Secretary of State Marco Rubio is attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.  The timing puts Secretary Rubio in Europe just as NATO allies and European countries are reviewing the impact of the reciprocal tariffs levied against them by President Trump.

The press pool reacts to the concerns of several European and NATO member states through their questions.  Secretary Rubio eloquently cuts through the nonsense, through the narrative engineering, and deliberately – with clarity – outlines the position of the Trump administration.  Secretary Rubio is well within his element in these responses.

Rubio has really showcased a remarkable talent in support of President Trump and the diplomatic agenda of the Trump administration; remarkably so.  The era of pretending diplomacy is coming rapidly to a close and Rubio is doing very well in his position.  WATCH: 

.

(more…)

Vice President JD Vance appears on Fox News this morning to discuss the trade tariffs and the ongoing MAGAnomic trade reset.

The reciprocal tariffs and global trade rebalance are two components of a much larger MAGAnomic policy.  Tax structures to the benefit of the working-class, upward pressure on wages and expanded GDP growth are all elements of increasing the wealth of Main Street and middle-class Americans. WATCH:

.

(more…)

The response from the EU is exactly what we would expect to see from the end of the 80-year-old Marshal Plan.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyden has three big concerns with the new trade/tariff reset.  I strongly suggest everyone to read the EU concerns slowly to fully absorb decades of hypocrisy now surfacing:

#1 The EU will not be able to compete for U.S. market share with 20% general tariffs and 25% auto tariffs.

#2 The EU must deploy countermeasures against the risk of losing industrial capacity and manufacturing to the United States.

And #3 The EU must defend itself against China dumping cheap products into the EU now rejected by the USA.

von der Leyen is concerned mostly about the extremely valuable U.S. consumer being leveraged by President Trump, essentially blocking exploitation from EU and Asia. The EU will not tolerate losing access to the most valuable customers in the world, Americans.

(more…)

The de minimis loophole comes from back in the 1930s. The idea back then was, say you went on a vacation to Paris, you shouldn’t have to file customs paperwork or pay taxes if you decided to ship some little Eiffel Tower statues to your friends back home.

Congress in 2015 then raised the de minimis threshold from $200 to $800. However, the e-commerce world exploded, and Chinese companies began using the de minimis loophole to ship cheap goods (ex. Temu and Shein) into the USA direct to consumers without paying any customs duty.

Yesterday as part of the global trade reset and tariff structure, President Trump revoked authorization for Chinese goods to transfer to the USA using the de minimis rule. The de minimis exemption has been cancelled for all products coming out of China. The rule change only targets China and Chinese shippers. No one else.

[See Executive Order Here]

The minimum duty is $25, and the tariff rate is 30% for all products mailed from China into the USA that previously qualified under the de minimis rule.

Beyond tariffs or sector specific countervailing duties, the removal of China to use the $800 de minimis exemption will destroy their economy.  There is no way for manufacturers in China, marketed into the USA, to be able to survive if they are forced to collect and organize the requirements for U.S. custom and import duties. They will simply dissolve.

FACT SHEET – […] “Following the Secretary of Commerce’s notification that adequate systems are in place to collect tariff revenue, President Trump is ending duty-free de minimis treatment for covered goods from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Hong Kong starting May 2, 2025 at 12:01 a.m. EDT.

Imported goods sent through means other than the international postal network that are valued at or under $800 and that would otherwise qualify for the de minimis exemption will be subject to all applicable duties, which shall be paid in accordance with applicable entry and payment procedures.

(more…)

Here are the basic resources you need to dive into President Trump’s global trade and tariff reset.  Topline opinion at the end of the document summaries.

♦ United States Trade Representative: 397-page detailed analysis of global trade relationships with the United States. The 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE) is the 40th report in an annual series that highlights significant foreign barriers to U.S. exports, U.S. foreign direct investment, and U.S. electronic commerce. This document is a companion piece to the President’s 2025 Trade Policy Agenda and 2024 Annual Report, published by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on February 28, 2025. SEE REPORT HERE

♦ President Trump Executive Order: Regulating Imports with a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices that Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits. READ EXECUTIVE ORDER HERE:

♦ ANNEX #1 – Outlining the tariff rate per country as assigned.  SEE HERE

[SOURCE]

♦ ANNEX #2: 37-pages outlining the products that are exempted from the globally specified tariffs. The tariffs generally target completed goods, finished durable goods, not necessarily the chemical components or compounds needed if we are to manufacture or build the product in the USA.  Therefore Annex 2 provides the list of all products, chemicals, components and compounds that are exempt from the tariff program.  [SEE EXEMPTIONS HERE]

(more…)

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discusses President Trump’s tariff plans, federal deficit negotiations and the efforts to extend the 2017 tax cuts with Annmarie Hordern on “Balance of Power.”

