March 5, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news

• Trade war: President Donald Trump said his call today with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ended in a “‘somewhat’ friendly manner,” but he did not mention any potential compromise on the trade war between the two nations. US stocks however rallied after the administration said it would grant a one-month exemption for tariffs on Canada and Mexico that affect automakers.

• Court rulings: A divided Supreme Court rejected Trump’s request to keep billions in foreign aid approved by Congress frozen. Separately, a federal appeals court allowed the president to remove the head of a government watchdog agency while a legal challenge to his firing plays out.

• Cuts at the VA: The administration is planning to cut tens of thousands of employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to a memo obtained by CNN.

• US-Hamas talks: The US is negotiating directly with Hamas about hostages and the Gaza ceasefire, upending its tradition of not talking to groups it considers terrorist organizations, according to officials.

Our live coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.

The chief of staff to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Hayden Haynes, was arrested for driving under the influence, a US Capitol Police spokesperson told CNN.

The arrest came after President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress Tuesday night.

Johnson spokesperson Taylor Haulsee said in a statement: “The Speaker is aware of the encounter that occurred last night involving his Chief of Staff and the Capitol Police. The Speaker has known and worked closely with Hayden for nearly a decade and trusted him to serve as his Chief of Staff for his entire tenure in Congress. Because of this and Hayden’s esteemed reputation among Members and staff alike, the Speaker has full faith and confidence in Hayden’s ability to lead the Speaker’s office.”

Haynes has been a longtime aide to Johnson and served as his chief of staff since Johnson won the speaker’s gavel in October 2023.

NBC News was first to report on the incident.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce is scheduled to brief media for the first time on Thursday afternoon, according to the State Department public schedule.

Bruce, a former Fox News contributor, was tapped for the State Department spokesperson role by President Donald Trump.

The State Department held almost daily press briefings under the Biden administration. Under Trump’s first term, briefings were conducted sparsely and irregularly.

The Trump administration has already terminated 2,400 Veterans Affairs employees, according to a Tuesday letter addressed to the Veterans Affairs secretary from two Maine lawmakers, independent Sen. Angus King and Democratic Rep. Jared Golden.

The letter to Secretary Doug Collins expressed “utmost concern” about the lack of a stated reason for the firings and the number of veterans among those who have been fired.

Some background: The administration is ultimately planning to cut tens of thousands of employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to an internal memo obtained by CNN.

Rep. Derrick Van Orden said Elon Musk distanced himself and the Department of Government Efficiency effort from the widespread firings across the federal government, which he blamed on federal department heads, during a meeting with House Republicans on Wednesday evening.

Musk told the group that recently announced plans to cut employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs “wasn’t a DOGE decision,” Van Orden told CNN’s Manu Raju.

CNN has reported on a March 4 memo from the VA chief of staff Christopher Syrek that the VA and DOGE will move “aggressively” to restructure across the entire department and “resize” the workforce.

Van Orden said Musk told lawmakers the “individual departments” were involved in plans to cut employees across the federal government, and that DOGE was making the “assumption” that department heads know who was being “unproductive” and would “reward the people that are being productive.”

He told CNN that “yeah,” Musk was telling House Republicans he was not involved in the firings, and that Musk did not pass judgement on the merits of the deep job cuts.

Musk has been a central figure in the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the federal government, though the White House has made clear that Musk is serving as a special government employee and is not officially tasked with leading DOGE.

President Donald Trump said he told Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser on Wednesday to crack down on the homeless encampments in the nation’s capital, particularly those outside the White House and State Department.

Last year, several encampments across the city were cleared out after homelessness in Washington jumped 14% in 2023.

Elon Musk acknowledged to House Republicans that the Department of Government Efficiency has made some mistakes as decisions about certain federal freezes and firings have had to be reversed.

The comments came in his closed-door meeting with GOP lawmakers.

Multiple GOP members told CNN that Musk walked them through how DOGE has approached cuts to the federal government and had members of his team address the group as well. A number of Republicans asked questions, with some raising concerns about how the process has been handled.

One GOP lawmaker detailed why Republicans are pushing Musk behind closed doors, while remaining publicly supportive.

“Republican members may be reticent to criticize Elon publicly because they understand that you praise in public. If you’re good teammate, you criticize behind closed doors,” the lawmaker said.

Elon Musk emerged from a meeting with House Republicans after nearly two hours, telling reporters, “there’s a lot of room — opportunity to improve expenditures in the government, and we’re making good progress.”

Pressed by CNN’s Manu Raju on if Congress should get a vote on these cuts, Musk replied, “well they do have a vote on it.” Asked if that could include a rescissions package, Musk replied “yeah, sure.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson said the idea of a legislative package codifying cuts made by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency was discussed during the meeting.

“We talked about that because most of this will be part of the [fiscal year 2026] budgeting process and the appropriations. And if there are savings and things that relate to [fiscal year 2025] and we have already passed the [continuing resolution], then yes, of course, you will have rescissions” that come from the executive branch, he told reporters as he left the meeting.

Some context: During the tech billionaire’s meeting with GOP senators earlier today, Sen. Rand Paul, a strong advocate for shrinking government, made the case that DOGE’s cuts should be moving through Congress in the form of rescissions packages in order to be protected from the courts.

A rescissions package makes changes to funding that was appropriated by Congress and only requires a simple majority vote in the Senate and a majority vote in the House. Republicans have control of both chambers.

The challenge for Republicans, however, is that voting on rescissions packages means that they will be on the record for voting for cuts that could be unpopular with some in the American public and even with some of their own constituents.

This post was updated with Speaker Johnson’s remarks.

GOP Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York was shocked to learn that 4,000 Internal Revenue Service employees in his district are on the verge of losing their office space when he met today with Treasury union representatives.

The IRS office in Garbarino’s Long Island district is one of over 100 offices across the country that help with taxpayer assistance that the Trump administration is looking to close, according to a list circulated last month and reviewed by CNN.

Despite being in the middle of tax season, a total of 7,400 IRS probationary employees have already been laid off according to documents provided to CNN, and plans are being drafted to eventually cut the agency’s workforce in half, according to sources.

The IRS has long been a political punching bag for Republicans, particularly after Democrats bolstered the agency with billions in new funding meant to help modernize the nation’s tax collector. Congressional leaders secured a bipartisan agreement to cut the IRS by $20 billion last year.

But in the height of tax season, some Republicans acknowledge that the core functions of the federal agency need to be preserved.

“We want to make sure that the efforts to find waste, fraud and abuse don’t impair the necessary functions of the federal government,” GOP Rep. Dan Newhouse told CNN when asked about cuts being made to the IRS.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday imposed blanket 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and doubled tariffs on those from China.

In response, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would implement a 25% tariff on $20.7 billion ($30 billion Canadian) of US goods immediately, followed by an additional $86.2 billion ($125 billion Canadian) in 21 days’ time.

Here’s what else you should know:

A call with Trudeau:

Auto tariff delay:

Tariff disturbance:

Mexico’s response:

Chaos within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has come to light in a recent court filing showing emails and documents from employees inside the agency amid efforts to dismantle it, illustrating a team scrambling to make do with recent firings and confusion on what work is allowed to be completed.

