Transcript

4.3.25 · Washington Post

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of today's Washington Post. Today is Thursday,
0:07
April third of twenty twenty five, and your reader is
0:10
Alice Stainer. I hope you all survived the weather last night.
0:15
It was quite a thunderstorm and quite rainy here, and
0:19
we got more than two inches at our home. Hope
0:23
borrow okay, and here we go with the front page
0:27
of today's papers. On the far left, above the fold,
0:32
officials consider idea to stop TikTok vand Whitehouse ways deal
0:38
to let Chinese firm keep ownership of algorithm. Drew Harwell,
0:44
kat Zara Zuski, and Naomi Nix of the very Across
0:52
the very top and above a picture of Trump President
0:57
Trump signing an executive auto is Trump orders ten percent
1:03
tariffs on all imports. And that is above a picture
1:08
of him signing two executive orders yesterday in the rose Garden.
1:13
The administration sees new tariffs as the start of an
1:17
epic campaign to reverse more than three decades of ill
1:22
conceived economic policy and inaugurate a new golden age. When
1:28
you see the backs of heads of people holding cameras
1:32
and taking pictures of the President holding up the executive
1:37
order with his signature and on the far right, underneath
1:41
the Trump orders ten percent tariff on all imports, plus
1:45
extra levees on some sixty nations economic gamble risks a
1:51
recession expert say. This is by David J. Lynch and
1:55
Jeff Stein. Below the picture of the president is an
2:01
article entitled Wisconsin setback raises questions about Mosque's future Napoli
2:11
ben David Patrick Marley and Rishia Fadani. Rebuke in state
2:19
judicial election might signal bigger loss of influence. And below
2:25
the fold on the far left, Saudi Arabia emerges as
2:29
key to trump foreign policy aims Meditation efforts likely to
2:34
rekindle links between President and the Crown Prince by Susannah George.
2:42
Next to that is a picture of students listening during
2:46
a welding course at Greenville Technical College in South Carolina.
2:53
It's entitled Brash Tactics in Danger vital Us Export in
3:00
Home of Epics sixteen. Many fear Allies will found Alternatives
3:07
to the Jet by Danielle Pacquette. And they're sitting at
3:13
a desk with laptop computers and it's just a lot
3:19
of people listening. On the right hand side, Judge drops
3:24
corruption case against New York Maya by Sean Jacobs. That
3:30
first article, Trump announces ten percent tariffs on all imports,
3:36
additional taxes for some sixty countries the nation could see
3:41
average import taxes reached nineteen thirties levels. And again there
3:46
is a close up picture of him in his iconic
3:51
signature of up and down lines. There's just a lot
3:58
of up and down lines, and he is signing the
4:01
executive Order of the ten percent tariffs by David Lynch
4:06
and Jeff Stein. President Donald Trump's had Wednesday that he
4:11
will impose a new ten percent tariff on all imported goods,
4:15
along with higher import taxes tailored for each of about
4:20
sixty countries that his advisors say maintained the largest barriers
4:25
against US products, in a short turn toward the kind
4:29
of protectionism that the United States abandoned nearly a century ago.
4:36
To impose the new tariffs, the President declared a national emergency,
4:41
citing the annual merchandise trade deficit that the United States
4:45
has run each year since nineteen seventy five. For decades,
4:52
our country has been looted, pillaged, great and plundered by
4:56
nations near and far. Both Brandon foe alike, but it's
5:00
not going to happen anymore. Trump said the tariff increases
5:06
that the President announced had little modern president and would
5:10
erect towering impediments to products from dozens of foreign countries,
5:15
many of them poor nations that embraced exporting as a
5:19
tool to escape grinding poverty. American importers, for example, will
5:27
pay an additional thirty four percent tariff on products from China,
5:31
some of which already faced forty five percent fees. Vietnam,
5:36
which the administration says has become a transshipment point for
5:40
Chinese companies seeking to dodge US tariffs, will see its
5:45
goods hit with the new forty six percent tariff. Cambodian goods, likewise,
5:51
will be charged an additional forty nine percent leving high
5:57
tariffs and a range of other practices including currency manipulation,
6:02
value added taxes, and product safety regulations, explain why the
6:08
United States buys so much more from the rest of
6:11
the world than it sells to foreign customers, he said
6:15
during the Rose Garden ceremony featuring hard hat clad union workers, lawmakers,
6:21
and journalists. Erasing these persistent imbalances in global trade, which
6:27
have hollowed out factory communities, and weakened national defense is
6:32
now official US policy, according to an executive order that
6:37
the President signed Wednesday and a picture below that show
6:43
shipping containers stacked at the Tankang Heap folk Port operated
6:49
by Saigon Newport Corp. In hoach Men City, Vietnam in
6:55
nineteen twenty nine. Vietnam has benefited from their sur and
7:00
imports in exports and foreign investment as businesses looked to
7:05
scale back their China operations or relocate to avoid higher
7:10
US taxes. Speaking in blunt, sometimes in temperate language, the
7:17
President assailed the nation's trading partners, including some of its
7:21
closest allies, as foreign cheekers and foreign scavengers who had
7:28
ripped off Americans for fifty years. Trump's tone echoed the
7:33
dark portrait of American carnage that he had sketched in
7:38
his first in normal address in twenty seventeen. Their early
7:43
reaction from mainstream economics, economists and business groups was grimmed,
7:50
while industries that will enjoy new protection against foreign competition applauded.
