‘Betrayal’: AOC condemns Schumer’s ‘slap within the face’ resolution to assist Republican funding invoice
Right here’s a little bit extra on the feedback to reporters by congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In line with a publish on X by Kadia Goba, political reporter at Semafor, Ocasio-Cortez stated:
There are members of Congress who’ve gained Trump held districts in among the most troublesome territories in the USA; who walked the plank and took innumerable dangers as a way to defend the American individuals … simply to see some Senate Democrats even contemplate acquiescing to Elon Musk. I believe it’s a large slap within the face, and I believe that there’s a large sense of betrayal.”
Key occasions
Jasper Jolly
Donald Trump has threatened a 200% tariff on wine and champagne from European Union international locations, within the newest menace of escalation within the international commerce warfare began by the US president towards the nation’s greatest buying and selling companions.
Trump stated in a publish on Thursday on his Reality Social platform that the tariffs on all alcoholic merchandise from the bloc could be retaliation for a “nasty” 50% levy on American bourbon whiskey introduced by the EU.
The EU’s motion towards bourbon whiskey – resulting from come into pressure on 1 April – was itself a part of a €26bn ($28bn) response to Trump’s 25% tariffs on metal and aluminium imports, which got here into impact on Wednesday.
Trump claims the US’s buying and selling companions have taken benefit of the US and that tariffs will assist him to deliver again jobs – a principle that’s roundly rejected by most mainstream economists.
The tariffs on the EU, Canada, Mexico and China – and these imposed in retaliation – threaten to tip the US financial system into recession, and Trump has admitted there could also be a “interval of transition” whereas companies begin producing extra within the US.
The White Home has to this point shrugged off the considerations of buyers, after his tariff bulletins have been greeted with heavy inventory market sell-offs which have worn out all the share worth good points since his election in November.
Regardless of beginning the commerce warfare, Trump gave the impression to be infuriated by the EU’s retaliatory measures.
He wrote:
If this Tariff just isn’t eliminated instantly, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES.
This might be nice for the Wine and Champagne companies within the U.S.”
The US already circumvents the protected geographical origin guidelines on European merchandise – American supermarkets are filled with US-made imitations of champagne and different delicacies comparable to parmesan and gorgonzola.
Trump to go to justice division to rally assist for crime agenda
President Donald Trump is to go to the justice division on Friday to rally assist for his administration’s tough-on-crime agenda, an look anticipated to double as a victory lap after he emerged legally and politically unscathed from two federal prosecutions that have been dismissed after his election win final fall, studies the Related Press.
“I’m going to set out my imaginative and prescient,” the Republican president stated on Thursday in regards to the function for a go to the White Home is billing as “historic.”
The venue choice for the speech underscores Trump’s eager curiosity within the division and want to exert affect over it after legal investigations that shadowed his first 4 years in workplace and subsequent marketing campaign.
The go to, the primary by Trump and the primary by any president in a decade, brings him into the stomach of an establishment he has disparaged in searing phrases for years however one which he has sought to reshape by putting in loyalists and members of his private defence crew in high management positions, studies the AP.
Though there’s some precedent for presidents to talk to the justice division workforce from the constructing’s ceremonial nice corridor, Trump’s journey two months into his second time period is especially putting. That’s due to his distinctive standing as a onetime legal defendant indicted by the company he’s now poised to handle and since his remarks are prone to characteristic an airing of grievances over his publicity to the legal justice system – together with an FBI search in 2022 of his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Seashore, Florida, for categorised paperwork.
Trump’s go to additionally comes at a time when lawyer basic Pam Bondi has asserted that the division must be depoliticised at the same time as critics assert company management is injecting politics into the decision-making course of.
Right here’s a bit extra element, through Reuters, on the Axios report that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has warned Congress has a funding shortfall of $2bn for this fiscal 12 months.
Congress will ship Ice an additional $500m as a part of the stopgap spending invoice, though that won’t cowl the funding it must proceed work until finish of September, the report stated, citing two sources acquainted with the communications.
