NY Times: For U.S. and China, a Risky Game of Chicken With No Off-Ramp in Sight
Neither side wants to look weak by backing down on tariffs. But if their trade relationship collapses, the global consequences could be profound.
A doubling of American tariffs on Chinese goods. Nationalist Chinese bloggers comparing President Trump’s levies to a declaration of war. China’s Foreign Ministry vowing that Beijing will “fight to the end.”
For years, the world’s two biggest powers have flirted with the idea of an economic decoupling as tensions between them have risen. The acceleration this week, in both actions and words, of their trade relationship’s deterioration has made the prospect of such a divorce seem closer than ever.
(NY Times more…)
WSJ: Trump Announces 90-Day Pause on Some Tariffs, but China Tariffs Rise Again
“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social. “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”
Trump added that he has authorized a “90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately.” It wasn’t immediately clear whether Trump’s 10% baseline tariff was on a pause, or if his higher reciprocal rates were on a pause.
Bulwark: Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200, Do Go Out of Business
A close-up look at the stupidity of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
DONALD TRUMP’S TARIFFS are so punishing that even the houses in Monopoly are going to get more expensive.
And I do mean that literally.
While the tariffs will have profound impacts on big-ticket items like cars and everyday purchases like groceries, they also will slam the retail sector. And that includes items like board games, which are designed and sold here in America—but are, in almost every case, manufactured overseas.
Games typically have a handful of components, mostly made from paper (cards, boards) and plastic (pieces, tokens, dice). When and if the tariffs kick in on Wednesday, those components will get a lot more expensive, putting new pressure on the companies that manufacture them to raise their prices or suffer losses.
(Bulwark more…)
Tangle: Liberation Day in America?
Daily: Tariffs Are Causing The Trump White House To Implode
The Musk/Navarro Feud Is A Symptom Of Trump’s White House Implosion
Peter Navarro is the brains behind Trump’s tariff plan. Elon Musk’s Tesla stock is collapsing under the panic caused by tariffs on Wall Street.
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – April 8, 2025
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Elon Musk is one of the people Trump is ignoring to side with Peter Navarro, his senior counselor for trade and manufacturing. Navarro went to prison for refusing to answer a congressional subpoena for information regarding Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Since Musk poured $290 million into getting Trump elected in 2024 and then burst into the news with his “Department of Government Efficiency,” he has seemed to be in control of the administration. But he has stolen the limelight from Trump, and it appears Trump’s patience with him might be wearing thin.
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(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
FPWellman: Trump Tariffs are nuking Main Street
The price of Trump’s tariffs will hit small businesses immediately and many won’t survive for even a few weeks
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Gil Duran: Trump’s Fake Emergency Over Trade Deficit Exposed
Trump’s trade war is based on a fake economic emergency, distorting facts to justify tariffs, gain power, and threaten U.S. stability.
(Gil Duran more…)
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Jennifer Rubin: It’s Republicans’ Fault
MAGA Republicans own the tariff and recession
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Bulwark: Republicans Are Obsessed with a Censorship Lie
They’re even eager to namedrop Goebbels—but they blithely ignore the urgent First Amendment threats posed by Trump.
(Bulwark more…)
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AP: Justice Department suggests US agencies are free to disregard judge’s order in law firm dispute
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Bulwark: It Takes Guts to Quit on Principle
In praise of those who stood up to the Trump administration.
- Danielle Sassoon, Hagan Scotten, et al., U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York
- Ryan Crosswell, Department of Justice
- Denise Cheung, Department of Justice
- Thomas Corry, Department of Health and Human Services
- Jim Jones, Food and Drug Administration
- Dr. Peter Marks, Food and Drug Administration
- Nathaniel Brought, National Institutes of Health
- Michelle King, Social Security Administration
- Steven Reilly, General Services Administration
- David Lebryk, U.S. Treasury Department
- Melanie Krause, Internal Revenue Service
- James Dennehy, Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Elizabeth “Liz” Oyer, Department of Justice
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AP: Judge tells government to provide evidence, or case against Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil is over
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Mindy Belz: Booting more legal immigrants
Rubio goes after South Sudanese visa holders, Ukrainians get a false warning, all ahead of a sweep of protected status immigrants lawfully in the U.S.
