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EU Commision Komisar Ursula von der Leyen Reacts to U.S. Tariffs and Prepares Countermeasures Against American Interests

President Donald J Trump announcing the end of the 80-year-old Marshall Plan (aka The European Recovery Program) of one-way tariffs against American imports has triggered a very predictable response from the European Union.

While saying the EU is prepared to enter negations toward a zero-tariff trade reciprocity, Comrade Ursula von der Leyen simultaneously announced that Brussels is prepared to launch countermeasures against The United States, in an effort to retain economic control and access to a U.S. consumer market they must exploit for their economic survival.

Speaking in very deliberate terms, the EU Komisar states the U.S. decision to demand reciprocity, and fairness will deliver “immense” and “dire consequences” for the New World Order and “global trading system.”  von der Leyen proclaims that global citizens will be impacted with higher grocery bills, shortages of medication and increased costs for transportation.

The leader of the world’s largest bureaucracy stunningly proclaims President Trump’s tariffs will increase the “burdens of bureaucracy.” The one-sided benefits and “interests of the European Union” will be protected at all costs.   WATCH:

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Regarding “countermeasures.” Again, we repeat the predicable response.  Together with their unelected ally in Canada controlling the North American response, watch for the EU to target Big USA Tech companies and financial service sectors.

The goal of the EU will be to assemble a tariff countermeasure response that will deliver political pain, not economic consequences.  That’s just how they roll.  The EU will leverage disgruntled Wall Street, banking and Technocracy sectors in order to put political pressure on Donald Trump to back down.

Optically this is the worst possible type of pontificating EU spokesperson to generate internal American opposition.  Frankly comrade Ursula, MAGA don’t give a damn. [Pinky Finger Salute]

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World’s Largest Oil Refining Company Halts Venezuelan Oil Purchases Following President Trump Tariff Announcement

Last week President Trump announced secondary tariffs of 25% against any nation who purchases oil from Venezuela.  The approach was in response to the Venezuelan government refusing repatriation of their criminal gang members and organized narcotraffickers.

India operates the world’s largest oil refining company Reliance Industries, and facing the possibility of 25% tariffs against India, Reliance has cancelled oil purchases from Venezuela.

NEW DELHI, March 26 (Reuters) – India’s Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), opens new tab, operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, will halt Venezuelan oil imports after the United States announced a 25% tariff on nations buying crude from the South American nation, three sources said on Wednesday.

The Indian conglomerate, which last year obtained approval from U.S. authorities to purchase oil from the sanctioned producer, imports an average of 2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude every month, according to LSEG data.

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More Winning – President Trump Announces Major $20 Billion Investment from Hyundai in United States

Tariffs simply work. This is no longer a debatable issue, and decades of Wall Street gaslighting collapses as the outcomes of tariffs generate visible economic benefits for all Americans.

South Korea-based Hyundai and President Donald Trump announced a $20 billion investment in US on-shoring on Monday, which includes a $5 billion steel plant in Louisiana,

The $5.8 billion Louisiana facility will be the car manufacturers’ first steel manufacturing facility in the US and will produce more than 2.7 million metric tons of steel a year and create more than 1,400 jobs. It will supply steel to auto plants in Alabama and Georgia, Trump said in remarks at the White House.

The announcement at the White House included President Trump, Hyundai Chairman Euisun Chung and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. WATCH:

The Hyundai announcement comes as the highly anticipated April 2nd “reciprocity tariffs” are scheduled to begin against all nations.  For the EU this means an end to the 80-year-old Marshal plan of economic benefit.

Effective April 2, 2025, the U.S. will begin a process of reciprocal tariffs on imports from all nations with tariffs against U.S. products.

If a nation charges a 20% tariff on a U.S. good, in combination with a 20% non-tariff trade barrier, President Trump will calculate the financial impact and then reciprocate with a 40% tariff put on that nation’s goods being imported to the USA.