The funding shortfall comes as Ice has stepped arrests since president Donald Trump took workplace in January. He has vowed to deport document numbers of people that migrated to the US illegally.
Ice detention amenities are stuffed to capability at 47,600 detainees and the company has been increasing its mattress depend – the variety of beds out there for detainees – with assist from the US defence division, the US Marshals Service and the Bureau of Prisons (BoP).
The company has an annual price range of roughly $8bn, in accordance with its web site, studies Reuters. The Republican-controlled US Home of Representatives on Tuesday handed a stopgap invoice to maintain federal companies funded. The invoice would lengthen authorities funding till the tip of the fiscal 12 months on 30 September. Will increase in defence, veterans’ care and border safety could be offset by cuts to some home programmes.
Ice was working with US lawmakers to safe extra detention funding, an official from the company informed reporters on Wednesday, in accordance with Reuters.
The White Home and Ice didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ requests for remark.
Tesla tells US authorities Trump commerce warfare may ‘hurt’ EV corporations
Elon Musk’s Tesla has warned that Donald Trump’s commerce warfare may expose the electrical carmaker to retaliatory tariffs that might additionally have an effect on different automotive producers within the US.
In an unsigned letter to Jamieson Greer, the US commerce consultant, Tesla stated it “helps honest commerce” however that the US administration ought to guarantee it didn’t “inadvertently hurt US corporations”.
Tesla stated within the letter:
As a US producer and exporter, Tesla encourages the Workplace of the USA Commerce Consultant (USTR) to contemplate the downstream impacts of sure proposed actions taken to handle unfair commerce practices.”
The corporate, led by Musk, a detailed ally of Trump who’s main efforts to downsize the federal authorities, stated it wished to keep away from the same affect to earlier commerce disputes that resulted in elevated tariffs on electrical automobiles imported into international locations focused by the US.
Tesla stated:
US exporters are inherently uncovered to disproportionate impacts when different international locations reply to US commerce actions. The evaluation undertaken by USTR of potential actions to rectify unfair commerce must also bear in mind exports from the USA.
For instance, previous commerce actions by the USA have resulted in speedy reactions by the focused international locations, together with elevated tariffs on electrical automobiles imported into these international locations.”
Trump has imposed important tariffs that can have an effect on automobiles and elements made world wide.
The EU and Canada have introduced large-scale retaliations for tariffs on metal and aluminium imports into the US, whereas the UK has to this point held off on asserting any countermeasures.
Tesla’s share worth has fallen by greater than a 3rd during the last month over considerations a couple of potential purchaser backlash towards Musk, who has proven assist for Germany’s far-right Different für Deutschland get together, theatrically brandished a chainsaw at a conservative convention, and accused Keir Starmer and different senior politicians of protecting up a scandal over grooming gangs.
This week Trump stated he was shopping for a “model new Tesla” and blamed “radical left lunatics” for “illegally” boycotting the EV firm – a day after Tesla’s worst share worth fall in nearly 5 years.
Danish overseas minister responds to Trump: ‘Greenland just isn’t open to annexation’
Danish overseas minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen rejected on Friday president Donald Trump’s newest remarks about annexing Greenland, saying the Danish autonomous island couldn’t be taken over by one other nation.
“In case you take a look at the Nato treaty, the UN constitution or worldwide regulation, Greenland just isn’t open to annexation,” he informed reporters, in accordance with Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Johns Hopkins College introduced it was planning to chop greater than 2,000 jobs after the Trump administration slashed $800m in grants to the famend tutorial establishment.
The funding for the positions had come from the US Company for Worldwide Improvement, which the administration has gutted with large cuts. A complete of 247 home US staff and one other 1,975 positions overseas in 44 international locations might be affected by what quantities to the most important layoff within the historical past of the college.
