Transcript

3.31.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the reading of the
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Washington Post for this Monday, March thirty. First, it's the
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end of the first quarter WOW. As a reminder, RADIOI
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is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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printed material. Your reader for today is Rod Brotherton, and
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since it's Monday, by listening request, we begin by reading
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Paul Prather's weekly column from the Lexington Herald Leader. This
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week's article is entitled maybe true joy comes from surrendering
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our dreams rather than reaching them. Going into this column,
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I realize two things. First, many of you likely will
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disagree with me, and reasonably so. Second, the virtue I'm
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about to expound on is one I'm incapable of living
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up to myself. If there ever was a case of
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do as you say, not as I do, you're about
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to read it here. Given these two negatives, feel free
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to take everything I say with a green salt. But
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I think I'm right. I've long wrestled with principle practicing
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selflessness rather than selfishness. I've considered this periodically for decades.
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What brought it to my mind again was a tribute
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to the late Minister Tim Keller that I Happened to Cross.
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It was written by journalist David Brooks shortly after Keller
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died in twenty twenty three. Brooks said Keller offered a
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radically different way. He pointed people to Jesus, and, through
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Jesus's example, to a life of self sacrificial service that
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may seem unrealistic. Doesn't the world work on self interest?
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But his wife Kathy wrote a wonderful book, The Meaning
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of Marriage, which in effect argue that self sacrificial love
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is actually the only practical way to get what you
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really hunger for. According to Brooks, the colors noted that
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after being married a while, you're going to realize your
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spouse is selfish. Meanwhile, your spouse is realizing the same
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thing about you. The only way forward, Brooks continued, is
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to recognize that your own selfishness is the only selfishness
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you can't control. Your self centeredness is the problem here.
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Love is an action, not just an emotion. That the
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marriage will only thrive on if both people in it
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make daily sacrificial commitments to each other, learning to serve
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and harder still be served. Whether we are husband or wife.
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The Kellers rote, we are not to live for ourselves
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but for the other. And that's the hardest yet single
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most important function of being a husband or a wife
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in a marriage. But my subject isn't marriage per se,
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or even marriage mainly. Yes, the teachings of Jesus in
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the New Testament generally call us to lay down our
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life and our own preferences or ambitions for our spouse,
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which is hard. What's terrifying is that they also call
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us to lay down our life for everyone, family and
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strangers alike, saints and sinners alike, the appreciative and the
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unappreciative find lasting peace, They say, we need to surrender
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our egos and our rights and learn to live for
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God and other people. The counterweight the promise is that
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if we voluntarily empty ourselves, we may find ourselves full
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filled beyond our wildest imaginations. It's one of those countless
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paradoxes found in the Christian Gospel. For whoever wants to
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save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his
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life for my sake and for the Gospel, we'll save it.
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Jesus says in Mark's Gospel. In the next chapter, if
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anyone wants to be first, he must be the last
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of all and the servant of all. This goes on
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ad infinitum, and you see the problem, of course, and
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any idea runs counter to our twenty first West century
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Western ethos, is that we should give up our own comfort, dreams,
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and preferences for a bunch of yahoos who probably won't
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even have the decency to appreciate what we've done, much
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less reciprocate. I mean, why would we do that? Isn't
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that just being weak willed? Won't we become dormance unless
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and because of our willingness to stand up for ourselves.
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Don't we need healthy boundaries to protect ourselves? Perhaps? But
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I suspect Jesus might point out that for many of us,
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a lack of boundaries isn't our biggest issue. Many of us,
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and I'm looking in the mirror, are just one big, old,
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gigantic boundary. We blocked out anybody it's too needy or
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intrusive or otherwise irritating. We hardly let anybody in. We
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don't want anybody bothering us with their needs. Other questions arise,
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We're to sacrificing end and enabling the irresponsible begin isn't
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it possible that by endlessly serving we'll just burn ourselves
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out again? Legitimate questions? As humans wherever we don't, whatever
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we do, we're apt to get it wrong some of
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the time. If it's worth doing, we'll do it to excess. Plus, friends,
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let me tell you from my own constant failings. Living
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the kind of life Jesus wants his hard. It's risky,
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it can be deeply frustrating. It requires more faith than
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I possess. Why would anybody do it? Probably because we
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finally come to realize that selflessness brings a freedom self
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seeking can never match. That's another paradox. The harder we
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strive to give ourselves everything we crave, the more miserable
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we tend to become. The maw is never filled. The
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more of ourselves we give away, the more of our
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soul we open up for God to satisfy. Tim's happy
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and generous manner was based on the conviction that we're
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born wired to seek delight and we can find it,
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Brooks wrote of Keller, anybody who has tasted the reality
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of God knows anything is worth losing for this Tim preached,
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and nothing is worth keeping If I'm going to lose this.
