Closing summary
This concludes our live coverage for the day, but we will return to keep chronicling the second Trump administration on Thursday. Thanks for reading, and here are some of the day’s developments:
Chuck Schumer, leader of the Senate’s Democratic minority, said that Democrats will not provide the necessary votes to adopt a partisan funding bill passed by House Republicans, which includes cuts to vital services and programs. To avoid a shutdown on Friday, Schumer said, the Senate should pass a temporary measure and then negotiate a longer-term measure that can garner bipartisan support.
Rather than take Schumer up on his offer to negotiate, Republicans quickly rolled out a social-media strategy to blame him for shutting down the government by not accepting the Republican effort to ram through the partisan funding bill.
US district judge Tanya Chutkan granted a request by 14 state attorneys general for discovery in a suit against Elon Musk and his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) service to uncover the “parameters of Doge’s and Musk’s authority”, and the identities of Doge personnel.
The federal judge Beryl Howell has blocked an executive order that Donald Trump signed last week directing agencies to terminate contracts and no longer interact with Perkins Coie, a law firm that worked with Democrats during the 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
The Trump administration quietly cleared all remaining migrants from the American military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba this week.
The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, defended the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States who took part in student protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza, by claiming, without evidence, that the Columbia graduate student was “a big supporter of Hamas”.
It was another day of trade turmoil, with the United States imposing tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum and Canada and the European Union retaliating with levies of their own. Canada’s reaction has been particularly forceful.
As his administration moves to gut the Department of Education, Donald Trump levied an attack on employees at federal agency, accusing them of being lazy.
The Wisconsin supreme court candidate Susan Crawford drew attention to Elon Musk’s massive spending in favor of her opponent, the state’s former Republican attorney general Brad Schimel, in a televised debate on Wednesday by mashing the names of the two men together.
After Schimel suggested that nearly half of Crawford’s donors came from outside the state, she turned to him and said: “I have support from all over the country, and it is because Elon Schimel is trying to buy this race, and people are very upset that and they are disturbed about that.”
“He is spending over $10m,” Crawford continued. That dwarfs the contribution of anybody else, in any campaign in Wisconsin history. People should be very concerned about that”.
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House Democrats rallied around the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer’s call for a short-term extension of government funding on Wednesday.
“We strongly support a four-week continuing resolution that keeps the government open and allows Congress the time to reach a final agreement that meets the needs of the American people. House Republicans should get back to Washington immediately so that we can take up a short-term measure, pass it on a bipartisan basis and avoid a Trump-inspired government shutdown,” Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader, said in a joint statement with other House Democratic leaders.
“The highly partisan House Republican spending bill will hurt everyday Americans by callously cutting healthcare, nutritional assistance and veterans benefits. It is a complete nonstarter,” it said.
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Trump administration clears immigrants from Guantánamo detention center
Before the courts could weigh in on the legality of Donald Trump’s showy, and expensive, campaign to scare potential immigrants from coming to the United States, by sending people awaiting deportation to the American military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, his administration abruptly cleared out the last people being held there this week.
Two US defense officials told Voice of America on Wednesday that 40 detainees, including 23 termed “high-threat illegal aliens”, were flown from the base to Louisiana on Tuesday.
The officials, who insisted on anonymity, told the US government-owned broadcaster that the detainees had been flown aboard a non-military aircraft at the direction of officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Trump has moved to take greater control over the previously non-partisan Voice of America and installed Kari Lake, the former TV news anchor who narrowly failed to win election as Arizona’s governor in 2020, as a special adviser to the agency that oversees it.
In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump signaled his contempt for VOA’s journalism by brushing off a question from Patsy Widakuswara, the broadcaster’s White House bureau chief.
When Widakuswara asked the Irish premier, Micheál Martin: “What about the president’s plan to expel Palestinians out of Gaza? Are you discussing that with him and giving him your opinion?” Trump interrupted to say: “Nobody is expelling any Palestinians. Who are you with?” Widakuswara answered: “I’m with Voice of America, sir.” Trump replied: “Oh, no wonder” and ended the exchange by calling on another reporter to ask a question more to his liking.
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Federal prosecutors have sent a criminal subpoena to a Manhattan hotel housing undocumented immigrants through a New York City program providing shelter to asylum seekers, according to a copy of the filing obtained by the Guardian.
The subpoena issued on Wednesday asks the hotel to provide “a list of full names of aliens currently residing” at the site as well as “any corresponding identifying information”, including dates of birth, nationality and identification numbers. The subpoena also asks the hotel to give evidence about “an alleged violation” of federal immigration law.
A source shared the document on the condition that the Guardian not share the name of their employer because the hotel is now part of a federal criminal investigation.
Federal judge grants discovery to 14 states seeking to identify Doge employees and extent of Elon Musk's authority
US district judge Tanya Chutkan has granted a request by 14 state attorneys general for discovery in a suit against Elon Musk and his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) service.
Chutkan’s order says that the permitted discovery includes documents related to the “parameters of Doge’s and Musk’s authority”, and the identities of Doge personnel.
The suit argues that Musk’s role, and the apparent power of Doge to make sweeping changes to federal agencies, violates the constitution’s appointments clause, which specifies that people who exercise “significant authority” on behalf of the United States must be nominated by the president and confirmed subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
Trump is also a named defendant in the suit, but the plaintiffs agreed not to seek information from the president, or ask to depose him or Musk.
Far-right commentators complained loudly about the ruling, with one, Nick Sortor, falsely claiming that the judge “has now ORDERED the doxing of DOGE employees”.
Sortor was one of several rightwing influencers to post photographs of Chutkan on social media, which could make the judge a target for aggrieved Trump or Musk fans.
He added the following all-caps encouragement to Musk and one of his young staffers, who is better known by the online nickname he gave himself: “DO NOT RELENT! THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE YOUR BACK, ELON AND BIG BALLS!”
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On social media, Republicans try to frame Schumer for shutdown
Rather than negotiate with Democrats to reach a bipartisan agreement to fund the government before Friday’s deadline, Republicans appear to have settled on a social media strategy of just blaming a shutdown on Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Senate Democrats.
On X, the platform owned by Elon Musk, the president’s most powerful adviser, the White House’s deeply partisan “rapid response” account posted: “SCHUMER SHUTDOWN: Democrats are bent on shutting the government down.”
