On Politics

Wed Apr 2 2025

Nicole Fallert | Newsletter Writer

@nicolefallert

Welcome to Wednesday 👋 I'm Nicole Fallert, filling in for Rebecca Morin. I can't wait for a pink moon and a meteor shower this month.

Trump's tariffs are coming

President Donald Trump will unveil his global tariffs plan today at a 4 p.m. EDT event in the White House Rose Garden − shortly after the recently volatile U.S. financial markets have closed for the day.

Stocks have been on a rollercoaster ride so far Wednesday − a lot of it downhill − in recent weeks since the Trump administration began slapping tariffs on some specific imports and on imports from specific countries. Today's reveal, billed by the White House as a "Make America Wealthy Again" event, is forecast to reach deeper, possibly almost all imports and many more nations.

•	Trump is calling today "Liberation Day": Trump plans to use tariffs to force other countries to lower their own tariffs on U.S. goods and services. He says this will create a more balanced economic playing field for U.S. exports and incentivize companies to manufacture goods inside the U.S.
•	Trump campaigned on fixing the economy. But most economists worry large-scale reciprocal tariffs ‒ which are likely to trigger retaliatory tariffs from U.S. trading partners ‒ could further hurt the economy, send the stock market plummeting and lead to higher prices for consumers.
•	Meanwhile, the tariffs have prompted the greatest bipartisan rebuke to Trump yet. A Senate resolution to end the emergency declaration enabling tariffs against Canada is likely to have enough Republican votes to pass the chamber late Wednesday afternoon or early evening, soon after the White House's event.

Quick political hits

•	BREAKING: NYC Mayor Eric Adams' corruption case has been dismissed.
•	Is Elon Musk nearing his end at DOGE?
•	President Trump will consider potential buyers of TikTok at a Wednesday meeting.
•	What do the HHS layoffs mean for new drugs, food safety?
•	Democratic senators want answers on protections for students with disabilities amid the Department of Education shake up.

Is that a patch of blue sky?

No, it's not just the early spring weather. Democrats, who haven't had much good news lately, prevailed Tuesday in an election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court − notable because it was for the swing vote on the top court in the nation's quintessential swing state.

Blue on the horizon? While Republicans held onto two Florida congressional seats in special elections, the GOP's margin in the solidly red districts was slashed compared with Election Day 2024 - just five months ago. The message: The GOP has maintained its narrow hold on the House. But Democrats have a pulse.

•	"Wisconsin beat the billionaire": Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz cast Crawford's win as a rebuke of Musk, who had poured millions into the race.

Liberal judge Susan Crawford speaks at her election night watch party in Madison, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.

Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Could the Supreme Court defund Planned Parenthood?

The Supreme Court takes up South Carolina's appeal on Wednesday to lock Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program because it performs abortions.

The background: Medicaid, which is funded primarily through federal dollars and operated by states for their low-income residents, already prohibits coverage of abortion in most cases.

But South Carolina argues that the money Planned Parenthood gets from the government for providing birth control, cancer screenings, physical exams, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and other health services "frees up their other funds to provide more abortions."

•	A federal judge ruled Alabama can't prosecute those who help people travel across state lines to end a pregnancy.

Cory Booker set a record for talking on the Senate floor

Sen. Cory Booker says he did not eat for days and purposely dehydrated himself in preparation for his record-breaking marathon speech that ended Tuesday night on the Senate floor. The senior Democrat from New Jersey mounted a lengthy protest against the policies of the Trump administration, speaking for 25 hours and 5 minutes.