiracy theory that Fort Knox’s gold was stolen
• Inside the DHS task force scouring foreign students’ social media
• Senators vow to continue probe of Meta over its China record after ex-employee testifies

Members of the large crowd chanted, “Hands off NOAA!”

Hundreds of weather forecasters and other NOAA workers were laid off last week as billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency carry out plans to slash the federal workforce.

The large crowd included Reps. Jamie Raskin and Glenn Ivey. The Democrats represent parts of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, home to many fired federal workers.

“We don’t know the exact number, but we’re talking hundreds and hundreds of people who’ve gotten the pink slip and you know, if you add in the probationary firings, you know, we’re looking at thousands of people who they’re trying to kick out of work,” Raskin said.

Trump administration Feb 24

Where did fired and resigning federal employees work? Only 1 of 16 agencies will say

Trump administration Mar 3

USAID official placed on leave after saying barriers to life-saving programs will cause ‘preventable death'

Raskin said the agency provides vital services, including protecting the safety of seafood, supporting climate science and sharing weather forecasts.

“It’s a totally vindictive and senseless policy that they’ve embarked upon here,” he said.

Ivey said he was impressed that people showed up in big numbers despite cold weather.

“I love the energy, the courage, the excitement, but it’s tragic because these people are being fired illegally. It’s irresponsible,” he said. “It’s putting the country in danger, but I appreciate the fight.”

Raskin said the courts will have to strike down the dismantling of federal agencies including NOAA, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“The president has no right to dismantle them. The president’s job is to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, not that the laws are destroyed,” he said.

“It’s got to end with the rule of law prevailing, and we have more than 35 preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders against the Elon Musk DOGE group and against Donald Trump,” Raskin continued.

Earlier in the morning, members of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rallied outside the Prettyman courthouse in D.C. as a judge heard arguments in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the agency.

A demonstration also cropped up at McPherson Square, where members of the machinists’ union and the National Federation of Federal Employees held signs thanking federal workers as they exited the Metro station.

Some held signs reading, “Federal workers are heroes.”

It’s not officially called the State of the Union, a title reserved for a president’s annual address to Congress during other years of an administration. But it is an opportunity for Trump to lay out his priorities for the year.

Here’s information on how to tune in to Trump’s joint address on Tuesday:

What time is the joint address?

Trump’s remarks to Congress are slated to begin Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET.

What channel will carry the address?

A number of networks have said they plan to air the Republican president’s address across their broadcast and streaming platforms, with special programming before and afterward.

The address will stream live on this website and air on NBC and Peacock.

Where does the address happen?

Trump’s speech will take place in the U.S. House chamber. Larger than the Senate chamber, it can accommodate both House and Senate lawmakers as well as other officials who are typically invited to such events.

Donald Trump Mar 3

What to watch for during Trump's address to joint session of Congress

Russia-Ukraine War Mar 3

Zelenskyy says US-Ukraine relationship can be salvaged

Who else will be there?

Members of the U.S. Supreme Court and Trump’s Cabinet will attend.

There’s always one Cabinet member missing, though. Called the “designated survivor,” that person — who by position is in the presidential line of succession — is intentionally left out of such events to ensure that someone could assume the office of the president in case of a catastrophic or mass-casualty event.

The president typically invites guests who join the event from the balcony above the House floor and are seated with the first lady. Sometimes, there are personal connections, and other times the guests have an association with an issue the president intends to highlight in his remarks.

In his first joint address after taking office in 2017, Trump invited the widow of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, as well as the widows of two California police officers killed by a man living in the country illegally.

What happens afterward?

As there is a post-State of the Union address, the opposing party — in this case, the Democrats — will offer a message in response to the joint congressional address.

This year, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who previously served in the House, will give the Democrats’ response, which is also televised. Democratic leaders have said that in her message, Slotkin will likely focus on economic issues.

