| | | | |  | | By Jack Blanchard | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
| | | Good Monday morning. This is Jack Blanchard, fresh off a (very delayed) British Airways flight back from Heathrow. Happy to confirm the U.K. is still just as gray and rainy as when I left it. Where dreams go to die: Kansas City (again) and Philadelphia (again) will compete in Super Bowl LIX next month after the Washington Commanders were defeated in the NFC Championship game. This was Washington’s best and most exhilarating NFL season in more than 30 years — but even star QB Jayden Daniels could not overcome the glaring errors by teammates which gifted the Eagles victory in their Sunday afternoon matchup. Cheer up, D.C.: Daniels is 24 years old. This is just the start.
| 
Colombian imports threatened by President Donald Trump are now “held in reserve” after Washington and Bogotá cut a last-minute deal. | Mark Schiefelbein/AP | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | COLOMBIA HEIGHTS: The U.S. and one of its closest Latin American allies stepped back from the brink of an all-out trade war last night after a dizzying day of threats, bluster and fraught social media diplomacy. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced at 10:11 p.m. last night that the tariffs on Colombian imports threatened earlier in the day by President Donald Trump would now be “held in reserve” after Washington and Bogotá cut a last-minute deal on migrant deportations. As you no doubt saw, Trump had vowed to slap an emergency 25 percent tariff — rising to 50 percent next week — on all Colombian goods after Bogotá refused to accept two plane loads of undocumented Colombian nationals being forcibly returned on U.S. military aircraft. Colombian President Gustavo Petro then hit back with angry words and the threat of retaliatory measures, and by Sunday evening the whole thing was spiraling out of control. But but but: Behind the scenes, talks between officials continued, and late last night a triumphant Leavitt published a statement saying Bogotá had “agreed to all of President Trump’s terms.” She said deportations to Colombia will continue, “including on U.S. military aircraft.” Bogotá also tried to claim a modicum of victory, with the WSJ quoting a video statement by Luis Gilberto Murillo, Colombia’s foreign minister, saying the deal guaranteed “dignified conditions” for Colombian deportees — the core issue which had first caused Petro to intervene. Quite what that means in practice remains to be seen. Tempest in a teapot? The whole row had made little sense, given Colombia has accepted nearly 500 deportation flights (on civilian aircraft) from the U.S. since the start of this decade — and was continuing to do so until Sunday morning. Petro’s complaint was specifically about the use of U.S. military aircraft and personnel to deport Colombian citizens, who he said deserved more “dignified treatment.” Thus, he abruptly blocked the military flights on Sunday, causing Trump to blow his top … and everything spiralled from there. Lose/lose: All-out economic war would have been pretty damaging to both sides, given Colombia is both utterly reliant on exports to the U.S., and also one of the few Latin American countries with which America actually has a trade surplus. Furthermore, Colombia has been seen as one of Washington’s more reliable allies in the region for some time — and experts warned that a trade war with the U.S. could push the nation into China’s arms. So why did things escalate so fast? Because … it’s 2025: This crisis was personality-driven, a battle of wills between two quasi-populist leaders being played out on social media. It’s hard to imagine something quite like this erupting in any previous age. Indeed, Petro, a former guerrilla fighter turned maverick left-wing politician, almost out-Trumped Trump with his sudden and very public decision to turn the planes back, and then later, his emotional (and slightly rambling) 878-word post on X saying he was ready to die rather than cave in. At the time of going to pixel, he’d scored an impressive 67,000 retweets ... But there was still only ever going to be one winner. So nothing has actually changed: But between the threats, the angry X posts and the macho posturing, this whole debacle made a fitting end to a truly whirlwind first week of Trump’s new presidency. And there’s only 207 more weeks to go! Can we all keep this up? Now take a big step back: Because this was actually a significant moment in the Trump 2.0 project, revealing a U.S. president utterly determined to show supporters he will not be defied. The whole world has just watched a newly aggressive America ready to take punishing economic action against even close allies who do not wilt and bend to its demands — and will be wondering who’s next in line. And of course — much to MAGA world’s glee — there are no Jim Mattises or John Kellys to intervene this time. As WaPo’s David J. Lynch notes, it all feels