April 6, 2025 - Donald Trump presidency news

Our live coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.

A display shows the sharp decline in the Nikkei average stock price in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, Monday.

Asian markets plunged on Monday, deepening a global stocks rout triggered by President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei fell by more than 8% shortly after opening. The share average, which tracks 225 of the country’s most valuable companies, has fallen below the 33,000 level for the first time since August 2024, according to Reuters.

South Korea’s Kospi tumbled more than 4.8% shortly after opening. Trading was halted for five minutes when a circuit breaker designed to prevent panic selling was triggered.

Taiwan’s Taiex plummeted more than 9.7% after opening. In Australia, the benchmark ASX 200 index fell as much 6.3% in morning trade, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 lost more 3.5%.

Asian markets are tracking the worst two-day stretch for Wall Street stocks in five years. US stock futures plunged Sunday evening after two sessions of sell-offs that wiped away over $5.4 trillion in market value.

President Donald Trump expressed support on Sunday for sending imprisoned US nationals to El Salvador, an unprecedented move that would face significant legal pushback.

“I’d love that,” he said when asked by reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One about a proposal from El Salvador’s president to house convicted US citizens in the country’s high-security mega prison.

“We have some horrible criminals, American grown and born,” he added. “I think if we could get El Salvador or somebody to take them, I’d be very happy with it, but I have to see what the law says.”

Some context: Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed in February that El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, had offered to house “dangerous American criminals” in the country’s jails. Bukele later said that El Salvador is willing to take “in only convicted criminals (including convicted US citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee.”

CNN reported at the time that any effort by the Trump administration to deport incarcerated US nationals to another country would face significant legal pushback.

“The US is absolutely prohibited from deporting US citizens, whether they are incarcerated or not,” Leti Volpp, a professor at UC Berkeley who specializes in immigration law and citizenship theory, told CNN over email.

As part of a deal with El Salvador, the US has been deporting immigrants accused of crimes to the country, where they are being housed in the notorious mega prison.

President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday.

President Donald Trump said Sunday he has been fielding calls on tariffs over the weekend from tech executives and world leaders, who are “being very nice”

Trump’s comments come as stock futures are tumbling ahead of Monday’s opening bell, setting the stage for another week of volatility — after two sessions of sell-offs that wiped away more than $5.4 trillion in market value.

The president, who has long fashioned himself a dealmaker, has left the door open to cutting tariff deals with countries. More than 50 countries have approached the White House to talk about lowering tariffs in the aftermath of Trump’s announcement last week, officials said Sunday.

The president also dismissed any suggestion that he purposely crashed the markets, though he declined to predict what would happen going forward.

“What’s going to happen with the market? I can’t tell you, but I can tell you, our country has gotten a lot stronger, and eventually it’ll be a country like no other,” he said.

CNN’s Betsy Klein and Aleena Fayaz contributed to this report.

After unveiling sweeping new tariffs last week that sent markets tumbling, President Donald Trump spent the weekend golfing in South Florida.

On Monday, the president is back in Washington, where he’s slated to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a global trade war intensifies.

Here’s what’s on Trump’s agenda tomorrow:

Meeting with Netanyahu: Trump will meet at the White House with the Israeli prime minister, who has said the two will discuss “the hostages, completing the victory in Gaza, and of course the tariff regime that has also been imposed on Israel.”

The pair will hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. ET, the White House said. Netanyahu previously met with Trump in February, weeks after the president took office.

Netanyahu’s visit to the US notably comes as the Trump administration slapped 17% tariffs on Israel as part of the president’s so-called Liberation Day. CNN has reported that Trump is actively negotiating with Israel — among other countries — on a bespoke trade deal, according to a senior adviser.

The two leaders will discuss tariffs, efforts to return hostages from Gaza, Israeli-Turkish relations and Iran, the Israeli prime minister’s office said.

Welcoming the Los Angeles Dodgers: The president is also expected to the 2024 World Series Champions to the White House at 11 a.m. ET.

The Dodgers accepted the president’s invitation in late March, maintaining a long-standing tradition of sports champions meeting the president.

CNN’s Betsy Klein, Lauren Izso and Ben Church contributed to this report.

People walk by the New York Stock Exchange in New York last Wednesday.

As the markets have rejected President Donald Trump’s massive tariffs, some of which went into effect Saturday morning, US stock futures declined sharply Sunday evening.

After two sessions of sell-offs that wiped away over $5.4 trillion in market value, Dow futures were down 1,500 points, or 4%. S&P 500 futures plunged 4.3%, while Nasdaq futures tumbled 4.7%.

