| | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Daniel Lippman GROUNDHOG DAY: Washington’s trade associations spent the weekend, unsurprisingly, roundly denouncing the across-the-board tariffs announced by President Donald Trump on imports from Mexico, Canada and China. — But following a flurry of negotiations, by this afternoon Trump struck at least temporary truces with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts ahead of the tariffs’ would-be imposition at midnight. — The whiplash will surely come as a relief to large swaths of the business community, who found themselves once again desperately at odds with the new president on trade policy following somewhat of a post-election honeymoon period that was marked by companies’ vocal support of Trump’s inauguration and elation over the prospect of Republicans’ tax-slashing, deregulatory agenda. It also offers a fresh reminder of how Trump wields presidential power — with his tariff threat still looming over China. — “Tariffs are taxes on American consumers, not foreign governments or companies,” Gary Shapiro, head of the Consumer Technology Association, said in a blunt statement over the weekend, warning that the levies would “fuel inflation and raise prices on tech products, automotive manufacturing, and services.” — Shapiro shot down one of the proclaimed rationales for Trump’s proposed moves — to force changes on the cross-border flow of immigration and illicit drugs — arguing that “tariffs are tools for resolving trade disputes — not political bargaining chips for issues like immigration or drug control.” — U.S. Chamber of Commerce head of international John Murphy also argued in a statement that the tariffs “won’t solve these problems, and will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains,” while calling Trump’s invocation of a 1970s national emergency law to impose the tariffs “unprecedented.” — Regardless of the relevance of issues like immigration and drugs to trade policy, both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum nodded to Trump’s complaints in their readouts of negotiations with Trump. — Jay Timmons of the National Association of Manufacturers warned in a statement that, combined with the lapse of several key tax incentives from the 2017 GOP tax bill, Trump’s tariffs will cause “severe” ripple effects, including “significant disruptions” for smaller companies “that lack the flexibility and capital to rapidly find alternative suppliers or absorb skyrocketing energy costs.” — Retail groups like the National Retail Federation and Retail Industry Leaders Association, criticized the blanket measures too, while the Consumer Brands Association warned that a trade war could lead to a surge in grocery prices that Trump pledged to bring down on the campaign trail. — Other industry groups have pushed Trump for carveouts. The American Farm Bureau, in a call echoed by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), pleaded for Trump to exempt Canadian imports of potash, a key ingredient in fertilizer. The National Association of Home Builders, which has been lobbying Trump to exempt building materials such as Canadian lumber from the tariffs, framed the duties as contradictory to Trump’s Day 1 pledge to increase housing affordability and quickly rebuild natural disaster-stricken cities. — Even the one industry that did score an exemption from Trump, the energy industry, decried the tariffs despite Trump’s carveout for just a 10 percent levy on Canadian energy compared with 25 percent across the board on all other Canadian and Mexican imports. — Other groups downtown bemoaned other potential downstream effects, with Chris Swonger, head of the Distilled Spirits Council, chiding Canadian businesses in an interview on CNN for taking American alcohol off their shelves. Swonger also noted that his industry is still feeling the effects of Trump’s last trade war, revealing that he had just returned from Brussels to try to stave off a retaliatory EU tariff of 50 percent on American whiskey. — The U.S. Travel Association warned that if Canadians take up Trudeau’s call to travel domestically instead of to the U.S., “a 10% reduction in Canadian travel could mean 2.0 million fewer visits, $2.1 billion in lost spending and 14,000 job losses,” particularly for Canadians’ favorite U.S. travel destinations, which include several states Trump won in last year’s election. Happy Monday and welcome to PI. Send all your hot lobbying and influence tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko.
