Principals

1. US tariffs rattle markets
2. Trading partners react
3. Trump keeps grip on party
4. Senate lines up budget
5. TikTok offers
6. Abbott stalls on special
7. Wisconsin lessons

PDB: More Americans worry about the economy

Trump attends LIV Golf dinner … US auto tariffs take effect … Hungary to withdraw from ICC

Trump tariffs rattle markets

President Donald Trump’s expansive tariff announcement, which combines a baseline 10% tariff on all imports and higher levels on specific countries, reverberated through global markets. US stocks dropped in after-hours trading, while markets in Asia plunged. The dollar also weakened. Trump moved forward with the levies — which included duties of 34% on China, 46% on Vietnam, 26% on India, 24% on Japan and 20% on EU — despite warnings about their effects on US consumers, who now stand to pay broadly higher prices (even if a few specific goods, like semiconductors and steel, got carve-outs). “Stuff is going to get a lot more expensive really fast,” said Semafor’s Liz Hoffman. The 10% tariff takes effect on April 6, while the higher levies go into force on April 9 — leaving some time for possible negotiation.

The world reacts to Trump’s tariffs

America’s main trading partners responded quickly to the tariff announcement: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen vowed to retaliate, although she added that “it is not too late to address concerns through negotiations.” Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he was “extremely disappointed,” while China’s commerce ministry warned that the duties “endanger global economic development.” Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told business leaders at his Downing Street office the country would keep a “cool head” in talks with its key transatlantic ally. And an official from India’s commerce ministry told The Times of India that the steep 26% reciprocal tariffs were “a mixed bag and not a setback.”

How Trump is keeping his party in line

Things look sticky for Trump this week: A bipartisan rebuke of his Canada tariffs, a still slow-moving agenda and a high-profile election loss in Wisconsin. And yet, the political support he has in his party seems firmer than ever, Semafor’s Burgess Everett, Eleanor Mueller and Shelby Talcott report. He helped Senate GOP leaders get the 50 votes they need to advance his agenda later this week after committing to working on spending cuts, and is facing less pushback than one might expect on new tariffs, even if four Republicans broke with his party to vote to stop levies on Canada. “I’ve got my issues. I represent a state that’s very dependent upon exports, so that’s always a consideration,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune after the tariff announcement. “I’m willing to give them some room to negotiate this.”

Senate GOP presses ahead with budget plan

The Senate today kicks off consideration of the GOP’s latest budget proposal, after Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Republicans to move quickly. “It’s ready to go,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told reporters as he left Bessent’s closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans on Wednesday. “Back to the House, end of this week,” Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said. Thune said he plans to schedule a procedural vote today on the blueprint, which would pave the way for Republicans to enact Trump’s ambitious tax agenda (though some key differences between the House and Senate, like the depth of spending cuts, remain unresolved). The subsequent vote-a-rama — the marathon process of considering the unlimited amendments senators can offer to budget measures — will likely take place Friday and Saturday, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told reporters: “There’s a good chance we’ll work for the weekend.”

— Eleanor Mueller

White House weighs TikTok offers

The Trump administration is circling offers to keep TikTok alive in the US ahead of a Saturday deadline. Administration officials are discussing a deal that would let ByteDance maintain ownership of TikTok’s algorithm but lease it to outside investors running TikTok in the US, according to The Washington Post. Meanwhile, other firms have reportedly made last-minute offers, including Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, mobile tech company AppLovin, and a group led by a startup run by the founder of OnlyFans. Trump could try to extend the deadline — which was already legally dubious — but was optimistic a deal would come together earlier this week. The overarching question is whether the solution will satisfy the federal law that requires China-based ByteDance sell TikTok to avoid a US ban — and what Republicans in Congress will do if it doesn’t.

Abbott helps out House GOP

House Republicans’ slim majority has the Texas governor hitting pause on filling a vacancy. GOP Gov. Greg Abbott blew past the deadline to trigger a May 3 special election to replace Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Texas, who died last month. Republican members of the delegation are just fine with it. “I respect his judgment,” Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, said. Abbott has the authority to call an emergency election in the deep-blue Houston district but could stall until November, handing Republicans a slight edge towards holding the chamber. The delay has Democrats ratcheting up their attacks on Abbott. “It’s clearly designed to prop up House Republicans’ thin majority here so that they can push forward with these reckless tax cuts for the richest Americans in the country, ” Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse, a member of House Democratic leadership, said.

