Original Publish Date » April 13 , 2025
Last Updated » 1 week

Trumps Worldwide Tariff War

There’s No Coming Back From Trump’s Tariff Disaster

  • Whoever is elected the 48th president won’t be able to easily rebuild what Trump is busy destroying. Countries can and will move on without the United States. Their firms will establish new supply chains and pursue other markets. Even if the U.S. were the ultra-dominant trading partner it used to be, the credibility of the nation’s promises, its treaties, its agreements, and even its basic rationality has evaporated in just weeks. (The Atlantic)

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio is worried about ‘something worse than recession’

  • Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, tells Meet the Press that Trump’s economic agenda could lead to a “breaking down of the monetary order” as the president ramps up tariffs on China. (Meet The Press)

China has suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, threatening to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. (NYT)

Apple Inc. has managed to dodge its biggest crisis since the pandemic — for the moment, at least.

  • Before the latest exemption, the iPhone maker had a plan: adjust its supply chain to make more U.S.-bound iPhones in India, which would have been subject to far lower levies. That, Apple executives believed, would be a near-term solution to avoid the eye-watering China tariff and stave off hefty price hikes. Given that the iPhone facilities in India are on pace to produce more than 30 million iPhones per year, manufacturing from that country alone could have fulfilled a fair chunk of American demand. Apple, these days, sells about 220 million to 230 million iPhones annually, with about a third of those going to the US. (Bloomberg)

The number of European visitors to the US has dropped notably in March

  • UK visitors were down 14%. Ireland saw a staggering 27% drop. Denmark fell a whopping 34%. German visitors plummeted 28%. Spain and Norway both saw a 25% decline, and Swiss tourists dropped by 26%. (Irish Times)

The Ugly Americans

An internal State Department memo, prepared days before Rumeysa Ozturk was arrested by ICE agents, states Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not have sufficient grounds for revoking her visa (WaPo)

The US has deported another 10 people that it ‘alleges’ are gang members to El Salvador, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday

  • The alliance between Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele “has become an example for security and prosperity in our hemisphere,” Rubio added. (Globe and Mail)

The Trump administration confirmed Saturday that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man illegally deported to El Salvador, is alive but confined in a notorious anti-terrorism prison under the control of the Salvadoran government.

  • The US government continued to refuse to provide any details about whether it has taken any steps to return him to the US (Politico / NYT)

State Department wants staff to report instances of alleged anti-Christian bias during Biden’s term

  • As the Christian world commemorates Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday, the State Department has issued an appeal for its employees to report instances of alleged anti-Christian bias (AP)

Internal Conflict

Arsonist sets Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence on fire while family sleeps, Harrisburg man to be charged with attempted murder

  • State police banged on the bedroom doors of Shapiro and his family around 2 am to evacuate them as local firefighters extinguished the blaze. No one was injured
  • Shapiro is a Democrat seen as a potential candidate for his party’s presidential nomination in 2028 (Reuters / BBC / NBC)

US defence department slashes research on emerging threats

  • Terminated projects include studies on the implications of artificial intelligence in combat and how extremism spreads online (Nature)