Apr 2nd, 2025, 5:55 pm
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump announced a long list of new tariffs on Wednesday, and observers swiftly noticed a rather glaring omission.
In a Rose Garden press conference Wednesday afternoon, the president declared it to be “Liberation Day” and announced a series of sweeping new tariffs, including 10% on virtually all imported goods, 25% on foreign automobiles, and a long list of what he described as “reciprocal tariffs” on dozens of countries around the world.
The markets were rattled after Trump’s plans were confirmed, with U.S. stock futures plummeting in after-hours trading. CNN reported that gold, “considered a safe having amid economic and political uncertainty,” went the opposite direction, and “the most actively traded gold futures contract in New York briefly rose above $3,200 a troy ounce, a record high.”
Numerous commentators have criticized the new tariffs for not just the economic havoc they were poised to spark, but for falsely categorizing value-added taxes and other sales or corporate taxes as tariffs.
The White House tweeted a series of tweets with the countries included in the “reciprocal tariffs.”
Not on the list? Russia. Also absent: Belarus, which has been actively allied with Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine is on the list, as are many other former Soviet satellites and republics. Multiple social media accounts posted about Russia’s absence from Trump’s list of the new tariffs.
NOTUS reporter Jasmine Wright reported that a White House official claimed that the reason for Russia’s omission was that sanctions imposed after the war with Ukraine began had “already rendered trade between the two countries as zero.”
That does not seem to be accurate.
Trade between Russia and the U.S. did in fact drop significantly after the invasion of Ukraine, but not to zero. A Forbes article from Jan. 2024 described it as “plummeting to lowest levels since [the] demise of Soviet Union,” but still reported that the November YTD total at that time was $4.81 billion.
The website for the Office of the United States Trade Representative provides an even lower number for 2024, but the total was still several billion dollars and showed a trade deficit:
U.S. total goods trade with Russia were an estimated $3.5 billion in 2024. U.S. goods exports to Russia in 2024 were $526.1 million, down 12.3 percent ($73.5 million) from 2023. U.S. goods imports from Russia totaled $3.0 billion in 2024, down 34.2 percent ($1.6 billion) from 2023. The U.S. goods trade deficit with Russia was $2.5 billion in 2024, a 37.5 percent decrease ($1.5 billion) over 2023.
Tag: Tariffs
My thoughts on tariffs
Raiding the US treasury
Let’s talk about Trump, steel, aluminum, prices, and inflation….
The Roads to What Trump’s Tariffs will cost you….
Let’s talk about Trump, grocery prices, and a question….
Republicans doing what? Causing what?
Republicans are against the public having healthcare for some reason. Paxton, Texas leadership, and a good segment of the republican part simply want non-white people / all immigrants to suffer as much as possible. As if just by living they have committed the worst possible crime. Plus dreamers? Look republicans keep passing laws that kids are property so they had no choice being dragged to the US with their parents. Plus they have been here, raised here, never caused problems, added to the economy. Denying them healthcare is stupid and just trying to hurt them. Plus it costs taxpayers more as dreamers need care they must have but can’t afford to pay for. Hugs
PSA: migrants desperately seeking shelter may be in your area. Call ICE asap if seen.
Government run by gang thugs. That is what maga and the maga republicans want. tRump has always been a mob boss wannabe but was never good enough to really do it. He is a school yard bully who never grew up and has only regressed over the years. He thinks might make right, and that who ever can bully or threaten the most gets all the toys and their way on everything. Is this how we think things should be run? Is this for the good of the country? And if this is the way the republicans are going to act then how should democrats respond? Corporate media both print and video are afraid to attack tRump so they ganged up on Biden and the democrats, but they never pointed out that tRump was everything they attacked Biden for being. Now the brownshirts and thugs are making congress people offers they don’t dare refuse. Hugs
In recent days, allies of Trump adopted an approach that is not novel for the president-elect and his followers: Make life extremely uncomfortable for anyone who dares to oppose him. The swarm of MAGA attacks that Sen. Joni Ernst has experienced is a warning of what’s in store for others who express skepticism of his personnel choices.
Read the full article. As I noted yesterday, among the attacks on Ernst are threats to resurface allegations of an adulterous affair.
If you are a bigot who hates gay people then you believe this false idea. If you are a racist you believe that black / brown people are inferior and erode standards. In fact that was said about blacks when the military was first integrated. However that notion got totally destroyed due to the bravery and proficiency of the black divisions in the 1930s and 1940s. Same with gay people. Most people in the military don’t care your sex partner as longs as they are not forced against their will to join you. It is only the bigots, the fundamentalist religious people. It is the Christians like Hegseth who has said that the goal is to make the military Christians who want all the gay people out. Notice it was gays he objected to, not lesbians. The upper military brass has studied this, the idea of LGBTQ+ in the military and all the studies show that the military benefits greatly for allowing the LGBTQ+ to serve openly. Look let’s be honest the military was full of gay people in the 1980s when I was in, both the Navy and the Army. We just stood the chance of getting blackmailed or discharged if a bigot like Hegseth found out. Again all of maga want desperately to return to the fantasy time of the 1950s thinking that was the best of times, but only if you were a white straight cis male. The rest of the population suffered from the unfair laws. Hugs.
