| | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
President Donald Trump dangled new tariff moves over Apple and the EU on Friday morning. | Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo | TRUMP DANGLES NEW TARIFF MOVES: President Donald Trump rattled his tariff saber again this morning, this time squaring his focus on Apple over the production of the tech giant’s iPhones. What Trump said …
- On Apple: “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else. If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S.”
- On the EU: “The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with. … Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. There is no Tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States.”
To the core: “Production of Apple’s flagship phone happens primarily in China, but the company has been shifting manufacturing to India in part because that country has a friendlier trade relationship with the U.S.,” CNBC’s Jesse Pound writes. “Some Wall Street analysts have estimated that moving iPhone production to the U.S. would raise the price of the Apple smartphone by at least 25%.” Across the pond: Trump’s fresh EU threat “came hours before a call between EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to seek a basis for negotiation to head off a full-scale trade war,” POLITICO’s Camille Gijs writes. Brussels previously offered a newly tweaked list of concessions, but the FT reported this morning that Greer is expected to reject the proposal and demand unilateral concessions. How the admin sees it: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump wants to “light a fire” under the EU and Apple in an appearance this morning on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” Zooming out, Bessent noted that there are “18 important trade deals that we have to do.” He indicated that negotiations are “far along” with India and predicted more deals would be announced in July. “With the exception of the EU, most are negotiating in very good faith,” Bessent said. More from Fox Business On the other hand: Running up against the prognosis from Bessent is the reality that trade talks are bogged down as the July deadline approaches, POLITICO’s Daniel Desrochers and Phelim Kine report. According to conversations with 10 foreign officials, U.S. business leaders and others familiar with the talks, “disagreements are mounting in many of those talks and foreign governments are digging in, even those eager to cut deals, like some in Asia — a reminder of just how slow and complex traditional trade negotiations can be.” Where things stand: “Trump and other top officials have recently begun acknowledging that reality out loud, suggesting they will have to set new tariff rates on many countries when they hit the July 9 date for their so-called reciprocal tariffs to kick back in.” Market watch: “Stocks Fall After Trump’s Fresh Tariff Broadsides,” WSJ Happy Friday. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Programming note: Playbook PM will not publish on Monday afternoon for the federal holiday. Playbook will still be in your inbox in the morning, and we’ll be back on Tuesday. Drop me a line at gross@politico.com.
| | | | A message from the Alzheimer's Association: Congress Can Connect Americans to Alzheimer's Solutions: This is the most hopeful time in the history of Alzheimer's. Breakthrough research — made possible by bipartisan support in Congress — has led to the first FDA-approved treatments, earlier detection, improved diagnosis, and better support for caregivers. With over 7 million Americans living with this fatal disease, and their nearly 12 million caregivers, Congress must accelerate, not stop, progress. Congress, it's up to you. | | | | | | 8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. COURT IN THE ACT: A federal judge in Boston this morning swiftly granted Harvard University’s request for an emergency order to halt the Trump administration’s move to revoke its ability to enroll foreign students. “U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs granted Harvard’s requested restraining order just hours after the university sued the Department of Homeland Security, accusing the administration of unconstitutional retaliation for refusing to capitulate to President Donald Trump’s demands,” POLITICO’s Bianca Quilantan, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report. What’s next: Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, set a May 29 hearing to consider a longer-term block of the administration’s actions. She said the immediate restraining order was necessary because without it, Harvard “will sustain immediate and irreparable injury before there is an opportunity to hear from all parties.” The knock-on effect: Elite institutions like Harvard have been a major draw for international students, particularly those from China, who jumped at the chance to receive an education that ranks among the best in the world. Trump’s moves have the potential to “reshape the broader relationship between the two countries by cutting off one of the few remaining reasons that people in China still admire the United States,” NYT’s Vivian Wang reports from Beijing. 2. DEPORTATION DIGEST: Trump pledged on the campaign trail to carry out the largest deportation effort that the country has ever seen. It’s a central pillar of how he won back the White House. Now, months into his new term, the president is fighting that battle on two fronts: the courts, where he is losing, and public opinion, where he may have a better shot, POLITICO’s Myah Ward and Kyle Cheney report. How it’s working out: “While Justice Department lawyers seek to salvage some of the most aggressive elements of Trump’s deportation agenda, the rest of the president’s team is focused on making sure Americans hear the story he wants to tell: that of a president trying to get violent criminals out of the country, only to be blocked by obstinate judges. It’s an oversimplification that depends on misrepresentations of what the courts have ordered. But it is one the president knows he can tell with a louder megaphone and little pushback from judges, who speak through court filings, not soundbites.” 3. INSIDE TRUMP’S CRYPTO DINNER: CNN’s Alayna Treene has a download on the lavish and secretive dinner held for the top spenders on Trump’s crypto venture, stitching together reporting and accounts of the evening from social media posts by those in attendance. The 200-plus top spenders were “dining on filet mignon and halibut while the president stood at a podium regaling them with tales of his 2024 victory,” Treene writes. A post from Christoph Heuermann, a German attendee, “claimed Trump gave a 20-minute speech ‘and didn’t interact with the crowd other than enjoying being celebrated,’ according to his post. ‘Even VIP token holders (I know some) couldn’t speak or even shake hands with the president. It was still well worth it to experience the president live and watch his mightily secured arrival and departure.’” 4. COMING TO A DISTRICT NEAR YOU: With Congress headed home for a Memorial Day recess, Democratic lawmakers are planning to lean into immigration messaging in light of the charges leveled against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) over an incident at a New Jersey ICE facility. Dems are “planning to make a series of public visits to private detention centers in their states starting as early as next week,” The Bulwark’s Adrian Carrasquillo reports. “This plan has wide support and comes at the direction of various leaders of the sub-caucuses, including the ‘tri-caucus’ — the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus — as well as the Congressional Progressive Caucus and others.”
