The Latest: Trump downplays tariff concerns as US stock sell-off worsens

Judge orders Trump administration not to deport Palestinian activist

A federal judge in New York City has ordered that a Palestinian activist who led protests at Columbia University not be deported while the court considers the lawsuit challenging his detention.

Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident who was a graduate student at Columbia until December, was detained Saturday by federal immigration agents. Trump had warned his arrest and possible deportation will be the first “of many to come” as his administration cracks down on campus demonstrations against Israel and the war in Gaza.

A hearing in Khalil’s case was scheduled for Wednesday.

USAID staffers abroad have 4 weeks to return home on government tab

The Associated Press obtained a copy of an email sent Monday with that April 6 deadline. The return of foreign U.S. Agency for International Development staffers overseas would be another final step in the Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency.

USAID staffers in foreign posts say the short notice is forcing them to uproot children in the school year, sell homes and break leases, and otherwise scramble. While the administration says it will grant extensions, USAID workers are skeptical there are enough agency workers left to process them.

Musk says federal government has a Democratic-leaning workforce

The tech billionaire made the comments Monday to Fox Business host Larry Kudlow in an interview.

“That’s what we’re trying to defeat here is the bureaucracy,” Musk said. “The bureaucracy is overwhelmingly Democrat.”

Musk described his aggressive effort to purge the federal workforce and root out wasteful spending an act of compassion for the American people.

“What we’re adding here is caring and competence,” he said.

Musk says he expects the work of the Department of Government Efficiency to take about a year, and that its staff — now roughly 100 — will likely double in the months to come.

New York governor launches review of tariffs on state’s energy costs

Kathy Hochul is trying to find out how much a nascent trade war between the U.S. and Canada could drive up the cost of electricity for New Yorkers.

Hochul on Monday asked regulators if they would be able to include a “Trump Tariff” line on utility bills to show how much the Republican President Donald Trump’s policies have increased power costs.

“These federal tariffs have been poorly conceived from the start: crafted in secret with no transparency and no clear economic rationale, they’ve only served to destabilize our capital markets and create uncertainty among New York families and businesses,” the Democratic governor said.

Sen. Mark Kelly says trip to Ukraine showed him the impact of cutting off US intelligence

The Arizona Democrat made a last-minute trip to Ukraine this weekend and says he is already seeing the impact of the U.S. cutting off its intelligence sharing with Kyiv.

The lack of intelligence sharing “changes their ability to defend against attacks,” Kelly told reporters at the Capitol Monday. “And those attacks happened on Friday night and on Saturday night.”

Kelly, a former Navy pilot, said he met with Ukrainian pilots who are training and using F-16 fighter jets and that their missions had become more difficult to plan without the help of U.S. intelligence.

More colleges threatened with cuts over antisemitism complaints

The Trump administration is warning dozens of colleges that they could lose federal money if they fail to make campuses safe for Jewish students.

An Education Department letter sent to 60 schools on Monday threatens to take enforcement action if they fail to uphold civil rights laws against antisemitism. It says they must ensure "uninterrupted access" to campus facilities and education opportunities.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said federal funding is “a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.”

The colleges were already under investigation over allegations of antisemitism on their campuses. It includes Harvard, Columbia, Cornell and many others where pro-Palestinian protests led to accusations of anti-Jewish bias.

The administration is already pulling $400 million from Columbia and has threatened to cut billions more.

Dow drops 890 and S&P 500 sinks 2.7% as worries deepen about damage to the economy from trade strife

The U.S. stock market’s sell-off got worse.

The S&P 500 fell 2.7% Monday as worries build about how much pain President Donald Trump is willing for the economy to endure through tariffs in order to get what he wants.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 4%. Elon Musk’s Tesla fell to one of the market’s sharpest losses, as did airlines and other companies that need U.S. shoppers feeling confident enough to spend.

Bitcoin fell below $79,000 from more than $100,000 in December.

