Trump hails himself in Michigan speech celebrating 100 days in office Trump is speaking now at a rally in Warren, Michigan and he has fulsome praise for what he calls “the most successful 100 days of any administration in the history of our country”.
A raft of opinion polls released this week shows that a majority of Americans disagree, strongly, expressing deep disapproval of his performance as president, and particularly his handling of the economy, which has been severely damaged by his chaotic imposition of tariffs against nearly even nation, except Russia.
A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released on Tuesday shows that 45% of those asked to grade Trump’s performance as president gave him an F, 7% a D, 8% a C, 17% a B, and 23% an A.
Half of independents said Trump deserves an F, and only a slim majority of Republicans gave him an A.
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Trump congratulates Canadian prime minister Mark Carney on election win he helped deliver “Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, spoke with the President of the United States, Donald J Trump”, a statement from the Canadian prime minister’s office said.
“President Trump congratulated Prime Minister Carney on his recent election. The leaders agreed on the importance of Canada and the United States working together – as independent, sovereign nations – for their mutual betterment. To that end, the leaders agreed to meet in person in the near future.”
Carney’s center-left Liberal party won Monday’s general election thanks to a wave of resentment about Trump’s threats to annex Canada and the imposition of tariffs on Canadian imports.
“As I’ve been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country”, Carney said in his victory speech late Monday. As the crowd jeered and shouted “Never!” Carney agreed. “These are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. That will never, never, ever happen”.
Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, spoke to supporters after his party’s victory in Monday’s general election. As Canadian went to the polls on Monday, Trump posted what seemed like an endorsement of Carney’s rival, the Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre, suggesting that the pro-Trump politician would help bring about Canada’s absorption into the United States. When the votes were counted, however, Poilievre, who had a commanding lead in the polls before Trump started talking about annexing the country, had not only failed to lead the Conservatives to power, he had even lost his own seat.
Despite Carney’s office claiming on Tuesday that he and Trump had agreed to work together “as independent, sovereign nations”, White House officials insisted that Trump is still serious about his stated desire to make Canada the 51st US state.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked during a briefing for rightwing influencers if Trump was “truthing or trolling” when he says that he wants to annex Canada, and Greenland. “Trump truthing, all the way”, she replied. “And the Canadians would benefit greatly, let me tell you that”.
Trump puts Whitmer on the spot again by inviting Michigan governor to speak at air base Donald Trump surprised Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, by inviting her to speak during his address at Selfridge air national guard base on Tuesday afternoon.
Trump, who came to Macomb county, Michigan, for an evening rally to celebrate what he calls the historic accomplishments of the first 100 days of his second term, despite widespread disapproval of his actions by a majority of Americans in a series of polls, announced a new fighter jet mission for the base outside Detroit, easing fears that the installation would be closed.
For decades, Trump said, the base has “stood as a crucial pillar of North American air defense”.
“In recent years, many in Michigan have feared for the future of the base. They’ve been calling everybody, but the only one that mattered is Trump,” he said. “Today I have come in person to lay to rest any doubt about Selfridge’s future.”
Whitmer’s political standing was damaged earlier this month when she was photographed hiding her face from photographers in the Oval Office after Trump invited her to be present as he signed executive orders, two of which demanded investigations of critics who had served in his first administration.
On Tuesday, she was careful to begin her impromptu remarks by saying that she had not expected to speak, and then praised the decision as a boon for the local economy, but did not praise Trump, as Republicans he invited to make remarks did.
Gretchen Whitmer at Selfridge air national guard base on Tuesday. Trump signs proclamation relaxing some auto tariffs Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Tuesday that offers temporary relief to automakers from the 25% tariffs he imposed in March in a previous proclamation.
The White House confirmed to Fox Business earlier that the new measure would give automakers a break for two years to give them time to move auto production back to the United States.
The proclamation outlines a series of technical changes to the tariff regime, “to modify the system imposed in Proclamation 10908 by reducing duties assessed on automobile parts accounting for 15 percent of the value of an automobile assembled in the United States for 1 year and equivalent to 10 percent of that value for an additional year”.
