US President Donald Trump has confirmed plans to impose high tariffs on foreign nations despite pushback from global leaders.
Mr Trump held a news conference covering a range of issues, but he couldn't escape questions focused on his Head of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk.
During the conference, the president announced Boeing won the contract to build the F-47, the replacement for the F-22 fighter jet.
Mr Trump held a news conference covering a range of issues, but he couldn't escape questions focused on his Head of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk.
During the conference, the president announced Boeing won the contract to build the F-47, the replacement for the F-22 fighter jet.
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00:00Donald Trump has confirmed plans to impose high tariffs on foreign nations.
00:04Despite pushback from global leaders, he's been holding a news conference covering a range of
00:08issues but couldn't escape questions focused on his head of government efficiency, Elon Musk.
00:13David Blevin has the details.
00:16Obviously is intending to proceed with his plans to impose tariffs on April 2nd,
00:21describing that as Liberation Day for the United States. But he did indeed cover
00:25a lot of ground as he often does when he invites the media into the Oval Office dealing with
00:30deportations, tariffs, NATO, even talking about the two astronauts who have returned
00:36from the International Space Station this week. But I think the big takeaway from the press
00:41conference we've just heard is the fact that both the President of the United States
00:46and the Secretary of Defense felt the need to step in and defend Elon Musk. He is very much
00:52the man under the microscope at the moment and I'll explain why. The purpose of this event,
00:57as you say Kamali, was to announce the award of the contract from the US Air Force for the
01:03next generation fighter jet, the F-47 to replace the F-22. I'm guessing it's called the F-47
01:10because Donald Trump is the 47th President of the United States. That contract is being awarded to
01:16Boeing. That's a complete reversal of fortunes for the company. They've really been struggling
01:21in terms of commercial and defense contracts. But it's a 20 billion dollar contract and the
01:28Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says it represents continuing air dominance by the United States.
01:34But in the midst of that huge announcement the focus remained on Elon Musk and I think that's
01:41for three reasons. There's still a lot of concern in the United States about the cut to the federal
01:46workforce being made by his Department of Government Efficiency. There's concern about
01:51the extent to which he's calling for judges who oppose the President's agenda to be impeached.
01:57And there's real concern about the fact that he visited the Pentagon this morning forcing the
02:02President to deny reports in the newspapers that he was there to be briefed on America's preparation
02:08in the event of war with China. So quite extraordinary that amid everything else he's
02:13talking about the big focus remains on his advisor Elon Musk.