The US government, already shaken by Donald Trump’s radical reforms, could begin shutting down entirely this weekend as Democrats grapple with the politically risky option of opposing the president’s federal funding plans.With a Friday night deadline to fund the government or allow it to start winding down, the Senate is set for a crunch vote ahead of the midnight cut-off on a Trump-backed bill passed by the House of Representatives.The package would keep the lights on through September, but Democrats are under immense pressure from their own grassroots to defy Trump and reject a text they say is full of harmful spending cuts.”If there’s a shutdown, even the Democrats admit it will be their fault,” Trump told reporters on Thursday.Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer — who has long insisted that it is bad politics to shut down the government — indicated he would vote for the bill, raising hopes for its success.Others in the minority party — worried that they would be blamed over a stoppage with no obvious exit ramp — also appear ready to incur the wrath of their support base by backing down.But Schumer has not explicitly told his troops which way to jump, telling reporters “each is making his or her own decision” and the vote remains on a knife edge.- ‘Do the right thing’ -Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who voted against a bill to avert a shutdown as recently as 18 months ago, urged the minority party to “put partisan politics aside and do the right thing.” “When the government shuts down, you have government employees who are no longer paid, you have services that begin to lag. It brings great harm on the economy and the people,” he told Fox News.The funding fight is focused on opposition to Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), spearheaded by tech mega-billionaire Elon Musk, which is working to dramatically downsize the government.DOGE aims to cut federal spending by $1 trillion this year and claims to have made savings so far of more than $100 billion through lease terminations, contract cancellations and firing federal workers.Its online “wall of receipts” accounts for less than a fraction of that total, however, and US media outlets have found its website to be riddled with errors, misleading math and exaggerations.Grassroots Democrats, infuriated by what they see as the SpaceX and Tesla CEO’s lawless rampage through the federal bureaucracy, want their leaders to stand up to DOGE and Trump.The funding bill is likely to need support from at least eight Democrats, but Republicans ignored the opposition’s demands to protect congressional control over the government’s purse strings and rein in Musk.- ‘Carte blanche’ -Washington progressive representative Pramila Jayapal told CNN there would be a “huge backlash” against Senate Democrats supporting the bill.Several top Democrats have warned, however, that a shutdown could play into Musk’s hands, distracting from DOGE’s most unpopular actions, which just this week has included firing half the Education Department’s workforce.”It’s not really a decision, it’s a Hobson’s choice: Either proceed with the bill before us, or risk Donald Trump throwing America into the chaos of a shutdown,” Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor.The Democratic leader claimed that Musk and Trump were hoping for the government to grind to a halt.”A shutdown would give Donald Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now… with nobody left at the agencies to check them,” he said.Republicans control 53 seats in the 100-member Senate.Legislation in the upper chamber requires a preliminary ballot with a 60-vote threshold — designed to encourage bipartisanship — before final passage, which only needs a simple majority.Schumer and Pennsylvania Senator Fetterman are so far the only Democrats committed to allowing the bill to move forward, as no other Democrats have indicated publicly they would be willing to cross the aisle.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to impose 200 percent tariffs on wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages from European Union countries, in retaliation against the bloc’s planned levies on American-made whiskey.Trump has launched trade wars against competitors and partners alike since taking office, wielding tariffs as a tool to pressure countries on commerce and other policy issues.His latest salvo was a response to the European Union’s unveiling of tariffs on $28 billion in US goods, to be imposed in stages starting in April.The EU measures — including a 50 percent tariff on American whiskey — were a tit-for-tat measure against Trump’s levies on steel and aluminum imports that took effect Wednesday.”If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.Global markets tumbled on the news, with Wall Street down sharply, and criticism of the move was swift from European spirit makers.French wine and champagne company Taittinger said a 200 percent tariff could bring the cost of some bottles from about $60 to more than $180.France’s federation of wine and spirit exporters, known by the acronym FEVS, put the blame on the European Commission for placing its members “directly into the crosshairs of the US president.””We are fed up with being systematically sacrificed for issues unrelated to our own,” said the group’s director general Nicolas Ozanam.