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In today’s edition: Republicans react to Trump’s moves against USAID, and China pledges retaliatory ͏‌  ͏‌  ͏‌  ͏‌  ͏‌  ͏‌ 
 
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February 4, 2025
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Today in DC
A numbered map of Washington, DC/
  1. Muted GOP on USAID
  2. Tariff update
  3. Gabbard, RFK Jr. tests
  4. Trump’s FCC lawyer
  5. US sovereign wealth fund
  6. Tax activist speaks
  7. UAE welcomes Wright at DOE

PDB: Trump, Netanyahu to hold joint press conference

Senate to vote on VA nominee CollinsTrump to meet Japanese prime minister later this week … El Salvador offers to house criminals deported by US for a fee

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1

Republicans shrug at Trump’s USAID move

Democratic lawmakers attempt to gain access to the USAID offices.
Kent Nishimura/Reuters

Republicans aren’t backing away from using international aid as a bulwark against China. But they’re still not going to the mat over the Trump administration’s plan to move USAID into the State Department, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. Democrats are outraged, announcing tactics to slow down some Trump nominees and protesting downtown — but it’s falling on deaf ears. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., argued that “if it were Joe Biden doing it, they’d have a different answer.” He added that “there’s a role” for foreign aid, “but it needs to advance our policies and our objectives.” Still, some in the GOP were irked by the way it went down. “The law is very specific that if there’s going to be a reorganization of USAID that Congress has to be informed 15 days in advance,” said Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins.

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2

China retaliates against Trump tariffs

A chart showing US trade with China divided into exports and imports.

Trump’s trade war with Canada and Mexico is on pause — for now. The US president reached a deal with Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum to delay 25% tariffs for a month after Mexico agreed to send 10,000 troops to the US border to crack down on drug trafficking (Sheinbaum also said the US promised to counter weapons trafficking). Trump later agreed to shelve tariffs on Canadian goods after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged new steps to crack down on fentanyl and organized crime. Republicans sighed with relief, as did the markets, though that might be short-lived: Trump’s 10% tariff on Chinese goods took effect overnight, and Beijing immediately retaliated with tariffs on energy and agricultural imports, export controls on critical minerals, and an antitrust probe of Google. Some analysts described the moves as symbolic. Trump plans to talk to Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the coming days.

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3

Gabbard and Kennedy face committee tests

Tulsi Gabbard
Nathan Howard/Reuters

It’s a big day for Trump’s two embattled nominees. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faces a Finance Committee vote to be HHS secretary this morning. Everyone will be watching Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a doctor who’s wrestled with supporting Kennedy’s nomination over the latter’s skepticism of vaccines. He said on Monday evening that he spoke with Kennedy over the weekend but otherwise would “rather not talk about RFK.” Then there’s Tulsi Gabbard, tapped to be director of national intelligence, who picked up the support of Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins on Monday. She’ll face her Senate Intelligence Committee vote today, and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., is weighing his vote. He still has concerns and spoke to Vice President JD Vance and his colleagues over the weekend, according to a person familiar with the issue.

Burgess Everett

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Semafor Exclusive
4

Big tech critic heads to FCC

Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and others
Kenny Holston/Pool via Reuters

A big tech critic will take the top legal position at the Federal Communications Commission, Semafor’s Ben Smith and Shelby Talcott reported. Adam Candeub, an architect of a late effort in Trump’s first term to revoke legal protections for social media, will be general counsel of the agency, a sign it may be readying to go after tech leaders like Google and Meta. “Adam is a rare talent — he has fought fearlessly against Big Tech censorship and has had a successful career both as an effective telecom litigator and academic,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said. Candeub helmed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where he pressed the FCC to narrow the liability shield known as Section 230. That effort fizzled, but Candeub has expressed hope that Trump could revive it.

Read why Ben thinks appointments such as Candeub’s represent a loss for big tech CEOs jockeying for influence with Trump. →

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5

Doubts about US sovereign wealth fund

A chart showing the largest sovereig wealth funds by total assets in the world.

Donald Trump ordered the creation of a US sovereign wealth fund and suggested it could be used to buy TikTok. Sovereign wealth funds are most common in countries with state-owned oil assets, budget surpluses, and weak private sectors — none of which apply to the US. Economists warn that a US sovereign wealth fund could crowd out private investment and put Washington in the business of choosing winners and losers. The proposal likely needs approval from Congress, which may not embrace a fund that would circumvent its own power to set federal spending. “We’re going to monetize the asset side of the US balance sheet for the American people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. The US has about $5.6 trillion of assets, mostly things like student loans and real estate, but owes trillions more to creditors, employees, and benefits recipients.

Liz Hoffman

For more of Liz’s reporting and analysis, subscribe to Semafor Business. →

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Semafor Exclusive
6

Opponent of GOP tax plan: It’s not partisan

The US Capitol
Kaylee Greenlee Beal/Reuters

The executive director of a new advocacy group formed to counter Republicans’ still-unwritten tax plan is open to GOP allies — but hasn’t taken specific stances yet on big aspects of the debate. Michael Linden told Semafor that his group, which counts several big-name Democratic allies, is seeking support from anyone who thinks this year’s legislation on the expiring Trump tax cuts “should put working families first above billionaires.” The eight-figure nonprofit is backed by former Sen. Sherrod Brown, Rep. Pat Ryan, and former OMB director Shalanda Young. It plans to engage with voters via TV, radio, and social media and has partnered with labor unions and grassroots organizations. Linden declined to weigh in, however, on Trump’s proposals to eliminate taxes on tips and overtime, as well as the state and local tax deduction cap.

