Trump Implements Mostly 10% Tariffss

Though, some nations get higher ones

Trump imposes 10 percent universal tariff, higher for top trade partners

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will impose a baseline 10 percent tariff on imports from all countries in the coming days, with a higher tariff on dozens of other countries the United States believes have the most unfair trade relationships with the U.S.

“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said at White House Rose Garden event with most of his Cabinet in attendance. “But it’s not going to happen anymore.”

The new duties include a 34 percent tariff on China, 26 percent on India, 25 percent on South Korea, 24 percent on Japan and 20 percent on the 27-nation European Union, whose largest members are Germany and France.

The administration also slapped a 46 percent tariff on Vietnam and a 49 percent tariff on Cambodia — a blow to China, which has shipped goods through those and other countries to effectively skirt previous rounds of U.S. tariffs imposed over the past seven years.

The Trump administration said the rate set for each country reflects a combination of the tariff and “non-tariff” or regulatory barriers that U.S. exporters face in those markets, which they then cut in half to arrive at the final figure. Around 85 countries received a duty rate of more than 10 percent, but that figure includes the 27 nations in the EU.

It’s easy to end the tariffs: those countries need to remove theirs and make trade equitable.

Canada’s PM Carney vows to ‘fight’ Trump’s tariffs, other world leaders weigh impact

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday evening vowed to “fight” the new round of tariffs announced by President Donald Trump, and said he would turn to other international partners to get through the rocky times ahead.

“President Trump has just announced a series of measures that are going to fundamentally change the international trading system,” Carney told reporters following Trump’s Rose Garden announcement. “We’re in a situation where there’s going to be an impact on the U.S. economy, which will build with time.

“In our judgment, it will be negative on the U.S. economy that will have an impact on us,” he added, noting millions of Canadians will be impacted.

Remove your tariffs, which are typically way, way higher than what Trump has imposed on Canada.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, generally seen as a Trump ally, said Trump’s tariffs were “wrong” and warned they would not only harm American and European pocketbooks, but aid Western adversaries.

Remove your tariffs on imported American goods.

Similarly, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that while Trump’s decision was “not the act of a friend,” his country would not impose reciprocal tariffs, reported Reuters.

Nations do not have friends, they have interests. It’s in the interest of the United States to have equitable trade rates. However, let’s be honest, the vast majority of goods that are imported to Australia from the U.S. have no tariffs, taxes, or fees, going back to the 2005 free trade agreement. Trump might want to reconsider implementing a tariff on Australia.

I still maintain that he still should have worked to get some agreements done with a lot of nations first.

Read: Trump Implements Mostly 10% Tariffss »

Trump’s Workforce Cuts Could Maybe Threaten Climate (scam) Protection In National Parks

This is your fault, you know

Trump’s workforce cuts threaten climate protection in national parks

That’s the headline for the Environmental (weenie) Health News article, but, let’s go to the source article

Trump takes aim at the people who protect national parks from climate change

The last few months have been a tumultuous time for National Park Service employees. After President Donald Trump took office, the federal agency laid off roughly 1,000 employees in a purge dubbed the Valentine’s Day massacre. Then, after two judges ruled that the layoffs were unlawful, they were rehired. Now, as the Department of Government Efficiency begins executing an official and much larger plan to slash the federal workforce, many employees are anxiously awaiting the next round of cuts. The White House has reportedly directed the agency to reduce its workforce by as much as 30 percent in the coming months.

Despite the agency’s murky future, some changes are clear: As the days get warmer, the numbers of visitors to the parks will begin to tick up. As spring gives way to summer, the Western landscape will begin to dry out, and the risk of drought and wildfires will also increase. The stakes for the climate — and for the parks in the face of climate-fueled disasters — couldn’t be higher.

“Cities and places that are more developed are more resistant to changes in climate, but in these wild areas, we can see more warning signs, more indicators if the patterns start changing dramatically,” said one National Park Service employee. “With all of these positions lost, there will be no one on watch anymore.”

