Musk’s Doge team granted ‘full access’ to federal payment system

Ed Pilkington

Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) has been given access to the federal payment system, exposing the sensitive personal data of millions of Americans as well as details of public contractors who compete directly with Musk’s own businesses, an influential US senator has confirmed.

Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator from Oregon and the ranking member of the Senate finance committee, posted on Bluesky that sources had confirmed to him that the Treasury’s highly-sensitive database had been opened up to the tech billionaire and his team.

Donald Trump’s new treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, had granted the billionaire’s Doge team “full access to this system”.

Wyden added that the data bonanza included “social security and medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors … All of it.”

Confirmation of the arrangement suggests that Musk, the world’s richest person, now has entry to one of the most sensitive US government databases. The system controls more than $6tn of federal cash flow each year, with millions of Americans depending on it for social security and medicare benefits, federal salaries and more.

The Trump administration has placed two senior security officials at the US Agency for International Development (USaid) on leave after they refused to allow officials from Elon Musk’s department of government efficiency (Doge) to access systems at the agency, according to multiple reports.

Members of Doge reportedly tried to access the USaid headquarters in Washington DC and were stopped as they tried to access the aid agency’s classified information, which includes intelligence reports.

The Doge personnel demanded to be let in and threatened to call US Marshals to be allowed access, CNN reports.

The personnel lacked high-enough security clearance to access that information, so two USaid officials, John Vorhees and deputy Brian McGill, were legally obligated to deny access, Associated Press reports.

It comes a day after Doge carried out a similar operation at the treasury department, gaining access to sensitive information, including the social security and Medicare customer payment systems.

About 60 senior USaid staff were put on leave last week after they were accused of attempting to circumvent Donald Trump’s executive order on foreign aid.

Critics warn that a new executive order from Donald Trump’s administration purporting to “combat antisemitism”, and a corresponding fact sheet suggesting deporting international students who protest Israel, could chill political speech on campuses.

The fact sheet released before Trump signed the order on Wednesday quoted the president as saying:

To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.

Although the executive order itself does not call directly for deportations, the idea of cracking down on student protesters involved with pro-Palestine efforts became a Trump 2024 campaign promise and a prominent talking point on the right in the US. Republicans have broadly sought to portray protests against Israel’s offensive in Gaza as expressions of support for Hamas, and have called to punish universities that don’t quash them.

The approach dovetails closely with Project Esther, a rightwing blueprint to target the pro-Palestinian movement, along with other calls from the right. Days after Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack that sparked Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza, Marco Rubio – then a US senator, now the secretary of state – urged former secretary of state Antony Blinken to revoke the visas of students who protested Israel.

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Ssome US business leaders have reacted neutrally to Donald Trump’s tariffs that the Budget Lab at Yale University estimates would cost the average American household $1,000 to $1,200 in annual purchasing power.

Gregory Daco, chief economist at the tax and consulting firm EY, calculates the tariffs would increase inflation, currently running at 2.9%, by 0.4% and cut US GDP by 1.5% this year.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, the world’s largest bank, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week that tariff threats can be used effectively to “bring people to the table” to negotiate more favorable trade terms.

Tariffs are “an economic tool” or “an economic weapon”, depending on how they’re used, Dimon remarked to CNBC.

I would put in perspective: If it’s a little inflationary, but it’s good for national security, so be it. I mean, get over it.

William Reinsch, a former US trade official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said many companies had stocked up on imported goods ahead of time to avoid the tariffs and would be able to draw on existing inventories.

That may be an effective strategy for non-perishable goods, like construction materials, but less so for perishable goods that are not afforded the ability to stockpile.

“You don’t stockpile avocados,’’ Reinsch said. “You don’t stockpile cut flowers. You don’t stockpile bananas.’’

US business leaders are offering a mixed reaction to steep trade tariffs that Donald Trump’s administration has imposed on Canada, Mexico and China.

Larry Summers, treasury secretary under President Clinton, called the impending tariffs “a self-inflicted supply shock.