Stocks were set to open sharply lower Monday, putting the S&P 500 on the precipice of a bear market — a decline of 20% from its peak and an ominous sign for investors and perhaps the broader economy.

The massive declines in futures follow the worst two-day stretch for stocks since March 2020, during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some context: Trump last week announced tariffs of at least 10% across all countries, with rates going even higher for 60 countries deemed the “worst offenders.” The universal 10% rate went into effect Saturday, while the customized rates will take effect Wednesday.

The Trump administration has wielded its immigration authority to cancel the visas of hundreds of international students in the US, part of President Donald Trump’s broader assault on top universities.

In some high-profile cases, the federal government has justified the revoked visas as a matter of national security or cracking down on antisemitism. Trump critics and some legal experts fear immigration powers are being used liberally in these cases to clamp down on dissent.

In other instances, the reason for revoking visas is not immediately clear — including to the schools the students attend.

Here are some of the latest developments on this ongoing story:

Universities seek an explanation: The American Council on Education sent a letter Friday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem requesting a briefing on visa revocations.

Mitchell said his organization, which is composed of more than 1,600 US colleges and universities, needs clarity amid reports that visas are being revoked and records terminated “without additional information being shared with the institutions those students attend.”

The letter was signed by additional higher education advocacy groups.

Harvard University: Harvard announced today that three students and two recent graduates had their visas revoked.

The school’s international office said it was “not aware of the details of the revocations or the reasons for them” but acknowledged similar incidents around the country. The school said it notified the students and directed them to legal resources.

University of California, Los Angeles: The federal government has also revoked the visas of six current and six former UCLA international students, according to campus officials.

“The termination notices indicate that all terminations were due to violations of the terms of the individuals’ visa programs,” Chancellor Julio Frenk wrote in a letter. “At this time, UCLA is not aware of any federal law enforcement activity on campus related to these terminations.”

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrived in West Texas on Sunday after a school-aged child died at a local hospital where they were receiving treatment for measles — marking the second death of a minor in the state linked to the outbreak.

Kennedy, an anti-vaccine advocate who has faced criticism for his agency’s response to the outbreak, said toward the end of his post that “The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine,” referring to the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

“We are deeply saddened to report that a school-aged child who was recently diagnosed with measles has passed away,” Aaron Davis, vice president of UMC Health System in Lubbock, told CNN in a statement. “The child was receiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized.”

“It is important to note that the child was not vaccinated against measles and had no known underlying health conditions,” he continued.

CNN did not immediately hear back from inquiries sent to the Texas Department of Health and the US Department of Health and Human Services.

After President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced sweeping tariffs on imports to the United States from more than 180 countries and territories, one territory became the subject of memes and punchlines.

Heard Island and McDonald Islands, which is an Australian territory near Antarctica, doesn’t have a human population and is solely inhabited by penguins.

“Yeah, we put a 10% tariff on an island that only has penguins? Trump would have been better off tariffing that island Tom Hanks got stranded on,” joked Michael Kosta on “The Daily Show.”

On Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained on CBS’ “Face the Nation” why the islands were included in the tariffs.

Some have speculated the Trump administration may have used artificial intelligence to generate the list of countries that would face tariffs, which Lutnick denied while noting many countries weren’t included on the list.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at the Justice Department in Washington, DC on March 14.

Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized lawsuits challenging President Donald Trump’s policies and executive orders, saying that judges have a “tremendous amount of power.”

The attorney general’s comments come as Trump and his allies, including Elon Musk, have been calling for weeks to impeach judges amid a slew of preliminary rulings against the administration. Trump’s rhetoric opposing the judiciary has been far more aggressive than during his first term, and the administration’s approach has raised fears of a constitutional crisis.

Bondi said Sunday that injunctions from judges are “popping up every single day trying to control his executive power, trying to control where he believes our tax dollars should be allocated.”

“It’s basically a game of whack-a-mole with these district court judges around the country who have a tremendous amount of power. They believe they do, but that’s why we’re appealing all of these cases, of course, up to the Supreme Court,” Bondi said.

The attorney general said Trump will “comply with the law” when asked whether the president would follow past and future Supreme Court orders.

President Donald Trump arrives at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida on Saturday.

Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California called images of President Donald Trump golfing in Florida as his trade policy roils the global economy “the most enduring image of the Trump presidency.”

The president’s Wednesday tariffs announcement sent markets tumbling, with the Dow closing in correction by Friday, down more than 10% from its record high in December.

The president has spent the days since his announcement at his South Florida golf properties, and in a remarkable statement shared with reporters underscoring the split-screen moment at play, the White House announced yesterday that Trump had won his golf game and will play again today.

