April 10, 2025 - Donald Trump presidency news

Our live coverage of Trump’s presidency has ended. Get the latest here

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will visit Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia next week, weeks after President Trump targeted Southeast Asian countries with some of his heftiest “reciprocal” tariffs.

Xi will visit the three countries between April 14 and 18, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday. It has yet to release a detailed schedule.

On Wednesday, Trump announced a 90-day suspension of the additional tariffs. He had originally imposed a 46% levy on Vietnam, 49% on Cambodia and 24% on Malaysia.

Experts say the planned tariffs could have dealt a huge blow to Vietnam and Cambodia, both long-standing manufacturers of apparel and footwear for US consumers. In recent years, international brands have increasingly moved production to those countries from China to take advantage of lower labor costs and avoid rising China-US geopolitical tension.

China has been proactively reaching out to trade partners, touting its embrace of free trade, as the Trump administration threatened some of its closest allies with tariffs.

From left: Reps. Derek Tran, Jahana Hayes, Mike Lawler and Ryan Mackenzie attend a CNN Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Kaitlan Collins on Thursday.

When asked in CNN’s town hall what they would like to say to President Donald Trump, four swing-district lawmakers zoomed in on key issues.

Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a Republican from Pennsylvania, called on Trump and lawmakers to work on passing “legislation that will actually reduce costs for everyday Americans,” lowering energy costs, curbing undocumented immigration and encouraging peace around the world.

Connecticut Democratic Rep. Jahana Hayes urged Trump to change his “chainsaw approach” that she said “is scaring” Americans.

“My message is that many of these policies are unnecessarily cruel,” Hayes said.

Mike Lawler, a GOP congressman from New York, stressed the importance of working with Democrats.

Democratic Rep. Derek Tran of California chose to address the American people directly.

Reps. Mike Lawler and Ryan Mackenzie attend a CNN Town Hall.

Four lawmakers from swing districts responded to questions on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s work combatting a fast-growing measles outbreak centered in West Texas that has killed two unvaccinated children.

Republicans Rep. Mike Lawler of New York and Ryan Mackenzie stressed that they believed vaccines were effective.

Mackenzie, responding to a question from CNN’s Jake Tapper about whether he had “serious concerns” about Kennedy, acknowledged that he was vaccinating his one-year child and encouraged others to go out and get vaccinated before pivoting to discussing illegal immigration.

Both Democrats called out Kennedy and his track record.

California Rep. Derek Tran said: “When you have a conspiracy theorist that’s running our health agency, that is very dangerous times.”

Rep. Jahana Hayes described Kennedy as “dangerous.”

A sign for the Internal Revenue Service is seen on its building on February 13.

Immigrant rights groups argued Thursday that the Internal Revenue Service’s recent agreement to turn over sensitive information about undocumented taxpayers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement is illegal and should be blocked by a judge.

They made the arguments in an ongoing lawsuit about the IRS’ controversial data-sharing deal with ICE.

Federal law makes clear, the groups argue in a new court filing, that a court order is required before the IRS can provide taxpayer data to another agency “exclusively for use in locating” an individual. Trump administration officials have said they hope to use this data-sharing arrangement to track down and deport people who are in the US illegally.

The groups also claim the Trump administration is trying to exploit a provision that allows taxpayer information to be disclosed “for use in criminal investigations.” This permits individualized requests that could assist criminal probes that are already underway — but not wholesale requests for bulk data on thousands or millions of people, they argue.

A hearing is scheduled for next week. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, an appointee of President Donald Trump, is weighing whether to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the IRS from turning over any data to federal immigration agencies while the lawsuit plays out.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on Thursday.

The market for US Treasuries is showing signs of distress again after a brief respite.

On Thursday, a day after US President Donald Trump’s suspension of his “reciprocal” tariffs, which briefly calmed the bond market, the yield on 10-year Treasuries, a benchmark for various debt, shot up to 4.486% from as low as 4.28% a day earlier. Bond yields trade in opposite directions to prices.

