Original Publish Date » April 14 , 2025
Last Updated » 6 days

Trump’s Worldwide Tariff War

The US dollar keeps falling as loses it’s ‘Safe Haven’ status

  • The U.S. dollar extended its slide against other major currencies on Monday, the latest sign that investors may be starting to shun what has long been the safest haven in global financial markets. An index that tracks the dollar against a basket of major trading partners fell for a fifth straight day, even as U.S. stocks and bonds rallied. The dollar has fallen by roughly 8 percent this year, trading near a three-year low. (NYT)

Trump’s Trade War Handed China a Strategic Advantage

  • Trump is showing that he is willing to violate long-standing norms and strike at the core of other countries’ prosperity—and that nothing in the American system will stop a president hell-bent on punishing his own country’s allies for the sake of domestic politics.
  • This won’t just drive traditional allies away from the US; it will also likely push them toward closer economic relations with the world’s other superpower. China offers access to raw-earth minerals and deep, well-functioning supply chains. Chinese leaders can present themselves, unlike their mercurial American counterparts, as reliable and steady economic partners. (The Atlantic)

The US wants its allies – the same ones he’s alienated – to present a joint front against China.

  • The problem is, many European and Asian partners aren’t sure to what extent they are still allied with Washington. Trump’s initial “Liberation Day” order, after all, slapped them with sky-high tariffs that made no distinction between long-term adversaries and faithful allies.  The shock from this attack, partially reversed only as a result of a U.S. market rout, with additional exceptions quietly adopted on Friday, has added to months of concerns about how much Trump’s America can be relied upon in an increasingly brutal world. That is especially so now that Trump has linked trade concessions to security cooperation. (WSJ)

China and Vietnam signed dozens of cooperation deals 

  • Vietnam’s largest trading partner and a key source of materials and equipment for its manufacturing industry, faces the threat of 145% tariffs being put on its exports to the U.S., while Vietnam is negotiating a reduction of its own threatened U.S. tariffs of 46%. (Reuters)

Trump threatens new tariffs on smartphones days after exempting them (BBC)

The Ugly

The White House has proposed gutting the US State Department’s budget by almost 50%, closing a number of overseas diplomatic missions, slashing the number of diplomatic staff, and eliminating funding for nearly all international organizations, including the United Nations, many of its agencies and for NATO headquarters, officials said.

  • The proposal, which was presented to the State Department last week and is still in a highly preliminary phase, is not expected to pass muster with either the department’s leadership or Congress, which will ultimately be asked to vote on the entire federal budget in the coming months. (Globe and Mail)

Trump again threatens to send Americans to a notorious prison in El Salvador

  • Suggested President Nayib Bukele to “build about five more places” – Americans are next – Foreign gulags for US citizens
  • Sending American prisoners to foreign jails would violate the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which bars “cruel and unusual” punishment” (Axios / Timothy Snyder / Salon)

Trump blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Politico)

The Kleptocracy Presidency

  • As the stock markets crashed on Friday, April 4, Donald Trump left Washington, D.C. He did not go to New York to consult with Wall Street. He did not go to Dover, Delaware, to receive the bodies of four American servicemen, killed in an accident while serving in Lithuania. Instead, he went to Florida, where he visited his Doral golf resort, which was hosting the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament, and stayed at his Mar-a-Lago club, where many tournament fans and sponsors were staying too. His private businesses took precedence over the business of the nation. (The Atlantic)

Trump demanded that the FCC revoke CBS’s license and fine the network after 60 Minutes aired two segments criticizing him (AP)