Trump readies 25 percent tariffs on Canada, Mexico

White House blames D.C. plane crash on 'diversity'

Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for January 31, 2025:

• Patel, Gabbard, RFK spar with Senators.

• Democrats rally against spending freeze.

• Top lawmakers view California fire damage.

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TARIFFS. The U.S. could be heading for a trade fight with our closest neighbors. President Trump said Thursday that he will slap 25 percent tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico starting on Saturday. The threat has drawn promises of retaliatory tariffs from both nations, a repeat of what happened when Trump targeted those countries with tariffs in his first term.

• BORDER. Why is Trump doing this? He wants tougher border enforcement by both nations to stop migrants and drugs like fentanyl. "I'll be putting the tariff of 25 percent on Canada and separately, 25 percent on Mexico," Trump told reporters. "That may or may not rise with time."

• PLUS JOLY. Earlier this week, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly came to Washington, D.C. for talks - and said Ottawa was ready to levy its own tariffs on American goods. "I made clear that should tariffs be imposed, we would retaliate, and everything would be on the table," Joly said.

• OH CANADA. We have been here before. In 2018, President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum - and the Canadians joined other countries in imposing retaliatory tariffs. It hurt the U.S. economy. “The overall effect was a reduction in U.S. agricultural exports,” one of many studies noted.

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T. At a hearing this week with Trump's pick for Commerce Secretary, we got a unique window into the Trump thought process on higher tariffs. Howard Lutnick told Senators that American exporters are treated with disrespect. "Tariffs are a way to fix this," Lutnick said.

• COMMERCE. "We are treated horribly by the global trading environment. They all have higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and subsidies," Lutnick argued. "We need to be treated better. We need to be treated with respect, and we can use tariffs to create reciprocity, fairness and respect."

• CRICKETS. In Congress, Republicans continue to say almost nothing about this tariff threat. Farmers bore the brunt of Trump’s trade and tariff policies in his first term in office - as they were given a $28 billion bailout. It wouldn’t surprise me to see something like that happen again.

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PLANE CRASH. The aftermath of national tragedies can test a President. Words can be difficult to summon. Emotions can be raw. Politics is not usually on the menu. But one thing we learned long ago about Donald Trump is that he doesn’t play by those normal rules - and that was on full display yesterday.

• COVID REDUX. Instead of a day focused on the details of the accident, the victims, and why it happened, Trump became the central player. The scene in the White House Briefing Room was much like his extended news conferences during the Coronavirus outbreak.

• COLLISION. Offering no evidence, Trump repeatedly blamed diversity hiring for the mid-air collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet. He also accused both the Biden and Obama Administrations of 'likely illegal' diversity moves at the FAA.

• TRUMP. "We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas," Trump told reporters. Trump was asked how he could blame diversity policies of the past. "Because I have common sense and unfortunately a lot of people don't," he quickly responded.

• DOUBLE DOWN. Trump last night signed an order calling for an immediate review of airline safety measures. The document said that Presidents Biden and Obama had undermined safety by minimizing ‘merit and competence’ at the FAA. It gave no examples of how that occurred.

GROTESQUE. Democrats in Congress were furious with Trump's diversity blame game. They used words like appalling, repulsive, reckless, bigoted, shameful, and disgusting. “Americans are dead and Donald Trump does nothing but try and score political points," said Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE). Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) called Trump's words 'grotesque.'

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AIR FLORIDA. For some of us here in Washington, D.C., this week’s mid-air collision brought back bad memories of the January 1982 crash of an Air Florida passenger jet. 78 people died when that plane took off, lost altitude, and crashed into a bridge across the Potomac River.

• LENNY SKUTNIK. As rescuers rushed to help in the frozen waters of the Potomac, there was one woman who was too weak to hold onto a lifeline. On the river bank watching was a worker for the Congressional Budget Office - Lenny Skutnik - who dove into the icy waters to save her.

• REAGAN. That rescue by Skutnik drew the attention of the White House. President Reagan invited him to the State of the Union Address, where Skutnik was honored with a standing ovation by lawmakers.

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CABINET UPDATE. The Senate last night approved another Cabinet choice from President Trump, voting 79 to 18 to confirm Doug Burgum as the Secretary of Interior. That's seven Trump Cabinet nominees approved by the Senate. President Biden had only four picks confirmed at this same point in his term.

• JET FUMES. The Senate also set up a pair of other confirmation votes for next week, voting to force final action on Doug Collins for Veterans Secretary and Christopher Wright for Energy Secretary. A procedural vote was also set for Monday on the nomination of Pam Bondi to be Attorney General.

• WEEKEND. Why didn’t Senators stay and work the weekend? Because of the way the rules are set up - with 30 hours of debate after a filibuster is shut off - it would take most of the weekend just to make the same amount of progress that they’ll make by leaving on Thursday night and returning on Monday.

