Measles Is Back. And a Lot More People Are at Risk

A friend called recently asking about measles. She’s the mother of four very young kids and wanted to know if she should be worried. She’d heard about the large measles outbreak in northwest Texas. Since January, more than 159 people are known to have been infected, and the outbreak has resulted in two deaths and dozens of hospitalizations. Now, this measles outbreak has spread into nine other states, and there’s an alert to travelers passing through the Los Angeles Airport.

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Contrary to statements by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., outbreaks of this deadly disease are highly unusual. The U.S. declared measles eliminated more than 20 years ago, thanks to an exceptionally safe and effective vaccine. But efforts to undermine confidence in that vaccine have contributed to these recent outbreaks. There are things we can do, individually and collectively, to protect our most vulnerable and hopefully eliminate measles in this country again.

My friend understands the settled evidence behind the safety and efficacy of vaccines. She’s following the vaccine schedule her pediatrician recommended. Measles vaccines are among the most protective shots we have, so when she gets her kids vaccinated, they are protected. But the large outbreaks we are starting to see are still creating risks, including among our very youngest kids, our immunocompromised kids, and even among vulnerable adults.

Measles vaccines are highly effective: 93% after the first dose, 99% after the second dose. The problem is the timing. The first dose is not recommended until a child is 12 to 15 months old, and the second dose usually between the ages of 4 and 6. Infants have some passive immunity from their mom’s antibodies for the first 6 months, but not enough to be fully protective, which is why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly recommends that parents of children too young to be vaccinated avoid travel to areas with measles outbreaks.

Read More: What to Know About the Measles Vaccine

All children under the age of 1, before they get their first measles vaccine, are at risk if they come near someone with measles. Given that measles is one of the most contagious diseases on Earth, outbreaks mean we are likely to see more infections among children in this age range, including kids whose parents fully intend to vaccinate. And while the first dose is highly protective, the best protection comes after the second dose, which is usually given when a child is ready to start school. Between those two doses, children may still be at some risk, especially if they come into repeated contact with measles from others refusing or unable to be vaccinated.

Beyond the youngest kids, two other groups need special attention. The first is children who are immunocompromised. Some of these children, such as those undergoing cancer treatment, cannot get the measles vaccine because the vaccine is a weakened form of the live virus, and in someone who is immunocompromised, it can actually cause the disease. Therefore, these immunocompromised kids rely on high levels of population immunity to protect them. When population vaccination rates fall below 95%, the virus can begin to circulate, and vulnerable children can become infected and will get very sick if they do.

The second potentially vulnerable group are elderly and immunocompromised adults. Most elderly people should have some immunity against measles; people born before 1957 likely had measles, and starting in the 1960s, people started getting vaccinated (though through 1968, the available vaccine was a little less effective). In general, we assume that everyone has lifelong immunity, whether from an infection or vaccines. But we don’t really know for sure. If a senior in her 80s had measles when she was 5, is she still protected? What about an adult undergoing chemotherapy? Immunity in these two populations may hold up fine—but we urgently need studies to better understand the risks of being exposed to measles for these types of individuals. Measles in an elderly or immunocompromised adult who isn’t protected—either because they cannot be vaccinated or because their immunity has not held up over time—is likely to be quite severe. And it is possible that the elderly may need an additional shot to protect them if they live in a high outbreak area. We don’t know, and we can’t make recommendations without data.

Read More: A Study Retracted 15 Years Ago Continues to Threaten Childhood Vaccines

Years of scaremongering about vaccines have led to low vaccination rates in many communities across America. A now-standard refrain is that parents are simply putting their own kids at risk but not harming anyone else. The truth is this: low vaccination rates create risks for many others. They create risks for kids who are still too young to get vaccinated. They create risks for kids who are immunocompromised, who can’t get vaccinated. They may also create risks for older or immunocompromised adults whose immune systems are not robust enough to protect them.

