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Trump reversed his position on tariffs again, saying in a post to Truth Social that after speaking with Mexico's president, he would issue an exemption on tariffs for most goods coming into the U.S. from Mexico.

Trump added that the tariff reprieve would last until April 2.

"Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl," Trump added. "Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!"

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, again criticized DOGE after saying she met with Alaskan USAID employees this week.

"They not only informed me of the confusing and callous handling of personnel matters by OPM and DOGE, but they also painted an incredibly troubling picture of what the world looks like without humanitarian assistance from the United States," she wrote in a post to X.

"Although I support measures to find inefficiencies within the agency, USAID’s mission to keep people healthy and safe in even the most remote corners of the world should not be eliminated," she continued.

Murkowski previously criticized DOGE's handling of government cuts. The administration and DOGE have zeroed in on USAID, hitting the agency with steep cuts.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested new action is coming from Trump to issue exemptions to the sweeping 25% tariffs he imposed Tuesday on most goods imported into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada.

No official decision has been made, but Lutnick said on CNBC that he was expecting an announcement later today on a broad exemption thatwould apply to goods compliant with the USMCA trade deal reached during Trump’s first term.

The commerce secretary said the exemption would last for one month and that additional tariffs would come on April 2, when Trump has said he will unveil a broad swath of reciprocal tariffs.

“My expectation is the president will come to the agreement today, and hopefully we will announce this today, that USMCA-compliant goods will not have a tariff over the next month until April,” Lutnick said in an interview today on CNBC.

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U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols of Washington, D.C., has denied a motion for a temporary restraining order brought by a group representing contractors working with USAID that is seeking to halt the Trump administration's efforts to gut the agency.

Nichols, appointed by Trump, agreed with the government, saying that this was a contract dispute, not a dispute over constitutional powers, as the plaintiffs had claimed. He said the plaintiffs’ injuries are directly connected to a disruption in contracts, adding that this case lacks jurisdiction.

The plaintiffs had requested that the contractors be returned to the terms and conditions of employment they had; the authorization for contractors to resume and continue the work they were previously performing; the reversal of the termination of contract notices sent to contractors; and the restoration contractors' access to U.S. government facilities, security, email, computer and communications systems, while the case played out.

This comes as the Trump administration and plaintiffs submitted a joint status report this morning in a similar case involving USAID contracts, with a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled in the case this afternoon before Judge Amir H. Ali in Washington, D.C.

The CIA has started to fire some recently hired officers, as the Trump administration’s effort to quickly slash the federal workforce has moved to the spy agency, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Some employees received word that they would be let go this week, the sources said. The officers were instructed to report to a location away from the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where they were told to hand over their credentials, the sources said.

It remained unclear how many intelligence officers would be sacked.

Read the full storyhere.

The decision by Canadian provinces to pull American liquor from store shelves is “worse than a tariff” and a “disproportionate response” to the 25% tariff on Canadian imports imposed by the Trump administration, the chief executive of the maker of Jack Daniel’s said.

Provincial governments across Canada, which control liquor sales, have said they will stop buying U.S. liquor products in protest of the U.S. tariff, which took effect on Tuesday. Canada immediately retaliated by imposing its own tariffs of up to 25% on some U.S. goods.

“A lot of American-made products have come off the shelves in Canada, which is tough. I mean, that’s worse than a tariff, because it’s literally taking your sales away,” Lawson Whiting, chief executive of Brown-Forman, said yesterday on an earnings call.

Whiting said the company would be able to withstand the boycott as Canada accounts for only about 1% of its sales.

“It’s disappointing that some of our consumers aren’t going to be able to get our bottles of Jack Daniel’s up there because it’s a big brand in Canada and popular,” he said. “But we will see how this plays out.”

President Donald Trump is considering a major change to the U.S.’ participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to three current and former senior U.S. officials and one congressional official.

Trump has discussed with aides the possibility of calibrating America’s NATO engagement in a way that favors members of the alliance that spend a set percentage of their gross domestic product on defense, the officials said.

As part of the potential policy shift, the U.S. might not defend a fellow NATO member that is attacked if the country doesn’t meet the defense spending threshold, the officials said. If Trump does make that change, it would mark a significant shift away from a core tenet of the alliance known as Article 5, that an attack on any NATO country is an attack on all of them.

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As Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., finished reading the censure to Rep. Al Green, several Republicans yelled “order” at the Congressional Black Caucus members who were singing “We Shall Overcome.”

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, started yelling “Shame on you” back at Republicans, including Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., who was seated in the front row.

Johnson called the House to order and told the Democrats to clear the well, which they did not. He then recessed the House.

The Republican-controlled House today voted to censure Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday.

The vote was 224-198, with 10 Democrats joining all Republicans in voting in favor of the censure resolution. Green voted present. As the vote proceeded, Green sat by himself along the center aisle.

