Trump says the U.S. is in a 'period of transition' — and more takeaways from this week

President Trump speaks to the press as he meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Thursday. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

We'll be recapping what you need to know every Friday morning for the first 100 days of the Trump administration. Get more updates and analysis in the NPR Politics newsletter.

From economic and geopolitical volatility to a government shutdown standoff, the continued slashing of the government and mixed messaging on the measles, it was another consequential and news-packed week of this second Trump presidency.

Here are five takeaways from what happened this week that help you sift through what matters in our ongoing effort to chronicle the first 100 days of President Trump's second turn in office:

1. Trump's "period of transition":

President Trump triggered concerns this week of a recession when he declined to rule the possibility of one out.

"There is a period of transition," he said on Fox News, "because what we're doing is very big."

What the Trump administration is doing is implementing, pulling back and doubling down on tariffs. His trade war with Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union sent stocks tumbling and has caused general economic and geopolitical tumult.

Trump later defended his remarks when asked about his hesitancy to say there would not be a recession. "Of course I hesitated," he said. "Who knows?" But by Tuesday, he'd walked that back entirely, saying, "I don't see it at all."

Trump's "period of transition" remarks recalled the Biden administration saying inflation was "transitory." (Biden himself said he believed price increases would be "temporary.") Inflation did decline significantly eventually, but that was cold comfort for a lot of Americans, and Biden's party lost the presidency.

Now, there's a new administration, full of billionaires and multi-millionaire former corporate CEOs, pleading for patience on prices in hopes of bringing back manufacturing in the long term and telling Americans things like, "Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American Dream," as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did. Trump won't be on the ballot again, but this week had to make a lot of Republicans who will be very nervous.

2. "The ball is now in Russia's court":

The Trump administration said Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Russia. As a result, the U.S. will restart aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. "The ball is now in Russia's court," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

But Russia has not agreed to anything at this point despite Trump threatening sanctions. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he agreed "with the proposals to halt the fighting, but we proceed from the assumption that the ceasefire should lead to lasting peace and remove the root causes of the crisis." And he questioned if 30 days would simply give the Ukrainian military time to regroup.

Earlier in the day, an aide to Putin reiterated that it wants Ukraine to: (1) concede that Crimea and four other regions are now part of Russia, (2) withdraw troops from lands claimed by Russia and (3) pledge never to join NATO.

The U.S. has already largely been negotiating on Russia's terms — no NATO for Ukraine, no to getting all of Ukraine's territory back. So how does Trump respond if Putin flouts his efforts?

3. Schumer blinks. Get ready for the blame and outrage:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) leaves the Democratic caucus lunch at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday in Washington, DC. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images hide caption

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Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

As if economic turmoil and a high-stakes gamble in trying to end a war weren't enough, the federal government came pretty close to shutting down. But it looks like a shutdown, which would take place by the end of the day Friday, will be averted and the government will remain open for another six months. That's because Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday evening that he plans to vote for a GOP-written spending bill.

That's despite saying a day earlier that Democrats would not help Republicans with this measure because Democrats were left out of negotiations. "Spending should be bipartisan, Republicans chose a partisan path," Schumer had said. But he traded that line in for a warning about the hand a shutdown, he believes, would give Republicans.

"As bad as the CR is," Schumer said of the continuing resolution, "allowing Donald Trump to take even more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option." He contended that the GOP would weaponize a shutdown and reopen "only their favorite departments and agencies."

Schumer's move opens the pathway for more Democrats to vote in favor of it. Republicans could not pass the bill on their own, because they don't have the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

This will also likely mean even more outrage from a frustrated Democratic base, which has been clamoring for Democratic leadership to do something to try to thwart Trump's agenda.

NOTE: The government has shut down (either fully or partially) three times since 2013 – twice under Trump and once under President Barack Obama – and come close many other times. The 2019 shutdown, which lasted more than a month, came at a significant cost to the economy. It lowered "the projected level of real GDP in the first quarter of 2019 by $8 billion (in 2019 dollars), or 0.2 percent," according to the Congressional Budget Office.

4. DOGE keeps on DOGE-ing – but what's really going on?

The latest target in the Trump administration's slashing of the federal workforce is the Department of Education. Trump pledged to eliminate the agency, and this week, he got about halfway there. Some 1,300 staffers were fired. Combined with those who have taken buyouts and probationary employees who were let go, the agency only has about half the staff it started with at the beginning of the Trump administration.

