President Donald Trump praised a longtime adversary, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, after the New York Democrat said he would vote in favor of a Republican bill to fund the government and avert a shutdown.
“Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took ‘guts’ and courage!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his media platform.
The Senate will begin procedural votes early Friday afternoon on a GOP budget measure that would avert a government shutdown before a midnight deadline − while cutting some federal health and veterans programs.
Schumer stunned some Democrats on Thursday by anncoucing he would support the GOP-backed funding extension, significantly increasing the chances enough Democratic senators will side with Republicans to pass it.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who voted against Republicans’ spending bill Tuesday, warned her colleagues in the Senate to do the same, despite fears over a government shutdown.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have offered the Congress a false choice between a government shutdown or a blank check that makes a devastating assault on the well-being of working families across America,” Pelosi said in a statement Friday, ahead of any Senate vote.
“Let’s be clear: Neither is a good option for the American people,” she continued. “But this false choice that some are buying instead of fighting is unacceptable.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said yesterday he plans to vote for the legislation in order to prevent a shutdown, a move several House Democrats have criticized.
“Democrats must not buy into this false choice,” Pelosi said. “We must fight back for a better way.”
— Savannah Kuchar
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with a number of Canadian officials on Thursday including Minister of Finance Dominic LeBlanc and Ontario Premier Doug Ford ahead of the reciprocal tariff deadline of April 2.
The discussions revolved around the Trump Administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs and “its goal of fair trade with Canada and the province of Ontario, while working to secure America’s border and eliminate fentanyl, according to a readout of the meeting issued by the Commerce department
After the meeting, Ford said he feels like “the temperature’s coming down” after the bilateral talks, according to CBC News.
Canada and the U.S. are in the midst of a trade war.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
U.S. consumer sentiment plunged in March and inflation expectations soared amid worries President Trump’s sweeping tariffs will boost prices and undercut the economy.
The University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers on Friday said its Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to 57.9 this month from a final reading of 64.7 in February. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index falling to 63.1.
The index has erased all the gains posted in the aftermath of Trump’s election victory in November. Consumers’ 12-month inflation expectations jumped to 4.9%, from 4.3% in February.
Trump has slapped a raft of tariffs on a wide range of goods from key trade partners, who have responded with duties of their own. Some tariffs have been imposed and then suspended for a month.
Trump on Thursday threatened to hit Europe with a 200% tariff on wine, cognac and other alcohol imports. The tariff whiplash and escalation in the trade war has rattled financial markets.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll of Americans conducted March 11-12 showed that 57% believe Trump’s moves to shake up the economy, which include deep cuts in government spending and mass firings of federal workers, are too erratic, and 53% think the tariff war will do more harm than good.
−Reuters
On Thursday night, a second federal judge hearing the cases of fired government workers issued a sweeping order directing the Trump administration to restore thousands of terminated probationary workers.
In Maryland, U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar granted a temporary restraining order in a case filed by Democratic attorneys general in 19 states and the District of Columbia.
Bredar ruled the terminations by form letter didn’t meet the law for notice of mass layoffs, and leaves too great a burden on the states without time to prepare for the services provided to the laid off employees. The federal government is the nation’s largest employer.
Bredar stayed the dismissals of probationary employees across 18 department and agencies and ordered they be returned to work by 1 p.m. Monday. Included in the order were the Commerce, Education, and Health and Human Services departments, as well as USAID.
The judge also stayed what he referred to as the “illegal RIFs,” or reductions in force, for 14 days, and ordered the administration to stop layoffs until they meet the rules requiring adequate notice.
−Dinah Pulver
President Trump commended Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, thanking him for “doing the right thing” as the potential for a government shutdown continues to loom.
“Took ‘guts’ and courage!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday morning.
Schumer announced his intent to vote for Republicans’ spending bill in order to keep the federal government open and operating.
“While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse,” he said during a speech on the Senate floor Thursday, referring to the measure, called a continuing resolution. “I believe it is my job to make the best choice for the country to minimize the harms to the American people.”