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HEARINGS. Three high profile Trump Cabinet nominees had a day full of drama on Thursday in a trio of Senate confirmation hearings - all going on at the same time: Kash Patel for FBI, Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, and the second and final day of hearings for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS Secretary.

• FBI. In Patel's hearing, Senators in both parties expressed their displeasure with President Trump's pardons of those convicted for Jan. 6 crimes. And Patel himself seemed to publicly break with Trump over that issue.

• POLICE. "I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement," Patel said in a back and forth with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).

• TAR HEEL. Later, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) revisited the Trump pardons. "I actually thought that the pardons of people who did harm to police officers sucked," Tillis said. "The people who harmed them are thugs." Tillis told Patel that he should apologize to every officer who was hurt on Jan. 6.

DNI. There were fireworks in the Gabbard hearing, as Senators repeatedly pressed her to say that Edward Snowden - a former U.S. intelligence contractor now being protected by the Kremlin - was a traitor for leaking classified secrets. Gabbard refused to do that multiple times.

• SNOWDEN. "Anyone who refuses to label a traitor to the U.S. as a traitor is completely unqualified to lead our intelligence community," said Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO). Gabbard in the past called Snowden 'brave' for his leaks.

• МОСКВА РАДИО. Snowden - who is now a Russian citizen - spent the day tweeting from Moscow about the hearing and expressing his support for Gabbard. There is speculation that Trump might pardon Snowden, who leaked documents about intelligence surveillance and fled to Moscow.

RFK JR. The second day of hearings for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was dominated by his past comments on vaccine safety. The key Senator yesterday was Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). "You may be hearing from me over the weekend," said Cassidy, who clearly was not pleased with Kennedy's answers about vaccines.

• RACING FORM. Will the nominations of any of these three Cabinet picks - Patel, Gabbard, or Kennedy - be defeated by the Senate? I think Patel will be approved. Sen. Cassidy is the key on RFK Jr. As for Gabbard, I still think she’s in trouble. But it’s certainly possible that all three could be confirmed.

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CALIFORNIA. The top Democrat in the U.S. House was in Los Angeles on Thursday, surveying the damage from the recent wildfires there. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) joined other Democrats in Congress in rejecting the GOP idea of attaching strings to any aid package for California.

• JEFFRIES. “That is not what Americans do during a time of crisis and need. We step in to help people whose lives have been devastated,” Jeffries said. “There is no Democratic way or Republican way to respond to a crisis.”

• AID PLAN. While the FEMA Disaster Relief Fund has about $30 billion - FEMA already has plans to spend about $43 billion on emergency relief. Much of that is due to the recovery for Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

• VISITS. A number of lawmakers from both parties have visited the Los Angeles area this week to see the damage. It’s not clear when Congress might try to act on a relief package for the Golden State.

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FUNDING FREEZE. House and Senate Democrats were still chirping yesterday about the bungled spending freeze put into place this week by the Trump White House. That political dustup gave Democrats their best opportunity to rally together on an issue since their November election losses. “This is far from over,” said Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE).

• BACK HOME. Worried about what’s next, Democrats hosted press events all around the country on Thursday. Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) went to a Head Start center. Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) met with local mayors. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) went to a community health center - all hammering the Trump effort.

• GOP. But it hasn't just been Democrats highlighting the White House backtrack. Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO) did the same in a meeting with the Ute Mountain Tribe. "It was great to share the news that the freeze has been lifted," Hurd said. It was a reminder of how the spending freeze hit everyone.

POWER OF THE PURSE. All of us know that the Founding Fathers wanted Congress in charge of spending. But what President Trump is trying to do is make those decisions himself - no matter what Congress has approved. That would be a huge change. And that's my column this week for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

• SAME RULES. Remember - if you want Trump to be able to refuse to spend money approved by Congress, then you also have to want that same power to be used by Democrats. This isn't just for one party. If you give a President that kind of power - you almost don't need a House and Senate.

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NEWS ALERT. The White House schedule has President Trump signing more executive orders at 3 pm ET today. That means he will probably hold court with reporters in the Oval Office, take questions, and make news. After that, Air Force One will ferry the President down to Florida for a weekend at Mar-a-Lago.

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RAP SHEET. A Missouri woman who stole part of a sign from Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office on Jan. 6 - and was later pardoned by President Trump - has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a fatal drunk driving crash in 2022. In her Jan. 6 case, Emily Hernandez pleaded guilty to one federal charge and was sentenced to one month in prison.

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MUSE OF HISTORY. January 31, 1955. On this date, President Eisenhower called on Congress to act on health care reforms. "As a Nation, we are doing less than now lies within our power to reduce the impact of disease," Eisenhower wrote. "Many of our fellow Americans cannot afford to pay the costs of medical care when it is needed, and they are not protected by adequate health insurance."

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LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House next has votes on Tuesday.

The Senate is back on Monday.

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