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Hours earlier on Wednesday, Trump said in the Oval Office that “I think we have a deal with both” sides — before suggesting that an agreement with Ukraine was still pending.

“I thought it might be easier to deal with Zelenskyy,” he said. “So far, it’s been harder.”

That came after Trump’s latest criticism of Zelenskyy on Truth Social earlier in the day. He accused his Ukrainian counterpart of making “inflammatory statements” — a reference to a Wall Street Journal interview in which Zelenskyy pushed back on Washington’s peace plan — and said of a deal he needed to “GET IT DONE.”

For Ukrainians and their supporters abroad, the attacks symbolized the hypocrisy of Russia’s position. President Vladimir Putin continues to make extreme demands — his conditions for a deal essentially resemble a Ukrainian surrender — while continuing to prosecute the invasion he launched three years ago.

Zelenskyy told the Wall Street Journal that he would never accept Russian control over Crimea, a key demand of the Kremlin’s.

“Yesterday’s Russian maximalist demands for Ukraine to withdraw from its regions, combined with these brutal strikes, show that Russia, not Ukraine, is the obstacle to peace,” Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign minister said in his statement. “Moscow, not Kyiv, is where pressure should be applied.”

In tearful testimony, the mother of a Boston police officer recounted Wednesday how her son was discovered unresponsive in a snowbank and disputed comments made about her in media interviews by Karen Read, whom prosecutors accuse of killing the officer.

Peggy O’Keefe testified that she got a call around 6 a.m. Jan. 29, 2022, from a friend of her son John O’Keefe’s who was with Read when she discovered the unresponsive officer on the front lawn of Brian Albert, then a sergeant with the Boston Police Department.

“She said, ‘John was found in a snowbank,’” O’Keefe recalled. “I didn’t understand. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ She’s like: ‘Found him in the snow. They don’t know what happened.’”

O’Keefe did not testify during Read’s widely publicized first trial, which ended with a hung jury last summer. 

Read, 45, was charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a collision causing death.

In opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors accused Read of fatally striking John O’Keefe, 46, and leaving him for dead outside Albert’s home in suburban Boston on a snowy morning in January 2022.

Defense attorney Alan Jackson blamed the killing on others who were at the home and said Read was the victim of police misconduct and a cover-up.

Peggy O’Keefe said Wednesday that with Read in her vehicle, her son’s friend picked both of them up and drove them to the hospital where John O’Keefe was taken.

At one point during the drive, she testified, she asked Read what happened to her son. Read responded that they had gone to a party and that she had left him there.

“You just left him there?” O’Keefe recalled asking her. “She said, ‘Yes, I just left him there.’”

Prosecutors have said Read dropped John O’Keefe off at Albert’s house and began driving away but then put her Lexus SUV into reverse and fatally struck him.

According to the defense’s account, there was no collision and Read watched John O’Keefe enter Albert’s house, where he was most likely beaten and bitten by Albert’s dog. (During the first trial, Albert testified that John O’Keefe did not enter his home.)

Peggy O’Keefe testified that Read did not tell her whether she left her son inside or outside Albert’s home.

Once she was at the hospital, Peggy O’Keefe testified, officials were leading her through the emergency room when she saw Read. 

“She started yelling, ‘Is he dead?’” O’Keefe recalled.

Toward the end of O’Keefe’s nearly 20 minutes of testimony, special counsel and lead prosecutor Hank Brennan referred to an interview Read gave for a documentary by Investigation Discovery.

Brennan sought to admit Read’s comments to Investigation Discovery and “20/20” about Peggy O’Keefe because they show her “consciousness of guilt,” he said. 

Norfolk County Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone did not immediately rule on the matter.

The Investigation Discovery clip showed Read describing how she saw Peggy O’Keefe in her kitchen in the hours after the hospital trip. Read recalled O’Keefe leaning over a kitchen island and saying, “I think it looks like he got hit by a car.”

“Did you ever lean over a kitchen island and say, ‘I think he looks like he got hit by a car?’” Brennan asked O’Keefe.

“I don’t remember talking to her that morning,” she replied.

Jackson did not question O’Keefe, but he said the clip should not be admitted because it only shows Read repeating “something somebody else said.”

The clip, he added, is “obviously and strategically being used to try to vilify my client with something that is completely irrelevant.”

Brennan, meanwhile, said it was not only relevant but “an extraordinarily strong piece of consciousness of guilt evidence.”

MADISON, Wis. — The Army has suspended a Wisconsin training base’s first female commander after discovering portraits of President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been flipped around to face a wall.

The Army has posted an undated statement on Fort McCoy’s website saying Col. Sheyla Baez Ramirez has been suspended as the base’s garrison commander. The statement said the suspension isn’t related to any misconduct but provided no other details, saying the matter was under review.

The Department of Defense on April 14 posted photos on X showing portraits of Trump and Hegseth on the base’s chain of command wall had been turned to face the wall, along with photos showing that they had been flipped back to face the corridor.

“Regarding the Ft. McCoy Chain of Command wall controversy … WE FIXED IT!” the post read. “Also, an investigation has begun to figure out exactly what happened.”No one immediately returned email and voicemail messages The Associated Press left for Fort McCoy public affairs officials on Wednesday morning.

Baez Ramirez assumed the role of garrison commander at Fort McCoy in July 2024 after serving as chief of the Reserve Program, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. She was commissioned as a military intelligence officer through the Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1999 and holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology/mental health from the University of Puerto Rico and a master’s in strategic studies from the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

She holds numerous citations and decorations, including the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Korean Defense Medal.

She has served as chief of operations of U.S. Army Reserve Command at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, deputy commander of the 501st Military Intelligence Brigade and deputy chief of the Special United States Liaison Advisor Korea at Camp Humphreys in the Republic of Korea.

Fort McCoy is a 93-square-mile training base in the far western Wisconsin countryside. It has been in operation since 1909.

Activist David Hogg set off a firestorm among Democrats last week when he said his political action committee would fund a $20 million effort to challenge “ineffective” incumbents in primaries. 

Hogg is a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, and his comments reverberated through party circles, prompting a throng of angered Democrats to complain — including to DNC officials — that he shouldn’t put his thumb on the scale as an officer of the committee. 

Since last week, Hogg has appeared on just about every cable news show and digital outlet, advocating for a party reset of sorts — not just because it lost the White House to Donald Trump, but also because, he said, it lost faith among voters.

Now the party is grappling with what to do with him.

At 25, Hogg has emerged as a potential disruptor to a party still trying to find its way forward after a bitter loss in November. Since former Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat, the party has struggled to find its footing against a Republican trifecta in Washington and is still searching for a leader and a message.

On Thursday, Hogg is expected to be a topic of discussion on a scheduled call with DNC officials and the media. It’s not clear whether he will be on the call.

“We are rolling out historic investments into state parties. And I’m sure Chair [Ken] Martin will discuss reforms he’s pushing and that he ran on. One of which is our party and our officers being neutral in primaries,” said Jane Kleeb, a DNC vice chair and the president of the Association of State Democratic Committees.  

Kleeb noted that enshrining DNC neutrality was something that progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., “and many other Dems across the ideological spectrum have repeatedly asked us to codify into our bylaws.”

Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 mass shooting at his high school in Parkland, Florida, and now a national anti-violence activist, is advocating to oust what he calls ineffective candidates from solid-blue districts. He wants to usher in fresh blood and generally younger candidates as part of a new effort from his PAC, Leaders We Deserve.

“There are old people who are great, there are young people who suck and vice versa. And I’m trying to explain to people that this is not an ax. We’re not just saying, ‘Screw all of them, let’s run against everybody,’” Hogg said. “We’re trying to be a scalpel here. And it’s not just, it’s not about being out with the old and in with the new. It’s about being out with the ineffective and in with the effective.” 

Hogg often points to Democrats’ losing ground with voters. Last month, a CNN poll found Democrats hitting a record low 29% voter approval. A Harvard Youth poll this week found congressional Democrats had a 23% approval rating among young voters, a 19-point drop since 2017.  

Hogg hasn’t hesitated to hit back at the incoming vitriol, including swiping at some sacred cows in the Democratic Party, among them veteran strategist James Carville, who last week called him a “twerp.” Hogg has dismissed many of the criticisms, pointing to the presidential loss as evidence that perhaps a new approach should be welcomed. 

When Scripps asked Hogg about Carville’s insult, he responded that Carville — who made his name as a key strategist for Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign — hadn’t won an election since before Hogg was born. 

Hogg argues that the fallout over his proposal proves his points. The internal hubbub is a sign of a party in need of a jolt, and an effort to place a requirement for neutrality into the DNC bylaws illustrates that it isn’t there now — and therefore he hasn’t gone against rules dictating his duties, he said. 