7:56
Although Trump's announcement came after financial marks had closed pre
8:01
market trading, US financial markets sharply down late Wednesday. In
8:09
the short line, the effect is probably a recession. It's
8:13
going to raise the price of so many goods that
8:16
can't be made in the United States. In the long run,
8:20
it's a vision of the US that is very isolated
8:23
from the world, said economist Brad Setser of the Council
8:29
on Foreign Relations. J Timmans, president of the National Association
8:35
of Manufacturers, warned that his members operate on thin profit
8:39
margins and cannot absorb the tariffs. Small businesses and restaurant
8:45
owners issued statements decrying their added costs. This is catastrophic
8:51
for American families, said Matt Priest, president of the Footwear
8:56
Retailers and Distributors of America. The Gulf Coast shrimp industry, however,
9:03
which has been battered by competition from countries such as
9:06
India and Ecuador, welcome the president's move, saying it would
9:11
preserve American jobs, and the steel industry said the tariffs
9:16
would help it compete against foreign rables that enjoy government subsidies.
9:23
The president's long awaited tariff plan is designed to spur
9:26
a renaissance in domestic manufacturing and to fild government office
9:31
with tax revenue, even as many economists warn that he
9:35
is steering the U. S economy code slower growth and
9:38
higher prices, whilst some on Wall Street continued to see
9:42
the president's aggressive trade stance as in negotiating employ One
9:47
senior aide told of reporters, this is not a negotiation.
9:52
This is a national emergency. After weeks of debate, Trump
9:57
settled on a two part trade ovahault strategy. All three
10:01
point three three million dollars in annual imports will face
10:05
a minimum tariff of ten percent. Roots from roughly sixty
10:09
countries that administration officials described as the worst offenders, including
10:15
close allies like Japan and South Korea, would be hit
10:18
with new taxes ranging from ten percent to fifty percent.
10:23
Administration officials calculated individual teriff rates for each of these
10:28
countries of those countries based upon an analysis of the
10:32
trade practices that the White House found objectionable. The President
10:37
described these tariffs says reciprocal. That means they do it
10:41
to us, can we do it to them? In fact,
10:45
the administrations cut each country's estimated figure in half and
10:50
will levy what the President called a discounted rate. The
10:55
President is lenient, and he wants to be kind. To
10:58
the world, said senior Administration official who brief reporters on
11:03
the condition of anonymity. The ten per cent baseline hot
11:07
tax takes effect at twelve oh one am on April fifth.
11:12
The custom tax is hit on April ninth. The administration
11:18
and its allies see the move as a part of
11:20
an epic campaign to reverse more than three decades of
11:23
ill conceived economic policy and inaugurate a new golden age.
11:29
Trade liberalization. Deals like the nineteen ninety four North American
11:34
Free Trade Agreement and China's two thousand and one entry
11:37
into the global trading system placed its working class in
11:42
up race to the bottom with low wage workers overseas.
11:46
According to Trump officials, as cooperations moved their factories offshore,
11:52
they and their Wall Street investors profited, while blue collar
11:56
communities in the heartland suffered by imposed taxes on foreign goods.
12:02
Trump hopes to encourage manufacturers to move their overseas factories
12:06
to the United States. Critics say the president's policies will
12:11
help some industries are hurting others that rely on foreign parts.
12:16
And here's a picture of some of the attendees yesterday,
12:20
April to second listening as the president as President Donald
12:24
Trump and nine as a plan for tariffs are imported goods.
12:28
On April second, in the Rose Garden and one two think.
12:33
Four of these have on orange hard hats with UAW
12:38
and their names on the front. One stickers say no foreign,
12:43
no food, one says Trump on the top, another has
12:48
an American flag. And then next to those four orange
12:52
ones is a white hard hat, a man with a
12:55
beard in a black top. Oh it's not UAW, U
13:00
s w. He has on her best over his shirt.
13:04
And then another man in a ball cap with American
13:09
flag on the side, and then behind them as a
13:12
stetson with a gentleman looking down in the face of
13:16
unreliniting economic warfare, the United States can no longer continue
13:21
with the policy of unilateral economic surrender, Trump said during
13:27
in the Rose Garden ceremony before an audience of guest
13:30
reporters and members of his cabinet. Wednesday's one to two
13:34
punch adds to a fusillate of new trade taxes the
13:38
president has announced over the past zen ten weeks on
13:43
items that you steal and aluminum, kappa lumba, and automobiles.
13:49
The tax of foreign made cars takes effect just past
13:52
midnight April the third, that is to night. As the
13:58
President has amped up his attack on US trading partners,
14:02
public opinion has swung against him. In a February Gallop poll, Americans,
14:07
by our margin of eighty one percent to fourteen percent,
14:11
called foreign trade more with economic opportunity than a threat.
14:15
The President's latest trade initiative represents a breath taking political gamble.
