President Donald Trump will stand before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday to give an accounting of his turbulent first weeks in office as a divided nation struggles to keep pace, with some Americans fearing for the country’s future while others are cheering him on.
It will be the latest milestone in Trump’s total takeover of the nation’s capital where the Republican-led House and Senate have done little to restrain the president as he and his allies work to slash the size of the federal government and remake America’s place in the world. With a tight grip on his party, Trump has been emboldened to take sweeping actions after overcoming impeachments and criminal prosecutions.
The White House said Trump’s theme would be the “renewal of the American dream,” and he was expected to lay out his achievements since returning to the White House, as well as appeal to Congress to provide more money to finance his aggressive immigration crackdown.
“It’s an opportunity for President Trump, as only he can, to lay out the last month of record-setting, record-breaking, unprecedented achievements and accomplishments,” senior adviser Stephen Miller said.
President Donald Trump’s long-threatened tariffs against Canada and Mexico went into effect Tuesday, putting global markets on edge and setting up costly retaliations by the United States’ North American allies.
Starting just past midnight, imports from Canada and Mexico are now to be taxed at 25%, with Canadian energy products subject to 10% import duties.
The 10% tariff that Trump placed on Chinese imports in February was doubled to 20%, and Beijing retaliated Tuesday with tariffs of up to 15% on a wide array of U.S. farm exports. It also expanded the number of U.S. companies subject to export controls and other restrictions by about two dozen.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country would slap tariffs on more than $100 billion of American goods over the course of 21 days. Mexico didn’t immediately detail any retaliatory measures.
Following Canada and China, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that Mexico will respond to 25% tariffs imposed by the United States with its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.
Sales and profits slipped for Target during the crucial holiday quarter as customers held back on spending and the company said there will be “meaningful pressure” on its profits to start the year because of tariffs and other costs.
The retailer beat most estimates, however, but shares fell 4.5% in morning trading as the overall market sell-off continued.
Target reported net income of $1.1 billion, or $2.41 per share, far better than the $2.26 that Wall Street was expecting, according to a survey by FactSet. That is down from the $1.38 billion profit the company reported in the same period last year, though the most recent quarter had one fewer week of sales.
Revenue fell to $30.91 billion, from $31.9 billion, but that also beat expectations.
Americans have been pulling back on spending and retailers face a lot of uncertainty in the year ahead.
Abby Madsen can be reached at mads3817@stthomas.edu.
