Vivek Ramaswamy took to X Tuesday to criticize the Biden administration’s push to get $50 billion in chipmaking subsidies signed and awarded before President-elect Donald Trump takes power in January.

“This is highly inappropriate: they’re accelerating spending ahead of the transition of power,” Ramaswamy said, linking to a POLITICO interview with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo where she discussed her remaining work to implement the CHIPS and Science Act.

“I’d like to have really almost all of the money obligated by the time we leave,” Raimondo told POLITICO last week. She said the forthcoming change in administration sets “a clear deadline” that “focuses the mind,” noting that her timeline was always the plan, and not driven by the threat of a clawback under the Trump administration.

The administration finalized more than $16 billion in final awards for five companies after the election: TSMC, GlobalFoundries, Rocket Lab, BAE Systems and Intel. The Biden administration had unveiled just one contract before that, $123 million for Minnesota chipmaker Polar Semiconductor.

Ramaswamy announced Monday night that he and Elon Musk’s new “Department of Government Efficiency” will review every last-minute contract rolled out under the CHIPS Act, and another Biden administration spending initiative, the Inflation Reduction Act. Ramaswamy said he will also recommend that inspectors general scrutinize the spending.

Trump has derided the CHIPS Act as “so bad,” arguing that tariffs would have been a better approach to incentivize domestic manufacturing. But he has yet to suggest any explicit changes to the law’s implementation.

Two Trump transition insiders, Cliff Sims and Kash Patel, are angling to be deputy director of the CIA — and angering others who feel they’re using their roles on the transition to undermine any would-be contenders, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The No. 2 position at the powerful spy agency is one of the most sought-after national security posts that remains unfilled. It does not require Senate confirmation — a concern for other roles, like FBI director, Patel is said to be interested in — but wields enormous influence inside the U.S. intelligence community.

The frustration toward Sims, the former White House and ODNI communications strategist, and Patel, the firebrand former House Intelligence Committee staffer and Pentagon official, stems from the fact that both are helping the transition interview candidates for the CIA role, said the three people, all of whom were granted anonymity to share details on the transition.

“The issue that a lot of us have is that these people are involved in staffing national security jobs, and at the same time they’re also promoting themselves for the same roles,” said one of the people.

There is also a concern that Patel in particular is fighting dirty. A second person said there was suspicion Patel was leaking damaging stories on Sims, including a recent story on a blow-up Trump had after being reminded Sims wrote a tell-all memoir in 2019 after leaving the White House.

The three people cautioned that both men appear open to other roles and may even prefer them. On Monday, Axios reported that Patel was likely slated for a senior role at the Justice Department, but no announcement has come since then.

Asked about the interview process for the deputy director role and the frustration some felt toward Sims and Patel, Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said only that “remaining decisions will continue to be announced” when made.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Tuesday downplayed President-elect Donald Trump’s threats of broad tariffs against major U.S. trading partners as a “negotiating tool” — though he acknowledged he was concerned about the “potential” for another trade war.

Trump threatened a wave of blanket tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China Monday evening via a social media post, unless the countries stop the flow of drugs and immigrants into the U.S.

“I think you got to see it as a negotiating tool,” Grassley told reporters Tuesday morning.

Farm state Republican lawmakers like Grassley have been wary of how Trump’s threat for broad tariffs on the campaign trail could roil the U.S. agriculture sector again, just as American farmers are still recovering from Trump’s 2018 trade war against China.

Beijing slapped crippling retaliatory tariffs on U.S. farm products, which devastated farmers and rural communities, where Trump has strong electoral support. His administration used $28 billion in federal funding from the Agriculture Department to support farmers affected by his trade war.

Canada, Mexico and China are the U.S.’s largest agricultural trading partners.

“I’m concerned about the potential of it,” Grassley told reporters Tuesday morning, when asked if he was worried about another trade war on the horizon.

“But right now, I see everything that Trump’s doing on tariffs as a negotiating tool,” he reiterated. “And we’ll have to wait and see how successful he is about that.”

Grassley, who historically has been skeptical of tariffs, added that “we got enough wrong coming from other countries, taking advantage of the United States” that tariffs, or “other tools as well” could help. Though, he did acknowledge that China never purchased even half of the $200 billion in farm products it agreed to under Trump’s Phase One trade deal during his first term.

The Iowa Republican also painted the current issue as more of a trade imbalance, than Trump seeking to spur Mexico, China and Canada’s efforts to stem the flow of illegal drugs and immigrants into the U.S.

“You expect the United States government to fight for the interests of the United States and to stop other countries from subsidizing their products coming into the United States,” Grassley said. “That’s a violation of the rules of trade, international rules of trade.”

The United States’ future in the World Health Organization is again in flux with President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House.

If the U.S. withdraws from the global health body, as Trump attempted to do in his first term, the WHO could lose its top government donor and hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions.

In exchange, America could lose access to the global network that sets the flu vaccine’s composition every year, and U.S. drugmakers could lose the WHO’s help in selling their products, current and former U.S. government officials say.

How it would work: The president can end U.S. membership in the WHO, an arm of the United Nations, without Congress’ consent as long as he gives a one-year notice and continues paying dues in that year, according to a 1948 resolution.

Trump’s transition team declined to comment directly to an inquiry about his plans.

Why it matters: The U.S. provides about a quarter of the WHO’s core annual budget as a mandatory membership fee but often gives more — with the figure ranging from $163 million to $816 million in recent years, according to health policy think tank KFF.

The WHO could lose all that money at a time when it finds itself stretched by health emergencies around the world, from ongoing mpox and cholera outbreaks in Africa to the diseases spreading as a consequence of war in Gaza and Sudan, among other places.