▶ Read more about the stock market sell-off.

Senate set to vote Monday on approving Lori Chavez-DeRemer as Trump’s labor secretary

It's a Cabinet position that would put her in charge of enforcing federally mandated worker rights and protections at a time when the White House is trying to eliminate thousands of government employees.

Chavez-DeRemer would oversee the Department of Labor, one of several executive departments named in lawsuits challenging the authority of billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to order layoffs and access sensitive government data.

The Labor Department had nearly 16,000 full-time employees and a proposed budget of $13.9 billion for fiscal year 2025. Some of its vast responsibilities include reporting the U.S. unemployment rate, regulating workplace health and safety standards, investigating minimum wage, child labor and overtime pay disputes, and applying laws on union organizing and unlawful terminations.

▶ Read more about the Labor Department

Senators want Treasury to explain why it won’t enforce law designed to stop shell companies

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sent Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent a letter Monday, requesting an explanation for why the Trump administration has suspended enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act, a bipartisan 2021 law intended to clamp down on anonymous shell companies.

The Supreme Court in January lifted an injunction blocking the enforcement of the law.

The letter comes after the U.S. Treasury Department announced last week that it will not enforce a Biden-era small business rule intended to curb money laundering and shell company formation, that would have required firms to register their beneficial owners to the government.

“We request that you provide us the legal basis for the Treasury Department’s policy decision to categorically suspend enforcement of the CTA’s reporting requirements for all U.S. citizens and domestic reporting companies,” wrote the senators.

“In addition, we request that you provide us with information about how you intend to satisfy the policy goals of the CTA.”

Walz criticizes Trump’s trade action with Canada

Minnesota receives only a small share of its electricity from Ontario, but the Minnesota governor and former Democratic vice presidential nominee said the impact would be felt by the state’s residents.

“The first victims of Trump’s Trade war? Minnesotans struggling to pay their skyrocketing electric bill,” Walz tweeted with a link to a story about Ontatrio’s plan to charge 25% more for electricity to 1.5 million Americans.

But Minnesota Power, the main utility serving the part of Minnesota that borders on Ontario, gets only a “very small” proportion of its power from the province, company spokesperson Amy Rutledge said.

Minnesota Power, which serves over 150,000 customers, bought only about $300,000 worth of electricity from Ontario last year, and only for four months out of the year, she said.

Vance tells city leaders they can’t pick and choose which federal laws to enforce

The vice president told the National League of Cities conference in Washington that when it comes to immigration, city officials can disagree with some of the laws on the books and how they are enforced.

“While we have immigrations laws on the books, we will enforce them and we will expect local municipalities to help us,” Vance said.

Some Democratic-led cities refuse to enforce certain immigration laws or help immigration authorities, earning reputations as “sanctuary cities” for those living illegally in the U.S.

Vance said Trump and the rest of the administration respect the work they do.

“Please consider our administration one with an open door,” Vance said.

House speaker open to further punishing Rep. Al Green

The House has already voted to censure the Texas Democrat for disrupting Trump’s address to Congress last week, but some Republicans want more.

“We’re considering that. I mean, I’ve talked to a lot of Republicans over the weekend that were really disturbed by what happened on the floor,” Mike Johnson said. “It was an unprecedented break in decorum.”

Green stood and shouted at Trump after the Republican president said the Nov. 5 election had delivered a governing mandate not seen for many decades.

“You have no mandate,” the Houston lawmaker said, shaking a cane and refusing an order from Johnson to “take your seat, sir!”

Johnson also noted that regardless of what he determines, Republican lawmakers separately could force a vote on Green.

S&P 500 tumbles most since 2022 as Wall Street questions how much pain for economy Trump will accept

The U.S. stock market's sell-off is worsening Monday, and it's heading toward its worst day since 2022 as Wall Street questions how much pain President Trump is willing for the economy to endure in order to get what he wants.

