Trump's China Decision, Potential Tax Increase For Rich, Elon Steps Back from DOGE: AM Update 4/24

Good morning, everyone. I'm Megan Kelly.
It's Thursday, April 24th, 2025. And this is your AM update.
So I think it's going to work out very well. But no, it's at 145 percent.
There will not be anywhere near that number. President Trump making news on his tariff policy toward China.
We're trying to remove these public state threats and national security threats as quick as possible. They're putting every roadblock imaginable in front of us to prevent us from doing that.
Porter Czar Tom Homan unleashing on activist groups trying to prevent President Trump from deporting criminal illegal aliens. And President Trump considering increasing taxes on the wealthy in his so-called Big Beautiful Tax Bill.
All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM update. As President Trump is settling into his new administration, one of the top Democrats in Congress aiming to undermine the Trump agenda is Democrat Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois.
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Dick Durbin's government takeover of your credit card before it's too late. The Trump administration offering to de-escalate its tariff war with China, weighing a dramatic restructuring of our tariffs on Chinese imports.
According to the Wall Street Journal, President Trump is considering lowering tariffs on Chinese goods to 50 or 65 percent. Currently, they're at 145 percent.
He also may impose a tiered system, 35 percent levies on goods not considered a threat to national security, and at least 100 percent for goods that do pose that threat. The journal noting the president has yet to make a final decision.
On Tuesday, President Trump signaling openness to working nicely with the Chinese, making clear neither the previous setup nor the current status quo will stand. I'm not going to say, oh, I'm going to play hardball with China.
I'm going to play hardball with you, President Xi. No, no.
We're going to be very nice. They're going to be very nice.
And we'll see what happens. But ultimately, they have to make a deal, because otherwise, they're not going to be able to deal in the United States.
So we want them involved. But they have to, and other countries have to make a deal.
145 percent is very high, and it won't be that high. It's not going to be that high.
And what level do you think it will come down to to be that high. It'll come down substantially, but it won't be zero.
It used to be zero. We were just destroyed.
China was taking us for a ride and just not going to have it's not going to happen. So I think it's going to work out very well.
But no, it's at 145 percent. There will not be anywhere near that number.
President Trump reportedly looking to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping directly, an idea the Chinese are resisting without an agreed upon framework. On Wednesday, President Xi telling reporters, quote, tariff wards and trade wars harm the legitimate rights and interests of all countries.
A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry later doubling down, telling reporters the U.S. must, quote, stop its threats and coercion and engage with China on the basis of equality, mutual respect and reciprocity.
Treasury Secretary Scott Besant speaking on Wednesday at the International Finance Forum, arguing China has more to lose and gain from a deal rebalancing their export-heavy economy.

China in particular is in need of a rebalancing.

China's economic system, with growth driven by manufacturing exports,

will continue to create even more serious imbalances with its trading partners

if the status quo is allowed to continue.

China's current economic model is built on exporting its way out of its economic troubles. It's an unsustainable model that is not only harming China, but the entire world.
China needs to change. The country knows it needs to change.
Everyone knows it needs to change. And we want to help it change because we need rebalancing too.
On Wednesday, markets reacting positively, the Dow Jones rising by 419 points, the S&P gaining 88 points, and the Nasdaq rising by 407 points. Coming up, could President Trump be about to increase taxes on the wealthy? And border czar Tom Homan slams activist groups for intervening in the Trump administration's mass deportation effort.
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In a possible break from traditional Republican orthodoxy, President Trump reportedly considering raising taxes on the wealthy, which means small business owners and job creators. Fox News Digital reporting White House aides are quietly floating a proposal to House Republicans that would raise the tax rate to 40 percent for Americans making more than one million dollars.
The current highest bracket set at 37 percent for those making 609,000 or more. The proposal comes as lawmakers work with the White House on an ambitious so-called Big Beautiful tax bill aiming to slash federal spending and make the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent while adding in additional cuts like no taxes on tips, on overtime, or on Social Security.
Pennsylvania Republican Dan Muser telling Fox a new tax bracket could generate significant revenue. By bringing it from the 37, as we're redoing the tax plan, to perhaps 38.6, right, it would still be 1% less than it was before.
So if you were to bring it up at one point, it brings about $15 billion in revenues. Trump advisor and senior counselor in the first Trump administration, Steve Bannon, telling The Megyn Kelly Show on Tuesday, it's an easy political win against Democrats.
If you look at the tax bill, everything everybody's talking about is President Trump is open to, and I think you're going to be shocked to see that President Trump is not going to allow a snapback at the upper bracket. In fact, I think he'll create a million dollar bracket and that bracket will be at 40 percent.
He will actually tax the wealthy in this entire tax plan, something that Schumer and Pelosi and Biden didn't do in the first hundred days when they had everything in 2021. They talked about it.
It didn't even come out of committee. President Trump will do it.
Not all Republicans on board, however, some GOP lawmakers expressing stern opposition. I'm not going to vote for that.
I've never met a tax break I didn't like. We need to look at going in and trying to find policies to spur the economy, to move things forward.
And you don't do that by raising taxes. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Tuesday posting a screenshot of a note on X he says is from President Trump.
It reads in part, quote, George Bush said, read my lips, no new taxes, then proceeded to give a rather small tax increase and was obliterated. If you can do without it, you're probably better off trying to do so.
The speaker did not specify when that note

was written, though the message echoes President Trump's consistent warnings on the campaign trail.

