Principals

1. Trump tames free-traders
2. Trump’s Qatar problem
3. Syria sanctions
4. GOP debates reconciliation
5. Senate eyes changes
6. Russia-Ukraine talks

PDB: Newark mayor’s arrest shakes up New Jersey governor’s race

NYT: Iran outlines novel path to nuclear deal… WaPo: Trump eased China tariffs after warnings they would hurt his voters … Dollar slips

How Republicans got comfy with tariffs

It’s hard to imagine a world where Republican free-traders would be comfortable with universal 10% tariffs and 30% tariffs on China — but it certainly helps that they were staring at levels several times higher just a few weeks ago, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. President Donald Trump’s strategy of imposing massive new levies, then backing off but leaving smaller ones in place, is helping to quiet some GOP critics of his trade strategy. “There’s a conditioning that’s taken place,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told Semafor, describing fellow Republicans as “getting more comfortable” with Trump’s position. The president paired his on-again-off-again strategy with a legislative one, moving to crush dissent among Republicans on Capitol Hill. Still, some are still smarting over the whole endeavor: One Republican senator called the trade regime “disastrous” and questioned what has been accomplished.

Trump’s Qatari plane parks itself in his way

Trump heads to Qatar today on the second leg of his Gulf tour with controversy brewing over his plans to accept Doha’s gift of a luxury aircraft. Trump isn’t going to be accepting a $400 million jet from Qatar just yet, but the plan is generating blowback among his allies in Washington. “I worry about the president of the United States flying on any plane owned by a foreign government, especially a foreign government that supports Hamas,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said. It’s not clear when Trump would be able to use the plane, given it would have to be outfitted to Air Force One standards. But Trump is used to making decisions that might irk some in his party, and others think the criticism is overblown: One person close to Trump told Semafor it’s all “much ado about nothing.”

— Shelby Talcott and Morgan Chalfant

Trump moves to lift Syria sanctions

The results of Trump’s Mideast tour have so far been substantial, including a $142 billion arms agreement with Saudi Arabia and tens of billions more in investment deals (though the White House seems to have exaggerated the total dollar amount). Perhaps the biggest announcement thus far is Trump’s promise to lift sanctions on Syria in order to “give them a chance at greatness.” Such a move would be significant for Syria’s new leaders, after rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December. Trump met with Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, today ahead of a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting — the first time US and Syrian leaders have met in a quarter century. The move to lift sanctions won Trump praise even from his critics, but is seen as a blow to Israel. Some hawkish Trump allies reacted tepidly; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. urged a cautious approach.

House GOP starts to advance tax bill

House Republicans began advancing the most contentious pieces of their tax bill Tuesday, even as they remain divided over the state and local tax deduction and other thorny issues. While the Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Agriculture chairs pushed ahead with marathon meetings —yes, they’re still going as we send this — others huddled on a possible SALT compromise. Some half-dozen battleground seat Republicans met with House Speaker Mike Johnson Tuesday evening to “see if there’s a number that we could get to,” Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., said after. “And if we don’t, I’m going to vote ‘no’ on the bill, and the bill likely won’t pass.” Johnson is optimistic for a deal today, but one member suggested consensus may not come until Monday. Meanwhile, Democrats sought to twist the knife. “It’s a fair bet that they’re not going to be able to get there,” Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., said.

— Eleanor Mueller and Kadia Goba

Senate to change Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

If the House passes its “big, beautiful bill,” Republican senators are already eyeing pretty significant changes. Several said on Tuesday they’d like to taper the phase-outs of some clean energy benefits — particularly coal capture and nuclear tax credits. “To have such a short window makes it difficult for investment to follow,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. Some senators also said they don’t love how the House approached Medicaid cuts. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she’s “inclined” to support the bill’s work requirements but worries that “the way provider taxes are treated would be very harmful to Maine’s hospitals.” And Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., predicted there could be some “headwinds” from incorporating Trump’s campaign promises, like cutting taxes on tips and overtime: “I’m OK with getting [those] done. I’m just not sure that we should use reconciliation to do it.”