Employees were left puzzled following instructions from Russell Vought, the acting director of CFPB, last month explicitly ordering them to stop working altogether and saying that “any urgent matters” would require approval in writing from the bureau’s chief legal officer.

Those instructions kickstarted a flurry of uncertainty and hesitancy behind the scenes that has picked up this week. Mark Paoletta, CFPB chief legal officer, said in an email on Sunday that it had come to his attention that some employees had not been performing statutorily required work.

“Let me be clear: Employees should be performing work that is required by law and do not need to seek prior approval to do so,” Paoletta wrote, according to the court filing.

About CFPB: It protects consumers from financial abuses and serves as the central independent agency for consumer financial protection authorities. President Donald Trump fired the previous director of the CFPB, Rohit Chopra, last month before the agency’s work had been halted. The effort to gut the agency was made apparent with an Elon Musk tweet last month that read: “CFPB RIP” with a tombstone emoji.

An ensuing court battle has produced the filing with revealing internal emails showing how the agency isn’t meeting its obligations. A federal judge has put in place an order that blocks the agency from making any substantial changes, especially to its data, personnel and funding reserves, but even that is a challenge to comply with, the agency emails reveal.

CNN’s Katelyn Polantz contributed to the report.

During today’s White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she had been passed a note from President Donald Trump instructing her to tout a poll showing that a majority of viewers who watched his speech to Congress the night before approved of it.

The moment — showing the president was tuning in real-time to his press secretary’s briefing — underscores how the former reality TV star cares about the messaging of his administration.

The graphic of the poll was shown on the screen behind Leavitt for several minutes during the briefing as well, and she had also mentioned it during her opening remarks as well.

Some more background: According to CNN’s polling conducted by SSRS, the GOP-heavy audience greeted the speech with tempered positivity. Roughly seven in 10 speech-watchers said they had at least a somewhat positive reaction to the address, with a smaller 44% offering a very positive response. That’s lower than the 57% of viewers who rated Trump’s initial address to Congress very positively eight years ago, or the 51% who said the same of President Joe Biden’s initial address in 2021. It also comes just below the 48% “very positive” rating Trump saw for his 2018 State of the Union.

The hit musical show “Hamilton” announced today that it will cancel performances scheduled for next year at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, citing President Donald Trump’s firing of the center’s former president and board members.

CNN has reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment.

Shortly after taking office, Trump announced plans to gut the Kennedy Center and appoint himself as chairman — a position he was elected to after firing members of its board.

Seller — noting that the play was first performed at the center during Trump’s first administration — stressed that this move is not “against his administration, but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover.”

Some background: The cancellation comes after other prominent producers and events pulled away from the center in recent weeks.

Issa Rae, who starred in the TV show “Insecure,” cancelled her event, “An Evening with Issa Rae,” citing that there has been “an infringement on the values” of the Kennedy Center.

Television producer Shonda Rhimes, who served as the board’s treasurer, also resigned last month.

The US is negotiating directly with Hamas about hostages and the Gaza ceasefire, upending its tradition of not talking to groups it considers terrorist organizations, according an Israeli official and the White House.

An Israel official told CNN that Israel is aware of direct contacts between the United States and Hamas. And White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed talks were taking place.

The contact was first reported by Axios, which said the talks happened in recent weeks in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Leavitt was asked why the US was negotiating “directly and for the first time ever with Hamas.”

“When it comes to the negotiations that you’re referring to, first of all, the special envoy who’s engaged in those negotiations does have the authority to talk to anyone,” she said, referring to the US hostage envoy, Adam Boehler.

When asked about the scope of the talks, Leavitt said: “These are ongoing talks and discussions. I’m not going to detail them here.”

What the president said: President Donald Trump issued a “last warning” today to Hamas to release all hostages held in Gaza.

“’Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye — You can choose. Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Hamas responds: Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told CNN that Trump’s social media post would “complicate matters regarding the ceasefire agreement” and embolden Israel’s government to avoid implementing the deal.

CNN’s Kit Maher, Ibrahim Dahman and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this post.

A federal appeals court is allowing President Donald Trump to remove the head of a government watchdog agency while a legal challenge to his firing plays out.

In a brief, unsigned order issued this afternoon, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request by the administration to put on hold a lower-court ruling that said Trump’s firing of Hampton Dellinger was unlawful. That ruling said Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, was entitled to stay at his post.

The appeals court said it would expedite its review of the lower-court ruling.

It’s possible that Dellinger will appeal the court’s order to the Supreme Court on an emergency basis.

Read more details here about the case.

President Donald Trump met at the White House Wednesday with eight hostages who were released by Hamas, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

In one of the photographs posted to the president’s official X account, Eli Sharabi stands next to Trump as he holds a framed drawing that was gifted to him. The left side depicts Jews in the Holocaust with the words, “Never Again.” The right side depicts hostages being held by Hamas with the word, “Again.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson was noncommittal about President Donald Trump’s request for Congress to repeal the CHIPS and Science Act, a law that invested in domestic semiconductor production and passed with bipartisan majorities in 2022.

“We’re going to wait on the president’s FY 26 (fiscal year 2026 budget request). See how it goes,” the Republican speaker told reporters today.

In his address to Congress last night, Trump called the CHIPS Act “horrible.”

“You should get rid of the CHIPS Act and whatever is left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt or any other reason you want to,” he said.

In the Senate: Earlier today, Majority Leader John Thune said that he was not aware that Trump wanted to get rid of the act and sounded doubtful that it could be repealed as 17 Republicans voted for in 2022.

House Democrats failed to block an effort to kill a proposed censure against Democratic Rep. Al Green for his protest at the President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night address to Congress.

The House voted 209-211 along party lines to advance the censure effort, with Green voting present.

The House is expected to hold the vote to censure Green tomorrow, according to a GOP aide.

Remember: GOP Rep. Daniel Newhouse formally introduced a censure resolution against the Texas lawmaker, who was removed by the House sergeant at arms after standing up and shouting during the opening minutes of Trump’s speech.

For some centrist Democrats, the censure vote puts them in the uncomfortable spot of defending a fellow member’s outbursts during Trump’s speech. Green wasn’t the only one who staged a protest: Several other progressive Democrats walked out, shouted back at the president from their seats, and held up signs, despite guidance from party leadership to remain restrained in their response to keep the focus on Trump and his agenda.

The Trump administration appears to have ordered at least a partial halt to the crucial intelligence that the US shares with Ukraine to defend against the Russian invasion, following a clash in the Oval Office between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump last week.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not say today if the pause on intelligence sharing is temporary or permanent. Statements from national security adviser Mike Waltz and CIA Director John Ratcliffe indicated that a pause is in place, but the extent of the limitations was not clear. Both officials also suggested that the halt may be short-lived if the president can be satisfied that Ukraine has taken steps toward negotiations to end the war.

Ukrainian and US officials have agreed to meet “in the near future,” Zelensky’s top aide Andriy Yermak said today following a phone call with US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz.

Kyiv and its allies are meanwhile scrambling to come up with a plan to shore up its defense capabilities after Trump suspended military shipments to Ukraine on Monday.