The party has also tapped Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, chair of the Hispanic Caucus, to give a Spanish-language response. On Saturday, Trump signed an executive order designating English as the official language of the United States, a measure that allows government agencies and organizations that receive federal funding to choose whether to continue to offer documents and services in languages other than English.

Why isn’t this called the State of the Union?

By tradition, a State of the Union address is intended as a look back on the prior year. Trump just took office — albeit for a second time — on Jan. 20, so he’s only been in office this go-round for just over a month.

Instead, newly inaugurated presidents typically use their first joint congressional addresses to look forward, setting a tone for their legislative agenda. According to the Congressional Research Service, the average number of policy requests in a first-year address is 42.

Trump’s speech on Tuesday evening isn’t technically considered a State of the Union address — that comes next year, after he’s been on the job for longer — but there’s no distinguishable difference for anyone watching at home.

Almost no detail is left to chance in these situations. Here’s an idea of what to look and listen for:

Where is Elon Musk?

The most powerful people in American government are usually on the dais during an event like this. While the president addresses the nation, the House speaker and the vice president, who doubles as the ceremonial leader of the Senate, sit behind him.

However, they’ve been largely overshadowed by Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency and serving as a top adviser to Trump. There’s no precedent for Musk’s operation, which has burrowed into federal agencies, led to thousands of firings and counting, and rewired how Washington works.

Special guests at presidential speeches often sit above the chamber in the gallery. Will Musk, the world’s richest person, be there — or somewhere else?

Russia-Ukraine War Mar 3

Zelenskyy says US-Ukraine relationship can be salvaged

Trump administration Mar 1

Trump signs order designating English as the official language of the US

What does Trump say about Ukraine?

It’s been only a few days since the most dramatic encounter in the Oval Office in recent memory. Trump welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to solidify a partnership involving critical minerals, only for a deal to fall apart after Trump and Vice President JD Vance laced into Zelenskyy over a perceived lack of respect.

Now the future of U.S. support for Ukraine, which has been fending off a Russian invasion for three years, is increasingly in doubt. “You either make a deal or we are out,” Trump told Zelenskyy.

Will Russia try to press its advantage on the battlefield? Does Zelenskyy patch things up with Trump? Will fragile U.S. relationships with European allies deteriorate further?

There are no clear answers right now. But Tuesday’s speech will be a high-profile opportunity for Trump, a Republican, to explain his vision for the war and his approach to foreign policy.

How do lawmakers behave?

Presidential speeches to Congress have become rowdier affairs. Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, famously shouted “You lie!” at President Barack Obama’s address to Congress in 2009, and decorum hasn’t improved much since then.

President Joe Biden got into his own back-and-forth with Republicans, and Trump is known for deviating from his script with attempts to stir outrage among his opponents.

How will Democrats respond? Sometimes their protests have been quiet, such as when women wore white, the color of the suffragette movement, to previous events. But at a time when Democratic voters have been eager for their representatives to be more aggressive, it’s possible that they become more vocal.

Reaction from Republicans is more predictable. Expect them to try to outdo one another with their embrace of the president.

Does Trump spell out a legislative plan?

Trump has demonstrated his desire to push the limits of presidential power during his second term in office, but there are some things that he still needs congressional help to accomplish.

The president wants spending cuts, border security funding and tax cuts — a politically sensitive combination at a time when Republicans have only slim majorities in the House and the Senate. The party will need almost complete unanimity to move forward.

So far, Trump has followed his typical approach of playing one side off against the other, sometimes endorsing the House plan for one massive piece of legislation and sometimes supporting the Senate strategy of breaking the proposals into multiple bills.

Don’t expect a lot of details from the president — that’s not something that usually happens in speeches like this, regardless of who occupies the Oval Office. But Trump could reveal more about his goals or prod lawmakers to work faster. Given the power that Trump has over the party, any remark could reshape the debate.

Which version of Trump shows up?