14:21
After returning to the White House on a wave of
14:25
public anger over inflation, Trump is now asking voters to
14:29
put up with a renewed period of rising prices in
14:32
return for the distant promise of public rebuilding a domestic
14:37
manufacturing Senior administration officials reject the inflation warnings, saying that
14:43
Trump's first term terrence produced no price shock, but the
14:47
tariffs and anas Twinsty affect more than five times as
14:50
much economic activity. According to Raka york An economists with
14:55
the Tax Foundation, a center right think tank, already economists
15:01
of warning that Trump's tax increase on import of goods
15:05
will mean sticker shock on some American's most important purchases,
15:10
including smartphones, cars, and homes. The President and his aides
15:17
blamed the nation's one point two trillion dollar trade deficits
15:21
on what they call unfail foreign trade barriers, including high tariffs,
15:26
internal taxes, and regulatory requirements. Many economists labeled those complaints exaggerated,
15:34
saying the deficit stems from insufficient national savings. The announcement
15:40
is the combination of weeks of internal discussions among senior
15:44
Trump officials who have tried resolving numerous conflicting purposes of
15:49
the president's traf agenda. Initially, Treasury Secretary Scott present Set
15:56
pitched the April second announcement as creating reciple tariffs in
16:01
which countries could negotiate they have their duties lowered than
16:04
deals with the White host But last week Trump asked
16:07
advisers why the administration could not impose a sample, single
16:12
flat tariff rate on all countries, perhaps as high as
16:15
twenty percent. The Washington Post previously reported. Having one flat
16:21
tariff rate was also meant to provide an incentive for
16:25
companies to invest in the United States that would not
16:28
be later rescented as part of a deal, an idea
16:31
Trump had run on during his twenty twenty four presidential campaign.
16:36
This week, Trump officials sought to reconcile their push for
16:40
a reciprocal tariff agenda with the president's desire for a
16:45
universal tariff, which would bring in hundreds of billions of
16:48
revenue to federal coffers. Meetings late Tuesday involved with a
16:53
cent Commerce Secretary Howard Ludnik, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles,
16:59
and senior Byzapeta Navarro and Stephen Miller. According to two
17:04
people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition
17:07
of anonymity to reflect private deliberations, White House aides had
17:13
grown concerned about the potential stock market reaction, said Wilbert Ross,
17:18
who served as Commerce secretary during Trump's first term. That
17:22
may explain why the administration did not pursue a twenty
17:25
percent rate, Ross said Wednesday, before the official teriff announcement.
17:32
There are some people who want it to be one
17:34
rate for everywhere on everything. Others want it everywhere but
17:39
by product, and others want it by product and by country.
17:43
So there's different ways of trying to accomplish it. They've
17:47
been scurrying around a lot at the last minute. In
17:51
recent days. The administration dismissed increasing concern among investors, economists,
17:56
and some members of the Republican Party about the court.
18:00
Trump has chosen. They're not going to be wrong. It's
18:04
going to work, and the President has a brilliant team
18:07
of advisors who have been studying these issues for decades.
18:11
White House Press Secretary at Caroline levettol reporters Americans are
18:16
not convinced, and as CBS news you gov poll released Monday,
18:22
fifty six percent of adults surveyed opposed new taxes on
18:26
foreign goods, or forty four percent approved of them. Seventy
18:30
two percent said they expected that tariffs would mean higher
18:33
prices in the short term. The president's allies, meanwhile, see
18:38
his economic overhaul in historic terms. Trump's goal is to
18:44
create an environment where it back to where we were
18:47
before World War One, said Newton Ingridge, former GOP host speaker.
18:53
Trump believes that late nineteenth century was when we were
18:57
the strongest economy in the world, largely built around a
19:01
high terraff, high wage, high manufacturing economy. Ingridge said the
19:08
current moment represents the fifth great change in American history,
19:13
after the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln,
19:19
and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Gimbridge said there's going to be
19:24
turmoil that's a fact, he said. Musk set back in
19:30
Wisconsin raises questions about his future role. The me and
19:35
a Tesla owner jumped fully into a hard fought state
19:39
election and suffered a major political rebuke. There is a
19:44
picture of Donald Trump holding a card with a million
19:49
dollars written on it as if it was a check.
19:52
He is speaking in front of an American flag, and
19:55
he gave away a million dollar check during the town
19:58
hall of nian Green Bay was and on Sunday this
20:02
is Naftali Ben David Patrick Merley, and Tricia Fedani. Liberal
20:10
demonstrators for weeks have been holding up signs declaring no
20:14
one voted for Elon Musk. On Tuesday, voters in Wisconsin
20:19
got the chance. Musk's chosen candidate lost decipherably in the
20:25
state's Supreme Court election, delivering by father the biggest rebuke
20:29
to the billionaire who has covered over American politics since July,
20:34
and raising questions about his future role in the Trump administration.
20:39
The election unexpectedly developed into a clash between President Donald
20:43
Trump's personality driven politics as represented by Musk's flashy style,
20:49
and the time on the traditions of American democracy, at
20:53
least for a moment those traditions reasserted themselves. The role
20:59
of Musk, who was overseeing a controversial cost cutting operation
21:03
for Trump, made the race, in part a referendum on him,
21:07
said Barry Burdon, director of the University of Wisconsin's Elections
21:12
Research Center. He is such an unusual person and he
21:16
has this outsized influence in what is going on, Burden
21:20
said of Mutsk, who is listed by Forbes as the
21:23
world's richest person, So that concern fit the narrative of
21:27
what he was doing in the Wisconsin race, throwing his
21:30
weight around and using his wealth. It was just a
21:33
step too far for a lot of voters in Tuesday's vote,
21:38
which will probably cement Niberal's control of the Wisconsin Supreme
21:42
Court for the next three years. Susan Crawford, the candidate
21:46
supported by Democrats, defeated Brad Schneiel, who had the enthusiastic
21:51
backing of Trump and Musk, fifty five percent to forty
21:55
five percent. No one has personified Trump's determination to circumvent
22:01
the traditional process of government and politics more than Musk,
22:05
an ostentatious and powerful personality. He has been slashing and
22:10
re arranging the federal government and attacking individual agencies despite
22:15
holding no official position, and making sweeping and often false pronouncements.
22:21
After ten weeks of frustration by those trying to slow
22:24
the billionaire's half line push, the question is whether Tusay's
22:28
result is the beginning of a bigger loss of influence.