The S&P 500 was down as much as 3% in afternoon trading, coming off its worst week since September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 929 points, or 2.2%, as of 2:43 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 4.2% lower.

The main measure of the U.S. stock market is on track for a seventh swing of more than 1%, up or down, in the last eight days following a scary stretch dominated by Trump's on -and- off -again tariffs. The worry is that the whipsaw moves will either hurt the economy directly or create enough uncertainty to drive U.S. companies and consumers into an economy-freezing paralysis. The S&P 500 is down nearly 9% from its all-time high set on Feb. 19.

▶ Read more about Trump's effects on financial markets

Trump touts ICE arrest of former Columbia University student

Mahmoud Khalil played a prominent role in protests against Israel. His arrest is a significant escalation in his administration’s promise to apprehend and deport student activists.

Trump calls Khalil “a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student.”

Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia until this past December, was inside his university-owned apartment Saturday night when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press.

Khalil’s arrest is the first publicly known deportation effort under Trump’s promised crackdown on students who joined protests against the war in Gaza that swept college campuses last spring.

Speaker Mike Johnson confident Congress will pass continuing resolution to keep government funded

“The CR will pass,” Johnson said.

Republicans unveiled the measure over the weekend. A partial government shutdown will begin Saturday if Congress fails to pass it.

Democrats say they weren’t consulted in crafting the legislation, which House Republicans say would cut $13 billion from non-defense programs while increasing defense spending by $6 billion compared to last year.

Asked what made him so confident, Johnson replied: “No one wants to shut the government down, and we are governing, doing the responsible thing as Republicans. It’s going to be up to Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats to do the right thing. And I don’t think they are going to shut the government down.”

FDA says safety inspectors and some other staff cannot take buyout

An email viewed by The Associated Press explains that Food and Drug Administration staffers who handle inspections, criminal investigations and the review of drugs, vaccines, medical devices and other products cannot take the $25,000 buyout.

The email lists a number of other roles eligible for the offer, including staffers in administration, finance, communications and other operations. The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA and other health agencies, has given staffers until Friday to apply for the payment.

Last month the FDA abruptly fired hundreds of staffers, including medical reviewers, only to bring many of them back days later. The agency’s reviewers are mainly funded by fees from the medical industry, not the federal government.

Trump and Ireland’s leader to meet on Wednesday

Trump's talks with Prime Minister Micheál Martin are expected to cover a range of issues, including Ukraine, the Middle East and Northern Ireland.

The two will attend an annual White House St. Patrick’s day celebration and continue a tradition of presenting the president with a bowl of shamrocks, extending St Patrick’s Day greetings from the people of Ireland to the United States.

Martin is also meeting separately with Vice President JD Vance.

EPA froze ‘green bank’ funds worth billions, climate group’s lawsuit says

A nonprofit that was awarded nearly $7 billion by the Biden administration to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects has sued President Trump's Environmental Protection Agency, accusing it of improperly freezing a legally awarded grant.

Climate United Fund, a coalition of three nonprofit groups, demanded access to a Citibank account it received through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a program created in 2022 by the bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act and more commonly known as the green bank. The freeze threatens its ability to issue loans and even pay employees, the group said.

“The combined actions of Citibank and EPA effectively nullify a congressionally mandated and funded program,” Climate United wrote in a Monday court filing.

▶ Read more about the climate group's lawsuit

Homeland Security app once used for asylum applications is now for leaving the the US

The Trump administration has overhauled the cellphone app once used to let migrants apply for asylum, turning it into a system that allows people living illegally in the U.S. to announce they want to voluntarily leave.

The renamed app, now called CBP Home, is part of the administration's campaign to encourage "self-deportations, ″ touted as an easy and cost-effective way to nudge along Trump's push to deport millions of immigrants.

“The app provides illegal aliens in the United States with a straightforward way to declare their intent to voluntarily depart, offering them the chance to leave before facing harsher consequences,” Pete Flores, the acting commissioner for U.S Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement.