— Burgess Everett

US officials join Ukraine peace talks

Top Trump administration officials will head to Turkey for Russia-Ukraine peace talks on Thursday, setting the stage for high-stakes discussions. The meeting will represent the first face-to-face talks between Russia and Ukraine since 2022, the year the war began. The big question is whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will show, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy challenged him to do so. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg will represent the US during talks, after Rubio attends a NATO summit in the country that will also partly focus on the war in Europe. In the meantime, European countries are preparing more sanctions to increase pressure on Russia.

Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller will sit down with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis for a timely editorial discussion about the future of innovation and regulation in the digital asset space. Join us on Wednesday, May 14, in Washington, DC. RSVP here.

Blindspot: McDonald’s and NIH

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: A Virginia McDonald’s blocked those under 21 from dining inside the restaurant, citing “student violence.”

What the Right isn’t reading: Democrats on the Senate HELP Committee accused the Trump administration of slashing $2.7 billion in National Institutes of Health research funding.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Minority Whip Katherine Clark met with Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., to rebuke him over his push for a vote on impeaching President Trump.

Playbook: A new poll finds that 61% of Democrats currently have a negative view of Elon Musk’s Tesla and only 17% view the car company positively; 51% of Republicans, meanwhile, view Tesla positively.

Axios: The $400 million jet Trump intends to accept as a gift from Qatar is worth “100 times more than every other presidential gift from a foreign nation combined since 2001.”

White House

• Vice President JD Vance paid a routine visit to the doctor.

Congress

• The Joint Committee on Taxation said House Republicans’ tax bill would cost $3.7 trillion over the next decade.
• Two additional staffers working for Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., have left his office. — Politico

Outside the Beltway

• The Trump administration froze an additional $450 million in grants to Harvard over what it said was a failure to address anti-Israeli bias and discrimination towards white people. — Harvard Crimson

Polls

• Sixty-four percent of Jewish voters disapprove of President Trump’s efforts to “combat antisemitism,” according to a poll conducted by GBAO Strategies for the Jewish Voters Resource Center, a new group chaired by former Democratic Rep. Ron Klein. Just over half say Trump himself is antisemitic, and three-quarters of respondents oppose Trump’s proposal to move Palestinians in Gaza to Arab countries, the poll found.

Business

• Citadel CEO Ken Griffin will loan his personal copies of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia for public viewing and made a $15 million donation.
• UnitedHealth Group replaced its CEO unexpectedly.

Transportation

• United Airlines is expecting a reduction in flights to and from Newark over the summer as the airport struggles with tech glitches.

Health

• The Trump administration rolled back some layoffs at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health — the agency that regulates masks and air quality, among other things, whose workforce had been slashed by more than 90%. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to face a House Appropriations grilling on the cuts today. — Politico

Economy

• US inflation eased unexpectedly in April, even as President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and other duties came into effect. Some analysts warned, however, that the duties are yet to be reflected in the data.

Campaigns

• Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg teased a 2028 presidential run.
• Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s arrest during a demonstration at an ICE detention center has shaken up the race for New Jersey governor, Semafor’s David Weigel reports.

Courts

• A Pennsylvania judge became the first to declare President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants legal, though she described the process to this point as “deficient” and demanded that the government give migrants it seeks to remove 21 days to challenge their deportations.
• The Milwaukee judge arrested for allegedly helping a migrant evade the immigration agents waiting outside her courtroom has been indicted.

National Security

• Ed Martin, the newly tapped head of the Justice Department’s anti-“weaponization” body, said he will “name and shame” people the DOJ is investigating, even if it can’t charge them with crimes.

Foreign Policy

• As part of a broader, temporary tariff truce, China will resume accepting Boeing deliveries.
• Israeli forces struck a hospital in Gaza, killing six people, in what they say was an attempt to target acting Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar. — CNN

Media

• Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong met with both President Trump and Mohammad bin Salman during Trump’s Saudi visit.

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

Elon Musk mingles during President Donald Trump’s Riyadh stop.

Despite covering energy markets for nearly two decades, I’d never been to Houston. Last month, I took the 17-hour flight from Dubai and made my rounds with dozens of investors and drillers in the shale patch. Most volunteered they voted for Donald Trump — and in the same breath expressed disappointment with his policies that are making it harder to boost US oil production.

The contradiction was clear from the start: Trump wants lower oil prices while simultaneously growing domestic output, Semafor’s Amena Bakr wrote.