Think about it.  We’ve already heard about the massive stoppages of April factory work in China, causing serious concern for Beijing and Chinese worker protests.

American importers front loaded inventory in February and March with a 50% increase in orders.  Now, in addition to those factories going quiet, the de minimis rule kicks in.

(Via CNBC) – Chinese bargain retailer Temu changed its business model in the U.S. as the Trump administration’s new rules on low-value shipments took effect Friday.

In recent days, Temu has abruptly shifted its website and app to only display listings for products shipped from U.S.-based warehouses. Items shipped directly from China, which previously blanketed the site, are now labeled as out of stock.

Temu made a name for itself in the U.S. as a destination for ultra-discounted items shipped direct from China, such as $5 sneakers and $1.50 garlic presses. It’s been able to keep prices low because of the so-called de minimis rule, which has allowed items worth $800 or less to enter the country duty-free since 2016.

The loophole expired Friday at 12:01 a.m. EDT as a result of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in April. (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.

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According to the people present, when former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with President-elect Donald Trump, his primary objective was to inform President Trump his public demands for U.S. trade reciprocity with Canada were unachievable.

Trudeau was not lying.  In this outline we will explain a dynamic that is certain to surface this summer.

President Trump has deferred all North American trade negotiations with Canada and Mexico until later in the year, after the priority trade deals with other large trade partners are completed.  The USMCA trade pact is due for review and renegotiation this year [BACK STORY]. We should expect an entirely different trade pact as an outcome, quite possibly the ending of the trilateral nature of the current agreement.

A few days ago, Politico noted that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had a reprieve from his prior campaign points about confronting President Trump on tariffs immediately.  PM Carney is currently trying to align allies for what will likely be a major confrontation that he cannot win.

♦ BACKGROUND – Following the 2024 presidential election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to Mar-a-Lago and said if President Trump was to make the Canadian government face reciprocal tariffs, open the USMCA trade agreements to force reciprocity, and/or balance economic relations on non-tariff issues, then Canada would collapse upon itself economically and cease to exist.  In essence, in addition to the NATO defense shortfall, Canada cannot survive as a free and independent north American nation, without receiving all the one-way benefits from the U.S. economy.

To wit, President Trump then said, if Canada cannot survive in a balanced rules environment, including putting together their own military and defenses and meeting their NATO obligations, then Canada should become the 51st U.S state.  It was following this meeting that President Trump started emphasizing this point and shocking everyone in the process.  However, in the emotional reaction to Trump’s statements, no-one looked at the core issues outlined by Trudeau that framed President Trump’s opinion.

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Kevin O’Leary appears on Fox Business to support President Trump’s tariff proposal against China that is targeted to confront the dragon behind the Beijing panda mask.  WATCH:

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In the USA we have the example of “Russiagate” where the FBI, CIA and DOJ-NSD intel community weaponized against candidate Donald Trump.

In Romania, we have the example of the EU intel community nullifying –through the court– the election win of Călin Georgescu; and disqualifying the winning candidate.

Now, in Germany, the intelligence community produces a report labeling the largest political party as an “extremist” group, taking new power to conduct political surveillance and control the election outcome.

…. What is the common denominator?

[SOURCE]

Hope is not a strategy. That said, I hope Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the former Chair of the SSCI, has awakened to the reality of the intelligence services controlling western govt.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned a decision Friday from Germany’s domestic intelligence agency to classify the political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a “proven right-wing extremist organization,” calling the move “tyranny in disguise” and advising the country to “reverse course.”

“What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD—which took second in the recent election—but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes,” Rubio wrote in a post on X in the hours following the decision.

The decision, announced Friday by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, gives German authorities increased oversight and surveillance over AfD. While some AfD branches at the state level have received the label — such as in Saxony and Thuringia — this is the first time in modern German history that a party with nationwide representation on the federal level has been classified as extremist.

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I’m not exactly sure what this event is all about; however, at 4:45pm the White House says tune in.  Livestream Links Below:

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The report is coming from Axios, so take it with a grain of salt.  It could also be the White House testing the waters for DC reaction to the possibility.  The outlet is saying White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller is a top candidate for consideration to fill the National Security Advisor role to President Trump [SEE HERE].

Stephen Miller already runs the White House Homeland Security group, inside the executive office.  He has been an excellent organizer and spokesperson for DHS deportation operations, and the Homeland Security Council runs very smooth under his direction.

That said, from my perspective, the key qualification for Stephen Miller is that he DOES NOT carry the infection of time spent inside the Intelligence Community silos.  Miller’s autonomic outlook is not contextualized to believe everything the IC says. This is critical.

An effective National Security Advisor in the modern era (post Patriot Act) needs to look at all intelligence with cynicism, accepting that weaponized political perspective permeates the entire silo that might be providing the information.  The NSA cannot trust anyone in the IC, yet the NSA must be trustworthy to President Trump.

Remember, the Director of National Intelligence (Tulsi Gabbard) is an assembler of pre-existing intelligence, the DNI does not create intelligence.  The Director of the National Security Agency is under the DNI and operates as the librarian for data, from which other silos gather intelligence.  The Director of the NSA does not create intelligence.

It is the Pentagon, the State Dept., the FBI, the DOJ-NSD and the CIA who create most of the intelligence that flows to the President.  The National Security Advisor needs to be the filter between manipulated DoD, DoS, FBI and CIA information.

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The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) has released the jobs and employment data for April [SEE HERE].  Within the data we see 177,000 jobs were gained, beating expectations of 133,000.   The unemployment rate remains unchanged at 4.2%.

Federal government employment declined by 9,000 in April [BLS, Table B-1]  Health care added 51,000 jobs: consisting of hospitals (+22,000) and ambulatory health care services (+21,000). Transportation and warehousing increased by 29,000 jobs in April: with warehousing and storage (+10,000), couriers and messengers (+8,000), and air transportation (+3,000).

.@StephenMoore reacts to the jobs report: “436,000 increase in the number of people who are employed. So, this is an amazing report… The labor force participation rate rose. So, this is a very strong number.” pic.twitter.com/CuAPwD52Yn

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 2, 2025

(Via Wall Street Journal) – The U.S. economy continued to add jobs at a steady clip in April, although the pace of gains slowed slightly during a month that saw changing tariff announcements and market turmoil.

The U.S. added 177,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department reported Friday, above the gain of 133,000 jobs economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected to see.

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Apparently, each week the Dept of Govt Efficiency (DOGE) team gets together for a weekly debriefing and recap session of what is happening in the various agencies under review.  Fox News host Jesse Watters accompanied Elon Musk to this week’s meeting.

Fox News has shared the discussion to help people understand a little bit more about what is happening behind the scenes with the DOGE review team. It is an interesting discussion.  WATCH:

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Part Two is below.

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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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