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Lisa Needham: Trump tries to restore a grim era for American workers
Make Black Lung Great Again.
(Lisa Needham more…)
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Daily Beast: Hegseth Deletes Key Admission From Statement on Panama Canal
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Panama President José Raúl Mulino and Hegseth released a joint statement following their talks, the Spanish version of which included the line: “Secretary Hegseth recognized the leadership and inalienable sovereignty of Panama over the Panama Canal and its adjacent areas.”
(Daily Beast more…)
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Law Dork: ACLU brings class habeas action in N.Y. challenging Trump’s use of wartime powers for deportations
(Law Dork more…)
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NY Times: Trump Wants an Iran Nuclear Deal, but It Must Be Better Than Obama’s
Nuclear talks between the United States and Iran are set for Saturday. President Trump has set a high bar for success.
(NY Times more…)
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Register: DOGE dilettantes ‘didn’t test’ Social Security fraud detection tool at appropriate scale
The United States Social Security Administration’s internet portal has frequently gone offline in recent weeks, and presented inaccurate or incomplete information to users, perhaps because of changes steered by Elon Musk’s cost-trimming DOGE unit.
(Register more…)
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Bulwark: Concentration Camps and the Deportation of American Citizens
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Jay Kuo: The Far Right Is Revolting
Not just in a general sense, but specifically over the Senate budget bill.
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Hardliners claim the Senate bill—which is an absolutely monstrous transfer of wealth to the uber-rich that adds crushing amounts to our national debt—simply doesn’t slash costs enough. Indeed, while the House version calls for $1.5 trillion in cuts—including, by inescapable math, massive cuts to Medicaid—the Senate’s version has just $4 billion in spending cuts, or basically nothing in their eyes.If you’re wondering why there’s a huge spending gap between the plans, you’re not crazy. What’s actually crazy is that the GOP leadership allowed these two vastly different plans to develop on separate tracks, knowing that eventually they would have to bridge the big budgetary gap. Their “plan” appears to have been to keep kicking the can down the calendar, hoping opponents would blink in the face of threats from the White House to fall in line or else.
The problem is, the honeymoon from Trump’s election is over; the White House is now under siege for its disastrous tariff policies; Trump’s favorables are plummeting; and the Freedom Caucus members appear to be ready to stand their ground, as they did many times last year.
(Jay Kuo more…)
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Bulwark: The Secret Weakness of Trump’s Deportations
Pressure can work to bring people home.
IN SPITE OF THE DELUGE OF BAD NEWS about immigration, I was reminded this week that, as a retired farm laborer once put it to legendary Chicago journalist and radioman Studs Terkel, “hope dies last.” Specifically: No matter how far-reaching and unstoppable President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown seems, his administration is still vulnerable to pressure campaigns to release sympathetic immigrants.
(Bulwark more…)
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Your Local Epidemiologist: Hope, dementia, measles, whooping cough, and RFK coming after fluoride
(Your Local Epidemiologist more…)
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Bill McKibben: What Is An Emergency?
(Bill McKibben more…)
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Daily Beast: Why Trump Erasing Harriet Tubman Is Worse Than You Think
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Pitney told the Daily Beast that the way Trump and Elon Musk are going about their remake of government reminds him of the line in All the President’s Men explaining the burgeoning Watergate scandal: “Forget the myths the media’s created about the White House. The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.”That would be the most benign explanation for an administration whose train is off the tracks and losing passengers left, right and center.
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Borowitz: Bondi Fires DOJ Employee After Finding Copy of Constitution on his Desk
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Bondi took the opportunity to remind all DOJ staffers that the U.S. Constitution is on the Republican Party’s banned reading list.
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Decoding Fox News: Trump’s Tariff Fever Dreams and Robots! Robots! Robots!
A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 4/6/25