22:32
In a statement after the polls closed, Wisconsin Republican Party
22:37
Chairman Brian Schmingh blamed that the vast amounts of money
22:42
poured into the race and a difficult political environment for
22:45
the outcome, rather than Musk's roll in helping make it
22:49
the most expensive court race in US history. Coming off
22:55
of successful November, we knew that April elections would be challenging.
23:00
Shaman said much of the more than one hundred million
23:05
dollars poured into the race came from Musk in groups
23:08
affiliated with him. They spent an estimated twenty five million
23:12
dollars on the campaign, an extraordinary for a state judicial race.
23:19
It's a good question if this will sour the relationship
23:23
between him and Trump. Burden said, Trump has supported everything
23:29
Musk is done. He has stood by him at all points.
23:32
This election could be the start of a slow divorce
23:35
between the two of them. Musk has been designated a
23:40
special government employee, which allows him to avoid stringent financial
23:44
disclosure requirements, but also means he is not permitted to
23:48
work more than one hundred and thirty days and at
23:51
three hundred and sixty five day period, assuming their days off,
23:55
Musk's term as a Special Government employee would conclude at
24:00
the end of May. Crawford's supporter, Jennifer Cray thirty three,
24:06
reveled in the outcome Tuesday and called musk spending disgusting
24:10
and an unchecked use of power. Pray, an elementary school
24:16
teacher from Madison, said she has been calling her congressmen
24:19
and senators every day to ask them to issue the
24:22
penis to Musk and his US Doe's Service, which stands
24:26
for a Department of Government Efficiency. She added that Tuesday's
24:30
results suggest that some Trump voters are changing their mind
24:34
as a acor president. I think that there are people
24:38
that were thinking that Donald Trump was in their court,
24:41
in their side, and what we're seeing is that he's
24:43
on the side of billionnaires, Pray said. Crawford said in
24:49
an interview that she knew the race would be expensive
24:52
when she got in at last GMA, and that she
24:55
graced for the possibility of unheard of suns once Musk
24:59
started posting it in January. I felt that it was
25:03
wrong for someone like him to come into the state
25:06
and dangle f on ancial incentives in front of people.
25:09
I just don't think that should be part of a democracy,
25:13
Crawford said, what ever broader message, her victory sense about
25:17
Musk's activity in Washington is above my grade grade, she added.
25:23
Question about Musk's political role came as Tesla, the electric
25:27
vehicle company that undergirds much of his wealth, is struggling
25:31
to weather a global blacklash against Musk and his involvement
25:35
with Trump. Tesla has experienced its biggest sales decline in
25:39
recent history, with deliveries down fifteen thirteen percent in the
25:43
first three months of twenty twenty five compared with the
25:46
same time last year, according to company data posted Wednesday.
25:52
The company's stock has fallen significantly since Trump's inauguration. The
25:57
more political he gets with Dose, the more the brand suffers.
26:02
There is no debate this continues to be a moment
26:07
of truth for Musk to navigate this brand tornado crisis moment,
26:12
said Dan Aves of web Bush Securities. Musk has hinted
26:18
that he may pull back from his government activities soon,
26:21
and when that happens, close advisers expect him to become
26:24
more involved with American PAC, the group he founded to
26:29
support Trump and other like minded candidates. The PAC is
26:34
full steam ahead for the midterm elections and other upcoming races,
26:39
set a person familiar with its operations who spoke on
26:42
the condition of amimmity to discuss internal conversations. They are
26:48
fully preparing to be involved going forward, the person said.
26:52
Democrats say they welcomed that involvement. Elon Musk's money might
26:57
buy some ads, but it repels voters, Wisconsin Democratic Party
27:02
chairming Ben Wickler told reporters Tuesday, from here on, it's
27:07
clear that when Elon Musk comes to town, Republicans should fleep.
27:12
Despite predictions that Trump would soon tire of Musk, the
27:16
tech mogul has held on to his unique role for
27:19
the entire opening act of Trump's second presidency. Democrats have relish,
27:25
dubbing Musk the co President, but Trump has been content
27:29
to let him tear a swath through the government and
27:33
attract much of the criticism for it. A brief uprising
27:37
by Trump cabinet officials when Musk demanded weekly updates from
27:41
their employees was rapidly quelled by the President. Internal disputes
27:47
over the size and shape of layoffs at the Department
27:49
of Health and Human Services ended when firing notices when
27:55
at Tuesday. Protests from Democrats and demonstrations at musk Tessela
28:00
dealerships have helped Saint Tuslas stop but otherwise have had
28:04
little effect. If Musk's style is showy. He sports dark glasses,
28:10
fires off jargon, NATed post and at one point waved
28:14
a chainsaw on stage to dramatize his budget cutting. State
28:18
of judicial races have long been among the more pumdrum
28:22
events in American democracy. In Wisconsin, however, they have gained
28:26
an intensity in recent years, given the state status is
28:30
perhaps the most closely divided in the country and the
28:33
state Supreme Court's role in resolving political disputes. Musk, who
28:39
has been flexing his political muscle in various ways since
28:42
last summer, chose to insert himself into the Wisconsin election
28:47
in a colorful fashion. The result was to make it
28:50
abate him to some degree. Musk may have been influenced
28:54
by the extraordinary success of his unexpected and ariging in
28:58
the presidential camp pain in July, when he endorsed Trump,
29:03
Musk went on to spend at least two hundred and
29:05
eighty eight million dollars backing him. Those moves paid off
29:10
enormously when Trump won and handed Musk unprecedented power to
29:15
reshape the government. There's a picture another picture of Musk
29:20
in front of an American flag wearing a cheesehead hat
29:25
for Green Bay, Wisconsin, as Wisconsin is the Cheese Day.
