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US President Donald Trump’s worldwide tariff salvo could lead to an overall contraction of around 1 percent in global merchandise trade volumes this year, the WTO chief warned Thursday.After Trump on Wednesday unveiled a blitz of harsher-than-expected levies aimed at countries around the globe, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned the measures would “have substantial implications for global trade and economic growth prospects”.
Trump slapped 10 percent import duties on all nations and far higher levies on imports from dozens of specific countries — including top trade partners China and the European Union — adding to tariffs already imposed since his return to power in January.
“While the situation is rapidly evolving, our initial estimates suggest that these measures, coupled with those introduced since the beginning of the year, could lead to an overall contraction of around 1 percent in global merchandise trade volumes this year,” the World Trade Organization director-general said in a statement.
x01a Research Archives
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Excerpt:The Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeing a stunning spike in new agent applications under its new director, Kash Patel — signaling that confidence in federal law enforcement may be on the mend.
According to internal data reviewed by Fox News Digital, the FBI received 5,577 new agent applications in March, the first full month with Patel at the helm. That figure nearly doubles the monthly average since 2016 and marks the highest number of submissions in nearly a decade.
The last comparable surge came in April 2016, when the bureau logged 5,283 applications. By contrast, the average in 2023 was 2,797 per month. Even in early 2024, before Patel took office, the average monthly tally sat at just 3,383.
“Director Patel and Deputy Director (Dan) Bongino have put a major emphasis on restoring confidence in federal law enforcement and boosting new agent recruiting,” FBI spokesman Ben Williamson told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “These record early returns certainly suggest the new FBI is heading in the right direction.”
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Perhaps no words in recent political history have so rapidly proven correct as Vice President J.D. Vance’s warning that European religious liberty faces a toxic and growing “threat from within,” according to a new expert analysis of government infringements on Christians.
In his Valentine’s Day address to the Munich Security Conference, Vice President Vance cited a crackdown on free speech and conscience rights to conclude that Europe’s “backslide away from conscience rights” and “deterioration of fundamental freedoms” has “placed the basic liberties of religious [believers] in the crosshairs.”
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Democrat Senator for Arizona and former Tesla owner Mark Kelly has refused to label the string of violence seen against Tesla dealerships, charging stations, and vehicles launched in protest of Elon Musk’s work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as “domestic terrorism.” This comes after he himself sold his own Tesla to protest Musk and Trump.
When asked if the attacks against DOGE were terrorism, Kelly told Fox News, “Certainly vandalism and it’s a crime.” He added, “It’s a significant crime, especially if you’re going to firebomb a car or vandalize somebody’s vehicle or even key somebody’s vehicle. They shouldn’t be doing it. And these should be investigated. And if people are caught, they should be prosecuted.”
In March, Kelly said that he had ditched his Tesla because it was a “rolling billboard for a man dismantling our government and hurting people.” He switched to a Chevy Taho SUV. Attorney General Pam Bondi, as well as Musk, have called the attacks “domestic terrorism.”
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Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations arrested a U.S. citizen after he allegedly posted detailed death threats online against ICE agents and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Threats against ICE and other federal agents from radical leftists have risen in recent months as the Trump administration does everything in its power to carry out mass deportations now that the border crisis is over.
In its announcement, the HSI Dallas field office said Robert King’s “terroristic threats” against ICE agents and Noem were “alarming” because they included intentions to “open fire” if he saw agents in his neighborhood.
‘We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree — not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses.’
In response to another online video where the TikTok user appeared to make a self-defense case for shooting ICE agents, Noem vowed that clear and direct threats against law enforcement will not be tolerated.
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The propaganda press is once again distorting the truth — and in some cases, flat out lying — to discredit and undermine President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts. In the latest example, the media are painting an illegal alien — who is allegedly a gang member — as merely a “Maryland father” with “protected legal status” who was “mistakenly” swept up in a mass deportation.
On Monday, The Atlantic’s Nick Miroff wrote that the Trump administration “mistakenly” sent a “Maryland father with protected legal status” to a Salvadoran prison due to an “administrative error.”
“The case appears to be the first time the Trump administration has admitted to errors when it sent three planeloads of Salvadoran and Venezuelan deportees to El Salvador’s grim ‘Terrorism Confinement Center’ on March 15,” Miroff wrote. He later cited Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s attorney who, in Miroff’s words, “said he’s never seen a case in which the government knowingly deported someone who had already received protected legal status from an immigration judge.”
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Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) says the answer to the question of how many federal offenses are currently on the books is “unknown and unknowable” according to the Congressional Research Service.
