March 9, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news | CNN Politics (2025)

President Donald Trump said Sunday that a government shutdown “could happen” but claimed it would be Democrats’ fault, while also telling reporters he believes the proposed government funding stopgap bill will ultimately pass.

The Republican-led House is expected to vote on the Trump-endorsed continuing resolution on Tuesday, as government funding dries up at the end of the week.

The measure funds the government through September 30 and is intended to buy time for Trump and GOP leaders to steer key pieces of the president’s agenda through Congress this summer.

“The House and Senate have put together, under the circumstances, a very good funding Bill (“CR”)! All Republicans should vote (Please!) YES next week,” Trump posted on Truth Social over the weekend.

Top Trump administration officials will meet separately with Russian and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia this week, a source familiar with the plans said, setting up another critical week of high-stakes talks as President Donald Trump and his team seek to strike a deal between the two countries.

The source declined to say who would be present for the talks.

Trump expressed hope that “some very big things could happen this week.”

Talks in Jeddah: The US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia come as the two countries work to put their relationship back on solid footing following last month’s Oval Office blowup between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Since the meeting — in which Trump and Vance berated Zelensky over the war, and the Ukrainian leader pushed back on several points — top US officials have been working to right ties.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is among the US officials scheduled to meet with Ukrainian counterparts in Jeddah.

Mark Carney waves after he won the race to become leader of Canada's Liberal Party in Ottawa, Ontario, on Sunday.

Mark Carney, the newly elected leader of Canada’s Liberal Party and soon-to-be prime minister, said Sunday that his government would keep retaliatory tariffs on the US “until the Americans show us respect.”

Slamming the Trump administration’s tariff plans, Carney struck a defiant tone and said of the US president, “He’s attacking Canadian families, workers, and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”

“In trade as in hockey, Canada will win,” Carney, Justin Trudeau’s successor, said of the brewing trade war with the US.

Some context: Trump has repeatedly blamed Canada for illegal immigration into the US, threatened to turn Canada into a 51st state, and announced steep tariffs on Canadian imports, which the White House says is necessary to stem the flow of fentanyl over its borders.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, center, listen as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump on Sunday praised Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whom he appointed to the Supreme Court during his first term, as she faces backlash for voting against his attempt to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid.

Some background: Barrett received a slew of online criticism, including from Trump allies, from being called a “rattled law professor with her head up her a**” to a “DEI hire,” after her vote on Wednesday.

Barrett, a former appeals court judge and law professor, joined Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three liberals in upholding — for now — a lower court ruling that required the administration to quickly spend the contested aid.

President Donald Trump expressed uncertainty on Sunday about a potential recession, telling reporters aboard Air Force One, “Who knows?”

At the same time, Trump claimed the United States will become “so rich” from the tariffs he’s imposing on other nations.

Trump was asked about his comment in a Fox News interview that aired earlier Sunday in which he declined to predict whether the country would face a recession this year.

Some context: As CNN has reported, the cost of tariffs is typically passed to the consumer by way of higher prices, and American consumers and businesses stand to pay a hefty price for the tariffs Trump enacted on Mexico, Canada and China, the nation’s top three trading partners.

President Donald Trump predicted Sunday that “very big things” would emerge from talks this week between senior US and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia, saying a pause on sharing intelligence with Kyiv was all but lifted while still stopping short of promising to lift a pause on military aid if Ukraine signs a minerals deal with the US.

Trump said Ukraine needed to demonstrate a desire to reach peace in order for the US assistance to resume flowing.

“Right now they haven’t shown it to the extent that they should … but I think they will be, and I think it’s going to become evident over the next two or three days,” the president said.

Trump did not offer specifics on what a commitment to peace might look like that would cause him to reinstate US aid.

But asked whether he was considering restarting the sharing of intelligence with Kyiv, he was more conciliatory. “We just about have,” he said.

Trump said he expected significant results to emerge from this week’s meetings in Jeddah, where his secretary of state, national security adviser and special envoy will meet Ukrainian officials to attempt a reset in ties after the February 28 argument in the Oval Office between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodomyr Zelensky.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during the Liberal Party's leadership convention in Ottawa, Ontario, on Sunday.