So when my family friend with a child under one called about protecting her children, my advice was clear. Stay away from areas with outbreaks. Get your child vaccinated as soon as they are eligible, and encourage your friends and others in your community to do so, too—because while she can eventually get all of her children protected, no such option exists for the child battling leukemia. And no such option exists for all those who are immunocompromised or at risk because of waning immunity. We owe it to all of them to make sure we stamp out measles in the U.S. again.

source https://time.com/7266454/measles-outbreak-essay-ashish-jha/

Secretary of State Rubio Says USAID Purge Complete, With 83% of Programs Gone

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday the Trump administration had finished its six-week purge of programs of the six-decade-old U.S. Agency for International Development, and said he would move the 18% of aid and development programs that survived under the State Department.

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Rubio made the announcement in a post on X. It marked one of his relatively few public comments on what has been a historic shift away from U.S. foreign aid and development, executed by Trump political appointees at State and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency teams.

Rubio in the post thanked DOGE and “our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform” in foreign aid.

President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 issued an executive order directing a freeze of foreign assistance funding and a review of all of the tens of billions of dollars of U.S. aid and development work abroad. Trump charged that much of foreign assistance was wasteful and advanced a liberal agenda.

Read More: How Trump’s Foreign-Aid Freeze Is ‘Shaking the Whole System’

Rubio’s social media post Monday said that review was now “officially ending,” with some 5,200 of USAID’s 6,200 programs eliminated.

Those programs “spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States,” Rubio wrote.

“In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping … to be administered more effectively under the State Department,” he said. Democratic lawmakers and others call the shutdown of congressionally-funded programs illegal, saying such a move requires Congress’ approval.

The State Department in one of multiple lawsuits it is battling over its rapid shutdown of USAID had said earlier this month it was killing more than 90% of USAID programs. Rubio gave no explanation for why his number was lower, and no details of what programs were spared or how the State Department would run them.

The dismantling of USAID that followed Trump’s order upended decades of policy that humanitarian and development aid abroad advanced U.S. national security by stabilizing regions and economies, strengthening alliances and building goodwill.

In the weeks after Trump’s order, one of his appointees and transition team members, Pete Marocco, and Musk pulled USAID staff around the world off the job through forced leaves and firings, shut down USAID payments overnight and terminated aid and development contracts by the thousands.

Contractors and staffers running efforts ranging from epidemic control to famine prevention to job and democracy training stopped work. Aid groups and other USAID partners laid off tens of thousands of their workers in the U.S. and abroad.

Lawsuits brought by some of the nonprofit groups and businesses that had partnered with USAID say the form-letter contract terminations purge eliminated even programs that Rubio had said he wanted to save, violated the contract terms and stiffed aid groups and businesses of billions of dollars.

The shutdown has left many USAID staffers and contractors and their families still overseas, many of them awaiting U.S.-paid back payments and travel expenses back home.

source https://time.com/7266323/rubio-usaid-purge-ending-trump-administration/

Famed Sisters Managing Philippine Georeserve Accuse Government of ‘Strong Arming’ Them

Ann and Billie Dumaliang say they’re “done with being friendly” with Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga. The renowned conservationists and sisters, in an exclusive new interview with TIME, accuse the Philippine Environment Secretary of “malicious” actions, being “allergic to criticism,” and “strong arming” them into “abandoning” Masungi Georeserve, the internationally-acclaimed ecotourism site they manage just outside Manila. 

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Their anger stems from shock. The Dumaliangs were surprised to see on the news that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources was evicting them from part of Masungi Georeserve—a move that could threaten their overall efforts to protect the 6,600-acre conservation area. 

On March 7, the department said in a press conference that it canceled a 2002 deal it had with longtime developer Blue Star Construction Development Corporation—the Masungi Georeserve Foundation Inc.’s affiliate company owned by Ben Dumaliang, the sisters’ father—over alleged failure to deliver a contracted government housing project as well as other alleged violations. The canceled deal covers some 740 acres, including the georeserve’s Discovery Trail. The department has ordered Blue Star to leave that 740-acre area within 15 days.

“Everyone was quite caught off guard,” Ann Dumaliang tells TIME. “Not just because we were not involved in it at all, but because this is also the first time that they are raising all of these issues in the last 20-plus years that we have been protecting this place.”

