GuShiio.com Musk’s participation in the meeting became a highlight.
Author: He Hao, Wall Street News
According to CCTV News, on February 26 local time, US President Trump held the first cabinet meeting of his second term.
At around 11 a.m. EST, near the start of the cabinet meeting, U.S. stocks generally maintained their gains earlier in the day. The S & P 500 index rose 0.8%, the Dow rose 0.3%, the Nasdaq rose 1.3%, and the semiconductor index rose nearly 2.8%. WTI crude oil futures rose 0.09% to US$68.99/barrel.
U.S. -Ukraine Mining Agreement
According to CCTV News, Trump confirmed that President Uzbekistan will visit the United States on the 28th to sign a rare earths-related agreement. Trump said that Ukraine President Zelensky will visit Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, on the 28th, and the United States and Ukraine will sign agreements on rare earths and other aspects. Trump said we will get our money back.
Regarding the upcoming US-Ukraine mineral agreement, Trump said that the United States will cooperate with Ukraine on rare earths. The United States hopes to recover the US$350 billion allocated to Ukraine by reaching a mineral deal.
According to previous media reports, according to the agreement, the United States and Uzbekistan will jointly establish a fund into which Uzbekistan will inject 50% of the future income of its own oil, natural gas, minerals and other resources. The United States will maximize the economic benefits generated by the fund and use part of the income to reinvest in Ukraine.
Trump also said: The United States will not provide security guarantees for Ukraine in an agreement to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but Europe will do so.” rdquo; He also said that Ukraine can forget about joining NATO.
Trump wants more talks between the United States and Russia. Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin must make concessions in negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He also said he hoped to see if the United States could reach an agreement with Russia before talking about easing sanctions. Trump said it is easy to maintain peace, but it is difficult to reach an agreement.
U.S. government efficiency, deficit, layoffs
According to CCTV News, Elon Musk, head of the government efficiency department, although not a member of the cabinet, also attended the meeting. Musk said the overall goal of the Ministry of Efficiency is to help solve the huge fiscal deficit. Musk said that the United States simply cannot afford an annual fiscal deficit of US$2 trillion. If this situation continues, the United States will face bankruptcy. He plans to achieve $1 trillion in deficit reduction in fiscal year 2026.
Trump said he is seeking to get the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to save the U.S. federal government up to $1 trillion in spending, hoping to reasonably balance the federal budget in the short term, and wants to balance the budget next year or later.
Trump said he must be careful in selecting candidates for layoffs at the State Department. The United States will reduce government and reduce the size of government. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Zeldin plans to cut the agency’s workforce by 65%.
It is reported that a memorandum issued by the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget of the federal human resources agencies shows that the Trump administration has instructed agencies to work with leaders of government efficiency teams to submit restructuring plans by March 13 to prepare for large-scale layoffs.
Trump mentions inflation
Trump admitted that the decline in inflation in the United States was partly due to high interest rates.
Trump talks about tariffs
The market is highly concerned about Trump’s tariff issue. At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday local time, Trump talked about tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
According to CCTV News, on February 26 local time, Trump said at a cabinet meeting that most tariffs would continue to be implemented. The United States will impose a 25% tariff on goods imported from Mexico and non-energy goods imported from Canada starting from April 2.
Trump signed an executive order on February 1, imposing a 25% tariff on products imported from Mexico and Canada, including a 10% tax increase on Canadian energy products. On the 3rd, Trump announced a 30-day suspension of tariff increases on the two countries and continued negotiations. According to this decision, the relevant tariff increases will take effect on March 4. Trump said on the 24th that the plan to impose additional tariffs on Mexico and Canada will proceed as scheduled. In addition, Trump signed a memorandum on the 13th, requiring relevant departments to determine equivalent tariffs with each foreign trading partner.
According to Xinhua Agency, Trump said that the United States has decided to impose a 25% tariff on the EU and will announce it soon. Trump told the media during a cabinet meeting at the White House that day that overall, the EU tariff rate will be set at 25%, which will apply to automobiles and various other goods. The EU takes advantage of the United States and refuses to accept U.S. cars and agricultural products for various reasons. There is a trade deficit of approximately US$300 billion between the United States and the EU.
The US political news website Politico previously reported that the trade deficit between the United States and Europe is not as large as Trump said. According to EU data, the goods trade deficit between the United States and the EU in 2023 will be 155.8 billion euros (approximately 168.6 billion US dollars). However, in terms of trade in services, the United States achieved a surplus of 104 billion euros (approximately 112.6 billion US dollars). Overall, the U.S. trade deficit with the EU is 51.8 billion euros (approximately US$56 billion).