In some of his last remarks as Canada’s Liberal Party leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Sunday that Canadians face an “existential challenge” from the US.

“This is a nation-defining moment,” he told the Liberal Party’s leadership convention in Ottawa.

“The world is looking to see what Canadians will do,” said Trudeau, who will remain as Canada’s prime minister for a transitional period while his successor, Mark Carney, settles in.

Some context: Trump said Sunday that tariffs on some Canadian goods “could go up,” punctuating the recently tumultuous trade relationship between the US and Canada.

Trump announced 25% tariffs on most Canadian imports in February, but, after a brief rollout earlier this week, he postponed the tariffs for a month.

For his part, Trudeau announced a 25% retaliatory tariff on $155 billion of US goods on Tuesday, and Trump has threatened to initiate new tariffs on Canadian dairy and lumber.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed Sunday that President Donald Trump’s promised 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports will go into effect as planned Wednesday, but indicated tariffs on Canadian dairy and lumber products will wait until April 2.

That appears to mark yet another turn in Trump’s back-and-forth trade announcements of the past week: When the president first announced the dairy and lumber tariffs Friday, he said they could be imposed as soon as that evening, “or we’ll wait until Monday or Tuesday.”

But when questioned specifically on the dairy and lumber measures on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Lutnick suggested the timeline has been extended.

April 2 is also the date Trump set for lifting a pause on tariffs for many other goods from Canada and Mexico.

Pain for consumers: The commerce secretary and top Trump adviser acknowledged that American consumers may see prices go up on “some products” as a result of the president’s trade policy.

“Foreign goods may get a little more expensive. But American goods are going to get cheaper, and you’re going to be helping Americans by buying American,” Lutnick said.

The CEOs of Target and Best Buy have warned prices could increase quickly.

Lutnick also emphatically stated there is “no chance” of a recession.

“There’s going to be no recession in America,” he said.

Cellphone video captured Vice President JD Vance being approached by a group of pro-Ukrainian protesters while out in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his 3-year-old daughter on Saturday.

Vance can be seen engaging with the group, who voiced concern about the Trump administration’s shift in US policy toward Ukraine. Protesters interjected at times with questions and responses, arguing against the vice president’s statements as he spoke.

Vance later wrote on social media that while it was a “mostly respectful conversation,” some of the protesters had “followed us around and shouted as my daughter grew increasingly anxious and scared” before he stopped to talk to the group. Vance said he engaged with the protesters “in the hopes that I could trade a few minutes of conversation for them leaving my toddler alone.”

Ann Hall, one of the protesters, told CNN that Vance’s post was not a fair representation of the incident.

Watch parts of the interaction below:

Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks to reporters outside of the White House on February 28.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says he’s “worried about” the Trump administration’s decision to pause military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

“But until we have a ceasefire, I would give Ukraine what they need, and in terms of intelligence and weapons to defend themselves.”

Graham said he talked to national security adviser Mike Waltz “a couple of days ago,” and that the US goal is to “end the war honorably and justly,” adding that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “blew it” in his recent tense Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump.

During the meeting, Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelensky over a perceived lack of gratitude for US support, with Zelensky pushing back at several points.

Upcoming talks: Graham said he thinks US negotiators, who are attending talks with Ukrainian counterparts in Saudi Arabia starting Monday, will find out this week “what a good deal looks like” to Kyiv officials.

Then they can “urge the Russians to sit down with the White House and compare notes and end this war,” the South Carolina lawmaker said.

Graham added that he plans to introduce a bill to sanction Russia’s banking and energy sectors in the coming days to push the country to “get to the table” in negotiations to end the war.

In interviews Sunday, some Democratic lawmakers criticized fellow party members’ behavior during President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress last week, once again highlighting a divide in the caucus over how they should have responded to the moment.

Divergent tactics were on full display from the party during last Tuesday’s speech, with some Democrats holding signs, walking out or boycotting it altogether. Most prominently, Rep. Al Green was removed from the chamber after standing up and shouting during the opening minutes of the speech, prompting a GOP-led censure that was joined by 10 Democrats.