29:31
Besides spending millions of the Wisconsin race, Musk used his
29:35
social media platform x to post numerous messages about the
29:39
race and its importance. He also brought his trademark showmanship
29:44
to the campaign, donning a foam cheesehead that is a
29:48
quirky favorite of Wisconsin nights. In Green Bay Packers fans,
29:54
he delivered one million dollar checks to two Boggs, one
29:58
of whom is the chairman of the State College Republicans,
30:02
and declared that the race might decide the future of
30:05
America and Western civilization. Wisconsin Republicans were excited with Musk
30:11
and other conservative donors invested heavily in the election. In
30:16
other recent races, Democrats and their allies brought up far
30:20
more television ads, but Musk's spending seemed by him little.
30:26
Liberal candidates won the twenty eighteen twenty twenty to twenty
30:29
two three races by a bet eleven points. Crawfit on
30:34
Tuesday won by ten points. According to unofficial results. The
30:40
outcome boasts other indications that Musk is not a political asset.
30:45
In an apr C poll conducted in late March, thirty
30:49
six percent of American adults viewed the technogo favorably, in
30:53
fifty five percent unfavorable. A few as ours paptorsh Neil
30:59
conceded must attack the court system in a message on X.
31:05
The long con of the left is corruption of the jutiary,
31:10
he wrote. Lady, he posted, I expect it to lose,
31:14
but there is value to losing a peace for a
31:16
positional gain. Crawford's victory gives her a ten year term
31:21
and provides liberals with a firm four three grip on
31:24
the Wisconsin Supreme Court. They will have chances to increase
31:28
their majority in twenty twenty six and twenty twenty seven,
31:32
when the terms of two conservative justices come to an end.
31:37
Before Cowford is sworn in on August first, the court
31:41
is expected to decide two cases that will determine whether
31:44
abortion remains legal in the state in the years ahead,
31:48
it consider whether to draw new congressional maps. The court
31:52
may also hear a lawsuit Tesla filed in January just
31:56
before must concert it himself into the race. Tesla is
32:00
challenging a state law that bars auto manufacturers from owning
32:04
car dealerships. A hall mark of Trump's first ten weeks
32:09
in office has been avoiding or circumventing the ordinary processes
32:14
of government. He has issued executive orders rather than seeking
32:18
to push legislation through Congress. He has overseen mass firings
32:23
rather than following the long established procedures for laying off
32:27
civil service employees, rather than referring to the courts. He
32:31
has insulted and harangued judges. And he has tapped Musk,
32:37
a top political dummer whose companies do billions of dollars
32:41
in business with the federal government, to oversee far reaching
32:44
cuts in the federal workforce. Tuesday's results raised the question
32:51
of whether the political system will impose the restraints on
32:54
Musk that other forces so far have not. Alex Bow,
33:00
the insurance and insurance agent for Madison, who voted for Crawford,
33:04
said he hoped the election sent a message that Trump
33:07
and Musk's policies aren't popular. He hasn't been elected to
33:12
anything and seems to have an outsize influence on what's
33:15
happening with the government, and that doesn't sit right with me,
33:20
he said of Musk. Trump team has weighed deal to
33:26
save TikTok that would leave algorithm in Chinese ownership. The
33:32
White House has examined the menu of options to avert
33:35
a TikTok ban deadline set for sality tomorrow or day
33:41
after tomorrow. One proposal letting TikTok's Chinese owner lease the
33:46
algorithm to a TikTok spinoff in the US would probably
33:50
face resistance from China. Hawk's in Trump's party. And there
33:56
are TikTok creators outside the Supreme Court in January, and
34:00
these two people are holding up their cell phone and
34:05
taking selfies of them in front of the Supreme Court
34:09
by Drew Harwell, Pat Zarazuski, and Naomi Nix. President Donald
34:15
Trump on Wednesday considered a strategy to offer a TikTok
34:19
man scheduled to take effects Saturday. In a critical political
34:23
test that will force the president to weigh the interest
34:26
of China Hawks in his own party against the online
34:30
mega supporters who helped deliver him to the White House.
34:35
The White Hose has reviewed a menu of options in
34:37
recent weeks, including a scenario in which investors outside China
34:42
would increase their ownership of TikTok, while Beijing based fyte
34:47
Dance would retain ownership of the powerful algorithm that recommends
34:52
what people see on the popular video app. According to
34:56
two people familiar with the deliberations, who, like others in
34:59
the this article, spoke on the condition of anoninity because
35:04
they were not authorized to discuss them otter publicly. Under
35:08
this scenario, byte Dance would lease the algorithm to the
35:12
new entity operating TikTok in the United States. The people said.
35:17
It is unclear whether the algorithm proposal was discussed at
35:21
Wednesday's meeting between Trump and top officials involved in the negotiations.