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What if our boundaries, our self protection, our self serving
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are blocking us from the greatest delights and the blessings
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of our lives. And as you know, Paul Prather is
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a rural pastor in Kentucky and you can email him
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at prt pd at yahoo dot com. Now let's turn
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to the news of the Washington Post and our top
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story today. Trump's complaint about overseas tariffs ignore some of
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the US's own. To hear President Trump tell it, the
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world is full of crafty foreigners who use unfair trade
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and other trade barriers to steal jobs and wealth from
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hapless Americans. But foreigners have their own complaints about the
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United States. Brazilians grumble about US limits on imported sugar,
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Koreans bemoan US tariffs on light trucks, and the Chinese
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crive about restrictions that prevent their smartphone makers from selling
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in the US markets. Before Trump's recent trade moves, the
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US had one of the most open economies on earth,
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unless she were trying to sell Americans foreign made pickup trucks, clothing, tobacco,
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cereala or several dozen other products. In that case, the
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US government charges double digit import taxes designed to discourage
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consumers from buying foreign goods and protect domestic producers, just
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like most other nations do. Yes, the United States is
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very open. I would say some of our peer countries
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are even a bit more open than we are. Folks
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in glasshouses shouldn't throw stones, because everybody's got their sins,
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said Chad Boone, who is the State Department's chief economists
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during the Biden administration and is now a senior fellow
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at the Peterson Institute for International Economies. On Wednesday, the
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President's schedule to reveal his plan to impose reciprocal tariffs
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on US trading partners. The new taxes, which could hit
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most of the three point three trillion dollars in annual
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US imports, are the centerpiece of Trump's plan to remake
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a global trading system that he and his supporters blame
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for hollowing out the nation's manufacturing base. Troup initially suggested
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he would raise US tariffs to match those of all
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other countries on a product by product base. Last week,
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he reset expectations, saying the new tariffs would be very
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lenient and in many cases would be less than the
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tariff that they've been charging US for decades. On Sunday,
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Peter Navarro, White House Council for Trade and Manufacturing, said
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the administration intends to raise six trillion dollars over the
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next decade via reciprocal tariffs, suggesting that Trump will opt
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for the most comprehensive option that would represent the largest
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peacetime tax increase in US history, according to the Tax Foundation,
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although Navarro insists other administration initiatives would reduce taxes for
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average Americans. The President has not reached a final decision
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on the specifics of the April second Announcement, which aims
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to shrink the one point two trillion dollar annual trade deficit,
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but Wall Street is placing its bets based on recent
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remarks by Secretary of the Treasury Scott Descent. In an
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interview with Fox Newscent said that roughly fifteen percent of
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US trading partners, which he dubbed as the Dirty fifteen,
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were in line for higher tariffs. Trump's principal target are
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likely to be a group of roughly twenty countries that
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the US runs the largest trade deficits with, including China
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and the European Union. According to Michael McLean, a policy
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analyst with Barkley's Bank. In a report to clients on Friday,
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McLean said Trump is likely to impose reciprocal tariffs starting
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at ten percent and increase them over time, relying on
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a nineteen thirty trade law that authorizes the president to
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apply taxes up to fifty percent on goods from any
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nation that discriminates against American goods. Trump is correct when
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he says that many nations impose much higher tariffs on
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US products than America levies on their goods. The EU,
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for example, example, slaps a ten percent tax on American
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made cars, while vehicles produced in Germany, French, or Italian
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factories face a two and a half percent US tariff.
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On April third, that US tax jumps to twenty seven
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and a half percent following Trump's announcement last week of
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new tariffs on all imported automobiles. Likewise, India's average tariff
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on farm products is sixty five percent, but in some
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cases the rate can run as high as one hundred
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and thirteen percent. According to the World Trade Organization, the
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comparable US averages are four and four point eight percent.
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Day in America is coming soon. For years, we have
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been ripped off by virtually every country in the world,
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both friend and foe. But those days are over. America first,
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the President said in a truth social post on Thursday.
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But today's tariffs were not forced upon the US government.
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They resulted from decades of negotiation that involved hard bargaining
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among diplomats from more than one hundred countries. The most
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recent global tariff cutting talks, called the Uruguay Round, concluded
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in nineteen thirty three. When developing countries like India were
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a much smaller part of a global economy, Washington negotiators
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focused on keeping US tariffs high on the industries that
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had the greatest employment and output. According to Jennifer Hillman,
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who participated in the talks as chief US textile negotiator,
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we didn't cut if we weren't pushed hard by somebody
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else who had something to give us what we wanted,
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she said. The Uruguay Round established the World Trade Organization
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and resulted in agreements governing just about every aspect of
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global commerce. In return for accepting the tariff structure that
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exists today, the US got what it wanted in the
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form of a new copyright and patent protection for intellectual
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property and the first ever global rules for the lucrative
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services trade. These were huge wins for Hollywood, Silicon Valley,
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and Wall Street, and brought order to a type of
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trade that the US dominated. While the US has now
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run a deficit in its merchandise trade since nineteen seventy five,
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it has consistently sold more services to the rest of
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the world than it has imported. The US last year
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exported more than one trillion dollars worth of cervices, enjoying
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a nearly three hundred billion dollar trade surplus. To say
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the US is getting totally ripped off is just not true,
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said Keith Rockwell, a former WTO official now with the
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Hendrich Foundation in Singapore. Administration officials, however, also cite a
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new slew of non tariff barriers, such as value added
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and digital taxes, health safety and environmental regulations, and industrial subsidies.
