Top Republicans Finally Snap as Trump Flips on Tariffs—Again

The president’s ruthless back-and-forth on enforcing sweeping tariffs against Canada and Mexico is starting to frustrate his MAGA allies.

Last month, Trump announced he would impose a 25 percent tariff on goods from America’s closest neighbors. Two days later, he backtracked, giving Canada and Mexico a one-month delay. On March 4, the tariffs went into effect, sparking retaliatory tariffs from Canada, as well as outcry from America’s Big Three automakers.

Two days later, Trump directed another one-month pause for goods that met his 2020 trade deal, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which a White House official told CNBC covered roughly 50 percent of Mexican imports and 38 percent of Canadian imports. And then, in an interview that aired Friday, Trump said the tariffs could go higher than 25 percent.

As a result, the last week saw drastic market fluctuations, with the stock market tumbling as the tariffs went into effect. The Dow dropped 670 points, and by the end of the week, Republican lawmakers were fed up.

“Almost every industry in Kentucky has come to me and said, ‘It will hurt our industry and push up prices of homes, cars,’ and so, I’m gonna continue to argue against tariffs,” Senator Rand Paul told CNN on Thursday.

Senator Thom Tillis agreed that the administration should back off the tariffs if they were hurting constituents.

“When we start losing, you back off. There’s such a thing as strategic retreat,” Tillis told the network. “At the end of the day, I think we have more leverage than any other nation. But we gotta be smart. And we don’t have all the leverage.”

Louisiana Senator John Kennedy told Fox Business he was “worried” about the tariffs, adding that the president should “recalibrate” if the levies start to cause inflation—while insisting that he’s not doubting Trump’s leadership.

“I’m not saying that tariffs are going to cause inflation. President Trump did them in his first term and they didn’t,” Kennedy said. “I’m saying that we just don’t know. We’re in very obscure territory. We’re in uncharted waters. I think if the tariffs do start to cause inflation, I think the president will back away from them.”

Among other tariff proposals, Trump has enforced a 10 percent tariff hike on Chinese goods. That momentarily caused a panic in February for online retailers as the postal service placed a ban on Chinese packages, which it lifted days later. Casting China as a “bulwark of stability” against a backdrop of Trump-induced chaos, the Asian nation’s top diplomat Wang Yi said that China would “definitely, resolutely counter” America’s tariffs.

Donald Trump’s attempt to take over the National Labor Relations Board hit a snag from a federal judge Thursday.

Trump’s firing of Democratic board member Gwynne A. Wilcox was ruled unlawful by U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell, who ordered Wilcox’s immediate reinstatement and for her to serve out the remainder of her five-year term on the board, which began on September 6, 2023.

In her ruling, Howell wrote that the Constitution “made clear that no one in our system of government was meant to be king—the President included—and not just in name only.

“The President does not have the authority to terminate members of the National Labor Relations Board at will, and his attempt to fire plaintiff from her position on the Board was a blatant violation of the law,” Howell said.

“A president who touts an image of himself as a ‘king’ or a ‘dictator,’ perhaps as his vision of effective leadership, fundamentally misapprehends the role under Article II of the U.S. Constitution,” Howell added.

Wilcox filed the lawsuit last month after Trump fired her and the board’s general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, a fellow Biden appointee, leaving the board unable to function without a quorum. In a speech after the hearing Thursday, Wilcox said, “I’m ready to get back to work.”

“It’s not just about me, but I’m glad to be the face of this fight,” Wilcox said.

Trump, Elon Musk, and the rest of the right have long targeted the NLRB, and are in fact trying to get the Supreme Court to declare it unconstitutional and dismantle it with backing from corporations including Amazon, Starbucks, and Trader Joe’s. For now, at least, the NLRB is still around, with long legal fights ahead to save it as well as Wilcox’s position.

Just hours after he rolled back tariffs on Mexico, the president announced Canada will also not pay tariffs on any products that comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, until April 2. It’s Trump’s third flip on tariffs in 72 hours.

He signed an executive order Thursday solidifying the one-month tariff delay on products from both countries.

On Tuesday, Trump implemented 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, a disastrous move that plummeted financial markets and prompted retaliatory actions from both U.S. trading partners.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded aggressively, immediately implementing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods and condemning Trump’s betrayal of a longtime ally.

“Every country is very aware that if the American government is willing to do this to their own closest ally, neighbor, and friend, everyone is vulnerable to a trade war,” Trudeau said in a press conference on Tuesday, bypassing Trump and instead speaking directly to the American people.

“Your government has chosen to put American jobs at risk at the thousands of workplaces that succeed because of materials from Canada, or because of consumers in Canada, or both.”