The 30-year Treasury yield has also risen to 4.95%, marking the largest weekly increase since 1982, according to Reuters.

How we got here: Trump’s global tariff war triggered a steep sell-off in the US Treasury market on Tuesday, prompting him to postpone his “reciprocal” tariffs. Just a few days before, the 10-year Treasury yield had traded below 4%.

The uncertainty clouding the global economic outlook has again led to investors frantically selling off both stocks and bonds at the same time. This phenomenon is very rare as investors tend to retreat to safe havens like US Treasuries, causing bond yields to go down and prices to go up during times of volatility.

People watch a CNN Town Hall on Thursday.

Two Republican lawmakers said they don’t agree with everything Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency is doing to reshape the federal government and asserted that it is Congress’ job to keep a close eye on recommended changes.

Answering a question from Leslie Adams, a Republican who voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 about what he is doing to check on Musk, GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie first defended DOGE’s role in the administration.

Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York said he agrees that the federal government needs to cut spending and characterized DOGE’s efforts as “basically a turbocharged forensic audit.”

But, he also said there are things Musk and his team has done that he doesn’t agree with, pointing to when he and other lawmakers pushed back on a suggestion to cut staff from the World Trade Center Health Fund.

“We need to make sure that when decisions are made, they are made with all the information necessary and available,” he said.

Lawler and Mackenzie both agreed that it is Congress’ job to provide oversight, hold hearings and ultimately look at DOGE’s recommendations and decide what to pass into law. “That’s our job as Congress that we have a deliberative body,” Mackenzie said.

Reps. Jahana Hayes and Mike Lawler share a testy exchange during a CNN Town Hall on Thursday.

Swing-district Reps. Jahana Hayes and Mike Lawler argued over recent cuts led by the Department of Government Efficiency in a CNN town hall as bipartisan lawmakers face tough questions from constituents over Elon Musk’s oversight of the agency.

Lawler, a Republican from New York, repeatedly interrupted Hayes as she slammed Musk’s influence over President Donald Trump’s administration.

“If he has found all of this waste, fraud and abuse — we don’t want that either — but what we’re talking about is burning down the house,” she continued, before being interrupted by Lawler.

Lawler defended DOGE by arguing that “career employees that are part of each department” are working with the agency.

Hayes pointed to the lack of transparency around who works with the department. “Do you have a list?” she asked. “If there are employees, career federal employees who are working within the system to find this information, we’d love for you to share that with us.”

Rep. Mike Lawler speaks during a CNN Town Hall.

Republican Rep. Mike Lawler said he agrees with the Supreme Court’s decision requiring the Trump administration “facilitate” the return of a mistakenly deported Maryland man.

“He should be returned and obviously they should follow the law there,” Lawler told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins tonight at a CNN town hall.

He went on to then support President Donald Trump’s firm stance on immigration, noting the decline in border crossings seen since Trump came into office.

“If somebody commits a violent offense in this country, if they commit a crime, they should be deported, period,” Lawler said, calling America’s immigration system “fundamentally broken” that needs to be fixed long term.

Remember: The Supreme Court today required the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who was deported on March 15. It said part of the lower court’s order requiring the government to “effectuate” his return was unclear and needed further review.

The court did not give the administration a deadline for when Abrego Garcia should be returned. The opinion was unsigned and no dissents were noted.

John Fritz and Tierney Sneed contributed reporting.

Rep. Jahana Hayes speaks, while standing next to Rep. Derek Tran, during a CNN Town Hall.

Democratic Rep. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut said she regrets supporting the Laken Riley Act, a GOP-led bill to require detention of undocumented migrants charged with certain crimes.

It was the first bill of the new Congress and President Donald Trump’s first legislative win.

Hayes said at a CNN town hall tonight that she initially voted for the bill because of one provision: “if it caused injury or death to a police officer, which was one small piece of it.”

She said she “probably would have voted differently” after thinking about it more in recent months, specifically that it could apply to someone who was just charged with a crime, not convicted.

