Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
Happy Monday! In today’s edition, we sift through yet another avalanche of news from the Trump administration, from the latest on the president’s planned tariffs to his effort to overhaul the federal government to the role of his billionaire adviser. Plus, our resident data whiz Joe Murphy dives into Trump’s historic executive order pace.
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— Adam Wollner
Trade tiffs, bureaucracy battles and Musk’s mandate: Trump’s third week kicks off
The third week of President Donald Trump’s second term kicked off with an international trade battle, uncertainty about the future of a key government agency and questions over Elon Musk’s role in the administration.
Let’s dive right in.
Tariffs postponed: Days after announcing a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, Trump agreed to delay them for one month after leaders from Canada and Mexico announced moves to ramp up security at their borders, Shannon Pettypiece reports.
The decision averts, at least for now, a potential trade war with two of America’s closest trading partners that could have driven up prices for U.S. consumers and stalled the countries’ economies.
As part of the deal, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his country would be spending $1.3 billion on a plan to reinforce its border with new helicopters, technology and personnel, as well as additional resources to stop the flow of fentanyl. (Canada had announced its $1.3 billion border and immigration investment at the end of last year.)
And earlier in the day, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that her country will immediately reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of its National Guard to address drug trafficking from Mexico into the U.S., particularly fentanyl.
Trump’s 10% tariff on all Chinese imports is still set to go into effect Tuesday.
USAID under fire: Secretary of State Marco Rubio has empowered Pete Marocco, a top official at the State Department, to run the U.S. Agency for International Development and review all the work done by the agency targeted for dismantling by Trump and Elon Musk, Vaughn Hillyard, Abigail Williams, Rebecca Shabad and Ryan Nobles report.
Rubio warned that certain projects or programs may be suspended or eliminated, marking the Trump administration’s latest attack on the federal bureaucracy. USAID employees based out of Washington were ordered not to come into the office Monday and to work from home.
Democratic lawmakers and legal experts have argued that dismantling USAID would violate a law adopted by Congress establishing the agency. Sen. Brian Schatz responded by saying he would place a hold on Trump’s State Department nominees.
But Republicans have not expressed many qualms with Trump’s flurry of unilateral moves. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Trump’s efforts to cut federal spending and make other moves without congressional approval have been “appropriate.”
Musk’s role: While Musk has been leading the effort to slash the federal government through the “Department of Government Efficiency,” his comments about potentially shutting down USAID sparked a new round of questions over what exactly the tech billionaire’s role is in the administration.
A White House official attempted to offer some clarity: Musk is a “special government employee,” Katherine Doyle reports.
It’s a designation that means Musk is working neither as a volunteer nor a full-time employee. Special government employees are asked to abide by conflict of interest requirements and ethics policies that are typically less onerous than federal employees. As a temporary position, it bypasses some of the disclosure obligations required of full-time roles.
The big picture: As Jonathan Allen and Allan Smith write, Trump is waging war against his own government, creating a deep sense of fear in the federal workforce — and recipients of federal aid — as he tests the limits of his power to alter the scope, function and nature of government without Congress.
Trump is signing executive orders at a historic rate
By Joe Murphy
If the pace at which President Trump is signing executive orders feels faster than normal, you’re not imagining things.
In fact, Trump has issued more executive orders in the first 10 days of his term than any president did in their first 100 days since Dwight Eisenhower, according to an NBC News analysis of Federal Register data.
Looking at recent presidents, you can see a pattern: Most signed fewer than 20 executive orders in their first 100 days in office, up until Trump was sworn in the first time. He signed 33 executive orders at the start of his tenure in 2017; President Joe Biden signed 42 in 2021.
Through the first week-and-a-half of his second term, Trump was already up to 45, with more on the way.
🗞️ Today’s other top stories
- 🥶 Freeze fallout: Some forms of federal aid spending still appear to be frozen, a federal judge in Washington said, despite a court order blocking the Trump administration’s funding pause and the Office of Management and Budget’s move last week to rescind its own memo announcing the policy. Read more →
- 🎯 Targeting DEI: Dozens of employees who attended a diversity training course that former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos encouraged during Trump’s first administration have been placed on paid leave as part of the president’s targeting of DEI programs. Read more →
- 📜 Constitutional clash: The Trump administration’s efforts to target DEI programs is part of a long-running legal battle over the Constitution’s “equal protection” guarantee. Read more →
- ⬇️ Shrinking: In what appears to be yet another move to consolidate parts of the federal government, Trump has appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Read more →
- ➡️ Catch and release? Some migrants arrested as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown have already been released back into the U.S. on a monitoring program. Read more →
- 🗓️ Save the date: Senate committees will hold votes on Tuesday on Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be next director of national intelligence, and on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be health and human services secretary. Read more →
- ❓ Speaking of Gabbard: There is growing concern about Gabbard’s path to confirmation after her refusal to call Edward Snowden a traitor last week “rattled” many in the White House. But moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she will support Gabbard’s nomination. Read more →
- 🖊️ Trump’s next move: Trump announced that he plans to create a “sovereign wealth fund,” a pool of assets like those that exist in other countries that can help pay out regular funds to ordinary citizens. Read more →
- ✈️ Where in the world is Kyrsten Sinema? Former Sen. Krysten Sinema, I-Ariz., spent campaign funds at a hotel in Saudi Arabia, car services in two foreign companies and Taylor Swift merch, new financial reports reveal. Read more →
- 🗳️ ICYMI: Ken Martin, who has led the state Democratic Party in Minnesota, won the race to be the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee over the weekend. Read more →
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That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Bridget Bowman.
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