From the linked article which I suggest reading.
Hegseth’s views risk alienating large segments of the armed forces and undermining morale by suggesting that certain groups are inherently less capable of serving. The Department of Defense has long moved toward embracing equality and diversity as pillars of strength. A leader who dismisses these values could jeopardize decades of progress and fail to inspire trust and cohesion among service members.
In a time when military challenges require unity and innovation, the Secretary of Defense must represent the best of modern leadership—respect for diversity, evidence-based policy, and a commitment to national security above outdated biases. Pete Hegseth’s comments reveal a personal belief system with negative views which raises doubts about his fitness to lead the military
This is more gang thuggery. Notice this part: … as he threatened local officials to open the city and its county jail to the will of federal immigration agents. Hugs
The very same weaponizing the government and the DOJ to attack enemies that tRump and the maga right claims is happening under Biden was routine under tRump. Notice the use of the deep state tools to gather information including personal information which should have been protected legally. That is why all these people who claim tRump won’t be vengeful and won’t weaponize the government are just blowing smoke, he will and he has. Hugs
Oh wow, think of all those poor people who voted for tRump because they believe everything he says and think he is a smart businessman. Too bad no one tried to explain to them that tariffs are paid by the consumer, that means the person buying the item. Oh wait yes there were people trying hard to tell them that. In fact the black woman they just couldn’t vote for was saying that very clearly as was everyone but right wing media that is deep into the cult of tRump. Hugs
This man has shown nothing but contempt for all normal behavior and respect for the those in congress. He has done a lot to destroy the post office and to make it unreliable. Remember that he was destroying sorting machines and shortening delivery routes during an election so many mail in ballots never got counted. In deeply rural areas no other mail delivery service covers that area so they depend on the post office. The post office is the only government service mandated in the constitution. Remember DeJoy is a multimillionaire who owns a company that competes with and contracts with the post office that he is in charge of. Sounds like a conflict of ethics that needs real instigating. Hugs
As normal Musk is spouting off on stuff he knows nothing about. Homelessness is caused by several factors, a major one being the cost of housing. With hedge funds and wealthy investment companies buying up all the housing in an area and jacking up the rents while providing no maintenance support. They don’t care, a large profit is demanded. The fact that people can not afford to live these days because people like Musk demand ever more profit, a man who has so much money he could waste 44 billion on a whim and not suffer any lowering of his lifestyle. That is what life is like for these clowns. They have no conception of what life is like for the rest of us. By the way, the article he cites as his proof says the exact opposite of what Musk claims. That is why you need to read more than the headlines and look at the pictures. Providing housing does work, but as the article referenced states the programs need the correct amount of funding and supervision. Hugs
The article does not support the contention that providing shelter to people who need it is fruitless or that all unhoused people are criminals. Rather, the article details how the converted hotels in San Francisco were “underfunded and understaffed,” leading to substandard living conditions.
Read the full article. As the linked piece notes, a large percentage of the homeless are children, veterans, queer kids rejected by their parents, and women escaping domestic violence. But they’re all violent, drug-addicted liars, according to Musk, whose tweet currently has 25 million views.
Delusion run strong in this one. Need I say more. A fox entertainment host is also claiming tRump will buy a large track of property for the US making more states. Hugs
Scary stuff
As you can see below, that “sifting” has already begun.
Last month, Davis, who was among Trump’s candidates for Attorney General, posted this about Trump’s critics: “I want to drag their dead political bodies through the streets, burn them, and throw them off the wall.”
Davis last appeared here with he threatened to imprison “fat ass” New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In August 2024, Davis appeared here when he threatened to sue any publication or social media user who referred to Trump as a “convicted felon.”
In April 2024, he appeared here when he vowed to imprison Trump’s critics and prosecute Barack Obama for murder.
In February 2024, we heard from him when he declared, “What’s so bad about Christian nationalism?”
His first appearance here came last year when he threatened to “arrest and deport” journalist Mehdi Hasan and throw gay reporter Tim Miller in a women’s prison.
Some Sam Seder clips
This one address the mistaken idea that anti-trans stuff worked to win the presidency for tRump. In fact it was not a factor according to surveys however the only ones talking about it were the tRump people. Harris never mentioned trans except for one time saying that they followed the law on treating trans prisoners with the hormone care they were prescribed or needed before incarceration. Again it is the law and tRump also did it in his first term. Hugs
More on the trans issues and the bathroom ban for trans people in the capital. Trans issues in the 2022 midterms showed that trans issues was a losing issue for them. It was the same this election. The larger problem is the democrats being too cowardly to stand up for the abused minority. Hugs
We hear about the genocide by Israel of the Palestinians. He talks about hate on the internet by right wing forced paid for and encouraged by people who want to normalize this level of violence and convince people it is good to be this bloodthirsty. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 