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The President has said he will take those into account
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in formulating the reciprocal tariffs. Navarro, for example, last week,
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blamed differing safety and testing requirements along with tariffs for
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minuscule sales of US made automobiles in Europe, Japan, and
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South Korea. Some practices the Administration regards as unfair reflect
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different judgments by other nenstions about their domestic regulations. Those
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differences are permitted under global trade rules so long as
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they apply to all companies operating in a given market,
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said Kyle Handley, an associate professor of economics at the
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University of California at San Diego. US trading partner since
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nineteen ninety five have filed one hundred and seventy four
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w TOO complaints against the US. The EU tops the
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list with thirty five disputes, Canada is second at twenty two,
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and China has filed nineteen. The WTA usually rules in
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favor of complainants, at least partially. Last year, for example,
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a WTO panel agreed with an EU complaint alleging improper
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US duties on ripe hollows from Spain. The trade body
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also back to the Europeans and a portion of their
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twenty twenty complaint against Washington state subsidies for the aircraft maker,
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and in twenty nine, the WTO sided with Brazil in
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a dispute over US subsidies for cotton farmers. Chinese officials
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griped in recent comments submitted to the US Trade Representative's
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office that US technology controls unfairly cost their smartphone makers,
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and these companies must pay billions of dollars in intellectual
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property licensing fees to suppliers like Qualcom, but are barred
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from the United States, wrote Shi Yung Hong, vice president
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of the Cha Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export
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of Machinery and Electronic Products. In contrast, fifty million iPhones
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are sold in China every year. She added. While Trump
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has described his tariffs on automobiles and auto parts as permanent,
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he may negotiate over the reciprocal levies. The President has
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hint flexibility on the terms, and many on Wall Street
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anticipate a flurry of bilateral talks starting soon as the
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tariffs are announced. The ultimate goal remains unclear. We focus
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on other countries tariff spikes or they're high tariffs, but
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there's no self reflection. Actually, the US does this too,
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And if we're asking other countries to get rid of
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their spikes, what are we putting on the table, says
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Douglas Irwin, an economics professor at Dartmouth College and author
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of Clashing over Commerce, A History of US trade policy.
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High tariffs on specific products generally reflect in industry's political
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or economic clout in the country imposing them. Kenya protects
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its coffee industry, a major source of export revenue that
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employs roughly six hundred thousand small scale farmers, with the
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twenty five percent tariff. The US has no similar tax
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because it does not have a coffee growing industry to protect,
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but it does shield its steel mills located in politically
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important states such as Pennsylvania. Some high US tariffs are
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the legacy of distant trade battles. The twenty five percent
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tariff on light trucks is leftover from a nineteen sixty
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four battle over European poultry tariffs. After several European nations
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hiked taxes on imported chicken, threatening a major US export,
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President Lyndon B. Johnson reinstated to tariffing by tariffing European brandy, potato, starch, dextrin,
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and light trucks. The levies were eventually lifted on the
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first three products, but Detroit soon grew accustomed to churning
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out profitable pickups in a protected domestic market. We were
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in a spat with Europe in the nineteen sixties. Did
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something on chickens. We retaliated by raising the tariffs on
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pickup trucks, said Bone, the former State Department economist, And
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then that's been at twenty five percent ever since. And
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now with breaking news Trump ready sweeping tariffs and major
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escalation of global trade war. President Trump is preparing to
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announce a sweeping round of new tariffs on imports set
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to take effect Wednesday, which he has dubbed Liberation Day.
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Details of what can amount to major escalation in Trump's
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global trade war are expected to be released in the
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coming days. Trump meanwhile, plans to sign an executive order
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that in the White House on Monday, and the White
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House has not advertised the subject matter. And next, states
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rush to hire federal workers out of work after DOGE
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cuts to the workers, the White House said goodbye state government,
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they're saying hello. Wisconsin is hosting job fares next month
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to snap up the federal workers now on the job
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hunt after the Trump Administration's reckless mass firings, the state
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announced Thursday. In early March, California put out a call
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for formal federal employees with experience in firefighting and weather forecasting,
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and in New York, signs at train stations depict the
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Statue of Liberty pointing a finger at passers by with
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a message, Doge says you're fired, We say you're hired.
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New York wants you sign reads and all capital letters. Wisconsin, California,
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and New York are among the states that have in
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recent weeks launched campaigns reel in candidates from a fresh
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and massive pool of people newly on the job market
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fired federal workers. Since President Trump took office, tens of
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thousands of federal employees have been caught in his sweeping
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job cuts, which have been led by billionaire Elon Musk.
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State and local governments, largely led by Democrats, have taken
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up hiring former federal workers as their cause, with recruitment
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drives tailored to those who had once expected to spend
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their careers in service to the federal government. Anyone who
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is interested in bringing that same commitment to the job
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is welcome in our state. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers the
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Democrats sat in the statement Thursday, we are hopeful that
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these systems can help bring dedicated and talented workers to
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Wisconsin state government and communities across the state. With evers announcement,
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Wisconsin joined Hawaii, Virginia, Minnesota, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico,
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along with California and New York, in promoting its jobs
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to former federal workers from virtual job fairs to streamline
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hiring processes. The states are pitching themselves as a safe
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haven for the fired workers. Asked for comment on those efforts,
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last week, White House Principal Deputary Deputy Press Secretary Harrison
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Fields said in a statement that growing the public sector
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is not President Trump's definition of job creation. Beyond the
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federal workers who have already lost their jobs, those who
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fear they will soon be in the same boat are
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also applying elsewhere looking for an exit. As the government
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has signaled there are more cuts to come for government employees.