Given the continued tensions, here’s how Europe is responding:

First steps to a plan for ending the war: Kyiv and Europe are working on a plan for the first steps toward ending Russia’s war, Zelensky said. Ukraine and European countries shared “a common vision for ending the war and ensuring security guarantees,” he said, reiterating the importance of Europe, Ukraine and US negotiating together. The president said he had discussed the plan with Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof.

Macron speaks about a “new era”: Europe is “entering a new era” in the wake of its long-standing ally, the US, changing its position on Ukraine, “casting doubt on what will happen next,” President Emmanuel Macron said today. The French leader stressed that Europe has to “continue to help the Ukrainians to resist” Russia’s attempts to claim control of their country. He issued a stark warning about the difficult path facing Europe. “I want to believe that the United States will remain by our side, but we need to be ready if that were not the case,” Macron said, highlighting that the current “moment demands decisions without precedent.”

Meeting of European leaders: Macron announced his plan to invite European leaders to Paris next week to work on a plan to deliver a “durable peace” for Ukraine. He said he plans to gather the leaders of countries who may end up deploying peacekeeping troops to Ukraine “once peace has been signed” to prevent Russia from re-invading.

Ahead of Elon Musk’s meeting with House Republicans Wednesday evening, GOP Rep. Rich McCormick said he plans to express his support for tech billionaire’s efforts to slash federal spending, but also to advocate for more restraint in the process.

When pressed on what he meant by a “half step back,” McCormick noted that Musk has been open about wanting to correct the Department of Government Efficiency’s missteps and said that he wants “to continue that learning process, so we can do it right.”

The Georgia congressman was one of several Republican members who have faced heat during recent town halls over DOGE’s federal funding cuts and other controversial Trump policies.

House GOP leadership have since instructed members to avoid in-person events in their districts and to instead opt for virtual Q&A’s.

Some of the House’s staunchest conservatives sounded uncharacteristically upbeat about passing a stopgap funding bill next week — suggesting that Speaker Mike Johnson may be able to unite his narrow GOP majority behind a spending strategy the hard-right typically loathes.

Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus suggested they could soon back a plan by Johnson to keep the government funded through September 30, even without major changes to reflect President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency cuts in his first six weeks in office.

The plan extends current spending levels — which were signed into law by former President Joe Biden and does not include DOGE cuts — but it also doesn’t include the language Democrats are seeking to restrict Trump’s repeated attempts to override Congress’ spending powers.

Rep. Andy Harris, who leads the Freedom Caucus, said the group wouldn’t formally decide to support the plan until party leaders release legislative text, which is expected sometime over the weekend. But he said he believed that the GOP support would ultimately be there.

Support from the Freedom Caucus will be critical for Johnson to pass the funding bill and avoid a shutdown March 14. Johnson can only lose a handful of lawmakers, and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has already signaled that he will oppose the bill. The vast majority of House Democrats are expected to oppose the measure, which they said does nothing to rein in Trump’s unilateral authority to intervene with congressional spending decisions.

In the past, members of the Freedom Caucus haven’t typically supported stopgap funding bills. But conservatives say they’re open to it if it means advancing the rest of Trump’s agenda.

Tiffany Hedges, a recently fired Internal Revenue Service employee, takes issue with President Donald Trump’s claims about the federal workforce.

On Tuesday night during his address to Congress, President Donald Trump told a national audience, “We have thousands of federal workers who have not been showing up to work. My administration will reclaim power from this unaccountable bureaucracy.”

Hedges, from Cincinnati, says it took her six months to get a job with the IRS. She was hired as a contact representative at the office in Covington, Kentucky, but spent only four weeks on the job before she was terminated. In that job, Hedges assisted people who could not pay their taxes with plans to help them pay.

Hedges and one of her colleagues, Tara Bennett, also a contact representative who was recently fired, told CNN they were frustrated with Trump’s comments about the work of DOGE and the mass firings. Bennett, who says she voted for Trump, is from Erlanger, Kentucky.

Refuting Trump’s comments, she said, “There’s time codes for everything you do throughout the day.” She said managers go over those codes and match them up with the work the employee does, which means “there’s no way that you can’t be accountable.”

Hedges, who says she voted for Harris, also had a very pointed response to the repeated claims by Trump and Elon Musk that they’ve uncovered massive waste and fraud in the federal government: “If anything, we’re trying to help out, you know, with the government to retrieve the money… and without us there to retrieve it, that’s when everything will get messy.”

See below how federal agencies have been impacted by the cuts.

A federal judge said today that the Trump administration’s efforts to implement drastic cuts to federal funding for public health research likely broke the law.

In issuing a new preliminary injunction, Judge Angel Kelley pointed to the “the loss of life” that would result if the cuts were implemented and research trials were forced to be suspended, even if just temporarily.

The Boston-based andBiden-appointed judge previously issued a temporary restraining order halting the Trump policy. The policy would have capped a stream of federal funding known indirect cost rates at 15%, from an average of more than 27%, and would reduce funding for research institutions by billions of dollars.

The judge’s 76-page opinion said that the administration’s sweeping cuts, which were announced with little notice, likely ran afoul of both regulatory requirements and a law passed by Congress that sought to prevent the first Trump administration from implementing such a policy.

Senate Republicans pushed for the Trump administration to begin trying to move some of DOGE’s cuts into the legislative process during a lunch with Elon Musk, a sign that Republicans are looking to reassert their power of the purse in the months ahead.

In the more than hour-long meeting, Sen. Rand Paul, a strong advocate for shrinking government, made the case that Musk’s cuts — in order to be protected from the courts that don’t seem to be warming to Trump’s impoundment theory — should be moving through Congress in the form of rescissions packages.

A rescissions package makes changes to funding that was appropriated by Congress and only requires a simple majority vote in the Senate and a majority vote in the House. Republicans have control of both chambers. The challenge for Republicans, however, is that voting on rescissions packages means that they will be on the record for voting for cuts that could be unpopular with some in the American public and even with some of their own constituents.

“In order to make it real. In order to make it go beyond the moment of the day, it needs to come back in the form of a rescission package,” Paul said.

Paul’s argument also reflects a growing sense on Capitol Hill that Congress wants to play a bigger role in ensuring they continue to have the power to make decisions about spending in the federal government.

“What we gotta do as Republicans is capture their work product, put it in a bill and vote on it,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. “I’m urging them to come up with a rescission package. There is a political element of this we are missing. We need to capture this in the legislative process to make it real.”

The US tariffs on Canadian fuel imports could hit some areas of the country harder than others.

The Northeast could see that change first, according to experts, and prices are also at risk of rising on the West Coast. But even those potential hikes would be unlikely to come immediately.

The tariffs put in place Tuesday were 25% for most imports but only 10% for energy products.

While US domestic oil production reached a world record 4.7 billion barrels of oil in 2024, Canada is still a major source of oil for the United States, shipping 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil to the US market last year. Mexico, whose energy exports to the United States also face a 25% tariff, is the second-largest source of oil for the United States, shipping 166 million barrels north of the border. That’s about two-thirds more than the US imports from Saudi Arabia.

How this works: The pain at the pump will hit differently across the country because there’s no single market for gasoline here. Different parts of the country get their crude, gas or diesel from different places through different delivery methods.

