D.C. Memo: The drama continues with Trump’s turnabout on tariffs

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and a couple of U.S. Supreme Court decisions were front and center here this week as there is no respite over the non-stop drama out of the White House.

Trump paused what the White House calls “reciprocal tariffs” on more than 75 countries for 90 days but kept across-the-board 10% levies in place and ratcheted up tariffs on China to 125%.

The turnabout came after one of Trump’s billionaire backers, hedge fund owner Bill Ackman, forcefully called for a 90-day pause in the tariffs and Elon Musk called Trump’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” in a spat over tariff policy.

“If the president doesn’t pause the effect of the tariffs soon, many small businesses will go bankrupt,” Ackman wrote on X. “Medium-sized businesses will be next.”

The turnaround also came as a growing number of GOP lawmakers, including Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, pushed for legislation that would take back Congress’ authority to set tariff policy.

And, in what could be the most important factor in Trump’s decision, an unexpected selloff in Treasury bonds indicated a loss of confidence in the world’s biggest economy.

The stock market, which had plummeted because of  Trump’s tariffs, soared after the president announced his tariff pause. But a trade war with Beijing has been unleashed and the price of many Chinese-made products  Americans have become dependent upon, including Apple’s iPhone, are expected to soar.

The stock market resumed its fall the next day.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court gave Trump a couple of victories this week, overturning a trial judge’s order that had imposed a sweeping block on all deportations under Trump’s invocation of the two-centuries-old Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans to El Salvador. 

But the 5-4 decision — in which Trump appointee Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal justices in dissenting — said immigrants prosecuted under the Alien Enemies Act must be given a chance to challenge their deportations before being expelled from the country.

The Supreme Court also allowed the Trump administration’s firing of 16,000 probationary federal employees to go forward, at least for now. But the court’s narrow ruling applies only to the nonprofits who brought the case, saying they don’t have standing, and did not decide the case on its merits.

And a similar challenge is playing out in the lower courts in Maryland.

GOP lawmakers scorch Craig over town halls 

Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District, plans to hold a flurry of town halls during Congress’s two-week spring break — but not all of them will be in her district.

Craig plans to hold a town hall in each of the districts of Minnesota’s GOP members of Congress and those Republicans are calling “foul.”

Reps. Tom Emmer, R-6th District; Michelle Fischbach, R-7th District; Pete Stauber, R-8th District; and Brad Finstad, R-1st District; have all heeded House Speaker Mike Johnson’s admonition to avoid in-person town halls after some of their GOP colleagues were blindsided by angry constituents at these events who protested their support of Trump policies.

The Minnesota lawmakers held virtual town halls in which they answered mainly soft-ball questions instead. But they’ve come under criticism for not appearing at gatherings in their districts in person.

For instance, the advocacy group Wright County Indivisible is funding a billboard campaign calling on Emmer to hold a town hall.

Craig is following the lead of other Democrats, including Gov. Tim Walz, who are showing up in GOP districts to hold in-person townhalls.

Minnesota’s Republican lawmakers are riled about Craig’s plan, saying the Democrat is visiting their districts to campaign for retiring Sen. Tina Smith’s seat — and using her taxpayer-funded office budget to do so. 

They reacted in email statements to MinnPost.

“If Angie Craig wants to be a Senator that badly, she should announce her intention to run,” Emmer said.

Craig has not committed to running for Smith’s seat, saying she is sounding out constituents about a possible run for a seat that has become competitive.   

Still, Stauber said “by holding town halls in Congressional districts that she does not represent, Congresswoman Craig has made her intentions to run for statewide office abundantly clear.”

“It is concerning that she is using official resources to do something that is so clearly connected to her pending statewide campaign,” Stauber said. “To me, this is a blatant misuse of taxpayer funds. I host campaign events and fundraise in other districts, but I have the good sense to use only campaign resources.”

Speaking for Craig, a source said no office funds will be used to hold the events.

Finstad also accused Craig of misusing the funds she is allocated to run her official offices, saying “it is disappointing that Rep. Craig is using her taxpayer-funded congressional office to seemingly fuel her own statewide political aspirations.”

Fischbach’s criticisms were in the same vein.

“It’s plain to see that this tour is nothing more than political theater from a member who is looking to run for a statewide office,” she said. “But using official taxpayer dollars to hold what amounts to a campaign stop in a district she does not represent is just plain wrong, as well as an unethical misuse of taxpayer dollars.”

A spokesperson defended the lawmaker’s plans.

“Minnesota’s Republican representatives have stood idly by while the administration has started a global trade war, cut thousands of jobs and run roughshod over our government agencies,” a spokesperson for Craig said.

The spokesperson said that while Craig’s Republican colleagues have refused to show up and answer to their constituents in person, the lawmaker is “committed to ensuring every Minnesotan’s voice is heard.”  

