Everybody’s closing tabbies for the weekend, except in Playa Del Carmen …
After the European Union offered to slash tariffs to zero for industrial goods with the U.S., Trump said that wasn’t enough. The bloc, he said, should close its trade surplus with the U.S. by buying $350 billion of U.S. energy products. That amount, nearly equal to the value of all the oil and gas the EU imported last year, would make the U.S. the continent’s dominant energy supplier.
“They’re going to have to buy their energy from us, because they need it,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
Ed: Let’s see if the EU is smart enough to see an opportunity to cut off Russia’s domination over Europe. If they want to stop Russian expansionism, they should stop funding it. Prediction: They will ignore the obvious out of distaste for Trump.
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Is Trump’s strategy of holding countries over the tariff cliff working? @PressSec confirms “15 offers are already on the table.” pic.twitter.com/4iSHXqtU2v
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 11, 2025
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The new Chinese levy goes into effect April 12 on about $144 billion of U.S. exports, primarily agricultural products like soybeans.
It mostly matches U.S. tariffs, which the Chinese government dismissed as a “joke.”
The U.S. now charges 145% on Chinese goods — the 125% reciprocal rate plus an earlier 20% tariff in a dispute over the flow of fentanyl.
What they’re saying: “Given that American goods are no longer marketable in China under the current tariff rates, if the U.S. further raises tariffs on Chinese exports, China will disregard such measures,” the Chinese Ministry of Finance said in a statement, per Bloomberg.
Ed: At a certain point, further hikes are unnecessary as tariffs create prices too high for consumers to swallow. There are other options, such as market barriers, that both countries can use. But China needs access to American markets more than the US needs access to China’s, and China’s economic situation is more fragile than the US economy.
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An increasingly desperate China on Friday pleaded with European Union (E.U.) members to join with Beijing in resisting “unilateral bullying” posed by punitive tariffs introduced by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made the call as he met Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. …
It came 24-hours after Australia rejected the same plea from Beijing, as Breitbart London reported.
Ed: As annoyed as the EU might be with Trump over the tariff fight and the issue of Ukraine, I doubt they are going to partner up with China on trade against the country on which they rely for their security. But it does show that China is at least worried about Trump forcing the EU to make this choice, which is a good sign for now.
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NEW: Billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya praises Trump’s tariffs on China, rips the global elite for trying to “scare-monger” him.
“For the last forty years, whether they want to admit it or not, Donald Trump has been right.”
“What you see right now is them violently trying to… pic.twitter.com/k5JXqKMlQt
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 11, 2025
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Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins — the first and second-largest law firms in the nation by some measures — became the latest to cut a deal with the administration, President Donald Trump announced on Friday. …
Kirkland and Latham agreed to millions of dollars in pro bono work and free legal services for “causes that President Trump and the Law Firms both support,” Trump announced on social media on Friday. They will also commit to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion practices and not deny legal services to potentially controversial, “politically disenfranchised groups and Government Officials.”
That agreement was also signed by transatlantic firm A&O Shearman and New York firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. The D.C. law firm Cadwalader signed a separate but similar agreement Friday.
Ed: There’s no way that these Big Law firms would be settling with Trump unless they knew they have some significant liabilities on the line. Get ready for more progressive wailing, although it might also help get Doug Emhoff off the hook.
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No it did not. It said it must take steps to release him from custody.
“The order properly requires the Government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador…”
Nowhere in the Order does it even hint he must be brought back to the US.
Quit lying… https://t.co/oCOgwstLLC
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) April 11, 2025
Ed: All hail the “writ of facilitation.” It reminds me of a scene from a very good fiim, “Sweet Liberty,” in which Alan Alda’s character — a historian — reminds a film director that he has the right of consultation on the script. The character learns a hard lesson on the true meaning of “consultation,” one that I suspect has about the same teeth as “facilitation.”
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A U.S. judge on Friday allowed the Trump administration to go ahead with a plan to make immigrants illegally living in or entering the United States register with the federal government or face fines or imprisonment.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington, appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term in office, found that groups challenging the Department of Homeland Security rule implementing the policy – including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and United Farm Workers of America – had not shown they had standing to bring the lawsuit.
“As organizations, many of their harms are too speculative, and they have failed to show that the Rule will erode their core missions,” he wrote.
Ed: I suspect that a court might take a challenge from an illegal alien prosecuted for violating the law (which long predates the current administration) more seriously as a Fifth Amendment issue. But that still wouldn’t help them much, as they can be deported whether they comply or not. The rule allows prosecutors to stack charges to facilitate (sorry!) the deportation process, I would surmise.
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Ed: Anyone who bought tickets for Fyre Fest 2 deserves what they get … or more accurately, don’t get. To quote an old and cynical axiom, a fool and his money were lucky to get together in the first place.
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Some new artwork at the White House ? pic.twitter.com/l6u5u7k82T
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 11, 2025
Ed: Katie believes this now occupies the spot that once featured a Barack Obama portrait.
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