Trump Administration Live Updates: Judge Orders Thousands of Federal Workers Reinstated

New York Times

13-03-2025

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March 13, 2025, 4:05 p.m. ET
The S&P 500 fell 1.4 percent today, pushing the benchmark index into a correction — a Wall Street term for when an index falls 10 percent or more from its recent high. The index is down 10.1 percent from its mid-February peak, a drop that underscores how the two-year-long bull market is running out of steam in the early days of the Trump administration. The Housing and Urban Development Department has made widespread slashes to initiatives that it said promoted diversity. Credit... Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times
Four fair housing organizations sued the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Government Efficiency on Thursday, faced with the sudden rescission of approximately $30 million critical grant dollars.
The organizations — in Massachusetts, Idaho, Texas and Ohio — were among 66 housing rights nonprofits across the country that received a letter in late February informing them that key funding used to help individuals fight eviction and seek redress for discrimination had been cut off.
According to the lawsuit filed in Massachusetts district court, HUD and DOGE, operating at the direction of President Trump, made an 'egregious overstep' when they canceled dozens of grants connected to the Fair Housing Initiatives Program. The program and the grants distributed to state and city organizations are used to enforce the federal Fair Housing Act that prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, ethnicity, religion and other factors, like gender identity and disability.
Most fair housing complaints in the United States are handled by local housing organizations: In 2022, these groups received more than 33,000 complaints.
Local fair housing organizations generally have annual budgets of less than $1 million, and the grants account for a significant portion of their revenues. The groups say they had no warning that the funding would end abruptly. 'The impact of these dollars is concrete and profound,' the complaint reads.
'It's how they pay their bills,' said Yiyang Wu, a lawyer at the civil rights law firm Relman Colfax, which is representing the fair housing organizations. 'It's their bread and butter.'
In its letters, HUD told the organizations that each grant being canceled 'no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.'
HUD and DOGE launched a joint task force they said would eliminate waste, fraud and abuse last month. In a news release announcing the task force on Feb. 13, HUD Secretary Scott Turner said that under his leadership, the department would be 'detailed and deliberate about every dollar spent' to 'better serve the American people.'
The department has made widespread slashes to initiatives that it said promoted diversity, equity and inclusion programs. 'DEI is dead at HUD,' Mr. Turner has repeatedly said in recent weeks.
Since receiving notice of the funding cuts, some fair-housing groups are now leaning on their reserves to pay bills. Others are already struggling.
The San Antonio Fair Housing Council, which previously had four full-time staff, three part-time staff and three per-diem workers, was forced to lay off more than half of its work force.
The Massachusetts Fair Housing Center was forced to turn away clients, including a domestic violence survivor who was facing displacement from her temporary shelter. And the Intermountain Fair Housing Council, which serves the entire state of Idaho, has been forced to 'narrow its service area, leaving 10 counties without any eviction prevention or fair housing services,' the lawsuit reads.
The grant termination, said Lila Miller, another lawyer at Relman Colfax, was illegal because the grants had been allotted by Congress. She said Congress has not authorized DOGE to direct another agency's operations.
'Congress makes the law and Congress sets the bounds of agency action,' she said.
President Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office that would end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times
Lawyers for President Trump asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to lift a nationwide pause imposed on the president's order ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants.
The move represents the first time the legal wrangling over the president's order to end birthright citizenship has reached the Supreme Court. If the Trump administration succeeds, the policy could go into effect in some parts of the country.
Three federal courts, in Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington State, had issued directives temporarily pausing the order, which was signed by Mr. Trump on his first day in office and declared that the government would no longer consider the U.S.-born children of undocumented people as citizens.
The Trump administration's emergency applications are aimed at pushing back on nationwide injunctions, judicial orders that can block a policy or action from being enforced throughout the entire country, rather than just on those parties involved in the litigation. The tool has been used by both Democratic and Republican administrations, and a debate over such injunctions has simmered for years.
In her applications to the court, Sarah M. Harris, the acting solicitor general, called the government's request a 'modest' one to limit the pause to 'parties actually within the courts' power.'
'Universal injunctions have reached epidemic proportions since the start of the current administration,' Ms. Harris wrote.
The three emergency applications list 22 states and the District of Columbia as parties to the lawsuits.
A series of Mr. Trump's initial policy moves have been blocked nationally by judges who have imposed similar broad injunctions while suits challenging their legality are considered.
It is not clear whether the justices will agree to take up the case as an emergency matter. Even if they reject the Trump administration's emergency requests, the court could decide to take up the dispute and weigh in on the more central question of whether birthright citizenship is guaranteed in the Constitution once the lawsuits have made their way through the appeals courts.
Birthright citizenship has long been considered a foundational principle of the United States. The 14th Amendment, ratified after the Civil War, states that 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof' are Americans. In the landmark 1898 case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court affirmed the guarantee of automatic citizenship for nearly all children born in the country. Since then, courts have upheld that expansive understanding of birthright citizenship.
But a small group of legal scholars, including John Eastman, a lawyer who is known for drafting the plan to block certification of the 2020 election, has pushed for a reinterpretation of the Wong Kim Ark case. Mr. Trump and his allies argue that the 14th Amendment should never have been interpreted to give citizenship to everyone born in the country. They point to a phrase in the 14th Amendment that limits birthright citizenship to those 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States.
So far, that argument has not fared well in the courts. A federal judge in Seattle called Mr. Trump's executive order 'blatantly unconstitutional.'
In its ruling, a panel of appellate court judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which included one Trump appointee, along with one judge appointed by Jimmy Carter and one by George W. Bush, announced the court would hear arguments in the case in June. President Trump signed an executive order last month to impose steel and aluminum tariffs. Credit... Eric Lee/The New York Times
President Trump has called the word tariff 'the most beautiful word in the dictionary.' He imposed hefty tariffs during his first term and promised expansive new ones as he pursued his second. On his first day back in the White House in January, he issued an executive order directing his cabinet picks to prepare even more tariffs.
In the first 50 days of his second term, those sweeping actions have upended diplomatic ties, shaken markets and confounded entire industries. But so has President Trump's whipsawing commitment to his tariffs, which he has paused, reversed or withdrawn — at times almost as soon as they took effect.
Here's a timeline of President Trump's widening — and constantly shifting — tariffs, which as of Thursday included a threat to impose 200 percent levies on alcohol from the European Union.
Hours after he was sworn in, Mr. Trump announced that he would implement additional 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico starting on Feb. 1, accusing both countries of not doing enough to stop the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States. Read more ›
Surprising even some of his own staff members, Mr. Trump announced on social media that he would immediately impose 25 percent tariffs on all goods from Colombia — and would raise them to 50 percent in one week — after its government turned back planes carrying deported immigrants. Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, briefly threatened tariffs of his own. But he quickly backed down, and soon so did Mr. Trump. That evening, the White House released a statement saying the government of Colombia had 'agreed to all of President Trump's terms' and the 'tariffs and sanctions will be held in reserve.' Read more ›
Mr. Trump signed an executive order imposing 25 percent tariffs on nearly all goods from Canada and Mexico, and a 10 percent tariff on China. The president said the tariffs were levied in response to his concerns about fentanyl smuggling and illegal immigration. Canada and Mexico said they would retaliate with tariffs of their own. China threatened 'countermeasures.' Read more › Video
transcript Trudeau Announces Retaliatory Tariffs Against the U.S. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada laid out plans to impose more than $100 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States, and made clear that Canada was doing so reluctantly.
I want to speak directly to Americans, our closest friends and neighbors. This is a choice that, yes, will harm Canadians, but beyond that, it will have real consequences for you. Tariffs against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities. They will raise costs for you, including food at the grocery stores and gas at the pump. We don't want to be here. We didn't ask for this. But we will not back down in standing up both for Canadians and for the incredible, successful relationship and partnership between Canada and the United States. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada laid out plans to impose more than $100 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States, and made clear that Canada was doing so reluctantly. Credit Credit... Justin Tang/The Canadian Press, vía Associated Press
Facing widespread criticism over his tariff threats and their possible consequences for the economy, Mr. Trump acknowledged the possible negative consequences of the tariffs on social media. 'WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!),' he said.
Mr. Trump agreed to a 30-day pause of his tariffs on Mexico and Canada while at the same time threatening new tariffs against the European Union. Read more › Video Credit Credit... Mexican Government TV via Reuters
Mr. Trump's 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports went into effect, and China responded with a series of retaliatory steps, including additional tariffs on products from the United States. Read more ›
Mr. Trump said he would broaden his trade war and introduce reciprocal tariffs on other countries but did not specify which countries would be affected. Read more ›
Mr. Trump resurrected a 25 percent tariff on all foreign steel and aluminum, restarting an old fight from his first term. Read more ›
Mr. Trump describes a plan for broad reciprocal tariffs on America's trading partners, moves that would represent a dramatic overhaul of the global trading system. The goal, he said, was to force companies to bring manufacturing back to the United States. Read more ›
Mr. Trump said he would proceed with a plan to impose unspecified tariffs on foreign cars on April 2. He said he had planned to announce the tariffs April 1, which is April Fools' Day, but pushed it because he was 'a little superstitious.' Read more ›
An executive order directed Mr. Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, to investigate whether foreign production of copper posed a risk to national security, raising the prospects of tariffs on the material. White House officials did not share how much those tariffs would be, or when the inquiry could conclude. Read more ›
The president said the tariffs against Canada and Mexico — and an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods — would go into effect on March 4 'as scheduled.' He said on social media that the action was necessary because 'Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,' a claim not always supported by U.S. government reports. Read more ›
Mr. Trump directed Mr. Lutnick to investigate whether imports of lumber threaten American national security. The results of the inquiry could lead to more tariffs on Canada, the largest exporter of wood to the United States. Read more ›
Tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China go into effect. The nations are the largest trading partners of the United States. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada responded with tariffs of 25 percent on $155 billion of American goods. Read more › Video
The United States launched a trade war against Canada, their closest partner and ally, their closest friend. At the same time, they're talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin, a lying, murderous dictator. Make that make sense. Canadians are reasonable and we are polite, but we will not back down from a fight. Not when our country and the well-being of everyone in it is at stake. At the moment, the U.S. tariffs came into effect in the early hours of this morning, and so did the Canadian response. Canada will be implementing 25 percent tariffs against $155 billion worth of American goods, starting with tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods immediately, and tariffs on the remaining $125 billion of American products in 21 days time. Credit Credit... CTV, via Associated Press
Under fire from U.S. automakers, Mr. Trump said he would pause tariffs on cars coming into the United States from Canada and Mexico for one month. The announcement came after he hosted a call with the representatives from General Motors, the Ford Motor Company and Stellantis.
In a news conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said that if tariffs remained in place, the Mexican government would announce retaliatory measures on March 9. Video Credit Credit... Mexico Government TV, via Reuters
Just as they were in Mr. Trump's first term, many of the tariffs placed on Canadian and Mexican products are suspended. Mr. Trump said that his reversal on tariffs he had framed as vital to America's security had 'nothing to do with the market' after the tariff news sent shock waves through the economy. He said he would still impose 25 percent tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum on March 12, and that reciprocal tariffs on all U.S. trading partners were still on track for April 2. Read more ›
The Chinese government began imposing tariffs on many farm products from the United States. The tariffs included an additional 15 percent on American farm products like chicken and corn, and a 10 percent on products like soybeans and fruit.
Ontario, Canada's most populous province, announces its own tariffs, including a 25 percent surcharge on the electricity exported to Michigan, Minnesota and New York. Read more ›
Furious at what he labels an 'abusive threat from Canada,' Mr. Trump threatens to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports in response to the electricity surcharge. Both sides backed down after several hours. Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, said he would suspend the electricity surcharge, and Mr. Trump said he would 'probably' reduce the tariff on Canadian metals. Read more ›
The European Union and Canada announced billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, but European leaders said they would hold back on their tariffs until April 1 — making it clear that they would prefer not to enact them, and would like to negotiate with Mr. Trump instead. 'Tariffs are taxes,' Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, said. Read more ›
Citing the European Union's plans for 50 percent tariffs on U.S. whiskey and several other American products, set to kick in on April 1, Mr. Trump floats one of his largest tariff threats to date: a 200 percent charge on all wines, Champagnes and alcoholic products from the E.U.'s member nations. Read more ›
March 13, 2025, 3:03 p.m. ET
Catie Edmondson Reporting from Capitol Hill
Senate Democrats are coming out of a closed-door luncheon saying they face a wrenching choice: Vote for a funding bill that gives the administration wide latitude on spending, or go into a shutdown that would also provide the budget director broad leeway to decide what to fund and not fund.
Senator Mark Kelly says his decision to oppose the stopgap bill is the most difficult call he's had to make since arriving in Congress. 'On either path, there are a lot of unknowns out there,' he said. A lawsuit seeks to prevent the cancellation of a contract covering 47,000 transportation security officers. Credit... Kenny Holston/The New York Times
America's largest federal employees' union filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the Homeland Security Department and its leadership to stop the Trump administration from canceling a collective bargaining agreement for Transportation Security Administration workers.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Seattle, is the latest example of how the union, the American Federation of Government Employees, or A.F.G.E., has taken to the courts to challenge the administration's efforts to undermine labor protections for government workers. The union says the bargaining agreement, approved in 2024, covers 47,000 transportation security officers.
On Friday, the Homeland Security Department said it was ending the agreement, saying it had 'constrained' the officers' ability 'to safeguard our transportation systems and keep Americans safe.'
The department's statement took aim at the union, citing what it called unfair gaps in benefits programs, a culture of poor performance tolerated because of union protections; and T.S.A. employees who work full time on union matters and do not assist with screening work.
The A.F.G.E. lawsuit, which names Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, as a defendant, says rescinding the collective bargaining agreement would affect public safety, calling it 'an act of retaliation by the Trump administration' against the union and an 'attempt to punish free speech.' March 13, 2025, 2:27 p.m. ET
Catie Edmondson Reporting from Capitol Hill
The Democratic senators from Arizona, Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, have announced that they will oppose the House G.O.P. funding bill to avert a shutdown. Both men were seen as potential Democratic 'yes' votes. In order for the stopgap legislation to pass and avoid a shutdown on Saturday morning, eight Democrats would need to overcome procedural hurdles and bring a spending measure to a final vote. March 13, 2025, 2:27 p.m. ET
Catie Edmondson Reporting from Capitol Hill
'I took an oath to protect the constitution,' Kelly said in a statement. 'I cannot vote for the Republican plan to give unchecked power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk. I cannot give permission for inflation-causing tariffs and firing thousands of veterans, things that are already having devastating effects on Arizonans and Americans. This might be a tough decision, but that's what this job is about.' Credit... Eric Lee/The New York Times
March 13, 2025, 2:25 p.m. ET
Monthly media briefings on U.S. and global climate updates, including monthly temperature and precipitation reports, have ended, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information, the agency that archives climate data. The change came after the center 'recently lost a significant number of staff' according to an online statement. The center is within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which recently terminated 1,300 workers and planned to lay off another 1,000, reducing staff by nearly 20 percent. Public school students from the District of Columbia, who have no representation in Congress, visited Senate offices on Thursday seeking to prevent layoffs and other cuts to the city's education system. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
Facing widespread layoffs from the city's biggest employer and what amounts to a billion-dollar budget cut over the next six months, residents of the District of Columbia expressed frustration at a Capitol Hill rally on Thursday morning, declaring themselves denizens of a city under siege.
A Republican spending bill to fund the federal government through Sept. 30 would inflict major fiscal pain on the city where much of that government resides.
'This'll just be an absolute economic disaster,' said Paul Strauss, one of the district's nonvoting 'shadow' senators, at a protest in the Senate office building attended by hundreds of defiant district residents.
The spending bill, which must pass the Senate by Friday to avoid a federal government shutdown, would essentially strip the district's ability to spend more than $1 billion in revenue it already has on hand. That would include more than $300 million from the city's education system, according to district officials.
'My school would probably go out of business,' said Mateo Roberts, 11.
He was one of many students in the district's public schools, which had the day off for parent-teacher conferences, who joined their parents to protest the Republican spending plan. Senate Democrats have said they can't support the House measure and have introduced a shorter-term spending bill that wouldn't touch the district's budget.
Sitting in the towering atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building, the students made signs with crayons and colored markers in an attempt to appeal to senators — none of whom represent them. One read: 'You cut my dad's job and now you want to cut my school,' punctuated by four sad faces.
Many of the parents at the protest on Thursday morning have already seen their livelihoods threatened by the Trump administration's government shake-up, which has put thousands of federal employees who live in the city out of work.
The current government spending bill could force layoffs at district schools, the Police Department and other critical city agencies, local officials say, compounding the economic troubles incited by the administration's federal work force cuts. The spending bill would essentially strip the district's ability to spend more than $1 billion in revenue it already has on hand. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
Mingo Roberts, Mateo's father, is among those who lost their jobs when Elon Musk's effort to shrink the federal government targeted his employer, the U.S. Agency for International Development, in late January.
'It feels kind of like the city is under siege,' said Mr. Roberts, who has lived in the district for nearly 40 years.
Under federal law, Congress has to approve the district's spending. That's usually a routine step. But in their stopgap spending bill, House Republicans treated the city like a federal agency and forced it to keep its spending at 2024 levels, 7 percent below its budget for this year.
The move wouldn't save the federal government any money, said Mr. Strauss. It would simply prevent the city from spending its own dollars raised from taxes, fees and 'even the unpopular parking tickets that D.C. may be known for,' he said.
Around 11 a.m., a group of about 10 protesters walked into the office of Senator Steve Daines, Republican of Montana. A staffer asked if any Montana residents were among them, and then directed them to the hallway.
'We are residents of the District of Columbia,' said Miriam Goldstein, a parent of twin 9-year-olds. 'We have no senators, so we are here to talk with you anyway.'
Her son, Solomon Wolff, flashed a handmade sign that read, 'I like to play baseball,' and said the spending bill could mean cuts to youth sports. He was also worried about safety: 'There will be less firefighters and police when fires start.'
His sister, Diana, pointed out that the money wouldn't be redirected elsewhere if it wasn't spent. 'It's from us,' she said. 'They don't have a right to take it away.'
Darren Sands contributed reporting from Washington. March 13, 2025, 2:15 p.m. ET
Luke Broadwater Reporting from Washington
President Trump told reporters that the U.S. has been discussing with Ukraine territorial concessions that it would have to make as part of a peace agreement to end the war with Russia. 'We've been discussing with Ukraine land and pieces of land that would be kept and lost, and all of the other elements of a final agreement,' Trump said, adding: 'A lot of the details of a final agreement have actually been discussed.' Credit...March 13, 2025, 2:10 p.m. ET
'All are faced with the prospect of layoffs or furloughs, abandoning projects in which they have invested significant time and money, or being responsible for costs the government promised to cover,' the lawsuit said. Nearly 100 demonstrators were arrested at the protest, which took place Thursday inside Trump Tower in Manhattan. Credit... Caitlin Ochs for The New York Times
About 150 demonstrators affiliated with a progressive Jewish activist group packed into the lower level of Trump Tower Thursday to protest the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and former Columbia University student.
President Trump has heralded the arrest as his administration moves to deport Mr. Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States who was a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on Columbia's campus.
The protesters held aloft cloth banners printed in red and black lettering. One read: 'Free Mahmoud, Free Palestine.' They chanted, their words reverberating against the coral marble tiling. 'Fight Nazis, not students,' they repeated.
Ninety-eight of the protesters were later arrested, according to John Chell, the Police Department's chief of department.
Since news of Mr. Khalil's arrest on Saturday became public, New Yorkers have taken to the streets, marching in Lower Manhattan and gathering on Columbia's campus uptown. Free speech advocates and immigrant rights groups have questioned the legality of arresting Mr. Khalil, 30, who has a green card, was born and raised in Syria and is married to an American citizen. His lawyers are challenging his arrest in court.
Shortly before noon on Thursday, hundreds of people who had slowly been streaming into the lower level plaza of Trump Tower, Mr. Trump's high-rise in Midtown Manhattan, took off their coats and revealed bright red T-shirts that said 'Not in Our Name' on the front and 'Jews Say Stop Arming Israel' on the back.
In 2015, Mr. Trump launched his first winning presidential campaign from a lectern in the very same building, after descending the golden escalator into the lobby. One of the protesters, Josh Dubnau, said the symbolism was intentional.
'He came down that escalator and immediately started demonizing immigrants,' said Mr. Dubnau, 59, a professor at Stony Brook University. 'And so this is a symbolic spot where we're here to say 'no more.' We won't tolerate that.'
Building security officers turned up the music in the lobby and stopped more people from joining the group. After about 15 minutes, police officers who had been watching from afar warned that protesters who remained on the premises would be subject to arrest. Some began to slowly stream out; others stayed seated and continued to chant.
Roughly an hour after the protest started, more than two dozen officers began detaining demonstrators, zip-tying their hands behind their backs, lifting them to their feet and carrying them up the escalator.
Below, protesters continued chanting.
'We will not comply,' they said. 'Mahmoud, we are by your side.'
White House officials have justified Mr. Khalil's arrest by suggesting that by organizing protests on Columbia's campus, he 'led activities aligned to Hamas.' Officials have not accused Mr. Khalil of having any contact with Hamas, taking direction from it or providing material support to it.
His arrest marked an escalation of the Trump administration's efforts to crack down on the protests, which officials have described as antisemitic and a threat to the safety of Jewish students.
The protesters at Trump Tower, many of whom were Jewish, pushed back on that notion.
One of them, Jane Hirschmann, 78, said that she believed Jews had a particular obligation to voice their opposition to the Trump administration because it had 'weaponized antisemitism.'
Ms. Hirschmann, the descendant of Holocaust survivors, said Mr. Khalil's arrest reminded her of family stories from that 'terrible time,' when her grandfather and uncle were taken away in the middle of the night.
'I know, personally from my family history, I know what fascism is, I know what genocide is, I know what abduction is,' Ms. Hirschmann said.
Moments later, she was arrested.
James Schamus, a Columbia professor who participated in the protest and is Jewish, said he thought the notion that the campus was 'somehow a hotbed of antisemitic intolerance' was ridiculous.
'We all know that if anything, Columbia is a hotbed of students raising their voice and conscience, and in protest against the inhumane policies that this regime is imposing,' he said.
Plans for the event came together in 36 hours, said Sonya Meyerson-Knox, a spokeswoman for Jewish Voice for Peace.
'As Jews, we know our history,' she said. 'We know what happens when authoritarian regimes start scapegoating people and start taking away rights; we know exactly where that leads.' The Internal Revenue Service headquarters in Washington. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
The Trump administration replaced the top lawyer at the Internal Revenue Service, according to three people familiar with the change, in a shake-up that came as administration officials sought to use the agency's taxpayer data to help with deporting immigrants.
William Paul, a civil servant who became the acting chief counsel at the I.R.S. in January, is expected to be replaced by Andrew De Mello, the people said. In his first term, President Trump nominated Mr. De Mello to serve as the inspector general of the Education Department.
The chief counsel job is one of the top positions at the I.R.S., and one of only two that requires Senate confirmation. The Trump administration has made a series of requests at the I.R.S., including to give members of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency access to taxpayer data. Tax experts warn that the moves could violate federal laws protecting tax records.
Leadership at the I.R.S. has experienced high turnover under the Trump administration. Two commissioners have stepped down in a matter of weeks, and more than 7,000 probationary employees were laid off last month.
The replacement of Mr. Paul was earlier reported by Bloomberg Tax.

Responding to President Trump's announcement that he was going to apply a 200 percent tariff on European Union alcohol imports, the bloc's chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said, 'There is no winner in a trade war.' Speaking to reporters in Charlevoix, Canada, where foreign ministers from the Group of 7 industrialized nations are meeting, Kallas added, 'It is very important to separate statements from deeds.' Workers pruning vines in the Côte des Blancs in France. President Trump has threatened a 200 percent tariff on European wine and spirits. Credit... James Hill for The New York Times
French wine producers have typically had a love-love relationship with the United States, their biggest export market. But President Trump's threat to impose 200 percent tariffs on European wine, Champagne and spirits sent shudders through grand châteaus and small vineyards across the country.
'A 200 percent tax on European wines and spirits would mean an immediate halt to all shipments to the United States,' Gabriel Picard, chairman of the Federation of Wine and Spirits Exporters, told French media on Thursday. 'That's almost 4 billion euros wiped off the French trade balance, for zero gain.'
The size of the tariff suggested by Mr. Trump drew reactions of disbelief. 'We are in shock,' said Laurent Delaunay, the president of the Burgundy Interprofessional Wine Bureau, which represents Burgundy winemakers, who added that the tariffs would be 'catastrophic' if imposed.
'The United States is our biggest market,' he said. 'We have business relations that go back years.'
France's two biggest Champagne producing associations were left temporarily tongue-tied. 'We have just received the message from the American president; at this stage, we have no comment to make,' a spokeswoman for Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin Champagne said in an email.
But producers on the ground voiced deep concern about the uncertainty of being able to do business with American wine importers, who would have to decide whether they would be able or willing to pay such steep tariffs, and if so, how to pass them on to customers.
'A 200 percent tariff is a lot; it would kill the business totally,' said François Huré, who with his brother runs Huré Frères, a small Champagne house that exports 10 to 12 percent of its annual production to cavistes and restaurants in the United States.
He said some buyers in the United States had already braced for the possibility of 25 percent tariffs, but not one in the triple digits. 'Our buyers today, our distributors in the United States would cancel their orders, because they won't be able to afford it,' Mr. Huré said. 'It would be a huge brake on the Champagne industry.' A 200 percent tariff would kill business with the United States, said François Huré, left, who with his brother runs Huré Frères, a small Champagne house. Credit... James Hill for The New York Times
Taxes at such a high level could double the price of a bottle sold in the United States. 'If Champagne doubles from $60, who will pay $120? No one,' he said. 'Except maybe the super rich. But that's not enough to run an industry on.'
The United States is the biggest market for France's Champagne industry, with 25 million to 26 million bottles sent across the Atlantic last year, Mr. Huré added. In 2024, France exported approximately €3.9 billion worth of wines and spirits to the United States, representing a quarter of its total exports.
The United States is also the top market in terms of value and volume for Bordeaux wines, the Bordeaux Wine Council said in a statement on Thursday. The same goes for Cognac, which National Interprofessional Cognac Bureau said generated 70,000 jobs in France. The sector 'does not accept being sacrificed due to European political decisions that do not concern it,' the group said in a statement.
European spirits producers had been worried their drinks would get caught in the crossfire. On Wednesday, SpiritsEurope, the European industry lobby, called on the European Union and the United States to leave their sector 'out of their disputes' after Brussels announced on Wednesday increased duties on a series of imported American products.
After Mr. Trump's announcement Thursday, the group shouted out its dismay. 'This cycle of tit-for-tat retaliation must end now!' it said in a statement. 'Reimposing tariffs would be a step backward — hurting businesses, workers and consumers on both sides.'
France's foreign trade minister, Laurent Saint-Martin, said Thursday that France was determined to respond to Mr. Trump's escalation. 'We will not give in to threats,' he said on X, adding that Mr. Trump 'is escalating the trade war he chose to unleash.' March 13, 2025, 1:38 p.m. ET
Tyler Pager Reporting from Washington
Trump reiterated his desire to annex Greenland while meeting with Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary general, noting Rutte 'could be instrumental' in making that happen.
'We have to do it,' he said. 'We really need it for national security.' March 13, 2025, 2:06 p.m. ET
Tyler Pager Reporting from Washington
Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO member. In elections this week in Greenland, the party that captured the most support has been critical of Trump's rhetoric, and polling shows that at least 85 percent of Greenlanders oppose the idea of joining the United States. Credit...March 13, 2025, 2:09 p.m. ET
Tyler Pager Reporting from Washington
Rutte, the NATO secretary general, deflected the question of Greenland joining the United States, saying he did not want to 'drag NATO into that.' Instead, he pivoted to agreeing with Trump that Russia and China posed threats to the Arctic region.
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Wall Street's slide resumed on Thursday, another anxiety-induced drop that left the S&P 500 on the verge of closing in a 'correction' — a symbolic marker of the speed at which investors have fled the stock market in recent weeks.
Traders, economists and business leaders have been grappling with a rapidly shifting economic landscape as President Trump has imposed and threatened new tariffs on imports that could upend global trade and undermine complex supply chains for big companies.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump threatened to impose 200 percent tariffs on European wine and champagne, one day after the European Union announced retaliatory tariffs on imports of U.S. whiskey and several other American products. The president has already added tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and a wide swath of products from China.
The S&P 500 fell more than 1.2 percent on Thursday, and was nearly 10 percent below its Feb. 19 peak. A drop of that scale from a record is called a correction, which on Wall Street serves as a marker of how pointedly pessimistic investors have become.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite index fell 1.7 percent, while the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies, which tend to be more exposed to the ebb and flow of the economy, was 1.8 percent lower. Both benchmarks are already in correction territory.
The Trump administration has downplayed the severity of recent swings, saying that it is focused instead on the economy's long-term outlook. 'I'm not concerned about a little bit of volatility over three weeks,' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Thursday, predicting that markets would rise in the long run.
The constantly moving goal posts have left investors so rattled that even recent good news about the economy hasn't had a calming effect. On Thursday, a report on weekly unemployment claims came in lower than expected. On Wednesday, a better-than-expected reading of the Consumer Price Index had briefly helped bolster stocks.
Investors are worried that tariffs, once in full effect, will push prices higher — hurting business and consumers. Mr. Trump's immigration policies and firings of federal employees through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency are also looming in the backdrop, as is the threat of an impending government shutdown.
'The outlook for inflation depends more on tariffs, deportations and DOGE than the backward-looking data releases right now,' Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank, said on Thursday.
Airlines and retailers have been warning of pullback among consumers. On Thursday, Dollar General said customer traffic fell in its most recent quarter and predicted continued financial pressure. Delta Air Lines cut its financial forecast this week for the first three months of the year, citing less demand for domestic travel.
The 10-year Treasury yield, which underpins a range of borrowing costs, has been falling sharply since mid-January and ticked down again on Thursday, a sign of concern among bond investors. Oil prices also slipped on Thursday, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, down 1.6 percent to just under $70 a barrel. Gold, a haven, hit a record high.
European stocks were also lower on Thursday, and large alcoholic beverage producers like Remy Cointreau and Pernod Ricard down more than 4 percent. The French luxury conglomerate LVMH, which owns brands including Dom Pérignon, Krug and Veuve Cliquot, fell less than 1 percent. March 13, 2025, 1:22 p.m. ET
The European Union's trade commissioner will have calls with his American counterparts in Washington on Friday, said Olof Gill, a spokesman. Maros Sefcovic will meet with both Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, and Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative. March 13, 2025, 1:21 p.m. ET
Tyler Pager Reporting from Washington
Trump says he will deliver a speech Friday at the Justice Department and praises Attorney General Pam Bondi as 'so fantastic.'
'I think we have unbelievable people,' he said. 'All I'm going to do is present my vision. It's really their vision.'
March 13, 2025, 12:51 p.m. ET
Tyler Pager Reporting from Washington
President Trump continues to double down on his tariff strategy.
'I'm not going to bend at all,' he told reporters while meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times March 13, 2025, 12:51 p.m. ET
Tyler Pager Reporting from Washington
Trump said there are 'very serious discussions' planned with Putin and others as they try to finalize a 30-day cease-fire deal.
'We'd like to see a cease-fire from Russia,' he told reporters.
When asked if he will speak with Putin, Trump said he would 'love to meet' and talk with him. Putin said earlier he may speak with Trump soon. March 13, 2025, 12:50 p.m. ET
Tyler Pager Reporting from Washington
President Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte are now meeting in the Oval Office. The leaders said they will discuss the war in Ukraine, trade and defense production.
'We are getting word things are going OK in Russia,' Trump said.
Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East envoy, is in Russia and is expected to meet with Putin to discuss a 30-day cease-fire proposal. March 13, 2025, 12:47 p.m. ET
Karoun Demirjian Reporting from Washington
Pete Hoekstra, the former Republican congressman whom President Trump picked to serve as ambassador to Canada, declined to emulate the president's tough talk about the United States' neighbor to the north during his confirmation hearing on Thursday. He told senators he believed that Canada was a sovereign nation, that it was a valuable partner in the international intelligence alliance known as 'Five Eyes,' and that tariffs, if applied across the board to all Canadian goods including lumber, would increase the cost of housing in the United States, quipping 'that's not brain surgery.' Credit... Eric Lee/The New York Times March 13, 2025, 12:49 p.m. ET
Karoun Demirjian Reporting from Washington
Trump has threatened to annex Canada as the 51st state and kick the country out of the intelligence alliance — which also includes Britain, Australia and New Zealand. He also has been using tariffs to foment a trade war with Canada. Hoekstra previously served as Trump's ambassador to the Netherlands and represented Michigan's 2nd district in the House for 18 years, serving as the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee for over six years.
The Office of Personnel Management in Washington. Credit... Eric Lee/The New York Times
A federal judge on Thursday ordered six federal agencies to rehire thousands of workers with probationary status who had been fired as part of President Trump's government-gutting initiative.
Ruling from the bench, Judge William J. Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California went further than he had previously, finding that the Trump administration's firing of probationary workers had essentially been done unlawfully and by fiat through the Office of Personnel Management, the government's human resources arm.
He directed the Treasury and the Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy and Interior Departments to comply with his order and offer to reinstate any employees who were improperly terminated. His order stemmed from a lawsuit brought by employee unions who challenged the legality of the mass firings.
Judge Alsup concluded that the government's actions were a 'gimmick' designed to expeditiously carry out mass firings.
He said it was clear that federal agencies had followed directives from the Office of Personnel Management to use a loophole allowing them to fire probationary workers en masse based on poor performance, regardless of their actual conduct on the job.
'It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie,' he said.
'It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements,' he added.
Before handing down the ruling, Judge Alsup was careful to clarify with lawyers representing the unions that 'reduction in force' orders now being issued at several agencies were still legal and could go forward.
He said his finding that the earlier wave, recommended by the Office of Personnel and Management, was an overreach of executive authority, but that his order did not stand in the way of the government executing layoffs in accordance with the rules.
'If it's done right, there can be a reduction in force within an agency, that has to be true,' Judge Alsup said.
'Congress itself has said you can have an agency can do a reduction in force, if it's done correctly under the law,' he added, drawing an acknowledgment by a lawyer representing the unions.
Judge Alsup had originally planned to have Trump administration officials appear to testify about the process through which the layoffs were planned, but the government made clear Wednesday that Charles Ezell, the acting head of Office of Personnel Management, would not appear.
The judge's decision on Thursday, which also extends a restraining order last month blocking the Office of Personnel Management from orchestrating further mass firings, offered a temporary reprieve for federal workers unions who have resisted the Trump administration's initiatives.
Danielle Leonard, a lawyer representing the unions, noted again during the hearing that the directives had had a devastating effect on agencies, by culling not only younger workers and recent graduates, but even career civil servants who had recently been promoted and were in a probationary period in their more senior positions.
'This action by O.P.M. made Swiss cheese of the federal agencies at every level,' she said.
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