World

President Donald Trump bragged Wednesday that he brought back "$5.1 trillion" from the Middle East after his trip, but MSNBC producer Steve Benen is worried the cash is all in his imagination.

And, he worried, he's already spending it.

As the world reacts to a court’s take down of President Trump’s tariffs, CNN correspondent Marc Stewart says there is one thing China is doing which is “really standing out.”

“This is a major moment, and on one hand, you could argue this is tremendous validation for China,” Stewart said. “Yet on the other hand, Beijing knows the United States has other tools to make life difficult for Chinese people, for the Chinese economy. So that's kind of where we stand right now.”

After a court brought President Donald Trump’s tariff plans to a crashing halt, Trump will be turning to “alternative powers” in order to impose his agenda, according to The Economist.

“The administration’s power to impose universal tariffs, the court argued, is specified in a different law: the 1974 Trade Act,” the outlet wrote.

A ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday that Donald Trump overstepped his authority by instituting reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners has given the president a chance to back off his unpopular trade war policies –– but he won't.

Reacting to the ruling where the court stated the use of tariffs was "impermissible not because it is unwise or ineffective, but because [federal law] does not allow it,” MSNBC "Morning Joe" co-host Jonathan Lemire suggested there are those who believe Trump would take advantage of the ruling as an "off-ramp."

"I know there was some speculation last night, some wishful thinking, perhaps from some other Republicans I heard from that this may be an off-ramp for President Trump, that you could blame the courts, but then actually back away from some of the tariffs because of the impact on the markets, because of the impact potentially down the road on the economy," Lemire told the panel. "But this is, Joe [Scarborough], as you well know, the president has believed in for a very long time, and at least now I'm told, he doesn't plan to alter course."

EXCLUSIVE: Trump accused of new grift that puts Qatari plane in shade

That led co-host Scarborough to state, "So I'm going to say this slowly so our billionaire friends on Wall Street and our multi-millionaire friends on Wall Street who trade every day can understand it: if you thought that Donald Trump was just talking when he kept campaigning and promising to provide tariffs –– he wasn't."

"He's been saying that since 1987, and I have it on very good authority that the people that are saying Donald Trump is backing down on tariffs and there's an off-ramp, that Donald Trump does not believe there is an off-ramp for tariffs," he continued.

"And people running around saying that he always backs down or he chickens out, why don't you just invite him to put more tariffs on more countries," he joked. "He's not backing down on tariffs. It is one of the driving forces of his political life and his political being. There is no off-ramp, alright? Let me say that again: there is no off-ramp."

You can watch below or at the link.

According to an overnight CNN report, Donald Trump's truce with China in the trade war he created could fall apart after his administration made two unforeseen "bombshell" announcements.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday that the U.S. will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students” studying in critical fields or if they have connections to the Chinese Communist Party, an announcement which was met with a wave of anger by families in China, many of whom have saved for years to educate their children abroad.

Irish singer-songwriter and U2 frontman Bono tore into President Donald Trump in an interview with Esquire over the administration's decimation of foreign aid programs.

Bono, who has been involved in social and political causes around the world for decades and frequently criticized Trump in the past, said the president stands to wreck progress on health and food security for the most vulnerable.