Principals

1. Trump’s auto tariffs
2. Dem messaging memo
3. Daines on China trip
4. GOP soft agenda deadline
5. Gold card legislation?
6. Signal blame
7. Dems’ plan of attack on Atkins
8. Podcasters at White House

PDB: Jasmine Crockett is the right’s new target

Senate holds hearing on DCA collision … EU trade chief in Beijing … Bloomberg: Musk is a rare winner with auto tariffs

Trump intensifies trade war

President Donald Trump is ramping up his global trade war, signing a proclamation to impose a 25% tariff on all auto imports into the US while threatening more penalties against the European Union and Canada. Trump told reporters the auto tariffs would be permanent for the rest of his term, signaling he’s not planning to use them as a negotiating tool. Auto stocks dropped on the news. The duties are slated to take effect on April 3 and expand to auto parts by May 3 (which means there’s still time for Trump to pull back on them due to stock market gyrations or industry pain). Trump’s threat to raise tariffs on the EU and Canada, traditionally US allies, came in an overnight Truth Social post, as he warned them against working together “ to do economic harm to the USA.”

Dem group: It’s the economy, stupid

The center-left group Third Way has some advice for the Democratic Party: Attack Trump on the economy. A new memo from the group, shared first with Semafor, encourages Democrats to zero in on Trump’s early economic moves — like auto tariffs that could add thousands to car prices — and to brand his first 100 days the “Trump Slump.” “On the economy, we think he is the most vulnerable because it goes most fundamentally to the offer he made as a candidate,” said Third Way’s Matt Bennett, who acknowledged that Democrats so far have lacked a “coordinated, strategic response” to Trump 2.0. Bennett argued the economy should take precedence even over front-page controversies like secret group chats. A White House official called it “embarrassing and almost laughable” to see Democrats “fearmongering when it comes to the economic conditions that their party handed” to Trump.

— Morgan Chalfant

Daines is Trump’s Senate man in China

Sen. Steve Daines spent years working in China and has traveled there on congressional business six times — but his trip this month might have been the most important. The Montana Republican has clout with Trump and used it to bring a clear, succinct message to some of the highest-ranking officials in the Chinese government as Trump wields tariffs and weighs a trade deal. “I went to great lengths to make sure they understood that fentanyl was not an excuse for the additional tariffs. It is the issue, nearly 100,000 Americans dying every year,” Daines told Semafor’s Burgess Everett. The senator also went to bat for his home industries, raising concerns about the shuttering of beef processors used to export meat to China. “I made my request clear to the Chinese that we need these licenses to be renewed,” Daines said.

Thune makes agenda push on budget vote

Senate Majority Leader John Thune wants to take up a compromise budget next week, a critical step toward implementing Trump’s tax cuts. He told Semafor Republicans are “making good headway” on an agreement but aren’t there yet. They haven’t settled on a spending cuts number (they’re talking about roughly $2 trillion) or whether to keep the debt ceiling in the budget. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Republican leaders are now considering a $5 trillion debt ceiling increase — $1 trillion more than the House version. Paul is “even more against” that, he said. After today, there are two weeks until another recess. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said that “if we’re going to run into some rocky waters here in the next two weeks, we need to leave ourselves a little bit of time to try to complete it before Easter.”

— Burgess Everett

Congress looks at legislation for Trump’s gold cards

The Trump administration’s “gold card” visas are still in the works — as is companion legislation aimed at merging the ideas behind the new $5 million cards with changes to the existing EB-5 visa program. “We’re trying to come up with some legislation that would make that happen,” Sen. John Cornyn told Semafor’s Shelby Talcott and Burgess Everett, adding that he’s working with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “It is sort of the ultimate merit-based immigration.” Though the gold card program hasn’t officially launched (an administration official told Semafor the cards will “be implemented soon”), Lutnick said recently on a podcast that he’s already sold 1,000 gold cards in one day — equivalent to $5 billion in revenue. The White House hopes the program will help pay off the US debt, and Cornyn’s interest in legislation subtly indicates that Congress would like to be involved.

Who will be the Signal fall guy?

As the Trump administration’s Signal chat scandal enters its fourth day, the overwhelming question in Washington is whether anyone will take the fall. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to rule out firings on Wednesday, telling reporters that Trump “continues to have confidence in his national security team.” The Atlantic published screenshots from the group chat, in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth apparently reveals specifics about the timing and weapons involved in a planned US military strike against Houthis. On Capitol Hill and at the White House, Trump officials continued to insist that classified information was not shared. But a US defense official told CNN that the information Hegseth put in the chat was classified, and that “anybody in uniform would be court-martialed for this.” Some White House allies seem to be zeroing in on Mike Waltz. Trump dismissed the controversy as a “witch hunt.”