more consequential than Trump 1.0. Watching all of this closely: Other Central and Latin American nations where the U.S. sends planeloads of deported migrants. … Canada, which Trump has threatened with tariffs over the flow of fentanyl across its border and where the spiking cost of living has imperiled the ruling Liberal Party. … Denmark, which Trump has threatened with tariffs if it does not surrender Greenland. … The EU, which Trump has threatened with tariffs if it does not allow greater access for U.S. farm products and automobiles … and goodness knows where else. Panama must be feeling a little uncomfortable, too. And right on cue … Mexico and Canada could both be hit with 25 percent tariffs as soon as this coming Saturday, the WSJ’s Gavin Bade, Vipal Monga and Paul Vieira reported last night, citing aides who dismiss any suggestion that Trump’s threats of Feb. 1 action were just a negotiating stance. “The president … doesn’t feel Canada and Mexico are taking his threats seriously, some advisers said,” they report. “He wants to hit them with tariffs first to prove he isn’t bluffing, these people said, and to drive them to the negotiating table.” Attack lines at the ready: Also taking to social media on Sunday was — surprise, surprise — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who was swift to warn of the impact of trade wars on the Average Joe. “To ‘punish’ Colombia, Trump is about to make every American pay even more for coffee,“ she wrote on X on Sunday afternoon. “Remember: *WE* pay the tariffs, not Colombia. Trump is all about making inflation WORSE for working class Americans, not better. He’s lining the pockets of himself and the billionaire class.” Rinse and repeat: It’s almost the first decent attack line we’ve heard from Dems this whole past week — and you can expect to hear it again and again if Trump follows through with his tariff threats. Helpfully, my colleague Elena Schneider has a smart piece about why Dems have largely pulled their punches against Trump 2.0 so far. NEWS CYCLE AT WARP SPEED: It’s also worth remembering that the trade-war-that-wasn’t was actually Trump’s second diplomatic row of the weekend, after he made headlines around the world by telling reporters that Gaza should be “cleaned out” and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians moved to neighboring countries. The WSJ’s Michael Gordon and Alexander Ward report his comments have bewildered allies in the region, while delighting the Israeli far right. Not happening: Beyond any moral objections, most observers seem to think it’s a non-starter anyway — not least because neighboring countries wouldn’t want to get involved. “It’s hard to imagine it having much traction as an idea,” Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies tells the Journal. Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told CNN: “The idea that all the Palestinians are going to leave and go somewhere else, I don’t see that to be overly practical.” News from the homeland! Trump’s weekend flurry of diplomacy (if you can call it that) continued last night as the president made his first phone call with a European leader since returning to the White House — a 45-minute chat with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. A near-weeklong wait for a new U.S. president to call *anyone* in Europe post-inauguration is highly unusual, and speaks to the intense focus Trump has placed on his domestic agenda in the first days of his second term … as well, perhaps, as a growing disinterest in European affairs. Back in your box, Elon: Still, landing the first big White House call was something of a coup for Starmer, who has faced sustained verbal attacks from Trump’s friend and adviser Elon Musk over recent weeks. In his huddle with journos on Air Force One on Saturday night, Trump gave his warm backing to the British PM as a “very good person” doing “a very good job.” Maybe there is a diplomat hiding in there somewhere, after all. NOW READ THIS: European nations are at least feeling cautiously optimistic over one red-hot issue Trump has vowed to wade in on — the bloody war in Ukraine, Robbie Gramer and Eli Stokols report. “Trump’s threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to impose new tariffs and sanctions on Moscow if it didn’t reach a deal to stop the war sent a welcome message to European allies,” they write. “It is being read more broadly by Ukraine supporters as evidence that he understands the stakes of the war as they do, and will not abandon Ukraine — or NATO allies — in his coming dealings with Putin.”
| | | | A message from Meta: Open source AI is available to all, not just the few.
Meta’s open source AI, Llama, is free to use – enabling students and doctors to collaborate and build Meditron, an AI tool that tailors medical guidance to help doctors in underserved areas.
Now, when a medical emergency arises in a remote village, doctors can access the right information at the right time.