The Republicans, having passed a House bill that makes cuts Democrats find unacceptable, now need at least eight Democrats to vote with them for any stopgap funding measure, since 60 votes are required; there are only 53 Republican senators, and one of them, Rand Paul, has said he is “a hell no!” on the bill.
On the Senate floor earlier on Wednesday, Schumer said: “Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort. But Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their Continuing Resolution without any input, any input, from Congressional Democrats. Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR.”
Charlie Kirk, the influential podcaster and founder and chief of the pro-Trump youth group Turning Point USA, posted a video clip of Schumer’s speech with the caption: “Chuck Schumer now owns the shutdown.” But the edited clip Kirk shared left out the end of Schumer’s remarks, which was a call to negotiate: “I hope our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid a shutdown on Friday.”
“Charlie is right,” the senator Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, replied. He added: “President Trump doesn’t want a shutdown. But if we do, Senate Democrats will 100% own it.”
That talking point was echoed by the senator Pete Ricketts, a Nebraska Republican, who wrote: “If the government shuts down, it is because of Chuck Schumer and the Democrats”.
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Donald Trump’s administration is to reconsider the official finding that greenhouse gases are harmful to public health, a move that threatens to rip apart the foundation of the US’s climate laws, amid a stunning barrage of actions to weaken or repeal a host of pollution limits upon power plants, cars and waterways.
Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an extraordinary cavalcade of pollution rule rollbacks on Wednesday, led by the announcement it would potentially scrap a landmark 2009 finding by the US government that planet-heating gases, such carbon dioxide, pose a threat to human health.
The so-called endangerment finding, which followed a supreme court ruling that the EPA could regulate greenhouse gases, provides the underpinning for all rules aimed at cutting the pollution that scientists have unequivocally found is worsening the climate crisis.
Despite the enormous and growing body of evidence of devastation caused by rising emissions, including trillions of dollars in economic costs, Trump has called the climate crisis a “hoax” and dismissed those concerned by its worsening impacts as “climate lunatics”.
Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, said the agency would reconsider the endangerment finding due to concerns that it had spawned “an agenda that throttles our industries, our mobility, and our consumer choice while benefiting adversaries overseas”.
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In Ireland, Marco Rubio suggests without evidence detained protester Mahmoud Khalil supports Hamas
Speaking to reporters during a refueling stop at Shannon airport in Ireland on Wednesday, the secretary of state Marco Rubio defended the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States who took part in student protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza that the Trump administration has claimed were “aligned to Hamas”.
In his remarks, which were characterized by an official White House X account as a comment on “pro-Hamas agitators”, Rubio suggested, without evidence, that the former Columbia University student is “a big supporter of Hamas” and had failed to disclose that when he first obtained a visa to study in the US, and then became a legal permanent resident.
“When you come to the United States as a visitor, which is what a visa is, which is how this individual entered this country,” Rubio said, “we can deny you that visa.”
The administration has yet to provide any evidence that Khalil supported Hamas in any way beyond the vague assertion that some pro-Hamas literature was reportedly found on the Columbia campus during the protests. Before his arrest, Khalil also told the Associated Press that the university had asked him about social media statements from other protesters about Hamas that he did not write or post.
Rubio, who has long equated peaceful protest against Israel’s slaughter of civilians in Gaza to support for Hamas, went on to present a baseless caricature of the Palestinian activist’s politics.
“If you tell us, when you apply: ‘Hi, I’m trying to get into the United States on a student visa. I am a big supporter of Hamas,’” Rubio said, “if you tell us that you are in favor of a group like this, and if you tell us when you apply for your visa: ‘And by the way, I intend to come to your country as a student and rile up all kinds of anti-Jewish student, antisemitic activities, I intend to shut down your universities,’ if you told us all these things when you apply for a visa, we would deny your visa.
“If you actually end up doing that, once you are in this country on a visa, we will revoke it. And if you end up having a green card, not citizenship but a green card, as a result of that visa … we’re going to kick you out”.
“This is not about free speech,” Rubio continued. “This is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with. No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card.”
“I think being a supporter of Hamas, and coming in to our universities, and turning them upside down … if you told us that’s what you intended to do when you came to America, we would’ve never let you in. And if you do it once you get in, we’re going to revoke it and kick you out.”
Perhaps because he was speaking to a traveling press corps of American reporters, not the Irish media, no one followed up to ask the secretary whether such reasoning could also be used to deport any Irish-born green card holders who might ever have expressed support for the IRA.
The representative Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, said in a statement on Wednesday that Khalil’s detention was very much about free speech.
“The Trump Administration is violating Mahmoud Khalil’s first amendment rights,” she wrote on X. “He must be allowed to speak with his attorneys privately, and his constitutional rights must be respected. The conditions and location of his detention are unacceptable.”
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At a news conference in lower Manhattan, Shezza Abboushi Dallal, a staff attorney with the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (Clear) project at Cuny School of Law, read a statement from Mahmoud Khalil’s wife, who does not wish to be named. The project was founded and is co-directed by Ramzi Kassem, one of Khalil’s lawyers.
Here is the complete statement:
My husband was kidnapped from our home, and it is shameful that the US government continues to hold him because he stood for the rights and lives of his people. I demand his immediate release and return to our family.
His disappearance has devastated our lives. Every day without him is filled with uncertainty – not just for me, but for our entire family and community. Our loved ones are struggling with the pain and fear of his sudden absence.
And yet, we are not alone. So many who know and love Mahmoud have come together, refusing to stay silent. Their support is a testament to his character and to the deep injustice of what is being done to him.
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Schumer says Democrats will not support 'partisan' funding bill passed by House Republicans to avert shutdown
Speaking on the Senate floor, Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority’s leader, said this afternoon that Democrats will not provide the necessary votes to adopt the stopgap funding bill passed by House Republicans, which includes cuts to vital services and programs.
Senate rules mean that 60 votes are needed to move legislation forward, and Republicans only have 53 seats – and 52 votes, given Rand Paul’s stated opposition to to the House bill.
Here are Schumer’s remarks:
Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort. But Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their Continuing Resolution without any input, any input, from Congressional Democrats.
Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR.
Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11th CR that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass. We should vote on that.