Hayes said she initially trusted that the Trump administration wanted to work with Democrats to accomplish things like border security, but now she’s “not really sure of that, because I’ve seen the rhetoric that has come out and the attacks that have been targeted toward immigrants. So I am very cautious and careful when I am negotiating my votes moving forward.”

From left: Reps. Derek Tran, Jahana Hayes, Mike Lawler and Ryan Mackenzie attend a CNN Town Hall on Thursday.

Four lawmakers from swing districts discussed President Donald Trump’s back-and-forth on retaliatory tariffs tonight during a CNN town hall.

GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania said with Trump’s tariffs on foreign countries, “we are actually in a position right now as a country to finally address” the challenge of unfair trade practices around the world.

New York GOP Rep. Mike Lawler argued that the tariff plan is “about leveling the playing field,” and went on to tout Republican priorities.

Meanwhile, Rep. David Tran, a Democrat from California, argued that while “tariffs can be a good thing,” the Trump administration’s plan is reckless.

Democratic Connecticut Rep. Jahana Hayes echoed Tran’s comments and called Trump’s tariffs “chaotic.”

She added: “And Republicans refuse to even ask the question of the president, ‘Where are you trying to go and how are we supposed to get there?’”

From left: Reps. Derek Tran, Jahana Hayes, Mike Lawler and Ryan Mackenzie attend a CNN Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Kaitlan Collins in Washington, DC, on Thursday

CNN’s town hall with four US House Representatives — two Republicans and two Democrats — from battleground districts is starting now.

Republicans Mike Lawler and Ryan Mackenzie and Democrats Jahana Hayes and Derek Tran will address a live studio audience made up of Republicans, Democrats and independents that includes constituents from each member’s district.

You can read more about these members of Congress here.

The town hall is being moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Kaitlan Collins.

Stock markets in the Asia Pacific region fell again on Friday because of lingering concerns about the global economy sparked by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and an escalating tit-for-tat trade war with China.

After a brief reprieve Thursday, Asian stocks are once again on a downward trend:

East Asian economies, many of them close American allies or partners, are among the ones targeted by Trump’s attempt to reshape global trade flows. Even after the president suspended his country-specific tariffs for the next 90 days, a 10% broad-based levy – on top of existing tariffs on steel, aluminum and cars – will be in place, weighing heavily on Japanese and South Korean economies, both major automobile makers.

From left to right, Reps. Mike Lawler, Ryan Mackenzie, Jahana Hayes and Derek Tran.

CNN will host a live town hall tonight with four members of the US House who represent battleground districts.

The town hall, which will be moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Kaitlan Collins from Washington, DC, will air at 9 p.m. ET.

It will feature Republican Reps. Mike Lawler of New York and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania, along with Democratic Reps. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut and Derek Tran of California. The lawmakers will answer questions from a live studio audience made up of Republicans, Democrats and independents, as well as Tapper and Collins. Constituents from each member’s district will be in the audience.

The town hall comes a week after Democrats overperformed in special House elections held in deep red districts in Florida – as well as preserving a liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court – potential signs of a tough midterm environment for the GOP as the party hopes to shore up its razor thin majority in 2026.

House lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have also faced ire from their constituents at town hall meetings in their districts over the past few weeks. While some attendees have called out Republican members about President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s push to cut federal spending and reshape the federal government, others have angrily demanded Democratic lawmakers in Congress do more to stop them.

The town hall will stream live for Pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN connected TV, and mobile apps. The Town Hall will also be available On Demand beginning April 11 to pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN apps, and Cable Operator Platforms.

The Supreme Court is requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to “facilitate” the return of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador but stopped short in a ruling today of requiring the government to return him to the United States.

The high court said the administration must try to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who was deported on March 15. It said part of the lower court’s order requiring the government “effectuate” his return was unclear and needed further review.

The court did not give the administration a deadline for when Abrego Garcia should be returned.

Read more details here about the ruling.

CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed reporting to this post.