Lee, in a post on X, said that when the agency whose job it is to answer questions like these is unable provide a definitive answer, Congress has lost control.
Q: How many federal criminal offenses are on the books?
A: The Congressional Research Service, whose job it is to answer questions like these, tells us the answer is unknown and unknowable—but it’s at least 300,000
Congress has lost control
This is a great post on this issue👇 https://t.co/bdvXgRfpb0
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) April 2, 2025
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Hunter Biden’s career as a licensed attorney is coming to an end as the former first son is to be permanently stripped of his license in Washington, D.C.
The son of former President Joe Biden has agreed to permanent disbarment, Newsmax reported.
Hunter Biden’s loss of his law license ends whatever illusion remained of his professional legal status in the nation’s capital.
According to a sealed affidavit filed Tuesday in the D.C. Court of Appeals, Biden consented to the disbarment recommendation.
The recommendation was handed down by the D.C. Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility.
Once the court officially signs off on it, Biden will no longer be allowed to practice law in Washington, D.C.
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On Wednesday, four Republican senators joined their Democratic colleagues to pass a resolution, introduced by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, designed to undermine President Donald Trump’s policy of imposing tariffs on Canada.
The operative word here — “designed” — makes all the difference, for the resolution has no chance of actually restraining the president.
In fact, Republican Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso chastised his four colleagues for the emptiness of their gesture.
“Sen. Kaine’s goal was not to make law. It was simply an effort to undermine President Trump’s successful work to secure the Northern Border,” Barrasso said in a statement, per Fox News.
Indeed, Trump has justified tariffs on Canada in part by citing that nation’s lax border enforcement. As a result, the deadly drug fentanyl has poured into the United States.
Moreover, Barrasso expressed confidence that Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson would squash the Senate resolution.
“Speaker Johnson already declared Sen. Kaine’s resolution dead on arrival in the House of Representatives. It will never make it to President Trump’s desk,” Barrasso continued. “This meaningless messaging resolution will not stop Senate Republicans from making America’s communities safer.
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How was she not required to recuse herself? Clearly it is naked conflict of interest.
CONFIRMED: Araceli Martinez-Olguin to the Northern District of California.
Dedicating her career as a public interest attorney to protecting immigrant and worker rights, she brings professional diversity to the bench and will serve Californians with distinction. pic.twitter.com/H50rG57ObV
— Senate Judiciary Democrats 🇺🇸 (🦋 now on bsky) (@JudiciaryDems) February 28, 2023
Federal Judge Orders Trump Admin To Resume Funding Left-Wing Immigration Groups—Including Her Former Employer
Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin’s work for Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto could fuel calls for her recusal
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During an interview with Thursday on FNC’s “Fox & Friends,” Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration was prepared for liberal judges at the federal level interfering with deportation efforts.
Vance said the Trump administration was willing to litigate all the way to the Supreme Court.
“We can limit the jurisdiction of certain courts,” Vance said. “Even when certain courts make a ruling, say that you’re not allowed to deport a person for a certain reason, we can still deport that person for another reason. So it’s not like deportations have stopped, but yes, the radical courts are a problem. But our view here is we knew we were going to have this fight. We were prepared for it.”
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Democrats looked like they were stifling a visceral rage during Tuesday’s Foreign Affairs South and Central Asia House Subcommittee hearing titled, “The Censorship-Industrial Complex: The Need for First Amendment Safeguards at the State Department.”
None more so than Nina Jankowicz, who led the short-lived, now dead Disinformation Governance Board for former President Joe Biden. Today, she is the CEO of the American Sunlight Project and considers herself an “expert on disinformation and democratization.”
Jankowicz refused to answer when Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., asked her to disclose the name of donors for the American Sunlight Project.
“So, sunlight for other people but not for your donors,” he said. Baumgartner also asked if there was a loss of trust with the American people when the Biden White House called videos of Biden acting disorientated “cheap fakes.”
“I think in those cases, there were nefarious editing techniques being used to make the effects seem worse than it actually was,” Jankowicz said. We now know that internally, the White House was worried about Biden’s cheese was falling off his cracker.
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The PBS News Hour on Monday ran two stories grounded in liberal alarmism against the Trump administration’s quest to cut wasteful spending and fraud in the federal government, including at USAID — the United States Agency for International Development that provides foreign aid and economic development worldwide.
The point was reemphasized in the introduction from guest host William Brangham: “On the News Hour tonight, days after a deadly earthquake hit Myanmar and neighboring countries, USAID is largely absent, leaving a vacuum that China is quickly filling.”