The president is in his element when he’s delivering freewheeling remarks, bouncing from topic to topic in what he likes to call “the weave.”

But that’s not usually how these kinds of speeches go. They’re often carefully scripted, the kind of monologue that Trump might label “BORING” in a post on Truth Social if he were watching it on television.

How long will Trump stick to the teleprompter this time? And how much does he veer off track?

A hint could be Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention last summer, when he accepted the party’s presidential nomination. He started off subdued, even somber, as he shared the story of his assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

But the appeal for national unity eventually gave way to a flood of grievances more typical of Trump’s stump speeches.

President Donald Trump pulled back Wednesday on a series of harsh tariffs targeting friends and foes alike in an audacious bid to remake the global economic order.

Trump’s early afternoon announcement followed a harrowing week in which Republican lawmakers and confidants privately warned him that the tariffs could wreck the economy. His own aides had quietly raised alarms about the financial markets before he temporarily suspended a tariff regime that he had unveiled with a flourish just one week earlier in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Follow live politics coverage here

The stock market rose immediately after the about-face, ending days of losses that have forced older Americans who’ve been sinking their savings into 401(k)s to rethink their retirement plans.

Ahead of Trump’s announcement, some of his advisers had been in a near panic about the bond markets, according to a senior administration official. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds had been rising, contrary to what normally happens when stock prices fall and investors seek safety in treasuries. That unusual dynamic meant that at the same time the tariffs could push up prices, people would be paying more to buy a home or pay off credit card debt due to higher interest rates. Business looking to expand would pay more for a new loan.

Two of Trump’s most senior advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, presented a united front on Wednesday, urging the president to suspend the tariffs in light of the bond market, the administration official said.

In a social media post, Trump announced a 90-day pause that he said he’ll use to negotiate deals with dozens of countries that have expressed openness to revising trade terms that he contends exploit American businesses and workers. One exception is China. Trump upped the tariff on the nation’s biggest geopolitical rival to 125%, part of a tit-for-tat escalation in an evolving trade war.

Trump’s reversal came one week after an appearance in the Rose Garden where he unveiled his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S. Displaying a chart showing the new, elevated tariffs that countries would face, Trump proclaimed, “My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.”

It proved short-lived.

Markets plunged in anticipation of heightened trade wars, wiping out trillions of dollars in wealth. Democrats seized on the issue, looking to undercut a source of Trump’s popular appeal: the view that he can be trusted to steer the nation’s economy. 

“Donald Trump’s market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor, hours before Trump’s reversal.

The episode laid bare the rifts within Trump’s team of senior advisers as the White House struggled to offer a clear, consistent argument about the duration of the tariffs. While Bessent seemed open to negotiations, Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, appeared to take a more hardline posture. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who has been advising Trump on the government workforce, called Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks,” while Navarro described Musk as someone who is merely “a car assembler, in many cases.”

But the week-long drama also underscored the peril of a policy-making process that is often tied to the wishes and vagaries of one man: Trump.

Asked about the dustup between Musk and Navarro, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a golf partner of the president, said: “I don’t think it matters. The only one who matters is Trump.”

Markets tend to favor predictability, as do business leaders deciding where to build new plants. When Trump sets a course, however, there are bound to be detours.

One friend of his who spoke to him in recent days said that Trump gave no sign he was about to “back down quickly on this stuff.”

Trump believes that other countries trade unfairly and sees tariffs as a tool to make the U.S. more competitive, the person said.

“He’s very confident it’s going to work for him,” the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Trump administration 13 hours ago

Experts, critics question Trump's social media posts before pausing tariffs

Donald Trump 12 hours ago

Trump orders probes of two former officials who defied him

And yet in the runup to Wednesday’s announcement, Trump and his aides were also hearing from GOP lawmakers and outside allies urging an alternate path.

One was Larry Kudlow, who hosts a show on Fox Business Network and was a senior economic adviser in Trump’s first term.