The job losses will have an effect on the college’s Bloomberg College of Public Well being, its medical college and its affiliated non-profit for worldwide well being, Jhpiego. The varsity of public well being consists of over 80 analysis establishments that target points comparable to gun violence, maternal well being, and the financial impacts of Alzheimer’s illness.
The grant elimination announcement comes on the identical day that lots of of professors, researchers and different employees with the college of public well being held a rally meant to indicate assist for “American scientists and science amid federal layoffs and cuts to analysis funding”, in accordance with the Hub, a publication of the general public well being college.
“This can be a troublesome day for our total neighborhood. The termination of greater than $800m in USAid funding is now forcing us to wind down essential work right here in Baltimore and internationally,” the college stated in an announcement shared with media.
Johns Hopkins receives essentially the most federal analysis funding, and is the most important non-public employer, in each Maryland and Baltimore and employs greater than 150,000 individuals, the college stated in an announcement to the Guardian.
Those that misplaced their jobs because of the most up-to-date grant funding cuts might be given 60 days’ advance discover earlier than they’re laid off or furloughed, the assertion continued.
The Kremlin stated on Friday that Russian president Vladimir Putin had despatched president Donald Trump a message about his proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine through Trump’s particular envoy and that there have been grounds for “cautious optimism”.
In line with Reuters, Putin held late night time talks with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy, in Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov informed reporters. Peskov stated Putin was “in total solidarity” with Trump on Ukraine, however that there was loads of work to do.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has warned Congress has a funding shortfall of $2bn for this fiscal 12 months, Axios reported on Friday, citing two individuals acquainted with the matter.
EU has the sources to answer Trump’s tariff threats, French central financial institution chief says
The European Union has the sources to answer president Donald Trump’s threats to levy extra tariffs on the European Union, French central financial institution governor and European Central Financial institution (ECB) board member François Villeroy de Galhau stated on Friday.
In line with Reuters, he added that he wished to see the escalations in a doable spiraling commerce warfare stop. Villeroy de Galhau added that Trump’s view of the financial system is a “shedding” view.
The Trump administration has referred to as on the Pentagon to supply navy choices to make sure the nation has full entry to the Panama canal, two US officers informed Reuters on Thursday.
Donald Trump has stated repeatedly he desires to “take again” the Panama canal, which is situated on the narrowest a part of the isthmus between North and South America and is taken into account one of many world’s most strategically essential waterways, however he has not provided specifics about how he would accomplish that, or if navy motion could be required.
One US official, who spoke on the situation of anonymity, stated a doc, described as interim nationwide safety steerage by the brand new administration, requested the navy to have a look at choices to make sure “unfettered” entry to the Panama canal.
A second official stated the US navy had a wide selection of potential choices to ensure entry, together with making certain a detailed partnership with Panama’s navy.
The Pentagon final revealed a nationwide protection technique in 2022, laying out the priorities for the navy. An interim doc units out broad coverage steerage, very like Trump’s govt orders and public remarks, earlier than a extra thought-about coverage doc like a proper NDS.
The Pentagon didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
BMW stated it doesn’t count on newly imposed US tariffs to stay in place till the tip of the 12 months, including that if the state of affairs modified, so would its outlook, studies Reuters.
BMW forecast a 5-7% earnings margin for its automotive section in 2025, however that calculation was primarily based on the idea that the tariffs imposed to this point would stay in place till the tip of the 12 months, which the carmaker doesn’t count on to be the case, executives Oliver Zipse and Walter Mertl stated. “If the state of affairs adjustments, we might want to modify the outlook,” chief monetary officer Mertl added.
