Republicans Won't Do Town Halls As Prices Rise From Tariffs | Evening Rundown

Prices are already rising after Donald Trump's tariffs, Donald Trump is about to give the most important speech of his term, Republicans run from their constituents, Trudeau calls the tariffs dumb.

Today is March 4th, and here is all the news you missed today. Tonight is Donald Trump’s first joint address to Congress in his second term. I will do a video breakdown of the speech and everything you missed this evening, so this will be a text-based update. I am also currently at the United States Capitol working to interview members of Congress about the speech, so stay tuned.

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With that, here is all the news you missed this afternoon:

• Donald Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress is this evening at 9 PM EST. According to reports, this is the high-level summary of what you should expect during the speech:

  

• Target has announced that as a result of Donald Trump’s tariffs on goods coming in from Canada, Mexico, and China, that consumers should expect to see price hikes coming in the next several days and weeks. Meanwhile, the big box retailer has announced lower earnings in 2024, partly due to anti-DEI protests. Target previously scrapped its DEI programs.

• The stock market closed lower again today for the second day in a row. The DOW Jones has dropped about 600 points, and the S&P 500 has dropped 1.2%, erasing all of its gains since election day.

• Justin Trudeau called out Donald Trump’s tariffs, citing the Wall Street Journal, and calling them “dumb.”

• The Premier for Ontario has announced a 25% export tax on all electricity exports to the United States, specifically targeting Minnesota, New York, and Michigan.

• China has stopped the import of American soybeans from three specific companies.

• Mexico has announced that it will implement retaliatory tariffs against the United States in response to Trump’s tariffs.

• Donald Trump is expected to announce the Ukraine minerals deal that had hung in the balance during tonight’s speech. It is unclear whether or not this means that the United States will restart military assistance for Ukraine.

• The leader of France’s far-right party, Le Pen, has blasted the Trump decision to halt military assistance to Ukraine calling it “brutality.”

• Automakers are now warning that as a result of the tariffs, the average price of a car could be increased by up to $12,000.

• House Republicans have been told by the NRCC not to do any further in-person town halls with constituents after receiving significant blowback over DOGE and other cuts during the past several weeks.

• The Trump Administration suffered another loss in court today as a federal judge ruled that the Administration unlawfully fired the head of the MSPB. The case is expected to make its way up to the United States Supreme Court.

• Vladimir Putin has agreed to act as an intermediary between the United States and Iran as part of a nuclear deal.

See you later this evening.

— Aaron