Moments after Trump took office, the former app, CBP One, stopped allowing migrants to apply for asylum, and tens of thousands of border appointments were canceled.

Ontario slaps 25% increase on electricity exports to US in response to Trump’s trade war

Ontario’s premier, the leader of Canada’s most populous province, announced that effective Monday his province is charging 25% more for electricity to 1.5 million Americans in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Ontario provides electricity to Minnesota, New York and Michigan.

“President Trump’s tariffs are a disaster for the U.S. economy. They’re making life more expensive for American families and businesses,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a statement. “Until the threat of tariffs is gone for good, Ontario won’t back down. We’ll stand strong, use every tool in our toolkit and do whatever it takes to protect Ontario.”

Ford has said Ontario’s tariff would remain in place despite the one-month reprieve from Trump, noting a one month pause means nothing but more uncertainty.

Ford’s office said the new market rules require any generator selling electricity to the U.S. to add a 25% surcharge to the U.S. Ontario’s government expects it to generate revenue of $300,000 Canadian (US$208,000) to $400,000 Canadian (US$277,000) per day, “which will be used to support Ontario workers, families and businesses.”

▶ Read more about the trade war.

No more COVID-19 tests from the US government

The federal government has shut down ordering from the site where Americans could have COVID-19 tests delivered to their mailboxes for no charge.

"The free at-home COVID-19 test distribution program is not currently accepting orders," the website, covidtests.gov, reads.

Americans were able to order up to four tests through the site and they were delivered by the United States Postal Service. The Biden administration launched the program during the COVID-19 pandemic and would intermittently turn ordering on and off, typically reopening it ahead of the respiratory illness season in the fall.

Any orders placed by 8 p.m. on Sunday, March 9 will still be shipped, according to the website.

Abortion Provider Appreciation Day focuses on Trump policies

Abortion rights supporters were marking the day Monday through letter and postcard writing events, donation drives, social media posts and sidewalk chalking with messages of support.

The day honors the life of David Gunn, a doctor who was shot to death outside an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida in 1993. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which is designed to protect abortion clinics from obstruction and threats, was passed in 1994 in response to Gunn's murder and mounting violence against clinics.

Trump's Justice Department has curtailed prosecutions under the FACE Act, and he has pardoned anti-abortion activists convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances.

Wall Street’s sell-off gets worse as worries deepen over tariffs

Worries about the economy and President Trump’s tariffs are sending U.S. stocks further from their record set just last month.

The S&P 500 was down 1.5% in early trading Monday, coming off its worst week since September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 415 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite was 2.2% lower.

Stocks are on track for another bumpy day following a scary stretch dominated by worries that Trump’s on-and-off-again tariffs will either hurt the economy directly or create enough uncertainty to drive U.S. companies and consumers into an economy-harming paralysis.

Volatility persists on Wall Street as tariffs continue to drag on confidence

Most major U.S. indices swung to significant losses Monday after President Trump dismissed concerns over the possibility of his upcoming tariffs causing a recession.

Futures for the S&P 500 were down 1.4%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.1%. Nasdaq futures slid 1.6%.

In an interview that aired on Fox News Channel on Sunday morning, Trump acknowledged that his plans could affect U.S. economic growth in the short term though he fell short of predicting a recession this year. Trump said his plan to bring wealth back to American “takes a little time.”

Also this weekend, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports will take effect Wednesday.

▶ Read more about Trump's effect on financial markets

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says purge of USAID complete, with 83% of its programs gone

And said he would move the 18% of aid and development programs that survived under the State Department.

Rubio made the announcement Monday in a post on X. It marked one of his relatively few public comments on what has been a historic shift away from U.S. foreign aid and development, executed by Trump political appointees at State and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency teams.

Rubio in the post thanked DOGE and “our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform” in foreign aid.

Trump on Jan. 20 issued an executive order directing a freeze of foreign assistance funding and a review of all of the tens of billions of dollars of U.S. aid and development work abroad. Trump charged that much of foreign assistance was wasteful and advanced a liberal agenda.