Learn more about how others are building with open source AI. | | | LIFE’S A BEACH PARTY IN THE CITY: The great and the good of the House GOP will descend upon Miami later today for a policy retreat which will have seismic implications for Trump’s second term. Republican representatives are this morning boarding flights to Florida for a 48-hour retreat at — where else? — the Trump National Doral Miami, the president’s luxury golf resort on the outskirts of the city. The guest of honor will be Trump himself, who is due to address GOP lawmakers ahead of a grand dinner later tonight. All those attending are braced for two days of complex negotiations over how best to proceed with the president’s ambitious legislative agenda. … Where the heat is on: It’s a big moment for Speaker Mike Johnson, who said last week he aims to use the retreat to finalize a “blueprint” for the sprawling budget reconciliation bill which both Trump and House Republicans want to be the primary vehicle for their legislative plans. Johnson must somehow find a route through his conference’s (and his president’s) competing demands for tax and spending cuts, deficit reduction, plus various tacked-on policy items covering energy, immigration and more — and all without losing a single GOP vote in the House. No pressure! … All night on the beach til the break of dawn: Still, with temperatures hitting a heady 77F down in Miami today, it’s hard to feel too sorry for these guys as they embark on their two-day jaunt to the Sunshine State. The Doral — about an hour’s drive south of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago lair — has four championship golf courses, a 48,000 square-foot spa and an outdoor pool with a 125-foot slide. Aged bone-in ribeye steaks are served up at $79 a head, plus sides. The “Experience Salon” offers guests a selection of specially-curated bourbon. And people say politics is no fun. … Welcome to Miami: Those House Republicans arriving early will squeeze in a round of golf and lunch before Johnson kicks things off with a press conference at 3 p.m. Official proceedings begin at 3:30 p.m. ahead of today’s main event — a closed-doors address from Trump at 5 p.m. After further discussions, they all head in for a slap-up dinner and conversations running late into the night. Also expected to show: Vice President JD Vance … Former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway … One or two Trump offspring … and other special guests. Key questions: How can the competing tax-and-spend demands of a 218-strong GOP House possibly be squared off without losing a single member’s support? Which measures should go into the “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill Trump has demanded, and which could be funnelled into a bipartisan government funding bill? Can that funding bill be signed off before the mid-March debt ceiling deadline, and so avoid a government shutdown? And is Trump planning to turn up today in listening mode, preaching unity — or is the president about to start throwing his weight around? Essential text msg: “The stakes for Trump’s agenda and Speaker Johnson are incredibly high this week,” POLITICO Congress reporter Meredith Lee Hill told us via a Sunday night Slack message as she headed to Florida. “Anxious House Republicans wanted a decision from Johnson weeks ago on how they would pass their massive reconciliation bill as well as fund the government before a March 14 deadline. But House GOP hardliners are still trying to buck Johnson and push for a two-track reconciliation plan to notch quick wins on the border. House Republicans also worry if they don’t hammer out a concrete path forward this week, Senate Republicans are ready to jam them with their own plans.” It’s a bit of a mess. Come on, Mike! “We need to have a sense of urgency with the debt ceiling [deadline] coming,” says Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.), a member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, speaking to Meredith for her essential walkup to today’s event. “I hope there's options at this point.” Key deets from the story: “Committee chairs will present their proposals for the reconciliation package and answer member questions during a series of breakout sessions Tuesday,” Meredith writes. “The reconciliation process will be the subject of a plenary session hosted by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and chairs on Wednesday morning.” The whole thing wraps up Wednesday at noon. A good trashy story: If you’re looking for more granular fights around Trump’s Doral course, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is “dropping her longtime fight for a new trash-burning facility and instead wants the county to explore building a new landfill somewhere else in Florida” after the Trump family put up a stink over the plan, the Miami Herald’s Douglas Hanks reports. Special treatment: Elsewhere in Florida, the legislature is set to kick off a special session called for by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who wants lawmakers in the Sunshine State to get moving on Trump’s agenda. But GOP leaders have pushed back on DeSantis’ timeline, insisting that the work could wait until the regular policymaking period in March. “The dispute has left many rank-and-file Republican lawmakers tearing their hair out, with one texting POLITICO that the whole situation had devolved into a ‘shit show,’” Kimberly Leonard and Gary Fineout report from Tallahassee. And, uh, here’s the quote of the day — in some sense: “Mommy and daddy are fighting,” said state Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo. “And they have to consume for more power, more relevance, more attention.”
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | BEST OF THE REST THE NEW TRUMP EFFECT: While DOJ employees await the Senate confirmation of AG nominee Pam Bondi, the staff is anxious but isn’t exactly waiting around to implement changes. While a new administration always ushers in change, “current and former department officials said the pace, scope and tone of Trump’s early moves in his second term are unusual and signal that a more dramatic transformation lies ahead,” WSJ’s Sadie Gurman and C. Ryan Barber report. “Current employees said they believed one goal of the shake-up is to pressure some career staffers with civil-service protections to leave on their own.” Where else the shake-ups are striking: Among the departments that Trump moved to cut in his first week was a “team of White House advisors whose job it was to ensure the entire federal government helped communities located near heavy industry, ports and roadways” — which are often made up largely of Black, Latino and low-income Americans, AP’s Michael Phillis and Alexa St. John write. LIVE AND LET DEI: The Air Force yesterday said it will “resume instruction of trainees using a video about the first Black airmen in the U.S. military, known as the Tuskegee Airmen, which has passed review to ensure compliance with President Donald Trump's ban on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” Reuters’ Phil Stewart writes. TIKTOK ON THE CLOCK: There’s a new prospective bidder to swoop in and save TikTok: Perplexity AI has presented a proposal to ByteDance that would allow the U.S. government to own up to 50 percent of a new entity merging Perplexity and TikTok’s U.S. business, AP’s Haleluya Hadero and Christopher Rugaber report.