But that has led to questions about how efficient the agency will be in its ability to collect educational statistics, administer congressionally mandated funds for special education and low-income food programs and to allow people to apply for student loans. In fact, this week, a student aid website administered by the Education Department was down for several hours after the layoffs.

"I'm really anxious and quite honestly concerned to see whether or not the department is going to be able to follow through and be able to execute all of the programs, including federal student aid," Beth Akers, a senior fellow at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, told NPR's Morning Edition Thursday. And she is someone who is generally in favor of reducing the size of the agency.

The Trump administration, led by Elon Musk's advisory Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, says the cuts are in an effort to cut the debt and deficit and make government more efficient. These cuts so far amount to very little in terms of the federal budget, but a lot in terms of people.

And that may be the point. Russ Vought, who is now Trump's Office of Management and Budget Director, said in October, in a video unearthed by ProPublica before a pro-Trump think tank: "We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains."

By the way, that DOGE cuts are constituting a drop in the bucket (if that, considering their costs, too) is possibly one reason why Musk this week said his group will take aim at "waste, fraud and abuse" in entitlements, which he called "the big one to eliminate." But there isn't likely enough of that within Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid either to make much of a dent in the budget.

5. Kennedy's mixed message on measles:

Before the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was developed and then licensed in 1963, nearly everyone got measles by the time they were 15. One of the most infectious diseases known to man, it infected three to four million Americans every year with about 400 to 500 dying, 48,000 hospitalized and 1,000 suffering encephalitis, a swelling of the brain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Almost 40 years after the vaccine — and its widespread and widely required use — measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. Now, though, after the COVID pandemic saw an increase in vaccine hesitancy because of misinformation, one of the country's most high-profile people, who has been questioning vaccines for years, is in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services. During his confirmation hearing, under pressure from people like Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a doctor, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. downplayed his past statements on vaccines and his hesitancy about them.

One year-old River Jacobs is held by his mother, Caitlin Fuller, while he receives an MMR vaccine from Raynard Covarrubio, at a vaccine clinic put on by Lubbock Public Health Department on March 1, 2025 in Lubbock, Texas. Cases of Measles are on the rise in West Texas as over 150 confirmed case have been seen with one confirmed death. Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images hide caption

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Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images

But since a measles outbreak in Texas, Kennedy has delivered very mixed messages. While he told Fox News' Sean Hannity in an interview this week that he encourages people to get vaccinated, he also said getting measles gives you more immunity to measles than the vaccine and called himself a "freedom of choice person." He said, "If people don't want it, the government shouldn't force them to do it."

Despite serious side effects from vaccines being exceedingly rare, Kennedy played those up, something public-health experts called disinformation.

"The measles vaccine is incredibly safe," Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN. "This is what anti-vaccine activists do is, they play up and try to scare you with the very, very rare side effects and forget to tell you about the horrific effects of the illness."

Here's an exhaustive day-by-day look at what happened this week related to Trump and his administration (since last Friday's list):

Friday, March 7:

• The jobs report shows the economy added 151,000 jobs. 
• Trump administration brings back family detention of migrants. The Biden administration had ended family detention, opting to use detention facilities for adults only.
• Pentagon flags 26,000 images to be removed because they were flagged as "DEI." The vast majority of the purges were of women and minorities.
• Trump canceling $400 million in funding to Columbia University. 
• Trump says tariffs on Canada may be coming today. 
• Trump says he's "finding it frankly more difficult to deal with Ukraine. … It may be easier to deal with Russia." But in response to Russia continuing to bomb Ukraine, he puts out a message on social media saying Russia "can't do that" and threatens sanctions. 
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says he's awaiting "greater clarity" on Trump policies before signaling next move on interest rates.
• Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a billionaire, said during a speech defending Trump on tariffs, "Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American Dream."
• Most of the 80,000 employees at HHS receive an email offering a buyout. 

Saturday

• GOP unveils stopgap spending bill.
• A future Trump presidential library has a "high likelihood" of landing in Florida, according to a state legislator. Florida Atlantic University and Florida International emerge are possibilities, he said. NBC News reports Eric Trump, Steve Witkoff and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have all scoped out potential sites. 
• Elon Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio dine at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Florida home after a tense Cabinet meeting exchange. 

