Happy Thursday! President Trump went down to Georgia today, where he told a crowd of supporters that his tariffs are working and concerns about inflation are largely a thing of the past. "Do you notice, what word have you not heard over the last two weeks? Affordability. Because, I've won. I've won affordability," Trump said.
Here's what else is happening on Day 6 of the DHS shutdown (though nothing much is happening to end that funding lapse).
Trump Says US Will Contribute $10 Billion to His Board of Peace
President Trump on Thursday announced that the United States will contribute $10 billion to his "Board of Peace," the organization formally established last month to oversee his Gaza peace plan. Trump is named in the group's charter as its chairman for life, with exclusive authority to nominate his successor in the role.
"I want to let you know that the United States is going to make a contribution of $10 billion to the Board of Peace," Trump said at Thursday's inaugural meeting of the board at the recently rechristened Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Trump did not specify where the money would come from or whether congressional lawmakers who would need to approve the funding have indicated they would support the pledge. But the president suggested that $10 billion would be a relative bargain. "We've had great support for that number," he said. "That number is a very small number. When you look at that compared to the cost of war, that's two weeks of fighting, it's a very small number."
The financial pledge is notable because the Trump administration has severely cut back on foreign aid and withdrawn from other international organizations. Some U.S. allies have declined to join Trump's board out of concern that it might be used to marginalize the United Nations. The reported structure of the board, in which countries that pay $1 billion can get a permanent seat, has also raised concerns that authoritarian regimes might be able to buy influence.
At Thursday's Board of Peace meeting, Trump also complained that he "got screwed by Norway" in his quest for a Nobel Peace prize and warned that time is running out for Iran to agree to end its nuclear program or "bad things will happen." The U.S. has built up its military presence in the Middle East as Trump pushes for a deal with Iran and weighs another military strike against it. "Maybe we're going to make a deal," he said Thursday. "You're going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days."
Despite Trump's Tariffs, US Trade Deficit in Goods Hit Record High in 2025
The U.S. trade deficit barely changed from 2024 to 2025, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Despite President Trump's campaign to reduce the gap through the aggressive use of tariffs, the trade deficit totaled $901.5 billion last year, just 0.2% lower than the $903.5 billion deficit recorded in 2024.
Exports of goods and services came to $3.4 trillion in 2025, an increase of $200 billion, while imports totaled $4.3 trillion, an increase of $198 billion. The deficit in the trade of goods rose to a record high of more than $1.2 trillion.
Although Trump's tariffs did not have a significant effect on overall trade levels in 2025, they did alter the mix of nations sending goods to the U.S. Imports from China, one of Trump's primary targets, fell by nearly 30%. But imports from nations producing similar goods, including Vietnam and Mexico, rose to record highs as U.S. firms sought substitute suppliers.
Erica York, a tax policy expert at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, said that she is not surprised that Trump's tariffs had little effect on the trade gap, which most economists believe is shaped largely by domestic economic factors, including the size of the federal budget deficit. "Tariffs are not the dial to turn if you want to change the overall balance of trade," she told the Washington Post.
Trump offered a very different take on the matter, claiming before the release of the annual data that the trade deficit had been reduced by 78% - an apparent reference to the monthly numbers in October, but certainly not an accurate summary of the 2025 data overall. Trump also predicted that the trade deficit would become a surplus in 2026.
Chart of the Day: Slashing the Department of Education
The Trump administration has targeted the Department of Education for elimination, and as Bloomberg's Liam Knox and Adrienne Tong report Thursday, staffing at the agency dropped by about 40% in 2025, shrinking the payroll from 4,111 to 2,453.
As the chart below shows, the cuts have fallen more heavily in some parts of the agency than in others. Not every division has seen reductions; over the last year, the office of Education Secretary Linda McMahon, a former executive at World Wrestling Entertainment, has grown by 18%, while the office of Deputy Under Secretary James Bergeron has seen a 25% increase in staffing.
Fiscal News Roundup
- Partial Shutdown Looks to Stretch Into State of the Union – Semafor
- DHS Shutdown Talks Hit a Wall as GOP Fumes – The Hill
- Trump Says He's 'Won Affordability' in Georgia Speech – The Hill
- After Leaving WHO, Trump Officials Propose More Expensive Replacement to Duplicate It – Washington Post
- US Trade Deficit Totaled $901 Billion in 2025, Barely Budging Despite Trump's Tariffs – CNBC
- Tariffs Paid by Midsize US Companies Tripled Last Year, a JPMorganChase Institute Study Shows – Associated Press
- As Prices Rise, Corporate America Braces for the Blame – Axios
- Trump Mulls a North American Trade Pact Without Canada – New York Times
- Shutdowns Don't Usually Stop Disaster Work. FEMA Just Made It Harder – New York Times
- Bernie Sanders Rallies Support for Wealth Tax in California: 'Enough Is Enough' – Politico
- Trump Officials Plan to Build 5,000-Person Military Base in Gaza, Files Show – Semafor
- VFW Says New Federal Rule Could Lower Disability Compensation for Millions of Veterans – The Hill
- Trump's Appointees on Fine Arts Panel OK Big White House Ballroom – Politico
- 'No Expense Has Been Spared': Inside a Luxury Jet DHS Wants to Buy for Deportations – NBC News
- Giant Banner of Donald Trump Hung at Justice Department Headquarters – CNN
Views and Analysis
- Another White House Tariff Tantrum – Washington Post Editorial Board
- Fed's Kashkari Said What Needed to Be Said – Jonathan Levin, Bloomberg
- Inside Chuck Schumer's Evolution on Government Shutdowns – Kevin Frey, MS Now
- With a Golden Gavel and a Threat to Iran, Trump Launches His Board of Peace – Shawn McCreesh, New York Times
- How to Shred a Federal Agency – Liam Knox and Adrienne Tong, Bloomberg
- How MAGA's Census Fight Would Reshape Political Power – Ronald Brownstein, Bloomberg
- 'Our Patients Are More Frightened and Sicker Than Ever' – Elizabeth Whidden, Robin Canada and D. Daphne Owen, New York Times
- Can Newsom Live Down His Record? – Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal
- How California Is Damaging Faith in Government – New York Times Editorial Board
- Tracking Three IRS Datapoints to Watch During the 2026 Tax Filing Season – Erica York, Tax Foundation