You know, I’m all for having more than enough people working for the NPS. One of my favorite agencies (though, really, the majority of parks should be state, not national). But, there are a lot whose jobs are not really helping visitors or maintaining the parks, they are Very Silly and unnecessary

The National Park Service has been working to prepare for a warming world. It has had an ecosystem inventory and monitoring program in place since 1998 and a climate change response program since 2010. In recent years, it invested in building out both programs to detect and respond to the rapid changes in ecosystems and the growing number of disasters taking place in the parks. It also trained thousands of rangers, educated the public about the impacts of climate change on the parks, and adopted a national framework to help park staff decide which ecosystems to prioritize saving. In 2023, the agency developed a plan to electrify park vehicle fleets and buildings to reduce the parks’ overall greenhouse gas emissions.

These are just all scam jobs, and probably get overpaid by a lot. They are unnecessary. The EHN article puts it in short form

After laying off about 1,000 park employees in February, the Trump administration plans to cut up to 30% of the National Park Service’s workforce, impacting both public-facing staff and scientists tracking climate impacts.

None of those “tracking climate (scam) impacts” employees are necessary. I’d love to see an audit on how much work they actually do.

Terri Thomas, a retired natural resources manager who worked in Crater Lake, Yosemite, and Everglades National Parks, said she is particularly concerned about the potential impact of weakening the inventory and monitoring program, which collects scientific information about how a park’s native plants, animals, and birds are evolving.

You know, monitoring the waters and land are worthy goals, but, they tend to ignore the actual environmental impacts for the climate cult stuff. I’ve said numerous times on this blog and in person that it bothers me a lot that the cult has taken over true environmentalism, which means it’s hard to do real environmental work.

Read: Trump’s Workforce Cuts Could Maybe Threaten Climate (scam) Protection In National Parks »

If All You See…

…are horrible Bad Weather clouds, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is eugyppius, with a post on the delusional media asking about people fleeing Trump’s pending “fascist dictatorship”.

Read: If All You See… »

NY Times Giddy To Find A Smattering Of Republicans “Raising Alarm” Over Trump’s Deportation Tactics

Funny thing, they never cheer when Trump deports actual gang members, rapists, and murderers

Some Conservative Voices Raise Alarm Over Trump’s Immigration Tactics

Influential figures on the right have largely cheered on the opening months of the Trump presidency. But as the administration has rushed to carry out deportations as quickly as possible, making mistakes and raising concerns about due process along the way, the unified front in favor of President Trump’s immigration purge is beginning to crack.

When the administration deported a professional makeup artist and accused him of being part of a criminal gang, the enormously popular podcaster Joe Rogan balked.

“You’ve got to get scared that people who are not criminals are getting lassoed up and deported and sent to El Salvador prisons,” Mr. Rogan, who endorsed Mr. Trump, said on his show “The Joe Rogan Experience.” He added that the case was “horrific.”

Yeah, it was bad, and the Trump admin has admitted fault. Perhaps there wouldn’t be a problem if Biden-Harris and the Democrats hadn’t supported supported bringing in so many illegals. Also, Rogan is not a Republican. He also says he’s not a Democrat. Heck, he supported Bernie Sanders in 2020. But, he felt Trump was a better choice.

When the administration arrested a former Columbia University graduate student who had been involved in campus protests, the far-right commentator Ann Coulter questioned the move.

“There’s almost no one I don’t want to deport, but unless they’ve committed a crime, isn’t this a violation of the First Amendment?” Ms. Coulter wrote on social media.

Coulter has been agnostic on Trump since 2016, when she came out for Chris Christie, and has criticized Trump many times. But, she’s also not much of an influencer in the GOP anymore, ever since that Chris Christie support. You do not see her in articles and on TV much anymore. How often is she on conservative radio? And, she forgot the whole part about Mahmoud Kahlil espousing killing Jews and Americans, and taking over campus buildings violently. And coming on a student visa and immediately being a pro-Hamas protester.

The dissenting voices, which have been limited mostly to commentators rather than elected Republicans, are remarkable because conservatives don’t often openly break with the president. And while the objections have largely been contained to tactics — not the overarching goal of ramping up deportations — the cracks show how seriously some conservatives are taking the administration’s aggressive and at times slapdash methods.

Are we not allowed to have concerns? I’m against doing the tariffs, except perhaps on China, so fast. I think DOGE could slow down on terminations. Do a deep dive on who the people are, are they doing the job, and, is the position necessary. Focus more on uncovering the graft, waste, and abuse. In Democrat World, though, no one is allowed to dissent, at least not out loud. Unless they are pushing to go even more hard left.

“The overarching reality of this administration is that they’re trying to maximize removals — remove as many people as possible,” said David J. Bier, the director of immigration studies at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute and a former G.O.P. aide on Capitol Hill. “That operating mode will lead to more mistakes, especially when you’re trying to evade judicial review of your decisions.”

Bier has long been anti-Trump on, at least, immigration. He’s a big supporter of unfettered (fake) asylum. And the Cato Institute isn’t exactly a crack down on illegal immigration/fake asylum seekers organization. They’d almost prefer to ignore the issue, because it requires more law enforcement, which goes against their extreme Libertarian leanings. With CATO, and Bier, I find lots and lots of articles of them being against Trump, and the majority of Americans, such as

David J. Bier, Director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute, said: “Another term for a nativist president would obliterate America’s legal immigration system, undermine the rule of law, and sow chaos at the border and in the interior. A nativist agenda for the country would harm the U.S. economy, damage its security, and threaten Americans’ civil liberties. America needs real immigration reform, not mass deportation fantasies.”

Does that sound like someone who supports Trump on immigration?

Andrew C. McCarthy, the conservative former prosecutor, made the case in National Review that it was time for the president to “abandon the ill-conceived attempt to deport alleged Venezuelan gangbangers under the Alien Enemy Act,” arguing the administration should shift to more solid legal ground and use traditional federal immigration laws to carry out deportations.

“The Trump administration has done a commendable job reversing the incentives for ‘migrants’ to try to come to America,” Mr. McCarthy wrote. “That is a boon for our security and domestic tranquillity. It also has a variety of humanitarian benefits for the migrants themselves. The president, however, may not just kick out of the country people whose presence here displeases him. We are a nation of laws, not men.”

Well, gee wiz, someone at National Review complaining about Trump? Who woulda thunk it? McCarthy hasn’t exactly been a big Trump supporter over the years. And, yeah, Trump and his people can cancel the visas of people calling for the death of Jews and Americans, who want to destroy Israel and America, who want to turn America Islamist, and support a US State Department designated terrorist group. Who wear Intifada Keffiyes, a symbol of killing Jews and replacing Israel with an Islamic caliphate. With taking over buildings and harassing Jewish students instead of going to class, the whole reason they received a visa.

So, yeah, it’s the NY Times supporting the “Deep State”, failing to do their job as reporters, instead being advocates. And that the Times supports unfettered illegal immigration, even the gang members, rapists, and murderers.

Read: NY Times Giddy To Find A Smattering Of Republicans “Raising Alarm” Over Trump’s Deportation Tactics »

Wacko Priest Picks Jail Over Fine To Draw Attention To Climate Scam

I’m guessing he forgot about the first two Commandments

A Jesuit priest prefers prison over a fine to draw attention to climate change

A Jesuit priest says he prefers going to prison than paying a 500-euro ($541) fine for participating in a climate activists’ street blockade in the southern German city of Nuremberg.

The Rev. Jörg Alt started serving his nearly monthlong prison sentence on Tuesday in Nuremberg.

“Today, I am starting my 25-day alternative custodial sentence in Nuremberg prison,” he said before entering the prison. “I don’t like doing this, especially as my health is no longer the best at the age of 63. But I see no alternative, because it’s the last form of protest I have left in this specific case to draw attention to important issues” such as climate change.

After the court’s decision, authorities repeatedly asked Alt to pay the 500 euros, before the fine was eventually commuted to the 25-day prison sentence.

Well, he says he has no money.

The court ruling in November was in connection with a street blockade in August 2022, when the Jesuit priest and about 40 other activists blocked traffic in Nuremberg by gluing their hands to a street in front of the city’s train station to draw attention to climate change.

Just another example of the climate cult co-opting those who took a vow to serve God.

Read: Wacko Priest Picks Jail Over Fine To Draw Attention To Climate Scam »

EU Promises Tariff Retaliation Or Something

These would be the same nations still paying a boatload to import Russian natural gas, right?

EU ‘Holds Lot of Cards,’ Vows Tariff Retaliation vs. US

A top European Union official warned the U.S. on Tuesday that the world’s biggest trade bloc “holds a lot of cards” when it comes to dealing with the Trump administration’s new tariffs and has a good plan to retaliate if forced to.

President Donald Trump has promised to roll out taxes on imports from other countries on Wednesday. He says they will free the U.S. from reliance on foreign goods.

