ANALYSIS — The White House has been in spike-the-football mode since Donald Trump signed his sweeping tax and domestic policy agenda into law. But the jubilation was interrupted Tuesday as the president and his Cabinet members faced questions on the administration’s trade policy and response to deadly Texas floods. The dramatically upbeat tone from the White House had created a juxtaposition with the president’s overall job approval numbers and how voters view his handling of economic issues — both of which are underwater, according to multiple recent polls. “We’ve had a tremendous two weeks, which now is, I guess, three weeks,” Trump said as the meeting began, before adding later: “We’ve done a great job, and I think people are really starting to see it." It was the sixth time Trump has convened his top lieutenants around the oval-shaped brown table in the aptly named Cabinet Room of the White House. Where other chief executives mostly kept these high-level huddles private, the former reality television star has turned them into made-for-broadcast events. Trump used Tuesday’s meeting to defend his administration’s response to the flooding in Texas that has killed over 100 people, including camp-going children. “The response has been incredible,” he said. “I think a lot of lives have been saved. As bad as it was, you could have lost almost double or triple. This thing was just really horrible. Well, congratulations on a great job." The Cabinet meeting also came one day after the White House began sending foreign governments letters informing them of the rates they would pay to export goods into the United States — that is unless they strike a deal on a revised trade arrangement with Washington before Aug. 1. Asked Monday night by reporters if the tariff letter rates were his final word on the matter, the president replied: “More or less final offers.” “Some of them wanted to make a deal and wanted to be fair. Others, perhaps, got a little bit spoiled,” he said of other governments. “I would say, final, but if they call with a different offer and if I like it, we’ll do it. … I would say firm, but not 100 percent firm if they call up and they say, ‘We’d like to do something a different way.’ We’re going to be open to that.” But shortly before the Cabinet meeting, Trump said of the Aug. 1 deadline in a social media post: “No extensions will be granted.” Here are four takeaways from Tuesday as the president and his team addressed the press corps. 'Always been Aug. 1’ Trump delivered wide-ranging comments about his tariff policy, contending that a new deadline was not new, while also reiterating that other countries could continue to negotiate new trade arrangements. “It’s always been Aug. 1,” he said of the deadline to negotiate new deals that first was set for April 9, then July 9, and then moved again Sunday evening. "We don't change very much," said the president whom Democrats have been mocking with the acronym "TACO,” or “Trump always chickens out." But Trump's second term has been marked by several shifting deadlines, whether it's import fees or finding an American buyer or group of buyers for Chinese-owned TikTok or negotiations with Iran, among other matters. He rejected the notion that he kept changing his tariffs deadline, allowing that it was a “clarification, maybe.” The letters his team began sending on Monday to other countries reflect new trade deals, the president said — but with a Trumpian twist: “The deals are mostly my deal to them.” 'Too time-consuming’ Trump continued to talk tough about the tariff rates set in the letters while also asserting that Washington was open for business. “The incentive is they have the right to deal in the United States,” he replied when asked why other countries would negotiate if they believed the upcoming deadline might again be moved back. In his three presidential runs, Trump has campaigned, in part, on his business career and his ability to negotiate big deals. But on Tuesday, he said new trade arrangements with more than 100 countries might simply be too difficult to pull off. “We can make a lot more deals. It’s just too time-consuming,” he said, before signaling to other countries that the letters would not immediately end negotiations with any recipient. “We can do things over the years too. ... We’re not hard-line, but it's about time the United States started collecting money from countries that were ripping us off." The murky situation is vintage Trump. On one hand, by sending the letters and setting new import fee rates himself, he can claim victory on creating fair trade even if a flurry of deals not materialize over the next 24 days. On the other, as some talks continue, any announced deals would also be touted as a major win. After all, Trump said his trade team is still negotiating with South Korea, which received a letter informing its government of a 25 percent tariff, “in a very nice way.” Either way, global markets and other countries could get certainty they have lacked since Trump returned to office. And many congressional Democrats, who over the years have complained about other countries’ trade practices, would get an outcome they couldn’t complain all that much about — unless consumer prices significantly climb before next November’s midterm elections. Russia On the Russia-Ukraine war that he has yet to find a way to end despite his 2024 campaign promises, Trump again flashed rare public frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We're not happy with Putin. I'm not happy with Putin … because he's killing a lot of people. And a lot of them are his soldiers,” he said. Trump, on Thursday, told reporters he was “very disappointed" with a telephone conversation he had that day with Putin, saying they didn't make "any progress." During the Cabinet meeting Tuesday, he offered some insight on that assessment. “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin,” Trump said. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.” A firefighter extinguishes the smoldering rubble of a building destroyed by a Russian artillery strike on Monday in Sloviansk, Ukraine. (Vladyslav Ukolov/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC "UA:PBC"/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images) And the U.S. commander in chief again attempted to deflect blame for the ongoing war, calling it a Joe Biden-created problem. Trump again said he intends to send new “defensive” weapons to Ukraine and criticized Putin for “not treating human beings right." “He’s killing too many people," Trump said. 'Russia, Russia, Russia' After Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shared reports of her time on the ground in flood-ravaged parts of Texas, including stories of parents locating their deceased children, Trump changed the subject. He followed her remarks by noting that the federal government had been able to get in “a lot of” helicopters, contending those aircraft and crews saved many lives. He congratulated Noem, whose voice had cracked while describing the scenes in Texas, telling her “good job.” From there, he moved on to trade and economic issues, acknowledging it was awkward to pivot away from a human tragedy. “We have a big country, and we’re doing very well,” he said. Moments later, Trump was bashing Biden and congressional Democrats. “The Democrats have standard lines. ... They had Russia, Russia, Russia,” he said, referring to allegations that Moscow aided his 2016 presidential campaign. “They make things up.” Nearly 90 minutes later, as the marathon event was ending, Trump wondered aloud if he should apply gold leaf, as he has in the Oval Office, to the upper crown molding in the Cabinet Room. When he polled the Cabinet members, about half raised their hands. Others, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, looked down at the table or just peered up at the ceiling.
