Federal agencies will begin to vacate hundreds of offices across the country this summer under a frenetic and error-riddled push by Elon Musk’s budget-cutting advisers to terminate leases that they say waste money.

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency maintains a list of canceled real estate leases on its website, but internal documents obtained by The Associated Press contain a crucial detail: when those cancellations are expected to take effect. The documents from inside the General Services Administration, the U.S. government’s real estate manager, list dozens of federal office and building leases expected to end by June 30, with hundreds more slated over the coming months.

The rapid pace of cancellations has raised alarms, with some agencies and lawmakers appealing to DOGE to exempt specific buildings. Several agencies are facing 20 or more lease cancellations in all, including the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Many of the terminations would affect agencies that aren’t as well-known but oversee services critical to many Americans.

They span from a Boise, Idaho, office of the Bureau of Reclamation — which oversees water supply and deals with disputes across the often-parched American West — to a Joliet, Illinois, outpost of the Railroad Retirement Board, which provides benefits for railroad workers and their survivors.

The lease terminations do not mean all the locations will close. In some cases, agencies may negotiate new leases to stay in place, downsize their existing space or relocate elsewhere.

“Some agencies are saying: ‘I’m not leaving. We can’t leave,’” said Chad Becker, a former GSA real estate official who now represents building owners with government leases at Arco Real Estate Solutions. “I think there’s going to be a period of pushback, a period of disbelief. And then, if necessary, they may start working on the actual execution of a move.”

Errors add to confusion

DOGE says GSA has notified landlords in recent weeks that it plans to terminate 793 leases, focusing mostly on those that can be ended within months without penalty. The group estimates those moves will save roughly $500 million over the terms of the leases, which in some cases were slated to continue into the 2030s. The Bureau of Reclamation cancellation in Boise, for instance, would take effect Aug. 31 and is expected to save a total of $18.7 million through 2035.

But DOGE’s savings estimates — a fraction of Musk’s $1 trillion cost-cutting goal — have not been verified and do not take into account the costs of moves and closures. The group has released no information about what they will mean for agencies.

“My initial reaction is this is just going to cause more chaos,” said Jim Simpson, an accountant in Arizona who helps low-income people file taxes and serves on an IRS panel that advocates for taxpayers. “There’s a lot of room to help with government efficiency, but it should be done surgically and not with a chainsaw.”

Simpson said he was surprised to learn that dozens of IRS offices, including local taxpayer assistance centers, were facing upcoming lease cancellations. He refers clients there to get paperwork to file returns and answer IRS inquiries, and he said losing services would “cause a lot of anxiety” and delay refunds.

Plans to cancel the leases at several of the IRS centers and other sites were in error and have been rescinded, according to a person with direct knowledge of the changes who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity in order to avoid retaliation. Those changes are not yet reflected on DOGE’s list, which only removed one and added dozens more in its latest update published Thursday.

The GSA walked back the cancellation of a Geological Survey office in Anchorage, Alaska, for instance, after learning it did not have termination rights, according to the person familiar with the matter.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Monday that he’d convinced DOGE to back off lease terminations planned for the National Weather Center in Norman, a Social Security office in Lawton and the Indian Health Services office in Oklahoma City. But all three leases remained on DOGE’s list of cancellations as of Thursday.

GSA’s press office didn’t respond to inquiries.

The real estate market is blindsided

While there was already a bipartisan push to reduce the government’s real estate footprint, the mass cancellations blindsided an industry known for its stability.

Landlords who had been expecting government agencies to remain tenants, for several more years in some cases under their existing leases, were stunned. Some agencies learned from building managers, not their federal partners, that their leases were being canceled, according to real estate managers.

Becker, whose firm is tracking the DOGE lease cancellations, and other observers said they expect some agencies will be unable to move their personnel and property out of their spaces within such tight timelines. That may force some agencies to pay additional rent during what’s known as a holdover period, undermining DOGE’s stated goal of saving taxpayer money.

The Building Owners and Managers Association, which represents the commercial real estate industry, told landlords in a recent advocacy alert to be prepared to seek payment from any federal government tenants who stay beyond their leases.

Many affected agencies aren’t speaking up

Asked about plans for buildings with leases that will soon expire, the IRS did not respond. A Social Security Administration spokesperson downplayed the impact of its offices losing leases, saying many were “small remote hearing sites,” did not serve the public, were already being consolidated elsewhere or planned for closure.

Several other agencies provided little clarity — saying they were working with GSA to consider their options, in statements that were nearly identical in some cases.

But a spokesperson for the Railroad Retirement Board expressed concern over the upcoming lease cancellations of its offices in Joliet, Illinois, and eight other states, saying it was working to “maintain a public-facing office presence for the local railroad community.”

Government Accountability Office official David Marroni told a congressional hearing last week that the push to unload unnecessary federal real estate was “long overdue,” saying agencies have for too long held on to unnecessary space. But he warned the downsizing must be deliberate and carefully planned to “generate substantial savings and mitigate the risk of mistakes and unexpected mission impacts.”

That process had already started before Musk’s team arrived, with the federal government’s real estate portfolio steadily declining over the last decade. Indeed, critics of DOGE say if it were truly interested in cost-cutting it could learn from GSA, whose mission even before Trump took office was to deliver “effective and efficient” services to the American public.

A law signed by former President Joe Biden before he left office in January directed agencies to measure the true occupancy rates of leased spaces by this summer. Those that did not meet a target of 60% use rate over time would be directed to dispose of their excess space.

”There is a logical and orderly way to do this,” Rep. Greg Stanton, an Arizona Democrat, said at last week’s hearing. Instead, he said, DOGE is pursuing a reckless approach that threatens to harm the delivery of public services.

Industry observers cautioned that each situation is different, and it will take months or years to understand the full impact of the lease cancellations.

“It really depends on the terms. But it is a shock, there is no question, that all of a sudden, boom, in six weeks all these things have happened,” said J. Reid Cummings, a professor of finance and real estate at the University of South Alabama. “It’s like a blitzkrieg.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

The United States is suddenly looking less bubbly for European wines.

President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened a 200% tariff on European wine, Champagne and spirits if the European Union goes forward with a planned 50% tariff on American whiskey. Wine sellers and importers said a tariff of that size would essentially shut down the European wine business in the U.S.

“I don’t think customers are prepared to pay two to three times more for their favorite wine or Champagne,” Ronnie Sanders, the CEO of Vine Street Imports in Mt. Laurel Township, New Jersey, said.

Jeff Zacharia, president of fine wine retailer Zachys in Port Chester, New York, said 80% of the wine he sells is from Europe. Importers depend on European wines for a big part of their distribution system, he said, and there’s not enough U.S. wine to make up for that.

“This is just going to have a major negative impact on the whole U.S. wine industry in all aspects of it, including U.S. wineries,” he said.

Zacharia said there are so many unknowns right now he’s stopped buying European wine until the picture becomes clearer.

“It’s very hard to make preparations when as a business you don’t have a clear path forward,” he said. “Our preparations would be very different if it’s 200% compared to 100% compared to 10%.”

Wine and spirits from the 27-nation European Union made up 17% of the total consumed in the U.S. in 2023, according to IWSR, a global data and insight provider specializing in alcohol. Of that 17%, Italy accounted for 7% — mostly from wine – and French wine, cognac and vodka accounted for 5%.

Overall, the U.S. imports much more alcohol than it exports. The $26.6 billion worth of foreign-produced alcoholic beverages that entered the country in 2022 accounted for 14% percent of all U.S. agricultural imports, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The U.S. exported $3.9 billion worth of beer, wine and distilled spirits that year.

Marten Lodewijks, president of IWSR U.S., said a 200% tariff would not be unprecedented but import duties of that size tend to be more targeted.

In 2020, China imposed tariffs as high as 218% on Australian wine, which caused exports to plunge by 90%, Lodewijks said. China lifted the tariffs last year, but by then Australia’s wine industry had taken a big hit. Australia’s wine trade to China was worth 1.1 billion Australian dollars ($710 million) annually before the tariffs were put in place.

