Tag: donald trump

China’s Solar Firms Face Potential Tax Credit Freeze Under House ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

Chinese clean energy companies would be excluded from tax benefits they enjoyed under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), should the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, currently considered by the U.S. Congress, become law.

The act, a budget reconciliation package aimed to implement President Donald Trump’s policy agenda, was passed by the House of Representatives early Thursday by one vote. China solar importers are asking the Senate to change course in their version of the bill.

The IRA, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, is often dubbed the “Green New Deal.” It provided tax write-offs to clean energy producers and manufacturers, primarily of EV batteries, battery storage, solar, and wind.

For China, the IRA was mostly a solar story.

China is the world’s No. 1 solar manufacturer. Its solar companies account for eight out of the top 10 globally, according to researchers at Photovoltaic Brand Lab.

Since the law, no other country has invested more in solar projects in the United States than China.

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Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Defunds Medicaid-Covered Transgender Surgery

President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending budget, lovingly dubbed the “one big, beautiful, bill,” strips Medicaid’s funding for transgender surgeries — a move that will impact a large portion of such procedures if it passes the Senate.

The reconciliation budget, which narrowly passed the House of Representatives early Thursday morning in a 215-214-1 vote, would have initially prohibited Medicaid from covering “gender transition procedures” for children, until a late Wednesday amendment struck the words “minors” and “under 18 years of age” from that section, the Independent reported.

Gender transition treatments that would no longer be covered include puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries. 

A 2023 study by gynecologists from Columbia University and the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, revealed that a staggering 25 percent of so-called “gender-affirming” surgeries in the United States are covered by Medicaid. 

Out of the 48,019 patients identified in the report who underwent such surgeries, over 12,000 were Medicaid recipients. 

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Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Strips Al Capone-Era Tax On Suppressors

Gun rights groups celebrated Thursday morning after the House narrowly passed President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” in a 215–214 vote. Organizations like Gun Owners of America praised the legislation for including the Constitutional Hearing Protection Act (CHPA), which eliminates both the federal registration requirement and the $200 tax on firearm suppressors. The provision drew sharp criticism from anti-gunners and leftist media outlets as the bill now heads to the Senate. 

“The House of Representatives passes GOA-backed language 215-214 to ELIMINATE the unconstitutional taxation & registration of suppressors under the NFA,” GOA wrote on X, adding, “The bill heads to the Senate, where GOA will fight to include protections for short-barreled firearms too.” 

GOA’s Deputy Director of Federal Affairs, Benjamin Sanderson, said in a short video posted on X that the organization has been working on a budget reconciliation strategy to deregulate suppressors for the past year. He thanked the millions of GOA members who have supported their efforts.

Since being classified under the Al Capone-era National Firearms Act, suppressors have been subject to a $200 tax stamp imposed by the ATF. If President Trump signs the Senate version of the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” purchasers only need to pass an FBI background check to acquire a suppressor.

“Shall not be infringed—or taxed. I’m proud that we secured the elimination of taxation and registration of suppressors in budget reconciliation. It’s past time we restore our constitutional 2A rights,” stated Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who originally introduced CHPA.

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‘Ambush’: Watch network interrupt live footage of Trump airing montage of South Africans calling for genocide against whites

CNN cut away from live footage of President Donald Trump airing footage of South Africans calling for violence against white people during his Wednesday Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

During his meeting with the South African president, Trump aired a montage of the minority party in South Africa calling to kill the Boers, a term that refers to white farmers, by shooting them and “cutting their throat[s].” While the video played, CNN cut away so viewers could only hear “Inside Politics” host Dana Bash and her panelists react to Trump forcing Ramaphosa to watch the video.

“[The video] is obviously playing right now and our understanding is that the point of this video is to back up some of the claims that Trump has made about South Africa. It seems this is clearly a well orchestrated effort. They brought screens, there’s not usually TVs in the Oval Office. And they were prepared to do this,” one panelist said. Another panelist called this act an “ambush.”