Masungi Georeserve is a popular eco-tourism destination, known for its rainforest and picturesque limestone formations. The site, its officers, and its rangers, have been recognized worldwide for conservation and geotourism efforts—standing out especially in a country that’s deemed the deadliest in the continent for environmental defenders.

The Discovery Trail has allowed visitors to trek through the conservation area for at least 1,500 Philippine pesos ($26) to see karst limestones and other flora and fauna. Billie Dumaliang says the funds collected go toward the reforestation of the more than 5,900 acres around it—an area also under threat if a separate 2017 joint contract gets canceled—and help to pay the up to 100 rangers protecting the reserve.

In Friday’s press briefing, an environment department official said, “everyone, even those with us in conservation and [environment] protection, if they violate the law, the government will take action.”

But the Dumaliang sisters, who are trustees of the foundation, reject accusations of violating the law and decry unfair treatment. “[Other alleged] violators get, what, one to four show-cause orders?” Ann said. “We get an immediate cancellation. It’s terrible.” Billie added that the department’s move stands “in stark contrast to all of these environmentally destructive projects … that have been allowed to go on for all these years and despite strong opposition.” Yulo-Loyzaga has previously been blamed for failing to swiftly address controversies surrounding the country’s environmental landmarks. 

The sisters also disputed Blue Star’s alleged failure to deliver on contractual obligations, claiming it was the department who did not hold up its end of the contract and did not engage with Masungi Georeserve’s officers. Billie Dumaliang says she believes environment secretary Yulo-Loyzaga has been particularly “vindictive,” after groups such as theirs have criticized her. “We’re very vocal about this, we’ve exposed illegal activities, we make her look bad, but these are very petty reasons for taking a course of action that is not in line with the mandate of the department,” Billie said.

Billie added that Yulo-Loyzaga’s directive on Masungi also “puts into question the commitment of the current administration to its international commitments on climate change, human rights, biodiversity, land degradation, and peace.” The Philippines has pledged to rehabilitate 7.1 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2028.

Some Philippine lawmakers are also questioning the rationale behind the cancellation of the Blue Star contract. In statements on social media, Senator Nancy Binay criticized the haphazard decision and asked what the department’s plan and vision for the Georeserve is after the cancellation, while Representative Raoul Manuel slammed the department for failing to have a dialogue with the Masungi Georeserve Foundation before cancelling and painting the organization as an “enemy.”

The Philippine environment department and secretary did not immediately respond to specific queries from TIME, referring instead to a primer made by the department that outlines the history of the Blue Star contract as well as Blue Star’s alleged violations, including: imposing fees and constructing facilities in the site without local permits, fencing a portion of government property, and failing to complete agreed upon housing units in the area. 

For now, the Dumaliangs are planning to exhaust their legal remedies, even as the department mulls involving the police to enforce the eviction. They are aware of the security risks—those with interests in the land, such as resort owners, have been linked to attacks on the site’s rangers and officers patrolling and protecting the site, and the georeserve has been the subject of online smear campaigns and threats. They believe that with the order, Masungi’s detractors are “emboldened” to continue the harassment and potentially escalate violence. They say the order sends a “chilling effect” to all environment defenders.

But still, they aren’t planning to leave Masungi without a fight. “We will invoke our right, of course, to continue our work,” Billie said. “If we need to use our bodies to shield, then we will.”

source https://time.com/7266318/philippines-masungi-georeserve-dumaliang-sisters-environment-department-land-contract-interview/

AI Made Its Way to Vineyards. Here’s How the Technology Is Helping Make Your Wine

LOS ANGELES — When artificial intelligence-backed tractors became available to vineyards, Tom Gamble wanted to be an early adopter. He knew there would be a learning curve, but Gamble decided the technology was worth figuring out.

The third-generation farmer bought one autonomous tractor. He plans on deploying its self-driving feature this spring and is currently using the tractor’s AI sensor to map his Napa Valley vineyard. As it learns each row, the tractor will know where to go once it is used autonomously. The AI within the machine will then process the data it collects and help Gamble make better-informed decisions about his crops — what he calls “precision farming.”