Which begs the question — just how much international respect has the United States been getting for its “soft power” via its enormous worldwide work through USAID and related programs? It seems many around the world are primed to hate the United States no matter what it does or doesn’t do.
Reporter Nick Schifrin emphasized that “International aid organizations such as the U.N.’s Children’s Fund and World Food Program are working to deliver relief” and that “One of the most visible rescue teams has been Chinese. This morning, Chinese rescuers pulled a child out of the rubble, the team’s successes broadcast on Chinese TV.”
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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich testified before a House panel on Tuesday to warn of the “constitutional crisis” being forced on America thanks to the radical, out-of-control judges illegally attempting to crush a duly elected president.
Issa’s subcommittee held a joint hearing with the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government on Tuesday where Gingrich appeared.
“Fifteen district judges effectively seized control of various executive branch duties in the first six weeks of the current presidency through nationwide injunctions,” Gingrich explained. “This is potentially a judicial coup d’état and clearly violates the Constitution and more than 200 years of American history.”
I need every single person who actually cares about the constitution and preserving this constitutional republic to listen to Newt Gangrich’s opening statement at this hearing on judicial overreach.
The way I see it, if chief justice Roberts refuses to do his damn job and if… pic.twitter.com/zXFsyiONuJ
— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) April 1, 2025
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US President Donald Trump has unveiled his long-awaited “reciprocal” tariff plan, in a move that sent financial markets reeling amid growing fears of a global trade war.
On Wednesday, Trump announced a 10 percent “minimum baseline tariff” on nearly all imports into the United States. Higher duties on targeted countries will be phased in shortly afterwards.
He claimed the new import taxes were designed to reduce trade deficits and bring foreign manufacturing back to US shores. He also said they would pave the way for tax future cuts.
As Trump took aim at a global trading system he said “ripped off” the US, his tariffs prompted an immediate backlash, with some of America’s largest trading partners promising countermeasures.
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United States President Donald Trump didn’t announce any “reciprocal tariffs” on imports from Mexico on Wednesday, but a 25% tariff on Mexican canned beer is set to take effect on Friday.
During a speech in the Rose Garden of the White House, Trump presented a chart outlining “reciprocal tariffs” on imports from a long list of countries, but Mexico wasn’t among them.
President Trump announces a minimum 10% tariff on all countries plus additional country-specific rates. pic.twitter.com/jM5272SSCm
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 2, 2025
In a fact sheet explaining the “reciprocal tariff” executive order the U.S. president signed on Wednesday, the White House said that Mexico and Canada are “unaffected by this order.”
“This means USMCA-compliant goods will continue to see a 0% tariff, non-USMCA compliant goods will see a 25% tariff, and non-USMCA-compliant energy and potash will see a 10% tariff,” the White House said.
“In the event the existing fentanyl/migration IEEPA [International Emergency Economic Powers Act] orders are terminated, USMCA-compliant goods would continue to receive preferential treatment, while non-USMCA-compliant goods would be subject to a 12% reciprocal tariff,” the fact sheet said.
On March 6, Trump announced that imports from Mexico covered by the USMCA free trade pact would not be subject to U.S. tariffs until at least early April. He had imposed a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico and Canada two days earlier due to what the White House said was the two countries’ failure to take adequate action against “the influx of lethal drugs” to the U.S.
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U.S. President Donald Trump announced the range of reciprocal tariffs he is imposing against nearly 200 global trading partners, saying the U.S. has been “looted” and “pillaged” by other nations and needs to respond.
The list of countries and territories, laid out across eight pages of documents, includes a baseline 10 per cent tariff on the countries but imposes higher duties on many other countries.
Canada is not impacted — yet — but does continue to face existing tariffs as well as previously threatened auto tariffs that kick in on Thursday.
The chart shows the U.S. will charge a 34 per cent tax on imports from China, 20 per cent on European Union products and 25 per cent on South Korea.
Here’s a list of all the countries and overseas territories listed by the White House as facing “reciprocal” tariffs by the U.S. and the amount they will be hit with in duties from highest to lowest:
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President Donald Trump unveiled his reciprocal tariff plan Wednesday during a Rose Garden event the White House billed as “Liberation Day.”
With most of his cabinet on hand, as well as auto workers from Michigan, among others, Trump announced that he would be charging countries essentially half what his administration calculates, on average, they are imposing on the United States.
Further, there will be a 10 percent baseline across the board.
Trump called it a “kind reciprocal tariff” policy, saying he would be embarrassed to charge the full amount other countries are imposing on U.S. goods.
First on a list that Trump pointed to during the announcement was China, which he said charges the U.S. a 67 percent tariff (his chart indicated the administration’s tariff calculations include currency manipulation and trade barriers).