As we reported earlier, the changes will allow carmakers with US factories to reduce the amount they pay in import taxes on foreign parts, using a formula tied to how many cars they sell and the price.
Lauren Gambino
Doug Emhoff, the husband of Kamala Harris, accused the Trump administration of turning “one of the worst atrocities in history into a wedge issue”, after he and other Joe Biden appointees were removed from the board of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Emhoff, who is Jewish and spoke passionately against the rising tide of antisemitism during his time as the second gentleman, said he was informed on Tuesday that he had been removed from the museum’s council.
“Let me be clear: Holocaust remembrance and education should never be politicized. To turn one of the worst atrocities in history into a wedge issue is dangerous – and it dishonors the memory of six million Jews murdered by Nazis that this museum was created to preserve,” he said.
“No divisive political decision will ever shake my commitment to Holocaust remembrance and education or to combatting hate and antisemitism. I will continue to speak out, to educate, and to fight hate in all its forms – because silence is never an option.”
The New York Times reported that the Trump administration also fired Ron Klain, Biden’s first chief of staff; Susan Rice, national security adviser to Barack Obama, and Biden’s top domestic policy adviser; and Tom Perez, the former labor secretary who was a senior adviser to the former president.
Trump defeated Harris, then the US vice-president, in November. Emhoff’s law firm recently struck a deal with the Trump administration to avert an executive order targeting its practice, a decision Emhoff is reported to have voiced his disagreement with.
Pete Hegseth scraps Pentagon’s Women, Peace and Security program, citing DEI Joseph Gedeon
Pete Hegseth has abruptly banished the Pentagon’s Women, Peace and Security program as part of his crusade against diversity and equity, dismissing it as a “woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative” despite it being a signature Donald Trump achievement from his first term.
In a post on X, the US defense secretary wrote: “This morning, I proudly ENDED the ‘Women, Peace & Security’ (WPS) program inside the [Department of Defense]. WPS is yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops – distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING.”
Hegseth added that the program was “pushed by feminists and left-wing activists”, claiming: “Politicians fawn over it; troops HATE it.”
But the decision is raising some eyebrows, as the initiative was established during Trump’s first administration when he signed the Women, Peace and Security Act in 2017, making the US the first country in the world to codify standalone legislation on the matter.
The Trump campaign even courted female voters by citing the initiative as one of its top accomplishments for women on its website.
Attempting to square this circle, Hegseth later claimed the Biden administration had “distorted & weaponized” the original program. “Biden ruined EVERYTHING, including ‘Women, Peace & Security,’” he insisted.
Senate confirms billionaire banker Warren Stephens as ambassador to the UK The Senate has confirmed billionaire investment banker Warren Stephens to be ambassador to the UK, backing Donald Trump’s nominee by 59 to 39.
Stephens is chair, president and CEO of Stephens Inc, a privately owned financial services firm headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is a longtime contributor to Republican candidates, including Trump, having donated millions of dollars to support Trump’s campaigns and 2025 inauguration fund.
Asked about negotiations with Congress over tax legislation, Trump said: “The Republicans are with us. I think we’ve got the big beautiful deal that’s moving along, and I think we’re going to have it taken care of.” He added:
A very important element that we’re working on now, more important than anything with the border in good shape, is the fact that we want to get, and very importantly, the big beautiful new deal. If we get that done, that’s the biggest thing … And I think we’re going to get it done. We have great Republican support. If the Democrats blocked it, you’d have a 60% tax increase. I don’t think that’s going to happen. We have great support from Republicans. …
The next period of time, I think, my biggest focus will be on Congress, the deal that we’re working on. That would be the biggest bill in the history of our country in terms of tax cuts and regulation cuts, and other things.
