Muhamad Yehia
President Donald Trump held the first official Cabinet meeting of his second term on Wednesday at the White House.
Seated alongside agency leaders in a long wooden table, the president took questions from reporters on a range of topics, including his government overhaul, Ukraine and immigration.
Elon Musk, who is not a Cabinet member but has led the Trump administration’s effort to shrink the federal workforce and remake the government, was also in the room.
The tech billionaire tried to clarify that his email blast requiring federal workers to detail their past week’s work was not a performance review, but a “pulse check.” However, Trump was quick to interrupt to claim those federal workers who have not replied to the email “are on the bubble” and at risk of getting fired.
Here are some other top lines from the meeting:
- Musk explains DOGE: Musk, an adviser to Trump and the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), said he was “tech support” and that DOGE is doing lots of work to “fix the government computer systems.” The White House said earlier Wednesday that Musk was attending the meeting because “Cabinet secretaries take the advice and direction” of DOGE. Trump told reporters some of the Cabinet members “disagree a little bit” with Musk amid CNN reporting that the tech billionaire’s directives to federal workers have begun to grate on Cabinet secretaries.
- Workforce cuts: Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin plans to cut up to 65% of the agency’s workforce, Trump said at the meeting. The president’s remarks came as the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management issued a memo to agency leaders Wednesday with guidance on how to conduct large-scale layoffs.
- Gold card: Trump predicted his “gold card” plan to replace the EB5 visa program is going to “sell like crazy” as his administration takes steps toward monetizing the US immigration system and paying down national debt with the revenue generated. He suggested that the move would ultimately create jobs and that the cards will begin to be available “in about two weeks.”
- War in Ukraine: Trump confirmed Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will come to the White House Friday to sign an agreement on natural resources and the reconstruction of war-torn Ukraine. The president said the US will not be making “security guarantees to Ukraine beyond very much,” suggesting European nations take that responsibility because of geographical proximity. Trump also said Russian President Vladimir Putin “is going to have to” make concessions in the negotiations to end the war, but declined to say what those concessions might be.
- Taiwan: Trump declined to say if his administration would move to prevent China from taking Taiwan by force: “I never comment on that — I don’t comment on anything, because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” China has accused the Trump administration of “serious regression” in its position on Taiwan, after the State Department removed a line from its website stating that the US does not support Taiwan independence earlier this month.
- Tariffs: 25% tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian goods the US imports will be imposed on April 2, the deadline his administration has set for an announcement on retaliatory tariffs for all other countries, Trump said. This comes as a 30-day pause on those tariffs, which Trump tied to illegal border crossings and the flow of fentanyl into the US, is set to expire on March 4.