Bessent walks through a strong, focused and deliberate outline while warning other nations not to assemble any retaliatory effort, or else the tariff ceiling currently outlined is likely to go much higher.  WATCH:

SEGMENTS:
00:00- Bessent says of tariffs, “this is the number barring retaliation”
01:20- China tariff rate, potential rate
03:13- Bessent on markets: “A mag seven problem, not a MAGA problem
05:07- Potential timing of reconciliation bill
07:00 – US on Debt ‘Warning Track’ for May or June
07:45 – Bessent on raising revenues through tariffs
09:18 -Bessent discusses US soft data, sentiment
10:25 – Government agenda for the remainder of 2025, Ukraine progress, and Iran

(more…)

Senior White House Officials Taylor Budowich, Stephen Miller, and Karoline Leavitt have a discussion on Tariffs with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

President Trump’s trade and tariff policy is a complete restructuring and reset of the U.S. economy and manufacturing base.  The former presidential administrations (both parties) from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan, to George HW Bush, to Bill Clinton, to George W Bush, to Barack Obama and forward to Joe Biden, all of them purposefully and with specific intent taking apart the U.S. manufacturing base through trade and economic policy.

The discussion below is familiar to those who have watched the MAGAnomic policy unfold.  However, for those who are only beginning to understand just how impactful these policies will have on the life of your family, this conversation begins the journey.  WATCH:

.

(more…)

President Trump delivers a speech at the White House outlining a global trade reset established on the principle of trade and tariff reciprocity.  [Primary Executive Order Here]  – [Executive Order Here]

“The post-war international economic system was based upon three incorrect assumptions: first, that if the United States led the world in liberalizing tariff and non-tariff barriers the rest of the world would follow; second, that such liberalization would ultimately result in more economic convergence and increased domestic consumption among U.S. trading partners converging towards the share in the United States; and third, that as a result, the United States would not accrue large and persistent goods trade deficits.”

“Put simply, while World Trade Organization (WTO) Members agreed to bind their tariff rates on a most-favored-nation (MFN) basis and thereby provide their best tariff rates to all WTO Members, they did not agree to bind their tariff rates at similarly low levels or to apply tariff rates on a reciprocal basis.  Consequently, according to the WTO, the United States has among the lowest simple average MFN tariff rates in the world at 3.3 percent, while many of our key trading partners like Brazil (11.2 percent), China (7.5 percent), the European Union (EU) (5 percent), India (17 percent), and Vietnam (9.4 percent) have simple average MFN tariff rates that are significantly higher.”

.

Country-specific ad valorem rates of duty as specified in Annex I to the main Executive Order.

The tariffs generally target completed goods, not the imported chemical or component materials needed to by industry to manufacture the products domestically.  Annex II are the exemptions to the Executive Order.

I have been going through the details and will have much more soon.

(more…)

Wall Street, the Bankers, the Hedge Funds, the multinational corporations, K-Street Lobbying firms, Democrats, Republicans, leftists, globalists, and every other segment of the financial media who define themselves through the prism of their bank accounts, need someone else to blame for the Trump tariffs; because Trump doesn’t care.

It looks like the professional political class have decided to focus all financial firepower against Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

With the anticipated reciprocal tariffs announcement tomorrow, Liberty Day as President Trump calls it, the high-finance multinationals and Wall Street crowd are going bananas. Here come the hits against Lutnick.

(Politico) -‘I don’t know anyone that isn’t pissed off at him’: Trump world turns on Lutnick. As ‘Liberation Day’ nears, patience for the Commerce secretary is wearing thin across the Trump administration. (read more)

(New York Post) – Frustration grows with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ahead of Trump tariff announcement: ‘Loose cannon with half-baked ideas’ (read more)

(more…)

Appearing on Fox New with Maria Bartiromo, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett walks through the intent of the upcoming April 2nd ‘liberation day’ tariffs.

Hassett notes the auto tariffs are likely to generationally change the dynamic of car manufacturing in the USA.  Additionally, the stock market disruption is entirely predictable against the dynamic of Wall Street -vs- Main Street. WATCH:

Today, exclusively on @SundayFutures with @MariaBartiromo, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett #KevinHassett spoke about President Trump preparing to announce reciprocal tariffs this Wednesday.@FoxNews pic.twitter.com/1lU8w9w0FB

— SundayMorningFutures (@SundayFutures) March 30, 2025

.

(more…)