I hope our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid a shutdown on Friday.
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Judge halts Trump executive order banning law firm that worked with Democrats from federal contracts
The federal judge Beryl Howell has blocked an executive order that Donald Trump signed last week directing agencies to terminate contracts and no longer interact with Perkins Coie, a law firm that worked with Democrats during the 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
Howell handed down a temporary restraining order against Trump’s executive action, which cited Perkins Coie’s involvement in the Steele dossier, a compendium of rumors and unverified allegations that sparked a political firestorm when it became public just before Trump’s first inauguration, but has since been discredited.
Since taking office, Trump has targeted law firms that assisted the former special counsel Jack Smith’s aborted prosecutions of him, and dismissed government lawyers who were involved in the cases. Here’s more on that:
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The Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) has condemned Donald Trump’s comment that the Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is “a Palestinian”.
“President Trump’s use of the term ‘Palestinian’ as a racial slur is offensive and beneath the dignity of his office. He should apologize to the Palestinian and American people,” said the Cair national executive director, Nihad Awad, who is of Palestinian heritage.
“It is the continuing dehumanization of the Palestinian people that has resulted in horrific hate crimes against Palestinian-Americans, the US-enabled genocide in Gaza, and decades of denial of Palestinian human rights by successive presidential administrations.”
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Earlier in the day, Donald Trump went on a lengthy diatribe against Democrats in the Oval Office, which included him labeling the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer “a Palestinian”.
“Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned. He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish, he’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian,” Trump said, as he met with the taoiseach of Ireland, Micheál Martin.
Schumer, who served as Senate majority leader when Democrats held the majority during the previous four years, is considered the highest-ranking Jewish official in the US government.
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House Democrats press Senate allies to oppose government spending bill
House Democrats are urging Senate Democrats to vote against a Republican-led stopgap funding bill that would avert a partial government shutdown.
With 60 votes needed for passage in the upper chamber, the support of eight Democrats is needed to advance the legislation, if all 52 Republicans back it, as is expected.
From their annual party retreat at Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Virginia, House Democratic leaders called their unified opposition to the seven-month funding measure, which passed the House on Tuesday, a “strong show of force”.
“I don’t know why anyone would support that bill,” the California representative Pete Aguilar, the Democratic caucus chair, told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday. Democrats have raised concerns about the discretion the measure gives to the Trump administration on spending decisions, as the president and Elon Musk lead an effort to dismantle major pieces of the federal bureaucracy.
“It’s going to be one of those things where people are going to look at this vote and every bad thing that now happens with Doge and Donald Trump and Elon Musk, it can go back to this vote,” the California representative Ted Lieu, vice-chair of the Democratic caucus, said.
“We’re asking Senate Democrats to vote no on this continuing resolution,” Lieu said.
The representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, slammed the Republican bill as “reckless” and argued that his caucus’s opposition was “crystal clear” irrespective of what Senate Democrats do.
He also accused Trump and Republicans of “crashing the American economy in real time and leading us toward a possible recession”.
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Even the millionaires – or some of them – think Senate Democrats should not help Republicans pass a continuing resolution and thereby stop a government shutdown this weekend.
“In normal times, lawmakers should avoid a shutdown,” says Erica Payne, founder and president of Patriotic Millionaires, which describes itself as a “collection of wealthy Americans” seeking “a vibrant and equitable economy, built on the foundation of a fair tax system, a livable wage floor, and equal access to political power”.
Payne continues:
These are not normal times. We have been to this movie before. Democrats refuse to stand up, they offer concessions that further break our democratic system and allow for Republicans to escape unscathed from the social and fiscal damage they have caused our society. Republicans have handed Democrats an embarrassingly bad deal, and those who are considering voting for this bill are accepting a truth to expand the unelected powers of Elon Musk and his allies.
“Let me be clear: American democracy is worth a government shutdown.”
We stand to find out if Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats he leads agree. The deadline for the Senate to act after a funding resolution made it through the Republican-run House is midnight on Friday. Republicans hold the Senate too, 53-47, but 60 votes are needed.
This puts Senate Democrats in a horrible bind, of course: do they withhold the votes and see the government shut down, and hope the public blames Republicans and Donald Trump instead, or do they swallow and vote to keep everything open?
According to Payne, bailing out the GOP will “sacrifice the needs of working people at the altar of the ultra-wealthy as [Republicans] continue to reap the benefits of our broken system.
If Senate Democrats provide the votes that Republicans need to pass their continuing resolution, they will continue to be trampled by an empowered Elon Musk and Doge. Meanwhile, ultra-wealthy tax cheats will have a green light to continue to commit tax murder, as the bill strips the last remaining $20bn in enforcement funds that the Internal Revenue Service received through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
“… When the continuing resolution comes before the Senate, Democrats have no other option but to offer an emphatic ‘no’ vote. They have the power, and it is on them to use it to save American democracy. Anything less than that is a betrayal to the public who are dependent on their elected officials to protect their interests and livelihoods and save them from the oligarchy forming before us.”
Baher Azmy, director of Center for Constitutional Rights, said that the Trump administration aimed to retaliate against Mahmoud Khalil for activism that is protected by the constitution.
“Mr Khalil’s detention has nothing to do with security. It is only about repression,” Azmy said.
“The United States government has taken the position that it can arrest, detain and seek to deport a lawful permanent resident exclusively because of his peaceful constitutionally protected activism, in this case activism in support of Palestinian human rights and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”"
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Attorney calls Mahmoud Khalil's detention 'punishment and retaliation' for free speech
Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil warned that the attempt to deport the pro-Palestinian activist is a sign that Donald Trump’s administration plans to crack down on speech it disagrees with.
Addressing reporters outside the courthouse where his case is being considered, Khalil’s attorney Ramzi Kassem said the deportation effort is based on vague reasoning and “essentially… a form of punishment and retaliation for the exercise of free speech”.
Diala Shamas, a lawyer with the progressive legal advocacy group Center for Constitutional Rights, warned the Khalil’s case could be a sign of worse to come.
“Speaking out against what the Trump administration is doing does not give them the right to disappear our people,” Shamas said.