| | | | We’ve re-imagined and expanded our Inside Congress newsletter to give you unmatched reporting on Capitol Hill politics and policy -- and we'll get it to your inbox even earlier. Subscribe today. | | | | | THE WINDS OF CHANGE: “Dozens of corporations and trade groups who actively lobby the federal government have acknowledged bankrolling Donald Trump’s 2025 presidential inauguration with tens of millions of collective dollars, but many of these corporate titans and upstarts also have a history of sharply criticizing Trump,” Dave Levinthal and Nuha Dolby report for NOTUS. — The contributions from the likes of Uber, Airbnb, Chevron, Johnson & Johnson — or their leaders — “indicate an effort by corporate interests to repair relationships or otherwise gain access to Trump, his incoming administration and a Republican-controlled Congress during a moment of profound political upheaval affecting trade, economics and the very shape of government itself.” AI STAFFER FOR YOUNG HEADS DOWNTOWN: H&M Strategies, a boutique government affairs firm with a specialty in tech innovation and startups, has plucked a longtime aide to one of the key congressional voices on artificial intelligence and tech policy over the past two Congresses. The firm has hired Dan Cheever, who spent the past decade working for Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), most recently as a policy adviser. — Cheever served as Young’s lead policy staffer on the Senate’s bipartisan AI working group, which last year released a long-awaited policy road map to inform lawmakers’ work across the chamber to enact AI guardrails. Young was also a key architect of the 2023 CHIPS and Science Act, on which Cheever worked closely as well. BALLARD ADDS A DEMOCRAT: Ballard Partners is strengthening its ties to the House Democratic Caucus even in a GOP-controlled Washington. The firm has hired Tracie Pough, who will be a partner at the firm after spending the past two decades working for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), including the last 16 years as chief of staff for the appropriator and onetime DNC chair. — Pough isn’t the only Democrat at Ballard, which also employs former Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) and added Democrats throughout the Biden administration. But even as demand for the Trump fundraiser’s firm couldn’t be higher, Pough’s hire also comes as Republicans hold the slimmest of margins in the House. MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS: “Trump and billionaire donor Elon Musk are starting to divide and conquer,” The Washington Post’s Isaac Arnsdorf and Jacqueline Alemany write in their rundown of the inseparable duo’s chaos-inducing weekend apart, which included purging federal prosecutors and FBI agents, diving into a trade war, launching airstrikes, and overtaking government agencies and systems and going after Republican members of Congress. — “Trump is not closely monitoring Musk’s moves,” the pair report. “But the people said Trump views Musk as doing the task he assigned him, and that the president benefits from letting someone else take the heat for drastic and controversial measures. One adviser described Musk as doing ‘the dirty work,’ noting that his public approval ratings were dropping.” — “Musk’s role and reach are particularly extraordinary given that he is a private citizen — and the biggest donor in the 2024 election — who has been granted extensive access to information with no formal hearings or congressional confirmation and no defined oversight. The quasi-agency he runs was created outside a congressional process. And as Musk pursues his agenda he is also aggressively attacking critics — including Republicans — and bolstering his own views on his social media site, X.” CONFLICTED CABINET: “A total of 467 separate conflicts that require recusal, meaning at least temporarily the official cannot handle certain matters, have been identified” in the 15 ethics agreements filed thus far by top Trump appointees or administration officials, according to a Campaign Legal Center tally shared with the New York Times’ Eric Lipton. — Wall Street financier and Commerce Secretary-designate Howard Lutnick, “who at least initially must refrain from being involved in certain matters involving 106 different corporate entities,” leads the way, but the list also includes former corporate lobbyist and Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi, HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and former energy executive and Energy Department nominee Chris Wright. — “To outside ethics lawyers, this is a minefield of potential problems, and reason to be apprehensive, given that during Mr. Trump’s first term, several of his cabinet members failed to honor ethics promises they made to avoid actions that benefited their families or financial interests.” AUTOMAKERS TEAM UP ON GPS: Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the industry’s most prominent trade group, is joining the GPS Innovation Alliance, a coalition of industry groups and companies that use or make positioning or navigation systems, as connectivity becomes an increasingly important part of the auto industry. — Other members of the alliance include John Deere, Garmin, Trimble, Apple, Lockheed Martin, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, BoatUS, the American Trucking Associations, the Subsurface Utility Engineering Association and more. — “Connected and autonomous vehicles, and cutting-edge driver assistance systems all have something in common: they rely on positioning, navigation and timing technologies to make our roadways safer and driving easier,” AAI President John Bozzella said in a statement, adding that the partnership aims to ensure that technology “continues to transform the driving experience and make its way into more vehicles.”