He’s vowed to impose “reciprocal” tariffs to match the duties that other countries charge on U.S. products, dubbing April 2 “Liberation Day.”

“Europe has not started this confrontation. We do not necessarily want to retaliate, but if it is necessary, we have a strong plan to retaliate and we will use it,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers.

The thing is, EU nations already have tariffs on imported American goods. Like 25% on orange juice, motorcycles, peanut butter, and bourbon. 50% on dairy. 10% on US cars. The US only has a 2.5% tariff on EU vehicles. All Trump is looking for is equitable free trade. Especially since the US has essentially protected Europe since the end of WWII.

Canada is much like the EU

Here’s the thing, though: I think tariffs at this time are a bad idea. Trump is thinking like a businessman. And in the business world companies get in pissing matches. And they mostly put aside their feelings for the good of the business. Doesn’t mean they won’t retaliate later. But, the Trump admin is mostly dealing with politicians, bureaucrats, and diplomats, who let their Butthurt get in the way of rational decisions, and get their backs all up in a dander. Trump and his people should take a year or so and have discussions, see if they can get traction. If not, then tariff away.

Read: EU Promises Tariff Retaliation Or Something »

Say, Why Is The Southern Ocean Cooling Despite Global Boiling?

You know this is your fault, right?

In a Warming World, Why Is the Southern Ocean Getting Cooler?

Climate models predict that as the planet warms, so will the Southern Ocean. But for decades, the waters around Antarctica have grown mysteriously cooler. A new study shows why.h

We could really just stop there. Once the cult trots out “climate models predict” we know this is trash. And

Anyhow

With warming, the region is seeing more rainfall and more ice melt, which are introducing more freshwater into the Southern Ocean. Because freshwater is not as dense as saltwater, it stays on the surface of the ocean instead of sinking down below. Freshwater acts like a lid, keeping warmer waters from rising up, scientists say, and the effect is much greater than previously appreciated.

Until now, models have failed to fully account for the influence of rain and, in particular, melting. Study coauthor Earle Wilson, of Stanford University, said the impact of meltwater is “completely missing from most climate models.”

Missing freshwater, he and colleagues found, accounts for 60 percent of the mismatch between predicted and actual temperatures. The findings were published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Yup, just another handy dandy way to blame cooling on you horrible people driving fossil fueled vehicles.

Read: Say, Why Is The Southern Ocean Cooling Despite Global Boiling? »

If All You See…

…is horrible beer full of carbon pollution causing glaciers to disappear, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Cold Fury, with a post on some piping hot poetic justice.

Read: If All You See… »

Credentialed Media Have A Snit Fit Over Proposed Briefing Room Seat Shakeup

The legacy media is apoplectic. Here’s CNN

Trump White House plans to shake up briefing room seating, flexing power over press corps

In the Trump administration’s latest assertion of power over the press corps, the White House intends to take over the seating assignments in the press briefing room, according to a senior official.

The plan may cause a tug-of-war with the White House Correspondents’ Association, the independent group that currently assigns seats and manages the relationship between the White House and the press corps.

“Assertion of power”. ZOMG, Trump is a dictator! You can feel the freakout from CNN. And the Washington Post

Journalists call out reported White House plan to reshuffle media seats

The White House Correspondents’ Association on Monday strongly objected to a reported plan for the White House to take over the process of determining where reporters sit in the briefing room.

The organization has long determined the seating chart, awarding prime positions for the major television networks, news wires and newspapers.

Remember that last paragraph.

The Trump White House’s Latest Blow to the Press Is About Way More Than Seating Charts

That may sound like a small thing, and in some ways it is. Deciding who sits where in the briefing room has long been within the purview of the White House Correspondents’ Association, a journalist-led organization. In theory, snagging one of the front-row seats that currently go to some of the biggest broadcasters and newspapers gives reporters a better chance of getting a question in during a press briefing. But in a White House already so openly hostile to the mainstream media—a White House that has used the briefing room to accuse journalists of being propagandists—those seats have diminishing returns.

The issue is not so much how the seating chart will impact this White House’s press briefings, which mostly make news these days for the extent of their obfuscations. But, in assuming power over a system that has traditionally been the domain of the free press, President Donald Trump is sending a message about who’s really in charge of how his presidency gets covered and who gets to cover it.