It should be noted that Trump gave a series of contradictory answers on Wednesday to the question of imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the European Union:
At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, reporters asked Trump if he planned to formally implement 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico on March 4. Trump said, I will not stop tariffs.& rdquo;
Trump announced the tariff measures earlier this month, but then reached an agreement with the leaders of the two countries to delay the implementation date by a month in exchange for stricter border controls. The extension will expire next week.
However, later on Wednesday, Trump also said that tariffs on Mexico and Canada would take effect on April 2.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnik said at the meeting that overall tariff actions against various countries will be implemented on April 2.
Some analysts said it was unclear whether Trump was referring to giving Mexico and Canada extra time or confusing the tariff measure with another global reciprocal tariff plan being developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Trump’s remarks on the tariff timetable often confuse the market because he often mentions multiple plans at the same time when answering reporters ‘questions.
After Trump’s statement on Wednesday, the market believed that he might delay imposing tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, causing related assets in Mexico, Canada, and Europe to rise for a while:
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The Mexican peso rose rapidly against the US dollar in the short term, rising from below 20.45 pesos to above 20.30 pesos and breaking a daily high.
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The U.S. dollar rose about 0.2% against the Canadian dollar at 1.4342.
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The euro almost fully recovered its earlier loss in the day against the dollar. The US-listed iShares European ETF rose 0.75%, and the iShares Eurozone ETF rose 0.89%, holding steady near the daily high.
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Electric vehicle concept stock Lucid fell 10.7%, Tesla fell 0.9%, Honda Motor rose 1.5%, Ford Motor rose 1.6%, General Motors rose 5.5%, and Chinese stock Xiaopeng Motor rose 15%.
However, since then, relevant assets have emerged from the impact of tariffs, and U.S. stocks have continued to fall. The euro and European ETFs listed in the United States have surged higher and fell back:
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U.S. stocks retracted most of the early gains, while the Nasdaq 100 retracted an early gain of more than 1% and turned down, setting a new daily low. Component stocks Axon rose 16.81% intraday, Intuit rose 11.46%, Micron Technology and Broadcom rose more than 4.4%, Nvidia rose 3.4% and was among the top performers, Meta rose 2.6%, Palantir rose 1.87%; Apple fell more than 2.7%, Tesla fell more than 2.8%, Kraft Heinz, Montex International, Pepsi, VRSK, and KDP fell more than 3%, and AppLovin fell 12.69%, still remained the worst performer.
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The euro fell more than 0.2% against the US dollar again, hitting a low of 1.0484. The US-listed iShares MSCI European ETF fell from a daily high of US$58.86, rising 0.22% within the day and breaking a daily low of US$58.50. The US-listed iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF rose 0.35%, breaking a new daily low of US$53.38, quickly breaking away from a daily high of US$53.82.
Since then, the euro fell 0.28% against the dollar to 1.0486. Agence France-Presse quoted the European Commission as saying that the EU will immediately and unswervingly counter U.S. tariffs.
US President Trump orders termination of oil deals with Venezuela
According to CCTV News, on February 26 local time, Trump announced that he would revoke the concessions given to Venezuela by former President Biden. Trump said he is withdrawing concessions from the November 26, 2022 oil deal.
Venezuela suspended diplomatic relations with the United States since January 2019, while the United States has continued to expand economic sanctions against Venezuela, including banning the import of Venezuelan crude oil and freezing the assets of Venezuelan oil companies in the United States. On November 26, 2022, the U.S. government announced that it would issue a license to Chevron Oil Company, allowing the company to resume limited crude oil exploration operations in Venezuela and ship the country’s crude oil to the United States.
WTI crude oil futures fell 0.54% to US$68.56/barrel.
At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump again mentioned the Gold Card program and said it would start in about two weeks and the revenue generated could be used to pay off the national debt.
Earlier on February 25, local time, Trump told media at the White House that he planned to start selling U.S. gold cards priced at US$5 million in two weeks, targeting wealthy immigrants. According to him, this gold card will not directly grant U.S. citizenship to the purchaser, so it does not need to go through the U.S. Congress, but it will give the same rights as a green card and is a powerful way to obtain U.S. citizenship.
The White House refuses Associated Press and other media reporters to cover Trump cabinet meetings
According to CCTV News, in accordance with the U.S. government’s new policy on media reporting, the White House refused reporters from news organizations such as the Associated Press to enter the first cabinet meeting of Trump’s second presidential term. It is reported that the White House refused access to an Associated Press photographer and three reporters from Reuters, Huffington Post and Germany’s Daily Mirror.
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