ICE deleted this post on X and a DHS spokesperson said it should not have been shared.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said today in a now-deleted post on X that stopping illegal “ideas” from crossing the border is among the agency’s responsibilities.

The post included a graphic that read:

This afternoon, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told CNN that the post “should not have been shared.”

“That post was sent without proper approval and should not have been shared,” McLaughlin said. “’Ideas,’” she added should have said “’intellectual property’” instead.

Replacement post: After the deletion, ICE later posted a graphic saying one of the agency’s responsibilities was to prevent “intellectual property” from crossing the border.

“Our job is to ensure people, money, products and intellectual property. DO NOT enter the U.S. illegally,” it said.

The post comes a day after the Department of Homeland Security announced it would scour the social media accounts of migrants for instances of antisemitism before deciding whether they receive visas or other immigration benefits.

The post was updated with information about the new ICE post on X.

As the United States and China engaged in tariff escalation, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry recently posted a video on X of former Chinese dictator Mao Zedong, warning that China would never back down to the US during the Korean War.

CNN’s Jim Scuitto explains what that post says about the current US-China trade war.

People walk through Columbia University campus on the first day of the new semester in New York City, on September 3, 2024.

The Trump administration is planning to pursue a consent decree for embattled Columbia University, legally binding the school to changes it agrees to make as it negotiates federal funding, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the strategy.

Under such an arrangement, a federal judge would ensure Columbia’s practices were in line with the federal government, according to the WSJ report. If the school does not abide, the judge could hold Columbia in contempt of court, which could result in fines and other penalties, the report said.

“The University remains in active dialogue with the Federal Government to restore its critical research funding,” a Columbia spokesperson told CNN when asked about the report.

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

This is the latest threat in the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Columbia.

Last month, Trump revoked $400 million in federal funding to the school over campus protests. In response, the school announced a series of new policies, including restrictions on demonstrations, new disciplinary procedures and immediately reviewing its Middle East curriculum.

A week later, Columbia’s interim President Dr. Katrina Armstrong quit. Armstrong had held the post since former university President Minouche Shafik, facing scrutiny for her handling of Columbia campus encampments protesting the war between Israel and Hamas, stepped down.

The Senate is expected to burn the midnight oil as the chamber works to confirm retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to be the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff .

The vote series to promote and ultimately confirm Caine is expected to occur into the early hours of Friday morning. Senate Democrats are refusing to allow Republicans to expedite the procedural process due to their simmering anger over the firing of former chairman C.Q. Brown earlier this year.

Trump immediately announced that Caine was his pick to replace Brown — an unorthodox move, given the fact that Caine was retired and is not yet a four-star general. The Senate is expected to confirm his promotion from Lt. General shortly before voting on his confirmation as Chairman.

However, Caine received bipartisan support from the Senate Armed Services Committee, with all but four committee Democrats voting to advance his nomination to the Senate floor.

A federal judge declined to halt the Trump administration’s new immigration registration requirements, which include expanded fingerprinting and registration mandates for foreign nationals, rejecting a request for intervention from immigrant advocacy groups.

Judge Trevor McFadden ruled today that the challengers had not shown the policy was harming them in a way that would make it appropriate for a court to get involved.

“As organizations, many of their harms are too speculative, and they have failed to show that the Rule will erode their core missions,” McFadden, a Trump appointee, wrote.

The ruling comes a day before the policy is set to take effect, delivering a significant setback to advocacy groups that had been fighting to block the administration’s sweeping immigration agenda.

Some background: The organizations, including Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles, CASA, Make the Road New York, and United Farm Workers, sued last month over the rule requiring noncitizens ages 14 and older to register with the government, submit biometric data and carry proof of registration — under threat of criminal penalties.

The interim final rule, announced March 12 and set to take effect tomorrow, bypasses public comment and revives broad registration measures not seen since World War II.

The challengers argue it violates the Administrative Procedure Act, creates confusion, and threatens civil liberties. They also warn of potential racial profiling, legal risks for immigrants and disruption of legal aid services.