For example, a large part of Northeast gasoline supply comes from Canada’s largest refinery, in Saint John, New Brunswick, run by Irving Oil. Irving has toldcustomers it will not cover the increased cost from the tariffs, which could add 20 to 25 cents to a gallon of gas. Experts told CNN that because Irving sends its gas to the US by ship, it can easily redirect shipments to markets where it won’t face tariffs.

But much of Canada’s energy products move in pipelines from oil fields to US refineries in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain states. And the lack of alternative buyers for that crude oil could mean those Canadian producers will have a much harder time redirecting their oil.

Read more about how tariffs could impact gas prices.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s pick for hostage envoy, Adam Boehler, “does have the authority to talk to anyone” in his efforts to secure an end to the war in Gaza, brushing off a question on if the US negotiating with Hamas runs afoul of longstanding US policy not to negotiate with terrorists.

Axios and The New York Times reported Wednesday that the US held direct talks with Hamas in Qatar to secure the release of hostages still being held in Gaza, with Boehler leading the talks on behalf of the Trump administration. CNN has reached out to the National Security Council.

More context: The United States designated Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997. The US Government traditionally does not speak with terrorist organizations, though there have been exceptions – both the Obama and Trump administrations negotiated with the Taliban, which was designated a terrorist organization in the wake of 9/11.

Leavitt declined to say if the administration’s talks are just about trying to secure the hostages or if they’re part of Trump’s larger vision for Gaza, which he’s called a “big real estate site.”

Europe is “entering a new era” in the wake of its long-standing ally, the United States, changing its position on Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said today.

Speaking in a live broadcast on his official social media channels, Macron stressed that Europe has to “continue to help the Ukrainians to resist” Russia’s attempts to claim control of their country.

The French leader also warned the US against imposing tariffs on Europe as it has on Canada and Mexico. He said Europe needs to be prepared for a US decision on tariffs, calling such a move “incomprehensible for US economy and ours.”

“This will not go without answering on our part,” Macron said.

Macron added that he along with other European leaders will continue to try to convince the US administration that such tariffs would “harm everyone.”

This post was updated with Macron’s comments about tariffs.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he was not aware President Donald Trump wanted to get rid of the CHIPS and Science Act — a bill that passed with broad bipartisan support aimed at boosting US semiconductor production — until Trump announced it in his address to Congress Tuesday night.

Thune sounded doubtful that it could be repealed, as 17 Republicans voted for it in 2022.

A spokesperson for GOP Sen. Todd Young, a sponsor of the bipartisan legislation, said in a statement that Trump’s remarks on the CHIPS Act were “not consistent” with what they’ve been told.

Thune wondered if Trump would follow through with a formal proposal to get rid of it.

Thune was also asked if lawmakers should push back more on Trump when he does things they oppose.

“I think that we do that. We have conversations on a regular basis. We just try to do that in the context of working through our differences. And obviously you’ve got an administration that’s moving quickly, you also have a court system that’s being asked to intervene when necessary, and that’s the way the system is designed to work,” he said.

The top financial officer of Washington, DC, said the Trump administration’s mass layoffs could plunge the district into a “mild recession” by next year. More agencies announced plans to cut thousands of jobs across the country today — while others are being reinstated.

In the midst of the changes, Congressional Republicans looking for clarity about the Department of Government Efficiency were engaging directly today with Elon Musk directly in a pair of meetings on Capitol Hill.

Here’s the latest on government changes:

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump “level set” with the American people on the economy when he said tariffs will cause “a little disturbance.”

“The president told the truth, and he was realistic, and he level set with the American people,” Leavitt said, when asked how much tariffs could cost the average American.

“The president is being frank and honest, and the American people elected this president to have monumental reform and change,” Leavitt said.

Trump conceded Tuesday during his address to a joint session of Congress that his steep new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China will cause “a little disturbance,” saying, “tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it’s happening, and it will happen rather quickly.”

“There will be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that,” Trump added.

President Donald Trump heralded plans for new American auto plants in his address to Congress last night, saying “we’re going to have growth in the auto industry like nobody’s ever seen — plants are opening up all over the place.”

“Numerous car companies have announced that they will be building massive automobile plants in America, with Honda just announcing a new plant in Indiana, one of the largest anywhere in the world,” he added.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that new US auto plants will be spurred by his tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, which he said will force automakers to shift production from those countries back to the United States.

But the plants now under construction are those that are being partly funded with federal assistance from the Inflation Reduction Act, the green energy bill passed during the Biden administration that Trump has made clear he wants to see rolled back.

Honda said it has not announced any plans for a new US plant, but said in a statement: “We thank President Trump for recognizing our commitment to manufacturing vehicles in America, and we look forward to working with the administration and Congress on pro-growth policies.”

It said it has invested more than $3 billion in US facilities, although left unsaid is that occurred before Trump took office.

Some more context: Honda has had a plant open in Indiana since 2008. Reuters reported Monday that Honda had dropped plans to build the next generation of Honda Civics in Mexico and would continue to build it at Honda’s existing plant in Indiana. It cited three people in Japan familiar with company plans for that report, which said the threat of tariffs on Mexican exports to the United States was the reason for the change of plans.

Honda also would not confirm nor comment on that report.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not definitively say if the pause on intelligence sharing with Ukraine is temporary or permanent.

“I believe what the National Security Council told me in regards to that was that they paused, or they are reconsidering, the funding for Ukraine, as you saw, the pause on the funding. As for intelligence matters, I would refer you to either the National Security Council or the CIA, as well,” Leavitt said in response to a question from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

Pressed by Collins if the administration is considering reinstating the military aid going to Ukraine, Leavitt said, “It’s a pause for review.”

What we know: Statements from national security adviser Mike Waltz and CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Wednesday morning indicated that a pause in intelligence sharing is in place, but the extent of the limitations was not clear. Both officials also suggested that the pause may be short-lived if the president can be satisfied that Ukraine has taken steps toward negotiations to end the war — a controversial effort that appeared to be derailed after Friday’s fiery Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Top Democratic and Republican senators expressed uncertainty over whether a bill to extend current funding levels through the end of the fiscal year — which House GOP leadership has indicated it will try to advance — could pass with enough support in their chamber.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin highlighted the urgency of the coming days to keep the government funded beyond March 14 — the current shutdown deadline. .

House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he expects to pass a bill to extend current funding levels until the end of September, lasting through this fiscal year. It’s a strategy that President Donald Trump has publicly endorsed and some hardliner GOP lawmakers have already signaled openness to supporting.

Asked about that plan, Durbin said “I don’t want to see that happen,” calling a shorter-term extension to funding and bipartisan appropriations negotiations “the best outcome.”

Pressed on if any Senate Democrats would vote for a bill to fund the government through September, Durbin answered, “I don’t know at this point. I think we’re generally opposed to it because of the collateral damage it does.”

Sen. Collins, who chairs the Appropriations committee, said it was “very hard” for her to predict if Democrats would get behind a long-term funding bill, also making clear much how the next week plays out depends on how the House proceeds.