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | BEYOND THE BELTWAY TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN: DOJ is ramping up its enforcement of Trump’s immigration agenda, noticing yesterday a multi-agency effort to carry out arrests in Chicago, where Trump officials descended to oversee what acting deputy AG Emil Bove deemed a “national emergency,” per NYT’s Devlin Barrett, Julie Bosman and Hamed Aleaziz. The details: “Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement on Sunday night that it had made 956 arrests on Sunday, though it was unclear how many of them were in Chicago. Local officials in Chicago said they had not been involved in the operations. In some neighborhoods, residents said people were concerned, but also confused about how the reported immigration operations were going to play out.” The scope: In addition to the increased action in Chicago, reports emerged of arrests in the Atlanta area, Puerto Rico, Colorado, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, per CNN’s Gustavo Valdés and Zoe Sottile. And it’s only going to continue: ICE officials “have been directed by Trump officials to aggressively ramp up the number of people they arrest, from a few hundred per day to at least 1,200 to 1,500, because the president has been disappointed with the results of his mass deportation campaign so far,” WaPo’s Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti report. On the ground in Ohio: Our colleague Irie Sentner has a fresh report out of Springfield, Ohio, where legal Haitian migrants are bracing for Trump’s mass deportations after the president’s campaign thrust the community of roughly 15,000 migrants into the spotlight last year. “The Haitians still here were hunkering down and preparing for the worst,” Irie writes. “They think they’re going to make Springfield the example,” said Marjorie Koveleski, a Haitian-American Springfield resident of 20 years and self-proclaimed “mama” or “auntie” to the new arrivals. CLIMATE SILENCE: Back in Trump’s first term, when Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, it was Silicon Valley leaders who were among the loudest criticizing the president. This time? It’s been crickets from out West on the issue, Corbin Hiar and Sara Schonhardt write. STOP THE STEEL — “Activist Ancora to Push U.S. Steel to Drop Merger With Nippon Steel, Oust CEO,” by WSJ’s Lauren Thomas
| | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | MEDIAWATCH — “The Stringer,” a controversial documentary that examines the claim that a Pulitzer Prize-winning AP photograph from the Vietnam War was misattributed to the incorrect photographer, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend. The AP issued a pre-buttal in the week before the film’s release. WaPo’s Jada Yuan has a write-up from Park City, Utah, on the questions swirling around its release. The AP also released a new statement after a representative viewed the film: “We continue to reiterate what we have said all along – and said publicly last week: AP stands ready to review any and all evidence and new information about this photo.” GAME OVER? Elon Musk has made gaming a big part of his online persona. But he might not be all that he’s cracked himself up to be on the sticks, NYT’s Eli Tan and Mike Isaac write. TRANSITIONS — Sole Strategies is adding Brandon Russell as national field director and Nicholas Hamson as a field operations assistant. They were previously at MapleBridge Strategies, where Russell was managing partner and Hamson was an account executive. … Adali Hernandez is now senior director for corporate relations at the National Association of Caregivers. He previously managed corporate affairs at the Trevor Project. … Matthew Fuentes is joining Avenue Solutions as a partner. He previously was senior health policy adviser to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. … … Tricia McLaughlin is now assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS. She most recently was a PR and political consultant and an ABC News political contributor and is a Vivek Ramaswamy and a Trump State and Treasury alum. … Molly Vaseliou is now associate administrator for public affairs at the EPA. She most recently was comms director for Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and served at the EPA in the first Trump administration. … Jose Leoncio has joined the FIFA World Cup 2026 as a coordinator for the government affairs team. He previously was at the Commerce Department and is a Bob Menendez and Bob Casey alum. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Samantha Kemp, deputy director of government affairs at Albertsons Companies, and David Kemp, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, recently welcomed Emma Kemp. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Chief Justice John Roberts (7-0) … Meredith Kelly of Declaration Media … C-SPAN’s Howard Mortman … Jessica Fink … Kitty Di Martino … Circle’s Jared Favole … Erin Lindsay … Emily Skor of Growth Energy … Kayla Ermanni … Jamal Ware … Nomiki Konst … Matt Lee-Ashley … DLCC’s Will Rusche … Connie Partoyan of Targeted Victory … Ben Owens … Heather Nauert … Lisa Kaplan of Alethea … Akin Gump’s Josh Teitelbaum … WaPo’s Holly Bailey … former Reps. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), Zack Space (D-Ohio), John Mica (R-Fla.) and Dick Ottinger (D-N.Y.) (96) … Kevin Downey … American Conservation Coalition’s Michael Esposito … World Relief’s Chelsea Sobolik … Rachel Dumke of Sen. Steve Daines’ (R-Mont.) office … Scott Backer … Morry Cater. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
| | | | A message from Meta: Open source AI is available to all, not just the few.
Meta’s open source AI, Llama, is free to use – enabling startups like Nanome to build an AI tool that helps scientists find new treatments for diseases.
Now, pharmaceutical research that may take years and cost billions can be done more efficiently.
Learn more about how others are building with open source AI. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