See, it’s all about Freedom Of The Press being obliterated for the big Credentialed News outlets! This continues through lots and lots of the old school leftist outlets. Nice to see Vanity Fair. Perfect name for the outlet

(Semafor) The WHCA’s current system reflects the 20th century media power structure: wire services and broadcast and cable television networks occupy the front row, major newspapers and radio get the second and third rows, and a more fluid collection of news organizations sits further back. The White House proposal would upend the arrangement in a move White House officials reportedly believe will be a “fundamental restructuring of the briefing room, based on metrics more reflective of how media is consumed today.”

Oh, that has to make the activist media outlets upset. Not giving the old TV stations and newspapers the first few rows? How dare the Trump administration! Arglebargle! But, yeah, things have changed. How many truly consume the news the way they used to? Maybe the Boomers and older tune into the cBS Evening News and PBS on the radio, but, not so much Gen X and down. Sure, I go to cBS.com, the NY Times, and others, but, I scroll and move from source to source. I use Yahoo News to aggregate, along with other aggregators. We hit blogs and new media. We’re reading left, right, international. We scroll Twitter and other social media (Twitter is my only one).

So, yeah, they’re upset, enough to act like toddlers

On Sunday, key members of the WHCA, including the organization’s leadership and some White House bureau chiefs, met to discuss a range of potential responses should Trump communications officials decide to dictate where reporters in the room sit.

According to two people familiar with the discussions, among the proposals raised by members was a potential Civil Rights era-style “sit-in” protest, in which members would return to their old seats and refuse to leave them.

Good grief. Can they not hear throughout the room? Are they that entitled? Hell of a difference between sitting at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro to fight for equality and a petulant sit in to retain your power, wanting to leave the Other Outlets sitting at the back of the bus.

Asked about a potential protest by members of the WHCA, including a potential sit-in, White House communications director Steven Cheung responded: “Hahahahahahahaha…..…hahahahahahahahaha.”

Yup.

Read: Credentialed Media Have A Snit Fit Over Proposed Briefing Room Seat Shakeup »

NY Climate Cult Groups Sue To Force The State To Act On Cap And Invest

One has to wonder what these cultists are doing themselves to reduce their own carbon footprints

NY sued over lagging cap-and-invest climate regulations

A coalition of environmental advocacy groups is suing New York over the state’s slower than expected implementation of its landmark climate law, which requires regulations to meet the state’s mandated transition away from fossil fuels to reduce carbon emissions.

The groups argued in the lawsuit that the state hasn’t taken the necessary steps to meet its upcoming mandates, which require a 40% reduction in emissions by 2030 to begin an ambitious set of targets over the next 25 years.

“With only five years until the first deadline, New York’s emissions are rising rather than falling,” their attorneys wrote. “The state must not only reverse this trend but must rapidly decrease emissions in the next few years.”

NY is finding out that passing these laws is easy, but, actually making it happen in the face of Reality Land is much more difficult

The civil action was filed against the state Department of Environmental Conservation in state court Monday by Citizen Action of New York, the Sierra Club, WE ACT for Environmental Justice and PUSH Buffalo. They’re represented by Earthjustice, another environmental group.

Too bad you can bet the judge(s) involved will never ask the Warmists what they have done in their own lives. It matters.

The conflict is centered on the state’s proposed “cap-and-invest” program, which would essentially impose a tax on carbon emissions. It’s included in the state’s scoping plan, a roadmap toward its climate mandates developed by the Climate Action Council more than two years ago.

The program would place a cap on the amount of carbon emissions allowed in New York. Companies that report heavy emissions from transportation and heating fuels would have to pay the state for permission to create that pollution.

And that will skyrocket the cost of energy and the cost of living for NY residents.

The proceeds from the program would then be reinvested into renewable energy projects and infrastructure. They would also be used to help ratepayers offset any rise in utility costs that result because of the program.

It can only offset so much, and you know a good chunk of that money will simply disappear into government.

They want a judge to order the agency to immediately issue those draft regulations and finalize a timeline on which they would be adopted.

“These regulations are not just a technicality — they are the primary means of ensuring the state meets its climate mandates,” said Rachel Spector, a senior attorney at Earthjustice. “We don’t have time to wait to act on climate, and that’s why our clients are going to court today.”

What do the citizens of NY think? What do they want? If they want this, give them this. And then restrict any who support this from leaving the state.

Read: NY Climate Cult Groups Sue To Force The State To Act On Cap And Invest »

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