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“It’s not going to completely replace the human element of putting your boot into the vineyard, and that’s one of my favorite things to do,” he said. “But it’s going to be able to allow you to work more smartly, more intelligently and in the end, make better decisions under less fatigue.”

Gamble said he anticipates using the tech as much as possible because of “economic, air quality and regulatory imperatives.” Autonomous tractors, he said, could help lower his fuel use and cut back on pollution.

As AI continues to grow, experts say that the wine industry is proof that businesses can integrate the technology efficiently to supplement labor without displacing a workforce. New agricultural tech like AI can help farmers to cut back on waste, and to run more efficient and sustainable vineyards by monitoring water use and helping determine when and where to use products like fertilizers or pest control. AI-backed tractors and irrigation systems, farmer say, can minimize water use by analyzing soil or vines, while also helping farmers to manage acres of vineyards by providing more accurate data on the health of a crop or what a season’s yield will be.

Other facets of the wine industry have also started adopting the tech, from using generative AI to create custom wine labels to turning to ChatGPT to develop, label and price an entire bottle.

“I don’t see anybody losing their job, because I think that a tractor operator’s skills are going to increase and as a result, and maybe they’re overseeing a small fleet of these machines that are out there, and they’ll be compensated as a result of their increased skill level,” he said.

Farmers, Gamble said, are always evolving. There were fears when the tractor replaced horses and mules pulling plows, but that technology “proved itself” just like AI farming tech will, he said, adding that adopting any new tech always takes time.

Companies like John Deere have started using the AI that wine farmers are beginning to adopt. The agricultural giant uses “Smart Apply” technology on tractors, for example, helping growers apply material for crop retention by using sensors and algorithms to sense foliage on grape canopies, said Sean Sundberg, business integration manager at John Deere.

The tractors that use that tech then only spray “where there are grapes or leaves or whatnot so that it doesn’t spray material unnecessarily,” he said. Last year, the company announced a project with Sonoma County Winegrowers to use tech to help wine grape growers maximize their yield.

Tyler Klick, partner at Redwood Empire Vineyard Management, said his company has started automating irrigation valves at the vineyards it helps manage. The valves send an alert in the event of a leak and will automatically shut off if they notice an “excessive” water flow rate.

“That valve is actually starting to learn typical water use,” Klick said. “It’ll learn how much water is used before the production starts to fall off.”

Klick said each valve costs roughly $600, plus $150 per acre each year to subscribe to the service.

“Our job, viticulture, is to adjust our operations to the climatic conditions we’re dealt,” Klick said. “I can see AI helping us with finite conditions.”

Angelo A. Camillo, a professor of wine business at Sonoma State University, said that despite excitement over AI in the wine industry, some smaller vineyards are more skeptical about their ability to use the technology. Small, family-owned operations, which Camillo said account for about 80% of the wine business in America, are slowly disappearing — many don’t have the money to invest in AI, he said. A robotic arm that helps put together pallets of wine, for example, can cost as much as $150,000, he said.

“For small wineries, there’s a question mark, which is the investment. Then there’s the education. Who’s going to work with all of these AI applications? Where is the training?” he said.

There are also potential challenges with scalability, Camillo added. Drones, for example, could be useful for smaller vineyards that could use AI to target specific crops that have a bug problem, he said — it would be much harder to operate 100 drones in a 1,000 acre vineyard while also employing the IT workers who understand the tech.

“I don’t think a person can manage 40 drones as a swarm of drones,” he said. “So there’s a constraint for the operators to adopt certain things.”

However, AI is particularly good at tracking a crop’s health – including how the plant itself is doing and whether it’s growing enough leaves – while also monitoring grapes to aid in yield projections, said Mason Earles, an assistant professor who leads the Plant AI and Biophysics Lab at UC Davis.