35:26
White Airs officials to climb the comments that plan, one
35:30
of several options that have been considered, would probably face
35:34
resistance from China Hawks and Trump's some company, who had
35:38
warned that the Chinese government could leverage the algorithm to
35:41
influence the one hundred and seventy million US accounts that
35:45
turned to TikTok for news and entertainment. TikTok's critics could
35:50
also allege that such a deal would float the requirements
35:56
of the law if by Dance maintains a relationship with
35:59
TikTok in the US. The algorithm is TikTok's most critical
36:05
technology and has been the centerpiece of national security anxieties
36:09
in Washington because of concerns that Beijing could use it
36:13
to push propaganda to the American public. Trump met with
36:19
top administration officials involved in negotiations to find a new
36:23
owner for TikTok, including Vice President J. D Vance, Commerce
36:27
Secretary Howard Lutnik, National Security of Aser Michael Walls, and
36:33
Director of National Intelligence Tulsei Gabbertt. A White House official
36:38
said neither vite Dance nor the Chinese government has said
36:42
whether it would support any deal. New Penge, a spokesman
36:47
for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said Wednesday that China
36:53
has always respected and protected the legitimate rights and interest
36:56
of enterpricess and opposed practices that by relate the basic
37:01
principles of the market, economy and to harm the legitimate
37:05
interest of enterprises. In a sign of the last minute
37:10
nature of the negotiations, Amazon made an eleventh alvid to
37:14
acquire TikTok, but it was not seriously considered by the
37:18
White House. A person familiar with the matter said Amazon
37:22
declined the comment bid was first reported by The New
37:26
York Times. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post
37:33
paper that I'm reading the proposal to keep the algorithm
37:36
under by dance control would satisfy Trump's promises to young
37:40
Americans to keep TikTok alive. John Are imposed export controls
37:47
on recommendation algorithms in twenty twenty forbentding any sale to
37:52
Western technology companies or investors who viewed the opportunity as
37:56
a potential social media goldman and apps critics would probably
38:03
be deeply unsatisfied in any outcome that allows China to
38:06
still exert influence of a TikTok, but they could face
38:10
steep odds to summon the political clout or legal standing
38:14
to block such a deal if it ultimately wins Trump's support.
38:20
It all comes down to the algorithm, said Michael Sybolik,
38:24
a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, who previously served
38:28
as a legislative assistant to Senator Ted Cruz Republican Texas.
38:34
That is where the national security threat emanates from. Among
38:39
the options that have recently been considered is an agreement
38:43
similar to Project Texas, in which the tech giant oracle
38:47
which TikTok pays to store US users data and examine
38:51
its algorithm for flaws, would continue to review the code
38:55
and perhaps take a minority stake in TikTok to permit
38:59
both media with the negotiations, said the Biden administration presented
39:04
previously rejected Project Texas, a byte Dance led reform package,
39:09
as insufficient to resolve national security concerns. The future of
39:15
TikTok has vexed politicians for half a decade since Trump
39:19
initially proposed banning the app during his first term amid
39:23
concerns by Fight Dance's handling of Americans data and China's
39:28
potential to scred or censor political content. The battle has
39:33
pitted national security hawks against defenders of First Right Amendment
39:37
rights to free expression in congressional hearings and legal battles
39:42
that reached the Supreme Court. A broad bipartisan majority in
39:47
Congress passed the law last year, threatening to ban TikTok
39:52
if the app was not sold to a non Chinese buyer. Trump, however,
39:58
has vaged repeatedly to saved TikTok and dismiss some of
40:02
the concerns voiced by TikTok skeptics in his own party.
40:06
In January, Trump said he doubted it China had any
40:10
interest in spying on young kids watching crazy videos. By
40:16
then said it's roughly sixty percent owned by institutional investors
40:20
such as black Rock, General Atlantic and Susquehanna International Group,
40:26
twenty percent owned by its founder Zang Yamin, and twenty
40:30
percent by its employees, including about seven thousand workers in
40:34
the US. Under one proposal, those institutional shareholders and other
40:39
Western investors would pay to amass a larger state of
40:43
the company from its Chinese ownership and spin off TikTok
40:47
to a new company under their control. TikTok's critics in
40:52
Washington had previously voiced outrage at the potential of any
40:55
ongoing relationship with Fike Dance, and the ban or sale
41:00
law forbids the establishment or maintenance of any operational relationship
41:06
between the US app and and he formally affiliated entities
41:11
that are controlled by foreign adversary. But the law also
41:15
gives the president authority to declare that a qualified dysvestia
41:21
has taken place at Trump determines that the APP is
41:24
no longer subject to Chinese control. The White House has
41:28
involved itself to an unusual degree in negotiating a potential
41:32
sell off of TikTok ahead of the sale or banned
41:35
deadline Saturday. Trump, however, has said he may extend the
41:39
deadline if the deal is not reached in time. Trump
41:43
hunted on the issue once before signing an executive order
41:46
on the day of his ignauguration telling the Justice Department
41:50
to delay enforcing the law for seventy five days. Legal
41:54
experts said the president didn't have the authority to single
41:58
handedly halt a law signed by President Joe Biden, but
42:02
the decision has yet to be challenged in court. Trump
42:06
has said there is a lot of enthusiasm for buying TikTok,
42:11
and several potential investors have floated proposals that would see
42:15
them gain partial a full control of the app. The
42:18
list of suitors has included former Los Angeles Dodgers owner
42:22
Frank mccawk McCourt, Sharp Tank investor Kevin O'Leary, and employer
42:29
dot Com founder Jesse Tinsley. Andreasen Horowitz has also been
42:35
involved in talks to invest The Financial Times reported Tuesday.
42:40
Trump has also floated the possibility of tying a TikTok
42:45
deal to broader trade negotiations with China, suggesting that he
42:49
could reduce tariffs if Beijing were to approve a deal.