The Trump administration’s mass federal layoffs could plunge Washington, DC, into a “mild recession” by 2026, as the nation’s capital prepares to lose 21% of its federal jobs — roughly 40,000 — in the coming years, according to data from the district’s chief financial officer.

The cuts could cost the district billions of dollars in revenue, creating cascading impacts to city programs, local businesses and residents.

“We go into a budget season where our revenue is estimated to be down $5 billion, and we still have the threat of Medicaid cuts looming,” DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a town hall Wednesday.

The district projects a revenue loss of more than $300 million per year through 2028 if Trump’s cuts to the federal workforce continue, according to CFO Glen Lee’s estimates. Roughly 191,000 federal employees have workstations in Washington. There are about 410,000 federal workers who live in DC and the surrounding suburbs and cities.

Job losses are also anticipated for federal contracting, hospitality and transportation sectors, as a smaller federal workforce will lower demand in a wider swath of the district’s economy.

In response to a question from CNN, Bowser said the district is considering requesting financial assistance from the federal government and the Trump administration to mitigate the economic strain. She would not elaborate on what that request will look like.

President Donald Trump has granted an exemption on autos tariffs on Mexico and Canada for one month, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday.

Trump spoke to executives at Stellantis, Ford and General Motors, she added. “They requested the call, they made the ask and the president is happy to do it; it’s a one-month exemption,” Leavitt said.

“Reciprocal tariffs will still go into effect on April 2. But at the request of the companies associated with USMCA, the president is giving them an exemption for one month so they are not at an economic disadvantage,” she added.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this post.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump spoke for 50 minutes on Wednesday, according to Trudeau’s office.

The conversation was “constructive” and the two leaders may speak again today, the office added. It follows an extraordinary back-and-forth between the two North American leaders over a brewing trade war.

What Trump said: Following the call, Trump said in a post on Truth Social he told Trudeau that efforts he’s making to reduce fentanyl trafficking are “not good enough.” While Trump said the leaders’ call ended in a “‘somewhat’ friendly manner,” he did not mention any potential compromise on the 25% tariff he’s imposed on the US’ northern neighbor.

For context: Trump has repeatedly lumped together the Canadian border and the Mexican border when talking about illegal fentanyl imports. But federal statistics show US border authorities seized 21,889 pounds of fentanyl in the 2024 fiscal year. Of that amount, 43 pounds were seized at the Canadian border — about 0.2% — compared with 21,148 pounds at the Mexican border, about 96.6%.

Trump added: “The call ended in a ‘somewhat’ friendly manner! He was unable to tell me when the Canadian Election is taking place, which made me curious, like, what’s going on here? I then realized he is trying to use this issue to stay in power. Good luck Justin!”

The date of the election has not yet been set after Trudeau announced his decision to resign in January.

This post has been updated with Trump’s Truth Social post.

Democratic Rep. Al Green said he will “suffer the consequences” of his disruption of President Donald Trump’s address to Congress and that he would do it all again, as House Republicans move immediately to punish him.

GOP Rep. Daniel Newhouse formally introduced a censure resolution against Green, who was removed by the House sergeant at arms after standing up and shouting during the opening minutes of Trump’s speech to Congress. Speaking on the House floor, Newhouse said he was seeking punishment against Green — a formal condemnation once considered rare in the House chamber — for his “numerous interruptions” of the president’s speech.

House officials expect the measure to be privileged, which would give it special procedural powers that require it to receive a floor vote within two legislative days. Republicans expect the vote to come up later today but it has not yet been decided, according to people familiar with the plans.

Green said he has not spoken to the House Democratic leadership about his protest during Trump’s speech. It’s not yet clear how House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will handle the censure resolution vote.

“I will accept the sanctions, whatever they are. But I will be candid. I would do it again. I would do it again,” he added.

This post has been updated with news about the censure resolution against Green.

A Ukrainian battalion commander said he is “pained” by the Trump administration’s decision to pause shipments of US military aid to Ukraine, but said Kyiv may be able to plug the gaps through its domestic production of weapons.

“If we continue to develop our UAV (drone) units, then in principle, we can compensate for this shortfall in the supply of weapons from the United States,” the commander with the call sign “Yudzh,” who is fighting with the 66th mechanized brigade near Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region, told CNN.

The commander said he believed Ukraine’s military leadership had kept a stockpile of weapons provided by their Western partners, but expressed dismay that Washington appeared to be taking actions beneficial to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“But in any case, I can honestly tell you, as a Ukrainian citizen, it really pains me that the two signatories to the Budapest Memorandum either did not read the second and fourth paragraphs at all or simply brazenly ignore it. One attacked us, and the other said: ‘I don’t see anything. So, it’s up to you to negotiate,’” the commander said.

Under the Budapest Memorandum, signed in 1994, Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees from the US, United Kingdom and Russia, which agreed to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and not use military force to violate its borders.

Meantime, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend the crucial European defense summit in Brussels on Thursday, a senior European Union official has told CNN.

CNN’s James Frater contributed reporting to this post.

President Donald Trump’s administration took a major step Wednesday in support of states with sweeping abortion bans, dropping a Biden-era lawsuit against Idaho that sought to protect abortion access in medical emergencies.

The Biden administration had prevailed in early stages of the lawsuit challenging Idaho’s extremely strict abortion restrictions, with the Supreme Court last year leaving in place a temporary court order that allows Idaho hospitals to provide abortion when a pregnancy endangers a woman’s life or health.

In a court filing Wednesday, the Justice Department said it was now dropping the lawsuit.

The move will not change the immediate status quo for emergency abortion access in the state. Idaho’s largest hospital system, the St. Luke’s hospital system, brought its own lawsuit earlier this year challenging the state abortion ban and on Tuesday, secured a temporary restraining order in its case preserving access to emergency abortions in the state.

But how higher courts will view that lawsuit is not clear, and even the conservative Supreme Court justices who sided with the Biden administration in its case last year signaled they could change their mind once more of the litigation played out.

Top Trump State Department appointee Pete Marocco did not give a firm answer on whether the administration would adhere to Wednesday’s Supreme Court foreign aid ruling, according to Republican and Democratic lawmakers who met with him.

“It was a statement not on yes or no, but to say, ‘listen, these are my concerns with the ruling, and we’re going to review the ruling,’” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast said after the hearing. The Florida Republican noted that the ruling came out shortly before the hearing began.

Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks, the committee’s ranking member, said Marocco “never did answer the question, because the big question was, would they abide by the Supreme Court’s rule? That question was never answered.”

“So that is still a big question mark, whether they will abide by the courts,” Meeks said after the closed-door hearing.

Asked whether Marocco was asked directly whether they would abide, Meeks said, “It was asked.”

“He didn’t respond to it at all. He’s got to go back and talk to his people,” he said.

Marocco served at United States Agency for International Development during Trump’s first term and has been accused by aid groups and officials of intentionally dismantling the organization.

CNN’s Lauren Kent, Alex Marquardt and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

Correction: A previous version of this post misstated the day of the Supreme Court’s foreign aid ruling.

President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have spoken, two White House officials told CNN.

They offered no details of the call beyond that but anticipate that a readout is coming.

The conversation between the leaders took place after Trump imposed blanket 25% tariffs on Canada on Tuesday.