Kudlow told NBC News that he has had “ongoing” talks with friends inside the West Wing about the need to negotiate with other countries before slapping them with tariffs that stand in perpetuity.

Describing Trump’s move Wednesday as “fabulous,” Kudlow added: “Dealmaking is the best thing to do. In the last 48 hours, Trump has gone from non-negotiating to negotiating. It’s very clear that Bessent is now the point man on trade. Very clear.”

Anxious GOP lawmakers also weighed in.

Graham said he spoke to Trump at length Tuesday night and told him he’s been hearing from car manufacturers who are worried about how the tariffs would affect their business. BMW operates a plant in Graham’s home state and is one of the companies the senator said he has spoken to.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was also a lawmaker in touch with the administration, saying on Tuesday that he planned to have lunch with Bessent. On Wednesday, he told NBC News he was also talking to the White House. Kennedy likened Trump to the “pitbull who caught the car.” Now, he said, the question becomes: “What are you going to do with the car?”

After more market losses this week, and with pressure mounting from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump began having second thoughts. In his first term, he often viewed the ups and downs of the stock market as a kind of report card on his presidency, celebrating its rise. The downturn had gotten his attention.

“People were getting a little queasy,” he acknowledged Wednesday during an event with NASCAR racing champions.

“Over the last few days,” according to Trump, he began to more seriously consider pausing the additional tariffs, he told reporters later in the day in an Oval Office appearance. One prospect that intrigued him was personally negotiating new trade deals with the countries looking to get out from under the tariffs, the senior administration official added.

He’d made up his mind. Sitting with Bessent and Lutnick, he crafted the note announcing the 90-day postponement and ending, for the time being, the biggest economic crisis of his young presidency.

“We wrote it from our hearts, right?” Trump said. “It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us, and we don’t want to hurt countries that don’t need to be hurt, and they all want to negotiate.”

The day closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 8%, erasing some — but not all — of the post-“Liberation Day” losses.

Messy as it all may have seemed, his administration insisted that all is unfolding as planned.

“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted Wednesday afternoon.

NBC News’ Katherine Doyle and Ryan Nobles contributed.

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The order allows government agencies and organizations that receive federal funding to choose whether to continue to offer documents and services in language other than English.

It rescinds a mandate from former President Bill Clinton that required the government and organizations that received federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers.

“Establishing English as the official language will not only streamline communication but also reinforce shared national values, and create a more cohesive and efficient society,” according to the order.

“In welcoming new Americans, a policy of encouraging the learning and adoption of our national language will make the United States a shared home and empower new citizens to achieve the American dream,” the order also states. “Speaking English not only opens doors economically, but it helps newcomers engage in their communities, participate in national traditions, and give back to our society.”

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More than 30 states have already passed laws designating English as their official language, according to U.S. English, a group that advocates for making English the official language in the United States.

For decades, lawmakers in Congress have introduced legislation to designate English as the official language of the U.S., but those efforts have not succeeded.

Within hours of Trump’s inauguration last month, the new administration took down the Spanish language version of the official White House website.

Hispanic advocacy groups and others expressed confusion and frustration at the change. The White House said at the time it was committed to bringing the Spanish language version of the website back online. As of Saturday, it was still not restored.

The White House did not immediately respond to a message about whether that would happen.

Trump shut down the Spanish version of the website during his first term. It was restored when President Joe Biden was inaugurated in 2021.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday night to say Rose, who died in September at 83, “shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING.”

Trump did not specifically mention Rose’s tax case in which Rose pleaded guilty in 1990 to two counts of filing false tax returns and served a five-month prison sentence.

The president said he would sign a pardon for Rose “over the next few weeks.”

MLB and Rose agreed to a permanent ban in 1989 after an investigation determined he had bet on games involving the Cincinnati Reds from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team. The Hall of Fame board of directors in 1991 adopted a rule preventing people on the permanently ineligible list from appearing on the hall ballot.