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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Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche was buried on social media for his defensive post covering his controversial interview with Ghislaine Maxwell.

House Democrats released emails obtained from the Jeffrey Epstein estate telling an author that President Donald Trump "knew about the girls" he sexually abused, and another sent to Maxwell in 2011 that Trump "spent hours" with one of his teenage victims, which seems to contradict what Blanche said Maxwell told him this summer.

"An important side note about today's Epstein/Trump revelations," noted conservative attorney George Conway on X. "They show that Todd Blanche's questioning of Ghislaine Maxwell was either (a) completely incompetent; or (b) intentionally crafted not to elicit facts incriminating Trump. Either way, he is not fit to serve as Deputy Attorney General of the United States."

Blanche spoke to Maxwell over two days in July at a prison where she's serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and other charges, and he publicly asserted that she had told him she never saw Trump act inappropriately, and he disputed Conway's criticism.

"George, you’ve never been confused for a trial lawyer, and these kinds of posts explain why," Blanche replied. "When I interviewed Maxwell, law enforcement didn’t have the materials Epstein’s estate hid for years and only just provided to Congress. Stop talking. It’s unbecoming."

The Justice Department official's explanation didn't pass the smell test for many social media users, however.

"Todd, didn't the Justice Department have these emails when they seized Epstein's computers, phones, iPads, and other electronic devices from his homes in Manhattan and the US Virgin Islands?" posted Business Insider's Jacob Shamsian.

"Mr. Blanche - When you questioned Maxwell you simply let her spew a narrative contradicted by evidence already in your possession," said retired attorney Tirah Att. "I'm not sure what the point of the interview was, but we know the result - she was moved to a cushy prison not meant for sexual predators."

"Hey, so why did you transfer a pedophile and child trafficker to a much more comfortable prison?" asked writer and comedian Mike Drucker. "What did she say that made you think, 'This pedophile deserves a break'?"

"Why was a convicted child sexual predator moved to a minimum security 'spa,'" added X user Denison Barb. "Why should a convicted child predator get any special treatment?"

"Todd, you got her a puppy," quipped X user Rose Benson. "Come on, Todd."

"Leaving aside all the other legitimate questions about your interview with her, the question now is: So now that you DO have them, will you re-interview her and charge her if it becomes clear she lied to you originally?" wondered consultant John Olberding.

"Todd Blanche acknowledges that yesterday's email dump undermines his interview with Ghislaine Maxwell," said attorney Aaron Parnas. "Will they move her back to her prior prison?"

"This is a huge admission," agreed the Meidas Touch account.

Conway took a shot of his own at Blanche in response.

"Dude, you didn't even come close to asking a decent follow-up question of Maxwell," Conway posted. "And I saw you at your boss's criminal trial, you know, the one where he was convicted on 34 felony counts: You couldn't cross-examine your way out of a paper bag."

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A Trump administration official got in a fiery back and forth over President Donald Trump's refusal to fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, blaming "your radical people."

The heat started after Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and CNN anchor Pamela Brown discussed the government shutdown and SNAP benefits and Rollins' claims that "SNAP is a broken program."

"SNAP is full of corruption," Rollins said. "We found 186,000 dead people. We asked for the SNAP data earlier this year. It has never been turned over to the federal government before. We had 29 states turn it over, mostly red states, 21 states said, 'no, thank you.' We're in litigation from just those 29 states. We have found again, almost 200,000 dead people. It's just it's remarkable."

Brown cut off Rollins, saying "but I just want to get back on track here because I understand you're putting the blame on... Democrats."

Rollins tried to defend Trump, who she said didn't believe the shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — would last as long as it did.

Then Brown pointed to the federal judge in Rhode Island who ordered the Trump administration to fund the program.

"That judge in Rhode Island is the largest democrat donor," Rollins claimed.

Brown and Rollins then started to talk over each other, raising their voices.

"No, no, let's look at the facts," Brown interjected.

But Rollins didn't back down.

"And so for you guys and the left and the Democrats and your radical people who say, 'Oh, just move money around, this one judge in Rhode Island is going to completely upend the whole entire Constitution and how we fund these programs in America is truly insane," Rollins said. "And we would lose our country in a second if we allowed one judge in Rhode Island, without question, to say, move that money there, move that money here."


Conservative host Megyn Kelly suggested that she did not initially believe Jeffrey Epstein was an "actual pedophile" because he reportedly victimized girls aged 15 and older.

Kelly spoke to journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon about Epstein on Wednesday after Democrats released emails suggesting President Donald Trump "knew about the girls" during his friendship with the pedophile. The conversation was first reported by Media Matters.

"I do know somebody very, very close to this case who is in a position to know virtually everything," Kelly explained. "And this person has told me from the start, years and years ago, that Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile."

"This is this person's view, who was there for a lot of this, but that he was into the barely legal type. Like, he liked 15-year-old girls," she continued. "I'm just giving you facts that he wasn't into, like, 8-year-olds. But he liked the very young teen types that could pass for even younger than they were, but would look legal to a passerby."

"And that is what I believed and that is what I reliably was told for many years."

Kelly admitted that she began to change her opinion after Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed that Epstein had thousands of videos with child sexual abuse material.

"For the first time, I thought, oh, no, he was an actual pedophile," the conservative host recalled. "I don't know whether it's true. I have to be honest, I don't really trust Pam Bondi's word on the Epstein matters anymore."

Kelly noted that no girls claimed Epstein had victimized them before the age of 14.

"You can say that's a distinction without a difference. I think there is a difference. There's a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old, you know?" she added. "The whole thing is just disgusting."

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