Original Publish Date » April 15 , 2025
Last Updated » 6 days

Trump’s Worldwide Trade War

The US officials indicated that the 20% “reciprocal” tariffs on the European Union — which have been reduced to 10% for 90 days — as well as other tariffs targeting sectors including cars and metals would not be removed outright, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. (Bloomberg)

China has ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing jets in response to the U.S. decision to impose 145% tariffs on Chinese goods, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. (Reuters)

Trump’s tariff carve-outs underscore weak US position in China trade war: ‘This is going to get really ugly’

  • The carve-outs also reveal the conundrum facing the administration: The U.S. is imposing new tariffs on Chinese goods in an attempt to move manufacturing back to the U.S., but those tariffs are particularly painful for U.S. manufacturers because they are currently so dependent on Chinese parts. So far, the U.S. has demonstrated that it is more willing to bend than China is in this burgeoning fight. (Politico)

China’s Xi Jinping makes a case for free trade as he tours Southeast Asia

  • China presenting itself as a source of “stability and certainty.” (Globe and Mail)

Trump’s trade war threatens US brands in China

  • From smartphones to fast food, major American brands are rapidly losing market share in China to domestic rivals. (WSJ)

US economy is set to lose billions as foreign tourists stay away

  • Goldman Sachs Group estimates that, in a worst-case scenario, the hit in 2025 from reduced travel and boycotts could total 0.3 per cent of gross domestic product, which would amount to almost C$125 billion (US$90 billion). (Bloomberg)

The Ugly

Trump is halfway to making America a police state

  • At around noon on 14 April, 2025, America ceased to have a law-abiding government. Some would argue that had already happened on 20 January, when Donald Trump was inaugurated. On Monday, however, Trump chose to ignore a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling to repatriate an illegally deported man. He even claimed the judges ruled in his favour. The US president’s middle finger to the court was echoed by his attorney-general, secretary of state, vice-president and El Salvador’s vigilante president Nayib Bukele. The latter is playing host to what resembles an embryonic US gulag. (Edward Luce, Financial Times)

Two Dictators Walk Into a Bar…

  • “After all these years in and around politics, I’d like to think I have a pretty strong stomach, but yesterday was sickening. Trump and Bukele were having a great time. They were relishing the fact that innocent men had been snatched from their homes in the United States and sent by our government, lawlessly and with neither evidence nor due process, to an open-ended sentence in a ghastly prison in El Salvador. They were enjoying the prospect that even more people would be sent there, including some “homegrowns” who, Trump assured Bukele, will be the next to go.
    “This was not newsreel footage of two dictators meeting somewhere far away and long ago. This was yesterday. Here in Washington, D.C. In the Oval Office.” (William Kristol, The Bulwark)

Trump’s administration is no longer even pretending to comply with the Supreme Court on the matter of a Maryland man it deported erroneously. Senator Adam Schiff » Trump is disobeying lawful court orders. His advisors and allies are cheering him on. And Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains trapped in a jail in El Salvador.

JD Vance says, “It’s not good for Europe to be the permanent security vassal of the United States.”

  • The decision to apply (and then partially rescind) hefty tariffs on European allies — combined with a barrage of harsh statements about Europe from Vance, both public ones and leaked private messages — has left many on the Continent wondering whether America can still be thought of as a friend. (UnHerd)

White House to ask Congress to rescind $1.1 billion from NPR and PBS

  • The plan is to request that Congress rescind $1.1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the taxpayer-backed company that funds public media organizations across the US (NYT)

Trump blames Ukranian President Zelenskyy for starting war after massive Russian attack

  • Trump said that you “don’t start a war against someone 20 times your size” and hope people give you missiles (BBC)