Tag: donald trump

EU Must Buy US Energy to Get Tariff Relief: Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump said late on April 7 that the European Union would need to buy $350 billion worth of American energy to secure relief from tariffs.

Trump was responding to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said earlier on Monday during a news conference in Brussels that the EU was ready to negotiate a “zero-for-zero” tariff pact on industrial goods.

Asked by a reporter at the White House whether the offer was enough for him to back down on 20 percent duties on imports, Trump said: “No, it’s not.”

“The European Union’s been really tough over the years. We have a [trade] deficit with the European Union of $350 billion and it’s going to disappear fast,” Trump said. “And one of the ways that that can disappear easily and quickly is they’re going to have to buy our energy from us … They can buy it, we can knock off $350 billion in one week.”

On April 2, Trump announced a minimum 10 percent tariff on all trading partners, as well as higher levies on about 60 nations identified by the administration as “worst offenders” in trade imbalances with the United States. China topped the list.

The 27-nation EU bloc is currently facing 25 percent import tariffs on steel, aluminum, and cars, with tariffs of 20 percent due to kick in from April 9 for almost all other goods under Trump’s new policy of responding in kind to countries that he says impose high barriers to U.S. imports.

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Trump Administration Proposes Historic $1 Trillion Defense Budget to Bolster National Security

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have unveiled plans for a record-breaking $1 trillion defense budget.

This landmark proposal signifies the administration’s unwavering commitment to national defense and global leadership.

During a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump emphasized the necessity of this substantial investment.

Trump:
“We have great things happening with our military. We also essentially approved a budget, which is in the facility — you’ll like to hear this — of a trillion dollars. One trillion dollars. And nobody’s seen anything like it.

We have to build our military, and we’re very cost-conscious. But the military is something that we have to build, and we have to be strong because you’ve got a lot of bad forces out there now.

So, we’re going to be approving a budget — and I’m proud to say, actually, it’s the biggest one we’ve ever done for the military.”

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Old Video Of Pelosi Echoing Trump On China Tariffs Resurfaces

An old video of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urging Congress to retaliate against China’s tariffs on the United States is going viral for its uncanny resemblance to President Donald Trump’s current tariff policies.

Recorded on the House floor in June 1996, the video features Pelosi calling on her colleagues to challenge the “status quo” trade policies that had contributed to America’s growing trade deficit with China. She specifically urged lawmakers to address the disparity between American tariffs on Chinese goods and the higher tariffs imposed by China on U.S. products.

“In terms of tariffs, it’s interesting to note that the average U.S. MFN [Most Favored Nation] tariff on Chinese goods coming into the United States is two percent, whereas the average MFN tariff on U.S. goods going into China is 35 percent,” Pelosi said then.

She then asked, “Is that reciprocal?” before calling the U.S.-China trade relationship a “job loser” for America.

“In terms of jobs, this is the biggest and cruelest hoax of all. Not only do we not have market access, not only do they have prohibitive tariffs, not only are our exports not let in very specifically, but China benefits with at least, at least, 10 million jobs from U.S.-China trade,” she said.

Pelosi went on to point out how the U.S. was only getting 170,000 American jobs out of the relationship at the time.

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Here’s Schumer In 2005 Saying Big Tariffs On China Needed…

In 2005, Chuck Schumer passionately advocated for a 27.5 percent tariff on China, calling their trade policies unfair and saying it had to end.

He was saying the exact same thing Trump is saying now, but ultimately the Democrats under Obama and Biden did nothing about it.

Schumer urged that such a large tariff on Chinese goods “says to the Chinese that their unfair trade policies have got to end. The Chinese have enjoyed a huge trade surplus with the U.S. Every year it gets larger and larger.”

Schumer had joined forces with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to introduce a ‘China Free Trade Bill’

The rest of what Schumer said:

“Much of that trade surplus is because the Chinese don’t play fair. They don’t let our goods into their country. I can tell you company after company in New York who cannot sell goods in China or can only sell them under impossible conditions.”

“The Chinese make no effort to prevent the ripping off of our intellectual property. These are our crown jewels. The thinking. The great creativity. The great entrepreneurialness of the American business community is just taken, and they shrug their shoulders.”

“And worse of all, the Chinese pile on and add unfair rules that violate free trade. And at the top of that list is the fact that the Chinese peg their currency abnormally low, so their exports get a 27 precent advantage here in the U.S. and our imports get a 27 percent disadvantage when sold in China. Every tenet of free trade, if you believe in it, says they should not peg their currency.”