Other party members took a more muted approach, following the guidance of House Democratic leadership, who had urged lawmakers not to mount high-profile protests and to show restraint during the address, warning the GOP could seize on any outbursts.

Here’s what some Democrats said about the issue Sunday:

CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi, Sarah Ferris and Annie Grayer contributed reporting to this post.

House Speaker Mike Johnson talks to reporters as he leaves a meeting between Elon Musk and House Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.

Democratic Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey said Sunday that a bipartisan short-term government funding bill is the best path to averting a shutdown this week, highlighting the challenges congressional Republicans potentially face in advancing a plan without Democratic votes.

“Republicans are in charge of this process right now,” Kim told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

Kim accused House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose GOP leadership team unveiled a Trump-backed stopgap bill on Saturday, of walking away from “ongoing” bipartisan talks.

The senator said he would prefer to vote for a bill that extends current funding levels for 30 days, so bipartisan negotiations could continue over a longer-term plan, instead of Johnson’s plan to “kick the can down the road” to the end of the fiscal year.

Pressed by Tapper on whether he would vote against the House GOP plan, which also includes $6 billion for defense spending and $13 billion in cuts to domestic spending, if it comes to the Senate floor, Kim said, “That’s not what I’m saying,” adding, “We need to see what happens in the House.”

Kim speculated that Johnson may not be able to secure the GOP votes needed to pass a bill with his narrow majority, saying the speaker is “very bad at keeping his caucus together.”

Senate spending negotiators have been working in recent weeks on a shorter-term bipartisan funding bill, though appropriations legislation must ultimately be launched in the House, where Democratic leaders have already thrown cold water on Johnson’s plan, signaling he can’t afford to lose virtually any Republican votes.

Key GOP lawmaker weighs in: The Republican co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that he remains undecided and is still “digging through” the measure.

Fitzpatrick said ideally he would have liked to see a bipartisan bill that did not have such a thin margin for success in funding the government.

CNN’s Aileen Graef contributed reporting to this post.

Ukrainian servicemen walk past a Starlink satellite internet receiver as their unit fires at Russian positions in direction of Lyman, Ukraine, on February 18, 2024.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio chastised his Polish counterpart for “making things up” after the official accused President Donald Trump’s ally Elon Musk of threatening to cut off Ukraine’s access to Starlink internet.

The dispute stemmed from an argument between Musk and an X user over whether the SpaceX CEO was sufficiently critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

Musk replied that his Starlink system is the “backbone of the Ukrainian army” and warned its “entire front line” would collapse if he turned off the system. Musk also contended that Ukraine “will inevitably lose” the war with Russia, urging an immediate end to the conflict.

Rubio pushed back, saying the Polish official was “just making things up” and that “no one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink.”

Some context: The exchange comes as Rubio is scheduled to meet his Ukranian counterparts this week in Saudi Arabia, where the two countries are looking to move forward from a tense Oval Office meeting between Trump and Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

It also comes on the heels of a New York Times report that Rubio and Musk clashed during a recent Cabinet meeting, which Trump has denied.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin listens to testimony during a confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, on January 14

Sen. Elissa Slotkin said Sunday that she’s not opposed to using tariffs to bring back American manufacturing, but President Donald Trump has taken a “reckless” approach.

The Michigan lawmaker, who Democrats tapped to deliver their party’s response to Trump’s address to Congress, warned in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that a trade war sparked by tariffs would be a “gift to foreign automakers.”

Trump on Thursday signed executive actions that delay 25% tariffs on all products from Mexico and Canada for nearly one month, after the initial policy spurred threats of reciprocal tariffs by those countries and fear among US consumers.

Slotkin said the way Trump is handling tariffs is “the way he’s handling everything else right now,” warning against “reckless change” versus “responsible change.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday announced new leadership at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with Todd Lyons serving as acting director and Madison Sheahan as deputy director.

“Todd Lyons and Madison Sheahan are work horses, strong executors, and accountable leaders who will lead the men and women of ICE to achieve the American people’s mandate to target, arrest and deport illegal aliens.”