“It’s certainly a possibility, I’m sure,” Hogg told NBC News on Wednesday before news emerged that the DNC would discuss neutrality Thursday. “But that goes to the point that I’m saying how this is not a violation of the bylaws.”

“What I see here is that I am not in violation of the bylaws, and there is precedent for vice chairs being involved in primaries previously,” Hogg said, arguing that former vice chairs have backed incumbents in the past.  

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., has voiced strong backing for Hogg, including on X, where he recently said Hogg was doing “incredible work. He is supporting every frontline Dem & dems for state rep while also giving new candidates a chance to run in safe seats where we need change. Dems should embrace a new generation of leadership & competition!” 

Another DNC member, labor leader Randi Weingarten, has also been outspoken about Hogg’s intention to challenge incumbents in safe areas.

“I support David’s efforts,” Weingarten said in a text Wednesday.  

Hogg said that since all the attention last week, he has heard from hundreds of potential candidates who are interested in running. And he has seen an uptick in donations, though he didn’t specify amounts. 

Carville says Hogg’s disparaging of the Democratic brand is overblown, saying the party’s rank and file aren’t happy with the direction of the last campaign.

“Of course people don’t like the Democratic Party, because we lost an election. I don’t like the Democratic Party — and I’m a Democrat — because I don’t like parties that lose elections,” Carville said.

Though he and Hogg have gone back and forth, mostly on TV, Carville said they probably do align on many issues. Carville, though, said that for all of Hogg’s talk, he would be impressed if Hogg’s efforts gained traction in battleground areas, like Virginia.

“See if they invite you to come in or invite you to send out fundraising appeals,” Carville said. “Don’t wait by the phone.”

President Donald Trump plans to hold a rally in Michigan to mark his 100th day in office, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday.

“President Trump is excited to return to the great state of Michigan next Tuesday, where he will rally in Macomb County to celebrate the FIRST 100 DAYS!” Leavitt said on X.

The trip will be Trump’s first major rally since his inauguration in January and his first visit to the battleground state since he narrowly defeated Kamala Harris to win Michigan in November.

Michigan was among the battleground states Trump visited the most during the 2024 election cycle, notching two dozen visits to the state, at least three of which were in Macomb County. Macomb County is in the south-eastern part of the state, a stone’s throw from Detroit.

He handily won the Republican-leaning county, defeating Harris by double digits.

Trump will visit Michigan weeks after he met with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer following his decision this month to implement tariffs on dozens of nations, many of which were scaled back.

Whitmer had planned to meet with Trump privately to discuss the tariffs, manufacturing and other Michigan issues.

Instead, she was taken into the Oval Office for a media event, during which Trump signed an executive order directing the Justice Department to investigate officials who served in his first administration and called out his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Photos showed Whitmer standing uncomfortably against a door and covering her face with a folder as cameras rolled.

“The governor was surprised that she was brought into the Oval Office during President Trump’s press conference without any notice of the subject matter. Her presence is not an endorsement of the actions taken or statements made at that event,” a spokesperson for Whitmer said after the event.

It is unclear whether Whitmer plans to attend Trump’s rally or meet with him while he’s in Michigan. Her office did not respond to request for comment Wednesday night.

Trump told Whitmer during the Oval Office event that he planned to work with Democrats to ensure Selfridge Air Force Base, which is in Macomb County, remains “open, strong and thriving.”

Ahead of her meeting with Trump, Whitmer delivered a speech in Washington calling for a “consistent national strategy” to spur manufacturing, criticizing Trump’s tariff policies while also finding common ground with the president in regard to the stated goal of the import penalties.

“I understand the motivation behind the tariffs, and I can tell you here’s where President Trump and I do agree. We do need to make more stuff in America — more cars and chips, more steel and ships. We do need fair trade,” she said.

Whitmer also suggested in her speech that Trump’s ongoing tariffs on all imported vehicles and plan to implement tariffs on foreign auto parts would disproportionately affect Michigan residents, noting that 20% of the state’s economy is tied to the auto industry.

“We’re already seeing the impacts. Auto companies are stockpiling parts and laying off workers. Suppliers are facing higher costs and delaying expansions. Dealerships will be forced to raise prices by up to $15,000 amid slowing sales. And since every auto job supports three others in the community, the impact will be felt by countless small businesses across Michigan, too,” she said.

Before his visit to Macomb, Trump will travel to Rome for the funeral for Pope Francis on Saturday.

President Donald Trump prefers the Washington Commanders’ controversial former name, he told reporters Tuesday evening.

Conservative Virginia radio host John Fredericks asked the president if a deal for a new Commanders stadium at the RFK Stadium site — on federal land that the government gave D.C. control of — is contingent upon restoring the team’s former name, which many consider racist. While Trump’s response didn’t pertain to the stadium deal, he did share his preference for the former team name.

“The Indian population is a great part of this country, great heritage,” Trump said.

He brought up other teams with Native American-derived names, like the Kansas City Chiefs, and one other that changed its name — Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians.

“When you go back to Indians, they’ve told us they don’t know why these names are being taken off,” Trump said.

The president also suggested such name changes insult Native Americans.

“I think it’s degrading to the Indian population, and it’s a great population,” Trump said. “And they like when they’re called by various names. Now, Washington, the Redskins, perhaps that’s a little different, a little bit different, but I can tell you I spoke to people of Indian heritage and they love that name and they love that team. … I think it’s a superior name to what they have right now. It had heritage behind it; it had something special.”

Critics asked former Commanders owner Dan Snyder to change the name for years, saying it’s offensive to Native Americans. Snyder said he’d never change the name, but after pressure from the public and major team sponsors such as FedEx and Nike to change the nickname, the team announced a “thorough review” into the team’s name and logo in July 2020. Ten days later, the team announced it would retire the name.

The team played the 2020 and 2021 seasons as the Washington Football Team. Then in February 2022, the team revealed its new name and logo.

Current owner Josh Harris inherited the Commanders branding when the ownership group he leads bought the team from Snyder in 2023.

Neither Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office nor the team have commented on Trump’s remarks.

Harris previously has said there will be no name change.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, announced Wednesday that he’ll direct several state agencies to review their ties to El Salvador in the wake of what his office called “aiding the Trump administration’s unlawful and unconstitutional actions.”

“The United States Constitution guarantees due process. We are witnessing Donald Trump erode our fundamental Constitutional rights in real time, and we must fight to restore the balance of power. The State of Illinois will stand up for the Rule of Law and do everything in our power to stop the Trump administration from ripping apart our most basic rights,” Pritzker, who is considered to be a potential 2028 presidential candidate, said in a statement.

In a release, Pritzker’s office said that it had directed various Illinois pension funds to review whether they are invested in any companies that are based in El Salvador and that it had ordered the Illinois Department of Central Management Services to evaluate whether any state procurement contracts have been granted to companies based in or controlled by El Salvador.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has sided with Trump in recent weeks in the high-profile deportation case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The Trump administration admits that Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador but maintains that he was a member of the violent MS-13 gang, despite his wife’s and his attorney’s statements to the contrary.

Members of the Trump administration have also said that because Abrego Garcia is in the custody of El Salvador, they cannot bring him back to the United States. Bukele has declined to free Abrego Garcia.

“Of course I’m not going to do it,” Bukele told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Trump this month. “The question is preposterous.”

On Sunday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador last week, said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that disinvesting from the country could be one method of putting pressure on Bukele to release Abrego Garcia.

“There are also pressures we can put on the government of El Salvador, including through, you know, you know, people deciding not to invest in El Salvador, Americans not traveling to El Salvador. So I think there are other pressure points,” Van Hollen said.

LOS ANGELES — The State Bar of California has disclosed that some multiple-choice questions in a problem-plagued bar exam were developed with the aid of artificial intelligence.

The legal licensing body said in a news release Monday that it will ask the California Supreme Court to adjust test scores for those who took its February bar exam.

“The debacle that was the February 2025 bar exam is worse than we imagined,” Mary Basick, assistant dean of academic skills at the University of California, Irvine, Law School, told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m almost speechless. Having the questions drafted by non-lawyers using artificial intelligence is just unbelievable.”

In February, the new exam led to complaints after many test-takers were unable to complete their bar exams. The online testing platforms repeatedly crashed before some applicants even started. Others struggled to finish and save essays, experienced screen lags and error messages and could not copy and paste text, the Times reported earlier.

According to a recent presentation by the State Bar, 100 of the 171 scored multiple-choice questions were made by Kaplan Exam Services and 48 were drawn from a first-year law students exam. A smaller subset of 23 scored questions were made by ACS Ventures, the State Bar’s psychometrician, and developed with artificial intelligence.

“We have confidence in the validity of the (multiple-choice questions) to accurately and fairly assess the legal competence of test-takers,” Leah Wilson, the State Bar’s executive director, told the newspaper in a statement.

Katie Moran, an associate professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law who specializes in bar exam preparation, told the newspaper, “It’s a staggering admission.”

“The State Bar has admitted they employed a company to have a non-lawyer use AI to draft questions that were given on the actual bar exam,” she said. “They then paid that same company to assess and ultimately approve of the questions on the exam, including the questions the company authored.”

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

With another Senate Democrat announcing retirement plans, we explore the wave of younger candidates who are looking to replace them. Plus, Andrea Mitchell dives into the collapse of high-level talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.

— Adam Wollner

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Have a question for the NBC News Politics Desk about the Trump administration’s latest tariff moves, what comes next for the GOP’s big budget bill on Capitol Hill or the early developments of the 2026 midterm elections?

Send your questions to [email protected] and we may answer them in a future edition of the newsletter. 

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Senate Democratic retirements clear the way for a new generation

A growing number of Democrats in the Senate are stepping aside and clearing the way for the next generation of leaders as the party debates its path forward in the Trump 2.0 era.

The latest example came Wednesday, when Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the chamber, announced he will not seek re-election in 2026 after having served in Congress for more than four decades, Sahil Kapur, Ben Kamisar and Bridget Bowman report. The decision will set off a scramble for his leadership posts in the Senate — he’s the minority whip and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee — as well as for his seat in solidly blue Illinois.

Already, a bevy of prominent Democrats in the state have signaled their interest in replacing the Durbin, 80. Reps. Lauren Underwood (age 38), Raja Krishnamoorthi (51) and Robin Kelly (68) and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (59) are all considering bids, according to sources familiar with their thinking. The winner of the Democratic primary would be a heavy favorite in the general election. 

Durbin is the fourth Senate Democrat to announce retirement plans ahead of next year’s midterm elections, along with Gary Peters of Michigan, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Tina Smith of Minnesota, who have similarly seen a wave of younger candidates jump into the races to succeed them. 

Michigan: The Democratic primary for the seat held by Peters (66) has quickly become crowded. Rep. Haley Stevens (41) is the latest candidate to jump in, joining state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (38) and former Wayne County health director Abdul El-Sayed (40). 

It’s expected to be one of the most competitive Democratic primaries in the country next year. And it is likely to lead to one of the most competitive general election matchups, too, with former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers (61) running again after having narrowly lost the Senate race in the state last year. 

New Hampshire: Rep. Chris Pappas (44) is the early Democratic favorite in the primary to replace Shaheen (78).  

Minnesota: After Smith (67) announced her retirement, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (45) and former state Senate Democratic leader Melisa López Franzen (44) launched their primary campaigns, while Rep. Angie Craig (53) is considering a bid. 

Those states will be more competitive in a general election than Illinois, so securing the Democratic nomination won’t provide a glide path to the Senate. But the open-seat primaries could pave the way for the sort of youth movement some Democrats have argued is needed to reinvigorate the party ahead of the 2026 and 2028 elections. 

Side note: Democrats will also aim to defend the youngest member of the Senate next year: 38-year-old Jon Ossoff of Georgia is expected to be Republicans’ top target on the map. 

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U.S. peace plan leaves Ukraine on edge

By Andrea Mitchell

U.S. peace talks to end the war in Ukraine appear to be near collapse, with President Donald Trump lashing out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not accepting a U.S. proposal that is widely viewed as favoring Russia.

The U.S. plan would let Russia keep Crimea, Ukrainian territory that Russia occupied in 2014, and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. In a one-two punch, Vice President JD Vance, traveling in India, threatened that the United States would walk away from the talks if the two sides didn’t accept the U.S. terms, which would be a territorial and military victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Zelenskyy told The Wall Street Journal that giving up Crimea would violate Ukraine’s constitution. And he asked what concessions Russia would make if Ukraine gave up hopes of becoming a member of NATO. While Zelenskyy has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, Russia has not.   

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff were to hold talks Wednesday with Ukraine, England, Germany and France in London, but Rubio and Witkoff canceled at the last minute. That led European foreign ministers to also drop out, downgrading the talks to a meeting of technical experts.  

“If at some point we determine that if we’re just too far apart and not enough movement is happening, we may need to move on to other priorities, because there are a lot of important things happening in the world,” Rubio said. “This is not our war. We didn’t start this war.”  