Diseases or viruses can sneak up and destroy entire vineyards, Earles said, calling it an “elephant in the room” across the wine industry. The process of replanting a vineyard and getting it to produce well takes at least five years, he said. AI can help growers determine which virus is affecting their plants, he said, and whether they should rip out some crops immediately to avoid losing their entire vineyard.

Earles, who is also cofounder of the AI-powered farm management platform Scout, said his company uses AI to process thousands of images in hours and extract data quickly — something that would be difficult by hand in large vineyards that span hundreds of acres. Scout’s AI platform then counts and measures the number of grape clusters as early as when a plant is beginning to flower in order to forecast what a yield will be.

The sooner vintners know how much yield to expect, the better they can “dial in” their wine making process, he added.

“Predicting what yields you’re going to have at the end of the season, no one is that good at it right now,” he said. “But it’s really important because it determines how much labor contract you’re going to need and the supplies you’ll need for making wine.”

Earles doesn’t think the budding use of AI in vineyards is “freaking farmers out.” Rather, he anticipates that AI will be used more frequently to help with difficult field labor and to discern problems in vineyards that farmers need help with.

“They’ve seen people trying to sell them tech for decades. It’s hard to farm; it’s unpredictable compared to most other jobs,” he said. “The walking and counting, I think people would have said a long time ago, ‘I would happily let a machine take over.’”

source https://time.com/7266310/ai-vineyards-wine/

Israel Says It Is Cutting Off Its Electricity Supply to Gaza

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel cut off the electricity supply to Gaza, officials said Sunday, affecting a desalination plant producing drinking water for part of the arid territory. Hamas called it part of Israel’s “starvation policy.”

Israel last week suspended supplies of goods to the territory of more than 2 million Palestinians, an echo of the siege it imposed in the earliest days of the war.

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Israel is pressing the militant group to accept an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire. That phase ended last weekend. Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.

Hamas instead wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, which would see the release of remaining hostages from Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a lasting peace. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.

The militant group — which has warned that discontinuing supplies would affect the hostages — said Sunday that it wrapped up the latest round of ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators without changes to its position.

Israel has said it would send a delegation to Qatar on Monday in an effort to “advance” the negotiations.

Israel had warned when it stopped all supplies that water and electricity could be next. The letter from Israel’s energy minister to the Israel Electric Corporation tells it to stop selling power to Gaza.

The territory and its infrastructure have been largely devastated, and most facilities, including hospitals, now use generators. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassam said that Israel has ”practically” cut off electricity since the war began and called the latest decision part of Israel’s “starvation policy, in clear disregard for all international laws and norms.”

The desalination plant was providing 18,000 cubic meters of water per day for central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah area, according to Gisha, an Israeli organization dedicated to protecting Palestinians’ right to freedom of movement. Executive director Tania Hary said that it’s expected to run on generators and produce around 2,500 cubic meters per day, about the amount in an Olympic swimming pool.

Israel’s restrictions on fuel entering Gaza have a larger impact, Hary said, and water shortages are a looming issue, because fuel is needed for distribution trucks.

Israel has faced sharp criticism over suspending supplies.

“Any denial of the entry of the necessities of life for civilians may amount to collective punishment,” the U.N. human rights office said Friday.

The International Criminal Court said there was reason to believe Israel had used “starvation as a method of warfare” when it issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year. The allegation is central to South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide.

Israel has denied the accusations, saying it has allowed in enough aid and blaming shortages on what it called the United Nations’ inability to distribute it. It also accused Hamas of siphoning off aid.

The leader of the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, warned Friday that attacks against Israel-linked vessels off Yemen would resume within four days if aid doesn’t resume to Gaza. The Houthis described their earlier attacks as solidarity with Palestinians there.

The ceasefire has paused the deadliest and most destructive fighting ever between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The first phase allowed the return of 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli forces have withdrawn to buffer zones inside Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza and hundreds of trucks of aid entered per day until Israel suspended supplies.

U.S. envoy describes talks with Hamas

The White House on Wednesday made the surprise confirmation of direct U.S. talks with Hamas.