Schiff said that if the US enters a recession, it will be known as “the Trump recession … He will completely own it. This is a completely self-destructive economic act that he’s engaged in.”

Schiff added that maybe the treasury secretary and the president are not concerned about retirement savings because they’re wealthy, “But what I’m hearing from Californians is those that have just retired, those who are on the eve of retiring, they’re terrified of this.”

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks in London on March 20.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with key European leaders by phone today, telling them the continent has entered a “new era for the global economy” in light of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to a Downing Street news release.

Starmer’s calls included European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, the release said.

While Starmer is “disappointed” by the new tariffs, he urged calm, while “preparing for all eventualities,” the news release said. That echoes previous statements from the UK’s leader on Trump’s tariffs.

Some context: Trump’s relationship with key European allies has already been strained by his approach to negotiations on the war in Ukraine.

Now the European Union is preparing countermeasures to his tariffs, with von der Leyen saying last week that the trade war would deal a “major blow to the world economy.”

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell says bipartisan momentum behind her bill requiring congressional approval for new tariffs “shows the anxiety that people have” about President Donald Trump’s newly announced trade policies.

The Washington lawmaker, along with GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, introduced a bill Thursday that would require presidents to justify new tariffs to Congress. Lawmakers would have to approve them within 60 days or they would expire.

Cantwell said lawmakers are hearing from a “big segment of the economy,” including consumer groups and retailers, who are “very anxious” and looking for congressional action.

GOP Rep. Don Bacon, who plans to introduce a companion bill in the House on Monday, said he has “some beginning support” from his colleagues, but acknowledged, “it will be harder to pass this in the House, no doubt.”

The Nebraska Republican said he thinks if the bipartisan bill passes in the Senate, then it will put “pressure” on the House to take up his legislation.

GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska called President Donald Trump’s firing of several members of his National Security Council staff a “heartbreaking” decision that hurts the country.

Trump announced the firings after meeting with far-right activist Laura Loomer, who had advocated for their dismissal, CNN previously reported. Despite the timing of the decision, Trump has said Loomer was not involved in the firings.

Among those fired was National Security Agency Director Gen. Timothy Haugh, who Bacon described as “the absolute best leader in the US military to lead cyber command and the National Security Agency.”

Bacon said that just because Trump had the right to fire them, it does not “make it appropriate or OK.”

Bacon said he has a “responsibility to make clear this was wrong,” especially if the firings are part of a larger plan to put someone of Trump’s choosing at the top of the NSA.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a town hall event on March 14, in Des Moines, Iowa.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says that when he criticizes his party’s strategy against Donald Trump in 2024, “I’m criticizing myself.”

“I own this. I’m part of the ticket, and somebody has to come up with a strategy,” the former Democratic vice presidential nominee told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” today.

Walz said his party must now address a “structural problem,” acknowledging that a general election voter base will be more challenging to win over than those who participate in special elections, where Democrats have recently seen encouraging signs.

Months after losing the 2024 election, Walz has embarked on a tour of areas where Democrats lost, including in red states, to reach out to voters.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Kamala Harris has made her most direct comments about Trump’s actions in his second term, saying at an event last week they were largely predictable. “I’m not here to say I told you so,” she added, in a moment shared widely on social media.

Walz said he thinks his former running mate was making the point that “it was pretty self-evident that (Trump) was going to do that,” and the challenge that Democrats face now is “a structural problem that’s going to take a lot more thinking.”

What other Democrats are saying: Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, whose marathon Senate floor speech last week drew plaudits from fellow Democrats, said in an interview today that the party has to correct mistakes it made in the lead-up to the 2024 election.

“The Democratic Party should own up: We partly laid this pathway for this demagogue to come into office,” Booker said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Booker said the Democrats’ biggest mistake was “not centering people enough,” and called on candidates to center their focus on American voices and people — not politics.

President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump and top administration officials have offered mixed messaging on whether his sweeping tariffs are permanent or open for negotiation.

On Thursday afternoon, Trump said countries were already coming to him looking to make deals, suggesting he was open to negotiating with foreign leaders. But he struck a different tone Friday, writing in a message to foreign investors on social media that his “policies will never change.”

Top Trump officials haven’t offered further clarity in TV appearances today:

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett: Hassett said “more than 50 countries” have reached out to the US to try and negotiate tariff deals.

Hassett said on ABC’s “This Week” that the countries are reaching out “because they understand that they bear a lot of the tariff.”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick: Asked on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” about the claim 50 countries have reached out, Lutnick would not say whether the White House is actually open to negotiation.