Trump says he ‘wanted to help’ US automakers with order relaxing some car tariffs On the auto tariff executive orders, Trump said:
We just wanted to help [automakers] enjoy this little transition, short-term. If they can’t get parts, you know, it has to do with a very small percentage. If they can’t get parts, we didn’t want to penalize them.
The president will sign an executive order later today to relax some of his 25% tariffs on autos and auto parts, a significant climbdown as the duties threatened to hurt domestic manufacturers.
The change will allow carmakers with US factories to reduce the amount they pay in import taxes on foreign parts, using a formula tied to how many cars they sell and the price.
The provision is intended to provide relief to businesses for two years as they rework their supply chains, White House officials said.
They also said that parts made in Canada and Mexico that follow North America free trade rules would not face tariffs, an exemption previously described as temporary.
Jeff Bezos is ‘a good guy’ and ‘solved the problem very quickly’, Trump says Donald Trump said Jeff Bezos “was very nice, he was terrific” during their call earlier and “he solved the problem very quickly”. “He’s a good guy,” Trump told reporters before boarding Marine One.
Trump called the Amazon executive chairman this morning to complain about a report that the company planned to display prices that show the impact of tariffs.
Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick says US has reached a trade deal with a country he cannot name yet The Trump administration has reached one trade deal already and is waiting for approvals from that country before announcing it, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview with CNBC.
I have a deal done … but I need to wait for their prime minister and their parliament to give its approval, which I expect shortly.
Representative Don Bacon draws $500bn red line on Medicaid cuts in GOP megabill – report Key GOP moderate Don Bacon has privately told the White House he won’t accept more than $500bn in cuts to Medicaid, two people with direct knowledge of the matter have told Politico.
Bacon’s red line could complicate matters as Republicans try to pass its massive party-line megabill to enact Trump’s domestic policy agenda, which is set to include border security, energy policy and other provisions.
The representative from Nebraska told Politico he wants to limit the changes to Medicaid to implementing the first-ever federal work requirements for the program, excluding noncitizens from eligibility for benefits and mandating more frequent eligibility checks.
Moderates like Bacon are wary of cutting deep into social safety net programs like Medicaid, while GOP fiscal hawks are pressing for more drastic cuts to federal spending. With the party’s slim majorities in both chambers, House speaker Mike Johnson – despite his optimistic tone this morning – can’t afford to lose more than three Republicans on a party-line vote.
FBI and national security agencies using polygraphs for ‘leak’ hunts – report Kash Patel has instructed the FBI to administer polygraph tests to identify the sources of alleged leaks to news outlets, the Washington Post (paywall) reports.
In recent weeks, the bureau’s director has ordered the tests be used to investigate sensitive information that was shared with the press, creating a climate of fear and intimidation, according to the Post.
The polygraphs are part of an administration-wide effort to clamp down on dissent, sources told the paper.
Current and former officials describe a culture of intimidation where the “sense of dread is palpable” among employees, with one former FBI field office head saying:
People are trying to keep their heads down. Morale is in the toilet.
Trump administration proposed sending up to 500 alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador’s mega-prison The United States proposed sending up to 500 Venezuelan migrants with alleged ties to the Tren de Aragua gang to El Salvador as the two governments sought to reach an agreement on the use of the nation’s notorious mega-prison, according to emails seen by CNN.
The details of the arrangement, which have not been previously reported, reveal the Trump administration’s deal-making with El Salvador to take the unprecedented step of sending migrants to the country to be detained in Cecot.
El Salvador eventually agreed to accept up to 300 people in mid-March, according to an internal document. A US official described 500 as a “notional” figure, adding that the arrangement between the two countries is a “cooperation agreement but in a friendly non-binding fashion”, and still stands.
Inmates in a cell at Cecot on 4 April 2025. Photograph: Marvin Recinos/AFP/Getty Images Trump called Bezos to complain about report that Amazon planned to list tariff costs on site Donald Trump called Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos on Tuesday morning to complain about a report that the company planned to display prices that show the impact of tariffs, CNN reports.