Democrats have criticized Schumer for his position. Meanwhile the president is praising the New York Democrat.
“A non pass would be a Country destroyer, approval will lead us to new heights,” Trump wrote online. “Again, really good and smart move by Senator Schumer. This could lead to something big for the USA, a whole new direction and beginning!”
−Savannah Kuchar and Riley Beggin
Multibillionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, who’s cutting thousands of federal workers as the head of DOGE, on Thursday reposted a message on X that blamed the Holocaust and mass deaths perpetrated in the Soviet Union and Communist China on civil servants.
The post read: “Stalin, Mao, and Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Their public sector employees did.”
Musk, who owns X and has more than 219 million followers on the platform, appears to have later taken down his repost.
Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, fired back.
“America’s public service workers − our nurses, teachers, firefighters, librarians − chose making our communities safe, healthy and strong over getting rich,” Saunders said in a statement. “They are not, as the world’s richest man implies, genocidal murderers.”
“Elon Musk and the billionaires in this administration have no idea what real people go through every day. That’s why he’s so willing to take a chainsaw to people’s jobs, Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare,” Saunders said.
−Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
The Senate is set to vote Friday afternoon on a budget bill called a continuing resolution that will fund the government into September. The vote is expected sometime after 1 p.m.
The bill, which passed in the House of Representatives earlier this week, poses a bitter choice for Senate Democrats, who want to avoid a shutdown but disagree with provisions that could lead to big cuts in Medicaid and other programs.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he’ll vote for the bill. He needs seven other Democrats to join him for the Senate to reach a required threshold of 60 Senators that will allow the resolution to come to the floor for a vote.
−Dan Morrison
China is “laughing” over the tariff war between the U.S. and its allies, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, told Bloomberg Television.
On Thursday, Trump threatened to slap 200% tariffs on Champagne, wine and other alcoholic beverages from France and other European countires. Kallas, speaking Thursday on the sidelines of the Group of Seven meeting in Canada, said the escalating measures would only benefit Beijing.
“Who is laughing on the side or looking at the side is China,” she told Bloombert. “It’s really benefiting from the US having a trade war with Europe.”
−Dan Morrison
U.S. stocks are headed for a higher open, with futures up in pre-market activity.
At 6:40 a.m. ET, futures tied to the broad S&P 500 index rose 0.66%, while blue-chip Dow futures jumped 0.44%. Tech-heavy Nasdaq futures gained 0.91%.
−Medora Lee
Former central banker Mark Carney will be sworn in as Canada’s 24th prime minister Friday morning, taking the reins from Justin Trudeau. Carney, the head of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party, steps into an escalating and bitter trade war with the U.S.
Trump’s aggressive moves have unleashed a furious nationalism in Canada – and revived the fortunes of the Liberal Party, which had not led the opposition Conservatives in national polls since 2022.
−Dan Morrison
Trump won’t say whether he thinks his sweeping tariff plan could help push the country into a recession. But the threat of tariffs and the-already rising costs of everyday items are raising concerns about where the economy is headed.
A recession could happen if more people are out of work, large companies see lower profits, the stock market slips and home prices tumble, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Generally, a recession is marked by an extended period of many months or more of economic downturn. And even when a recession is acknowledged by experts and officials, not everyone agrees on when it started or when it ends.
−Damon C. Williams, Zachary Schermele
A tariff is a form of tax imposed on imports from another country.
Economists generally agree that trade barriers raise consumer prices and negatively impact economic output and income, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy nonprofit.
Tariffs create more demand for domestic manufacturers, but those companies are also part of the global supply chain and therefore also impacted by tariffs, experts have previously explained to USA TODAY.
Trump’s motivation for implementing tariffs is to get help from China, Canada and Mexico to curb the flow of migrants and illegal drugs into the U.S. The president has insisted that the countries have not done enough to help address what he sees as core issues for his administration.
–Kinsey Crowley and Jonathan Limehouse