Trump reacted to Trudeau’s address with hostility, and yet again suggested all of Canada’s problems could be solved by becoming the fifty-first American state. His dislike for Trudeau seemingly influenced his decision-making Thursday morning, when he initially retracted tariffs only on Mexico “out of respect” for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, but not for Canada. Trump on Wednesday also granted a one-month exemption to U.S. automobile companies.

Unsurprisingly, the president has changed his mind yet again, drawing out a trade war that will have disastrous economic consequences.

Notorious Medicare thief and Republican Senator Rick Scott is the only one who wants to admit that his GOP colleagues are plotting to gut an essential health care program.

During an appearance at the Rescuing the American Dream Summit in Washington Thursday, Scott said it was only a matter of time before the government would have to cut spending to “any program you care about.”

“Because Medicare is going bankrupt, Social Security is going bankrupt. You know, inflation can’t go away, interest rates can’t come down. So, my belief is that … we’re gonna have to do this,” the Florida Republican said.

Scott knows a thing or two about bankrupting Medicare. He served as CEO of Columbia/HCA Hospital, which was fined a total of $1.7 billion in 2003 for filing false Medicare claims. At the time, it was the largest health care fraud in history, and while that particular honor has since been passed to another, Scott’s honor remains unrestored.

Scott is one of the few Republicans who doesn’t seem to be in denial about what having approved the latest budget bill to power Donald Trump’s agenda really means. The bill requires the Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees Medicaid, to reduce the deficit by at least $880 billion from 2025 to 2034. Mathematically speaking, cuts that big can only come out of massive programs such as Medicaid.

Cutting the incredibly popular program will undoubtedly prove, well, unpopular, but some Republicans have another strategy: Deny, deny, deny.

Republican Representative Brandon Gill tiptoed around the issue during an interview on Fox Business Thursday, driving host Maria Bartiromo up the wall.

“Congressman, I mean, with all due respect, you haven’t given me one offset,” Bartiromo pressed. “OK? You say that you’re not gonna have one problem finding an offset, and so far all I’ve heard you talk about is Elon Musk’s fraud, waste, and abuse cuts, as well as eliminating climate change rules. Again, 76 percent of the money is going to mandatory spending. You know that better than anyone! I’ve got the numbers in front of me. You’ve got $36 trillion in debt.

“Isn’t it time to start looking at the mandatory spending, and trying to figure out how you’re actually gonna cut—I mean, I know nobody wants to say this, but you’ve got stuff like Medicaid, don’t you?” Bartiromo asked.

Gill insisted he had described areas that could be cut, but noted that, “I agree with you, we are going to have to find some rationalizations.”

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency used the U.S. Marshals to physically take over a government agency Thursday, and now that agency head is suing.

Five employees of DOGE along with deputy acting head of the U.S. Agency for International Aid, Peter Marocco, tried to enter the U.S. African Development Foundation headquarters on Wednesday, but were prevented from getting into the building by security and were forced to leave.

USADF staff told a security guard to deny access to the DOGE team and Marocco, who illegally entered the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection, and whom Trump is trying to install as the agency’s new chief. The agency’s employees cited a letter from the USADF’s current chair, Ward Brehm, which stated, “In my absence, I have specifically instructed the staff of USADF to adhere to our rules and procedure of not allowing any meetings of this type without my presence.

“I will look forward to working with Mr. Marocco after such time that he is nominated for a seat on the Board and his nomination is confirmed by the Senate,” Brehm wrote in the letter. “Until these legal requirements are met, Mr. Marocco does not hold any position or office with USADF, and he may not speak or act on the Foundation’s behalf.”

On Thursday, Marocco and DOGE staffers returned to the agency—this time, with the U.S. Marshals. They were able to enter the building, which had no staff present, according to a government source.

Hours later, Brehm filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Marocco and DOGE, which detailed how the group initially threatened to sue the security guard barring them access, and told the building’s property manager that they would bring U.S. Marshals and Secret Service agents if they weren’t allowed into the building.

“Their threats were unsuccessful” that day, the lawsuit states.

Marocco and DOGE staff were trying to carry out Trump’s February 19 executive order, in which he declared the USADF and three other agencies “unnecessary” and subject to elimination. The agency, created by Congress in 1980, supports small businesses and grassroots organizations helping marginalized people in Africa through grants. From 2019 to 2023, it funded 1,050 community enterprises serving 6.2 million people with $141 million in grants.

“Any attempt to unilaterally dismantle the USADF through executive action violates the law and exceeds the constitutional limits of executive authority,” wrote Democratic members of the House’s Foreign Affairs Committee in a letter to President Trump last month.

While DOGE eventually forced its way into the agency, its chief was able to file a lawsuit before any agency staff were fired. Will the maneuver protect the agency and force the Trump administration to close it through congressional action, or is USADF only delaying the inevitable?