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These workers are a pool of pre vetted candidates, meeting
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the high level requirements and possessing a skill set needed
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for civil service jobs, said Julia Pollock, chief economist at
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ZIP Recruiter. Local and state government jobs were the top
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destination for employees leaving the federal workforce. According to a
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new hire survey recently conducted by ZIP Recruiter, about fifty
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percent of respondents landed in the non federal government roles
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eight percent of health care and smaller percentages across those
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across other industries. Pollock said Catherine Hampton was one of
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those who made the switch from federal to state government work.
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Hampton was working as a foreign affairs officer in the
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state Department. After the twenty twenty four presidential election, she said,
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it became clear her office could face cuts and she
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might need to find a new job. In the months
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that followed, she applied for multiple openings in the federal
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government and outside of it, but then came the Trump
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administration's funding cuts. There was a more significant change than
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I anticipated, Hampton said. The federal jobs she'd applied for,
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including the ones she interviewed for, were canceled, she said,
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and as she broadened her search, Hampton spotted an opening
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in New York State's Division of Human Rights, where she
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now works as a human rights specialist. Her team works
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on human rights law in New York and anti discrimination
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policies in the state. The selection process, Hampton said, was straightforward.
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Now she hopes other federal workers in the job market
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will consider state and local government jobs as she did.
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The hiring panel was really quick to recognize my transferable
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skills and to recognize that I could bring these skills
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to their team, she said. In New York and other states,
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the hiring spree is ongoing. It's too early for a
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fulsome look at how many of the thousands of jobless
25:41
federal workers will be hired by state governments, but there
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are signs that the recruitment campaigns catered to them have
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caught their eyes and inspired them to send in applications.
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In the three weeks after the New York Wantshoes signs replaced,
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the state received more than thirteen hundred applications and had
26:01
hired twenty eight former federal workers. In Pennsylvania, where Governor
26:06
Josh Shapiro, Democrat, signed an executive order allowing federal service
26:11
years to count as state work experience, more than fifteen
26:16
hundred current and former federal employees submitted applications, some of
26:21
them submitting to multiple openings. A spokesperson for Shapiro said
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the state would be working to ensure we maximize this opportunity.
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Recruitment efforts have trickled down to cities and counties as well,
26:36
including Washington, d C. Fulton County, Georgia, Kansas City, Missouri,
26:41
and San Antonio. Troy Goodnow, the sheriff of Monroe County, Michigan,
26:47
saw the federal firings as an opportunity to recruit for
26:50
the twenty three Law Enforcement and Correction Division jobs he
26:53
had opened. On February twenty fourth, Goodnow sent out a
26:58
news release calling for late, on off or federal displaced
27:02
workers and employees to apply. The Sheriff's office, the release said,
27:07
was desperately seeking candidates, and it promised to contact applicants
27:12
within forty eight hours after posting the call out. Good
27:16
Not said the office received a number of applications, but
27:20
was still working through the backlog and interview process as
27:24
of last week. So far, there were no applications that
27:29
stated they'd applied in response to the call out, good
27:31
Nos said, but he's glad he tried that approach. I'm
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of the mindset, if you don't ask, you don't get right,
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he said. It doesn't hurt to throw it out there.
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And next, Americans are spending less as they braced for
27:48
new tariffs. Americans are tapping the brakes on spending, pulling
27:53
back on dining out, hotel stays, and other expenses as
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they boost their savings ahead of new tariffs and continued
28:00
economic uncertainty, consumers are increasingly anxious throughout the economy and
28:06
their curbing spending habits. Accordingly, data released Friday shows consumer
28:11
spending inched up only by one tenth of one percent
28:14
in February after adjusting for inflation, following a six tenths
28:19
percent dropped the month before, according to government figures. Meanwhile,
28:23
the personal savings rate, how much of their incomes people
28:26
set aside, rose to four point six percent. And our
28:31
next story lure of the North. What Russia's Arctic can
28:36
offer Trump. The vast, desolate Arctic frontier, rich in untapped
28:44
energy and mineral resources, has long been dominated in Russia
28:49
with its massive ice breaking fleet and extensive infrastructure inherited
28:54
from the Soviet era. But as the Trump administration's own
28:58
Arctic ambitions and poor with President Putin grow, Moscow was
29:03
seeking to leverage its Arctic riches in America's interest to
29:07
lobby for much anticipated sanctions relief and use the icy
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region as a testing ground for rebuilding ties with the
29:16
United States. Speaking to reporters on March thirteenth, President trump
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signal of the Arctic is on the top of America's
29:25
priority list and reiterated its wish to get Greenland a
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Danish territory and remarks Thursday from mormonsk in Russia's Arctic
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Putin spoke favorably of those plans, calling it a profound
29:40
mistake to treat it as some preposterous talk. Steve Whitcoff,
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Trump's special envoy, who has been ferrying messages from Washington
29:51
to Moscow, suggested in an interview with former Fox News
29:55
host Tucker Carlson at the United States and Russia are
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thinking of out how to integrate their energy policies in
30:03
the Arctic, share sea lanes, maybe send lergy gas into
30:07
Europe together, referring to liquefied natural gas. Russia, which saw
30:13
an opening in Trump's business first approach, swooped in to
30:17
renewed talks with US delegations, with business proposals and offering
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access to the country's mineral services and reserves and a
30:26
joint venture in the Arctic. The Arctic is too important
30:31
for cold war style politics. Russia and the US must
30:34
find common ground to ensure stability, resource development, and environmental protection.