On Sunday, envoy Adam Boehler told Israeli broadcaster Kan that Hamas has suggested a truce of five to 10 years while it would disarm. The militant group has previously called disarming unacceptable.

A senior Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss contacts with the U.S., said that the group had expressed its longstanding position that it would lay down its arms in return for a “fair and just solution” that includes an independent Palestinian state.

Boehler also told CNN that “I think you could see something like a long-term truce, where we forgive prisoners, where Hamas lays down their arms, where they agree they’re not part of the political party going forward. I think that’s a reality. It’s real close.”

When asked if he would speak with the militant group again, Boehler replied, “You never know.”

He added: “I think something could come together within weeks,” and expressed hope for a deal that would see all hostages released, not only American ones. Boehler has said four of the five American hostages in Gaza are dead, with Edan Alexander alive.

Hamas on Sunday didn’t mention the talks, but reiterated its support for a proposal for the establishment of an independent committee of technocrats to run Gaza until Palestinians hold presidential and legislative elections.

Hamas’ attack in October 2023 killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, inside Israel and took 251 people hostage. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other arrangements.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say how many of the dead were militants.

With the cutoff of supplies to Gaza, Palestinians are reporting sharp price increases for dwindling items during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“Since the ceasefire began, the situation has improved a little. But before that, the situation was very bad,” said Fares al-Qeisi in the southern city of Khan Younis. “I swear to God, one could not satisfy their hunger.”

—Magdy reported from Cairo.

source https://time.com/7266211/israel-says-it-is-cutting-off-electricity-supply-to-gaza/

Top U.S. Health Agency Makes $25,000 Buyout Offer to Most of Its Employees

WASHINGTON — Most of the 80,000 federal workers responsible for researching diseases, inspecting food and administering Medicare and Medicaid under the auspices of the Health and Human Services Department were emailed an offer to leave their job for as much as a $25,000 payment as part of President Donald Trump’s government cuts.

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Workers cannot start opting in until Monday and have until 5 p.m. on Friday to submit a response for the so-called voluntary separation offer. The email was sent to staff across the department, which includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and the National Institutes of Health as well as the Food and Drug Administration, both in Maryland.

The mass email went out to a “broad population of HHS employees,” landing in their inboxes days before agency heads are due to offer plans for shrinking their workforces. HHS is one of the government’s costliest federal agencies, with an annual budget of about $1.7 trillion that is mostly spent on health care coverage for millions of people enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid.

The agency oversees health insurance for roughly half the country through Medicare for older adults and Medicaid for disabled and poor Americans.

There was no immediate comment Sunday from HHS.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s health secretary, has hinted at plans at deep cuts to the staff. Last year, he promised to immediately clear out 600 employees at the NIH, the nation’s biomedical research arm. He has not gone that far, but in an interview last month shortly after being sworn in last month, Kennedy said he wanted to remove some workers from the public health agencies.

“I have a list in my head,” Kennedy said of potential firings at the agency. He said some workers “made really bad decisions” on nutrition guidelines.

The Trump administration, with the help of billionaire Elon Musk, has been trying to push out federal workers in an effort to cut costs. In January, most federal employees received a deferred resignation offer that came with eight months of pay. Thousands of probationary employees, too, have been fired across federal agencies, including at HHS.

The latest move to reduce the number of federal health workers comes as the the CDC is assisting with a deadly measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico and as lawmakers are debating deep cuts to Medicaid in the federal budget.

HHS workers are directed in the email to reach out to their local human resources office to submit for the voluntary separation.

source https://time.com/7266205/top-u-s-health-agency-makes-25000-buyout-offer-to-most-of-its-employees/

Trump Speaks Out on Recession Fears, Tariffs, and the U.S. Aid Given to ‘Ungrateful’ Zelensky

President Donald Trump appeared on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with host Maria Bartiromo, in which he discussed a variety of issues from his first few weeks back in the White House. Key talking points included his tariffs, which have resulted in a trade war, mounting fears that the U.S. may be heading into a recession, and foreign relations—specifically that with Ukraine, after Trump clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Feb. 28.

