Trump orders massive tariff hike and announces national emergency as Canada row escalates

Trump orders massive tariff hike and announces national emergency as Canada row escalates
Donald Trump (Reuters)

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social Tuesday that he is ordering an even greater escalation of tariffs against Canada, with a 25 to 50 percent tax on steel and aluminum imports from that country, effective Wednesday.

This comes in retaliation to the Canadian province of Ontario instituting its own 25 percent tariff on electricity exports to Minnesota, Michigan and New York, which was a salvo against Trump's initial trade war measures on the country.

"Also, Canada must immediately drop their Anti-American Farmer Tariff of 250% to 390% on various U.S. dairy products, which has long been considered outrageous," Trump wrote in his announcement. "I will shortly be declaring a National Emergency on Electricity within the threatened area. This will allow the U.S to quickly do what has to be done to alleviate this abusive threat from Canada."

Trump threatened even further actions may be taken in the near future: "If other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase, on April 2nd, the Tariffs on Cars coming into the U.S. which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada. Those cars can easily be made in the USA! Also, Canada pays very little for National Security, relying on the United States for military protection. We are subsidizing Canada to the tune of more than 200 Billion Dollars a year. WHY??? This cannot continue."

"The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State," Trump added, repeating a demand he has made several times and that Canada has rejected as ridiculous. "This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear. Canadians’ taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever — And Canada will be a big part of that."

"The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World — And your brilliant anthem, 'O Canada,' will continue to play, but now representing a GREAT and POWERFUL STATE within the greatest Nation that the World has ever seen!" Trump continued.

The Dow Jones plunged even further in response to Trump's announcement, with shares trading 500 points below the opening bell as of press time.

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President Donald Trump appeared confused and evasive when pressed about claims that an ICE agent who fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good is shielded from prosecution, delivering a rambling response that left reporters stunned. The comments followed Vice President JD Vance’s assertion that ICE officers enjoy “absolute immunity,” a claim legal experts say is flatly wrong and contradicted by a Supreme Court ruling. Video evidence showing Good calm and unarmed before being shot undercuts administration claims that she posed a threat, even as Homeland Security officials branded her a “domestic terrorist.” Trump’s deflections — and his contrast with past pardons for Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted police — have fueled outrage and nationwide protests demanding accountability.

Watch the video below.

Trump dodges on ICE immunity claim after agent kills Minnesota mother Trump dodges on ICE immunity claim after agent kills Minnesota mother

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The battle to win the Republican Party nomination to replace the termed-out Gov. Ron DeSantis on the November ballot took an uglier turn as hedge fund CEO James Fishback ramped up his racist attacks on primary frontrunner Rep. Byron Donalds (R).

Donalds, a longtime defender and ally of Donald Trump, holds a commanding lead over Fishback, who is running as an outsider, with the Florida Phoenix reporting the GOP lawmaker holds an overwhelming 76 percent to 6 percent gap among voters with Trump’s endorsement factored in.

That hasn’t kept Fishback from trying to gain notice and make waves with a campaign that appears centered on appealing to the racist faction within the MAGA base.

Responding to an X post that compared photos of Fishback and his partner with Donalds with his wife, Ericka, with whom he has three children, the hedge fund CEO intentionally misspelled the GOP lawmaker’s name and accused him of wanting to turn the state into a “ghetto.”

“By’rone wants to turn Florida into a Section 8 ghetto,” he wrote on X.

The 31-year-old Fishbacks' latest racist smear comes weeks after he accused his primary opponent of being a “SLAVE who was auctioned off for $31 million” to business interests.

According to MS NOW columnist Ja'han Jones, “Fishback doubled and tripled down on his racist slur, telling Florida Politics that Donalds 'has no right to complain' and shouldn’t be offended by the slur because, Fishback said, the representative’s ancestors weren’t enslaved in the United States.”

You can see Fishback’s latest attack here.

The Trump administration's move to criminally investigate the chair of the Federal Reserve could blow up in President Donald Trump's face in a big way, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) indicated on Monday.

Specifically, Thune told Semafor's Burgess Everett, the legal threat against Jerome Powell could make it "challenging" to confirm any additional nominees Trump would make to the Fed, because it adds extra difficulty in establishing that such nominees could make monetary policy decisions independent of White House influence.

"We want to make sure that there is a good continuity, and that the central bank maintains its independence," Thune said. "I want to see them operate in an independent way, free of politics."

The Fed has long observed strict policy independence to ensure politicians cannot pressure or threaten the central bank to manipulate monetary policy in ways that benefit their finances or election prospects, which could harm the overall economy or trigger runaway inflation by eroding investor trust in U.S. currency.

The investigation stems from allegations, first made by Trump's Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, that Powell lied to Congress about the scope and cost of a $2.5 billion renovation at the Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C. Pulte has similarly made accusations that various other critics of the president have committed mortgage fraud, prompting accusations he is abusing his office to fabricate charges against Trump's enemies.

Powell, who was himself appointed by Trump in his first term, has categorically denied there was any effort to mislead Congress about the office renovation. He has further taken the extraordinary step of publicly accusing the Trump administration of using the Justice Department to intimidate the Fed into additional interest rate cuts.

“I have deep respect for the rule of law and for accountability in our democracy. No one — certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve — is above the law,” Powell stated in a newly released video. “But this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure.”

The attack on the Fed has already created sharp fault lines in the Republican Party. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, has already vowed to block any Fed nominee, including Powell's replacement, "until this legal matter is fully resolved." And even Trump's own Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, has reportedly warned the president that prosecuting Powell could destabilize financial markets.

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