Trump imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum; judge accuses administration of defying court order

Several Senate Republicans told NBC News today that the executive branch must adhere to federal court rulings, even if it doesn’t agree with them, but that it is well within its rights to appeal the decisions to higher courts.

“That’s why God made courts of appeal. That’s why God made the U.S. Supreme Court,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said after Vance wrote on X yesterday" “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”

Some legal experts have suggested that the Trump administration’s ignoring federal court orders would pose a constitutional crisis. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said: “I don’t think that’s a risk. I honestly don’t.”

Cornyn said that some cases are appealed to higher courts, including the Supreme Court, and that he "would expect those decisions to be honored.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., suggested presidents are often frustrated with judiciary rulings against them. "I’m sure at the end of the day they’ll follow them, because that’s what it means to have an independent judiciary,” he said.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, defended Vance's comment, calling it "correct," adding that "judges have stepped in where they shouldn’t and where they don’t have authority.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chair of the Judiciary Committee, said he expects the process to “work its way out.”

“We got a system of checks and balances, and that’s what I see working,” he said.

The nation may be edging closer to a constitutional crisis as senior White House officials bristle over a string of court orders stymieing Trump’s agenda, sparking fears that they may ignore judicial decisions.

A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled today that the Trump administration failed to comply with his previous directive temporarily halting a sweeping funding freeze, reminding Trump and his top officials in stark terms that “those who make private determinations of the law and refuse to obey an order generally risk criminal contempt.”

District Judge John McConnell’s order follows other legal setbacks that throw into question Trump’s plans to shrink and remake the federal government, end birthright citizenship and rein in spending, as he has pledged to do.

Read the full story here.

Trump said tonight that he had agreed to consider exempting Australia from tariffs on steel and aluminum imports after he spoke by phone with the Australian prime minister, citing the U.S. trade surplus with the key American ally.

“We actually have a surplus. It’s one of the only countries which we do,” Trump, who had said there would be no exemptions, told reporters in the Oval Office. “And I told him that that’s something that we will give great consideration to.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier told reporters in Canberra that during their call, he and Trump had “agreed on wording to say publicly, which is that the ‘U.S. president agreed that an exemption was under consideration in the interests of both of our countries.’”

Australia, which received an exemption from U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs during Trump's first term, imported $27.1 billion more in U.S. goods and services than it exported to the United States in 2022, according to the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Trump is resorting to an unofficial shutting down of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because Republicans don’t want to vote on the issue.

“A lot of them don’t actually want to stand next to exactly what they’re trying to do, and that is shut down the agency that has handled more than 6 million consumer complaints by people who got cheated by their credit card companies, by payday loan companies,” Warren told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. "They don’t want to admit what they’re trying to do."

Warren, who spearheaded the formation of the CFPB, was at a protest at the bureau’s headquarters today, blasting the agency’s acting director for issuing directives halting much of its activity.

Trump named Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought the acting head of the CFPB on Saturday. He confirmed tonight speaking to reporters that it is his intention to shut down the agency as he continues his DOGE-led efforts to consolidate agencies.

Warren accused Trump and Musk of illegally trying to fire the “financial cops,” suggesting that Musk stands to benefit from doing so.

“They’d like for nobody really to notice that, and particularly Elon Musk would like nobody to notice that he just wants to get rid of them before he launches his new financial product,” Warren said.

A federal judge temporarily halted the Trump administration’s radical changes to how the National Institutes of Health pays for biomedical research, putting on hold a plan to slash research funding the federal government pays out.

Twenty-two state attorneys general filed a lawsuit today against the plan, which would limit how it pays universities and research institutes for “indirect costs.”

The lawsuit, which lists both the NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services as defendants, said the effect of the indirect rate changes announced Friday would be “immediate and devastating.”

Read the full story here.

The Hong Kong postal service said it would resume shipping packages to the United States starting tomorrow after U.S. authorities confirmed they would not impose additional duties.

In a surprise move last week, the U.S. Postal Service said it was suspending acceptance of packages from China and Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, after a 10% U.S. tariff on all Chinese goods imports went into effect. Though the ban was reversed 12 hours later, the Hong Kong postal service had said it would continue to suspend the shipment of packages pending further clarification.

The Hong Kong government reiterated its strong disapproval of additional U.S. duties on Hong Kong products.

"Hongkong Post reminds members of the public that the United States Government is constantly changing policies and may further change its policies at any time," it said in a statement today. "There may also be backlogs for mail items destined to the United States and delay of delivery, which may cause inconvenience or even losses to the public."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo today changing the name of Fort Liberty, an Army installation in North Carolina, back to Fort Bragg.

The name refers to Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II veteran who received the Silver Star and the Purple Heart during the Battle of the Bulge, the Defense Department said in a news release.

"Bragg is back! I just signed a memorandum reversing the naming of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg," Hegseth wrote on X.

NBC News previously reported that the name change was under consideration by Army officials.

The base previously bore the name of Confederate general Braxton Bragg, until it was formally changed in 2023 to "Fort Liberty" on the recommendation of a commission established by Congress.

Changing the name the first time around cost more than $2 million.

Speaking today about his attendance at Super Bowl, Trump made a dig at pop star Taylor Swift and the boos she received from by the Philadelphia Eagles-heavy crowd after she first appeared on the jumbotron at the stadium.

“Well, I think the worst moment was probably endured by Taylor Swift, who got practically booed out of the stadium,” Trump said on "The Mark Levin Show."

Swift, whose boyfriend, Travis Kelce, plays for the Kansas City Chiefs, endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris during the campaign.

“By the way, they were really nice to me, if you saw that,” said Trump, who was also briefly shown on the jumbotron yesterday during the national anthem and was received mostly with cheers from the crowd in New Orleans.

Trump won Louisiana, Missouri and Pennsylvania in November.