In July 2020, Trump sent a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus notifying him of the U.S. intention to withdraw within a year. Trump accused the WHO at the time of helping China mislead the world about the spread of Covid-19.

But Trump was defeated in that year’s election, and when President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, he reversed Trump’s decision.

Should Trump decide to withdraw again, he has the time.

What’s next? Unlike in 2020, the WHO could offset some of the financial losses if Trump decides to withdraw.

In May, it launched an investment round seeking some $7 billion “to mobilize predictable and flexible resources from a broader base of donors” for the WHO’s core work between 2025 and 2028.

The WHO did not respond to a request for comment on a potential U.S. withdrawal and its implications.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he spoke to Donald Trump Monday night after the president-elect shared plans to use his first day in office to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canada.

“It was a good call,” Trudeau said this morning on Parliament Hill. “We obviously talked about laying out the facts, talking about how the intense and effective connections between our two countries flow back and forth.”

Last night on Truth Social, Trump shared his first-day priorities.

“As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before,” Trump wrote.

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders.”

The move would hit more than $400 billion worth of annual Canadian exports to the United States.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc released a statement Monday night to stress that border security is their top priority.

“Law enforcement agencies from our respective countries … work together every single day to disrupt the scourge of fentanyl coming from China and other countries,” said Freeland, who chairs a special Cabinet committee focused on bilateral relations in face of Trump 2.0.

Trudeau said he’d convene a meeting with his provincial counterparts this week to discuss the United States. “There’s work to do but we know how to do it.”

Here’s what we’re watching in transition world today:

 🗓️ What we’re watching

Trump vowed Monday to impose tariffs of 25 percent on both Mexico and Canada on his first day in office as part of an effort to crack down on migration and the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. He did not specify how he would impose the measure, though he could theoretically tap the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Trump is considering nominating Jim O’Neill, an associate of billionaire investor and early Trump backer Peter Thiel, as HHS deputy secretary.
Progressive Democrats are planning to deploy a new strategy against Trump during his second term: take Trump at his word on populist, working-class policy proposals — or at least pretend to.

🚨What’s up with the nominees?

Hedge fund executive Scott Bessent will be Trump’s primary conduit to Wall Street investors who are skeptical of the president-elect’s punishing trade agenda. Inevitably, his Treasury secretary will have to shoulder the conflicts and contradictions that arise from that agenda.

⏱️What Cabinet secretary announcements are we still waiting on?

None — Trump wrapped up his Cabinet picks over the weekend.

President-elect Donald Trump vowed Monday to impose tariffs of 25 percent on both Mexico and Canada on his first day in office as part of an effort to crack down on migration and the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.

“As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders.”

The post did not specify how he would impose the measure, although he could theoretically tap the so-called International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which grants a president sweeping authority to control economic transactions after declaring an emergency. The move would immediately open up Trump’s tariffs to legal challenges.

Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican diplomat said the decision would violate the revised free trade pact between the United States, Canada and Mexico, known as the USMCA, and said the new tariffs would “put North American relations in a downward spiral” in a post on X. Trump himself signed the deal into law during his first administration.

Canadian officials in recent weeks have taken pains to present themselves as on the same page as the president-elect when it comes to Mexico’s supposed role as a conduit for China. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum played down concerns in public comments recounting her meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week.

In another post to his social media platform, Trump said China had failed to follow through on promises to institute the death penalty for traffickers of fentanyl: “Drugs are pouring into our Country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before.”

“Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs,” he said.

That suggests those tariffs on China could be in addition to his universal baseline tariff of up to 20 percent, as well as his 60 percent tariff on Chinese imports.

A spokesperson for the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from POLITICO to clarify the total percentage of tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada.

President-elect Donald Trump has announced three more members of his White House team, including a senior aide to Sen. JD Vance who will work with Congress to push the administration’s agenda.

James Braid, Vance’s deputy chief of staff, will serve as director of the Office of Legislative Affairs, Trump said in a statement Monday.

His appointment was announced alongside that of Matt Brasseaux to serve as director of the Office of Political Affairs and Alex Latcham as director of the Office of Public Liaison.

Trump has filled nearly all of the members of his Cabinet in the three weeks since he won reelection.

Braid’s role will be crucial to the extension of tax cuts and other key pieces of the Trump administration’s agenda. He worked for the Office of Management and Budget in the first term.

Brasseaux was deputy political director for Trump’s 2024 campaign. He also served as a regional political director for the Republican National Committee and as campaign manager for Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo.

Latcham was a deputy political director during the first Trump administration. He has been an aide to Trump for the past eight years and served as the campaign’s deputy political director.

Congressional Republican leaders met Monday afternoon in Washington to start hammering out plans for partisan spending legislation that would allow them to bypass Democrats while enacting President-elect Donald Trump’s economic agenda, including massive tax cuts, a House leadership aide said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson huddled with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and McConnell’s successor, Sen. John Thune, according to the aide, who was granted anonymity to discuss a private conversation.

The meeting is another sign that the new Republican-controlled Congress is determined to act swiftly on Trump’s agenda once he takes the oath of office.

Most bills need a supermajority to pass the Senate. But a process known as budget reconciliation allows lawmakers to pass a limited number of spending-related bills using only a simple majority.

Republicans’ control of the House, Senate and White House next year will enable them to use the tactic to enact proposals that won’t attract bipartisan support — the same way Democrats did the last time they held the trifecta — like extending expiring Trump-era tax cuts. They’ve been strategizing how to do so since earlier this year.

But there are still several outstanding questions, from how long it would take to put together a plan to what to include. Some GOP priorities recently outlined by Scalise — like funding the border wall, overhauling energy project permitting, and boosting immigration enforcement — could be a stretch, since reconciliation requires policies to have a “direct” impact on the federal budget.