Hegseth says Musk did not see China war plan as Trump announces new jet fighter program – US politics live

Hegseth says Musk did not see plan for potential war with China

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth said that Elon Musk was not shown the Pentagon’s plan for a potential war with China during the Tesla CEO’s visit earlier today.

“Elon Musk is a patriot. Elon Musk is an innovator. Elon Musk provides a lot of capabilities our government and our military rely on, and I’m grateful for that,” said Hegseth, who added that reports Musk would be shown the plan were meant to “undermine whatever relationship the Pentagon has with” him.

“We welcomed him today to the Pentagon to talk about [the department of government efficiency], to talk about efficiencies, to talk about innovations. It was a great informal conversation. The rest of that reporting was fake. There was no war plans. There was no Chinese war plans. There was no secret plans. That’s not what we were doing the Pentagon.”

Trump signals 'flexibility' on new tariffs he will impose on 2 April

Donald Trump has talked up the new tariffs he has promised to impose on countries worldwide on 2 April, so much so that he’s taking to calling the date “Liberation Day”.

On that date, the president has ordered the United States to impose “reciprocal” tariffs on trading partners around the world, which will be equal to whatever levies they place on US goods. Exemptions from 25% tariffs that he has given Canada and Mexico will also end on that day.

It will likely amount to a a major reordering of the United State’s relations with its trading partners, and have major implications for the US economy. Yet for all his talk of tariffs, Trump has indicated that he may change his mind.

The latest came just now in the Oval Office, where he said there will be “flexibility” with the new tariffs.

“People are coming to me and talking about tariffs, and a lot of people are asking me if they could have exceptions. And once you do that for one, you have to do that for all,” Trump said.

“The word flexibility is an important word. Sometimes there’s flexibility, so there’ll be flexibility.”