“It means less supply because we’re taxing foreign suppliers. And that will mean higher prices and lower quantities,” Summers told CNN.

This is a self-inflicted wound to the American economy. I’d expect inflation over the next three or four months to be higher as a consequence, because the price level has to go up when you put a levy on goods that people are buying.

Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the US, told ABC’s This Week that Trump’s tariff move “is disrupting to an incredibly successful trading relationship.”

“We’re really disappointed and we’re hopeful that they don’t come into effect on Tuesday,” Hillman added. “We’re ready to continue to talk to the Trump administration about that.”

Hillman said Canada was eager to build on its trading relationship with the US but acknowledged “it’s hard to maintain that sense of common purpose and moving forward if we get into this kind of a dynamic on tariffs.”

The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, was asked about the Trump administration’s new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China as he welcomed Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to Chequers on Sunday.

“It is early days. What I want to see is strong trading relations,” Starmer told reporters. He added:

In the discussions that I have had with President Trump, that is what we have centred on, a strong trading relationship. So it is very early days.

As we reported earlier, the UK home secretary, Yvette Cooper, warned that Trump’s tariff plans could have a “really damaging impact” on the global economy and growth.

• US President Donald Trump said Americans may feel economic “pain” from his tariffs on key trading partners, but argued it would be “worth the price” to secure American interests, despite warnings that the measures will increase prices for consumers.

• On Saturday, Trump signed off on threatened 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada and hit China with a 10% tariff in addition to already enacted levies. The tariffs will come into effect from midnight on Tuesday. The US President says they are being brought in to address concerns around illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

• China subsequently said it will lodge a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization against the US over the proposals, while Canada and Mexico said they’ll bring in retaliatory tariffs.

• Investors are bracing for falls when the markets open amid fears Trump’s tariffs will be the start of a trade war which could have negative implications on the global economy and growth.

• The EU is bracing for Trump to announce tariffs on their goods. The US president said on Friday he would “absolutely” impose tariffs on the bloc. The European Commission and representatives from the 27 member states are expected to discuss the possibility during a meeting in Warsaw on Tuesday.

Top Democrats warn Trump tariffs will ‘hit Americans in their wallets’

Ed Pilkington

Ed Pilkington is chief reporter for Guardian US

Top Democrats have slammed Donald Trump’s plans to impose serious tariffs on America’s neighbors and allies, warning that they will hit working families and small businesses hard.

Chuck Schumer, the minority leader in the US senate, led the charge by saying the president’s threatened tariffs would likely “hit Americans in their wallets”. “It would be nice if Donald Trump could start focusing on getting the prices down instead of making them go up.”

Schumer added that the White House should set its sights on “competitors who rig the game, like China, rather than attacking our allies”.

Trump has set in train 25% import taxes for Canada and Mexico across all products other than Canadian energy which will face a 10% tariff. China will also have 10% tariffs, with the new impositions scheduled to start on Tuesday.

While the trio of affected countries are preparing retaliatory moves, with China saying it will lodge a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization against the US, Democratic leaders are flagging potentially devastating consequences domestically for American workers.

Ken Martin, who was chosen to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee on Saturday, said that blanket tariffs would cost working families while Trump would ensure that corporations get a pass.

“He’s using American workers as pawns in his petty political games. If a president promised that they’d help my family get by, and then they did this, I’d be pretty pissed off. So, you should be pissed off,” Martin said in a statement.

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As we have been reporting, Canadian and Mexican exports to the US will face a 25% tariff starting on Tuesday, and there will be a 10% levy on energy resources from Canada.

Canada, however, hopes the tariffs will not take effect on Tuesday but the Canadian public expects their government to stand firm in a trade dispute with Washington, the Canadian ambassador has said.

“I think the Canadian people are going to expect that our government stands firm and stands up for itself,” Ambassador Kirsten Hillman told ABC News.

“We’re not at all interested in escalating, but I think that there will be a very strong demand on our government to make sure that we stand up for the deal that we have struck with the United States.”