| | | | Playbook isn’t just a newsletter — it’s a podcast, too. With new co-hosts who bring unmatched Trump world reporting and analysis, The Playbook Podcast dives deeper into the power plays shaping Washington. Get the insider edge—start listening now. | | | | | 5. MUSK READ: Despite Elon Musk’s reported pullback from government work, his DOGE team is “expanding use of his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok in the U.S. federal government to analyze data,” Reuters’ Marisa Taylor and Alexandra Ulmer report, “potentially violating conflict-of-interest laws and putting at risk sensitive information on millions of Americans.” According to one source, the chatbot is being used to “ask questions, get it to prepare reports, give data analysis.” DOGE has reportedly told DHS officials “to use it even though Grok had not been approved within the department. Reuters could not determine the specific data that had been fed into the generative AI tool or how the custom system was set up.” 6. THE DEBT DEBATE: Victoria Guida pens her latest Capital Letter column on an issue that will be closely watched as the Senate prepares to take up Republicans’ sprawling megabill and one that is near and dear to the very senators debating the effort: the national debt. “As Republicans haggled this week over a tax bill that would add trillions to federal deficits, the long-term cost of financing the national debt surged. That wasn’t a coincidence — it was a warning. And it was as gently as the bond market is going to warn the U.S. that the path of the national debt is a problem.” Mood music: “In conversations with investors this week, I heard a new level of focus on the sheer volume of debt that Washington is set to pump out and, in some cases, real concern about how it will play out in markets. It was a shift from the perennial elite conversation, where the consensus has generally been that the debt is a worry, but not an immediate one. … Congress is not known for heeding gentle warnings.” 7. MORE ON THE MAHA MOMENT: “RFK Jr.’s report had a surprise target: your doctor,” by POLITICO’s Chelsea Cirruzzo: “Laced throughout the report from Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again Commission are accusations against doctors — for reportedly being influenced by the pharmaceutical industry to overprescribe certain medications and for failing to treat the root causes of disease. The report, released Thursday, calls out the American Medical Association, the country’s leading physicians’ group, by name for adopting a policy the report claims discourages providers from deviating from standard practices and scientists from studying adverse vaccine reactions.” 8. WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE: Trump’s big “Golden Dome” project would need the cooperation of a scorned Canada to provide info about missiles from the Arctic, and some Canadian lawmakers don’t sound so eager to jump in, POLITICO’s Jack Detsch and colleagues report. “Funding is also an issue. The White House has requested an initial Golden Dome investment of $25 billion in the tax and spending megabill moving through Congress. But Canada’s parliament won’t have a budget ready until the fall. Ottawa is also debating whether to participate in the shooting down of ballistic missiles, which is a controversial issue in the Canadian government.”
| | | | Cut through policy complexity and turn intelligence into action with POLITICO’s Policy Intelligence Assistant—a new suite of tools designed to save you time and demonstrate your impact more easily than ever—available only to Pro subscribers. Save hours, uncover critical insights instantly, and stay ahead of the next big shift. Power your strategy today—learn more. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — “McLean government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton to cut 7% of staff, restructure federal civil business,” by Washington Business Journal’s Ana Lucía Murillo POLITICO NEWS — Dan Goldberg is moving into a new role as senior White House editor. He currently is deputy editor for the health care team. The announcement WEDDING — Jake Kaplan, deputy chief of staff for Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), and Emanuela Frankel, a government affairs associate at Invenergy, got married in Chicago last Saturday in a Jewish wedding ceremony officiated by Schneider. The couple met when Emanuela interned in Schneider’s D.C. office, where Jake was working at the time. Pic Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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