Lyons previously held positions as the executive associate director and the assistant director of field operations for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations. Sheahan serves as the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

“Adding more people to the team with Todd and with Madison is going to allow us to partner with local law enforcement officials to make sure that we truly are following through on enforcing the law, and if you break our law, then there’s going to be consequences,” Noem said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

CNN reported last week that although President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants residing in the United States, the pace of deportations has held steady compared with last year.

Noem told CBS that she wants to see the number of deportations increase and that the administration would help facilitate self-deportations.

“People remember they have an option to go home on their own. Yeah, we are giving them that opportunity to do that, and we will help facilitate that,” she said.

Democrats hold protest signs as President Donald Trump delivers a joint address to Congress on Tuesday.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California criticized his own party for their behavior during Donald Trump’s address to Congress last week — citing how members refused to stand for the president and to celebrate a young boy with cancer.

Khanna asserted that Democrats urgently need to shift from “talking about our own behavior” to focusing on their economic message to “redefine” the party.

The California Democrat said he thought Rep. Al Green’s heckling of the president at the address warranted the lawmaker’s removal, but not censuring, “because he didn’t engage in violence.” Khanna was not among the 10 Democrats who voted to censure Green on Thursday.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick indicated Sunday that planned tariffs on Mexico and Canada will go into effect April 2 and continue until President Donald Trump is “comfortable” with how both countries are handling the flow of fentanyl.

Pressed repeatedly on whether the tariffs would be permanent during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Lutnick said, “If fentanyl ends, I think these will come off. But if fentanyl does not end or he’s uncertain about it, they will stay this way until he is comfortable.”

From another top adviser: National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett also tied Trump’s tariffs to drug policy, saying on ABC’s “This Week” that the back-and-forth is due to “a drug war, not a trade war.”

Hassett said the measures against the country’s North American neighbors were “part of the negotiation to get Canada and Mexico to stop shipping fentanyl across our borders, and as we’ve watched them make progress on the drug war, then we’ve relaxed some of the tariffs.”

Some context: While Hassett claimed Sunday that Canada is a “major source” of the drug, the country is responsible for a minuscule percentage — 0.2% — of illegal fentanyl imports into the US.

Mexico’s president, meanwhile, reported a dramatic reduction in the amount of fentanyl seized at the southern border in February from January, garnering praise from Trump.

Trump has highlighted fentanyl trafficking and immigration as key issues impacting his trade policy with Mexico and Canada, but has also broadly framed tariffs as a response to what he says are unfair trade terms between the countries.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday.

President Donald Trump downplayed the recent whipsaw of the stock market, stemming from him imposing and then adjusting tariffs, defending his strategy in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” and saying some tariffs “may go up” next month.

Trump, who has frequently pointed to stock market performance as a key measure of his success as president, claimed in the interview that, “You can’t really watch the stock market,” and said he’s trying to “build a strong country” in the long term.

On Thursday, the president signed executive actions that delayed tariffs on all products from Mexico and Canada that are covered by the USMCA free trade treaty until April 2. But Trump indicated that tariffs may still increase after that date.

Asked if he predicts a recession this year, Trump said, “I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America. That’s a big thing. And there are always periods of — it takes a little time. It takes a little time, but I think it should be great for us.”

Rep. Chip Roy speaks to reporters in Washington, DC on Tuesday.

Republican Rep. Chip Roy defended the GOP-led funding stopgap plan, saying in an interview on “Fox & Friends Weekend” that government should remain open and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency should be given “more power” to continue its overhaul of federal agencies.

The plan, formally unveiled by House Speaker Mike Johnson on Saturday, would provide funding through September 30, staving off a potential March 14 government shutdown and buying time for Republicans to steer key pieces of President Donald Trump’s agenda through Congress this summer.

Roy told Fox News that while he’s “no huge proponent” of a continuing resolution — the name for this type of temporary funding measure — he acknowledges this is a chance to “freeze spending at current levels” while “keeping the lights on for Elon to continue to do what they’re doing at DOGE.”

Roy added that the House Republican conference had a positive conversation with Johnson on Saturday, saying there’s “overwhelming” support for the bill, but still “a few folks who don’t like it.”