- ‘Hostile and abusive’ -Trump called the EU’s planned levy on US whiskey “nasty” and dubbed the bloc “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World.”The Republican billionaire president has also said the European Union — which for decades has been at the heart of a US-led Western alliance — was formed to take advantage of the United States.He told reporters he would not bend on his aggressive tariffs policy, while European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc is ready to negotiate over escalating duties, though she insisted that tariffs are “bad for business.”French Foreign Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin said his country would “not give in to threats” and was “determined to retaliate,’ while Spain’s agriculture minister said he hopes to negotiate.US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg Television he had plans to speak with his European counterparts, while an EU spokesperson said its trade chief has reached out to Washington.EU economy chief Valdis Dombrovskis meanwhile held an introductory call with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in which he expressed concern over US tariffs and their negative economic impact on both sides.- ‘Devastating’ -The European spirits trade group, Spirits Europe, called on both sides to stop using the sector as a “bargaining chip” in their tariffs fight.US wine merchants and restaurant owners also eyed Trump’s threats with trepidation.A 200 percent tariff would send business costs “through the roof,” said Francis Schott, a restaurant owner based in New Jersey who serves European and American wines.”It’s just business that will go away. It’s devastating,” he told AFP. “If I lose half of the profit I make on alcoholic beverages, my business is no longer viable.”Europe exported nearly $5.2 billion worth of wine and champagne to the United States in 2023, according to the World Trade Organization.- EU levy ‘disappointing’ -US distillers have called the EU’s levy on American whiskey “deeply disappointing.”A 2018 imposition of similar tariffs led to a 20 percent drop in American whiskey exports to the European Union.Trump’s tariff wars have taken aim at Canada, Mexico and China over allegations they are not doing enough to curtail fentanyl smuggling or illegal immigration into the United States — even if in the case of Canada, the border sees negligible smuggling.He has also taken aim at commodities including steel, aluminum and copper.Some countries like China and Canada have already imposed retaliatory tariffs, while uncertainty over Trump’s trade plans and worries that they could trigger a recession have roiled financial markets.After talks in Washington on Thursday with Lutnick, Canadian science and industry minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said he saw “potential for a reset” in cross-border relations when new prime minister Mark Carney takes office Friday.

The prestigious Johns Hopkins University said Thursday it is being forced to lay off more than 2,000 employees in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s massive reduction in foreign aid funding.”This is a difficult day for our entire community. The termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding is now forcing us to wind down critical work here in Baltimore and internationally,” the school, a leading institution of scientific research, said in a statement.Hopkins, in Maryland’s largest city an hour’s drive north of the US capital, is eliminating more than 2,000 positions — 1,975 in projects across 44 countries and 247 jobs in the United States.The cuts impact several key programs, including the university’s medical school and school of public health, and Jhpiego, a global health non-profit organization founded at the university more than 50 years ago and which works to improve health in countries worldwide.”Johns Hopkins is immensely proud of the work done by our colleagues in Jhpiego, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the School of Medicine to care for mothers and infants, fight disease, provide clean drinking water, and advance countless other critical, life-saving efforts around the world,” the university said.The cuts make Johns Hopkins one of the universities most deeply impacted by the slash of federal funding for research. The university receives roughly $1 billion annually in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is currently running 600 clinical trials, according to The New York Times, adding that Hopkins is one of the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging such cuts.The US Agency for International Development (USAID), the largest funding agency for Jhpiego, distributes humanitarian aid around the world, with health and emergency programs in around 120 countries.US President Donald Trump, who is dismantling the humanitarian agency, signed an executive order in January demanding a freeze on all US foreign aid to allow time to assess overseas expenses. Critics warn that slashing USAID work will affect millions of people.