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Semafor Exclusive
7

Analysis: An era of ‘energy abundance’

A graphic showing the headshot of Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE’s minister of industry.

Chris Wright’s confirmation as energy secretary offers an opportunity for world powers to “reframe an energy narrative that has been far too negative for far too long,” the UAE’s minister of industry writes in a Semafor column. Sultan Al Jaber — also the CEO of the country’s state oil company, ADNOC, and the chair of Masdar, its state renewables firm — argued that growth in emerging markets, the transformation of the broader energy system, and the proliferation of artificial intelligence “all depend on greater access to energy,” and thus “the world needs to talk less about cancelling energy options and more about embracing energy diversity.” Wright’s confirmation by a 59-38 vote in the Senate Monday evening, he argued, was “a win for pragmatism,” and promised the UAE would work with Washington on delivering “energy abundance.”

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Views

Blindspot: Tariffs and real estate

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: Taiwan’s economic ministry announced plans to help firms impacted by the Trump administration’s tariffs relocate, including to the US.

What the Right isn’t reading: Extreme weather fueled by climate change could cost the US real estate market more than $1 trillion, according to a report from climate analytics firm First Street.

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PDB

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: The House Budget Committee won’t mark up a budget resolution this week to kick off the reconciliation process. There’s a chance now that the Senate could move before the House, but that would “be a real stunner.”

Playbook: “It’s the richest person in the world taking away from the poorest people in the world,” one USAID official said of President Trump’s efforts to shrink the agency. “People will die from this — like thousands, if not hundreds of thousands.”

WaPo: Republican lawmakers in the states are working to pass restrictive immigration laws in concert with Trump’s policies.

Axios: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit today is a chance for him to reset relations with Trump that at times grew icy. “A lot of time has passed and their relations have improved,” one US source said. “But Trump still does not like Bibi, does not trust Bibi, and has more sympathy for the Palestinians than one might think.”

White House

  • President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a joint press conference after their talks today. The two are set to discuss the path forward for the ceasefire in Gaza, with Netanyahu looking for guidance from Trump on the second phase of the deal. “I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold,” Trump told reporters Monday, sounding less than optimistic.
  • Trump administration officials are discussing an executive order to effectively shut down the Education Department. — WSJ
  • Trump hosted the Florida Panthers at the White House to celebrate their 2024 Stanley Cup win.
Donald Trump with the Florida Panthers
Leah Millis/Reuters

Transitions

  • President Trump is expected to announce former New York Rep. Marc Molinaro as his pick for the next federal transit administrator today, a source familiar with the planning tells Semafor’s Kadia Goba.

Congress

  • Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., urged the Commerce Department to tighten export controls on semiconductors to China in the wake of the DeepSeek artificial intelligence breakthrough. — WaPo
  • Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, vowed to place a hold on President Trump’s State Department nominees until he reverses efforts to gut USAID.

Economy

  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent became the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
  • The Indian government has made a “rapid series of concessions to the White House” in order to avert a trade war with the US. — Bloomberg

Courts

  • A federal judge signaled she would likely extend a pause on the White House’s federal funding freeze in order to weigh a lawsuit against it, despite the Office of Management and Budget rescinding the directive.
  • The Proud Boys can no longer legally use (or sell official merch using) their trademarked name, following a judgment in a case over vandalization of a Black church.

National Security

  • The US believes that Iranian scientists are exploring a “shortcut” to develop an atomic weapon faster. — NYT
  • Threats against members of Congress rose in 2024.

Foreign Policy

  • President Trump said he’s pursuing a deal that would see Ukraine offer access to rare earths resources in exchange for US military assistance in its war against Russia.
  • Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed support for the US boosting its military presence in Greenland.

Technology

  • Anthropic released a new artificial intelligence model whose safeguards it said were nearly impossible to bypass — and it remains unbroken despite 3,000 hours of public efforts to “jailbreak” it, including a $15,000 bounty for doing so.

Media

Rupert Murdoch and Larry Ellison
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
  • Rupert Murdoch and Oracle’s Larry Ellison were on hand in the Oval Office when President Trump signed the executive order to establish a sovereign wealth fund.
  • Trump won another round in his Okeechobee County, Fla. lawsuit against the Pulitzer Board, part of an effort to relitigate coverage of Russia and the 2016 election. A judge ruled that the board can’t limit discovery in part because “‘the Pulitzer Prize Board’ is not a legally cognizable entity that can be recognized by this Court.”
  • Joe Biden signed with CAA.

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

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One Good Text

Eugene Vindman is a Democratic congressman from Virginia. He rose to national prominence during Trump’s first impeachment.

Kadia Goba: What can Democrats do besides press conferences to save USAID? Rep. Eugene Vindman: The short answer is a lot. Congress has the power of the purse and you better believe we will use it. I also support my colleagues in the Senate who have vowed to hold up all cabinet nominations until USAID is restored. House Democrats will also act. Bottom line: this dismantling is illegal.
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Semafor Spotlight
A great read from Semafor Africa.
South Africa’s Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe. Esa Alexander/Reuters.

South Africa should prevent the US from accessing its minerals if Washington withdraws funding to the nation over its land expropriation policies, its mining minister said on Monday.

US President Donald Trump, in a social media post hours earlier, accused South Africa of “confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY” — referencing a law passed last month that allows land to be seized without compensation if deemed to be in the public interest — and added that he’d be “cutting off all future funding” to the country.

“If [the US] don’t give us money, let’s not give them minerals,” Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said at a conference in Cape Town.

For more on the continent, subscribe to Semafor’s Africa newsletter. →

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