“What does this mean for America? It means a huge job loss. We have suffered dramatically in manufacturing jobs, service jobs, and other jobs. It means we have a huge trade deficit. It means the dollar sinks to abysmally low levels, threatening our wealth, and it creates chaos in the whole world trading system.”

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DOJ Reveals Would-Be Trump Assassin Ryan Routh Tried to Purchase a Stinger Missile from Ukrainian to Take Out Trump – Also Discussed July Assassination Attempt in PA with Operative Before His Failed Attempt in September

New court documents reveal that would-be Trump assassin attempted to purchase a Stinger Missile to take out Trump here in the US.

A Stinger Missile reportedly costs from $119,000 to S120,000.

On the black market, a Stinger Missile costs anywhere from $50,000 to $80,000.

So where did Ryan Routh get all of his funding?

The court documents reveal that Routh was communicating with someone he “believed to be a Ukraine with access to military weapons.”

It sounds like Routh was holding talks with a federal operative.

And, Routh and his associate were talking about assassinating Trump in July 2024 in Pennsylvania!

Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump in Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Crooks shot Trump in the head before snipers shot him dead.

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Futures Soar On Optimism For Tariff Deals

After three days of big losses and record-breaking volatility, equity futures are rebounding sharply following somewhat soothing comments from Treasury Secretary Bessent (although how long the relative calm lasts is anyone’s guess, given there’s little clarity about what Trump wants in exchange for cutting tariffs). As of 8:10am, S&P futures are 2.9% higher, a bounce which started around the time we informed readers that Goldman’s head of risk of risk had turned bullish yesterday afternoon; Nasdaq futures are up 2.7%, with all Mag7 names higher with Semis and Cyclicals also outperforming. European and Asian markets are also broadly higher. The VIX is down 10 vols below 40, while Chinese ADRs are mixed. Bond yields have reversed earlier losses and are up 1bp to 4.22% with the USD dropping. Todays’ macro data focus is the Small Business Optimism report which saw sentiment tumble to 97.4 from 100.7 the lowest since the Trump election (Hiring Plans also slumped; these tend to have a lagged but positive correlation to NFP).

In premarket trading, Nvidia is leading the Magnificent Seven higher (Nvidia +4%, Amazon +3.3%, Meta +3%, Tesla +3.0%, Alphabet +2.5%, Apple +1.6%, Microsoft little changed). Health insurance stocks are rallying after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized a 5.06% average increase in payments to Medicare Advantage plans from 2025 to 2026, an increase from its earlier projection (Humana +14%, Alignment Healthcare +10%, CVS +8.8%, UnitedHealth +7.2%, Centene +4.9%). Here are some other notable premarket movers:

  • Agco Corp. (AGCO) rises 2% after Citi upgraded the agricultural equipment company to buy, saying that the company is “favorably positioned given its ~65% exposure to Europe and South America, which we anticipate recovering ahead” of North America.
  • Blackstone (BX) rises 3% after the private equity firm is upgraded to market outperform from market perform at Citizens.
  • Chegg (CHGG) falls 2% as JPMorgan downgrades its rating to underweight, saying the education technology company is facing secular headwinds.
  • CME (CME) rises 2.5% and Charles Schwab (SCHW) gains 3.4% after Morgan Stanley upgrades its ratings across exchange operators and brokers in a hunt for more defensive exposure.
  • El Pollo Loco (LOCO) rises 10% after receiving an unsolicited, non-binding indication of interest from Biglari Capital Corp.
  • Eli Lilly & Co (LLY) climbs 2% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the obesity drugmaker to buy, citing a “compelling entry point into the sector’s premier topline grower” at current levels.
  • Levi Strauss (LEVI) jumps 11% after the apparel retailer maintained its full-year outlook in the face of sweeping new US tariffs that are poised to significantly raise costs for multinational apparel companies.
  • Marvell Technology (MRVL) climbs 4% after Infineon agreed to buy the chip designer’s automotive networking business for $2.5 billion. The deal makes sense given the firm’s strategic focus on artificial intelligence, analysts say.
  • Nu Holdings (NU) rises 4% after JPMorgan upgraded the bank to overweight, saying “even in our more conservative estimates we see Nu growing earnings more than 30% in next 3 years, something hard to find.”
  • Teradata Corp. (TDC) rises 4% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the database management company to overweight, saying “we acknowledge the company remains a model in transition with risk of extending sales cycles,” but at the current valuation, “we believe this is more than priced in.”