In response, Trump said his administration will be imposing a 34 percent tariff on Chinese goods.
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For three years, the U.S. economy has been buffeted by rapid inflation, high interest rates and political instability at home and abroad. Yet it has proved surprisingly resilient, supported by the sturdy pillars of robust consumer spending, a rising stock market, and healthy balance sheets for households and businesses alike.
But one by one, those pillars have begun to crack under the weight of tariffs and uncertainty. The all-out global trade war that President Trump declared on Wednesday could be enough to shatter what had arguably been the economy’s final source of support, the strong job market.
“The strength of the consumer is coming down to the jobs market,” said Sarah House, an economist at Wells Fargo. “And it’s increasingly perilous.”
The sweeping tariffs that Mr. Trump announced on Wednesday, and the duties that U.S. trading partners quickly imposed in retaliation, sent stock indexes around the world tumbling on Thursday. The effects won’t be limited to the financial markets: Economists say tariffs will raise prices for consumers and businesses, which will lead employers to pull back on hiring and, if the tariffs remain in place long enough, lay off workers.
“If the economy isn’t growing as fast, or it isn’t growing at all, you don’t need as many workers,” Ms. House said.
Economists will get their latest glimpse of the job situation on Friday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release March figures on hiring and unemployment.
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Excerpt:Two of the world’s largest automakers announced on Thursday that they are offering America First deals on new vehicles for customers or making production changes while seeking to take advantage of President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on foreign-assembled vehicles.
For the next several months, Ford will be touting a “From America, For America” deal, which will offer new customers the chance to purchase vehicles at employee pricing, potentially knocking thousands of dollars off the going rate.
Steve Croley, the company’s chief policy officer, told “Fox & Friends” that Americans deserve a break for going out of their way to buy American-made cars.
“We’re going to offer customers the same deal that our employees get. That’s worth thousands of dollars,” he told host Brian Kilmeade.
“We’ve heard some uncertainty from our customers and we want them to be assured that Ford, the most American auto company, is going to do right by them, as are our dealers. We make the most cars here, we employ the most, we export the most, and so we here at Ford, we’re in a good position to address customers’ concern and give them a really great deal on a great vehicle,” he added.
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Economist EJ Antoni, bucking the mainstream hysteria, is explaining that Donald Trump isn’t launching a trade war; he’s exposing the extremely unbalanced trade war the U.S. has been losing for decades.
In a hard-hitting op-ed for Fox News, Antoni compared Trump to one of his Republican presidential predecessors, U.S. Grant, for sheer grit and determination in spite of smear campaigns and prophecies of failure. The reality is that other countries have been imposing unfair tariffs on American goods while demanding no reciprocal tariffs for years. Trump is just insisting that other countries pay the same tariffs they require us to pay. The trade war already existed; it’s just that Trump wants to win.
Antoni insisted, “Trump is being attacked for being anti-free trade or for starting a trade war, but the opposite is true. For most of the last half century, the global economy has become entrenched in a pseudo-free trade that artificially disadvantages American exporters.”
He added, “In this sense, other nations declared a trade war on America decades ago, and our leaders never fought back.“ Trump’s reciprocal tariffs are meant to pressure other nations that do, in fact, rely on American trade and American consumers “to reduce their trade barriers and end a trade war that already exists.”
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Nike stock is plunging on Thursday, the day after President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs that will end the nation’s decades-long free trade policy.
“NKE was last seen 11.3% lower at $57.62, as investors digest the long-term impact of rising supply chain costs on the company’s margins,” Schaeffer’s Investment Research reports. “The stock is set to snap a three-day win streak, extending its late-March post-earnings bear gap and hitting its lowest level since November 2017. Nike stock now carries a 23.5% year-to-date deficit.”
On Wednesday evening, Trump announced reciprocal tariffs — adding a 34 percent tariff on China, a 46 percent tariff on Vietnam, a 49 percent tariff on Cambodia, a 32 percent tariff on Indonesia, and a 36 percent tariff on Thailand, among a long list of others.
Reuters reports:
Shares in Nike, Adidas, and Puma dropped sharply after Vietnam was targeted with a 46% tariff rate, Cambodia with 49%, Bangladesh with 37% and Indonesia with 32%, while Trump hiked tariffs on China by an extra 34 percentage points, following the earlier 20% tariffs. [Emphasis added]
“Companies that worked hard over the years to reduce reliance on China by leaning into countries like Vietnam just learned there really isn’t a place to hide,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Simeon Siegel said. [Emphasis added]