The US Census Bureau listed the 2024 trade deficit in goods with Canada – which sells about 75% of its exports to the US – as $55bn.

Justin Trudeau on Friday said Canadians could be “facing difficult times in the coming days and weeks” after Trump insisted he would impose the hefty new tariffs on goods coming across the border. In response, the Canadian prime minister unveiled matching 25% tariffs on 155bn Canadian dollars worth of US goods. He said 30bn will come into effect on Tuesday and another 125bn in three weeks.

On Friday, the right-leaning editorial board of the Wall Street Journal newspaper criticised Trump’s proposed tariffs in a piece titled “The Dumbest Trade War in History”.

Here is an extract from it:

President Trump will fire his first tariff salvo on Saturday against those notorious American adversaries . . . Mexico and Canada. They’ll get hit with a 25% border tax, while China, a real adversary, will endure 10%. This reminds us of the old Bernard Lewis joke that it’s risky to be America’s enemy but it can be fatal to be its friend.

Leaving China aside, Mr. Trump’s justification for this economic assault on the neighbors makes no sense. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says they’ve “enabled illegal drugs to pour into America.” But drugs have flowed into the U.S. for decades, and will continue to do so as long as Americans keep using them. Neither country can stop it.

Drugs may be an excuse since Mr. Trump has made clear he likes tariffs for their own sake. “We don’t need the products that they have,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday. “We have all the oil you need. We have all the trees you need, meaning the lumber.”

Trump issued a response to the editorial on Sunday, saying: “The ’Tariff Lobby,’ headed by the Globalist, and always wrong, Wall Street Journal, is working hard to justify… the decades long RIPOFF OF AMERICA, both with regard to TRADE, CRIME, AND POISONOUS DRUGS.”

Donald Trump has reiterated his desire for Canada to become America’s 51st state, something Justin Trudeau has strongly dismissed in the past.

Trump posted this to the truth social platform under an hour ago:

We pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars to SUBSIDIZE Canada. Why? There is no reason. We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use. Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true! Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!

Donald Trump has said that Americans may feel economic “pain” from his tariffs on key trading partners.

“Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!)” Trump wrote on Sunday in all capital letters on his Truth social media platform, a day after signing off on tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China.

“But we will Make America Great Again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid,” he added.

Donald Trump’s moves against Mexico, Canada and China are being closely watched elsewhere, especially in the EU, which has already been threatened with similar action by the US president.

Last month, on just his second day in office when he announced an investigation into US-China trade, Trump said: “Other countries are big abusers also, you know it’s not just China,” and added that he was also looking at trade with the EU. “We have a $350bn deficit with the European Union. They treat us very, very badly, so they’re going to be in for tariffs,” he said.

On Sunday, asked about Trump’s weekend moves, European Central Bank policymaker Klaas Knot said he expects new tariffs will lead to higher inflation and interest rates in the U.S. that will likely weaken the euro.

“It’s only a matter of time before the EU is targeted,” said Marchel Alexandrovich, an economist at Saltmarsh Economics in London. “In the meantime, the fact that Canada is responding and putting up tariffs against US goods is a sign of things to come and demonstrates the risks to global trade.”

Market falls expected

Graeme Wearden

Investors are bracing for falls when the markets open.

Trading on the brokerage IG’s weekend markets indicate shares are likely to slump on Monday, after Donald Trump’s order on Saturday to bring in sweeping tariffs this week, a move that could prompt a trade war with some of the country’s largest trading partners.

Technology stocks are expected to be hit, with the US’s Nasdaq index on track to fall 1.2% at the start of trading on Monday, according to IG. The official futures market opens on Sunday evening.

The Dow Jones index of 30 large US companies looked likely to fall by more than 0.7%, while the UK’s FTSE 100 – which ended last week at a record high – was on track for a 0.6% drop.

“The surprise for markets today isn’t so much Trump’s tariff announcements – largely as flagged,” said IG analyst Tony Sycamore. “It’s that Canada and Mexico retaliated immediately and that others, ie China and the EU, may follow their lead, resulting in a sharp contraction in global trade.”