“We need to fight as hard as we can for Mahmoud because of what this portends. The invocation of these draconian provisions in the law that say simply ‘we will deport somebody because we disagree with their opinions, that their opinions that do not align with our foreign policy views’ is terrifying. It should scare us all.”
Shamas said she believed hostility to Palestinian activism transcends administrations, and accused Joe Biden for setting the stage for Khalil’s arrest:
To be clear, this starts with speaking out for Palestinian rights but we know Palestine is and functions as a canary in a coalmine. It is because of the previous administration and longstanding anti-Palestinian bipartisan support that we find ourselves here today.
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Protesters call for Mahmoud Khalil’s release outside court in New York – in pictures:
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Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil spoke to the press outside the courthouse in downtown Manhattan.
One lawyer spoke about the legal justification the Trump administration and federal government tried to use to detain and deport Khalil.
He said: “The government, as far as we understand it, are relying on a rarely used provision that determines a noncitizen’s presence or activities in this country poses a serious risk of adverse foreign policy conflict.
“Of course, that provision is not only rarely used, it is certainly not intended by Congress to silence dissent.”
He added: “For that reason, we believe this case is not going to set the precedent that the government wants it to set, whether it’s in federal court or immigration court.”
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Actor and activist Susan Sarandon spoke to the Guardian outside the courthouse in downtown Manhattan.
She said: “No matter where you stand on the genocide, freedom of speech affects everyone and this is a turning point in our history.”
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Protesters gather outside court to protest against Mahmoud Khalil's arrest
Hundreds of protesters gathered at Foley Square on Wednesday, just outside the Manhattan federal court holding the hearing for Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who was arrested by immigration officials on Saturday over his role in the college’s encampment protests of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Khalil, who is a legal permanent US resident and green card holder, sits in Ice detention in Louisiana. Free speech advocates have expressed outrage at his arrest. His lawyers hope to secure his release.
Margaret Jay Finch, a protester, told the Guardian she is “so upset that Mahmoud is in the darkness in Louisiana. I can’t tell you.”
“I feel so bad for his wife. I am so worried that this is against the first amendment and we’re going to lose our rights,” Finch, 83, said. “This is such a dictatorship.”
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has maxed out its ability to hold suspected undocumented migrants, and will seek out bed space from other federal agencies, Reuters reports.
A senior Ice official speaking on condition of anonymity said the agency has 47,600 people in custody, but is funded to hold an average of 41,500. Ice has asked for help expanding its capacity from the defense department, the US Marshalls Service and the Bureau of Prisons.
Republicans in Congress have vowed to soon pass legislation that will pay for Donald Trump’s plan to remove the United States of undocumented immigrants through mass deportations.
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The day so far
It’s another day of trade turmoil, with the United States imposing tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum and Canada and the European Union retaliating with levies of their own. Canada’s reaction has been particularly forceful, considering how close of an ally it usually is to the US and how Donald Trump has mused about taking it over. At a press conference, foreign minister Mélanie Joly called the US trade war “unjustified and unjustifiable”, and said she would protest to secretary of state Marco Rubio at a summit of top G7 diplomats. Meanwhile, Trump has welcomed Micheál Martin, the taoiseach of Ireland, to the White House. In an Oval Office meeting, Trump complained about Dublin’s tax policies and defended gutting the education department.
Here’s what else has been happening:
Jeanne Shaheen, a Democratic senator from New Hampshire, will not seek re-election next year, further complicating her party’s chances of retaking the chamber’s majority.
Inflation data showed that prices remained stable last month, with no signs of Trump’s trade wars driving them higher – yet.
Senate Democrats are in a bind after the House yesterday voted to pass a government funding bill that will cut their party’s priorities.
With taoiseach Micheál Martin sitting right next to him in the Oval Office, Donald Trump criticized Ireland’s position as a tax haven.
The island has attracted American companies in sectors like tech and pharmaceuticals who are looking to cut down on their tax burden. Trump said allowing that to happen was the fault of previous administrations.
“This beautiful island … of 5 million people, it’s got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grasp,” he said. “I’d like to see the United States not have been so stupid for so many years, not just with Ireland, with everybody.”
He then said he would have used tariffs to stop US companies from basing themselves in Ireland to avoid taxes:
Who would have been so stupid to let these deals happen? For instance, when the pharmaceutical company started to go to Ireland, I would have said, that’s okay, if you want to go to Ireland, I think it’s great, but if you want to sell anything into the United States, I’m going to put a 200% tariff on you so you’re never going to be able to sell anything into the United States. You know what they would have done? They would have stayed here.
Take away the threat of tariffs, and he sounds a little bit like Joe Biden:
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Trump attacks Department of Education employees, accusing them of 'not showing up to work'
As his administration moves to gut the Department of Education, Donald Trump levied an attack on employees at federal agency, accusing them of being lazy and saying education should be handled by the states.
“Many of them don’t work at all. Many of them never showed up to work,” the president said in the Oval Office, where he was meeting with Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin.
His administration yesterday ordered a mass dismissal of employees that amounted to essentially cutting its staff in half, but Trump said the education secretary, Linda McMahon, intended to dismiss only those who were underperforming:
We want to cut, but we want to cut the people that aren’t working or not doing a good job. We’re keeping the best people.
He went on to say that his goal was “to move education into the states”.
The idea of abolishing the department education has long circulated among conservatives, and Trump appears to be making good on it. Here’s more on the mass firings:
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Donald Trump’s barrage of tariffs on major trading partners over various slights has spurred a growing campaign to boycott traveling to, or buying from, the United States. The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont has more:
The renowned German classical violinist Christian Tetzlaff was blunt in explaining why he and his quartet have cancelled a summer tour of the US.
“There seems to be a quietness or denial about what’s going on,” Tetzlaff said, describing his horror at the authoritarian polices of Donald Trump and the response of US elites to the country’s growing democratic crisis.
“I feel utter anger. I cannot go on with this feeling inside. I cannot just go and play a tour of beautiful concerts.”
Tetzlaff is not alone in acting on his disquiet. A growing international move to boycott the US is spreading from Scandinavia to Canada to the UK and beyond as consumers turn against US goods.
Most prominent so far has been the rejection by European car buyers of the Teslas produced by Elon Musk, now a prominent figure in Trump’s administration as the head of the “department of government efficiency”, a special group created by Trump that has contributed to the precipitous declines in Tesla’s share price. About 15% of its value was wiped out on Monday alone.
