Bulwark: The Big Tariff Lie
Trump’s trade-war madness is his election madness all over again
Politifact: Flip flop: Trump said he wasn’t looking at pausing tariffs. Two days later, he did.
Sun: America’s Suez Moment?
President Trump’s retreat on tariffs calls to mind Churchill’s jibe in 1956 after Britain’s Suez debacle: “I would never have dared; and if I had dared, I would certainly never have dared stop.” That foreign policy fiasco signaled the end of British pretensions to be a global power.
Bulwark: The Art of the Blink
Donald Trump has taken the pillow partially off the face of the market. But his maximum-chaos economic approach will continue to do real damage.
News Nation: Countries will follow Trump imposing tariffs on China: Gordon Chang
- China analyst predicts global tariff increases against Chinese products
- Xi unlikely to make quick deal despite economic incentives, Gordon Chang says
- Chang: Moving factories to Central America could reduce migration to US
Tangle: Trump reverses, pauses tariffs.
16 thoughts on the 90-day pause on Trump’s tariffs.
Dan Pfeiffer: Why Trump Surrendered So Quickly on His Tariff Plan
Some of Trump’s most influential online fans are none too happy about the tariffs
Jennifer Rubin: When Autocrats Screw Up
Acting president Elon Musk declared that tariff cheerleader Peter Navarro “is truly a moron.” What does that imply about President In Name Only (PINO) Donald Trump, who has swallowed Navarro’s advice hook, line, and sinker? (One wonders if Trump will notice that the man whom he allowed to run the federal government thinks he—or at least his chosen policy course—is idiotic.)
And that was before Trump threw the tariff train into reverse, announcing he was “pausing” tariffs on many countries but imposing a 125 percent tax (tariff) on goods from China. A 10 percent across-the-board tariff nevertheless would remain on other countries. Got that? (He doesn’t, either.) The sheer chaos and confusion he has caused is hard to describe. Unnerved investors, employers, and consumers may well hunker down, avoiding all big decisions, which could—in and of itself—throw us into a recession.
(Jennifer Rubin more…)
-
Steven Sinofsky: When It Comes to Tariffs, China is Different
Much has been made of tariffs, but few have talked about the myriad of soft costs when it comes to international trade. Sharing my personal experience of Microsoft and the China market.
(Steven Sinofsky more…)SemiAnalysis: Tariff Armageddon? | GPU Loopholes, Mexico Supply Chain Shift, Wafer Fab Equipment Vulnerabilities, Optical Module Pricing Surge, Datacenter Equipment
Apple Insider: Trump blinks: Floats suggestion that Apple might get a tariff exemption
In a press gaggle, President Donald Trump said that some companies that have been hit the hardest by the blockbuster tariffs applied by the administration may get some relief — and nobody has been or will be hit harder than Apple.
Wired: Trump’s Trade War Is Strengthening China’s Soft Power
President Trump’s tariffs are boosting China’s global image even as they threaten to decimate its economy.
-
Daily: Adam Schiff Is Investigating Trump For Insider Trading
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is starting to investigate the Trump White House for stock market manipulation and insider trading.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has done more than his share of investigating Trump. While he was chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Schiff led the first Trump impeachment investigation and prosecution. Sen. Schiff also served on the select committee that investigated the 1/6 attack on the Capitol.When Adam Schiff sounds the alarm about potential Trump crimes, people should pay attention.
(Daily more…)Daily: AOC Suspects Some House Members May Have Been Insider Trading On Trump’s Tariff Announcement
-
Timothy Snyder: Trump’s Psychological Vulnerability
Trump has an obvious weakness that makes America weak. He places the American economy at risk for the sake of a personal foible, a visible vulnerability.
All his adult life, Trump has been ripping people off. That is his modus operandi. Rather than a conscience, he has the habit of displacement. It is not that he is ripping people off. Everyone else is ripping him off.
(Timothy Snyder more…)
-
WSJ: MAHA Turns on RFK Jr. Over Measles Vaccine Stance
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s response to the outbreak has drawn criticism from both serious scientists and his most loyal supporters
Reuters: Measles fight stalls as parents confused by Kennedy’s remarks
-
Register: Wyden blocks Trump’s CISA boss nominee, blames cyber agency for ‘actively hiding info’ about telecom insecurity
It worked for in 2018 with Chris Krebs. Will it work again?
Reuters: Cybersecurity industry falls silent as Trump turns ire on SentinelOne
-
ArsTechnica: Trump administration’s attack on university research accelerates
With billions in grants put on hold, targeted universities will see research crippled.
-
NY Times: Trump Signs Orders Punishing Those Who Opposed His 2020 Election Lies
Independent: Trump targets Dominion lawyers on same day judge finds Newsmax defamed voting software company
The president targeted two officials from his first administration and an elite law firm as part of his campaign for retribution.
Liz Dye: Mike Lindell’s Lawyer Tells Judge Howell Jesus Is Very Disappointed In Her
-
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – April 9, 2025 (Wednesday)
…
Southern politicians had led their poorer neighbors to war to advance the idea that some people were better than others and had the right—and the duty—to rule. The Founders of the United States had made a terrible mistake when they declared, “All men are created equal,” southern leaders said. In place of that “fundamentally wrong” idea, they proposed “the great truth” that white men were a “superior race.” And within that superior race, some men were better than others.
…
So confident was General Grant in the justice of his people’s cause that he asked only that Lee and his men give their word that they would never again fight against the United States and that they turn over their military arms and artillery. The men could keep their sidearms and their horses because Grant wanted them “to be able to put in a crop to carry themselves and their families through the next winter.”Their victory on the battlefields made northerners think they had made sure that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
But their conviction that generosity would bring white southerners around to accepting the equality promised in the Declaration of Independence backfired. After Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee took over the presidency and worked hard to restore white supremacy without the old legal structure of enslavement, while white settlers in the West brought their hierarchical ideas with them and imposed them on Indigenous Americans, on Mexicans and Mexican Americans, and on Asians and Pacific Islanders.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
-
Intercept: Trump Appears to Be Targeting Muslim and “Non-White” Students for Deportation
Students from Muslim-majority countries as well as Asia and Africa are having their visas revoked with little or no explanation.
(Intercept more…)NY Times: Pressuring Migrants to ‘Self-Deport,’ White House Moves to Cancel Social Security Numbers
By placing migrants in Social Security’s “death master file,” the Trump administration is seeking to cut off their access to credit cards, bank accounts and other financial services.
-
Liz Dye: John Roberts will save the judiciary if he has to burn it down
Appeasement never works. The chief justice is trying it anyway.
(Liz Dye more…)Law and Chaos: SCOTUS: Rendition Is Fine, Actually
-
Popular Information: UPDATE: After backlash, Social Security scraps plan to restrict phone service
(Popular Information more…)
