APPLENEWS - STORY ADD
Trump 2nd term live updates: Trump defends tariffs, declines to comment on Ukraine aid
Trump said tariffs will be the "greatest thing we've ever done as a country."
President Donald Trump is defending his decision to pause some tariffs to Canada and Mexico for another month -- a notable reversal after imposing historic levies on the key U.S. trading partners earlier this week, causing markets to tumble.
On Friday, Trump signed more executive orders at the White House before he convened a first-ever cryptocurrency summit with industry leaders.
Latest headlines:
Trump blames 'globalist companies' on market issues
After President Donald Trump signed an executive order that paused the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the president claimed in the Oval Office that his decision did not have to do with the current stock market.
The president said he is not looking at the market and blamed "globalist companies" for the slump.
"The countries and companies that have been ripping us aren't particularly happy with what I'm doing," he said.
Trump tells Cabinet members they're in charge, not Musk: Sources
President Donald Trump convened a meeting Thursday morning to tell his Cabinet heads that they are in charge of the agencies and departments they oversee, not Elon Musk, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Musk was in the room for the meeting when Trump told top officials that the billionaire's role is to make recommendations and not unilateral decisions -- whether it be about staffing decisions or policy matters, the sources said.
The meeting comes as Trump's Cabinet secretaries have privately expressed frustration about Musk and the mandates he has been giving that have caused mass confusion among the federal workforce.
-ABC News' Rachel Scott, Will Steakin and Katherine Faulders
Trump pauses tariffs on large number of Canadian goods: Officials
White House officials told ABC News that President Donald Trump has signed executive orders to amend the tariffs on Canada and Mexico that went into effect just two days ago to exclude all products in compliance with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The pause will last until April 2.
-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart and Molly Nagle
Trump claims DOGE will use 'scalpel' instead of 'hatchet' to cut agencies
President Donald Trump said in a new post on his social media platform Thursday that a combination of DOGE and heads of federal agencies will take a "scalpel" approach when it comes to federal cuts rather than using a "hatchet."
Trump shared that he, his Cabinet secretaries and Elon Musk had a meeting Thursday.
"We're going to have these meetings every two weeks until that aspect of this very necessary job is done. The relationships between everybody in that room are extraordinary," he said.
-ABC News' Hannah Demissie