Uphill climb for proposed mining moratorium

Sen. Tina Smith this week introduced a bill that would permanently protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from sulfide mining by placing a permanent moratorium on the Superior National Forest.

The Biden administration imposed a 20-year moratorium on 225,504 acres of the federal forest, which is a watershed for the Boundary Waters. But President Donald Trump has promised to eliminate that moratorium.

In a statement, Smith said impartial science and data “show unequivocally that copper-nickel sulfide mining poses an unacceptable risk to the Boundary Waters.” 

“Mining is an important driver of Minnesota’s economy and the pride of every Iron Ranger,” Smith said. “I support mining, but not (proposed mines) in this precious place. Majorities of Minnesotans oppose mining in the watershed of the Boundary Waters.”

“I am prepared to fight with every tool I have to protect one of America’s greatest wilderness areas,” Smith said.

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-4th District, introduced a similar bill in the U.S. House earlier this year, as she has in past Congresses.

But this is the first time in 50 years that a bill to protect the Boundary Waters has been introduced in the U.S. Senate.

Environmental groups that have fought the establishment of sulfide mining in the Superior National Forest hailed the introduction of the bill.

“Amidst incredible division, the Boundary Waters has the power to unite us. Minnesotans, across ideologic, demographic, and geographic lines, want to see this irreplaceable Wilderness protected forever, and thousands of people from all around the country come to experience the Boundary Waters every year, making it the most visited Wilderness in America,” said Ingrid Lyons, executive director of Save the Boundary Waters, in a prepared statement.

Despite the support from the environmental community for the legislation, both Smith’s and McCollum’s bills are expected to face an uphill climb in the GOP-controlled Congress.

Morrison: No tariffs on babies 

Rep. Kelly Morrison, D-3rd District, is pressing for Congress to adopt her legislation aimed at combating any inflationary effects of Trump’s tariffs by exempting baby products from the new levies.

Morrison said Trump had excluded these products when he imposed tariffs during his first term.

But those items are not exempt from tariffs now and families will be forced to pay more for the car seat, highchairs, strollers and cribs that are essential to care for babies and toddlers. Morrison estimated that families already spend about $20,000 on these essentials and that the tariffs will make it even harder for parents to afford the basics.

“Families should NOT have to foot the bill for these reckless trade wars,” Morrison said in introducing her bill this week.”

As a freshman lawmaker, Morrison hoped to join the bipartisan Problem Solvers caucus in Congress. But she said she has been unable to do so because she has not been able to convince a Republican to join with her – a requirement since the caucus is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

Morrison said House GOP leaders are discouraging bipartisanship.

“It’s really hard to find Republicans who are willing to work with Democrats,” she said.

In case you missed it:

-We took a look at the potential for cuts in Medicaid and included the thoughts of U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison, D-Minn., the only physician in Minnesota’s congressional delegation and a staunch opponent of deep reductions.

-We also reported on how the relentless cuts in federal funding now include grants for the Norwegian American Historical Association and other Minnesota institutions that work to preserve the state’s heritage and culture.

-Andy Steiner, who writes about mental health and addiction, interviewed leaders in the field who are asking the state Legislature for higher Medicaid reimbursements to cover treatment.

-And state government reporter Matthew Blake reported on challenges in crafting a state budget – including DOGE-inspired reductions in the grant-making power of federal agencies.

This and that

A reader took issue with the Trump administration’s cancelation of National Endowment for the Humanities grants, which has put in peril many historical and cultural projects in Minnesota, including one that funded the digitizing of documents about Norwegian American efforts to help the resistance in Norway during World War II.

“And the Trump administration’s spending priorities? How about borrowing $3 trillion dollars to fund tax cuts/kickbacks for the top 1% and 100 richest American billionaires. A military parade expected to cost close to $100 million to celebrate Trump’s 79th birthday. A million bucks a weekend golf holiday to his resorts,” the reader said. “Trump certainly would not want to tell the story of how the brave Norwegians and their American kinsmen resisted the Nazis. He is more of a ‘resistance is futile’ guy.”

Another reader criticized Trump ‘s tariffs, which were levied on more than 75 nations – and the unpopulated Heard and McDonald islands in Antarctica.

“Bad day for the penguins as America’s El Presidente slaps tariffs on Antarctica whilst applying none to North Korea, Russia and Belarus!” the reader said. “It’s been said that ‘when a clown enters a palace, the clown doesn’t become a king, the palace becomes a circus.’”

Editor’s note: Ana Radelat wrote this story for MinnPost.com. She is MinnPost’s Washington, D.C., correspondent and can be reached at aradelat@minnpost.com.

This article first appeared on MinnPost and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

MinnPost is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization whose mission is to provide high-quality journalism for people who care about Minnesota.