The moment the video ended, the network returned to airing the meeting live so viewers could hear Ramaphosa’s response, where he stated that the utterances made in the video are not “government policy.” The South African president and members of his government all maintained that there is no genocide against white people happening in their country, which Trump firmly disagreed with.

Besides the opposition party calling to kill white farmers, other parts of the video showed burial sites where white farmers are said to be laid to rest. While the montage played, Ramaphosa spent much of his time facing forward or glancing at Trump rather than watching the video.

“Burial sites. Right here. Burial sites. Over a thousand white farmers and those cars are lined up to pay love on a Sunday morning. Each one of those white things you see is a cross. And there is approximately a thousand of them. They are all white farmers, the family of white farmers. And those cars aren’t driving. They are stopped there to pay respects to their family member who was killed,” Trump said during the video.

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South Africa’s Julius Malema Responds to Trump’s Claim of ‘Genocide’ by Doubling Down: ‘Kill the Farmer!’

South African politician Julius Malema, the leader of the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, responded to President Donald Trump’s claims about “genocide” Wednesday by reiterating calls to kill white farmers.

Earlier that day, Trump had shown visiting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa video of Malema leading rally chants of “Kill the Boer!”, “Kill the farmer!”, “Shoot to kill!”, and other incendiary slogans.

Ramaphosa tried to argue that Malema’s rhetoric did not represent the government’s policies, but Trump countered that South Africa had passed a law allowing expropriation of land without compensation, that it had racially discriminatory laws, and that thousands of white farmers were attempting to leave to the U.S.

Malema reacted angrily on X, reiterating his commitment to expropriation without compensation.

His party later issued a statement in which it declared: “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer! Victory is Certain!”

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Zelensky to Trump: ‘Ukraine Is Ready for a Full and Unconditional Ceasefire’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared in a statement following a conversation with President Donald Trump on Monday his country “is ready for a full and unconditional ceasefire,” asserting that Russia, the invading country, must be convinced to agree to one.

President Trump spoke to Zelensky on Monday before and after a separate phone conversation with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, which the American president spoke favorably about. Trump’s direct conversation with Putin followed a chaotic week for Ukraine peace talks in which Putin initially proposed a ceasefire, Zelensky responded by flying to Turkey and challenging Putin to meet him in person, and Putin rejected the invite. Low-level Ukrainian and Russian delegations held talks in Istanbul of Friday that did not lead to any meaningful reduction in violence.

“Russian demands are detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed. They include ultimatums for Ukraine to withdraw from its territory for a ceasefire and other non-starters and non-constructive conditions,” an unnamed Ukrainian official complained, the U.K. Times reported.

Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, colonizing its Crimean peninsula, and has been actively backing “pro-Russian” separatists in the eastern Donbass region since. In 2022, Putin announced a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, arguing that Zelensky, who was democratically elected, was an illegitimate “Nazi” dictator. That invasion has led to the Russian conquest of the entire Donbass region and the Ukrainian territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Under former President Joe Biden, the United States effusively financed the Ukrainian war effort and did not effectively advocate for an end to the conflict. President Trump has prioritized dialogue leading to an end in the video and proposed several potential mediating entities in addition to America, including Turkey and the Vatican.

Zelensky announced in a message posted to social media on Monday that he held two separate phone conversations with Trump, the second a conference call also featuring several heads of government around the world including French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

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Trump confronts South African President Ramaphosa in Oval Office over ‘white genocide’ in South Africa

President Donald Trump hosted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office on Wednesday, during which Trump confronted the South African leader about the violent persecution being faced by white residents of the country. This comes as the US has accepted Afrikaner refugees.

While fielding questions from reporters, one asked Trump, “What does it take from you for you to be convinced that there’s no white genocide in South Africa?” 

Ramaphosa replied, “Well, I can answer that for the president… It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans, some of whom are his good friends, like those who are here when we have talks between us.”

