Naomi LaChance, Alternet

Looming tariffs and sweeping firings of federal workers are “chilling” the economy, ABC News reported Thursday. Thousands of government employees have been laid off as President Donald Trump and South African centibillionaire Elon Musk seek to shrink the federal government.

“It’s a very difficult business environment, because they can’t plan for what their cost structure is going to be,” Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the think tank the Center for a New American Security, told ABC News. “It’s adding to investment uncertainty, and some people are holding back on investments.”

Trump said that he will impose 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada on March 4. He also plans to impose a 10 percent tariff on China on top of the 10 percent tariff he already put in place. He says that the tariffs are in response to the drug trade....

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are getting along well so far, but their first meeting at the Oval Office five years ago in 2020 was not as friendly. A source who was at the meeting shared the details with Politico on Tuesday.

“That Musk later became Trump’s biggest financial backer — giving $288 million to his 2024 presidential bid — and then one of his closest advisers, is the latest example of how both men make decisions and build relationships based on a real politik calculus. And how both see themselves as engaging in a transactional relationship,” writes Politico’s Adam Wren.

Musk and Trump were meeting to discuss building a Tesla gigafactory in Mexico rather than Texas. Wren reports that Musk also met with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, before the meeting....

Fox News host Mark Levin offered a rebuttal of President Donald Trump’s misleading claims about the war between Russia and Ukraine on his radio show Wednesday, voicing his support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“While Levin did not present his argument as being a rebuke of Trump, most of his points seemed to be aimed at debunking Trump’s claims over the last few days,” writes Mediaite’s Isaac Schorr.

“Now look, I don’t have a problem if it’s the position of our administration to cut back on support for Ukraine — which I oppose, by the way — then so be it,” Levin said. “Elections have consequences, so be it. But I want to make sure the facts are on the table and you, the American people, draw your own conclusion.”...

Last Thursday, as many as 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration were laid off, drawing condemnation from those concerned with national security. Some workers even lost access to their email before they saw the email that they were fired. But on Friday, the agency’s acting director rescinded the firings for nearly all of the staff.

“This letter serves as formal notification that the termination decision issued to you on Feb. 13, 2025 has been rescinded, effective immediately,” said the memo, the Associated Press (AP) reported Sunday.

The Department of Energy said that the NNSA workers who were fired "held primarily administrative and clerical roles. But three officials told the AP otherwise. Some of the workers were in charge of building warheads, an extremely sensitive job with the highest levels of clearance. Others managed radioactive waste sites, including a Superfund site where work on the Manhattan Project took place. The almost-layoffs took place as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (which is not yet an official federal agency authorized by Congress) looks to cut thousands of employees, including about 2,000 at the Department of Energy, which oversees the nuclear stockpile....

The CEO of Ford has warned that Trump’s economic policies could mean layoffs are coming — to four states that voted for him.

NJ.com’s Matt Arco wrote that Ford CEO Jim Farley said Tuesday that tariffs across North America could wreck the automotive industry.

“Let’s be real honest: Long term, a 25% tariff across the Mexico and Canada borders would blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we’ve never seen,” Farley said at a conference in New York. “Frankly, it gives free rein to South Korean, Japanese and European companies that are bringing 1.5 million to 2 million vehicles into the U.S. that wouldn’t be subject to those Mexican and Canadian tariffs. It would be one of the biggest windfalls for those companies ever.”...