Lutnick echoed Hassett in saying the outreach from foreign officials shows “these countries know that they’ve been ripping us off.”

Pressed repeatedly, Lutnick would not say whether Trump’s 10% blanket tariffs were permanent. He did indicate Trump will not postpone the additional, steeper tariffs set to go into effect this week.

Trade adviser Peter Navarro: In a Fox News interview, Navarro said “this is not a negotiation” — but also that Trump is always “willing to listen” when other countries call.

“It’s the non-tariff cheating that matters the most, and when they want to talk to us, come talk to us about that,” Navarro said, alluding to non-trade barriers in the global economy that have drawn Trump’s ire.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins: Pressed repeatedly by CNN’s Jake Tapper, Rollins was unable to clearly state whether the tariffs are here to stay or if there is room for negotiation.

“We’re two business days into this new American order. So I think we have a lot to be determined,” she said.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

A federal district judge has denied the Trump administration’s motion to pause an order she issued late last week to return a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month.

On Friday, Judge Paula Xinis of the US District Court in Maryland directed the federal government to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, to the US no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday. The Trump administration appealed that ruling.

Xinis responded in a filing Sunday, further laying out her reasoning for the decision and saying her order “remains in full force and effect.”

The Trump administration has also filed an emergency motion in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to block the order.

DOJ lawyer on leave: A government immigration lawyer has been placed on leave after expressing frustration in court with the government over the deportation of Garcia.

Attorney General Pam Bondi pointed to a memo she issued earlier this year when asked to explain the decision today on “Fox News Sunday.”

“I firmly said on day one, I issued a memo, that you are to vigorously advocate on behalf of the United States. Our client in this matter was Homeland Security, is Homeland Security. He did not argue. He shouldn’t have taken the case. He shouldn’t have argued it if that’s what he was gonna do,” she said.

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed concerns about stock market losses in the wake of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

The stock market plunged this week as recession fears grow globally.

Pressed on whether Americans will face a recession due to the president’s tariff policies, Bessent told NBC’s Kristen Welker he rejected that assumption.

Some context: The treasury secretary’s comments come as many economists across the political spectrum express concerns about the impact of the tariffs. Goldman Sachs analysts said last week that economic growth driven by Trump’s fiscal policies would not be able to make up for the damage done by his massive tariff plan.

Bessent’s remarks echoed those by top Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro today, who urged investors “not to panic.”

A top Trump trade adviser urged American investors to “sit tight” and “not to panic” after markets spiraled due to President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, predicting an eventual “broad-based recovery.”

“We are going to have the biggest boom in the stock market we’ve ever seen under the Trump policies,” Navarro said.

On negotiating with other countries: CNN has reported that Trump officials are in active discussions with Israel, Vietnam and India about potential bespoke trade deals. But asked about the possibility of striking deals to lift tariffs, Navarro said the administration wasn’t negotiating.

“This is not a negotiation. This is a national emergency based on a trade deficit that’s gotten out of control because of cheating,” he said.

While Trump is “willing to listen,” the adviser told other countries, “Don’t say you want to lower the tariffs and be done with it. … It’s the non-tariff cheating that matters the most, and when they want to talk to us, come talk to us about that.”

Some context: Navarro’s comments reflect the administration’s approach to calculating Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs: Rather than matching the taxes placed on US exports to each country, it has aimed to close trade deficits and address non-trade barriers that it deems unfair.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks to reporters in Washington, DC on March 26.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins heralded President Donald Trump’s tariffs as a “new American economic plan” today, downplaying the uncertainty and extreme market volatility caused by the president’s trade policy.

In an interview on “State of the Union” with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Rollins predicted a “really positive outcome” from the president’s tariffs in “short order.”

More than 50 countries, she said, have come to the table “willing and desperate to talk to us.”

But pressed repeatedly by Tapper, Rollins was unable to clearly state whether the tariffs are here to stay or if there is room for negotiation with those countries.

“We’re two business days into this new American order. So I think we have a lot to be determined,” she said.

Rollins said markets are still “adjusting,” after major sell-offs Thursday and Friday deepened concerns of a potential global recession.

She also defended the administration’s calculation of the tariffs, which have come under fire from conservative think tanks and others.

“I have 100% faith in the formulas that they used and how they came up with these numbers,” she said of Trump and his top economic advisers.

Rollins dismissed serious questions on why the administration placed tariffs on Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, which have zero human inhabitants and no imports or exports.

The agriculture secretary also indicated there could be future support for farmers impacted by the tariffs, saying she’ll work with lawmakers to secure funding similar to efforts to offset tariffs during Trump’s first administration.