“I’m not going to be repeating what I’ve been saying. I would say, if there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you these three gentlemen would not be here, including my minister of agriculture. He would not be with me,” Ramaphosa continued.”

Trump interjected, “we have thousands of stories talking about it. We have documentaries, we have news stories.” Trump then directed for the lights to be turned down in the room, and for Ramaphosa to direct his attention to video that was played behind him.

Included in the video clips played were officials saying that “killing is part of a revolution,” that they can take land without permission and without compensation, and chants of “kill the Boer.”

Additional footage played, with Trump explaining that these were burial sites of “over 1,000 white farmers” in South Africa. “It’s a terrible sight. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Have they told you where that is, Mr. President?” Ramaphosa asked. “I’d like to know where that is, because this I’ve never seen.”

Trump also flipped through a large stack of printed articles, saying, “these are articles over the last few days, death of people, death, death, death, horrible death, death.” He noted articles about white South Africans fleeing their home country due to violence, a white South African couple that was violently attacked, and burial sites all over the country. 

“When you look at the videos, I mean, how does it get worse? And these are people that are officials, and they’re saying that, ‘kill the white farmer and take their land.’ And I have other friends in South Africa, people that left, one in particular that says you can’t go there. He said they will want to take your land. They take your land and they kill you,” Trump said. 

In response, Ramaphosa said that the speeches seen in the clips “is not government policy,” and that in South Africa’s multi-party democracy, people are allowed to “express themselves” and political parties can “adhere to various policies.” 

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Trump’s ‘big’ and ‘beautiful’ tax bill retains hundreds of billions (maybe trillions?) in ‘Green New Deal’ spending

Congressional Republicans are the absolute worst, for many reasons, but this time, it has to do with the “big” and “beautiful” tax bill that’s working its way toward Donald Trump’s desk—Republicans, despite holding both houses, as well as the Oval Office, are set to retain hundreds of billions of dollars in Green New Deal provisions, if they get their way. Here’s the context, from Adam N. Michel and Joshua Loucks at the Cato Institute:

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was pitched as a climate solution. In practice, it turned the tax code into a multi-trillion-dollar energy entitlement program, creating subsidies without caps, sunsets, or accountability. The recently passed House Ways and Means Committee tax bill repeals eight of the IRA credits, phases out five, and keeps or expands several others.

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Cyril Ramaphosa meeting with Trump in attempt to salvage South Africa’s relationship with US

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is slated to meet with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday in an attempt to salvage the fraught relationship between the two countries.

Ramaphosa pushed for the meeting amid growing tensions with the Trump administration, which has accused the Black-led South African government of being racist against its white citizens, seizing white farmers’ land and letting a “genocide” take place.

The South African leader said he hopes to correct what he views as damaging mischaracterizations of its government during his meeting, which will be Trump’s first with an African leader during his second term.

A White House official told The Associated Press the meeting is likely to focus on topics including the need to condemn politicians who “promote genocidal rhetoric” and a push for South Africa’s government to classify farm attacks as a priority crime.

Some white farmers have been killed in violent home invasions, but the South African government has said these attacks are part of the country’s crime problem and not motivated by race, noting some Black farmers have also been killed.

The White House official also told the AP that Trump is likely to call on the South African government to “stop scaring off investors,” in reference to its race-based trade barriers.

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Trump Unveils $175 Billion Plan for ‘Golden Dome’ Missile Defense System

The Department of Defense has selected a design for President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative, Trump announced on May 20.

“I’m pleased to announce that we have officially selected an architecture for this state-of-the-art system that will deploy next-generation technologies across the land, sea, and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

In his first week in office, Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Defense to devise a plan to implement his missile defense proposal.

“It should be fully operational before the end of my term. So we’ll have it done in about three years,” the president said.

Trump said the plan that the Department of Defense has selected should cost about $175 billion to complete.

The plan will meld new technologies with existing U.S. missile defense systems.

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