Trying to smooth over the impasse, Zelenskyy said later in a statement: “Emotions have run high today. But it is good that 5 countries met to bring peace closer. … The American side shared its vision. Ukraine and other Europeans presented their inputs. And we hope that it is exactly such joint work that will lead to lasting peace.”    

The White House says Witkoff will go to Moscow this week for his fourth meeting with Putin. Trump had promised he would end the war within 24 hours of taking office.

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That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Bridget Bowman.

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Tiger balm, the popular menthol ointment used by athletes and arthritis patients, has just one U.S. distributor and a single factory in China, making it especially vulnerable to the tariff standoff. 

A 0.63-ounce hexagonal jar of the amber-colored balm typically sells in the U.S. for about $8. But its sole American distributor, Prince of Peace Enterprises, based in Livermore, California, says retail prices could soon rise as President Donald Trump hiked up tariffs on China as high as 145%. 

The ointment for the U.S. markets is produced at a factory in China and, at the current tax rate, the distributor is anticipating $3 million to $5 million in tariff costs this year for Tiger Balm products, said Matt Chin, Prince of Peace president. At least some of that may be passed onto consumers, but not for now. 

“We’re adopting a more measured approach,” Chin said. “Our customers rely on us, and we want to hold off on raising prices.”

Har Paw Corp., a pharmaceutical company based in Singapore, is the headquarters for Tiger Balm products. But the American product comes out of China, and sells more than $30 million worth of the ointment in the U.S annually. Har Paw didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The bruising trade war between the U.S. and China is slamming into American businesses that import popular global products for which there are no clear substitutes.

Redolent of camphor and menthol, Tiger Balm was first developed in the late 19th century and is used to relieve ailments from muscle aches to colds and headaches. In recent years, the product has found international appeal, gaining endorsement from basketball’s Jeremy Lin and pop star Lady Gaga.  

Trump roiled global markets last month when he imposed punishing reciprocal tariffs on imports from 90 nations, including more than a dozen from Asia. He has since announced a 90-day pause on the additional levies for most countries — while keeping in place a 10% baseline rate — but raised the tax on Chinese imports to 125%. China has retaliated by hiking up tariffs on American goods from 84% to 125%. 

The current rate for pharmaceutical imports, which form the backbone of Prince of Peace’s inventory, are set at 20%, and they’re exempt from new reciprocal tariffs. But Trump has vowed to impose “major tariffs” on the products soon. 

Prince and Peace supplies Tiger Balm to chains like CVS and Walmart as well as local pharmacies. Chin said the company has continued to place inventory and absorbed rising tariff costs. So far, there’s been no change in demand because the company hasn’t raised prices. But the challenge is that big box retailers often require price changes to be announced 90 days in advance, Chin said. 

“If Walmart, for example, won’t make an exception for the price increase due to tariffs, that means as the seller we would have to eat the difference,” he said.

Prince of Peace also carries hundreds of ginseng products, herbal teas and other health supplements imported from China that have no Western alternatives.  

Research has shown that tariff costs are borne mostly by U.S. consumers and businesses. New tariffs on China affect about 13% of U.S. imports and may cost consumers up to $25 billion annually, according to a report from the center-right economics research nonprofit American Action Forum. In 2018, when Trump implemented sweeping tariffs during his first term, the U.S. lost roughly $7.2 billion in real income.

Yan Liang, a professor of economics at Willamette University in Oregon, said specialty goods like Tiger Balm and ginseng don’t compete with U.S. manufacturing and jobs. Rather, they create jobs and revenue in the service sector.

“Distributors may have to absorb some of the rising costs so prices don’t have to rise too much to deter consumers,” Liang said. “In both scenarios, these small Chinese American distributors are being squeezed.”

Chin is also the president of the Oriental Food Association, which represents more than 40 Asian food importers and distributors in Northern California. He said the group has been engaging with trade representatives and the Chinese consulate in San Francisco for more clarity about the economic outlook of the tariffs. 

Smaller herbal shops and medicine halls in Chinatowns across the U.S., Chin said, are taking a bigger hit from the tariffs as they run on narrower margins. But he is optimistic that the Chinese American business community will weather the storm, as it did in 2018, when Trump imposed up to 25% tariffs on imported Chinese goods.

“It’s definitely a blow to morale,” Chin said, “but we’re strong and will get through these setbacks as a whole.”