It’s Thursday. Tennis star Carlos Alcaraz scored a wild point this morning. Even if you’re not a big tennis fan, I promise you’ll still appreciate 📹 this clip. Oh, and our assistant newsletter editor Emily Martin tells me that tonight is the season finale of HBO’s “The Pitt” and that we should all be watching it.
In today’s issue:
- Trump pauses tariffs, says some were getting ‘yippy’
- White House trade adviser clashes with Trump World
- Johnson corrals GOP, advances Trump agenda
- First-ever 3D model of Titanic wreckage
THE FIRST 100 DAYS
Well, we learned the president’s pain threshold this week:
Most tariffs to the U.S.’s trading partners have been delayed for 90 days — except for the 10 percent baseline duties and additional ones on China, which now has a whopping 125 percent import tax. So, what changed?
The bond markets. The stock market can swing back and forth, but once there is fear about the bond market, which is seen as extremely stable, that’s when financial crises can happen.
If you listen to President Trump‘s team publicly, this was his grand plan all along. Hike tariffs everywhere and then lower them all to create a singular trade war with the U.S.’s biggest trading foe: China. The market drop, the international panic — it was all part of the plan. “BE COOL” and buy stocks now, he even said.
But behind the scenes at the White House, things weren’t so rosy. The New York Times reports that his top advisers were panicked over the economic turmoil — and the volatility in the bond market is the straw that ultimately broke the camel’s back. His advisers were reportedly left in the dark about his plans until shortly before they were released. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett acknowledged to CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the bond market likely added “a little more urgency.”
The Washington Post reports that late Tuesday night, Trump had an hourlong phone call with a group of Senate Republicans, who expressed concern about Trump’s tariff policy.
*Cuts back to public*: Trump now says he was planning to change course for several days. He made his announcement on Truth Social, a post which he says was “written from the heart,” not from a team of lawyers. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dubbed it “one of the most extraordinary Truth posts of his Presidency.”
📸 Photo of Trump, Lutnick and Bessent
The tea — Peter Navarro is rubbing some Trump allies the wrong way: The Hill’s Alex Gangitano and Al Weaver report that White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has been butting heads with some in Trump World.He doesn’t have the best relationships with people in Washington, including Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) who described him as “crass.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) even referred to him as a “walking, talking economic fallacy.” 👀
A lighter tidbit: The White House posted a message to trading partners. “DO NOT RETALIATE AND YOU WILL BE REWARDED.” X user @helen chimed in, “me giving my dog a bath.” And The New York Times’s Joe Bernstein compared it, “Me to my 4 year old after my 2 year old kicks him in the face.” 😂
➤ I’M GLAD PEOPLE STILL HAVE SENSES OF HUMOR:
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told The Wall Street Journal that he watched Navarro and Hassett give contradictory messages on the tariff policy during dueling cable news segments. “I’m on a Delta flight laughing so hard, people must think, ‘He’s watching business news and you’d think he’s watching cartoons,’” Cramer said.
ON CAPITOL HILL
Why Mike Johnson has some extra pep in his step:
The House just *narrowly* passed the budget resolution to advance President Trump’s stalled legislative agenda after a last-minute scramble of internal squabbling over the details.
The vote: 216-214. Republican Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Victoria Spartz (Ind.) voted “no” with Democrats.
Why it was touch-and-go for a bit: More than a dozen House conservatives previously opposed the resolution, forcing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to yank a planned vote last night.
What happened to change that?: “As leadership held open an unrelated vote for almost 90 minutes, Johnson huddled in a room off the House floor with several of the conservative holdouts in an unsuccessful attempt to secure their support — prompting the delay,” per The Hill’s Mychael Schnell.
Now, what?: The even harder part begins. Republicans just passed the blueprint — or the “shell bill.” Now, they need to craft the meat of the policies (spending cuts, tax cuts, etc.). That’ll be a later vote.
^ Yes, the text of the bill hasn’t even been written! All of this fighting was over the blueprint. Let that sink in for how the next steps will go.
➤ CAPITOL HILL TIDBITS:
Oh, yikes: The lines to get into the congressional office buildings have been awful lately. Military Times’s Leo Shane III 📸posted a photo of this morning’s line to get into the Russell Senate Office Building.
It’s like the seagulls from ‘Finding Nemo’: During a reporter scrum on Capitol Hill, someone yelled, “Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.” I wonder if they realize they’re quoting one of my favorite ads of all time.
➤ MAY 30 IS AN IMPORTANT DAY TO WATCH:
Tech billionaire Elon Musk can only technically serve as a special government employee for 130 days. A group of 77 House Democrats sent a letter to Trumpthis morning warning that Musk must leave by then.
OTHER NEWS
The work is scary and important:
(^For all my “Severance” fans)
The Hill’s Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin published a book today on the dangers of forever chemicals and their presence in communities around the U.S.
📗Places to buy:
- Direct from the publisher
- Bookshop.org. to support your local bookstore.
- Barnes and Noble
- Amazon
Read an excerpt in The Hill: ‘Military’s use of toxic ‘forever chemicals’ leaves lasting scars’
And another excerpt in Semafor: ‘How Trump slowed the fight against “forever chemicals”’
ON TAP
The House and Senate are in. President Trump is in Washington. (All times EST)
12:30 p.m.: Trump participates in a swearing-in ceremony for the solicitor general.
This afternoon: A Senate confirmation vote. 📆Today’s agenda
2 p.m.: State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce briefs reporters. 💻 Livestream
4 p.m.: Trump participates in a bill signing ceremony in the Oval Office.
INTERNET BUZZ
🥐 Celebrate: Today is National Cinnamon Crescent Day.
🚢 These images give me chills: More than 700,000 images were taken of The Titanic’s wreckage, creating the first-ever 3D view of what the ship looks like now. Experts have learned a lot more about what happened the night it sank, according to the BBC.📸Photos of the Titanic now
🎷 Live from London, IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT: “Saturday Night Live” is launching a new U.K. version of the sketch comedy show. SNL veteran Lorne Michaels will be the executive producer.
🌴 Who wants a “mini-retirement?”: The New York Times reports that some young people are using their savings to take an extended gap early in their careers. Some do it after being laid off, and others are asking for unpaid leave. They’re calling it a “micro-retirement” to invest in other parts of their lives.
AND FINALLY…
Sometimes I fear we’ve strayed too far. Seeing this woman paint her elephant’s toenails is one of those times…
STAY CONNECTED
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