The fall in Tesla sales in Europe has been well documented, as has a Canadian consumer boycott in response to trade tariffs and Trump’s calls for Canada to become the 51st US state, but the past week has seen daily reports of cultural and other forms of boycotts and disinvestment.
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Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, has arrived at the White House, where he was greeted by Donald Trump.
The two leaders turned to the press briefly, and the US president was asked about today’s inflation data. “Very good news,” Trump yelled, before heading inside.
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While Canada and the European Union moved swiftly to retaliate for Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, one major US trading partner is holding off, for now.
Reuters reports that Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said her government will attempt to negotiate an end to the tariffs, particularly with Trump vowing “reciprocal” tariffs starting next month.
“We will wait until 2 April and from then we will see whether our definition of reciprocal tariffs will be applied too,” Sheinbaum said today.
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US trade representative calls EU policies 'out of step with reality' in response to retaliatory tariffs
Trade tensions are also flaring across the Atlantic, after the United States today imposed 25% levies on imports of steel and aluminum and the European Union responded with retaliatory tariffs.
In response, US trade representative Jamieson Greer accused the EU of interfering with attempts by the United States to rebuild its manufacturing sector:
For years, the European Union has opposed the United States’ efforts to reindustrialize. The EU has rejected attempts under successive US administrations to cooperate effectively on dealing with global excess capacity on steel, aluminum and other sectors, employing measures that are too little and too late.
If the EU acted as quickly to address global excess capacity as it does to punish the United States, we likely would be in a different situation today. The EU’s punitive action completely disregards the national security imperatives of the United States – and indeed international security – and is yet another indicator that the EU’s trade and economic policies are out of step with reality.
Here’s the latest on the squabble:
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Foreign ministers from G7 countries, including Canada and the United States, are meeting in Quebec’s Charlevoix region starting today.
It’s impeccable timing, as the group of countries – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – are newly at loggerheads over Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on a range of allies.
The Canadian foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, said she’ll raise the issue when she meets with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio:
In every single meeting, I will raise the issue of tariffs to coordinate a response with the Europeans and to put pressure on the Americans. This is much more than about our economy. It is about the future of our country. Canadian sovereignty and identity are non-negotiable. Canadians have had enough, and we are a strong country who will defend our sovereignty, will defend our jobs and will defend our way of living, and we will do so altogether, every single day and one day at a time.
Earlier in the day, Reuters reports that Rubio told reporters he will not bring up at the meeting Trump’s plan to make Canada the 51st US state.
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Canadian foreign minister condemns 'unjustified and unjustifiable' trade war
Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, Mélanie Joly, asked Americans to tell their elected representatives that they do not want Donald Trump to pursue a trade war against their northern neighbor.
“The only constant in this unjustified and unjustifiable trade war seems to be President Trump’s talks of annexing our country’s through economic coercion,” Joly told a press conference. “Yesterday, he called our border a fictional line and repeated his disrespectful 51st state rhetoric. Well, Canadians have made it very clear that we will not back down and we will not give in to this coercion.”
Joly spoke directly to Americans, and asked that they make their objections known:
To our American friends, I want you to remember this, Canada is your best friend, best neighbor and best ally. Many of us have family on both sides of the border. Canada is also America’s best and biggest customer. We buy more American goods than the UK, France, China and Japan altogether. Together, we have spent generations building a relationship between our countries that is the envy of the world. Canada is not the one driving up the cost of your groceries or of your gasoline or any of your construction. Canada is not the one putting your jobs at risk. Canada is not the one that is ultimately starting this war. President Trump’s tariffs against you are causing that and there are no winners in a trade war.
American friends, help us help you. Please, help us end these tariffs as quickly as possible, and please talk to your elected representatives at the federal at the state and municipal level, please talk to your governors, to your senators, to your House representatives and to your mayors. Send a message to the White House.
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Canada to impose 25% tariffs on nearly $30bn in US imports as trade war flares
In response to 25% tariffs imposed by Donald Trump on steel and aluminum imports, Canada’s finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc, says his country will tomorrow retaliate with levies of the same amount on almost $30bn in imports from the United States.
“I am announcing that the government of Canada, following a dollar for dollar approach, will be imposing, as of 12.01am, tomorrow, March 13, 2025, 25% reciprocal tariffs on an additional $29.8bn of imports from the United States,” LeBlanc said at a press conference.
“This includes steel products worth $12.6bn and aluminum products worth $3bn, as well as additional imported US goods worth $14.2bn for a total of $29.8bn. The list of additional products affected by counter-tariffs includes computers, sports equipment and cast iron products, as examples.”
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Democrats' chances of retaking Senate complicated by New Hampshire lawmaker's retirement
Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen has announced that she will not seek re-election next year, opening the possibility that her seat will be claimed by a Republican and Democrats’ chances of retaking the majority in the chamber will be set back.
In a video published by local broadcaster WMUR, Shaheen said:
After careful consideration, I am announcing that I have made the difficult decision not to seek re-election to the Senate in 2026. It’s just time.
New Hampshire is, on the surface, a blue state, with Kamala Harris winning its electoral votes last November, and Democrats dominating its congressional delegation. However, the GOP has had success in federal elections in the past and performs strongly in state-level races, and Shaheen’s retirement opens up the possibility that they could seize her Senate seat.
That would make it even more difficult for Democrats to retake the majority in the chamber. They and their allies currently hold 47 seats to the Republicans’ 53, and next year they will be defending seats in Georgia and Michigan, both swing states that Donald Trump claimed last year.
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Meanwhile, in Greenland, voters just delivered an earthquake to its politics that saw major gains for two parties that support independence from Denmark. Whether that will have any bearing on Donald Trump’s desire to absorb the Arctic island into the United States remains to be seen. Here’s more, from the Guardian’s Miranda Bryant:
Greenland has voted for a complete overhaul of its government in a shock result in which the centre-right Democrat party more than tripled its seats after a dramatic election campaign fought against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s threats to acquire the Arctic island.
Tuesday’s election, in which the Democrats replaced Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), the party of the former prime minister Múte B Egede, as the biggest party in the Inatsisartut, the Greenlandic parliament, also led to a doubling of seats for Naleraq – the party most open to US collaboration and which supports a snap vote on independence – making it the second-biggest party.
