Our own analysis of U.S. consumer prices in 2019 showed that prices of imported goods actually declined despite the tariffs. A recent report from CPA takes a look at the impact to Chinese exports to the U.S.  [SEE DATA HERE] Bottom line, the tariffs worked to reduce Chinese imports.

CPA – […] Since the Section 301 tariffs were imposed, the share of imports from China has steadily declined from 21.6% in 2017 the year prior to the tariffs to 16.5%, a decline of 5.1%. No other country has lost as much share of total U.S. import penetration over the past five years.

In terms of total import value, Mexico gained the most from the tariffs, adding $110.8 billion. Vietnam gained the second most in import value by $78.4 billion and by far gained the most of total share of U.S. imports. In 2017, Vietnam accounted for about 2% of U.S. imports at $46.5 billion. In 2022, the U.S. imported $127.5 billion in goods from Vietnam, and the share of the total nearly doubled to 3.9%. Other countries in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia all saw significant increases in their value of imports by the U.S. (read more)

With the 2024 election rapidly coming, it is worth revisiting the actual tariff outcome to American consumers in order to dispel the popular myths about tariffs raising prices here at home.  This might be the cited data you want to bookmark for later reference.

It was the Fourth Quarter of 2019…..

Right before the pandemic would hit a few months later, despite two years of doomsayer predictions from Wall Street’s professional punditry, all of them said Trump’s 2017 steel and aluminum tariffs on China, Canada and the EU would create massive inflation – it just wasn’t happening!

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There really isn’t much you can say about what was witnessed last night in the People’s House. Joe Biden shouting at America for an hour while muttering something about snickers bars, snack food and the need to send billions of dollars to Ukraine was essentially the gist.

Following one of the most incoherent teleprompter reads in the history of presidential politics, one can only imagine how Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin were briefed on what took place in Washington DC at 9:00pm. Suffice to say, no sleep was lost amid the global community of leaders who smile as the USA influence collapses.

What was even more goofy, was the pretending amid the corporate media that Joe Biden said stuff that was discernable and/or potentially fitting the office of the executive. The various news agencies each described the color of the emperor’s new coat as if it actually existed. The pretending was/is simply off the charts bizarre, and normal Americans tuned out and went on about doing things normal Americans do.

That said, Tucker Carlson watched the naked emperor and livestreamed his thoughts on the insanity of the event, he then gives a reaction. WATCH:

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It’s hard to live in a country where ‘pretending’ is the new normal in politics and media.

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The Daily Mail has an article detailing dozens of violent crimes perpetrated by Joe Biden’s illegal alien border invasion [SEE HERE]. The subject theme is “the grim toll of a migrant crime wave sweeping across the United States.”  The article details the graphic and horrific nature of multiple violent criminals who came into the country illegally and murdered, raped, assaulted and organized into groups for the purpose of robbery and theft.

Additionally, in Polk County Florida, Sheriff Grady Judd outlines a sting operation called “March Sadness” where 228 people were arrested and 13 victims of human trafficking were rescued by the police unit.  The details shared by Sherriff Judd are sobering as he outlines exactly what was taking place and how the illegal alien trafficking system is creating victims from many of the female migrants. [ARTICLE HERE] – WATCH (prompted):

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The details of these articles and press conferences are likely not a surprise to CTH readers as we have discussed exactly these scenarios in our SAF (slowly at first) ground reports.  Unfortunately, the outcomes described by the Daily Mail accounting and the sting operation by Sherriff Judd are likely only the tip of the iceberg.

What Judd outlines about the federal government giving the illegal aliens free airline tickets is infuriating.  Watch that video above for details.

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Hunter Biden spent 6 hours testifying on Capitol Hill Wednesday and giving obtuse answers to questions from a joint panel from the House Oversight and House Judiciary Committee.

Within his testimony Hunter Biden consistently blamed his drug addiction for his memory lapses and suggested he was often too high/stoned to recall events.   Within the testimony he claimed to have attempted to kill himself ‘on a daily basis.’

The majority of the questioning surrounded his father Joe Biden’s involvement in various payment schemes that were part of the foreign businesses Hunter was responsible for handling.   Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky) made the full transcript available to the public earlier today.  The 229-page document is full of information – READ HERE.

[READ FULL TRANSCRIPT]

WASHINGTON — First son Hunter Biden corroborated many of the core facts in what Republicans say is a constellation of interactions between Joe Biden and his offspring’s foreign partners that shows Hunter and his uncle James were selling access to their powerful relative.

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The interesting aspect to this report is that the former Obama aides and officials now criticizing the physical and mental acuity of Joe Biden are all named and doing so on the record.   This datapoint aligns with my retained perspective that Joe Biden will be replaced as the 2024 presidential candidate during the Democrat convention in Chicago.

If Biden is not replaced, it simply means the larger and more influential Obama political team are allowing him to fail. However, because there is still sufficient risk to the Obama legacy for a second Trump term, the most likely outcome is a switch to another candidate (Newsom/Rice) during the nomination convention.

(New York Post) – Former aides who worked directly with then-Vice President Joe Biden in the Obama administration have called current fears over his age “a very real issue” — with some alarmed at how he has become more “frail” and “mumbly.”