42:53
I'm a very flexible person, he said, Mundy, maybe I'll
42:57
take a couple of points off if I get approvals
43:00
for something. Saudi Arabia emerges is key hub for Trump's
43:07
foreign policy ambitions. Saudi Arabia's mediation of high stakes negotiations
43:15
promises to revive a relationship to President and Crown Prince
43:19
cultivated during Trump's first term. There is a picture of
43:24
Saudi Crown Pensil Mohammad Ben Solomon meeting with Secretary of
43:29
State Marco Rubio in Jedtal last month. They're sitting in
43:33
blue chairs with them a water table between them. By
43:39
Susannah George out of Dubai. In the months since President
43:44
Donald Trump was inaugurated, Saudi Arabia has found itself at
43:48
the center of some of his most ambitious foreign policy
43:51
and geopolitical goals, including hosting talks between US and Russian
43:56
officials and facilitating negotiations both for a ceasefire and a
44:02
lucrative minerals deal. In Ukraine, Trump tapped the kingdom, whose
44:08
de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed van Solomon is a
44:12
close ally, to play the role of friendly but neutral
44:16
mediator as he tries to reset U S relations with
44:20
Russia and gain access to Ukraine's mineral oil and gas reserves.
44:26
On Tuesday, the President announced that he will travel to
44:29
Saudi Arabia next month on the first foreign trip of
44:32
his second term, a visit he said would include finalizing
44:37
an agreement to have Riad invest up with one trillion
44:41
dollars in the U S economy. I have a very
44:46
good relationship with Mohammad and the King, Trump told reporters
44:50
from the Old Blockers this week, referring to Mohammad's eighty
44:54
nine year old father, King Solomon, who has empowered his
44:57
son as his successor. He described his previous visit to
45:02
the kingdom as an unbelievable day. He said he was
45:06
going back now to create tremendous amount of jobs in
45:10
the United States. Knew by Trump to have Saudi Arabia
45:15
help mediate the high stakes negotiations stills in apart from
45:19
Mohammad's ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but it also
45:25
promises to revive as a relationship to President and Crown
45:28
Prince cultivated during Trump's first term. Both Trump and Mohammad
45:33
have toted a more transactional style of diplomacy, relying less
45:39
on principles or alliances and instead of using multi billion
45:43
dollar trade and investment deals to cement relations with other nations.
45:48
Trump shielded Mohammed from scrutiny after the CIA concluded that
45:53
he ordered the assassination of journalists in Washington Post contributing
45:58
columnists Jamal Kasogi in twenty eighteen. Later, a public fund
46:04
led by Mohammad invested two billion dollars in the equity
46:07
firm of Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner. When Trump
46:13
talks about reaching a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia,
46:18
an effect that was under way in his first term
46:20
but is now on hold because of the war in Gaza,
46:24
he emphasizes what he said is the economic prosperity such
46:28
an agreement would bring to the Middle East. With Trump
46:33
becoming president again, he has really pulled Saudi Arabia right
46:37
into the center of things. Sidney O. Prilliam, an Associate
46:41
fellow at Chatham House, a British foreign affairs think tank.
46:46
William said the kingdom has already benefited greatly from Trump's
46:50
second presidency, but that the Crown Prince's ambition to project
46:55
power globally was long in the making. Roman appointed Mohammad,
47:01
who was serving as Defense Minister, Crown Prince in twenty seventeen,
47:06
and he consolidated power almost immediately. Since then, he has
47:11
said he wants to remake the Saudi economy and move
47:14
it away from dependence on oil export revenue, while opening
47:18
the country up to foreign investment and fast tracking social change.
47:24
Saudi Arabia has the world's second largest proven crude oil reserves,
47:29
and Mohammed has used his position to promote mega projects,
47:34
including plans for a vertical metropolis that runs on clean energy,
47:39
while courting sports federations and hosting high profile economic and
47:44
political conferences. He maintained a task with Plutin, despite US
47:50
efforts to make the Russian leader of Pariah and ultimately
47:54
helped facilitate high profile prisoner exchanges between Washington and Moscow
48:00
after an initial period of confrontation. Mohammad also signed in
48:04
a cords with Saudi Arabia's arch rival Iran. Inside Soudi Arabia,
48:12
supporters of the monarchy see the Trump administration's in grace
48:15
of the kingdom as validation of the Crown Prince's vision
48:19
to modernize the country and assert its power. More broadly,
48:23
this is the reward we are reaping, the rewards of
48:26
the realignment of our foreign policy, said Faisal Abbas, editor
48:32
in chief of Arab News, a Saudi newspaper. He said,
48:36
as soon as Trump was re elected, many and Saudi
48:39
Arabia believed the stars were aligned for the kingdom. Now
48:45
Saudi Arabia can play its rightful role as the leading
48:48
Muslim and Arab authority in the region. Abbas said, home
48:53
to the birthplaces of Islam, Mecca and Medina, the kingdom
48:57
has leveraged this guardianship of the Holy to give it
49:01
unique influence within the global Muslim community. Regional ships have
49:06
also occurred in the Kingdom's favor. Traditional senses of power
49:10
in the Middle East such as Egypt, Syria, and Iraq
49:14
have been weakened for years of turmoil and economic decline.
49:18
Those ships opened up a leadership gap that Saudi Arabia
49:22
was happy to build. According to Dennis Ross, a former
49:26
US diplomat now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy,
49:31
a Washington Days to think tank, Ross said Mohammed has
49:35
both seized on regional ships and adjusted after his own
49:39
earlier missteps. The longer he's been in position, he's become
49:44
more thoughtful, more systematic in terms of decision making. He said,
49:50
that's something that we didn't see necessarily when he first
49:53
came in. He tended to be more impulsive. Lass said
49:58
Saudi Arabia have remains deeply autocratic, and many of the
50:02
dissidents swept up in its security crackdowns are still jailed.