▶ Read more about Trump's changes to foreign aid

China learned from Trump’s first trade war and changed its tactics when tariffs came again

The leaders of both Canada and Mexico got on the phone with Trump this past week to seek solutions after he slapped tariffs on their countries, but China's president appears unlikely to make a similar call soon.

Beijing, which unlike America's close partners and neighbors has been locked in a trade and tech war with the U.S. for years, is taking a different approach to Trump in his second term, making it clear that any negotiations should be conducted on equal footing.

China's leaders say they are open to talks, but they also made preparations for the higher U.S. tariffs, which have risen 20% since Trump took office seven weeks ago. Intent on not being caught off guard as they were during Trump's first term, the Chinese were ready with retaliatory measures — imposing their own taxes this past week on key U.S. farm imports and more.

After the U.S. this past week imposed another 10% tariff, on top of the 10% imposed on Feb. 4, the Chinese foreign ministry uttered its sharpest retort yet: "If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we're ready to fight till the end."

▶ Read more about China and the U.S. in the trade war

Musk and DOGE try to slash government by cutting out those who answer to voters

For decades, conservatives in Congress have talked about the need to cut government deeply, but they have always pulled back from mandating specific reductions, fearful of voter backlash.

Now, DOGE is trying to do exactly that.

The dynamic of cutting government while also cutting out those who answer to voters has alarmed even some fiscal conservatives who have long pushed for Congress to reduce spending through the means laid out in the Constitution: a system of checks and balances that includes lawmakers elected across the country working with the president.

“Some members of the Trump administration got frustrated that Congress won’t cut spending and decided to go around them,” said Jessica Reidl of the conservative think tank The Manhattan Institute. Now, she said, “no one who has to face voters again is determining spending levels.”

▶ Read more about DOGE's latest government staffing cuts

Trump downplays business concerns about uncertainty from his tariffs and prospect of higher prices

Trump is dismissing business concerns over the uncertainty caused by his planned tariffs on a range of American trading partners and the prospect of higher prices, and isn't ruling out the possibility of a recession this year.

After imposing and then quickly pausing 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada that sent markets tumbling over concerns of a trade war, Trump said his plans for broader "reciprocal" tariffs will go into effect April 2, raising them to match what other countries assess.

Asked about the Atlanta Fed’s warning of an economic contraction in the first quarter of the year, Trump seemingly acknowledged that his plans could affect U.S. growth. Still, he claimed, it would ultimately be “great for us.”

Though Trump's early implementation of tariffs has been inconsistent — with him imposing them, then pulling many back — he has been steadfast in endorsing the idea of 21st century protectionism. There have even been suggestions that higher import tariffs on the country's foreign trading partners could eventually replace the federal income tax.

▶ Read more about concerns surrounding Trump's tariffs

Trump loves the Gilded Age and its tariffs. It was a great time for the rich but not for the many

In Trump’s idealized framing, the United States was at its zenith in the Gilded Age, a time of rapid population growth and transformation from an agricultural economy toward a sprawling industrial system.

The desire to recreate that era is fueled by Trump's fondness for tariffs and his admiration for the nation's 25th president, William McKinley.

Though Trump's early implementation of tariffs has been inconsistent — with him imposing them, then pulling many back — he has been steadfast in endorsing the idea of 21st century protectionism. There have even been suggestions that higher import tariffs on the country's foreign trading partners could eventually replace the federal income tax.

Experts on the era say Trump is idealizing a time rife with government and business corruption, social turmoil and inequality. They argue he’s also dramatically overestimating the role tariffs played in stimulating an economy that grew mostly due to factors other than the U.S. raising taxes on imported goods.

And Gilded Age policies, they maintain, have virtually nothing to do with how trade works in a globalized, modern economy.

▶ Read more about Trump and the Gilded Age

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP