Original Publish Date » April 8 , 2025
Last Updated » 2 weeks

Migrants who were temporarily allowed to live in the US by using an online appointment app have been told to leave the country “immediately.” It was unclear how many beneficiaries would be affected, but more than 900,000 people were allowed in the country using the CBP One app since January 2023. (AP)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show and said the quiet part out loud: “The president is reordering trade… we are shedding excess labor in the federal government… that will give us the labor we need for the new manufacturing.” (Washington Monthly)

Trump wants a record $1 trillion defence budget for fiscal year 2026. The current defence budget is approximately $892 billion. (Politico)

Trump’s 104% import taxes on China to take effect at midnight (Reuters)

China vows to ‘fight to the end’ against latest Trump tariffs (The Guardian / Reuters / RTÉ / Le Monde / Video » Reuters)

  • China blasts JD Vance over “Chinese peasants” comments, vows to fight against tariffs (Global News)

Even Musk is not always wrong » Elon Musk Calls Peter Navarro a ‘Moron’ (NYT / NBC)

Pentagon considering proposal to cut thousands of troops from Europe (NBC)

  • Senior US Defense Department officials are considering a proposal to withdraw as many as 10,000 troops from Eastern Europe
  • Troop reductions would alarm NATO allies and another victory over the US for Russian President Vladimir Putin

Trump administration weighs drone strikes on Mexican cartels (NBC)

Trump plans military parade for his birthday – June 14th – in Washington, DC (Tanks, jets, choppers, troops – in the style of China, South Korea, and perhaps most importantly, Russia) (The Daily Beast / Politico)

Trump has no idea what he has unleashed
  • This teachable moment is needlessly belated. Trump’s sane-washers have forfeited their credibility. There is no school of foreign policy realism, or trade mercantilism, that could explain Trump’s actions. If you want to forecast the world, study his psychology. While Trump is in charge, stay short on America. (FT)

US Supreme Court rules Trump administration can use 18th century law to deport migrants (AP)

Trump has asked why Howard Lutnick is at the White House so often, and he has grown frustrated with his commerce secretary (WSJ)

Cracks appear among Trump’s cheerleaders amid market turmoil

  • As the world reels from Trump’s trade war, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is alerting shareholders that the tariffs will “slow down growth.” Podcaster Ben Shapiro is warning that the president’s vision of international trade is “mistaken.” And Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is advising that the tariff strategy carries “enormous risk.” Trump’s tariffs are increasingly alienating some of the corporate titans, influencers and even Republican lawmakers who served as his boosters, as the president plows ahead with a trade strategy that has prompted wild swings in the markets. The criticism is an early sign that the economic turmoil caused by his trade war could leave lasting political scars for Trump, who doubled down on the strategy by threatening new tariffs against China on Monday morning. (WaPo)

Brent Neiman, The Trump White House Cited My Research to Justify Tariffs. It Got It All Wrong. (NYTimes Op Ed)

  • “I disagree fundamentally with the government’s trade policy and approach,” Neiman wrote. “Even taking it at face value, our findings suggest the calculated tariffs should be dramatically smaller — perhaps one-fourth as large.”