Globally, all nations are calculating how to deal with this issue.  Hyundai’s best position calculations end up with this announcement.

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President Trump Announces Secondary Tariff Regime Against Nations Who Purchase Venezuelan Oil

President Trump makes an announcement of secondary tariffs targeting Venezuela by triggering a 25% tariff against any nation who purchases Venezuelan oil or gas.

China is the largest purchaser of Venezuelan oil, followed by the USA after Joe Biden changed the sanctions regime.

The tariff timeline is set to trigger on April 2nd, the same date as the reciprocal tariffs against all nations.

Truth Social “President Donald J. Trump announced today that the United States of America will be putting what is known as a Secondary Tariff on the Country of Venezuela, for numerous reasons, including the fact that Venezuela has purposefully and deceitfully sent to the United States, undercover, tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals, many of whom are murderers and people of a very violent nature.

Among the gangs they sent to the United States, is Tren de Aragua, which has been given the designation of “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” We are in the process of returning them to Venezuela — It is a big task! In addition, Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse.

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Installed Prime Minister Mark Carney Schedules Canadian SNAP Election for April 28th

Interim installed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has confirmed the snap election for Canada is scheduled for April 28, 2025.

Given that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre generally sealed his fate with criticism of President Trump while aligning himself with a surging patriotic-leftist movement, it is now expected that Mark Carney will win the election.

Politico has an article about the dynamic underway, and the following quotes are noteworthy:

CANADA – […] Trump has even taken credit for turning the Liberals’ fortunes around.

“Before I got involved and totally changed the election — which I don’t care about, probably, it’s our advantage, actually — but the Conservative was leading against, I call him Governor Trudeau. The conservative was leading by 35 points,” he said Friday, while exaggerating the polls.

“I think Canada is a place, like a lot of other places, if you have a good candidate, the candidate is going to work,” Trump said.

[…] Canadians have responded to Trump’s intimidation tactics with an outburst of patriotism. They are canceling spring break plans, buying made-in-Canada products, damaging Teslas and booing “The Star Spangled Banner” at professional sporting events.

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Very Important Interview – Strategic Points Raised by Special Envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff

If you are concerned about the economics of American life, the first step is to understand the financial influences that were put into place by President Obama, then again with Obama’s team using the auspices of Joe Biden.

President Trump is rapidly untangling the tentacles of Obama’s “share the wealth” exfiltration policy, and he will achieve success on a scale most economic analysts cannot fathom.  Traditional financial media, including those who follow the influences of Wall Street are constrained by their need to retain pretenses.  However, President Trump and his economic team are very clear-eyed and focused.

We are already seeing major drops in core energy prices including gasoline.  These decreases will have downstream impacts on all consumer goods, and we will notice a significant drop in food prices in two steps.

The first will be moderate and the result of harvest one cost decreases. The second price drop will be even greater and will come as a result in major farm costs for the second harvest sequence. By Thanksgiving 2025, lowered energy prices in combination with ‘food prepared at home’ price drops will be the leading cause of a major decline in inflation.

In the background of this domestic outcome, the April 2nd tariffs will start to ripple through durable goods.  Initially, there will be waves and fluctuations as some durable goods prices increase and other durable goods prices decrease.  The more the components of the product are domestically manufactured, the more the price of the end product will drop in price.

As a result, the aggregate downward pressure (higher domestic content) will exceed the upward pressure (higher import content component goods) and overall prices for durable goods will decline.  This deflationary pressure point will increase over time as the end of the Marshal Plan starts to return dollars to the United States.

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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Outlines Global Impact and Response from USA Tariff Hammer

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears on CBS News to outline how the MAGAnomic tariff program immediately creates positive outcomes when President Trump identifies the specific targets.

As Lutnick appropriately notes, the EU has received one-way tariff benefit since the creation of the Marshal Plan in 1945.  President Trump is on track to finally end this exfiltration of American wealth.  Lutnick cuts through the nonsense and delivers a very non-pretending reality as he outlines how Canada doesn’t stop fentanyl, and Mexico doesn’t stop migration caravans.

