Tuesday morning news: February 4, 2025

U.S.-Mexico tariffs pause » Both Canada and Mexico backed down, just hours before what would have been the start of a tariff war with the United States.

Leaders from the neighboring countries spoke with President Trump on Monday, and agreed to major concessions on border security.

President Trump said of Mexico:

TRUMP:  And they've agreed to put in 10,000 soldiers permanently, 10, 000 soldiers at their side of the border and stop fentanyl and illegal aliens from coming into our country.

And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his country is implementing a $1.3 billion-dollar border security plan with nearly 10,000 frontline personnel working their side of the U.S.-Canada border.

All three countries have agreed to pump the brakes on imposing 25 percent tariffs for at least one month while they hammer out the details.

Trump advisor Alina Habba put it this way:

HABBA:  They are capitulating to the fact that we have strong leadership that says you're not going to be dumping fentanyl criminals and all kinds of illegal activity into our country anymore.

In the weeks ahead, Canada and Mexico will work together with the White House to hammer out the details on border security measures while also talking about trade.

Hegseth to border » Meantime, at the U.S. southern border Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth paid a visit on Monday, meeting with law enforcement, Border Patrol, and military leaders at Ft. Bliss.

HEGSETH:  Mission accomplished means 100 percent operational control of the border. Right now that means a surge of manpower. That means you've seen thousands of active duty and National Guard troops come to the border with additional assets and systems that allow us to surveil.

More than 1,500 active duty troops have already been sent to the border following President Trump's orders. Another 1, 000 will soon be deployed on border related missions.

Hegseth was joined near El Paso, Texas by border czar Tom Homan, who touted new cooperation between federal law enforcement agencies.

HOMAN:  This is a game changer. We will finally succeed and have an operational control of our southern border with this president in charge and my partnership with Pete Hegg said, we're going to make this happen. We will not fail.

Homan said the most dangerous illegal immigrants, such as members of violent gangs could be held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The US has had a migrant detention facility there for decades.

DOGE Treasury access » Democrats want to block the independent Department of Government Efficiency — or DOGE for short from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment systems. And they’re working on —largely symbolic— legislation that would do just that.

DOGE, led by business titan Elon Musk is an independent office commissioned by the Trump administration to identify wasteful spending.

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says:

SCHUMER:  Let's be very clear, DOGE is not a real government agency. It has no authority to make spending decisions. It has no authority to shut programs down or ignore federal law.

And indeed, DOGE can only provide recommendations to the government.

Democrats say the Treasury Department info is too sensitive for a non-government office to access.

But Republicans argue that DOGE needs that access to identify waste and fraud and to ensure government transparency.

USAID » And DOGE and Republicans say an entire government agency is a waste of money. That is the U.S. Agency for International Development — or USAID.

The agency distributes millions of dollars of humanitarian aid overseas.

But GOP Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne says:

VAN DUYNE:  Look at that 1. 5 million they're spending in Serbia, you know, on trans stuff and on DEI things and I'm looking at the tens of thousands of dollars that they're spending in Ireland and other places that has nothing to do with what the fund is for.

The Trump administration says it plans to shut down U-S-A-I-D as an independent agency and merge it into the State Department. Trump says that will streamline its services and cut down on bureaucracy.

But Democratic lawmakers gathered outside the agency's Washington headquarters to protest the move. They call it an assault on an agency that saves lives.

Philly crash latest » In Pennsylvania, authorities say investigators are hard at work trying to determine what caused a medical plane to plunge to the earth last week in Philadelphia.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said among the outstanding questions: Were there mechanical problems? Might the pilot have suffered a medical emergency?

DUFFY:  All factors that even though this crash was so devastating, uh, there are remains, whether it's the engines, the wings that they can look at and get answers to what took place here.

All six people aboard the plane were killed, as well as one person on the ground.

And officials say the number of people injured from the explosion now stands at 24, including two still in critical condition.

DC aircraft collision latest » And in the nation’s capital, a grim task for salvage crews. Assistant Fire Chief Gary Steen:

STEEN:  We have positively identified 55 sets of remains during recovery and salvage operations today. Additional human remains were located. These remains, as well as remains that have been recovered previously, are in the process of being positively identified.

Sixty-seven people were killed when an Army helicopter flew into the path of a commercial jet preparing to land at Washington’s Reagan National Airport.

The question investigators are still trying to answer is why was the helicopter flying at the wrong altitude?

Col. Mark Ott is deputy director of aviation for the Army.

OTT: There are, there are all kinds of reasons that you could deviate from an altitude. You know, something as simple as a flock of birds is in front of you, or you may deviate if you, you see something that's a, uh, an obstacle or other threat to your flight.

Salvage crews on Monday pulled the jet’s fuselage from the Potomac River. Today, they’ll work to recover the cockpit.

I’m Kent Covington.

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