Both the Democrats and the second-placed party, Naleraq, favour independence from Denmark but they differ on the pace of change. Naleraq is the most aggressively pro-independence, while the Democrats favour a more moderate pace.
The result – an earthquake in Greenlandic politics – surprised even the Democrat leader, Jens-Frederik Nielsen. The party, which has never before secured so many seats – they won 10 seats, an increase of seven on the last election and three more than their previous record of seven in 2005 – was not considered one of the major players, with most attention on IA and Naleraq and the most recent coalition partner, Siumut.
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Besides Republican Thomas Massie, the only other representative to break with their party on yesterday’s government spending bill was Jared Golden, a Democrat who voted for its passage.
His support wasn’t essential to the bill’s enactment, but rather perhaps a way for Golden to hang on to his seat representing a Republican-leaning Maine district. On X, the congressman explained why he backed the measure:
This CR is not perfect, but a shutdown would be worse. Even a brief shutdown would introduce even more chaos and uncertainty at a time when our country can ill-afford it.
Funding the government is our most basic obligation as members of Congress. My vote today reflects my commitment to making tough choices and doing my job for the people of Maine.
He also took issue with some of the counterarguments to the bill from his fellow Democrats:
To be clear, this CR is not the one I would have written. But elections have consequences. I am disappointed by messaging gimmicks from some in my party, particularly the untrue claim that this CR cuts veterans services.
The truth is: There are no cuts to veterans care in the period covered by this CR & we have six months to ensure funding continues in the next fiscal year. To say it contains cuts is, at best, a misreading that creates unnecessary fear among veterans.
At worst, Dems are adopting the same cynical GOP political tactics that we have rightfully denounced – using misdirection to justify a vote. This may seem politically expedient, but it only lowers us to a level we shouldn’t accept.
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US inflation remains stable despite Trump trade war fears
Just-released government data shows that the US inflation rate was steady in February, even as economists fear that Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on major trading partners could drive price increases.
Nonetheless, the data is a sign that the politically toxic economic force, which played a major role in turning the public against Joe Biden’s presidency, has not worsened, though it still is not where the inflation-fighting Federal Reserve would like it to be.
Here’s more on the latest data:
Knowing what’s on the mind of Donald Trump is a difficult thing to do, but it’s fair to say that Republican congressman Thomas Massie appears to currently be living rent-free in his head.
The president was up into the wee hours of this morning, attacking the Kentucky lawmaker. Why? Because he was the sole Republican no vote on the House GOP’s government funding bill yesterday. On Truth Social, his preferred method of communication despite his X account being reactivated, Trump wrote this, at 1.23am:
So Massie can vote for Debt Ceiling AND Budget to be put into the Trump Administration, making them both the Republicans problem and responsibility, but can’t give us a simple Continuing Resolution vote allowing us the time necessary to come up with a ‘GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL??? Republicans only ‘NO Vote. GRANDSTANDER!
The “GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL” Trump is referring to is a forthcoming piece of legislation he expects Congress to produce that will enact his administration’s priorities, including extending tax cuts, paying for mass deportations, and approving energy policies that spur oil and gas production.
Passing that bill is expected to be a tough haul for the Republican-controlled Congress, particularly in the House, where the GOP’s margin is a small as a single seat. A defection by Massie, and perhaps other lawmakers, could imperil that upcoming legislation’s prospects of enactment, and thus, Trump is warning him and anyone else who oppose the party’s line that he’ll attack them personally if they resist.
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We’ll be seeing Donald Trump a little earlier then usual this morning, when he welcomes Micheál Martin, the taoiseach of Ireland, to the White House at 10.45am.
They’re expected to take a few questions before retiring for meetings. Trump later goes to the US Capitol for the Friends of Ireland Luncheon, then back to the White House for a St Patrick’s Day reception with Martin.
Big day for Ireland in Washington. Also, many opportunities for Trump to take questions from the press and weigh in on whatever it is that might be on his mind.
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The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on Wednesday that the minerals deal will give the US a “vested interest’” in Ukraine’s security.
He added that Europeans will “have to be involved” in Ukraine diplomacy, according to Agence France-Presse.
We have a separate blog covering the latest news in Europe, including the ceasefire negotiations in Ukraine, and you can follow it here:
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This explainer by my colleague, Abené Clayton, breaks down who Mehmet Oz, Trump’s pick to lead Medicare and Medicaid, is and provides a timeline of his questionable medical advice and time in politics:
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US senator Warren demands Medicare nominee Mehmet Oz sever industry ties
Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the agency overseeing Medicare should divest financial ties to healthcare and pharmaceutical companies that could benefit from his policy decisions, Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Television personality and surgeon Mehmet Oz is scheduled to appear on Friday before the Senate finance committee, on which Warren sits. The panel will hold a confirmation hearing for his nomination to be administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a wide-reaching agency with annual spending of $2.6tn.
In a letter addressed to him seen by Reuters, Warren called on Oz to divest from his financial holdings related to industries regulated by the agency and commit to strong ethics safeguards.
Oz owns healthcare stocks in UnitedHealth Group, which administers Medicare Advantage plans, and drugmakers Abbvie and Eli Lilly, which manufacture drugs the agency negotiates prices for, his latest ethics disclosure shows. He owns stocks and serves as adviser to several companies selling nutritional supplements, medical diagnostic technologies and botanical products, as well as a cardiology practice and a retirement resort, reports Reuters.
Oz has offered to divest much of that and resign his advisory posts, Warren noted with appreciation. “Still, given your close ties to the industry that you would regulate, if you are confirmed, the public would have reason to question your impartiality and commitment to serving the public’s interest,” she wrote, according to Reuters.
Oz must fully divest from these conflicts and pledge not to use his position to enrich himself or his business associates, she said. This would exceed the legally required divestment. She also called for Oz to commit to a four-year lobbying ban after leaving his post.
Warren has been successful in getting information out of Trump’s nominees; she pressed secretary of health and human services Robert F Kennedy Jr on his conflicts in a similar letter that led to his updating his ethics agreement and revealing further conflicts.
Reuters reports that the letter is unlikely to affect Oz’s chances of getting confirmed. Republicans control the Senate and have so far allowed even the most controversial of Trump’s nominees to sail through the process.
