“If the White House’s preliminary assessment is accurate, it would be the largest tax increase on Americans since World War II—and one that Trump would apparently seek to implement without congressional approval.
The specifics of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs plan remain sparse. The executive order Trump signed Thursday instructed the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative to develop new proposed tariff levels that take into account the tariffs charged by other countries to import American goods, as well as industrial subsidies, value-added taxes, and other economic policies that Trump views as unfair. It will take weeks (and perhaps longer) for the new tariffs to be calculated and rolled out, and the changes may be implemented on a country-by-country basis, according to Megan Cassella, a reporter for CNBC.”
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“The direct costs of taxes on so many imports would be only part of the problem. Trump’s idea of charging different tariffs on every country’s exports means the same product could be charged wildly different tax rates depending on where it was sourced. Those tariff rates would also be subject to constant fluctuation, as other countries shift their policies—as many will likely do in response to Trump’s new tariffs. That’s a recipe for not only higher taxes on American businesses that rely upon imports but also a constant state of uncertainty.”
“The departures amounted to a stunning condemnation of the actions of the department’s leadership just days after a close Trump ally, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, was sworn in as attorney general. Just three weeks into Trump’s second term, the department has been rocked by firings, transfers and resignations.
Adams pleaded not guilty last September to charges that while in his prior role as Brooklyn borough president, he accepted over $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and lavish travel perks such as expensive flight upgrades, luxury hotel stays and even a trip to a bathhouse from people wanting to buy his influence. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Federal agents had also been investigating some of Adams’ aides. It was unclear what will happen to that part of the investigation.
In a memo Monday, Bove had directed Sassoon to drop the case as soon as practicable, so the mayor of America’s largest city could help with Trump’s immigration crackdown and could himself campaign for reelection unencumbered by criminal charges. Adams faces multiple challengers in June’s primary.”
“In the weeks since Trump’s inauguration, he and Musk have made claims from the Oval Office and on social media about specific programs such as disaster relief for states, lodging for migrants in cities and that 150-year-olds are receiving Social Security payments. However, what few details were provided were vague, unsupported and sometimes false.
In fact, Musk admitted Tuesday that some of its claims might be “incorrect.”
During his first news conference since starting DOGE, Musk backtracked on a claim that $50 million was spent by the federal government to give condoms to Gaza and Hamas. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt first made that claim at a White House briefing last month and was spread wide by Trump, Musk and Republican lawmakers.
In fact, the condoms were sent to a province in Mozambique named Gaza as part of an HIV prevention measure.”
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“On Thursday, the billionaire reposted to his 217.5 million followers on X a claim that Reuters was awarded $9 million by the Department of Defense for a “social engineering” program and called it a “scam.” Trump passed the claim along on his Truth Social platform, posting “GIVE BACK THE MONEY NOW!”
However, public records show the contract was awarded in 2018, during Trump’s first term, to Thompson Reuters Special Services division, not its news organization, following a request from the previous year from a Department of Defense agency for research on “automated defense social engineering attacks.””
“The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation’s largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection — potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.
In addition, workers at some agencies were warned that large workplace cuts would be coming.
The decision on probationary workers, who generally have less than a year on the job, came from the Office of Personnel Management, which serves as a human resources department for the federal government. The notification was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.”
LC: Is firing people irrespective of the agency’s need for their skills faithfully executing the laws of the nation?
“President Donald Trump on Thursday signed his plan for reciprocal tariffs but delayed their implementation as his administration launches negotiations on a one-by-one basis with nations that could be impacted.
“The Plan shall ensure comprehensive fairness and balance across the international trading system,” read the memorandum signed by Trump.
The studies of each country could be completed by April 1, incoming Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday while standing at Trump’s side, adding that then “we’ll hand the president the opportunity” to start implementing them as soon as on April 2.”
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“Nations from India to Brazil to South Korea have long charged higher average duties on various goods and will clearly be in the middle of coming talks.
Trump’s memo Thursday outlined how non-tariff barriers, such as the VAT, would also be subject to reciprocity.
“For purposes of this United States Policy, we will consider Countries that use the VAT System, which is far more punitive than a Tariff, to be similar to that of a Tariff,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Thursday.
That issue is likely to be a sizable stumbling block in relations with the European Union.”
LC: VATs are applied to domestic products and imports, so treating a VAT like an import tariff that is just applied to the import, makes no sense.
“When Trump imposed tariffs during his first term, he cited authority under other laws, like the Trade Act of 1974 and the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. At one point he threatened to invoke the IEEPA to impose tariffs on Mexican goods, but he never followed through, perhaps amid concern it would have been seen as legally dubious.
That’s because the IEEPA is typically used to impose sanctions — not tariffs — on other countries.
But Trump’s decision to use the IEEPA this time, when he’s aggressively flexing his executive authority, may be no accident: Unlike other trade laws, the IEEPA has the fewest procedural requirements and safeguards.
It gives the president the power to regulate or prohibit a broad swath of economic activity in order “to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat” that is based largely outside the United States and concerns “the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.” In the executive orders that announced the tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, Trump invoked the opioid crisis, as well as illegal immigration from Canada and Mexico.”
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“No president has ever used the IEEPA to impose tariffs before. In fact, the IEEPA was passed as part of a broader effort by Congress in the 1970s to limit the president’s ability to exercise emergency economic powers. The framework ultimately created, however, completely fails to rein in the president, according to Timothy Meyer, a law professor and expert on international trade law. And Trump is taking advantage of that failure by pushing beyond what the Constitution intended.
“This strikes me as unconstitutional,” Meyer told me. “It’s very difficult to see how the framers would’ve thought that it was constitutional for the president to simply have the power on the drop of a hat to impose an across-the-board 25 percent tariff on our major trading partners.”
The Constitution gives Congress the authority to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” Between Trump’s tariffs and his unilateral effort to halt federal spending, he has now effectively claimed that he has both taxing and spending authority — a government all his own. Congress barely even needs to exist in this framework.”