Sunday

• Trump negotiator Adam Boehler says he spoke directly with Hamas in an effort to free hostages. The move angered members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration.  
• Trump does not rule out a recession this year in an interview on Fox News. He says there will be a "period of transition" and that the economy will be better off for it in the long run.
• After Iran rebuffed a letter from Trump calling to negotiate over its nuclear program, Trump said in the same Fox News interview, ​​"There are two ways Iran can be handled, militarily or you make a deal."
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, though, says "absolutely not" when asked if Americans should be prepared for a recession on NBC. He says people shouldn't doubt Trump, but in another interview, with CBS News, he says Trump's tariff policies would be "worth it" even if they lead to a recession. 

Monday

• The stock market plunges after Trump's recession remarks and that there was "no room left" for negotiation in U.S. tariffs against Mexico and Canada
• Head of the Department of Justice's Office of Information Policy, the office that oversees the Freedom of Information Act, is fired as well as the Justice Department's pardon attorney. The New York Times reports the pardon attorney was fired after refusing to recommend that Mel Gibson have his gun rights restored. 
• X was down for several hours. Elon Musk says it was due to a "massive cyber attack" he says originated from the "Ukraine area." Cyber security experts threw cold water on that.
• A pro-Palestinian protestor who attended Columbia University was arrested by ICE. The man, Mahmoud Khalil, is a green card holder and married to an American citizen.
• Mark Carney becomes incoming Canadian prime minister and he has tough words for Trump's tariffs. He says Canada didn't pick this fight, but is always ready when someone drops the gloves. 
• Musk calls Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz. a "traitor" after Kelly put a thread on X advocating for continuing to support Ukraine after a visit. Kelly is a combat veteran and astronaut.
• Musk says entitlements make up a big portion of the federal budget and are the "big one to eliminate." Musk claims there is $500 billion in "waste, fraud and abuse" in the programs, but previous inspectors general findings show that is highly unlikely. In Social Security, for example, from 2015 through 2022, its IG found almost $72 billion in improper payments, representing roughly 1% of benefits paid out in that stretch, the AP notes.
• A federal judge barred the Trump administration from withholding congressionally appropriated foreign aid funds. 
• Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the province will charge an additional 25% for Americans who use Canadian electricity. Trump then doubled down on tariffs and claimed of electricity tariffs "your (sic) not even allowed to do that."
• NBC reports that fewer people were deported in February under Trump than the same month a year ago under Biden. 

Tuesday

• House Republicans pass spending bill. 
• Secretary of State Rubio and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hold talks in Saudi Arabia about how to potentially end the war in Ukraine.
• Ukraine hits Moscow with drone attacks. 
• Trump posts after midnight that he is going to buy a new Tesla because "radical left lunatics" are "illegally" hurting Musk's company. Trump then made a show of having Teslas at the White House and spoke to reporters endorsing the vehicles. 
• Trump defends his tariffs at a business roundtable event. 

President Trump delivers remarks at the Business Roundtable's quarterly meeting at the Business Roundtable headquarters on Tuesday in Washington, DC. Trump addressed the group of CEO's as his recent tariff implementations have sparked uncertainty that have helped fuel a market sell-off. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images hide caption

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Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

• Trump posts that he's adding another 25% to 50% in tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada to go into effect Wednesday. Ford, the Ontario premier, says on CNN he "will respond appropriately on electricity. Stay tuned." He calls on Trump to end the chaos and says the tariffs are leading to "Trump's recession." Trump's post seemed to spook the markets again. Later in the day, after a meeting with Commerce Secretary Lutnick, Ontario said it was suspending its electricity surcharge. Trump says he will probably roll back steel and aluminum tariffs. 
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency cancels National Fire Training Academy classes.
• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoes Trump saying the country is in a time of economic transition and blames former President Biden for leaving a "mess."
• Ukraine agrees to a ceasefire deal and the U.S. says it will resume aid. 
• Leavitt says the Department of Homeland Security is actively seeking more campus protesters to detain following the arrest of Khalil. 
• Layoff notices expected at the Education Department. 
• The National Transportation Safety Board says there are urgent safety concerns in the airspace around Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C. 
• Trump changes his tune on a potential recession, telling reporters, "I don't see it at all." He denies that the down slide of the stock market has anything to do with tariffs and instead blames Biden. "It's all coming down," Trump falsely says of prices and inflation. "It's a beautiful thing." Trump again says Canada should become the "cherished 51st state." 
• The New York Times reports that tuberculosis is spreading internationally as a result of Trump's cuts to USAID.
• Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas calls Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware "Mr. McBride". McBride is a transgender woman. After being pressed by Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass. to properly address McBride, Self repeats it and then adjourns the hearing. 
• Democrats overperform in a state House race in Iowa. The Democrat lost by about 4 points, but it's a district Trump won in 2024 by almost 27 points.
• RFK Jr. tells Fox News' Sean Hannity that getting measles gives you more immunity than the vaccine. He noted that vaccines do stop the spread of the disease, are being sent to Texas, where there's an outbreak, and, "Anybody who wants a vaccine will get one." But, he also said, "I'm a freedom of choice person. … if people don't want it, the government shouldn't force them to do it." He then cited exceedingly rare "adverse events from the vaccine" before saying "people ought to be able to make that choice for themselves." 
• Trump pardons a former Tennessee state senator, who had just begun serving a 21-month prison sentence for campaign fraud. "God used Donald Trump to save me from the weaponized Biden DOJ," former state Sen. Brian Kelsey, 47, posted on X.

