Billionaire Elon Musk at President Donald Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday, where Trump extolled the efforts of Musk and the U.S. DOGE Service to cut government spending during a portion of his speech. (Tom Brenner/For The Washington Post)
President Donald Trump touted his administration’s early work in his prime-time speech to Congress last week, especially on two of his top priorities: tariffs to transform the global trade order and the work of the U.S. DOGE Service to cut spending at home.
Two days later, Trump had watered down tariffs on Mexico and Canada that took effect only hours before the speech, scaling back plans for economic transformation in the face of slumping stock markets worldwide. The same day, he also put new limits on DOGE, telling his Cabinet secretaries at a closed-door meeting that they — not billionaire adviser Elon Musk and his team — had control over which workers their agencies fire.
The moves represent the latest abrupt shifts by a president whose political career has been marked by sudden reversals. They also reflect how Trump is not immune to political, economic or diplomatic pressure, even at the height of his power — with Republican control over Congress, a conservative judiciary and a far more compliant Cabinet than in his first term. As Trump intensifies his efforts to remake the U.S. government, overhaul the systems that regulate trade and international relations and even expand U.S. territory, he’s running into new sources of opposition.
These pockets of resistance include some of his most loyal advisers, Wall Street supporters and the congressional Republicans whose votes he needs to approve trillions of dollars in new tax cuts. It remains to be seen how much objections from Trump’s inner circle slow his administration down this term.
“President Trump is still susceptible to some political forces,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS LLC. “The situation is very fluid.”
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