Principals

1. Trump’s tax troubles
2. GOP vies for Trump time
3. Trade wars
4. GOP tariff divide
5. US-Germany
6. Vance-Zelenskyy meet
7. DOJ shakeup
8. Dem retirements

PDB: RFK Jr. confirmed for HHS

House panel passes budget plan … Apple, Google restore TikTok to app stores following Trump assurances … Ukraine says Russia struck Chernobyl nuclear plant

Trump’s tax plans run into problems

President Trump swept into the White House on promises of cutting taxes on overtime, Social Security benefits and tips. Now that Republicans are starting to get into the nitty gritty, it’s becoming increasingly clear just how hard it will be to enact those promises, Semafor’s Burgess Everett and Eleanor Mueller report. Republicans are already struggling with whether to pay for a straight extension of tax cuts, and adding on $2 trillion more in cuts is looking like a Rubik’s Cube. “Mission No. 1: preventing the tax increases. You can see that we’re having a difficult time just doing that,” Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, told Semafor. “I’m happy to listen to proposals. But right now, I just don’t see anything out there that allows us to go beyond that.” There are also parallel questions about just how those tax cuts would work.

The ups and downs of Trump’s accessibility

In the Trump era, access to the president is everything — which means opportunities and headaches for Republican lawmakers, Semafor’s Kadia Goba reports. “Heck, I get him quicker on the phone sometimes than I get some of the people that are on his staff,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., whose effort to stop some wind energy projects in New Jersey got a boost from an early Trump order. But not everyone who wants a presidential blessing has succeeded. Trump has largely stayed out of the budget fight brewing between the House and Senate, even as the lawmakers leading the efforts compete for face time with him. Trump’s accessibility also means some rank-and-file members want to hear more from the president directly. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., compared leadership’s role to the go-between in a “game of telephone.”

Trump’s ‘reciprocal’ tariff plan reverberates

Trump ordered agency heads to study and propose “reciprocal” tariffs on major US trading partners, meaning his brewing global trade war could escalate dramatically as soon as April. The news came as Trump met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi; a White House official singled out India as among several allies and adversaries that are “taking advantage” of the US by imposing steep tariffs or erecting other “structural” barriers to trade. The commerce secretary and US trade representative — both of whom have yet to be confirmed — are to relay their findings to Trump by April 1. Moving toward a reciprocal tariff system would upend decades of US trade policy and could undermine the World Trade Organization. It’s not clear which countries will ultimately be affected or what the legal justification for any duties could be.

— Morgan Chalfant

Lighthizer hears from tariff critics

The Republican divide over tariffs got a little more direct and personal during a private GOP lunch this week, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s trade representative in his first term and one of the forefathers of the president’s tariff plans, tangled with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., over the effectiveness of tariffs in the meeting — though it was all very civil, we’re told, even if they couldn’t be further apart. Paul wasn’t alone: Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., also pressed Lighthizer and expressed concerns about tariffs during the meeting. On the other side was Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who made clear that he’s got Trump’s back. The newly elected Republican defended the tariff plan and told the room that any Republican running in a manufacturing state like Ohio or Indiana can’t win an election without backing Trump’s efforts.

— Burgess Everett

German conservative floats 0% tariffs on US

As world capitals ready their responses to Trump’s tariffs threats, the European Union should consider making a deal to eliminate all tariffs on American imports, a high-ranking German conservative lawmaker told Semafor. “We as Europe could offer to go to zero [tariffs] for all US goods, and then say we would expect the same the other way around,” said Jens Spahn, a senior member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union party, which is expected to take power in Berlin after Feb. 23 elections. Spahn has ties to members of Trump’s circle — he developed a friendship with Ric Grenell, the former US ambassador to Germany and a current special envoy — and his comments signal how the likely incoming German government may approach negotiations with Trump. He also suggested addressing Berlin’s trade surplus with the US by purchasing more American arms and liquefied natural gas.

— J.D. Capelouto

Vance warns Russia

Vice President JD Vance is set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Munich, after Trump’s recent call with Russian President Vladimir Putin rattled Europe. Ukraine and European countries increasingly fear they could be left out of talks to end Moscow’s war, and Zelenskyy will be looking for assurances from Vance that Kyiv will have a seat at the table. In a Wall Street Journal interview, Vance assumed a tough posture toward Russia, threatening sanctions and even military action if Moscow doesn’t agree to a peace deal. Earlier, the Trump administration faced criticism for giving up leverage. While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attempted to walk back remarks ruling out Ukraine joining NATO, Trump seemed to double down. “I don’t see any way that a country in Russia’s position could allow them to join NATO. I don’t see that happening,” he told reporters.

