Trump announces sweeping across-the-board tariffs – National & International News – WED 2Apr2025
Trump announces 10% across the board tariffs with higher tariffs for some countries.
Trump’s DOJ head seeks death penalty for Luigi Mangione.
Peace talks with Russia at standstill while Europe warns of wider war.
Trump announces 10% across the board tariffs with higher tariffs for some countries
President Trump announced his “Liberation Day” program of tariffs, aimed at boosting American manufacturing. The program includes 10% tariffs on all US trading partners, with some countries receiving even higher, more punitive tariffs. For example, China is getting another 34% tariff on top of a 20% tariff previously imposed by Trump and a 10% tariff previously imposed by Biden, bringing their total tariff to 64%. The European Union will also be hit with a 20% tariff Well Taiwan is getting a 32% tariff.
Goods from Canada and Mexico already bear a 25% tariff imposed by Trump and are not affected by this new round of tariffs.
While Trump has promoted his program of tariffs as a way to make US manufacturing more competitive, they are also likely to significantly drive up prices on a host of consumer goods, including clothing, pharmaceuticals, furniture, toys, certain food items, building materials, machine parts, and the list goes on. US manufacturing could also take a hit if the countries affected by this program impose retaliatory tariffs, which many have already vowed to do.
Democrats in the Senate are attempting to force a vote to end the emergency declaration that Trump is using to impose his tariff program. With 47 Democratic and independent seats, they are gambling that they can find at least four Republicans to join them. However, even if the Senate does pass this resolution, the Republican-controlled House is unlikely to take it up. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer warned that the possibility of a recession “goes way up” if Trump proceeds with his “absurd, crazy, chaotic trade war”.
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Trump’s DOJ head seeks death penalty for Luigi Mangione
US Attorney General Pam Bondi has instructed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in their case against Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old UPenn graduate accused of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in midtown Manhattan in December.
Mangione faces state charges of murder and terrorism in New York as well as the federal charges for using a firearm to commit murder and interstate stalking resulting in death.
When Brian Thompson was gunned down in front of his hotel in Manhattan on December 4, the reaction nationwide across the political spectrum was far more sympathetic to Thompson’s killer than to Thompson himself.
Commenters online expressed anger and disgust with the practices of CEOs and of health insurance companies in particular. Many shared harrowing and heart-rending stories of themselves or their loved ones being denied life-saving care, particularly by UnitedHealthcare, which has a particularly high rate of denial of care. Comments on the actions of Thompson’s assassin ranged from those who neither condemned nor condoned to those who outright celebrated.
Since his arrest 5 days after the killing, Mangione has developed a widespread following and fan base. He received so much fan mail at his lockup in Brooklyn that his lawyers set up a website for guidance on sending him letters and pictures, as well as frequently asked questions.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Peace talks with Russia at standstill
Yesterday, a foreign policy advisor for Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia could not accept the Ukraine peace proposal from President Trump “in its current form”. Sergei Ryabkov’s comments seem to confirm a lack of recent progress in Trump’s efforts to end the 3-year-old conflict. They come just days after Trump stated he was ” pissed off” with Vladimir Putin over his approach to the ceasefire. Russia and Ukraine recently agreed to end attacks on the Black Sea, but an agreement on ending the war appears to be very far away.
“All we have today is an attempt to find some kind of framework that would first allow for a ceasefire – at least as envisioned by the Americans,” Ryabkov said. However, current American proposals do not address Russia’s core concerns on what they call the “root causes” of the war. Putin has repeatedly demanded a guarantee that Ukraine will never join NATO, recognition of Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia, and the complete demilitarization of Ukraine.
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