US president teases reciprocal tariffs next week
- US President Donald Trump has called to “close down” the US Agency for International Development (USAID) amid reports his administration plans to cut all but a few hundred agency staff members.
- The attacks on USAID come amid Trump’s push to thin out the government workforce and after an executive order that put a freeze on US foreign assistance.
Japan’s prime minister at the White House
Trump has welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the White House, as the two leaders sit down to discuss trade and security in the Pacific region.
In front of the fireplace at the Oval Office, the two leaders took questions from reporters, including about Trump’s threats to impose reciprocal tariffs on many of the US’s trading partners.
“ I’ll be announcing that next week, reciprocal trade, so that we’re treated evenly with other countries,” Trump said. “We don’t want any more or any less.”
He also addressed the controversy surrounding his adviser, billionaire Elon Musk, who has been granted sweeping access to government systems in order to slash spending and bureaucracy.
Critics have accused Musk, however, of seeking data that would create a conflict of interest with his business interests — and undermining key institutions that fall under congressional control.
“Elon is doing a great job. He’s finding tremendous fraud and corruption and waste. You see it with the USAID, but you’re going to see it even more so with other agencies and other parts of government,” Trump said. “He’s wanted to be able to do this for a long time.”
House leader Jeffries blasts Trump for failing to address cost-of-living crisis
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has skewered the Trump administration for failing to address a central tenet of the election campaign: the cost-of-living crisis.
“This is now day 19 of the new administration, and we were told that Republicans were prepared to lower the high cost of living for everyday Americans,” the top-ranking Democrat in the House said at a news conference at the US Capitol. “But we’ve seen nothing: no action, no legislation, no ideas, no proposals, nothing to lower the high cost of living.”
He accused Republicans of achieving nothing so far “but chaos and cronyism” while calling on them to reach across the aisle and craft bipartisan solutions.
“We’ve been waiting for this so-called budget proposal for weeks. When is it coming, and what’s the problem? What’s the problem? We’ve been lectured for months by Republicans that they have a big mandate. Where is your bill?” Jeffries asked.
He repeatedly emphasised that Republicans have control over both chambers of Congress.
“What leverage do we have? Republicans have repeatedly lectured America that they control the House, the Senate and the presidency. It’s their government. What leverage do we have?”
Democrats denied entry to US Department of Education
Democrats from the House of Representatives have been blocked from entering the Department of Education, marking the latest case where they were barred from a government building.
Lawmakers have been demonstrating in front of the departments and agencies under threat of closure during the Trump administration. On Monday, for instance, Democrats attempted to enter the US Agency for International Development (USAID) — only to find security officers barring their path.
Trump has repeatedly pledged to shutter the Department of Education, despite the fact that its budget comes largely from Congress, not the executive branch.
House Democrats said on Friday their aim was to meet acting Education Secretary Denise Carter to discuss threats to the department.
“President Donald Trump has promised to abolish the Department of Education, and he believes he can do this through executive order,” said Representative Mark Takano of California.
“We’re here to remind him that he cannot. The department was created through an act of Congress, and it cannot be abolished except through an act of Congress.”
Representative Maxwell Frost later posted on social media that “armed federal officials” had arrived on the scene to repel the Democrats. “We aren’t dangerous. We are here to represent our people,” he wrote. “This is an authoritarian regime.”