Wednesday

• House Democrats begin their retreat, attempting to get on the same page. Of the uneven response to Trump's address to a joint session of Congress that saw a member ejected for the first time, California Rep. Ami Bera told Politico, "I think it showed a party that wasn't unified. I think we had clear direction from our leadership on how to conduct ourselves. So I would hope that we talk about that this week."
• During a meeting at the White House with the Irish prime minister, Trump accused Ireland of cheating to lure pharmaceutical companies with low taxes and took a swipe at comedian Rosie O'Donnell, who recently moved to Ireland.
• Federal judge rules that Khalil cannot be deported "unless and until this court orders otherwise." 
• Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York says Democrats aren't going to help Republicans with their spending bill because "spending should be bipartisan. Republicans chose a partisan path." Instead, he said his caucus supports a clean continuing resolution that would keep the government open until April 11. 
• Trump says of Schumer: "Schumer is a Palestinian, as far as I'm concerned. He's become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He's not Jewish anymore. He's a Palestinian."
• Steel and aluminum tariffs take effect. 
• Trump doubles down on reciprocal tariffs. Asked about the economy and the inconsistency of the administration's messaging, Trump says, "I have the right to adjust. … I'm not like a block. It's not inconsistency. It's flexibility."
• Rubio speaks in Ireland. He defends Trump's tariffs. Also says Khalil can be kicked out because a visa can be denied for any reason. "This is not about free speech," he said, adding, "We have the right to deny you for virtually any reason."
• A CNN poll finds Trump with a 39% approval. 
• The G7 Foreign Ministers meeting takes place in Canada. "Canada is not the one driving up the price of your groceries" gasoline and construction, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly says. 
• Thousands are fired at the Department of Education across multiple states.

Demonstrators gather outside of the offices of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to protest against mass layoffs and budget cuts at the agency, initiated by the Trump administration and DOGE. Bryan Dozie/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Bryan Dozie/AFP via Getty Images

• Greenland elects a Trump critic who says he hopes his election sends a clear message. 
• The Environmental Protection Agency says it plans to roll back climate regulations, reconsidering rules for things like air pollution and wastewater from coal plants. The move comes on the heels of the government dropping a lawsuit against a petrochemical plant the Biden administration deemed a health threat to a community in Louisiana.
• Federal student loan site was down after mass layoffs at the Department of Education.

Thursday

• Canadian officials meet with Commerce Secretary Lutnick in Washington. Ontario's premier Doug Ford called the two-hour meeting "productive," "civil" and that the "temperature" had come down, but the tariffs remain in place. Before the meeting, Lutnick summed up the administration's attitude on Fox News: "What are you doing for us? I know what we are doing for you, but what are you doing for us?"
• Trump withdraws nominee to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Dave Weldon, a former Florida Republican congressman, on the day he was supposed to appear for his Senate confirmation hearing. Weldon, a friend of RFK Jr.'s who has questioned the effectiveness of vaccines, didn't have the votes to be confirmed.
• Trump threatens Europe with a 200% tariff on wine, champagne and other "alcoholic products" from France and other EU countries. He also said the EU "was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States."
• Democratic attorneys general from 20 states sue over the Education Department cuts.
• A federal judge in San Francisco rules that thousands of fired employees must be reinstated. 
• Schumer says he will vote for the GOP spending bill. That opens the path for other Democrats to do so and avert a government shutdown. 

Friday

• The government would shut down at the end of the day, if no deal is reached or enough Democrats vote for the spending measure. 
• Dr. Mehmet Oz is slated for his confirmation hearing to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
• Trump plans to visit the Justice Department.