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Putin's business envoy in the US negotiations, Kiri and Dmitriev
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recent said on x At the Arctic Forum in Mormonsk
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this week, Dmitriev announced that Russia would set up a
30:54
specific investment fund for Arctic development by year's end that
30:59
would attract funds from parties in the Gulf as well
31:02
as a number of Western countries. Mitriev also said the
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United States should interest and showed interest in investing in
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the Russian Arctic region, including LNG products. For Trump, expansion
31:17
in the Arctic can be a way to resale cheap
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energy or biminerals and rare earth metals from Russia. Expert
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said cooperation with Russia would also be a way to
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stave off the growing interest of China, which has declared
31:32
itself a near Arctic state and is building its own
31:36
ice breaking fleet to explore the emerging trade routes. For Russia,
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this presents an opportunity to access the LNG technologies and
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lacks and receive some of its key revenue makers, which
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have been hindered by sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine.
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When it comes to the Arctic, Russia has a lot
31:57
to offer, said Russian economist and article expert Vladislav Itzo
32:02
Myth also something Russia cannot fully develop on its own.
32:07
A warmer climate has unlocked economic opportunities along the Northern
32:12
Sea Route, a faster trade lane between Europe and Asia
32:16
that was once frozen, and Russia aims to capitalize on
32:20
this with its unrivaled icebreaker fleet. The Arctic regions are
32:26
rich in massive deposits of natural gas, with the Boonvaninkovo
32:32
field on the Yamal Peninsula alone holding approximately four point
32:38
nine trillion cubic meters of gas reserves, rivaling major US
32:43
fields such as the eagle Ford Shale. Russia had invested
32:48
millions in LNG facilities along the Northern Route until Western
32:53
sanctions derail those plans in twenty nineteen. Russia aim for
32:59
a twenty to thirty sent control of the global LNG
33:02
market and boosting production up to seventy million tons by
33:06
twenty thirty, but Russia's LNG industry is heavily reliant on
33:12
Western technology and equipment, and it was crippled by the
33:16
post invasion sanctions. By twenty twenty four, Russia still had
33:23
only an eight percent market share. Echoing Whitkoff's idea, Emozemptiv
33:31
suggested that Trump could strike a deal with Russia by
33:34
letting the United States have a stake and developing the
33:37
LNG products in Russia and then giving them a share
33:41
of gas to resell the third countries. One possible arrangement
33:46
could see the United States acting as the intermediary for
33:49
Russian gas sales to Europe, which after the Ukraine invasion
33:53
largely weaned itself off Russian gas. In this scenario, in
33:58
Ozemptev said Trump could push Europe to restart Russian pipeline
34:03
gas imports, while Moscow in return would compensate the United
34:10
States with a share of the Arctic liquefied gas that
34:14
it could then ship to other countries at a higher
34:16
profit margin. Russia has lucrative things to offer the US.
34:23
Should the US in turn put pressure on Europe, you know,
34:27
Zemtev said the United States could fulfill its gas contracts
34:31
to Europe by selling them reflagged Russian gas from the
34:36
pipeline network and then sell its own LNG elsewhere. There
34:41
had also been reports of efforts to restart the nord
34:45
Stream pipeline, which once brought gas across the Baltic Sea
34:49
to Europe, pushing Europe to reopen sanctioned pipelines, however, is
34:55
a hard sell after the continent's painful breakup with Russian
34:59
gas and Alli oil after the invasion. German Economy Minister
35:03
Robert Habeck dismissed the idea of reviving Nordstream, calling it
35:08
completely zerorong direction, following a recent Financial Times report about
35:14
another possible effort. Similar resistance is likely across Europe, as
35:20
many countries remain wary of rekindling ties with a supplier
35:25
that hashuwing few qualms about using its resources for political ends.
35:31
In addition to gas, Russia's Arctic is filled with rare
35:34
earth metals the Trump administration has publicly expressed interest in.
35:40
At the forum, Dimitriev said the new fund plans to
35:43
invest in development with various partners. The Arctic is also
35:47
rich in valuable minerals such as lithium, nickel, and aluminum,
35:52
key resources for high tech industries, renewable energy and defense.
35:58
It's a key thing it can offer beyond just energy extraction,
36:03
said Pavel Daktakin, a Moscow based senior fellow at the
36:08
Arctic Institute, arguing that Moscow SI's co operation with the
36:12
United States in the Arctic not from purely economic standpoint,
36:17
but as a diplomatic tool to restore ties and global
36:20
status with fewer geopolitical hurdles. The big thing here is
36:25
the narrative of Arctic exceptionalism, he said, referring to a
36:30
policy first proposed by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that
36:35
suggested the region should be exempt from geopolitical tensions where
36:39
co operation can happen. Despite conflicts, working together in the
36:44
Arctic is still important for Russia's great power status, he said.
36:50
There is also a theory in the US administration that
36:54
engaging with Russia, such as in the Arctic, could help
36:57
it disengage from China, a goal recently put forward by
37:02
Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Last year, the Pentagon highlighted
37:07
in an updated Arctic Strategy the threat posed by Russia
37:10
and China joining up in the region. In recent years,
37:15
the United States expanded its military readiness in the Arctic
37:18
its response to Moscow and Beijing's growing alignment in economic
37:23
and military cooperation, as the two states held joint military
37:27
drills in the Bearing Straits between Russia and Alaska. In
37:32
recent analysis by Rand noted that Moscow has grown increasingly
37:37
rely ont on Beijing, to finance its artics projects. We
37:41
could find ourselves in a situation whether Russia wants to
37:45
improve its relations with the US or not. They can't
37:49
because they are being completely dependent on the Chinese, because
37:53
we have cut them off, Rubio told conservative outlet Great
37:57
Bart News on February twenty fifth. While Russia recognizes the
38:02
imbalance in its relation with China and is working to
38:05
expand ties with other powers to offset this, it could
38:09
be difficult to fully cleave Russia from China, say Alexander Gebbev,
38:15
director of the Carnegie Eurasia Center. At present, the invest
38:20
in general and Washington in particular cannot offer Moscow anything
38:24
so attractive that the Kremlin would agree to disengage from Beijing,
38:28
he said. While Russia likes to promote the Northern Sea
38:33
Route is a shorter alternative to the Suez Canal, the
38:37
passage can be treacherous for the largest container ships. Many
38:42
parts of the journey can be too shallow, and the
38:45
scarcity of ports isn't added danger. Likewise, the journey for
38:50
American companies into Russia commercial space can be risky from
38:55
a regulatory standpoint. In legal terms of any joint US
39:00
US Russia Enterprises or Murky Moscow has a list of
39:04
unfriendly countries that essentially act as a tool of reciprocal sanctions.
39:10
Putin would have to exclude the United States from the list. Russia,
39:16
scorched by the quick exodus of Western companies in the
39:19
first weeks of the Ukraine War, signaled that any companies
39:24
allowed back in would face new regulations and strictures to
39:27
keep such an exit from happening again. Now we will
39:32
demand investments not just in papers, but in delan, a
39:37
senior Kremlin official set on the condition of anonymity to
39:40
discuss the matter more freely. We will demand a situation
39:45
that will prevent them further from taking a decision and
39:48
leaving everything overnight. Before the war in Ukraine, a handful
39:53
of foreign companies were involved in Russia's Arctic energy section.
39:57
Those sanctions and geopolitical ti often restricted their footprint. The
40:03
Schuchmann gas Field was once planned as a major LNG
40:07
export hub, led by Gasprom, French Total and Norwegian Norwegian Equinor.
40:15
The project stalled because of high cost and technological challenges.
40:20
Western sanctions after the twenty fourteen Crimea annexation further doomed
40:25
it and it was officially shelved. Exon Mobile was the
40:30
most significant US player, teaming up with ROSSNIFT in such
40:35
major projects as the salakan I oil and gas development.
40:40
Other American firms, including Haliburton, SLB and Baker Hughes played
40:45
supporting roles providing technology, equipment and oil field services to
40:50
Russian energy giants. After rounds of sanctions, American energy firms
40:56
had little choice but to pack up and sever ties
41:00
with one of the world's most resource rich but politically
41:04
volatile nations. This legacy now raises questions about whether the
41:11
Trump Putin approachment would be enough to persuade US companies
41:15
to risk operating in the market with high interest rates,
41:19
increasing inflation, and a rule of law that often exists
41:23
only in theory. And the next article, Silicon Valley's immigrant
41:30
workers fear targeting from Trump administration. The tech industry has
41:36
long prided itself on its many immigrant founders, executives, and
41:40
software programmers. Now, fears are growing among foreign tech workers
41:46
that their lives and careers may be upended by the
41:49
Trump administration's more stringent immigration policies. Tech companies are telling
41:55
employees on visas not to leave the US out of
41:58
concern they may not be allowed to back in. Law
42:02
firms are warning that denial rates for high skilled visas
42:06
could rise as they did during President Trump's first term,
42:11
and the administration's efforts to end automatic citizenship for those
42:14
born in the US is making immigrant tech workers fear
42:18
that their future children could be stateless. In recent weeks,
42:24
the government has also revoked visas and green cards from
42:27
people it accuses of sympathizing with Hamas and Hezballah, adding
42:32
to the uncertainty for people who until now thought following
42:36
immigration rules and being employed in high tech industries meant
42:40
they could confidently build lives in America. What we're seeing
42:45
right now is just a lot of worry in panic,
42:48
said Malcolm Goschal, principal attorney for Gocial Law Corporation, a
42:52
San Francisco based firm focused on business immigration that serves
42:56
clients in the tech industry. James like, the administrations just
43:02
getting more and more momentum, and we don't know what's
43:05
around the corner. The uncertainty and fear are rattling the
43:09
immigrant tech community in Silicon Valley, long viewed as one
43:13
of the key pillars of success in producing innovative technology
43:18
and boosting US competitiveness. A twenty eighteen study from the
43:22
National Foundation for American Policy, a think tank focused on
43:26
trade and immigration, found more than half of US startups
43:31
valued at more than one billion dollars had an immigrant
43:34
founder or co founder. The CEOs of Microsoft, Google, Uber,
43:41
and chip Giant in Nvidia are all immigrants. Experts say
43:47
cutting the visas for immigrant tech workers could damage the
43:51
tech industry's ability to compete with China in the global
43:54
race to develop sophisticated technologies such as artificial intelligence. That's
44:01
just the beauty of our tech ecosystem that you can
44:04
hire the best and brightest from anywhere, said Devianis Kotschuk,
44:09
a vice president think tank at Beacon Global Strategies who
44:13
advises tech companies on geopolitic risks. Silicon Valley tech giants
44:19
employ thousands of workers on H one B visas, the
44:25
visa category at the center of the debate. Around sixty
44:29
five thousand visas are approved each year via a lottery system,
44:33
with people coming from India having the highest number of approvals,
44:37
followed by China and Canada. According to data from the
44:41
US Citizenship and Immigration services. Among big tech companies, Amazon
44:48
has the highest number of H one B visas approved,
44:52
followed by Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple Tesla, Who's CEO E. I.
45:00
Musk has been leading Trump's efforts to cut The federal
45:03
government had seventeen hundred and sixty seven approved H one
45:07
b's in the fiscal year ending September of twenty twenty four.
45:12
Spokespeople from Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon declined to comment,
45:19
and Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
45:23
The H one B visa can be used by a
45:26
wide range of workers with specialized skill sets. Many American
45:30
associates the visa with IT outsourcing firms that use it
45:35
to bring workers from India and China to the US
45:38
at a cheaper cost than paying US workers. IT outsourcing
45:43
companies such as Inphasis and Cognizant account for a large
45:47
portion of H one B applications, but big tech companies
45:51
are among the top ten biggest employers of H ONEB
45:54
holders as well. In Silicon Valley, the visa is generally
45:59
seen as a key TOOIS rule for filing the relentless
46:02
demand of top engineering talent, though HB one workers are
46:06
sometimes seen as less likely to switch jobs because Transferring
46:10
the visa from one employee or to another requires approval
46:13
from the government. H one B visas have opened up
46:17
a rift inside Trump's ruling coalition between tech leaders whose
46:22
companies employee immigrants and others who want to slow down
46:25
immigration to the US. That rift erupted in December when
46:30
the two sides argued on x over whether Trump should
46:34
boost or suppress skilled immigration. The number of people who
46:39
are super talented engineers and super motivated in the US
46:44
is far too low, Musk wrote on AXL on Christmas.
46:48
If you want your team to win the championship, you
46:52
need to recruit top talent wherever it may be. Other Republicans,
46:58
including former presidential nominee candidate Nikki Haley, pushed back, saying
47:03
the country should invest in US education to train more
47:08
American born tech workers. Trump hasn't said he will end
47:13
the H one B program or other skilled visas, though
47:17
he said he wanted to end the program during his
47:19
first term. The president has recently spoken positively about H
47:24
one b's Several of the White House's top advisors on
47:28
tech are immigrants, including AI and cryptos are David Sachs,
47:33
who moved to the US from South Africa as a child,
47:37
and White House AI Policy advisor Siriyam Krishnam, a former
47:42
Twitter executive who immigrated from India after completing his undergraduate degree.
47:49
Trusk Musk immigrated also from South Africa via Canada in
47:54
his twenties. Still, the unpredictability is already leading me your
48:00
immigration law firms to warn about the risk of sudden
48:02
changes to visa rules, the potential for processing times to
48:06
slow down, an increased scrutiny of applicants political views, and
48:11
social media activity. In the past, Trump administration's statistics showed
48:18
it was less nice to skilled immigrations despite everything they said.
48:23
Said did Das investor adventure capital firm Menlo Ventures. He
48:28
said he's concerned the legitimate criticisms of the HB one program,
48:34
such as the fact that some IT consulting firms had
48:38
been accused of visa fraud, could lead to the government
48:42
scrapping the entire program. A spokesperson for the White House
48:46
did not provide a comment. Concerns about Trump's impact on
48:51
immigrant tech workers have been growing since even before he
48:56
took office. Late last week, law firms working for big
49:02
tech giants Google and Amazon warn the company's employees with
49:07
visas to think twice before traveling abroad out of concern
49:10
that they may not be allowed back into the United States.
49:14
According to documents obtained by The Washington Post, denial rates
49:19
for skilled visas spike to fifteen percent during the first
49:22
Trump administration, and law firms warned that the same will
49:27
likely happen now. Immigration attorneys are ramping up one on
49:32
ones with workers, hosting company town halls and providing written
49:37
FAQs for companies to disseminate to their workers. In some cases,
49:43
attorneys are giving blanket advice, such as telling workers to
49:46
carry their immigration documents, keep their addresses and job information
49:51
up to date with authorities, stay connected with their attorneys
49:55
and HR representatives, as well as being careful about social
49:59
media p hosts. Everything will be under a heightened level
50:04
of security and people should be prepared for that, said
50:08
Audrea Goulding, a Silicon Valley based partner at the law
50:12
firm Fragman, del Rey, Bernson and Lowry, LLP. Represents small
50:18
and medium sized companies and tech pharmaceuticals and biotech. Every year,
50:25
thousands of students travel to the US to study computer
50:28
science and other technical degrees at prestigious universities. The best
50:33
among them compete for entry level jobs at tech companies
50:36
willing to apply for H beat one b's once their
50:40
student work visa expire. Once they secure an H one B,
50:46
they can begin the path to a green card. But
50:49
for people from some countries, especially India, there is such
50:53
a backlog of green card applicants that may wait for
50:57
years or even decades before getting permanent status. In October,
51:02
the CEO of fast rising AI company Perplexity Erevon Cyrinovas
51:08
posted on x that he's been waiting for a green
51:11
card for three years, despite founding and building a company
51:15
recently valued at nine billion dollars that employs hundreds of people.
51:22
People mostly have no idea they talk about immigration, Cerinavas
51:26
posted on x he declined to be interviewed for this article.
51:31
Two H one B workers for a tech company that
51:34
has a Silicon Valley hub, who spoke on the condition
51:37
of anonymity for fear of being targeted by the government,
51:40
said they were surprised to see so many sudden changes.
51:45
They both canceled recent travel plans to India out of
51:49
fear of not being able to return. One worker's daughter
51:53
was born a US citizen, but he worries that a
51:56
future second child may not get citizenship in either the
52:02
US or India. There is an assumption that everybody who
52:07
is not a US citizen might be here illegally, one
52:09
of the workers said through their attorney. When we're walking around,
52:14
we always carry our documents, the other said, through her attorney.
52:18
Changes such as limiting the ability to waive in person
52:22
interviews for visas, happened too fast for some to properly plan.
52:27
Others worry about the more unexpected changes to visa processes.
52:32
I got an email where a gentleman had gone back
52:35
to his home country because his father died, and he said,
52:38
I'm terrified of returning to the US, said Angela Moore,
52:42
a lawyer at Dwayne Morris LP, San Francisco's office who
52:47
advises tech companies. The uncertainty is already negatively affecting some
52:52
American tech companies. It definitely impacts their performance. One HR
52:58
representative and a tech f in Silicon Valley, who spoke
53:01
through an attorney, said about workers, the threat is looming
53:06
that some action will be taken against them. The tech
53:10
company the HR rep works for has paid for expedited
53:14
processing of some H one B extensions to the counter
53:18
attract delays related to changes in visa processing. It's a
53:23
cost that adds up, the HR person said. The flood
53:28
of news related to current and upcoming changes, in accurate
53:32
posts on social media and vast amounts of easily accessible
53:37
misinformation is making matters worse. Gosh'l said, it's causing a
53:43
fair amount of panic, even for people who have lived
53:47
here for most of their lives. It's disabling and inhibiting
53:51
their ability to function. And finally, in looking ahead, what
53:56
early signs suggest about the twenty twenty five hurricane Sea
54:00
in a head Hurricane season is now just two months away,
54:04
and early indications suggest it may not be as hyperactive
54:07
as last year's. Still several factors hint it won't be
54:12
quiet either. For one, forecasters are looking at the oceans
54:17
for sign of what could be brewing. Seas and part
54:20
of the Atlantic where storms typically form, are cooler than
54:23
they were this time in twenty twenty four, with warmer
54:26
waters allowing more fuel for strengthening. But seas are nonetheless
54:31
about seven tenths of one degree higher than the long
54:34
term average, the eighth warmest on record since at least
54:38
nineteen forty. The marine heat wave remains active across the
54:43
Caribbean Sea. In parts of the Gulf of Mexico, blobs
54:47
of unusually ocean heat that, should they linger, may tip
54:51
the scales towards stronger storms close to land. However, La Nina,
54:57
which tends to boost hurricane activity, is fading still. No
55:02
matter how many or few storms form, it only takes
55:06
one landfall to make a hurricane season devastating. Last year,
55:11
five hurricanes made landfall, and the contiguous United States just
55:16
the ninth season since eighteen fifty one to have at
55:20
least five storm centers hit land. There were eighteen storms
55:25
in total, and the season was considered hyperactive according to
55:29
a metric called accumulated cyclone energy. A head of further
55:33
key forecasts, including one from Colorado State University expected later
55:37
this week, here's The Washington Post's assessment for the upcoming
55:41
season and the four key factors that will shape it.
55:46
See temperatures in the main development area. From August to October,
55:50
typical storm and hurricane seedlings moved from Africa into a
55:55
vast region of warm seas in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean
55:58
known as the md A. Main Development Region. The warmer
56:02
it is, the more energy and moisture are available to
56:06
fuel storms, allowing them to strengthen as they move through
56:10
the area. Last year, the MDR was record warm, which
56:17
is part of the reason forecasters expected such an active season.
56:22
The MDR is much cooler now than it was this
56:24
time in twenty twenty four, especially near the coast of Africa,
56:29
but it's still unusually warm overall. In March, it's been
56:35
the eighth warmest on record. Miami based hurricane expert Michael
56:40
Lowry is closely watching the sea temperatures in this important region.
56:46
And this concludes the reading of the Washington Post for today, Monday,
56:50
March thirty. First, your reader for today has been Rod Brotherton.
56:54
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning the program,
56:58
please feel free to call it at eight five nine
57:00
four two two sixty three ninety. Thank you for listening,
57:05
and now please stay tuned for continued programming right here
57:09
on Radio I