The agency runs Medicare, the federal health insurance programme for people aged 65 or older and disabled people, and oversees Medicaid, the state-based health insurance programme for low-income people. The two programmes provide health insurance for more than 140 million people in the US. It also runs the main programme for income-based government-subsidised health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. Oz would take over at a time when Republicans are proposing deep cuts to Medicaid, reports Reuters.
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A growing international move to boycott the US is spreading from Scandinavia to Canada to the UK and beyond as consumers turn against US goods.
Most prominent so far has been the rejection by European car buyers of the Teslas produced by Elon Musk, now a prominent figure in Trump’s administration as the head of the “department of government efficiency” a special group created by Trump that has contributed to the precipitous declines in Tesla’s share price. About 15% of its value was wiped out on Monday alone.
The fall in Tesla sales in Europe has been well documented, as has a Canadian consumer boycott in response to trade tariffs and Trump’s calls for Canada to become America’s 51st state, but the past week has seen daily reports of cultural and other forms of boycotts and disinvestment.
In Canada, where the American national anthem has been booed during hockey matches with US teams, a slew of apps has emerged with names such as “buy beaver”, “maple scan” and “is this Canadian” to allow shoppers to scan QR barcodes and reject US produce from alcohol to pizza toppings.
Figures released this week suggested the number of Canadians taking road trips to the US – representing the majority of Canadians who normally visit – had dropped by 23% compared with February 2024, according to Statistics Canada.
While Canada and Mexico have been at the frontline of Trump’s trade war, the boycott movement is visible far beyond countries whose economies have been targeted.
In Sweden, about 40,000 users have joined a Facebook group calling for a boycott of US companies – ironically including Facebook itself – which features alternatives to US consumer products.
“I’ll replace as many American goods as I can and if many do so, it will clearly affect the supply in stores,” wrote one member of the group.
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Congressional brinkmanship, including repeated near-misses with shutdowns and over the nation’s $36 trillion in debt, has contributed to global ratings agencies’ moves to downgrade the US federal government’s once-pristine credit rating, reports Reuters.
Democrats have long chided Republicans for threatening or voting for government shutdowns, and Republicans were quick to call them out for considering votes that could risk one.
“While Senate Republicans are working hard to prevent a government shutdown, it will ultimately be up to Senate Democrats to decide whether or not they turn out the lights on the federal government,” Republican Senate majority leader John Thune of South Dakota said on X.
Hours before the House passed its measure on Tuesday, Senate Democrats huddled behind closed doors in an extended lunchtime discussion on their way forward, cognizant that Republicans were poised to blame them for a shutdown if they block the House-passed bill, reports Reuters.
Without action by Congress, existing federal funds run out at midnight Friday for agencies that oversee programmes for veterans, law enforcement, medical researchers, schools, air traffic controllers and many others.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer’s office did not respond to requests for comment on how he planned to proceed, accoding to Reuters.
Other Democrats said they were unsure on their path forward. “The last thing in the world I want to do is give Elon Musk more power than he already has” by voting for this funding bill, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut told reporters after the House vote. “He’s an unelected autocrat.”
But Blumenthal said there were additional considerations to weigh before deciding how he will vote on the spending bill.
Still, other Senate Democrats last week made clear that they do not favour voting for government shutdowns under any circumstance, according to Reuters.
House Republicans have rejected a proposal by several Democrats and even some leading Senate Republicans to take a middle ground by passing a 30-day extension of funding to give the time needed to complete the regular appropriations bills that are more comprehensive.
Democratic senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said he might propose “some kind of open amendment process” which would give Senate Democrats a chance to make changes to the bill.
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US Senate Democrats were wrestling on Wednesday with how to respond to a stopgap funding bill passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, choosing between voting for a bill many of them oppose or allowing a government shutdown, reports Reuters.
President Donald Trump’s Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, but would need the support of at least some Democrats to meet the chamber’s 60-vote threshold to pass most legislation. It could vote on the measure as soon as Wednesday, depending on Democrats’ plans, a source familiar with the Senate Republican discussions said.
“There’s a lot of discussion,” said Senator Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. The Maine lawmaker summed up the choice as voting for “a pretty bad” bill or casting a vote that would trigger a partial government shutdown beginning on Saturday, at a time when Trump and his adviser Elon Musk are already moving rapidly to slash the federal government.
“If you’re dealing with people who would just as soon have a shutdown, there’s less chance of getting something,” King said. “They could say we’re going to let the government shutdown for months.”
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House Republicans pass Trump-backed bill to avoid shutdown and send it to the Senate
House Republicans pulled off a near party-line vote on Tuesday to pass their controversial funding bill to curb the looming government shutdown, shipping it off to the Senate, where it still will face an uphill battle to pass.
The Trump-backed bill passed 217 to 213, with the Kentucky representative Thomas Massie casting the sole Republican “no” vote, joining all almost all House Democrats who had come out hard against it for slashing social programs and granting the Trump administration broader federal powers. The Democrat Jared Golden of Maine joined Republicans in backing the measure.
The stopgap bill, revealed by House Republican leadership over the weekend, would fund the government through September and carves $13bn from non-defense spending while adding $6bn to military budgets and preserving a $20bn IRS funding freeze – priorities embraced by Donald Trump but denounced by Democrats as an assault on vulnerable Americans.
The vice-president, JD Vance, in a Tuesday huddle with Republicans on the Hill said the blame would fall squarely on the Republicans should they fail to pass the measure, according to Politico.
The House heads to recess later this week, leaving lawmakers in the Senate with a take-it-or-leave it scenario.
The bill’s priorities align closely with Trump’s agenda, particularly its provisions that could grant the administration broader authority to redirect funds between programs – a power Democrats fear could allow significant reshaping of federal priorities without congressional approval.
House Republicans were rushing to pass the bill before Thursday, when they would then hand the measure off to the Senate before heading home for a week-and-a-half long recess.
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The Kremlin said on Wednesday it needed to be briefed by the United States on the outcome of US-Ukrainian talks in Saudi Arabia before it would comment on whether a proposed ceasefire was acceptable to Russia.
According to Reuters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also told reporters he did not rule out the possibility of a phone call between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, which he said could be organised very quickly if needed.
