The Good
Trump is a triple loser in Canada’s election (Ed Kilgore, NY Magazine)
So Trump has produced a revived government in Ottawa with a distinct mandate to fight him tooth and nail. But that’s not the only way he was a loser on Monday. It’s not at all unusual for politicians to rally domestic support by picking a fight with other countries; it’s a jingoistic political tale as old as time. In this case, there is zero evidence (outside the hardest core of MAGA loyalists) that Americans have rallied to Trump’s Canada-bashing cause. Au contraire, as they might say in Quebec. An April 22 Washington Post–ABC–Ipsos poll showed Americans opposing a takeover of Canada by an astounding 86 percent to 13 percent. Even Republicans opposed it, 71 percent to 27 percent. Yes, many of them viewed this “idea” as a classic example of Trump just trolling the world. But if that’s what it was (and he has denied he’s trolling at all), he’s taken the joke far beyond the point where anyone in Canada is laughing, making himself a bit of a laughing stock in the process.
If that’s not enough, the president’s persistent bullying of Canada has drawn extra attention to his single most unpopular economic policy initiative: the on-again, off-again trade war that has unsettled markets everywhere and convinced price-conscious Americans that inflation is about to make a comeback.
The Ugly
Most Americans see Trump as “dangerous dictator,” poll says (Axios)
52% agreed with the statement that Trump “is a dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy,”
“Most Americans view Trump in dictatorial terms, and I think most Americans are concerned that American democracy is on the line,” PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman tells Axios.
- “It’s only been 100 days into the Trump administration, yet we’ve really seen a pushback among most Americans to the Trump agenda.”
Trump is the Godfather in Reverse » He’s making offers countries can’t accept (Paul Krugman)
The Canadian election demonstrates why Trumpist trade policy, and foreign policy in general, is doomed to catastrophic failure. Trump isn’t trying to drive tough substantive bargains. Mainly, he seems to want to indulge in narcissism, demanding that other nations humiliate themselves so he can put on a display of dominance. And America doesn’t have remotely enough leverage, even against Canada, to make such demands. You could say that Trump is a reverse Godfather, making offers other countries can’t accept.
Consider the state of negotiations — or, actually, non-negotiations, since talks appear to have broken down — with Japan, another country Trump appears to have thought he could bully. Japan does sell a lot to the United States and might have been willing to offer something to preserve its access to our market.
But reports indicate that Japanese representatives sent to Washington left without accomplishing anything because they found Trump’s people impossible to deal with.
The US federal minimum wage is officially a poverty wage in 2025
The federal minimum wage is officially a poverty wage in 2025
General Motors withdraws profit forecast as Trump tariffs take a toll (NYT)
General Motors is abandoning a previous forecast for solid profit growth this year as a result of the uncertainty created by President Trump’s trade policies, the automaker said on Tuesday.
Tariffs of 25% on imported vehicles and on auto parts will remain in place (NYT)
But the tariffs will be modified so that they are not “stacked” with other tariffs, for example on steel and aluminum, a White House spokesman said. Automakers will not have to pay tariffs on those metals, widely used in automobiles, on top of the tariffs on cars and parts.
US consumer confidence plummets to Covid-era low as trade war stokes anxiety (AP / CNN)
Americans’ confidence in the economy slumped for the fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as anxiety over the impact of tariffs takes a heavy toll.
The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 7.9 points in April to 86, its lowest reading since May 2020. Nearly one-third of consumers expect hiring to slow in the coming months, nearly matching the level reached in April 2009, when the economy was mired in the Great Recession.
Amazon backtracked and denied it would post tariff-related price hikes after the White House called the reported plan a “hostile and political act.” (NPR / The Hill)
Trump called Jeff Bezos following a report that Amazon would show how much Trump’s new tariffs added to product prices, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt asking: “Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?”
UPS is cutting 20,000 jobs in the US as Trump’s tariffs are reducing shipping volumes (NYT)
In its latest cuts, the company said it would shed “operational” employees, or those who sort or deliver packages.
UPS has been trying to improve its profit margins, partly by reducing costs and shedding parts of its business that don’t make money. The company has said that many of the deliveries it does for Amazon, its largest customer, are not profitable. It plans to slash in half the volume of packages it delivers for Amazon by the middle of next year.
Retailers fear toy shortages at Christmas as Trump’s tariffs freeze supply chain (NYT)
Trump’s second term will be the worst presidential term ever (The Guardian)
Trump sounds like a rapacious 19th century imperialist when he threatens to use force to take over the Panama Canal and seize control of Greenland. Then there’s his idiotic taunt that Canada should be the 51st US state. What a way to insult and infuriate the US’s best friend. And let’s not forget Trump’s astonishingly callous proposal to empty Gaza of all Palestinians and turn it into “the Riviera of the Mideast” (presumably with Trump hotels).
Many business executives who backed Trump are feeling buyers’ remorse because of his disastrous on-again, off-again, it-may-all-change-tomorrow tariff scheme. Trump and his clown car of advisers seemed to have no idea that his tariffs would send the world’s stock markets into a nervous breakdown.
Not much got done in Washington in Trump’s first 100 days (Time)
So far, Congress has only passed six bills—five of which have been signed into law—the fewest of any president in the first 100 days of an administration in the last seven decades.
At this point in his first term, Trump had already signed 30 bills into law.
Olive Branch
China calls Boeing ‘victim’ of Trump tariff policy as jets return to US (SCMP)
“China is willing to continue supporting normal commercial cooperation between companies in both countries,” said an unnamed spokesperson in an online statement on Tuesday, adding the ministry “hopes the US will listen to the voices of businesses to create a stable and predictable environment for normal trade and investment activities”.