Traders are dipping back into risk assets after one of the most brutal selloffs in years, with some taking hints that President Donald Trump might be willing to ease his position on trade terms after Japan pushed ahead with talks. That sent the Nikkei 225 index to a 6% surge. Goldman traders are turning outright bullish anticipating a big bounce in stocks here, with many citing expectations that Trump will cut trade deals.

“The Trump administration is signaling his openness to trade deals,” said Elias Haddad, a strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman. “Regardless, the pervasive uncertainty created by continuously changing US tariff threats and the scope of potential retaliatory measures remain a major blow to the global economy. Bottom line: relief rallies in risk assets will likely be short-lived.”

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Former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who led 2020 election probe agrees to surrender law license

A former Wisconsin state Supreme Court justice who spread election conspiracies and led an investigation into President Donald Trump’s 2020 loss in the swing state agreed Monday to surrender his law license to settle multiple misconduct violations.

The state Office of Lawyer Regulation filed a 10-count complaint in November against Michael Gableman, accusing him of misconduct during the probe. The state Supreme Court ultimately could revoke Gableman’s law license, although the court rarely administers such a harsh punishment against wayward attorneys.

The OLR and Gableman filed a stipulation with the Supreme Court on Monday in which they agreed an appropriate sanction would be suspending Gableman’s license for three years. A referee overseeing the case and the Supreme Court must approve the agreement before it can take effect.

Gableman acknowledged in the filing that the complaint provides “an adequate factual basis” and that he couldn’t successfully defend himself against the allegations.

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Trump’s Reciprocal Tariffs Prompt Japan Trade Negotiations with U.S.

President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs have helped open trade negotiations between the United States and one of its key economic partners — Japan.

Last week, Trump announced reciprocal tariffs, a policy that has the United States set tariffs based on the rate that each country in the world imposes on the U.S. For Japan, the tariff rate with the U.S. is now 24 percent.

As a result, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is looking to negotiate trade with the Trump administration.

“Countries from all over the world are talking to us. Tough but fair parameters are being set. Spoke to the Japanese Prime Minister this morning. He is sending a top team to negotiate!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They have treated the U.S. very poorly on trade. They don’t take our cars, but we take MILLIONS of theirs. Likewise, agriculture, and many other ‘things.’ It all has to change, but especially with CHINA!!!”

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Taiwan Offers Zero Tariffs and More Investment in U.S.

Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te on Sunday proposed zero tariffs, lower trade barriers, and more investment in the United States instead of retaliating against President Donald Trump’s tariff increases.

President Trump’s tariff announcement on Wednesday included 32 percent on all Taiwanese exports except semiconductors, which are Taiwan’s most celebrated and economically significant product.

Trump had threatened in March to include Taiwanese semiconductors on his tariff list, because he said Taiwan “stole” the industry from America with unfair trade practices.

“They stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit. I blame the people that were sitting in this seat because they allowed it to happen,” Trump said in March.

The president’s position on Taiwanese semiconductors softened a little after the island’s biggest chipmaker, TSMC, pledged to spend $100 billion on five new semiconductor factories in Arizona over the next four years.

Officials in Taipei were stunned when Trump slapped 32-percent tariffs on everything except semiconductors last week. Taiwanese cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee called the tariffs “deeply unreasonable” and “highly regrettable.”

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We Didn’t Start the Trade War—We’ve Just Finally Joined It

When President Donald Trump slapped a fresh round of tariffs on European and Asian imports, the professional hand-wringers and legacy press clodpolls sprang into choreographed action.

Headlines and television anchors blared warnings of trade wars, economic isolation, and diplomatic fallout. The bureaucratic priesthood that worships at the altar of “free trade” without reciprocity—from Brussels to Brookings—launched into familiar homilies: tariffs are regressive, Trump is reckless, and globalism is gospel.

But let’s pause the hysteria momentarily and apply something vanishingly rare in today’s media-industrial complex: perspective.

The prevailing orthodoxy treats tariffs as anathema to prosperity—an outdated relic of 19th-century mercantilism. But this overlooks a simple truth: for trade to be free, it must also be fair. For decades, American policymakers—both Democrats and Republicans—have tolerated a grotesquely asymmetrical global trade regime that has hollowed out the American industrial base and made us dangerously dependent on foreign powers, friend and foe alike.

Trump’s critics are wrong. These tariffs aren’t a calamity. They’re a much-needed course correction

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