If Democrats win, taxes will go up. Republican lawmakers aiming to release the tax package in May.

Borders are Tom Homan Wednesday on Fox slamming activist groups for launching what he calls a coordinated legal campaign to obstruct the Trump administration's mass deportation efforts. Here's what they're doing.
Here's the plan. The Biden administration overwhelmed the system.
10.5 million people came to the border. They know it's going to take years to get through the court docket.
By then, they're hoping there's another Democratic administration in. They'll have U.S.
citizen children. Then all of a sudden, nobody wants them removed.
When they detain them, they get a hearing in 35 days. They released them.
Now it's going to take five to seven years. They're going to keep playing this game to the immigration courts, to appeal after appeal after appeal, district judge, district judge, to slow us down, because their hopes is they'll gain power again.
Then they can warrant amnesty to 10 million illegal aliens that are released in this country illegally. That is their plan.
We're trying to remove these public safety threats, national security threats as quick as possible. They're putting every roadblock in front of us to prevent us from doing that.
The Trump administration is confronting a growing series of legal roadblocks from federal courts across the country. Challenges critics say undermine the executive branch's constitutional authority to enforce immigration law.
Late Friday night, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order temporarily stopping the president from deporting anyone under the Alien Enemies Act, at least until the courts can decide the underlying case in which detainees are challenging the use of that act against them.
Shortly thereafter, courts in Colorado and New York halted the administration's use of the act in cases before them. In New York, a Clinton-appointed judge blocked the deportation of eight Venezuelans.
In Colorado, a Biden-appointed judge blocking deportations under the act and adding that all affected detainees must receive 21 days notice before any removal and must be informed of their right to challenge their deportation. The latest rulings come amid the ongoing legal battle over Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an El Salvadoran national with confirmed ties to MS-13 currently in custody in his home country.
Despite a documented history of domestic abuse, two immigration judges affirming his gang affiliation, and a valid deportation order, Democratic lawmakers making Garcia a central figure in their fight against the Trump administration, framing the case as a due process issue with implications for all Americans. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen making that argument Sunday on ABC following his visit to Mr.
Abrego Garcia in El Salvador. I am not defending the man.
I'm defending the rights of this man to due process. My mission and my purpose is to make sure that we uphold the rule of law because if we take it away from him, we do jeopardize it for everybody else.
On Sunday, four progressive lawmakers, Congressman Robert Garcia of California, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Yasemin Ansari of Arizona, and Maxine Dexter of Oregon arriving in El Salvador on an unofficial visit to advocate for Mr. Abrego Garcia.
House Oversight Chair James Comer denying the use of taxpayer funds, preventing the visit from being recognized as an official congressional delegation. The Salvadoran government citing the unofficial status of the trip, blocking the lawmakers from meeting with Garcia.
Still, the group vowed that Democratic pressure on the Trump administration will continue. I am here with my colleagues to demand that Donald Trump facilitate the safe return home for Mr.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia. And we want to be just very clear that he needs to come home.
This is about due process. We're not going to be the last members of Congress and senators that are here to make sure that he's released and that our country is following our laws.
Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania Guy Rishenthraller on Tuesday telling Fox Democrats are doing Republicans a favor. Well, I hope more Democrats continue to stand up for MS-13 gang members.
Politically,

this is incredible for us. You know, it's really rich.
These are the same politicians

that during the State of the Union wouldn't stand up, wouldn't applaud for angel mothers.

And then they turn around and they want to defend an MS-13 gang member. It's quite amazing.
So I

personally like the juxtaposition of where the Republicans are on this issue and where the Democrats are. Elon Musk telling Tesla investors on Tuesday he plans to scale back on his role in the Department of Government Efficiency to focus more on the car company.
Starting probably next month, May, my time allocation to Doge will drop significantly i'll have to continue doing it for probably the remainder of the president's term just to make sure that the waste and fraud that we stop does not come roaring back so i think i'll continue to spend a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the president would like me to do so and as long as it is useful. Starting next month, I'll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla.
The announcement comes in the wake of a poor Q1 earnings report, profits falling by 71 percent compared to the same time last year, the stock price down 50 percent overall from its December peak. The electric car company, targeted by left-wing activists in a nationwide Tesla takedown campaign, designed to punish Mr.
Musk for working with the Trump administration. More than 50 incidents reported against Tesla vehicles and facilities since January, ranging from vandalism to arson.
Authorities arresting at least nine suspects in connection with the violence so far. Mr.
Musk standing by his government work, telling investors the U.S. is facing an existential crisis.
I believe the right thing to do is to fight the waste and fraud and get the country back on the right track and working together with President Trump and his administration. Because if the ship of America goes down, we all go down with it, including Tesla and everyone else.
The announcement reassuring investors, Tesla stock rising about 5% on Wednesday following Musk's remarks. Despite Musk stepping back, Doge's work in the Trump administration will continue.
And that'll do it for your AM Update. I'm Megyn Kelly.
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