Following the vote, Green will need to stand in the well of the House chamber while Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., reads the censure resolution to him. Starting in Trump’s first term, Green, an outspoken progressive, has repeatedly introduced resolutions to impeach Trump, and has threatened to do so again this year.

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The Social Security Administration wrote in an email this morning that employees can no longer read news websites on work devices.

“SSA is implementing additional restrictions to the categories of websites prohibited from government-furnished equipment,” the email, obtained by NBC News, began. “Effective today, March 6, 2025, the categories include: Online shopping, General News; and Sports.”

The email added that employees can request exceptions from their supervisor.

“These additional restrictions will help reduce risk and better protect the sensitive information entrusted to us in our many systems,” the email added.

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Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, a White House aide during Trump’s first term, grew “uncomfortable” with his former boss’ campaign last year, particularly when Trump raised baseless claims of Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, according to a forthcoming book.

After Trump announced his intention to visit the city, Miller was among the Republicans who urged him not to, Axios reporter Alex Isenstadt writes in “Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power,” an excerpt of which was shared with NBC News.

Miller is a long-time Trump ally, having worked in several high-level White House positions. Trump also recruited him to run for Congress in 2022, in what started as a mission to defeat then-Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, a Republican who had voted to impeach Trump. (Gonzalez opted not to seek re-election.)

But Miller had concerns that a Springfield trip “would be a political disaster” and was “privately infuriated” over Trump’s rhetoric, Isenstadt writes in the book, scheduled to be released March 18.

Trump never went to Springfield. Isenstadt writes that campaign officials instead scheduled visits to other cities Trump had cast as “war zones,” including Aurora, Colorado.

In a phone interview today with NBC News, Miller acknowledged voicing his concerns directly to Trump and to co-campaign manager, Susie Wiles.

“I made the point that they were not eating cats and dogs,” Miller said. “I said that I would let it cool down — ‘There’s no need to go, you’re going to win Ohio by a lot, now’s not the time.’”

Trump won Ohio by 11 points.

The Springfield story became central to the 2024 campaign after Trump’s running mate, then-Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, amplified the unsubstantiated accounts of Haitians eating pets — a conspiracy theory that matriculated from right-wing websites to mainstream social media. Trump then repeated the stories at a debate with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Miller “was uncomfortable with where the campaign was heading, having privately lobbied Trump against picking Vance for VP,” Isenstadt writes in the book. “During a private discussion with a fellow Jewish Republican, he likened the attacks on Haitians to the ‘target[ing]’ of Jews.”

The president of Panama accused Trump of lying again after he told Congress that the U.S. is “reclaiming” the Panama Canal.

Trump’s remarks in his Tuesday address to a joint session of Congress were based on the announcement earlier that day that a company in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong had agreed to sell its stake in two ports on both ends of the strategically important canal.

Trump had argued without evidence that China was influencing the operation of the canal, whose neutrality is enshrined in Panama’s constitution, and pressured Panama over the issue.

In response, President José Raúl Mulino said yesterday in a post on X, “I reject in the name of Panama and all Panamanians this new affront to the truth and our dignity as a nation.”

U.S. cooperation with Panama, one of its closest allies in Latin America, “has nothing to do with the ‘recovery of the Canal’ or with tarnishing our national sovereignty,” Mulino said. “The Canal is Panamanian and will continue to be Panamanian!”

New Zealand has fired its most senior envoy to Britain over comments seen as questioning Trump’s understanding of history, the country’s foreign ministry said.

Speaking from the audience Tuesday at an event on European security at the Chatham House think tank in London, Phil Goff, New Zealand’s high commissioner to the U.K., quoted British wartime leader Winston Churchill’s criticism of Britain's signing the 1938 Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler. The agreement is widely considered a failed act of appeasement that paved the way for World War II.

“President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office,” Goff then said. “But do you think he really understands history?”

The guest speaker, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, said she would “limit myself” to saying that Churchill “has made very timeless remarks,” according to video of the event that Chatham House posted online.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Goff’s comments were “deeply disappointing.”

“They do not represent the views of the NZ Government and make his position as High Commissioner to London untenable,” he said in a statement today, Reuters reported.

The megahit Broadway musical “Hamilton” is pulling out of plans to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., next year, citing President Donald Trump’s shakeup of the art institution’s leadership.

“Our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center,” producer Jeffrey Seller said in a statement Wednesday.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop-flavored biography about the first U.S. treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, won the best new musical Tony Award, the Pulitzer Prize for drama, a Grammy and the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History. It also earned Miranda a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant.

The show played the Kennedy Center in 2018 during Trump’s first administration and again in 2022 when Joe Biden was president. It was scheduled again March 3-April 26, 2026. Those plans are now off. Tickets had yet to go on sale.

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An unofficial measure of the labor market showed job cuts announcements surged in February, with the federal government leading the way.

U.S.-based employers shed 172,017 jobs in February altogether, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas consultancy. It’s the biggest count for any February since 2009. Combined with a smaller total announced in January, government agencies have announced a total of 62,530 cuts in February — a gargantuan increase from the 151 cuts announced through February 2024.

