curated citations to news sources
Michael B. G. Froman: After the Trade War
Remaking Rules From the Ruins of the Rules-Based System
The global trading system as we have known it is dead. The World Trade Organization has effectively ceased to function, as it fails to negotiate, monitor, or enforce member commitments. Fundamental principles such as “most favored nation” status, or MFN, which requires WTO members to treat one another equally except when they have negotiated free-trade agreements, are being jettisoned as Washington threatens or imposes tariffs ranging from ten to more than 50 percent on dozens of countries. Both the “America first” trade strategy and China’s analogous “dual circulation” and Made in China 2025 strategies reflect a flagrant disregard for any semblance of a rules-based system and a clear preference for a power-based system to take its place. Even if pieces of the old order manage to survive, the damage is done: there is no going back.
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James Eagle: Are America’s homeowners trapped?
WSJ: Nobody’s Buying Homes, Nobody’s Switching Jobs—and America’s Mobility Is Stalling
The paralysis has left many people in houses that are too small, in jobs they don’t love or shackled with ‘golden handcuffs.’ For everyone, there are economic consequences.
BBC: The US economy is a puzzle but the pieces aren’t fitting together
WSJ: Now We Know Who’s Paying the Tariffs
Producer prices surge, and real wages still aren’t rising fast enough.
Bulwark: Trump’s Tariff Pain Is Knocking at Your Door
The stopgap measures that have so far protected consumers from feeling the effects of tariffs are nearly at an end.
TNR: Trump’s DOJ Seems Awfully Nervous About the Tariff Lawsuits
A recent filing from the president’s lawyer presents the court with faulty economic calculations, dubious legal theories, and the distinct scent of desperation.
Bulwark: Trump’s Unconstitutional Export Tax Is Probably Here to Stay
The only people who could challenge it in court probably won’t.
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Steven Beschloss: Trump’s Essential Weakness
We must hold onto our ability to recognize that Trump’s despotism is built on a throne of lies—and it will not endure
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Leah Garden: Meet the backpacker making Trump’s Arctic drilling push go viral
Bentley Hensel prepared for eight months to show people the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—and nearly drowned while doing it.
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FreePress: The Quiet Gutting of Yosemite
Overflowing trash cans, prison-quality food, and stalled conservation projects: America’s most famous national park is crumbling under Trump administration budget cuts.
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WSJ: Trump Administration Steps Back on Takeover of D.C. Police Department
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Sarah Jones: Hundreds of Alaskans Rally in Support of Ukraine in Trump-Putin Protests
Hundreds of Alaskans showed up for a pro-Ukraine rally ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting Friday, and at least 16 events are planned statewide.
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Serge Schmemann: What Was the Trump-Putin Meeting Even About?
Few East-West summit meetings in modern history have been preceded by as much speculation and uncertainty as Friday’s Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska. Few, if any, have concluded with even less clarity.What was clear, though, was that Vladimir Putin was well satisfied. …
…More likely, Mr. Trump may simply lose interest in trying to end the war. When he said he’d be calling Mr. Zelensky and the Europeans, he added, “Ultimately it’s up to them.” Again, he did not elaborate, but given Mr. Trump’s faith in his deal-making skills and his gut instincts, it sounded like he was prepared to let this one go. That would explain Mr. Putin’s cheeriness — and would be a blow to Ukraine.
(Serge Schmemann more…)American Conservative: Trump Returns From Putin Summit With No Deal
State of the Union: Putin leaves Alaska without making concessions.
WSJ: Trump Rolled Out the Red Carpet for Putin. He Got Little in Return.
Charlie Sykes: Putin’s Art of the No Deal
Trump’s Alaska humiliation
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Not surprisingly, the Russian media viewed the event as an unmitigated triumph for their mobster-in-chief, who was a pariah-no-more. The mood in Moscow was giddy with delight.Russia’s flagship Channel One morning state news bulletin on Saturday stressed the pageantry around the summit, its global profile, and the warm welcome extended to Putin, who had been ostracized by Western leaders since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“The Red carpet, handshakes and footage and photographs that are in all global publications and TV channels,” it said, saying it was the first time that Trump had met a visiting leader off their plane at the airport.
John Pavlovitz: Hey MAGA America, Trump is Putin You On
NPR: Government papers found in an Alaskan hotel reveal new details of Trump-Putin summit
Closer to the Edge: https://www.closertotheedge.net/p/a-statement-from-the-hotel-printer
The Paper Tray is Empty
At Trump’s big Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin, U.S. staff managed to leave eight pages of sensitive documents sitting in a hotel business center printer. Schedules, phone numbers, a seating chart, a menu, even a phonetic cheat sheet for saying “POO-tihn” — all abandoned like junk mail. What follows is not analysis, not policy, not diplomacy. It’s honest commentary from the perspective of the one entity that was privy to everything in advance: the Hotel Captain Cook printer.
(Closer to the Edge more…)Mary Geddry: Anchorage Idol: Trump’s Reality Show Summit
The man who once pretended to be a mogul on TV now pretends to be a peacemaker, grading himself a perfect 10 while the world gives him a 1.
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Trump Pardons Database
Project 2025 Tracker
DOGE Tracker
ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Wired: 6 Tools for Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Civil Liberties