Democrats to accuse SEC pick of conflicts of interest

Senate Democrats are planning to hit Trump’s nominee for Securities and Exchange Commission chair, Paul Atkins, hard at his confirmation hearing today over potential conflicts of interest outlined in his long-awaited ethics paperwork. It’s “a who’s who of Wall Street special interests,” ranking member Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said. Expect her and others to pay particular attention to Atkins’ involvement with companies dealing with cryptocurrency — like Securitize, Anchor Labs, and Pontoro, in which he holds as much as $1.1 million in combined equity — while Atkins defends his resume as valuable “industry experience.” Republicans will shrug off the attacks. “You’re talking business people” who “have different assets and different types of ownership capacities,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said. “Sometimes it’s a lot to keep track of.” A transition spokesperson underscored Atkins is “in full compliance” with both the SEC and White House’s ethics offices.

— Eleanor Mueller

Trump administration hosts podcasters at the White House

The Trump administration is hosting a number of podcasters at the White House today, Semafor has learned. Attendees are expected to include former ESPN anchor-turned-podcaster Sage Steele, The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles, and media personality Dr. Drew Pinsky. Trump’s success during the presidential campaign came in part because of his focus on newer, alternative media formats, and the gathering is a continuation of that strategy. A White House official told Semafor the private event is meant “to showcase the rapidly growing media apparatus that the American people are actually consuming,” and get Trump’s “message to a broader subset of Americans,” including younger voters.

— Shelby Talcott

Blindspot: Oct. 7 lawsuit and teacher cuts

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: Oct. 7 victims filed a lawsuit alleging that organizers of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University functioned as Hamas’ “propaganda arm.”

What the Right isn’t reading: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to greenlight cuts to teacher training grants.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Former Speaker Kevin McCarty moved $587,000 to the NRCC to aid Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga., the organization’s new recruitment head and his former political director.

Playbook: One reason that national security adviser Mike Waltz might survive the Signal scandal: President Trump’s aides “don’t want to give [Jeffrey] Goldberg a scalp,” said one White House ally.

WaPo: US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was named as the acting head of the Offices of Special Counsel and Government Ethics, “renewing questions about the independence of the two watchdog offices.”

Axios: The Trump administration is considering blocking some colleges from having any foreign students if it decides too many are “pro-Hamas.” More than 300 foreign students have had their visas revoked so far.

White House

• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is lobbying President Trump to restructure FEMA, which currently helps states prepare for and clean up from disasters, so that the agency only deals with ongoing emergency response efforts like search-and-rescue operations. — Politico

Congress

• Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s snappy comebacks and viral quips are making her the perfect target for the right, Semafor’s David Weigel and Kadia Goba report. One of her GOP colleagues introduced a bill to censure her after she characterized the partially-paralyzed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as “Governor Hot Wheels.” Republicans are also trying to link her recent support of the Tesla Takedown movement to violence and vandalism associated with the protests. Republicans “are nervous about me,” she told Semafor, and they “are afraid that people listen to me.”
• Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker is demanding an expedited watchdog probe of the Signal debacle.

Polls

• Texas Sen. John Cornyn would be the underdog in a GOP primary next year, according to polling from a Democratic-aligned group seen first by Semafor’s David Weigel. The new survey for Texas Public Opinion Research found Cornyn trailing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — who has been hinting at a challenge — by 11 points in a hypothetical contest.

Outside the Beltway

• Masked immigration agents arrested and detained Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student who had been attending Tufts University on a student visa. A Massachusetts judge has since barred her deportation and demanded the government provide a reason for her arrest by Friday.
• Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., is running for Senate. — Axios

Business

• Former Biden Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen joined an advisory board for the investment management firm Pimco. — CNBC
• CEOs and lobbyists worried about President Trump’s approach to the economy and tariffs have “inundated” his team with calls. — WSJ

Economy

• The US faces default as soon as August if Congress does not move to address the debt ceiling, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Courts

• The Supreme Court upheld a Biden-era regulation to go after so-called “ghost guns.”
• A lawsuit over the Signal chat controversy was assigned to Judge James Boasberg, who has already drawn ire from President Trump.
• US prosecutors are probing a claim from drugmaker GSK that Pfizer delayed the release of its COVID-19 vaccine until after the 2020 election. — WSJ

Foreign Policy

• Sweden is boosting its defense spending.
• European civilians should stockpile enough supplies to last them 72 hours in the event of a war or other catastrophe, the European Commission said.

Technology

• President Trump suggested he’d be willing to impose lower tariffs on Chinese goods if ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, agrees to sell the video app.
• OpenAI projects the company will triple its revenue this year. — Bloomberg

Health

• The Trump administration is ending US support for Gavi, an organization that helps supply vaccines for poor children around the world. — NYT

Media

• A member of Axel Springer’s board stepped down after accusing Politico, which the company owns, of left-wing bias. — FT
• The White House Correspondents Association members plan to wear pins this week printed with the First Amendment in support of The Associated Press, which President Trump has excluded from the press pool.

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

And Graph Massara, copy editor

Contact our reporters:

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

Pat Ryan is a Democratic congressman from New York and an Army veteran.