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Bartiromo, who Trump just appointed to the Kennedy Center Board, sat down with the President for the interview that aired on March 9 and was filmed during the past week.

Here are some of the key topics Trump shared his views on: 

Recession fears

Consumers and experts alike have shown concern about a possible recession, particularly amid the Trump Administration’s proposed reciprocal tariffs and the mass layoffs largely triggered by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under Elon Musk. The Atlanta Federal Reserve model suggested that economic growth might be negative in Q1 2025.

Trump did not rule out the possibility of economic hardship, arguing that the economy and the U.S. population will have to adjust to the changes being made.

“I hate to predict things like that,” Trump said, when asked if he is expecting a recession this year. “There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America. There are always periods of… it takes a little time. It takes a little time. But I think it should be great for us.”

Read More: Is the U.S. Heading Into a Recession Under Trump? Here’s What to Know

What is happening with Trump’s tariffs 

Bartiromo pushed for more detail on tariffs, stating that businesses want “clarity” and predictability for shareholder purposes amid Trump’s proposed tariffs and, more specifically, his decision to delay some of those tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

Trump said that businesses will have clarity after April 2, when his reciprocal tariffs are set to be put in place. But he also said that the tariffs may well rise over time.

“The tariffs could go up as time goes by, they may go up…” he said. “This country has been ripped off from every nation in the world, every company in the world. We’ve been ripped off at levels never seen before, and what we’re going to do is get it back.”

Trump went on to reaffirm his belief that more business and production should be carried out on American soil. “Build it here, there’s no tariff,” he said.

Read More: What Are Tariffs and Why Is Trump In Favor of Them?

Where U.S. and Ukraine relations stand after the Zelensky Oval Office confrontation

When asked by Bartiromo about the Oval Office exchange between himself and Zelensky, Trump said that Zelensky is a “smart and tough guy” and likened him getting U.S. aid from the Biden Administration after Russia invaded Ukraine to taking “candy from a baby.”

“He [Zelensky] took money out of this country under Biden like taking candy from a baby. It was so easy,” Trump said, adding: “I just don’t think he’s grateful.” 

Trump went on to say if he had been President at the time, Russia wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine. He also said that other global events—such as Hamas’ assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023— wouldn’t have happened if he was in the White House.

Read More: World Leaders React to Zelensky and Trump’s Oval Office Showdown

If there are plans to cut defense spending

Trump was asked about the Administration’s plan to shrink the size of the federal government, a charge spearheaded by DOGE under the watchful eye of Musk. These cuts, though, will not affect defense spending for the time being.

Trump said he would “love” to cut defense spending, but will not do so “now.”

“You have China, you have Russia, you have a lot of problems out there,” he said, rueful that the government has to spend so much on nuclear weapons.

He also reiterated his message that social security and Medicaid will not be affected by the DOGE spending cuts.

Trump’s proposed “gold card” route to U.S. citizenship  

Trump addressed his recent proposal of a “gold card” route to citizenship, putting a $5 million price tag on a card that would allow foreign-born potential immigrants a pathway into the United States. 

Championing his idea, Trump told Bartiromo that major companies have reached out to him about how hard it is to hire talent from good schools when immigrants must leave the country after their education ends.

“You graduate number one at the Wharton School of Finance, or Harvard, or Stanford, and you get thrown out of the country,” Trump said. “And [businesses] want to hire these people. Now, they can buy a gold card and they can take that gold card and make it a part of their deal to get these top students—no different than an athlete.”

Read More: What Is Trump’s ‘Gold Card’ Route to Citizenship and How Might It Work?

The future of education in the U.S. 

Trump spoke out about his thoughts on America’s education system amid the news that he wishes to dismantle the Department of Education.

“We want to bring the schools back to the States, because we have the worst, literally, we have the worst Education Department and education in the world,” Trump claimed. “We’re ranked at the bottom of the list, and yet we’re number one when it comes to cost per pupil.”

source https://time.com/7266187/trump-recession-tariffs-us-economy-ukraine-zelensky-conflict-interview/