In response, Trudeau said he would implement a 25% tariff on $20.7 billion ($30 billion Canadian) of US goods immediately, followed by an additional $86.2 billion ($125 billion Canadian) in 21 days’ time.

“This is a very dumb thing to do,” he said, in remarks he said were directed at Trump on Tuesday.

A workers’ board is reinstating — at least temporarily — almost 6,000 fired probationary workers from the Department of Agriculture, according to a newly issued order obtained by CNN.

The order, by the US Merit Systems Protection Board, undercuts President Donald Trump’s attempts to downsize the federal civil service and is a major indication that the mass layoffs were unlawful and may eventually be reversed by the board.

It also signals the board may reverse the Trump administration’s approach to mass firings across several other agencies in the federal government.

Probationary workers, meaning those who have been in their positions about a year or less, lost their jobs at USDA beginning on February 13. The reason the Trump administration gave for the cutbacks was that these employees “demonstrated that [their] further employment” wouldn’t be “in the public interest.”

A special counsel who looked at the employees’ claims argued to the workers’ board the mass layoffs appeared not to follow the law for how the government can cut back its workforce. On Wednesday, the Merit Systems Protection Board agreed, in an opinion written by board member Cathy Harris.

What this means: The workers should be able to go back to work immediately, at least for 45 days, starting Wednesday, Harris said. The board said on Wednesday the reinstatement is for all USDA probationary employees fired since February 13 who were told by the administration they were losing their jobs because of performance. At least 5,950 probationary employees have lost their jobs since two weeks ago, according to the Agriculture Department.

The Agriculture Department has to show the board within five days that it has complied with reinstating the employees, the board’s opinion said.

CNN is reaching out to USDA for comment.

Read more.

Correction: This story has been updated to identify Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris as the author of Wednesday’s opinion.

Ukrainian and US officials have agreed to meet “in the near future,” President Volodymyr Zelensky’s top aide Andriy Yermak said on Wednesday, following a phone call with US national security adviser Michael Waltz.

Yermak, who is Zelensky’s chief of staff, said he and Waltz “discussed further steps towards a just and lasting peace” during the call.

In his daily address, Zelensky confirmed that Kyiv and Washington were “working on the meeting” following the Yermak-Waltz call and that he hopes “to see the first results next week.”

“Everyone can see how quickly diplomatic events are developing,” he said. “There is positive progress.”

Earlier Wednesday, the Trump administration appeared to order at least a partial halt to the crucial intelligence the US shares with Ukraine to defend against Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Asked about intelligence-sharing with Kyiv, Waltz told CBS News that the administration is “pausing, assessing, looking at everything across our security relationship.”

Elon Musk will attend the Senate GOP lunch on Capitol Hill at 1 p.m. ET today, Florida Sen. Rick Scott said.

Scott chairs the Senate Republican Steering Committee, which hosts the weekly Wednesday gathering of conservative senators. Musk is expected to speak about the work he is doing with the Department of Government Efficiency.

Republican Sen. Mike Rounds said that he wants Musk to explain how DOGE will fix mistaken cuts when he meets with the Senate Republicans. Rounds told CNN he wants to hear, “how we fix the things that don’t go the way they’re supposed to.”

“In a lot of cases, where they are carte blanche making significant cuts, how do we go about making sure that that message gets back and it gets corrected as quickly as possible?” added Rounds.

Rounds added that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles “has offered to be the contact when she’s been in front of us,” but noted “she’s just one person,” so they need more of a process.

Musk is also expected to brief House Republicans on the “ongoing work of DOGE” at a closed-door meeting in the US Capitol tonight, according to a person who received an invitation.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. ET.

As the Trump administration and Elon Musk — working under the Department of Government Efficiency — have recently fired many federal workers, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health, was asked in a confirmation hearing Wednesday whether such cuts could hit the organization under his leadership.

In the hearing, held in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said she is “deeply concerned” about the recent research funding cuts at NIH.

On vaccines: Separately, Bhattacharya said he would support an agenda to examine the link between autism and vaccines, despite an extensive body of research showing there is no link.

“As far as research on autism and vaccines, I don’t generally believe that there is a link, based on my reading of the literature,” Bhattacharya said to Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a former physician who has spent his career touting the safety of vaccines.

“But what I have seen is that there’s tremendous distrust in medicine and science, coming out of the pandemic. And we do have, as you know senator, a sharp rise in autism rates in this country. And I don’t know, and I don’t think any scientist really knows, the cause of it. So, I would support an agenda — a broad scientific agenda, based on data — to get an answer to that,” he said.

On funding and Trump: Bhattacharya said he would follow the law regarding the Trump administration’s efforts to cut public health funding. The administration announced last month plans to significantly lower the maximum amount of indirect costs that research institutions could charge the government under NIH funding — capping the indirect cost rate that a NIH grant would cover at 15%.

A federal judge later blocked the Trump administration’s effort to cut back on federal funding for the NIH for research programs at universities and medical systems.

More broadly, when asked how he would respond if Trump gave him a directive that would be illegal, Bhattacharya said he didn’t “believe the president will ever ask me to break the law.”

This post has been updated with Bhattacharya’s answer on funding.

House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Wednesday declined to comment directly on Democratic Rep. Al Green’s outburst during President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress that prompted him to be removed from the chamber.

“The overwhelming majority of House Democrats approached the speech with the seriousness that is deserved on the behalf of the American people,” Jeffries said.

Pressed on the protests overall from his caucus during Trump’s speech, Jeffries replied, “That’s a question to be asked of them.”

Ahead of Trump’s speech, Jeffries and his leadership team had urged rank-and-file members to show restraint and avoid attention-grabbing stunts that could be seized upon by the GOP, as CNN previously reported.

The House Freedom Caucus announced Wednesday it would introduce a censure resolution against Green for disrupting the president’s joint address.

Jeffries, when asked by CNN if Republicans’ censuring Green is an appropriate move, said he hadn’t “had that conversation with anyone yet.”

A censure resolution is one of the most severe forms of punishment in the House, which has historically been saved for the most egregious offenses such as a criminal conviction. A censure does not remove a member from the House and carries no explicit penalties beyond a public admonition.

Meanwhile, several Senate Democrats on Wednesday criticized members of their own party’s conduct during Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, warning them against falling into a political trap.

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal told CNN he understands the “emotion” behind his colleagues’ actions in the face of Trump’s “bullying, boasting, blaming.”

But after Blumenthal accused the president of trying to “incite” emotional outcries from Democrats, he said, “I think we need to avoid taking the bait, just as Zelensky might have been better to avoid taking the bait and reacting so pugnaciously,” referring to Trump’s contentious meeting last week with Ukraine’s president that scuttled an economic deal between the countries.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said there were “better ways to do it,” telling CNN he thinks Democrats should “stick with the basics” when responding to Trump.

Pressed on if he thinks some of the actions from Democrats on Tuesday night were a distraction from substantive issues, Durbin argued Republicans were also distracting.

This report has been updated with additional comments from Jeffries.

The mayors of four so-called “sanctuary cities” spoke about their approach to immigration enforcement in a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday.

In prepared remarks, several of the mayors sought to clarify what exactly it meant to be a “sanctuary city” and rejected the argument that they are violating any law.

