Welcome to the online version From a political deskThis is an evening newsletter that brings you the latest reports and analysis from the NBC News Politics team, from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign.
In today’s version, Sahil Kapur gains insight into how President Donald Trump is reluctant to cross policy proposals to Democratic lawmakers through the aisle to attract bipartisan support. Additionally, we examine how markets soared after the U.S. and China agreed to mitigate their trade war, even if there is still some uncertainty.
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- Adam Wollner
President Donald Trump's executive order on Monday cuts prescription medication costs by imposing a "favorite country" pricing model, resulting in a cut from Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
"(a) Trump is well-known that his executive order will be revoked by the court," said Sanders, a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Commission hierarchy. "If Trump seriously makes real changes, not just a press release, he will support legislation, and I will introduce us soon to make sure we don't pay more prescription drugs than people in other major countries. If Republicans and Democrats work together on this legislation, we can pass it in a few weeks."
Trump's order is a directive for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to equal action on Medicare and Medicaid's payment of drugs within 30 days. But the bigger problem is that Trump tried a version of the idea during his first term and was blocked in court. New orders may be put into practice on the same brick wall before any benefits can be provided.
Back and forth, Trump’s unique trend in his second term: he is unwilling to try a two-party system even if he has a significant overlap in his goals with Democrats.
Instead, Trump repeatedly tried to go alone - at risk of failure. The self-styled "trader" is providing opportunities for trading to avoid sharing victory with his political enemies.
This is a breakthrough from getting rid of tradition. Presidents often try to achieve Congress’s approval of their goals because they know that legislation is the best way to overcome legal barriers, especially in a bipartisan situation – to stand the test of time. Trump is taking a different route, relying on executive actions and partisan bills to advance his agenda.
The drug pricing move is just the latest example. In recent weeks, Trump has hinted at support for higher incomes to raise taxes, a goal with almost consistent democratic support and could be a bipartisan victory. Instead, he repeatedly used it as a test balloon for partisan agenda bill, just to have Republicans knock it down every time (and question whether he was serious about it).
Another example is Trump’s campaign commitment to government-funded IVF treatments, a goal that supports Republicans more than Republicans. Indeed, Republican lawmakers say they have no intention of promoting IVF funds in the bill. However, Trump has put in a lot of effort in the bipartisan agreement, which can deliver on that promise.
This trend helps explain why Trump has signed fewer laws than any president has signed in the first 100 days of the 1950s. Trump's Republican Trifecta includes a thin House majority and a 60-level obstacle in the Senate to pass most legislation, which complicates the task of signing new laws without any democratic support.
House Republicans still have a lot of work to do, and even if they start releasing key parts of the packaged legislative text, they have reached consensus on a massive bill on Trump’s agenda. Here is the latest news on Capitol Hill:
The United States and China announced most of their recent tariffs lasted 90 days, which is hopeful on Wall Street in a cooldown at the trade war between the world's two largest economies.
The two countries said in a joint statement that the total tariff rate on China's import tax rate will be reduced from 145% to 30%, while China's imposition of U.S. import tax will be reduced from 125% to 10%.
It was announced in the early hours that officials from the two countries met in Geneva on the weekend. It was the 84% duty on China’s import tax since President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement last month, the first face-to-face negotiations since Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement, which later climbed to 125%, and then to 145% a day later.
math: The new 30% tax rate is the sum of the 20% obligations imposed in the first few weeks of his second term in response to alleged Chinese action on fentanyl flows, while Trump's comprehensive tariffs impose 10% on all countries.
Market response method: The Dow Jones industrial average revenue exceeded 1,100 points, an increase of about 2.8%. With those gains, the Dow Jones Index is now down 11% even in the year. Still, it remained 5.5% from its high in February. The S&P 500 is the most extensive stock index, with an increase of 3.3%.
Note: Some analysts urged caution and pointed out that tariffs are much higher than before Trump returned to the office. This suggests that many consumer goods (from cars and groceries to fireworks) will see prices rising. Federal data is scheduled to provide a new snapshot of inflation Tuesday morning.
"The total U.S. tariffs will still be much higher than expected in the market than expected in the market," Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a note to clients on Monday.
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Until the 2026 election (who is counting?), there may be 540 days left, but over the past 72 hours, we have seen a series of candidates jump into key competitions across the country.
Here is the latest news from the campaign:
At the moment, it's all political desks. Today's newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Ben Kamisar.
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