| | A message from Children's Hospital Association: Across the country, children and teens rely on children's hospitals to deliver life-saving care, regardless of insurance status or payer. Providing everything from comprehensive, routine care to advanced treatment for the most complex conditions, children's hospitals ensure that more children get to experience the moments that matter most. Learn more. | | | | | — Margaux Ochoa is joining Federal Street Strategies. She was most recently associate director of legislative affairs for former Vice President Kamala Harris and is a King & Spalding, Nancy Pelosi and Jim Clyburn alum. — Chris Tampio has left the American Dental Association, where he was their chief lobbyist, to join Heartland Dental as vice president of government affairs. — Vince Sarubbi will be an attorney in DLA Piper’s government affairs and public policy practice. He previously was deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.). — DLA Piper has also added Dan Caprio as a senior policy adviser in their data protection, privacy and security practice. He’s an FTC and Commerce alum. — David Miller has joined the government affairs and strategic counsel practice at Kasowitz Benson Torres. He most recently was senior counsel and policy adviser to former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) for her Senate Commerce Committee portfolio. — CapZone Group has added Ellen Chang as managing director, Jason Gold as executive vice president, Casey Plew as senior vice president and Stephen Tomlinson and Eric Rubin as senior advisers. Chang was most recently with BMNT and is a Navy, JPMorgan and Northrop Grumman alum; Gold was previously an outside senior adviser and is an S&P Global alum; Plew is a Navy and NavalX alum; Tomlinson was previously with Kirkland & Ellis; and Rubin was previously U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria. — Bill Clark is joining APCO as a senior director with the public affairs team. He previously was senior adviser and campaign director at AARP. — Steve Benjamin has rejoined BGR Group’s advisory board as a co-chair. He was most recently director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and was previously mayor of Columbia, South Carolina. — Clyde has named Matt House and Michael O’Mara as managing partners alongside founder Alex Slater. — Sanjay Wadhwa is now a partner in Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ securities litigation and white-collar defense, regulatory and investigations practices. He previously was acting director of SEC’s Division of Enforcement. — Holtzman Vogel is adding Susan Greene as a partner, Drew Marvel as an associate (most recently deputy counsel at the NRCC), Rebecca Layne and Erica Leavitt as senior associates, and Jonathan Riches and Lori Low as of counsel. — Stuart Styron has joined SeedAI as a senior fellow. He was most recently senior technology policy counsel to former Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.). — Samantha Edwards has joined ClearPath as a policy adviser. She most recently was a legislative aide for energy, environment and natural resources issues for Sinema. — Tanya Willmeth has joined Husch Blackwell Strategies as a public affairs principal in its St. Louis office. She previously was a communications specialist on Mike Kehoe’s Missouri gubernatorial campaign. — Chris Castro is joining Climate First Bank as executive vice president and chief sustainability officer, Morning Energy reports. Castro served as senior adviser for DOE’s office of energy efficiency and renewable energy and the inaugural chief of staff for the office of state and community energy programs. — Squire Patton Boggs has added Karyn Schmidt as principal. She’s spent the past two and a half decades with the American Chemistry Council, where she most recently served as senior director of regulatory and scientific affairs and international team leader. — Lockheed Martin added Katie Orlowsky McIntyre as its director of government relations and Monica Matoush as director of congressional affairs for its aeronautics programs, Morning Defense reports. McIntyre was previously director of government relations at BAE Systems and Matoush was most recently senior director of government relations at Invariant. — Jonathan Guyer is now program director at the Institute for Global Affairs at Eurasia Group. He is a former senior writer at Vox and managing editor of The American Prospect. — Sahar Hafeez is joining Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman as a senior counsel, focusing on international trade and economic security. She most recently was a senior adviser at the Commerce Department and is a Biden NSC alum. — Lynn Nonnemaker is now senior director at McDermott+. She most recently was vice president for Medicare policy at AHIP. — Tommy Brown is now a manager at Ernst & Young’s Washington Council. He previously was a senior adviser in Treasury’s Office of Legislative Affairs.
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| | A message from Children's Hospital Association: Children's hospitals play a pivotal role in advancing the health of all children and teens—from prevention to critical care. Of the 6,000 hospitals across the country, less than 5% are children's hospitals, yet they are the primary places of specialized hospital care for children.
At children's hospitals, expert clinicians and care teams provide everything from complex pediatric treatment to routine, comprehensive care in environments designed just for children and teens.
Because of the advanced and comprehensive care children's hospitals provide, key moments are made possible in children's lives. From first steps and first words to birthdays and graduations, children's hospitals help make moments – big and small – possible. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | |
