Goldman Sachs has confirmed that the tariffs Trump has put in place on China are actually being paid by American consumers and businesses. But not just “some” of the tariffs – 100% of the tariffs are being paid by American citizens. Trump falsely claims that China is paying for it, but the truth refuses to remain hidden. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
The US says economic sanctions against Turkey will remain in place even if Ankara releases an American pastor, whom it arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences. That's after both sides imposed further tariffs on each other. Concerns over whether the situation has escalated too much, were raised at the US State Department.
Turkey says its ready to enter talks with the United States regarding the ongoing trade and diplomatic disputes. The US insists that the steel tariffs are not related to Turkey's detention of Andrew Brunson, a US pastor that Ankara links to the 2016 failed coup attempt and are based on national security grounds. Turkey's foreign minister has said that it is prepared to negotiate with the US as equals, but will not be dictated to. The White House, however, has not changed its threatening rhetoric thus far. Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna reports from Washington, DC.
The Trump administration has put together a draft of new rules. The draft of the new rules are collected under what they’ve called the United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act – in other words, Trump wants to enact the FART Act to grant himself new powers over trade and tariffs that rebuke both US and international laws. Trump is drunk with power, and it only seems fitting that his FART Act exposes it. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
Theresa May acknowledged in her speech today that Britain will have less access to EU markets after Brexit. However, she also asked for some special rules to apply to the UK after Brexit. Meanwhile, Brussels says it will not accept cherry-picking. Also, Silvio Berlusconi returned to the political center stage in Italy ahead of elections on Sunday. And Donald Trump caused an international uproar over steel and aluminium tariffs.
