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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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears for an extensive discussion with the All In podcast.  Secretary Lutnick has been a 30-year friend of President Trump and is currently one of the most critical members of the MAGAnomic team who are executing Trump’s agenda to Make America Great Again.

Secretary Lutnick outlines the background of what makes President Trump so effective in his position, and within the discussion Lutnick notes at the core of Donald Trump is “the most intuitive person he has ever known.”  This is a casual discussion about President Trump and how Lutnick came into the administration.  WATCH:

CHAPTERS:

(0:00) Chamath and Friedberg welcome Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick!
(1:10) Howard describes his 30+ year relationship with President Trump and his road from business to politics
(14:44) Running Trump’s transition team, DOGE origin story, what it’s like working for Trump
(38:01) Balancing the budget and fixing GDP
(52:21) Tariff history and strategy, global trade
(1:10:34) Trump Cards, building better government software, AI thoughts
(1:22:49) Sovereign Wealth Fund strategy
(1:37:16) How his family reacted to his new role

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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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The example of Canadian ready-to-assemble furniture supplier Prepac is a case study in what Robert Lighthizer was discussing with Tucker Carlson yesterday.

Prepac is a furniture company that creates the pre-fab (particle board) type furniture [company here].  The company was founded and established in Canada and previously opened a second facility for manufacturing and distribution in North Carolina.

The U.S. market is their primary sales market, and facing increased uncertainty about access, tariffs and operations their best play is to close shop in Canada and move all operations to the location of their primary customer base.  Prepac is leaving Canada for North Carolina.

DELTA, British Columbia — Canadian ready-to-assemble furniture supplier Prepac has reportedly shut down its manufacturing operations in Delta, British Columbia, shifting all production to its facility in North Carolina instead.

According to Unifor, the union that represents Prepac’s workers, tariffs are to blame. More than 170 workers will be laid off.

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If you appreciate and understand the background of MAGAnomic endeavor; or if you want to hear the arguments about why trade tariffs are critical to maintain American economic sovereignty; this interview with former United States Trade Representative (USTR) is for you.

USTR Lighthizer walks through the intents and purposes of President Trump’s tariff program. Lighthizer gives a historic review of U.S trade policy and outcomes.  WATCH:

Chapters:
0:00 Why Do We Need to Reinstitute Tariffs?
6:10 The Slow Death of America’s Working Class
13:35 Donald Trump’s Plan to Fix the Economy

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I do not like this Canadian Prime Minister even a little bit; however, Mark Carney getting elected to run Canada would be the greatest benefit to MAGAnomics in the United States.  The insufferable doofus is completely enthralled with the views, perspectives and ideologies of globalism.

Prime Minister Carney’s “conservative” opponent, Pierre Marcel Poilievre, is a softer, gentler, and more effeminate version of former U.S. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney: he growls through his cashmere. In short, Canada is screwed.

All of that said, the normal thinking Canadians need to get through a Romney to get to a Trump; so, perhaps it’s better if Canada just increases the speed of the downward economic slope by installing Carney.

Somewhere around 80% of Canadians have no concept of how their economy is functioning {GO DEEP}. Most Canadians seem to think they have some form of capitalistic system in operation and tweeking the knobs will fix things; it won’t.

So, from an American political perspective, having Mark Carney carry out his policies and watching the system therein collapse, might break the borg-mindset.  It will be massively painful for Canadians when their currency hits around 0.25¢ to the US dollar.  However, that currency collapse will ¹more than eliminate any Trump tariff impact.

Prime Minister Carney outlined yesterday how he will increase the industrial carbon tax in order to align with U.K and EU trade partners on the issue of climate change. Taxing carbon, he says, is the key to unlocking excellent trade agreements with other ‘global trade partners’ who can then fill the void created by disconnecting Canada from the USA economy.

No, really, he said that. Carney believes it with all his heart. These economic comments come on the heels of Mark Carney telling French President Emmanuel Macron –in public– that Canada was the most European of countries outside the EU.  WATCH THIS (prompted):

¹Here’s how it will happen. CAD = Canadian Dollar, USD = U.S Dollar

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At the conclusion of a G7 summit in Quebec, Canada, Secretary of State Marco Rubio talks about the geopolitical realities of coming to a place where a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia is possible.

This is a very solid outline from Marco Rubio who appears to have found his ideal career position as U.S. Secretary of State.  Rubio simply shines in this role.  This is a 20-minute press conference where Rubio weaves through the narrative engineering, and puts the bigger picture of national security, economic security, and pragmatic U.S. foreign policy into a very well-presented package.

As the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick interview yesterday was a ‘must watch’ segment, so too is this press conference by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.  WATCH:

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President Trump hosts Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin in celebration of St Patrick’s Day and takes questions from the traveling press pool and DC stenographers. WATCH:

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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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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, another deliberate and happy warrior, appears on Face the Nation to deconstruct the narratives presented by NBC and Kirsten Welker.

Starting with the Mexico and Canada tariff issues, Welker incorrectly frames the current issue around economics. Secretary Lutnick presents the issue of the current Mex/Can confrontation for what President Trump has prioritized, the issue of illegal fentanyl smuggling across the border.

100,000+ Americans are killed each year with the intentional and purposeful transportation of Chinese drugs through the U.S. southern border of Mexico and the U.S northern border with Canada.  Both nations could, if they wanted, crack down on the illegal and dangerous drug trade; neither has prioritized the problem. Again, 100,000+ Americans are killed each year.  Think about it.  WATCH: 

“This is the way you run the country,” Lutnick said on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” with Kristen Welker. “You shut the border. You get our neighbors to do their job. It’s not only us who has to do their job. Why are our neighbors, who live and breathe off our economy, not taking care of America?”

“You have to remember this is a drug-related issue,” Lutnick said. “You’ve got fentanyl pouring into this country, killing 75,000 Americans, autopsied. And the president, you know, thinks it’s many, many more, multiples more.”

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