Breaking news headlines dominated many media this past week, covering everything from the existence of the U.S.A.I.D., cabinet pick hearings, tariffs, presidential statements on Gaza, and the delay of a buyout deadline. All of these events have prompted significant response from Americans.
At the beginning of last week, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk announced that they would move to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (U.S.A.I.D.), reported AP News. This agency is the chief federal body in charge of providing humanitarian aid to foreign nations, overseeing various health initiatives, education opportunities, famine prevention efforts, and more.
Musk, head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), announced early last week that he and the President had agreed to shut down the agency to slash federal spending.
The move serves as yet another example of Trump attempting to push the boundaries of his executive authority, to experiment just how far he can go before his power is checked.
Democratic Congresspeople rebuked the decision; Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) even called the unabashed move by the Trump administration a “constitutional crisis.”
An update released last Thursday revealed that out of the over 10,000 civil servants employed within the U.S.A.I.D. worldwide, only about 290 of them were expected to ultimately retain their employment, reported The New York Times. Such a mass layoff would essentially dissolve the agency from the inside out, only sparing select employees.
Several important developments also occurred last week for Trump’s cabinet nominees, including for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president’s pick for Health and Human Services Secretary. The Senate Finance Committee narrowly agreed to send Kennedy to a confirmation vote in a 14-13 decision that abided party lines.
The deciding vote was cast by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA). As a physician himself, the Senator had repeatedly cast doubt towards Kennedy’s previous anti-vaccine stance and his “Make America Healthy Again” ideology, a slogan which dovetailed Trump’s presidential campaign. Cassidy has publicly expressed concern regarding the possible negative impact the past vaccine skeptic could have on the nation.
Trump also imposed steep import tariffs last week against Canada, Mexico, and China, a few of the U.S.’s strongest and most long-standing trading partners. As per his executive order, Trump levied a 25% tariff on all imports from the nation’s neighboring countries and a 10% tariff on Chinese goods in order to mitigate the movement of fentanyl and “illegal aliens” into the country. These blanket tariffs are expected by economists to raise the prices of numerous products for American consumers, including those in dominant industries such as technology and clothing, according to AP News.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday posted to X that his country would work in tandem with the Trump administration’s national security goals, pledging to install a “Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbam is said to have called Trump, sharing what the American leader has since called a “very friendly conversation.” The discussion resulted in an agreed upon month-long pause on the tariff policy.
On the contrary, China retaliated by imposing a tariff of its own, which officially took effect last Wednesday.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Trump sparked global surprise when he stated that the United States would assume ownership of Gaza, reported The New York Times.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza strip, and we’ll do a job with it, too– we’ll own it,” he told reporters.
When a journalist asked the President what authority he possessed to undertake this plan, he evaded the question, instead answering that he foresees the U.S. assuming a “long term ownership position,” a plan which “everyone [he has] spoken to loves.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who stood at the other podium in the conference, expressed his agreement with Trump’s plan, citing his priority that “Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again” as the reason he affirmed his plan.
Some of Trump’s top officials did not seem to fully support his claims. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the President’s plan was only to help rebuild Gaza, not overtake it; Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that “the president has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza.”
Last Thursday, a payout deadline for over 10,000 civil servants was deferred by a federal judge until this past Monday, according to The New York Times.
In the early weeks of the presidential term, Trump’s administration sent out a mass email to the country’s civil servants, offering them a payout through September if they willingly resigned, a deal aimed to dramatically reduce the size of the federal government. Tens of thousands of federal workers are said to have accepted the administration’s buyout deal.
However, U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. prohibited the government’s imposition of the deadline until a hearing about the matter was held this past Monday.
The past week has been marked by a whirlwind of political developments. As the Trump administration continues to test the limits of executive authority, responses from lawmakers, foreign leaders, and the public will continue to unfold, having both domestic and international consequences.