“If you watch Joe Biden speak, oftentimes he sounds frail and he sounds more frail than he used to, even in 2019 and 2020,” Jon Favreau, the chief speechwriter for Obama when Biden was vice president, said in a recent episode of the “Pod Save America” podcast.

“The voice sounds frail, and he shuffles more because of the arthritis in his back,” Favreau said, adding that the oldest-ever president also appears “mumbly.” (read more)

Jon Favreau, Dan Pfeiffer, David Axelrod and Jon Lovett are all on the record within this report. It is doubtful they would be so publicly critical without a background intention.  Quite simply, they would not be undermining Biden if they thought he was their only possibility…. not this late.   They have another alternative in mind.

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This is likely to be a very interesting interview for multiple reasons.  The “Western world” has not heard much unfiltered or unscripted news about Russian President Vladimir Putin for several years, essentially since the sanctions were imposed in the aftermath of Russia’s entry into Ukraine and the subsequent war.

The backlash against Tucker Carlson has been extreme ever since his entry into Russia and visibility in Moscow was noticed.  President Putin having the ability to speak directly to a Western audience is not something any of the Western government officials are comfortable with.

[ TuckerCarlson.Com LINK ]

The following is an UPDATED version of the Carlson interview. 

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The Senate immigration bill, aka border security bill, is only designed as the cover for the Senate to send $60 billion more to Ukraine.  The Ukraine money is the priority (corps/lobbyists) the border “security” bill is the technique to create and spend it.

That said, they certainly would not want to let a created and purposeful border crisis go to waste, and they didn’t.  The latest version of the Senate Immigration Reform Bill is now public [SEE HERE].  The proposed Senate border security bill provisions are actually worse than existing non-secure border provisions.

[LINK TO BILL]

America First Legal did a great job hitting on the top-line issues created by this new bill.  In many ways, multiple ways, this supplemental “border security” bill makes things worse.  The bill codifies into law the loopholes currently being used to increase the number of illegal aliens.  By this design the bill makes things worse.

Link to thread taking the bill apart section by section – SEE HERE

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In the ridiculous federal election interference case in D.C., President Trump’s attorneys argued to the DC Circuit appellate court that President Trump holds inherent constitutional immunity. In essence, because President Trump was acquitted by the Senate of claims he incited or instigated the January 6, 2021, events, lawyers arguing under the constitution that only impeached and removed presidents can be criminally prosecuted.

The initial 3-judge panel of the court has taken up the appeal, and all subsequent lower court activity was suspended until the constitutional issue is resolved. Again, if President Trump does not have immunity, then all preceding and future presidents can be criminally prosecuted for any/all events and decisions while holding office. This is a core issue, and the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has to tread very carefully with these ramifications at the forefront.

The decision of the 3-judge panel could also be followed by a full en-banc review by all judges in the circuit. Then, depending on their decision, it could -likely will- go even higher to the U.S. Supreme Court. All of this takes time, and the initial 3-judge appeals court have not provided any hints on their timeline.

Apparently, as a consequence, the entire trial of the case has been removed from the lower DC court docket. The removal took place within the last few days, and the Washington Post noticed the removal. This removal means the timing of the case, if at all, is completely unknown now.

WASHINGTON – Former president Donald Trump’s March 4 trial date on charges of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election has been dropped from the public calendar of the federal court in Washington, a sign of what has long been anticipated — that his claim of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution would delay his trial while it remains on appeal.

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Obama and Biden like Iran.  Obama and Biden are facilitating a pro-Iran policy.  Obama and Biden don’t want to do anything against the interests of their pro-Iran position.  That’s the simple baseline.

As a direct consequence, the same U.S. intelligence community that proclaimed the Hunter Biden laptop was disinformation, now modify their prior intelligence to proclaim that Iran likely doesn’t have any control over the various terrorist networks they support.  As a result, Biden cannot conduct a retaliatory strike against Iran because Biden cannot prove a direct link to Iran.

Our intel agencies are essentially falling on the sword of ‘some people did something, but we can’t be sure.’ See how this works?

WASHINGTON – Intelligence officials have calculated that Tehran does not have full control over its proxy groups in the Middle East, including those responsible for attacking and killing U.S. troops in recent weeks, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The Quds Force — an elite branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps — is responsible for sending weapons and military advisers as well as intelligence to support militias in Iraq and Syria as well as the Houthis in Yemen. The groups have varying ambitions and agendas, which sometimes overlap, but Tehran does not appear to have complete authority over their operational decision-making, the officials said.

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Tucker Carlson interviews Bret Weinstein who traveled to the Darien Gap to understand who’s behind the invasion of our country. His conclusion: “it’s not a friendly migration.” He sits down with Tucker Carlson for an in-depth review and analysis.

Weinstein is perplexed, albeit with various theories about the origination and motives behind the mass invasion, however, if you have followed the issue closely since the first rendition during the Obama era in January 2011, the entire “crisis” is nothing more than one growing continuum of the fundamental change.  {Go Deep on Timeline} Obama originated the UAC Central American migration.  The additional arrivals are a confluence of natural opportunists facilitated by various leftist orgs and countries.

The interview itself is very interesting, including how the Chinese saw the opportunity created by the Obama effort and started taking advantage of it.  WATCH:

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