Europe’s tax on American whiskey, which was unveiled in response to the Trump administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs, is expected to go into effect on April 1. Trump responded Thursday in a social media post.

“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 wrote. “This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”

Trump was incorrect about the Champagne business. Champagne is a legally protected wine that can only come from France’s Champagne region. But U.S. winemakers — including Trump Winery, a Virginia winery owned by the president’s son Eric Trump — do make sparkling wine.

Reaction from across the Atlantic was swift Thursday.

“We must stop a dangerous escalation that is leading to a global trade war where the first victims will be U.S. citizens who will pay more for products, and with them, farmers,’’ Ettore Prandini, president of Italy’s Coldiretti agriculture lobby, said.

Italian wine exports to the U.S. – led by prosecco — have tripled in value over the last 20 years and reached 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) last year. In France, the U.S. market for wines and spirits is worth 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) annually.

Gabriel Picard, who heads the French Federation of Exporters of Wines and Spirits, said 200% tariffs would be “a hammer blow” for France’s alcohol export industry, impacting hundreds of thousands of people.

“Not a single bottle will continue to be expedited if 200% tariffs are applied to our products. All exports to the United States will come to a total, total, halt,” Picard said in an interview with The Associated Press.

French transporter Grain de Sail, which uses sail power to ship wines and other goods across the Atlantic, said Thursday that some winemakers had already cancelled planned shipments of wine to the U.S. because they were anticipating tariffs even before Trump’s announcement.

“It has more or less frozen exports. There’s no point even hoping to send wine to the United States under these conditions,” said Jacques Barreau, the firm’s co-founder.

Some U.S. wine stores saw an opportunity Thursday. In Washington, the wine bar Cork announced a tariff sale, encouraging regulars to come stock up on their favorite wines while they’re still affordable.

Others wondered aloud whether Trump would really go through with a 200% tariff.

“It changes by the hour now, right?” Mark O’Callaghan, the founder of Exit 9 Wine & Liquor Warehouse in Clifton Park, New York, said. European wines make up around 35% of sales at his store, he said.

Others seemed to want to stay out of the fray. Total Wine, which operates 279 stores in 29 U.S. states, didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday. Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, one of the country’s largest alcohol distributors, also didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Wayan Vota knew something was wrong. 

A 20-year veteran of the international aid sector, Vota was long accustomed to industry changes following the inauguration of a new president—there is always a reset period during which agencies and contractors shift to align with the incoming administration’s priorities. But this time was different. 

Newly-inaugurated President Trump signed an executive order in mid January halting all foreign aid programs through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Vota anticipated a big shakeup at his firm, Humentum, which was predominantly funded by federal grants, and estimated that it would lead to layoffs for around 80% of the company. But Jan. 31 is when he found out he would also be included in those cuts, losing his job along with most of his colleagues.  

“I cried in my daughter’s arms,” he tells Fortune. “All of my peers, everybody who I would think of talking to, were also unemployed.” 

Vota is just one of thousands of federal workers and contractors who lost their jobs this year due to the Trump administration’s funding freezes, unprecedented resignation offers, and outright layoffs. Approximately 75,000 workers accepted the administration’s deferred resignation offer, and many more have been affected in other ways, with the promise of more pain to come. There is no official count for the total number of federal workers and contractors who have been laid off, but 62,530 government positions have been cut so far this year, according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray, & Christmas. Some areas have been more affected than others, and international aid has been particularly hard hit. 

After spending 24 hours cycling through various stages of grief following his layoff, Vota decided to take action. “I woke up and said: ‘Okay, I am not going to sit here and be a crying, blubbering mess. I’m going to get up and do something about it.’” 

On Feb. 1, he started a Substack called “Career Pivot,” with the aim of creating a community for laid off aid workers and helping them find new roles outside of the sector. He now has more than 9,000 subscribers, whose interests and specialities run the gamut from AI to health care and data analysis. Vota says that a large percentage are mid-to senior level staff who have spent the majority of their professional lives in the international development sector.

“There are people that spent a decade or 20 years within USAID, or got a master’s degree in International Development, joined the Peace Corps, then joined USAID, and just never worked anywhere else,” he says. 

‘Every single subscriber is somebody in pain’

Career Pivot is a combination of blog posts, FAQs, success stories, job listings, mental health resources, discussion boards, and networking events. 

It provides information and guidance to former federal employees and contractors searching for work, with an emphasis on highlighting expertise that could be valuable in another field, becoming marketable in the private sector, and sharing knowledge with others. “A huge part of Career Pivot is helping people translate their skills into terms the private sector understands,” Vota says. 

Articles on the site have headlines like “10 Ways to Rethink Your USAID Job Titles: How to translate your vast development experience into corporate-friendly terms,” “Resistance is NOT futile,” and “What are your health insurance options now?” 

Alex Collins, a public health social worker who specializes in maternal and child health, worked with Vota many years ago at a nonprofit. When she lost her job last month, she signed up for Career Pivot as soon as it went live. She says the site reinforced “how incredibly valuable not just our immediate networks of people are, but the networks that each of those people bring—a second tier of contacts.”

While the website was initially intended for international development workers, Vota says his subscriber base has grown to include impacted workers at other agencies, like the Department of Veterans affairs, and the Department of Education. 

Vota has a team of eight volunteers who assist him with the site, and offers both free and paid subscriptions. The latter cost $20 a month or $100 annually, and include more curated and personalized content, like “AMA” Zoom calls with recruiters where people can ask specific questions related to their job search. Vota says he’s using the money he makes to reinvest in the business. 

“My wife is very disappointed that at this point I’m a startup. All the money I’m making is going right back into services and processes and content for people,” he says. 

Finding community

Career Pivot certainly offers practical tools for job seekers, but many workers say the best thing they get out of it is a sense that they’re not alone.  

Laura Wigglesworth worked as a global health and development recruiter in the international development sector for 25 years, and lost her job as a result of the funding freeze. She was an early subscriber and has been participating in Vota’s workshops, learning things like how to optimize her resume with AI. Because of her professional experience, she’s also helping others navigate the job search process. 

“Job hunting is daunting and scary and lonely, and it can be very depressing,” she says. “Especially if you don’t have a support community of people going through what you’re going through.” 

That feeling is echoed by Joel Levesque, who lost his job as a federal contractor earlier this year when USAID funding dried up. He was working at government consulting firm Millennium Partners Consulting as an activity manager, and had four years left on his contract when he was fired on Feb. 24. Levesque launched his own Substack in February, where he provides people with guidance on how to leverage AI in the job search process. He now also works with Vota and Career Pivot via guest posts and AMAs. While he appreciates the comprehensive information site provides, he says it was not the main reason he subscribed. 

“What I found was that it was a community,” he says. “This was really quite a traumatic thing that happened for people actually working in the sector. I don’t think anyone was expecting this. So to be able to engage in a community where people are like me, and going through the same thing, really made me feel like I wasn’t crazy.” 

‘I can’t predict the future’

While many laid off federal workers are just beginning their job search, Vota is starting to see the results of his work. 

“I just had somebody email me today saying, ‘I’ve unsubscribed because I have a job.’ Oh, that was the most beautiful email ever! It made my entire day,” he says. His goal is for the average Career Pivot subscription to last three to six months, maximum. “I don’t want to have multi-year members. That would be a mark of failure, not a mark of success.” 

Many former international aid workers, including Vota, still hold out hope for the future of the sector, although they know it will look different. “USAID, as the agency we knew on January 20, will not exist in the future. Foreign assistance, which is the larger concept of helping other countries, will continue,” he says.

 How, exactly? He’s not entirely sure. it could be years before funding cuts are reversed. That may also depend on the outcome of the 2026 and 2028 elections. But Vota doesn’t have time to hold his breath. 

“I can’t predict the future, but I have the strong feeling that the majority of us have to find a new career just to stay alive.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com