Yet, hiring is also picking up somewhat, with plans for worker additions up 159% from the same period last year.

Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., said today that members of his party didn’t “always meet the decorum we expect from members of Congress” when asked if he agreed with an upcoming vote on censuring Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for an outburst during Trump's joint address to Congress on Tuesday.

But Auchincloss added that "two wrongs don’t make it right" in an interview on "Way Too Early," referring additionally to Trump and Republicans' actions.

“I don’t think it was a good day for either party in that chamber," he said. "Where Democrats need to orient is that State of the Union response from Sen. Slotkin, who was brief and dignified, and said, ‘That was a 100-minute speech, part of it was entertaining, but it's all going to be expensive for Americans.’”

Those expenses were Auchincloss’ focus. He made the point that costs — from health care to car insurance — could rise because of the actions of the Trump administration. The Marine veteran also spoke to the recent Department of Government Efficiency efforts to slash staff and spending at the Department of Veterans Affairs, saying he has already seen a negative impact on veterans in his state.

“I’ve spoken to some of the providers at the VA hospitals in greater Boston," he said. "Its part of a pattern of chaos and corruption emanating from DOGE that is undermining the investment climate for business and is undermining health and safety for Americans.”

For the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, the choice was impossible: erase mentions of transgender people from its website or risk the ire of the Trump administration, which has required that groups receiving federal funding end diversity, equity and inclusion programs and recognize only two sexes.

So the group reluctantly took down references to transgender people from its website, including mentions of services for transgender veterans and LGBTQ-focused book recommendations. It did so just as the nation’s largest group fighting sexual violence, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), also pulled down pages referring to transgender people.

The backlash was swift. Local and national organizations that support women and sexual assault victims issued rare public criticisms of their allies, accusing them of abandoning trans victims, who face high rates of sexual violence, and urged other groups to “hold the line.”

The conflict exposed a sharp divide in the ecosystem of nonprofit groups that work to address sexual violence, many of which rely heavily on government funding to operate. Leaders of such groups say they feel pressured to choose between protecting grants they need to serve people in crisis and taking a stand for vulnerable members of their constituency.

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Elon Musk took aim at the National Security Agency in an overnight post to X.

"The NSA needs an overhaul," he wrote.

His DOGE efforts have led to various agencies and departments having programs and staffing slashed.

Hundreds of Department of Homeland Security employees have already been let go. A judge also ruled last week that the administration could fire dozens of workers from the CIA and other intelligence agencies who worked on diversity initiatives.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon invited Education Department employees to join her in "this historic final mission" in a message to staff earlier this week, comments that come as Trump targetsitfor cuts.

The president has said he wanted to dismantle the department.

McMahon said in her message that her "vision is aligned with the President’s: to send education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children."

"This restoration will profoundly impact staff, budgets, and agency operations here at the Department," she added later. "In coming months, we will partner with Congress and other federal agencies to determine the best path forward to fulfill the expectations of the President and the American people."

“This is our opportunity to perform one final, unforgettable public service to future generations of students," McMahon concluded. "I hope you will join me in ensuring that when our final mission is complete, we will all be able to say that we left American education freer, stronger, and with more hope for the future.”

The Education Department did not immediately respond to NBC News' requests for comment on McMahon's message.

Russia ruled out European proposals to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine and said today that French President Emmanuel Macron had threatened it by suggesting that Moscow was a grave menace to Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address to the nation yesterday that he plans next week to hold a meeting of army chiefs from European countries willing to send troops to Ukraine after any eventual peace deal with Russia.

He also said France needs to be ready if the United States is no longer by its side.

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Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency abandoned some of its plans to slash contract spending for veterans’ health care services this week after a revolt by front-line Veterans Health Administration employees who contended many of the cuts would imperil safety at the agency’s almost 1,400 hospitals and clinics.

What had been a list of 875 VA contracts scheduled for termination a little over a week ago has now become 585 canceled contracts, the VA said Monday. The about-face is a rare public retreat by the so-called efficiency operation known as DOGE, which has come under fire for moving to ax crucial government services and overstating the value of some of its savings to taxpayers.

The list of contracts still on the chopping block has not been made public, and the VA declined to provide it. But VA employees have identified 200 of the remaining scheduled cancellations to NBC News, and some of them appear to be central to patient safety, those employees say.

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The U.S. apprehended a suspect in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 13 American service members during the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021. NBC News’ Ken Dilanian reports on the new details on the suspect and the reaction from the families of those service members.

Some U.S. allies are considering scaling back the intelligence they share with Washington in response to the Trump administration’s conciliatory approach to Russia, four sources with direct knowledge of the discussions told NBC News.

The allies are weighing the move because of concerns about safeguarding foreign assets whose identities could inadvertently be revealed, said the sources, who included a foreign official.

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