50:07
Last year, the government executed three hundred and forty five people,
50:10
the highest number of recorded executions in decades, according to
50:15
ITALI compiled by the human rights group Reprieved. Abdullah al
50:21
Uda is the senior directive for Encountering Authoritarianism at the
50:26
Middle East Democracy Center in Washington and a vocal critic
50:30
of the monarchy. He said that Trump's administration's embrace of
50:34
Saudi Arabia was an example of wealth and power winning
50:38
out over human rights. This is not a change of heart.
50:43
This is the high, the weathering the storm, he said,
50:47
referring to the Crown Prince's continued use of harsh tactics
50:51
domestically to maintain his grip on power. When you have
50:57
such power and money, people will deal with you, he said,
51:01
adding that even President Joe Biden, who rated to make
51:04
Saudi Arabia a pariah after Kushovi's killing, eventually visited the
51:09
country in twenty twenty two. Soon after that visit, Aluda said,
51:15
Mohammed launched fresh crackdowns on dissidents, something he said he'll
51:19
be watching for after Trump visits in May. Huntin al Zarani,
51:25
a Saudi scalar and academic affiliated with the Middle East Institute,
51:30
said Saudi's supportive of the monarchy takes outside criticism of
51:34
the kingdom, especially from US presidents with a brain of salt.
51:40
We know that American politics is theater, he said. Now,
51:45
he said, he expects people would even less likely to
51:49
heed outside criticism. Ninny Saudi's have developed an immunity to
51:55
being influenced by Western media, he said. He added that
52:00
viewed among the monarchy's supporters as one of a strong
52:04
sense of national momentum. But the region Saudi Arabia exist
52:09
in today is much more volatile than it was a
52:11
few years ago, and it's unclear whether the conflicts swirling
52:15
around the Kingdom Wunda rail Mohammad's plans. As peace talks
52:21
on Ukraine continue in Jeddah, conflicts closer to home are expanding.
52:27
Heavy a Israeli attacks on Gaza after the ceasefy ideal
52:31
collapse have killed hundreds. In Yemen, the United States has
52:35
continued to bomb targets it set are linked to the
52:39
Iranian fact Hutis, and Trump has repeatedly threatened around with
52:43
military force if its leadership doesn't agree to a deal
52:47
on its nuclear program. In their current forms, the region's
52:52
conflicts in Gaza, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon are irritants to
52:58
Saudi Arabia's ambitions, According to Hassim Iddish, a senior Resident
53:03
SCALA at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, despite
53:09
all their recent wins, the situation remains dangerous, he said,
53:15
adding that Trump's threats to attack Iran could prompt a
53:18
backlash against the Kingdom or further destabilize the region. This
53:24
all may reach a crescendo that would leave the Saudis
53:28
in a very vulnerable position, he said. The next article
53:33
is how Trump's trillions in new tariffs could affect America
53:38
and you. The President announced the biggest hyke in import
53:43
duties in modern US history, raising the risks for recession
53:47
in stock market downturn by Jeff Stein. President Donald Trump
53:52
on Wednesday announced the largest increase in tariffs in US history,
53:56
unveiling new import duties that he said would domestic manufacturing
54:02
an amount to a national declaration of economic independence. In
54:07
an address from the Rose Garden, Trump anotes two key
54:10
new terror programs, both affecting treatings of dollars in commerce,
54:15
a ten percent terror that would imply to imports from
54:19
every country, and a separate set of what he called
54:22
reciprocal tariffs that impose a country specific rate. These tariffs
54:28
followed several other major pro tear programs already threatened or
54:32
active during his ministration, including on oil, automobile imports, and
54:38
goods from the nation's two biggest trading partners, Canada and Mexico,
54:44
which products will be most effective, essentially all of them.
54:48
The biggest blocks of goods affected by Trump's tariffs include
54:52
about one hundred billion dollars worth of phones, ninety billion
54:56
dollars in computers, fifty two billion dollars in computer departs,
55:00
and twenty nine billion dollars in batteries. According to Joy
55:05
Polaitano an analysis of Approcitas Economics, this includes major imports
55:11
that Trump has pledged to impose tariffs on, separately automobiles, pharmaceuticals,
55:17
and semiconductors. The automatic ten percent terraffs will affect a
55:22
huge range of goods that most economists say won't be
55:25
produced in the US no matter what trade policy is.
55:29
For instance, almost all shoes in ninety percent of tomatoes
55:33
sold in the country are imported, according to the Peterson
55:37
Institute for Internal Economics, as centrist think tank, All those
55:42
will now be subject to higher TIFFs. And the United
55:46
States does not even have the climate necessary to produce
55:49
many food items such as coffee, bananas, and avocados. According
55:54
to Polaitano, why is Trump doing this? Trump a dent
56:00
five tariff, says a solution to multiple separate problems, encouraging
56:05
companies to bring production back to the United States, raising
56:09
treatings in new revenue, enforcing countries to adjust their trading practices.
56:15
The President's announcement Wednesday appears designed to help him accomplish
56:19
all three. The universal ten percent tariff appears designed to
56:23
stay in place and raise treatiums of dollars in new
56:26
revenue that can be used to help pay for GOP
56:30
back caraff tax cuts that traff according to the President's allies,
56:35
will also provide a long term incentive for companies to
56:38
move production back to the United States. And that ends
56:44
today's reading of the Lexington of the Washington Coast for today,
56:50
the third of April of twenty twenty five. I hope
56:54
everybody again rather than the storm, and that it is
56:58
not as dangerous as it has been in past times.