This week on the Guardian’s Politics Weekly America, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Heather Boushey, an economist and former adviser to Joe Biden, about what Donald Trump’s lengthy recreation is together with his commerce warfare, and the way voters will view his dealing with of the financial system ought to there be a “Trumpcession”. You may hearken to the podcast on the hyperlink beneath:
‘Betrayal’: AOC condemns Schumer’s ‘slap within the face’ resolution to assist Republican funding invoice
Right here’s a little bit extra on the feedback to reporters by congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In line with a publish on X by Kadia Goba, political reporter at Semafor, Ocasio-Cortez stated:
There are members of Congress who’ve gained Trump held districts in among the most troublesome territories in the USA; who walked the plank and took innumerable dangers as a way to defend the American individuals … simply to see some Senate Democrats even contemplate acquiescing to Elon Musk. I believe it’s a large slap within the face, and I believe that there’s a large sense of betrayal.”
Schumer resolution to vote for Republican funding invoice a betrayal and ‘large slap within the face’, says AOC
The Senate finds itself on Friday in a well-known place, working to keep away from a partial authorities shutdown with simply hours to spare as Democrats confront two painful choices: permitting passage of a invoice they imagine provides president Donald Trump huge discretion on spending selections or voting no and letting a funding lapse ensue.
Senate Democratic chief Chuck Schumer gave members of his caucus days to vent their frustration in regards to the choices earlier than them, however late on Thursday made clear he won’t permit a authorities shutdown. His transfer provides Democrats room to aspect with Republicans and permit the persevering with decision, usually described as a CR, to return up for a vote as quickly as Friday, studies the Related Press. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez informed reporters that Senator Chuck Schumer’s assertion was “an enormous slap within the face, and I believe that there’s a large sense of betrayal.”
A procedural vote on Friday will present a primary check of whether or not the package deal has the 60 votes wanted to advance, earlier than remaining voting seemingly later within the day. No less than eight Democrats might want to be part of with Republicans to maneuver the funding package deal ahead.
“Whereas the CR nonetheless could be very dangerous, the potential for a shutdown has penalties for America which might be a lot, a lot worse,” Schumer stated.
Senate majority chief John Thune and others used their flooring time on Thursday to make the case that any blame for a shutdown would fall squarely on Democrats.
Schumer stated Trump would seize extra energy throughout a shutdown, as a result of it will give the administration the flexibility to deem complete companies, programmess and personnel non-essential, furloughing employees with no promise they’d ever be rehired.
“A shutdown would give Donald Trump the keys to town, the state and the nation,” Schumer stated.
Extra on that in a second, however first, listed here are another key developments:
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Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority chief within the Senate, stated that he’ll vote to permit the deeply partisan Republican spending invoice grow to be regulation as a result of a authorities shutdown would do extra hurt.
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Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez informed reporters that Senator Chuck Schumer’s assertion was “an enormous slap within the face, and I believe that there’s a large sense of betrayal.”
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Shares plunged once more after Trump’s menace to impose a 200% tariff “on all wines, Champagnes, and alcoholic merchandise” from European Union international locations if the buying and selling bloc makes good on its menace to retaliate for metal and aluminum tariffs introduced by the US president by including a 50% tariff on American merchandise, together with Kentucky bourbon.
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In a letter despatched to the president of Columbia College and the co-chairs of its board of trustees on Thursday, the Trump administration’s antisemitism taskforce demanded 9 particular adjustments to school insurance policies and buildings earlier than negotiations over federal funding would start.
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Columbia introduced the identical day it obtained the letter that it had complied with merchandise one on the listing of calls for: expelling and suspending pro-Palestinian pupil protesters who occupied a campus constructing final 12 months or took half in a Gaza Solidarity encampment.
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Consultant Raúl Grijalva died after a protracted battle with most cancers, his workplace introduced on Thursday. His seat will stay vacant till at the least September.
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In 1996 a federal choose discovered the authorized provision now getting used to focus on Mahmoud Khalil unconstitutional. She was Donald Trump’s sister.
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The Trump administration has appealed to the supreme court docket to uphold the president’s govt order curbing birthright citizenship.
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The US Postal Service will cut back its employees by 10,000 by means of early retirements, and has signed an settlement with Elon Musk’s division of presidency effectivity (Doge) to streamline its operations, postmaster basic Louis DeJoy introduced.
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