As expected, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has completed the Section 301 review of “forced labor practices” in manufacturing and trade. [USTR Announcement Here]

As a result of the findings, a tariff rate of 10% to 12.5% is being added to the goods from a host of countries evaluated.  These 301 duties are in addition to currently existing tariff rates. [FACT SHEET] Trading partners that have made commitments to adopt, and effectively enforce, forced labor import prohibitions will have a 10% tariff, and trading partners that have failed to adopt a forced labor import prohibition will have a 12.5% tariff rate.

• The following 54 economies have failed to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor:

Algeria; Angola; Argentina; Australia; the Bahamas; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Brazil; Cambodia; Chile; China, People’s Republic of; Colombia; Costa Rica; Dominican Republic; Egypt; El Salvador; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Hong Kong, China; India; Iraq; Israel; Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kuwait; Libya; Malaysia; Morocco; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Norway; Oman; Peru; the Philippines; Qatar; Russia; Saudi Arabia; Singapore; South Africa; South Korea; Sri Lanka; Switzerland; Taiwan; Thailand; Trinidad and Tobago; Türkiye; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; Uruguay; Venezuela; and Vietnam.

• The following six economies have failed to effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor:

Canada, Ecuador, the European Union, Indonesia, Mexico, and Pakistan.

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Earlier today President Trump welcomed the 2025 World Series Champion LA Dodgers to the White House to honor their championship victory.  WATCH:

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The Canadian government has cancelled their participation in a joint U.S-Canada ribbon cutting ceremony because President Trump has hurt their feelings with a new tariff announcement.

It is the official position of the Canadian government not to join in any collaborative celebration.  This comes on the heels of the Premier of British Columbia, David Eby, asking his staff to revoke the Canada statement celebrating America’s 250th Independence Day.  Take that Trump! {{harrumph}}

CANADA – A planned joint ceremony on Friday between the U.S. and Canada marking the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge has been canceled after President Trump announced a 50 percent tariff on certain Canadian imports, including alcohol and dairy.

“In light of trade action threatened by the United States earlier this week, it would be inappropriate to proceed with a celebratory event between the two countries,” Jenna Ghassabeh, a spokesperson for Canadian Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson, said in a statement to the Associated Press.

“We remain committed to opening the bridge on July 27th, and to celebrating this milestone among Canadians on July 24th,” she continued. (read more)

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There are various points of view on a controversial section 219 within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bill that passed the House of Representatives last night and is heading to the Senate.

Section 219 (formerly Section 224) is part of the Fiscal Year 2027 NDAA. It directs the Secretary of Defense to designate a Pentagon executive agent responsible for overseeing the United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative, which aims to accelerate joint research, development, testing, evaluation, and industrial cooperation between the U.S. and Israel in defense technologies; specifically: missile defense, counter-drone systems, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum computing, directed energy, biotechnology, and autonomous systems.

Many people are mistakenly viewing this section as a merge of the military; that’s not the case.  The issue is specifically about joint collaboration on missile defense systems and drone technology.  Secretary Marco Rubio was asked about it today.  Rubio’s response is outlined below:

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, you know the Senate better than most anybody. They’re debating the new military policy bill right now after the House passed it. One of the more controversial topics is about fusing the U.S. and Israeli military when it comes to co-production on things. Do you have any sovereignty concerns about that, if there are situations where the United States wants to send weapons? Iron Dome came up with Ukraine when the Israelis —

SECRETARY RUBIO: You’re asking about NDAA? Yeah, I mean, that – largely the Department of War manages that legislative portfolio, so I’m aware of the provision you’re discussing that involves cooperation on technology. And look, at the end of the day, the truth is we do that with countries all over the world.

QUESTION: So you support it?

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a press briefing from the Brady Room.  The anticipated start time is 11:00am ET with livestream links below.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio held an extensive press availability on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Manilla. During the questions the meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was one of the key areas of focus.

Rubio noted the U.S. was still willing to play a positive and constructive role toward a ceasefire in Ukraine, with the intention of bringing an end to the hostilities and bloodshed. However, Rubio was not willing to discuss details of the private conversation with Lavrov.  WATCH:

[Transcript] – SECRETARY RUBIO: All right, what’s up?

QUESTION: Have you made any progress on Ukraine today? Is Russia serious about peace this time?

SECRETARY RUBIO: I mean, you think we settled the war in Ukraine in our 30 minutes here in Asia? That’s not the way it works. Look, we had a good conversation, a frank conversation. I’m not going to tell you what we talked about, because these – diplomacy doesn’t work well when you run to the microphones afterwards. Suffice it to say – I’ll tell you what I told you yesterday. The United States, the President’s been clear that we want – if we can, we are prepared to play a constructive role in bringing about an end to a senseless war. And we’re ready to do that, and we of course expressed that, and we’ve expressed it in other meetings. So we talked about other things as well.

QUESTION: Did you talk to him about Russia sharing information with Iran targeting U.S. troops?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, who says that they are?

QUESTION: Are they not?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Who says they are?

QUESTION: Hegseth acknowledged that Russia was enabling in some ways, both Russia and China.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, but that’s a different question from what you just asked me. Who said that they were – they’re doing that?

QUESTION: There’s been reporting that there’s – are you —

SECRETARY RUBIO: Reporting in the media?

QUESTION: Yeah.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Oh, then it must be true.

QUESTION: So is it not true?

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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I have not written about the recent events in/around Ukraine because none of it makes sense and all of the information flows through the prism of ‘western’ intelligence propaganda.

According to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy {SEE HERE}, he has removed and replaced the entire leadership apparatus of the Ukraine military.  This follows his removal of 35-year-old Mykhailo Fedorov from the defense ministry last week {CITATION} that led to massive protests against Zelenskyy and armed forces Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskiy, who was also eventually replaced.

As the story is told the young Defense Minister Mykailo Fedorov was very well regarded and was the person responsible for the successful technological advancements in military drone use.  35-year-old Fedorov was a close working partner with Palantir head Alex Karp who is assisting Ukraine in their drone development and deployment.

If the drone development and deployment was such a massive success, as pronounced in all western and Ukraine statements, then why would Zelenskyy remove such a critical and effective Defense Minister?  This makes no sense.

Additionally, if Chief General Oleksandr Syrskiy was such an effective combatant commander, and if Russia was indeed pushed back on their heels by both Syrskiy’s campaign and Fedorov’s drones, then why would Ukraine disrupt their entire military leadership apparatus while they are winning such well publicized victories.  Again, none of this makes sense.

These moves by President Zelenskyy are akin to President Trump firing Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine, while saying they were doing an exceptional job on Operation Epic Fury in Iran.  See the problem?

None of these moves by Ukraine President Zelenskyy make any sense against the background story of them having incredible success against Russia.  You don’t replace the entire military leadership apparatus if things are going swimmingly.  However, it seems that no one in western media even fathoms the obvious conflicts in the narrative.

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Susan Kokinda from the Promethean Action PAC believes the USMCA tariff and trade issue is not a simple U.S–Canada dispute; rather it’s a broader conflict about U.S. sovereignty vs the British empire.

Kokinda points to how Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is staffing his government with figures tied to the British Crown and globalist institutions: trade minister Dominic LeBlanc also leads King Charles’s Privy Council, new Chief Operating Officer Maia Johnson is an American Democratic operative linked to Clinton and Bloomberg networks, and new the Governor General Louise Arbour comes from UN legal roles associated with the International Criminal Court.

Promethean Action believes that under Prime Minister Mark Carney, Canada is not a nation, it’s the new front for the British Empire, and President Trump’s new Canadian tariffs should be viewed through this prism.  WATCH:

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