Adams case sets off wave of resignations

Danielle Sassoon, the top US prosecutor in Manhattan, resigned after the Justice Department directed her to drop a long-simmering corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams — and when the DOJ tried to transfer the case to its DC office, five of those lawyers resigned, too. The case represents a “quid pro quo,” Sassoon wrote, in that Adams is trying to trade his (sanctuary) city’s help enforcing Trump’s mass deportation plans in exchange for assurances the feds will drop the corruption charges. (Adams’ lawyer told outlets that’s a “total lie.”) The embattled mayor met with Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, earlier Thursday and said he’ll now seek to let immigration authorities back into Rikers Island. Gov. Kathy Hochul can remove Adams from his post; she refused to rule out doing so on Thursday, and her lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, wants him gone.

Senate Democrats’ tricky 2026

Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith announced her retirement Thursday, two weeks after Michigan Sen. Gary Peters said that he wouldn’t seek a second term. Both Democrats are in their 60s, in competitive states where their party has a deep talent bench and a winning record in Senate races. Republicans have not won a seat in either state since their 1994 wave. But other potential retirements loom for the party ahead of 2026, in both safe states and in seats that might be tricky to defend. Eighty-year-old Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is widely expected to retire (Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi has been stockpiling money for a potential race). New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, 78, raised little money in the last fundraising quarter. And Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, 70, has not said whether he will run for reelection.

— David Weigel

Blindspot: Foreign service and infant mortality

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: President Trump signed a directive ordering a revamp of the US foreign service.

What the Right isn’t reading: States with abortion bans had more infant deaths, according to a study published in the medical journal JAMA.

Is the future of media one where big media companies no longer have control over their talent? This week, Fox announced its acquisition of Red Seat Ventures, the digital media company that produces and markets the podcasts of several major conservative figures, including Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, and Bill O’Reilly. To help break down the acquisition, Ben and Max bring on Red Seat’s co-founder, Chris Balfe, to discuss the shifting power dynamics between independent creators and traditional media. They also explore Piers Morgan’s surprising role in brokering the deal and how Fox plans to navigate a media landscape where talent holds the leverage.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Senate Republicans still favor bringing their own budget resolution to the floor next week, after the House Budget Committee advanced its competing proposal.

Playbook: Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for making a “rookie mistake” by closing the door on Ukraine joining NATO. “I don’t know who wrote the speech — it is the kind of thing Tucker Carlson could have written, and Carlson is a fool,” he said.

WaPo: The Democratic National Committee plans to release a breakdown of Inflation Reduction Act-funded projects in states won by President Trump, in order to drive home the point his crusade against the law is hurting his supporters.

White House

• The Office of Personnel Management has directed all federal agencies to fire employees who are still on probation.
• Budget director Russ Vought launched a “tip line” for reporting CFPB employees who have attempted to continue working.

Congress

• The Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services; once again, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell was the only Republican to vote against him. (McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, has ardently opposed the vaccine-skeptical Kennedy’s nomination.)
• The Senate also approved Brooke Rollins to be President Trump’s agriculture secretary in a bipartisan 72-28 vote. And the Senate Judiciary Committee also approved Kash Patel’s nomination to be FBI director in a party-line vote.
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski is introducing a bill to officially name the country’s tallest mountain “Denali,” overriding President Trump’s preference, Mt. McKinley.

Outside the Beltway

• The Louisiana state health agency will no longer promote vaccines. — Times-Picayune
• References to transgender people have been removed from a National Park Service website for the Stonewall National Monument in New York.

Economy

• The producer price index rose more than expected during the month of January.

Education

• During her confirmation hearing to be education secretary, Linda McMahon laid out plans to dismantle the Education Department but acknowledged she’d need congressional action to abolish it.

Courts

• A federal judge temporarily halted the Trump administration’s effort to restrict federal funding from flowing to hospitals that provide gender health care to transgender children.
• Fourteen states sued Elon Musk and DOGE on the grounds that Musk was never confirmed by the Senate to run a federal agency, which he is effectively doing.

Technology

• Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum threatened Google with a civil suit unless the company does not reverse its decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” for users in the US.

Media

• The Associated Press was barred from a White House event for the third day in a row over its refusal to refer to the body of water beneath Texas as the “Gulf of America.”
• Media giants and other companies have funneled some $80 million to President Trump’s family and his presidential library so far. — WSJ

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Austin Davis is Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor and a member of the Democratic Party. Semafor asked him about Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor who intends to run for Sen. Tina Smith’s seat.