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Education department layoffs met with swift condemnation from Democratic and progressive officials
The announcement that the US Department of Education intends to lay off nearly half of its workforce has been met with swift condemnation from Democratic and progressive officials. The Texas representative Greg Casar wrote in a post on X that those in charge were “Stealing from our children to pay for tax cuts for billionaires”.
In a statement, Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member of the House appropriations committee, said:
Presidents Trump and Musk and their billionaire buddies are so detached from how Americans live that they cannot see how ending public education and canceling these contracts kills the American Dream … If kids from working-class families do not have access to schools, how can they build a future?”
Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to close the Department of Education, claiming it had been overtaken by “radicals, zealots and Marxists”. At education secretary Linda McMahon’s confirmation hearing, she acknowledged that only Congress had the power to abolish the agency but said it might be due for cuts and a reorganisation
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The 25% global tariffs on steel and aluminium came into effect at midnight ET “with no exceptions or exemptions”.
The European Commission responded almost immediately, saying it would impose counter tariffs on €26bn ($28bn) worth of US goods from next month.
“We deeply regret this measure,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement about the US tariffs, as Brussels announced it would be “launching a series of countermeasures” in response to the “unjustified trade restrictions”.
Australian deputy prime minister Richard Marles said on Wednesday the lack of exemptions was “really disappointing”, calling tariffs “an act of kind of economic self-harm”. He told radio station 2GB:
We’ll be able to find other markets for our steel and our aluminium and we have been diversifying those markets.”
You can read the full story here and follow the Guardian’s live coverage of the global response to Donald Trump’s new tariffs with my colleagues Julia Kollewe and Kate Lamb over on the business blog:
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Taoiseach Micheál Martin is meeting Donald Trump this morning for the annual St Patrick’s Day celebrations, a week early this year because of congressional recess.
He plans to tell Trump that the trade imbalance raised by secretary of state Marco Rubio in a phone call with the Irish foreign minister last week masks the complexity of the relationship.
He will point out that among Boeing’s biggest customers are Ryanair and Aercap, the world’s largest aircraft leasing company, which could now be affected by tariffs.
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A poll released on Tuesday shows that US president Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped a few points since he first took office, reports the Hill.
Accoding to the Emerson College Polling survey, 47% of voters approved of Trump’s job performance and 45% disapproved. Those findings are down from a 49% approval and 41% disapproval rating at the beginning of Trump’s second term.
The Hill, reporting on the poll results, wote:
The public’s views of the economy under Trump seem to be a drag on his overall approval rating, with a plurality of 48% saying they don’t approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, while 37% approve.
Voters give Trump his highest ratings for his handling of immigration, with 48% approving and 40% disapproving. His weakest areas are the economy, health care and cryptocurrency, in which he has net approval ratings solidly underwater.”
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Even before the layoffs, the education department was among the smallest cabinet-level agencies, reports the Associated Press (AP). Its workforce included 3,100 people in Washington and an additional 1,100 at regional offices across the country, according to a department website.
The department’s workers had faced increasing pressure to quit their jobs since Donald Trump took office, first through a deferred resignation programme and then through a $25,000 buyout offer that expired 3 March.
Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform, which advocates for charter school expansion, said the cuts were important and necessary. Allen said:
Ending incessant federal interference will free up state and local leaders to foster more opportunities to give schools and educators true flexibility and innovation to address the needs of students, wherever they are educated.”
Some advocates were skeptical of the department’s claim that its functions would not be affected by the layoffs, reports the AP. “I don’t see at all how that can be true,” said Roxanne Garza, who was chief of staff in the office of postsecondary education under president Joe Biden.
Much of what the department does, like investigating civil rights complaints and helping families apply for financial aid, is labour intensive, said Garza, who is now director of higher education policy at Education Trust, a research and advocacy organisation. She added:
How those things will not be impacted with far fewer staff … I just don’t see it.”
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Education department to cut half its staff as Trump vows to wind the agency down
The US education department said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as government agencies scrambled to meet president Donald Trump’s deadline to submit plans for a second round of mass layoffs.
The terminations are part of the department’s “final mission,” it said in a press release, alluding to Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which oversees $1.6tn in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and provides federal funding for needy districts.
Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department’s dismantling, secretary of education Linda McMahon said “yes,” adding that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January, reports Reuters.
Before announcing the layoffs, the agency ordered offices in the Washington area closed to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters.
An education department spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions by Reuters about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.
The layoffs are the latest step in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by Elon Musk and his department of government efficiency (Doge).
All US government agencies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have offered employees payments to retire early to fulfil Trump’s demand, reports Reuters.
Affected education department employees will be placed on administrative leave starting on 21 March, the department said.
More on that in a moment. In other developments:
The union representing more than 2,800 department workers said it would fight the “draconian cuts” of the education department. “What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, chaos, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the thousands of workers who have dedicated their careers to serve their fellow Americans,” said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.
Donald Trump’s trade war kicked into a higher gear at midnight, as 25% tariffs on all imported steel and aluminum were scheduled to begin. There was widespread confusion about whether the tariffs would be delayed, or increased, amid conflicting statements from the president and his chief trade adviser, but the White House said that the previously delayed tariffs would begin, even as the stock marker plunges.
The detained Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident, remains in federal custody, despite being charged with no crime. Khalil’s wife said in a statement before a hearing on Wednesday in Manhattan that he was forced into an unmarked car by immigration officers who refused to show a warrant.
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives passed a stopgap funding bill, which would avert a government shutdown if it also passed the Senate before midnight on Friday.
Ukraine agreed to accept a US proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire and to take steps toward restoring a durable peace after Russia’s invasion, according to a joint statement by US and Ukrainian delegations meeting in Saudi Arabia. Russia has not commented.
Canada’s prime minister-designate Mark Carney said he would not lift retaliatory tariffs on American goods until Washington does the same.
At Tuesday’s promotional event for Elon Musk’s line of Tesla electric vehicles at the White House, Trump refused to drive one of the cars, and scoffed at the idea that his predecessor, Joe Biden, had done so at a similar event. There is video of Biden doing so, in August 2021, at an event to promote electric vehicles that Musk reportedly was angry at being excluded from over anti-union policies.
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