President Donald Trump has suggested he might temporarily exempt the auto industry from tariffs he previously imposed on the sector, to give carmakers time to adjust their supply chains.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has taken its next steps toward imposing more tariffs on key imports, launching investigations into imports of computer chips, chip making equipment and pharmaceuticals.

Here’s the latest:

The move by the Trump administration expands the power of adviser Elon Musk’s government-cutting team over the State Department.

A senior U.S. official confirmed the new job for Jeremy Lewin, an associate of the Department of Government Efficiency earlier appointed to help finish dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development. The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on a personnel matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Lewin’s appointment gives Musk’s team, which has worked with the Republican administration to make deep cuts to government programs and services, one of its highest formal roles in the federal government.

▶ Read more about foreign aid in the Trump administration

— Ellen Knickmeyer and Matthew Lee

Mcebisi Jonas, a former deputy finance minister, was appointed Monday by President Cyril Ramaphosa as his representative to Washington, tasked with rebuilding South Africa’s deteriorating relationship with the U.S. under Trump.

The Trump administration expelled the South African ambassador last month.

Trump has singled out South Africa, issuing an executive order in February suspending all U.S. funding to the country over what he claimed are its anti-white and anti-American policies.

The new South African envoy’s speech criticizing Trump and his first term was delivered Nov. 8, 2020, five days after the election where Joe Biden defeated Trump. His comments have been circulated in the media.

“Right now, the U.S. is undergoing a watershed moment, with Biden the certain winner in the presidential race against the racist, homophobic Donald Trump,” Jonas said. “How we got to a situation where a narcissistic right-winger took charge of the world’s greatest economic and military powerhouse is something that we need to ponder over. It is something that all democracies need to ponder over.”

▶ Read more about South Africa’s new US envoy

The 82-year-old Democrat has been following the playbook for former presidents by laying low and ceding the political spotlight to his successor.

But Biden is set to reenter the fray this evening with a speech in Chicago to the national conference of Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled. He’s expected to elevate liberal concerns that Trump’s agenda is a threat to the health of the Social Security program that millions of retirees depend on.

After taking office in January, Trump almost immediately began slashing the government workforce, including thousands of employees at the Social Security Administration.

A Trump adviser, billionaire Elon Musk, who’s overseeing the government downsizing, has also called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.”

The federal government says it’s freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University, after the institution said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands to limit activism on campus.

The hold on Harvard’s funding marks the seventh time Trump’s administration has taken the step at one of the nation’s most elite colleges, in an attempt to force compliance with Trump’s political agenda. Six of the seven schools are in the Ivy League.

In a letter to Harvard Friday, Trump’s administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university, as well as changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded the university audit views of diversity on campus, and stop recognizing some student clubs.

The federal government said almost $9 billion in grants and contracts in total were at risk if Harvard did not comply.

On Monday, Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the government’s demands.

▶ Read more about the withholding of federal funds to Harvard

A long sliver of federal land along the U.S.-Mexico border that Trump is turning over to the Department of Defense would be controlled by the Army as part of a base, which could allow troops to detain any trespassers, including migrants, U.S. officials told The Associated Press.

The transfer of that border zone to military control — and making it part of an Army installation — is an attempt by the Trump administration to get around a federal law that prohibits U.S. troops from being used in domestic law enforcement on American soil.

But if the troops are providing security for land that is part of an Army base, they can perform that function. However, at least one presidential powers expert said the move is likely to be challenged in the courts.

The officials said the issue is still under review in the Pentagon.

▶ Read more about the US Army’s control at the southern border

Trump on Monday reiterated that he’d like to send U.S. citizens who commit violent crimes to prison in El Salvador, telling that country’s president, Nayib Bukele, that he’d “have to build five more places” to hold the potential new arrivals.

Trump’s administration has already deported immigrants to El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison CECOT, known for its harsh conditions. The president has also said his administration is trying to find “legal” ways to ship U.S. citizens there, too.

Trump insisted these would just be “violent people,” implying they would be those already convicted of crimes in the United States, though he’s also floated it as a punishment for those who attack Tesla dealerships to protest his administration and its patron, billionaire Elon Musk. But it would likely be a violation of the U.S. Constitution for his administration to send any native-born citizen forcibly into an overseas prison. Indeed, it would likely even violate a provision of a law Trump himself signed during his first term.

▶ Read more about why this is likely not legal and some possible legal loopholes

Trump on Monday suggested that he might temporarily exempt the auto industry from tariffs he previously imposed on the sector, to give carmakers time to adjust their supply chains.

“I’m looking at something to help some of the car companies with it,” Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office. The Republican president said automakers needed time to relocate production from Canada, Mexico and other places, “And they need a little bit of time because they’re going to make them here, but they need a little bit of time. So I’m talking about things like that.”

Trump’s statement hinted at yet another round of reversals on tariffs as Trump’s onslaught of import taxes has panicked financial markets and raised deep concerns from Wall Street economists about a possible recession.

When Trump announced the 25% auto tariffs on March 27, he described them as “permanent.” His hard lines on trade have become increasingly blurred as he has sought to limit the possible economic and political blowback from his policies.

▶Read more about Trump’s auto tariffs

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