CNN notes that an administration official described Trump as “pissed” after learning of the news. Soon after the call, an Amazon spokesperson released a statement clarifying the move “was never a consideration for the main Amazon site and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties”.
The spokesperson later sent CNN a revised statement, adding: “This was never approved and not going to happen.”
Andrew Roth
‘The weeks when decades happened’: Trump’s first 100 days took the US from cornerstone of the west to unreliable ally
For US foreign policy, Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office were the weeks when decades happened.
In just over three months, the US president has frayed alliances that stood since the second world war and alienated the US’s closest friends, cut off aid to Ukrainians on the frontlines against Vladimir Putin, emboldened US rivals around the world, brokered and then lost a crucial ceasefire in Gaza, launched strikes on the Houthis in Yemen and seesawed on key foreign policy and economic questions to the point where the US has been termed the “unpredictable ally”.
The tariffs Trump has unleashed will, if effected, disrupt global trade and lead to supply chain shocks in the United States, with China’s Xi Jinping seeking to recruit US trade allies in the region.
Operating mainly through executive action, the Trump administration has affected nearly all facets of US foreign policy: from military might to soft power, from trade to immigration, reimagining the US’s place in the world according to an isolationist America First program.
“The shake-up has been revolutionary, extraordinary. It’s upended 80-some years of American foreign policy,” said Ivo Daalder, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a former ambassador to Nato.
The Trump presidency has ended the relative peace in the western hemisphere since the end of the second world war underwritten by US economic, military and diplomatic influence, Daalder said.
The foundation of the Pax Americana was trust, and once you break trust, it’s extraordinarily difficult to restore. And restoring trust – trust in America, trust in American institutions, trust in American voters – it takes a long time to rebuild.
‘Finish your cars in America and you win’: commerce secretary says Trump’s auto tariff relief aimed at reshoring production As we reported earlier, Donald Trump will sign an executive order later today giving automakers building vehicles in the US relief from part of his new 25% vehicle tariffs to allow them time to bring parts supply chains back to the US, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said.
Lutnick told reporters that automakers would receive credits for up to 15% of the value of vehicles assembled in the US that could be applied against the value of imported parts. This would help domestic carmakers move their supply chains to the US, he said. The relief would be phased in over three years, he added.
All cars that are finished in the US that have 85% domestic content will have no tariff applied, Lutnick said, adding that the auto tariff will apply to foreign carmakers building cars in the US. “This is ‘finish your cars in America and you win’,” he said.
Autos and parts subject to the 25% section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs would no longer be subject to other tariffs imposed by Trump, including 25% duties on Canadian and Mexican goods, as well as 10% duties applied to most other countries, Reuters reports.
Reuters reports that Lutnick said the adjustments to auto tariffs were aimed at allowing domestic carmakers time to grow their US plants and employment. He said it hadn’t been clear until conversations with automakers that even a small tariff would hold them back from hiring and investment. He said they told Trump they needed relief in order to boost hiring plans.
Two years was the agreed time to give manufacturers sufficient time to build up their supply chains, Lutnick said, adding there would be no third year of relief.
Senate backs Trump’s pick former senator and business executive David Perdue for ambassador to China A majority of the Senate has backed one-time senator David Perdue to be ambassador to China, a position the former business executive assumes amid a deep strategic rivalry and blistering trade war between the two countries.
Reuters reports the tally was 67 to 29 in favor of confirming Donald Trump’s nominee Perdue, who was a Republican senator from Georgia from 2015 to 2021.
Perdue has long been an ally of Trump and has fiercely repeated the president’s lies about voter fraud in the 2020 election. He ran unsuccessfully to be governor of Georgia in 2022 after losing his Senate seat, making voter fraud central to his campaign and falsely claiming that his seat had also been “stolen”. He’s also the former chief executive of Dollar General.
Former senator David Perdue at a gubernatorial Republican primary debate on 1 May 2022 in Atlanta. Photograph: Brynn Anderson/AP
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