This is an excellent explanatory outline of how President Trump paints the target, then Commerce Secretary Lutnick supports the targeting, and how foreign nations immediately respond to change their approach. WATCH:

As we notice today, for the first time since last year the Consumer Price Index now shows inflation slowing rapidly [CPI DATA HERE] as basic essential prices on energy and gasoline are dropping quickly and all downstream products start dropping in sequence.

Here is our current status after one month: – mortgage rates are down – egg prices are down – gas prices are down – overall inflation dropping – illegal immigration stopped at the border – wages going up – foreign aid shut down – woke initiatives being removed – massive manufacturing investments ongoing.

Hey, it’s winning folks, and it has only just begun.  Lutnick is absolutely correct.

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25 Percent Tariffs Against Mexico and Canada Begin Tuesday

For many of us who walk the deep weeds of honest economic analysis, this is the moment we have been waiting for.

Second only to the elimination of the U.S-Marshal Plan, which is scheduled to end April 2, 2025, the structural implementation of North American tariffs against Mexico and Canada provides the most significant opportunity for GDP expansion, jobs, wage increases and massive economic gains in the United States.

Simultaneous to the tariffs scheduled to go into effect tomorrow, President Trump notes U.S. food prices are positioned for major supply-demand changes that will benefit all American consumers.  What President Trump notes in the Truth Social message below, is a reality we experienced in 2018/2019 as the result of national agriculture supply.

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White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNBC on Monday that the inflationary impact from any tariffs would be “second-order small, so I don’t see the president wavering on any of this, because he knows in order to get to a world in which America is strong and prosperous, with real wages going up and (more) factory jobs. This is the path that he’s chosen.” (more)

CTH outlined the prediction for ’18/’19 back in 2016 when we discussed what happens when the American food supply equation is modified to focus on domestic production to the benefit of domestic consumers.   The food supply chain will shift, slowly at first and then ultimately by around Thanksgiving of this year (fall harvest) we will see major price drops in the American food basket.

There are going to be major opposition forces, notably related to decades of Big Ag exfiltration, screaming that U.S. consumers will see higher prices.  However, as previously experienced/outlined these claims are entirely false. We will see major drops in food prices as a result of a more balanced U.S production-import/export dynamic.

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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Discusses Visa ‘Gold Cards’, Reciprocal Tariffs, Budget Balancing Priorities

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is at the operational center of the MAGAnomic policy hub.  Secretary Lutnick is the pivot point to the technical systems that will pay down the deficit and balance the USA budget. {Direct Rumble Link Here}

In this lengthy interview with Bret Baier, Secretary Lutnick talks about some of the policy proposals, direct actions of the government and economic systems that he and President Trump are putting into place that will grow Main Street and fuel the golden era in American economic growth.  Well worth watching: 

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April 2nd, 2025, begins the reciprocal tariff program for all nations.

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President Trump Signs Energy Executive Order and Holds Impromptu Press Conference from the Oval Office

Together with cabinet members from Commerce, the EPA and Energy, President Trump signed two executive orders today and holds yet another lengthy impromptu press conference.

The first XO was an order to remove federal COVID-19 mandates in education. No more COVID vaccines are federally mandated for school attendance.  The second XO is targeting the energy sector to unleash American energy independence [SEE HERE]. The Energy XO encompasses the revitalization of energy infrastructure and creating access to federal energy resources.

Additionally, keeping with a new process of holding impromptu press availabilities, President Trump took several questions from the media about ongoing current events including the meetings taking place in Europe around the Russia -v- Ukraine conflict.  WATCH:

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The press availability allows President Trump to speak directly to events as they unfold. It is remarkable transparency that cuts through the ability of the media to frame current issues.  A very smart communication strategy.

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