— Kadia Goba

How Democrats won in Wisconsin

Republicans hit their ambitious turnout targets in Wisconsin’s special election Tuesday, reaching out to 2024 Trump voters en masse with an extensive (and expensive) campaign to retake the majority on the state supreme court. That wasn’t enough. Democrats shattered their own turnout records by an even greater margin, Semafor’s David Weigel wrote: Incumbent Susan Crawford ran 280,000 votes ahead of Janet Protasiewicz, the 2023 candidate that flipped the court for Democrats. It was a pattern in other races Tuesday, as well: two Democratic mayors prevailed in Illinois, and in Florida, Republicans won a pair of deep-red House seats with a smaller margin than expected. “Their base is ginned up,” Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, of Democrats. “They’re over-the-top upset that Donald Trump won, and this is the kind of way they’re lashing out and responding.”

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear will join top global leaders at Semafor’s 2025 World Economy Summit, taking place April 23-25, 2025, in Washington DC. As the first major gathering since the new US administration took office, the summit will feature on-the-record discussions with 100+ CEOs.

Bringing together leaders from both the public and private sectors — including congressional leaders and global finance ministers — the three-day summit will explore the forces shaping the global economy and geopolitics. Across twelve sessions, it will foster transformative, news-making conversations on how the world’s decision-makers are tackling economic growth in increasingly uncertain times.

April 23-25 | Washington, DC | Learn More

Blindspot: Hunter Biden and health layoffs

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: Hunter Biden agreed to give up his law license because of his criminal record.

What the Right isn’t reading: The Department of Health and Human Services laid off all of the staff responsible for a federal utility assistance program.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso plans to push for making the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent in a Senate floor speech today. “By making the tax cuts permanent, businesses and families will get the stability and certainty they need to thrive,” he will say.

Playbook: New York City Mayor Eric Adams is quitting the Democratic primary in the mayoral race, and instead plans to run for reelection as an independent.

WaPo: The progressive group Swing Left is launching a new campaign to help Democrats flip the House.

White House

• The deferred resignation program is back at some federal agencies.

Congress

• House Speaker Mike Johnson swore in two new Republican members from Florida, Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine.

Outside the Beltway

• Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is running for governor in California. — Politico
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized GOP Rep.-elect Randy Fine as a “squish.”

Polls

• Sixty percent of Americans report being worried “a great deal” about the economy, up eight percentage points since last year, according to new Gallup polling. More people are also concerned about Social Security and health care, the polling found, while fewer report anxiety over immigration and crime.

Business

• A group of high-profile CEOs, including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Pfizer’s Albert Bourla, met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to plead for President Trump to call off the tariffs, but Lutnick was unmoved. — WaPo
• Elon Musk’s Tesla reported a 13% drop in sales in the first quarter of 2025 (the steepest drop in the company’s history).
• Lawyers have been quitting high-powered firms Paul Weiss and Skadden over the deals they’ve made with the Trump administration. — NYT

Education

• The University of Austin, a private conservative college, will automatically admit students who score well enough on standardized tests.

Economy

• Private companies added more jobs than anticipated last month, lessening fears of an economic slowdown.

Courts

• A federal judge in New York dismissed Mayor Eric Adams’ corruption case, and didn’t leave open the possibility for the Justice Department to refile the charges.
• The Supreme Court upheld an FDA ban on flavored vapes.

National Security

• Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is planning to introduce articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and CIA Director John Ratcliffe over their use of Signal to plan military operations. — Axios
• Waltz’s staff set up at least 20 Signal chats to discuss US policy, including conflict zones like Gaza and Ukraine. — Politico

Foreign Policy

• Though it generated less fanfare than the new tariffs, the White House also announced plans to kill the de minimis rule, a regulatory quirk that e-commerce brands like Shein and Temu use to avoid taxes on cheap goods, on May 2.
• The announced list of tariffs included a 10% levy on Heard Island and the McDonald Islands — which are uninhabited.
• The State Department temporarily lifted visa restrictions on Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev to allow him to meet with envoy Steve Witkoff in Washington. — CNN
• China imposed new restrictions on local companies that prevent them from investing in the US. — Bloomberg

Technology

• Three well-known sites that help users avoid paywalls mysteriously redirected users to Russian state-controlled international media outlet RT’s website for at least five days, Semafor’s Brendan Ruberry and Mizy Clifton report.
• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is lobbying the White House, hoping to settle his company’s looming antitrust case over its acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. — WSJ

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

And Graph Massara, copy editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Yassamin Ansari is a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona.