A volatile week for Trump on the economy: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

Happy Friday! In today’s edition, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker digs into a topsy-turvy week on tariffs, Trump administration officials’ warnings of economic pain ahead — and how voters might respond. Plus, Sahil Kapur explains why Medicaid has emerged as a major sticking point in Republicans’ budget plans. 

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— Adam Wollner

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How will voters react to Trump’s twists and turns on tariffs?

By Kristen Welker

It’s been a volatile week for President Donald Trump’s economic and trade policies, with twists and turns on tariffs dominating the headlines — and raising new questions about how voters will react.

Trump knows well that the economy and concerns about high prices helped propel him to the Oval Office. 

Here’s what he told me back in December: “I won on the border, and I won on groceries. … When you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs, they would double and triple the price over a short period of time, and I won an election based on that. We’re going to bring those prices way down.” 

But there are already some signs that Americans are concerned that Trump is not prioritizing the issue. A CBS News/YouGov poll released earlier this week found that 80% of Americans believe inflation should be a high priority for the administration, but just 29% say Trump is prioritizing the issue “a lot.” 

The Trump administration has acknowledged that there could be some economic pain ahead. 

Trump noted in his address to Congress this week that “there will be a little disturbance” when tariffs take effect. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC this morning that there will be a “detox period” as the economy adjusts to less government spending. And Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Fox News this week that as a result of tariffs, “There’s going to be a short period of time where there will be some higher prices on certain products.”

My colleague Peter Alexander asked Trump earlier today how long Americans should expect things to cost more. The president said in part, “There could be some disturbance, a little bit of a disturbance.” Trump also acknowledged there could be more tariff shifts to come, noting, “There will always be changes and adjustments.” 

So how much time will voters give Trump to bring prices down? And how might they react if prices actually go up? 

We’ll delve into the next steps for Trump’s economic agenda and more on “Meet the Press” this Sunday, with Lutnick and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.

The latest on the economy:

• Trump suggested he may implement tariffs on Canadian dairy and lumber, the latest broadside by his administration in the brewing trade war between the U.S. and Canada.
• The U.S. added 151,000 jobs in February, falling short of expectations as employers in a range of industries continued making hires, while the federal government slashed its workforce by 10,000. 
• The S&P 500 regained some ground on Friday, but the index still posted its worst week in several months as the salvo of trade policy actions unnerved investors, CNBC reports. 

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What else to know from the Trump presidency today

Aside from tariffs, it was another busy day at the White House, with Trump making news on issues ranging from foreign policy to education.

Here are the toplines:

• Trump threatened to impose “large scale” sanctions and tariffs on Russia until it agrees to a peace deal with Ukraine.
• Senior administration officials are planning to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Saudi Arabia next week. 
• Trump discussed the possibility of a new nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran, telling reporters that “there’ll be some interesting days ahead, that’s all I can tell you.”
• The administration announced it would cancel approximately $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University “due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
• Trump is expected to sign an executive order to limit eligibility for the public service loan forgiveness program.
• The White House hosted its first-ever “crypto summit,” convening top executives from various digital asset firms to discuss the administration’s commitment to rolling back an aggressive regulatory posture. But some in the crypto world were left disappointed.
• Trump said he told his Cabinet secretaries during a meeting Thursday that staffing decisions will be left up to them, not Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
• A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration has to pay several nonprofits and aid organizations that were affected by the USAID shutdown and the administration’s freeze on foreign aid.
• Trump established a White House Task Force for the 2026 World Cup.

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✉️ Mailbag: What does the future hold for Medicaid?

Thank you to everyone who emailed us with questions this week! Several of you wrote in to ask about the future of Medicaid as Republicans consider a budget proposal to advance Trump’s agenda.

Here’s senior national political correspondent Sahil Kapur to explain why the program has emerged as a major focus and could be on the chopping block:

Medicaid has rapidly become one of the biggest flashpoints of Trump’s presidency. The simple reason is that Republicans have approved a budget plan that would necessitate significant cuts to the program in order to meet their targets. Don’t take my word for it. That’s according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The math is simple: The House Republican budget to advance Trump’s agenda requires the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut spending by $880 billion. But when you set aside Medicare and Medicaid, the entire jurisdiction of the committee totals $581 billion. The GOP is deeply leery of cutting Medicare, given the politics with older voters, but Medicaid has been in the party’s crosshairs for years. It’s less sacred to them. In fact, Republican lawmakers have openly told us they want to include cuts to Medicaid spending in their big party-line bill. 

Now, here’s where it gets more interesting. Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, say they want to root out fraud and waste in the program. But there’s no reason to think they can find hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid fraud. Nobody can cite evidence of that, including the speaker’s office when I asked them to show their math. If the GOP wants to meet its targets, they will have to take actions that risk political blowback.

There’s another option: They could wave the white flag on that deficit-reduction target and rewrite the budget. But in the wafer-thin House GOP majority, that number was the product of concessions made to conservative hard-liners who demanded sharp spending cuts as the price of their vote.

Bottom line: There’s no easy way out here, and the future of Medicaid is hazy at the moment.

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That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Bridget Bowman.

If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

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