New York Mayor Eric Adams: “To be clear: A ‘sanctuary city’ classification does not mean our city will ever be a safe haven for violent criminals,” he said. “It also does not give New York City the authority to violate federal immigration laws. To the contrary, New York City will always comply with city, state, and federal laws, as it does now.”

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said his city welcomed about 42,000 migrants over 18 months — the largest per capita influx of any US city — some unprepared for the cold weather. The city helped settle them and there are now no migrant encampments or shelters open, and crime numbers still declined.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said the city is safer due to its “Welcoming City Ordinance” that ensures police are focused on law enforcement priorities rather than immigration laws. “Put simply, any actions that amplify fears of deportations make Chicago more dangerous.”

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said Boston Police collaborates with state and federal law enforcement when there is a criminal warrant, but state law restricts law enforcement agencies from detaining people solely for alleged civil immigration violations. “This constant collaboration with state and federal law enforcement is a crucial part of making Boston the safest major city in the country,” she said.

She said she has heard from constituents concerned that the Trump administration’s crackdown has made immigrants afraid to talk with police.

“A city that is scared is not a city that is safe. A land ruled by fear is not the land of the free,” Wu said.

A group of about a dozen protesters have gathered outside of the closed-door House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing for Trump appointee Pete Marocco.

Marocco is the the appointee behind the sweeping changes in US foreign assistance and at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The protesters are chanting that “Marocco has blood on his hands, unfreeze aid now” and “Marocco has got to go” and holding signs saying “Marocco lies, people with AIDS die” and “Marocco has blood on his hands.”

Police arrested and removed the protesters.

The press was pushed back by a Capitol Police officer who said he didn’t “want a show.”

Remember: Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, serving as acting administrator of USAID, delegated authority to Marocco, who served at USAID in the president’s first term and has been accused by aid groups and officials of intentionally dismantling the organization.

This post has been updated with additional details.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is holding a hearing with mayors from four sanctuary cities right now.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu — who are all Democrats — will field questions from the committee about their jurisdictions.

The term “sanctuary city” is a broad term applied to jurisdictions that have policies in place designed to limit cooperation with or involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions. Cities, counties and some states have a range of informal policies as well as actual laws that qualify as “sanctuary” positions.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday that her country could pursue other trade partners “if necessary” in the wake of the United States’ decision to slap a 25% tariff on all Mexican imports.

Remember: Sheinbaum said Tuesday that she planned to announce retaliatory tariffs on American imports, as well as non-tariff measures, Sunday.

Sheinbaum also said she planned to have a phone call with Donald Trump Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, Trump is expected to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this morning, a person familiar with the call said.

A senior official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told CNN that many federal employees who received a notice of reinstatement — that were primarily connected to work on flu and respiratory diseases — have said they will not return because of the “unstable” environment at the agency.

One federal employee who was fired and rehired said it appears to be dozens of employees.

The senior official said some of those who were asked back were working on the recent measles outbreak and cases of H5N1.

It’s not clear how many have refused to report back to work.

Asked if the employees will receive back pay, the source said employees were on administrative leave until mid-March and were still getting paid. A federal employee who was among those fired on February 15 and reinstated on Tuesday said they had been getting paid the whole time.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called President Donald Trump’s tariff plans “an outrageous policy” and compared it to Trump’s address Tuesday evening, describing it as “unthought out.”

Schumer said, “So this is an outrageous policy that hurts the American people. And you ask, the American people are asking, ‘Why is he doing this?’ Well, I’ll tell you why he’s doing it. They want to give tax breaks to their billionaire buddies, and they’re trying to find ways to pay for it. One way is by cutting Medicaid. That’s very unpopular. Another way is calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme. That’s very unpopular.”

The Senate minority leader said he thinks the tariffs are something Americans will “vehemently oppose” and that there will be a lot of Republican senators, who have “been grumbling under their breath,” that will have to come out against the plan.

In response to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s apparent walkback on tariffs, Schumer said it was “unthought out” and “typical of all of Trump’s speech.”

A call is set to take place between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Donald Trump Wednesday, but more details of a trade compromise need to be worked out before the leaders speak, Canadian industry and government sources tell CNN.

Among the issues that need to be worked out: Enhanced border security provisions and exemptions on tariffs for everything that is compliant the the free-trade USMCA treaty. As per the trade agreement negotiated by Trump and leaders of Mexico and Canada, that requires cars to have at least 75% of their parts made in North America to avoid tariffs when finished products move across the border.

On Wednesday, in an interview with Bloomberg, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that Trump is “thinking about a plan” to compromise on tariffs that he’ll decide and announce later this afternoon. That could keep tariffs at 25% on Mexico and Canada but may include certain product exemptions, including autos.

The push to exempt autos from the tariffs came specifically from the auto industry, with executives lobbying the president and the commerce secretary on both sides of the border, sources and Lutnick said.

A divided Supreme Court Wednesday rejected President Donald Trump’s administration request keep billions in foreign aid approved by Congress frozen.

However, the court did not immediately say when the money must be released, allowing the White House to continue to dispute the issue in lower courts.

The ruling was 5-4.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Wednesday that the US has paused intelligence support and weapons shipments to Ukraine following the clash in the Oval Office between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump last Friday.

“I want to give a chance to think about that and you saw the response that President Zelensky put out,” Ratcliffe added, “So I think on the military front and the intelligence front, the pause that allowed that to happen, I think will go away.”

Ratcliffe expressed hope that the pause will soon be lifted and emphasized his commitment to working with Ukraine toward achieving peace, following a letter from the Ukrainian president to Trump.

“And I think we’ll work shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine as we have to push back on the aggression that’s there, put the world in a better place for these peace negotiations to move forward,” the CIA director added.

A senior US military official said the US has already curtailed some intelligence sharing, including carrying out fewer intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance flights that could impact both offensive and defensive operations including air defense, since Ukraine depends on US intelligence for overwatch.

In the lead-up to Trump’s inauguration, Ratcliffe and the Trump transition team were told of the value of intelligence sharing with Ukraine by US officials who stressed that it was a hallmark of their achievements on the battlefield, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

CNN reported Tuesday that both Ukrainian and US military officials were evaluating the potential impact of suspending military aid.

With all the talk of tariffs at the moment, we thought it’d be useful to have a refresher on what they actually are, and who pays them.

The definition of a tariff is fairly straightforward — it’s a tax on goods coming from another country.

A tariff is typically structured as a percentage of the value of the import and can vary based on where the goods are coming from and what the products are.

Who pays it? Domestic businesses that import products into the country pay the tariffs up front, contrary to President Donald Trump’s claims that exporting nations foot the bill.

The actual transaction occurs at the 328 points of entry into the US designated by Customs and Border Protection to take in imports, including airports, railways, roads and ports.

At those ports of entry, CBP agents collect tariff revenue from the domestic businesses importing the products, which is calculated based on how the merchandise is classified and where it came from, said Ted Murphy, a lawyer at Sidley Austin who specializes in advising businesses on customs compliance issues.

Many importers use the government’s electronic payment system, which automatically deducts tariff from a designated bank account. It’s also possible to pay it all at once on a monthly basis rather than having it automatically deducted each time.

