Principals

1. Trump trade talks
2. Ukraine peace deadline
3. Harvard GOPers for Trump
4. Trump v. Powell
5. Trump’s approval
6. Robby Starbuck’s next act
7. South Africa envoy interview

PDB: Van Hollen meets with Kilmar Ábrego García

Vance in Italy … US markets closed for Good Friday … Hang Seng index ⬆️ 1.61%

Trump signals ‘no rush’ on trade deals

President Donald Trump’s Thursday meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni might not have produced any immediate trade deals, but the duo signaled some movement nonetheless: Meloni told reporters Trump accepted her invitation to visit Italy, where he’s likely to also meet with other European leaders. Still, Trump noted that Meloni hadn’t caused him to change his mind on tariffs, claiming that they’re making the US “rich.” The president also told Semafor he’s “in no rush” to wrap up deals with countries that have come to the table. Meetings continue to be added to the books: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previewed an upcoming trade meeting with South Korea — slated for next week in Washington — and said the administration is focused first on the “big 15 economies” for trade pacts. The EU, meanwhile, is considering export restrictions if talks with the US fail, Bloomberg reported.

— Shelby Talcott

Ukraine peace talks look fragile

Trump is prepared to walk away from talks to end Ukraine’s war if there isn’t progress “within days,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters today following meetings with Ukrainian and French officials in Paris. The comments were meant to “inject urgency into European efforts to prod” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy toward a compromise, The New York Times writes. Talks are expected to continue next week in London, a French official said. As a deal looks increasingly unlikely, Americans are skeptical: two-thirds doubt that Russian President Vladimir Putin is committed to lasting peace between both countries, according to Pew Research Center polling. Trump said earlier that he would ink a critical minerals deal with Ukraine next week, after his spectacular Oval Office blowup with Zelenskyy in February set back talks. Ukraine said it had signed onto the outline of a deal.

The GOP’s Harvard alumni side with Trump

Some Republican Harvard University alumni in Congress would be just fine with the IRS revoking their alma mater’s tax-exempt status. “If Harvard continues refusing to create a safe environment for their Jewish students, I fully support their tax-exempt status being revoked,” House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast, R-Fla., told Semafor. A spokesperson for GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik said the New York member supports a potential attempt by the Trump administration to rescind the school’s tax-exempt status, after the Education Department announced it would freeze $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard. Democrats who went to the school are calling the latest escalation unlawful. “President Trump’s attempt to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status is yet another dangerous power grab by an administration dead set on weaponizing the federal government to force Americans to bend to its will,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Semafor.

Trump would be challenged to remove Powell

Trump would almost certainly face a legal challenge if he were to try to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, but that hasn’t stopped him from musing about it. Trump wrote on Truth Social that Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough,” after the Fed chair said Trump’s tariffs would cause inflation to rise while signaling no plans to cut rates. Trump later said Powell would face “a lot of political pressure” on rate cuts. He has privately discussed replacing Powell before his term ends with former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, The Wall Street Journal reported, but hasn’t made a decision. Such a move would likely land before the Supreme Court, given federal law allows the president to remove the chair only “for cause.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been talking down the idea behind the scenes, per Politico.

Trump bests Powell on economy

Despite turbulence surrounding Trump’s tariffs, Americans — and especially Republicans — have more confidence in him on the economy than they do in Fed chair Jerome Powell. Forty-four percent of US adults express confidence that Trump will do the right thing for the economy, according to new Gallup polling, which is similar to the average 46% who said so during his first term. Powell’s economic confidence rating sits at 37% — a record low for Federal Reserve chairs. The Gallup poll — taken at the start of April, during which time Trump imposed his expansive tariffs — found that 44% approve of the job he is doing as president, while 53% disapprove, on par with previous polls. Trump has an average 45% job approval rating for the first quarter of his second term, well below the averages for other modern presidents, including Joe Biden (56%).

Activist plans lobbying arm to make anti-DEI revolution last

Robby Starbuck, the conservative activist who has led a crusade against DEI in corporate America, is planning to set up a lobbying group for “long-term corporate oversight” of companies’ diversity policies, he told Semafor’s Rohan Goswami. Starbuck said he has gotten a “blank check” offer from at least one big Republican donor. “The catch is: They want the ability to kill stories” — Starbuck said he considers himself a journalist — “and pick targets. And I just don’t work that way.” In an interview from his farm in Tennessee, Starbuck reflected on his run, which began on X about a year ago and has forced major changes at at least more than a dozen companies, like Walmart and Harley-Davidson. His reach has been amplified by people like Elon Musk and right-wing personalities. “I’m friendly with Elon,” he said.

South Africa’s new US envoy targets ‘misinformation’

South Africa’s new US envoy plans to prioritize correcting “misinformation” about his country’s domestic policies as he attempts to mend the increasingly adversarial relationship between Pretoria and Washington, he told Semafor. Mcebisi Jonas, a former deputy finance minister who was appointed to the envoy role this week, faces a dizzying set of challenges. Trump’s White House has grown hostile towards South Africa over its criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and Pretoria’s new land laws, and trade ties are looking tenuous as South Africa grapples with Trump’s tariffs, and the GOP calls for the revocation of the country’s trade preferences under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. “We have to do a lot of groundwork, especially to counter misinformation on issues like land reform, and to engage in dialogue to clarify these issues,” Jonas told Semafor’s Sam Mkokeli.

Blindspot: Hamas and tariff revenue

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Hamas is so weakened in Gaza that it can’t pay its fighters, The Wall Street Journal reported.

What the Right isn’t reading: Customs and Border Protection said it has collected over $500 million under President Trump’s new tariffs, less than he said they would generate.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: House Speaker Mike Johnson “constantly feels like he’s being underestimated and doubted.”

Playbook: One White House official characterized Peter Marocco’s ouster from the State Department as “the first MAGA world killing from inside the White House.”

Axios: President Trump has declared more national emergencies in his first 89 days of his second term than any other modern US president.

WaPo: Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said Trump’s tariffs have resulted in cancelled manufactured investments in his state. “It affects nearly every Colorado business,” he added.

White House

• President Trump extended the federal hiring freeze through mid-July.
• The White House is considering undertaking a “sweeping overhaul” of federal housing assistance for low-income families. — NYT

Congress

• Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen is returning from his trip to El Salvador and is expected in DC today. He met with detained Maryland resident Kilmar Ábrego García Thursday night, but was turned away from CECOT, the industrial prison where Ábrego has been held. Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president, posted photos of Ábrego and Van Hollen and said they were “sipping margaritas” together; The New York Times reported a Bukele aide placed cherry-topped margarita glasses on the table between the two men during their meeting.
• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on the Justice Department to investigate the arson attack on the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion as a possible antisemitic hate crime.
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said “we are all afraid” of the tumult in the federal government.
• A dozen House Republicans wrote a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson warning against including deep cuts to Medicaid in the budget reconciliation package. — Axios