But Trump isn’t entirely wrong in saying that other nations pay for tariffs levied on them, Murphy said. That’s because when businesses know they’ll have to spend more to import goods from one country versus another, they may decide it makes more financial sense to find a new supplier elsewhere or, in Trump’s ideal world, shift their production to the US.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Europe had “spent more money buying Russian oil and gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine by far.” Whether that is true depends on the timeframe, which the president did not specify.

Looking at the period since the war started on February 24, 2022, that is correct. According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a think tank, Moscow has earned more than $250 billion exporting fossil fuels to European Union nations since January 1, 2022. That compares with $145 billion the EU says it has spent on military, humanitarian and financial aid for Ukraine since the start of the war.

However, it wasn’t until December 2022 that EU sanctions banning oil imports from Russia started to take effect. In 2022, many European countries also raced to reduce their dependence on Russian natural gas: Russia raked in more than $190 billion exporting energy to Europe that first year, with only around $60 earned since.

And the trajectory is key.

“While Europe’s support to Ukraine is going further up, payments for Russian fossil fuels are going down,” Simone Tagliapietra at European think tank Bruegel told CNN.

It’s also worth noting that the value of EU energy imports from Russia would be lower still were it not for the fact that the war has driven up prices.

If you don’t like President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, wait a minute.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Tuesday evening made a stunning statement: Canada and Mexico had been blowing up his phone all day, and he believes Trump is “probably” ready to announce Wednesday that he’ll meet America’s neighboring nations halfway on tariffs.

“I think he’s going to work something out with them,” Lutnick said on Fox Business Tuesday. “It’s not going to be a pause, none of that pause stuff, but I think he’s going to figure out, you do more, and I’ll meet you in the middle some way.”

Lutnick had left the door open to a walkback on tariffs for days. Even as Trump insisted that tariffs would go into effect in full force on Mexico and Canada Tuesday, Lutnick had suggested on cable network interviews that maybe some tariffs would go into effect, or perhaps the percentage would be lower to start.

Nope. Trump at midnight Tuesday morning enacted massive 25% across-the-board tariffs on all goods from Mexico and Canada (save Canadian energy, which got a lower tariff). He also added 10% to the existing tariffs on Chinese goods.

Wall Street was seriously unhappy — the Dow fell 1,300 points in two days. Business leaders, a contingent that has largely supported Trump, spent hours griping in press releases and on CNBC.

But we’ve all been here before.Read more about Trump’s return to his familiar tariff playbook here.

In his first address to Congress since taking back the White House, President Donald Trump said he was “working tirelessly to end the savage conflict in Ukraine” and that he “appreciated” a letter sent by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after their public spat in the Oval Office last Friday.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was asked Wednesday how he views the statement from Zelensky that he’s willing to negotiate a peace deal, to which he responded: “Positively. The question — is to sit down with whom? At the moment, there is still a legal ban for the Ukrainian president to negotiate with the Russian side. Therefore, the overall approach is positive, but the nuances have not changed yet.”

Meanwhile, Zelensky’s chief of staff has insisted that if Russia wants to end the war, it needs to stop shelling Ukraine every day.

“Russia must stop its daily shelling of Ukraine and do so immediately if it really wants an end to the war,” Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said in a social media post.

More strikes on Ukraine: Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least two people, wounded eight others and damaged civilian infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday morning.

In its daily update on aerial attacks, the Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched more than 180 drone strikes overnight, as well as attacks with three Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles and an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile.

A presidential historian says President Donald Trump seemed “relaxed,” while the Democrats lacked unity at last night’s congressional address.

Watch historian and author Douglas Brinkley’s analysis of how the speech played out:

The Republican-heavy audience that tuned in to hear President Donald Trump’s speech on Tuesday greeted it with tempered positivity, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS.

Speech-watchers broadly said Trump’s policies would take the country in the right direction, with majorities saying the same across five issue areas that were the focus of the president’s speech. But fewer expressed strong confidence in Trump to help people like them, use his presidential power responsibly or provide the nation with real leadership.

Roughly 7 in 10 speech-watchers said they had at least a somewhat positive reaction to Trump’s speech tonight, with a smaller 44% offering a very positive response. That’s lower than the 57% of viewers who rated Trump’s initial address to Congress very positively eight years ago, or the 51% who said the same of President Joe Biden’s initial address in 2021. It also comes just below the 48% “very positive” rating Trump saw for his 2018 State of the Union.

Good marks from speech-watchers are typical for presidential addresses to Congress, which tend to attract generally friendly audiences that disproportionately hail from presidents’ own parties. In CNN’s speech reaction polls, which have been conducted most years dating back to the Clinton era, audience reactions have always been positive.

The pool of people who watched Trump speak on Tuesday was about 14 percentage points more Republican than the general public.

Disapproval of disruption: The Trump-friendly audience reacted negatively to a protest effort from a Democratic member of Congress. Eight in 10 Americans who watched the speech said they saw Rep. Al Green’s interruption of Trump’s speech as inappropriate, with just 20% saying the representative from Texas acted appropriately. Green was ejected from the House chamber after continuing to protest following a warning from House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Keep reading for more on the poll about Trump’s address to Congress here.

President Donald Trump is expected to speak with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this morning, a person familiar with the call said, a day after the two North American leaders engaged in an extraordinary back-and-forth over a brewing trade war.

President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress since returning to power was both a victory lap following a consequential first 43 days in office and an attempt to justify what he’s done to an American public that may still be digesting his rapid-pace changes.

The president entered the chamber with a lot to say. His speech broke the record for longest annual presidential address to Congress in modern history, at just under one hour and 40 minutes. It was also one of the most partisan.

These are some takeaways:

A partisan affair: Trump’s speeches almost always fall into two categories: the raucous rally remarks that can’t be contained on a teleprompter and more staid policy addresses that usually lack the energy of his wilder events.

This time, the dramatics began in the audience, when Democratic Rep. Al Green interrupted the president repeatedly before House Speaker Mike Johnson ordered the House sergeant-at-arms to eject the Texas congressman.

He pointed to Democrats when referring to “radical left-wing lunatics” and cast them as obstructionists. He even used his derogatory “Pocahontas” nickname for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Rapid pace of change: The executive actions reshaping the federal government have come fast and furious in Trump’s first month-and-a-half; his team is far more experienced this time around, and the president himself is impatient to fulfill his campaign promises.

Yet for many Americans, the flurry of changes has been confusing. Polls show skepticism seeping in about Trump’s priorities. Tuesday’s speech was an opportunity to present a cogent argument.

Issue number 1: The hours ahead of Trump’s speech were hardly the economic backdrop he may have hoped for. Stock markets tumbled as the broad tariffs he announced on Mexico, Canada and China reverberated among investors. Almost as soon as markets closed, his commerce secretary suggested there may be a pull-back on the new duties on Wednesday.

Nonetheless, Trump — who has advocated for tariffs since the 1970s, and once called “tariff” his favorite word — was not backing away from the strategy during his biggest speech of the year.

Read more takeaways from his address here and watch CNN’s Kaitlan Collins break down one of the notable moments of the speech: