Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant who was deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, has been transferred from the country’s maximum-security prison to a detention facility, where he now has his own room, according to an April 20 court filing by the U.S. State Department.

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native, illegally entered the United States in 2011 and was living in Maryland. He was arrested and deported to El Salvador in March for allegedly being a member of the MS-13 gang, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, despite an immigration judge having issued a withholding of removal—which legally barred his deportation to his home country—in 2019 due to concerns for his safety.

The department said Abrego Garcia was transferred from El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) to a facility in Santa Ana eight days before he met with U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on April 17 during the senator’s visit to the country.

“Abrego Garcia told Sen. Van Hollen that he had been placed in the administrative building of Centro Industrial, in a room of his own with a bed and furniture, and that he was not in a cell,” Michael Kozak, a senior official at the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, said in the filing.

Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador last week to visit Abrego Garcia after Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said the man would not be returned to the United States.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the United States after it acknowledged that he was deported following an administrative error.

The administration has said that it lacked the authority to return Abrego Garcia from El Salvador as he was already in the custody of a foreign nation.

Speaking to reporters on April 16, Van Hollen said the Salvadoran government initially denied him a visit or phone call with Abrego Garcia after meeting with the country’s Vice President Félix Ulloa. That visit occurred the following day when Salvadoran officials transported the man to the hotel where Van Hollen was staying.

The senator has accused the Trump administration of defying court orders.

“When you defy court orders and deny one man his Constitutional rights, you threaten them for ALL,” Van Hollen stated on social media, adding that there was no evidence linking Abrego Garcia to the MS-13 gang.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

President Donald Trump has criticized Democrats whom he said were falsely portraying Abrego Garcia as an innocent person, saying that two courts have found him to be a member of “the violent, killer gang MS-13.”

“Those lying to the American People on behalf of violent criminals have to be held responsible by the Agencies and the Courts,” Trump stated in a Truth Social post on Sunday.

U.S. President Donald Trump greets Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele at the White House on April 14, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

On April 18, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released documents detailing Abrego Garcia’s past encounters with law enforcement.

According to the documents, Abrego Garcia was pulled over in Tennessee for speeding while carrying eight other individuals in a vehicle belonging to his employer in December 2022.

No luggage was found in the vehicle. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the group’s three-day travel from Texas to Maryland “reek of human trafficking.”

“We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims,” McLaughlin said in a statement. Abrego Garcia was not charged in the incident.

In 2019, Abrego Garcia was identified by the Prince George’s County Police Department’s gang unit as a member of the MS-13 gang. He was later granted withholding of removal by an immigration judge, according to the DHS.

With most global markets still closed for Easter holiday, US equity futures start the week sharply lower while the dollar and Treasuries plunge (10s and 30s are 8bp and 10bps higher as the yield curve twists steeper) as traders reacted to the possibility that Trump will try to remove Powell. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures are down 1.3% and Nasdaq futures slide 1.5% with Mag7 names under pressure with INTC/NFLX among the bright spots in TMT. European stock markets were largely still shut for a public holiday. The dollar is set up to have its worst day in 2 weeks, plunging to a 15 month low, and sending precious metals soaring: gold was above $3400 at last check. Energy is weaker, Ags/base metals are higher. There is also trouble in trade deal  land with Japan pushing back on US demands for its trade deal, while China warns trading partners against mistreatment in any deal made with the US. It’s a quiet day with just the Leading index on today’s calendar (10am); Fed’s Goolsbee speaks at 8:30am.

In premarket trading, the Mag 7 are lower, with Tesla the top decliner: TSLA plunged 4% after Wedbush analyst and a Tesla bull Dan Ives warns of a “code red” moment ahead of first-quarter earnings (the rest are also hurting NVDA -3.1%, META -1.3%, AAPL -2%, AMZN -1.7%, GOOGL -1.3% and MSFT -0.9%). Netflix climbed 2.4% after the streaming giant reported record profit to start the year, allaying concerns of a slowdown or fears the streaming leader might be hurt by growing economic uncertainty. Here are some other notable movers:

• Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) rises 2.7% after receiving approval from US regulators to buy Discover Financial Services, a deal that creates the nation’s biggest credit-card issuer by loan volume. Discover (DFS) gains 5%.
• Salesforce (CRM) declines 1.5% after D.A. Davidson downgraded the software company, saying it’s neglecting its core business to pursue a “premature” AI opportunity.
• Spotify (SPOT) climbs 1% after Wolfe Research upgraded its rating, saying there “multiple paths to improved monetization.”
• Taiwan Semiconductor ADRs (TSM) drop 1.9% after the company listed challenges of ensuring export control compliance.

Trump, rightfully frustrated that the central bank hasn’t moved to lower interest rates as even BofA’s Michael Hartnett noted over the weekend… 

Fed cut 50bps in Sept when stock market at record high, Atlanta Fed was forecasting +3% US GDP growth; Fed now determined not to cut rates after 20% market plunge, Atlanta Fed forecasting -3% GDP growth

… posted on social media last week that Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough!” and on Friday, Trump top economic advisor Kevin Hassett said the president is studying whether he’s able to fire Powell.

Rebuking the Fed undermines the principle of central bank independence and risks politicizing US monetary policy in a way that markets will find deeply unsettling, said Christopher Wong, a currency strategist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. “Frankly, firing Powell stretches belief,” said Wong. “If the credibility of the Fed is called into question, it could severely erode confidence in the dollar.” 

Trump would put the credibility of the dollar on the line and destabilize the US economy if he fired Powell, French Finance Minister Eric Lombard warned. Fed Chicago President Austan Goolsbee warned against efforts to curtail the central bank’s independence. “There’s virtual unanimity among economists that monetary independence from political interference, that the Fed or any central bank be able to do the job that it needs to do, is really important,” Goolsbee said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.

In a sign that investors are rotating investments away from the US, Deutsche Bank AG said that Chinese clients have reduced some of their Treasuries holdings in favor of European debt. European high-quality bonds, Japanese government bonds and gold are likely to be the potential choices for investors as alternatives to Treasuries, said Lillian Tao, head of China macro and global emerging market sales at the bank.

In tariff news, China’s largest shipping line, Cosco Shipping, said the US plans to impose levies on Chinese vessels docking at US ports would erode stability in global trade and supply chains. China has vowed to use its big market to help companies cope with “external shocks.” Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is said to be set to make an emergency proposal in the wake of the US tariffs, urging the government to strengthen loan support for companies and boost domestic demand.

In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slid 0.8% on Monday to a 9 month low, its worst day in 2 weeks. Every Group-of-10 currency gained against the greenback. The jump in the yen weighed on stock indexes in Japan, pushing the Nikkei 225 down 1.3%. The yen, euro and Swiss franc rallied. Brent fell as much as 2% to below $67 a barrel.

In rates, the Treasury yield curve steepened  with two-year notes rallying as longer maturities tumbled. That suggests investors are betting on the chance of interest rate cuts and reflecting concerns over long-term US assets. The Treasury curve pivots around a near unchanged 5-year sector, with the twist steepening move widening 2s10s, 5s30s spreads by 6.5bp and 6bp on the day, adding to Thursday’s steepening momentum. US 10-year yields trade around 4.40%, cheaper by 8bp vs. Thursday close. According to Bloomberg, price action continues around a narrative of declining dollar and US stock futures amid continued concerns that President Donald Trump will fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Added premium for Fed cuts seen in front-end, where swaps now price around 90bp of easing for the year vs. 85bp priced last week. European markets also shut for Easter Monday.  Treasury auctions resume Tuesday with $69 billion 2-year notes, followed by $70 billion 5-year and $44 billion 7-year Wednesday and Thursday.

In commodities, oil retreated as traders fretted over the impact of the US-led trade war on energy demand, while sings of progress in talks between Washington and Tehran eased concerns about supplies from Iran. WTI crude traded down 2.4% to $62.50, erasing much of Friday’s gain. Meanwhile gold continues to print record highs, rising above $3400 amid collapsing confidence in fiat currencies.

But while gold’s surge was to be expected, the most notable move overnight is that bitcoin finally snapped higher, breaking its recent correlation with the dollar (and inverse correlation with the yen due to its carry trade funding), and surged above $87,000, suggesting a sharp move higher in bitcoin may be imminent, especially once other central banks start easing to offset the collapse in the USD.

US economic calendar includes March Leading index at 10am. This week also includes manufacturing PMI, durable goods orders and University of Michigan sentiment. Fed speaker slate includes Goolsbee at 8:30am. This week also includes Jefferson, Harker, Kashkari, Barkin, Kugler, Musalem, Waller and Hammack

Market Snapshot

• S&P 500 mini -1.1%, 
• Nasdaq 100 mini -1.3%, 
• Russell 2000 mini -0.9%
• Stoxx Europe 600 -0.1%
• DAX -0.5%
• CAC 40 -0.6%
• 10-year Treasury yield +3 basis points at 4.36%
• VIX +3.2 points at 32.81
• Bloomberg Dollar Index -1% at 1212.42
• euro +1.5% at $1.1566
• WTI crude -2.7% at $62.94/barrel

Top Overnight News

• The dollar slumped on Monday (lowest level since December 2023) as investors responded to mounting uncertainty over US economic policy following Trump’s attacks on Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell. The moves came after Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said Trump would “continue to study” the matter of dismissing Powell. The President had claimed on Thurs that he had the right to fire the Fed chair. FT
• Pete Hegseth shared sensitive plans about Yemen strikes in a Signal chat with his wife, brother and personal lawyer, the NYT reported. NYT
• China has warned countries against making trade deals with the U.S. that could hurt China’s interests, in response to news reports that said the Trump administration planned to pressure nations to limit trade with Beijing in exchange for tariff exemptions. WSJ
• China has stopped buying LNG from the US in the latest sign of economic decoupling between the two countries (Chinese purchases have been dwindling for months, but have now come to a complete halt). NYT
• In response to pressure from the Chinese government, Chinese state-backed funds are cutting off new investment in US private equity in the latest salvo against Trump’s trade war. FT
• Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of violating a 30-hour truce and reiterated his proposal for an extension. BBG
• South Korea has found increased attempts to disguise foreign products as Korean exports, primarily from China, to avoid U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, its customs agency said on Monday. The Korea Customs Service said it has found 29.5 billion won ($20.81 million) worth of violations related to country of origin from the first quarter, with U.S.-bound shipments accounting for 97% of the total, after a special probe last month. RTRS
• Japan’s PM Shigeru Ishiba said his country won’t concede to all US demands in levy talks. BBG
• Japan’s ruling party will today propose emergency measures in response to US tariffs, including loan support and boosting demand. The draft proposal criticizes the tariffs as undermining free trade.

US Event Calendar

• 10:00 am: Mar Leading Index, est. -0.5%, prior -0.3%

Central Banks:

• 8:30 am: Fed’s Goolsbee Appears on CNBC

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is taking heavy fire once again. In what looks like a coordinated attack, Sunday brought a sensational new allegation of Hegseth violating operational security (OPSEC) ahead of the March 15 US strikes on Yemen, and an op-ed from a former Hegseth advocate calling for his removal over “total chaos at the Pentagon.” While it’s hard to discern motives in DC’s House of Cards intrigue, the renewed assault comes after Hegseth reportedly helped dissuade President Trump from launching Israel’s long-pursued US war on Iran. 

Last month, Hegseth found himself in the middle of a media and political firestorm after he unwittingly shared detailed information about pending US strikes on Yemen with Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg — who was errantly added to a Signal group chat for top officials by national security advisor Mike Waltz . Hegseth didn’t do himself any favors by downplaying the report and attempting to obfuscate the facts of the scandal — for example, using wordplay to claim “nobody was texting war plans,” but rather minute-by-minute details of the attack. Goldberg’s inclusion aside, the use of a common smartphone app to discuss such sensitive details was controversial by itself, raising concerns not only about OPSEC, but also records retention. 

Fast-forward to Sunday, when a double-tap attack on Hegseth started with a New York Times report that Hegseth shared substantially identical, advance details about the March 15 strikes with a second Signal chat group, whose 13 members included his wife Jennifer, brother Phil and personal lawyer Tim Parlatore. Citing four sources familiar with this group chat and its contents, the Times reported that this group — labelled “Defense/Team Huddle” — was created by Hegseth himself, who accessed it with his private phone, not his government one.  

While his personal lawyer and brother have DOD jobs, neither seemingly had a “need to know” about the attacks. Hegseth appointed Parlatore as a Navy Reserve JAG Commander, with a focus on improving the training of JAG officers. Phil Hegseth is a DOD liaison with the Department of Homeland Security — a post that hardly suggests a need to know about the imminent strike, much less a timeline detailing that F-18s, MQ-9 Reaper drones and Tomahawk cruise missiles would be used. 

In other words, this scenario seems to indicate a Secretary of Defense excitedly and unjustifiably sharing inside info with his wife and confidants. Validating his confirmation-opponents’ attacks on his lack of experience, the decision seems consistent with a SecDef whose own top military rank was Major in the National Guard. Meanwhile, the Signal chat about Yemen isn’t the first time Jennifer Hegseth’s involvement in her husband’s job has raised eyebrows. Questions have also been raised over why Jennifer — a former Fox News producer with no DOD job — has participated in multiple meetings that covered sensitive topics, including one with the head of UK’s military to discuss terminating the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine. 

The second half of the weekend blitz against Hegseth came in the form of a Politico op-ed written by John Ullyot, a former champion of Hegseth who resigned from a Department of Defense public affairs role last month. He described the last month as “total chaos at the Pentagon,” saying that, given President Trump’s “strong record of holding his top officials to account…it’s hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role for much longer.” 

In addition to the poor OPSEC of “Signalgate” and Hegseth’s attempt to use a “vague, Clinton-esque non-denial denial” of the scandal, Hegseth focused on last week’s firing of three top Pentagon staffers: senior adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and chief of staff Colin Carroll. Ullyot wrote that Hegseth loyalists “tried to smear the aides anonymously,” dishonestly accusing them of leaking sensitive information. “Hegseth’s team has developed a habit of spreading flat-out, easily debunked falsehoods anonymously about their colleagues on their way out the door,” wrote Ullyot. The “strange and baffling purge” is causing “disarray,” wrote Ullyot, who also called out the odd inclusion of Hegseth’s wife in sensitive meetings. 

“The president deserves better than the current mishegoss at the Pentagon,” concluded Ullyot. “Given his record of holding prior Cabinet leaders accountable, many in the secretary’s own inner circle will applaud quietly if Trump [fires Hegseth].” 

No matter how much credence you attach to substance of these attacks on Hegseth, it’s smart to consider the possible motives of those who are participating in them: the four people volunteering details about the newly-revealed Signal group chat, Hegseth cheerleader-turned-assailant John Ullyot, the New York Times, and especially Politico — an outlet with a record of advancing the Deep State agenda. (Never forget the Oct 19 2020 Politico headline: “Hunter Biden Story is Russian Disinfo, Dozens of Former Intel Officials Say.”)   

On one front, Hegseth is going all-out on behalf of the national security apparatus, joining Trump in a campaign to throw perhaps every dollar of DOGE savings into a Pentagon rathole in a bid to push the DOD budget beyond $1 trillion:

Thank you Mr. President!

COMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar @DeptofDefense budget.

President @realDonaldTrump is rebuilding our military — and FAST.

(PS: we intend to spend every taxpayer dollar wisely — on lethality and readiness) pic.twitter.com/WcZlNAHgDG

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) April 7, 2025

However, Hegseth may be an intolerable Deep State disappointment on a far more important front — failing to deliver the US war on Iran that’s been a decades-long ambition of the State of Israel and its American collaborators. Last week, the Times reported that Trump killed an Israeli proposal for a US-facilitated, week-long IDF bombing campaign on Iranian nuclear facilities in May, attributing the decision to key naysayers that included Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Contemplating the specter of such an attack sparking an all-out war, Trump opted to give diplomacy a chance. 

That’s the last thing many Deep State power brokers want.  

*  *  *

Top products last week at ZeroHedge Store:

– ZeroHedge Waxed Canvas Hat

– ZeroHedge Shirt

– IQ Biologix Astaxanthin (extremely potent anti-inflammatory)

– ZeroHedge Multitool

– Anza SWAT Micarta Blued (made in the USA)

Tesla has set its Q1 2025 earnings call for Tuesday, April 22, at 4:30 p.m. CT / 5:30 p.m. ET. As usual, the event will be livestreamed, with a recording available later on Tesla’s website. The Q1 Update Letter will be released after markets close that same day.

This quarter, as multiple Tesla blogs like Teslarati have pointed out, Tesla is also adding a new element: a “Company Update.”

For the first time, the term appeared in both its vehicle delivery report and on the company’s official X account.

“In addition to posting first quarter results, Tesla management will hold a live company update and question and answer webcast that day,” the company stated.

Speculation is growing that Tesla may use the update to reveal more about its upcoming projects, particularly the affordable EVs teased in its Q4 2024 report: “Plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, remain on track for start of production in the first half of 2025…”

Tesla’s Q1 2025 earnings are expected to show a 4.4% decline in profit to $0.43 per share, with revenue holding steady at $21.45 billion, according to FactSet.

Analyst estimates range from $0.30 to $0.51 per share, but consensus has dropped over 40% since late 2024. Piper Sandler warned the results will “likely underwhelm,” with margins “probably trending near multiyear lows.”

There’s five things in particular investors will be looking for in this upcoming report and/or update, IBD noted this weekend.

Investor focus is shifting to Tesla’s promised robotaxi rollout. Musk has said paid rides would begin in Austin this June, but his past claims about autonomy have repeatedly fallen short. The latest FSD update shows modest progress, but it’s still far from viable as a robotaxi platform.

The Cybercab—unveiled last year as a two-seater without a steering wheel—is supposed to launch before 2027 at under $30,000.

However, Reuters recently reported that Trump’s 145% tariff on Chinese goods has halted key parts shipments, possibly delaying both the Cybercab and Semi. The Cybercab’s cost-saving “unboxed” manufacturing method also remains unproven.

Tesla’s long-teased affordable EV. Reports suggest the first lower-cost option may just be a simplified Model Y, possibly arriving in 2025 or 2026. 

Vehicle sales for Q1 fell 13% year-over-year to 336,681. Growth is expected to stagnate this year, with consensus forecasting a modest 3% increase in deliveries, though some analysts now expect fewer sales than in 2024.

China sales rose slightly but remain low-margin, while U.S. and European demand has been hit by Musk’s controversial public profile.

While Tesla’s exposure to Trump’s tariffs is limited compared to other automakers, it still relies on Chinese suppliers for battery components, including CATL and BYD. Investors will be watching for updates on how Tesla plans to respond to trade tensions and cost pressures.

Musk’s political involvement is also on watch. He has been rumored to be finishing his work with DOGE by May and people are watching for a potential full-time return to Tesla.

IBD adds that a March YouGov/Yahoo News poll found 67% of U.S. adults wouldn’t consider a Tesla, with 37% citing Musk as the reason. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, a longtime bull, cut his Tesla price target by 40%, calling the situation a “perfect storm” and estimating Tesla has lost at least 10% of its future customer base—potentially more than 20% in Europe.

Demonstrations at dealerships and reports of vandalism continue. Musk is reportedly planning to leave his White House role, but no timeline has been confirmed. Investors will be listening for any update on his level of involvement moving forward.

Authored by Felicity Bradstock via OilPrice.com,

• The UK is expanding its wind energy capacity, particularly offshore, with the approval of the Rampion 2 project.

• The Rampion 2 expansion will add 1.2 GW of capacity, enough to power around 1 million UK homes.

• The UK government aims to quadruple its offshore wind capacity by 2030 as part of its net-zero carbon goals.

The U.K. is already a world leader in wind energy, having rapidly expanded both its onshore and offshore wind capacity over the last decade. Now, under the new Labour government, the U.K. hopes to expand its wind power sector even further through the massive expansion of the Rampion offshore wind farm. This is expected to help the government progress towards achieving its net-zero carbon ambitions. 

In 2023, 46.4 percent of the UK’s electricity was generated using renewable energy sources, of which wind energy contributed 61 percent. Around 39.7 percent of the U.K.’s wind energy is generated onshore and the remaining 60.3 offshore. The U.K. constructed its first commercial onshore wind farm in 1991, generating 1 GW of wind capacity. In 2024, the U.K.’s wind energy capacity increased to 30GW, double that of 2017. The U.K. has 11,906 turbines, with 9,141 onshore and 2,765 offshore, consisting of 10 floating and 2,755 fixed turbines. 

Approximately 32,000 people are employed in the U.K.’s offshore wind industry, a figure that is expected to increase to over 120,000 by 2030. The government also hopes to achieve 60 GW of wind capacity by the end of the decade, which could add as much as $58.5 billion to the economy. By the beginning of 2025, the U.K. had grown its offshore wind energy capacity to become the largest in Europe and second only to China, at 14 GW. 

In early April, the government approved plans to develop Rampion 2, an offshore wind farm with enough energy to power around 1 million U.K. homes. The expansion of the Rampion offshore wind farm, off England’s south coast, would include the addition of 90 turbines to add 1.2 GW of capacity. The project is expected to create 4,000 jobs during the construction phase, which is scheduled to commence in 2026. The government decision on the expansion was expected to be delivered in February but it has been delayed while more information is collected from the project’s developer. 

The wind farm is being developed by RWE as the majority shareholder (50.1 percent), a Macquarie-led consortium (25 percent), and Enbridge (24.9 percent). The electricity produced at Rampion will be transported to land via subsea cables. An underground cable will then deliver the power inland to a new substation at Oakendene near Cowfold before connecting it to the national grid at Bolney in Sussex. The wind farm is expected to be operational by the late 2020s. 

Danielle Lane, the director of offshore wind development U.K. and Ireland at RWE, stated, “We are delighted to receive the development consent order for the proposed Rampion 2 offshore wind farm. This is a key milestone in the development of the project, as Rampion 2 can play an important role in helping secure the U.K.’s energy supplies from our abundant wind resource and play a key role in supporting the U.K. government’s clean power ambitions.”

Since coming into power last July, the Labour government has gone full throttle on the deployment of green energy, with plans to double the U.K.’s onshore wind, triple its solar power, and quadruple its offshore wind power capacity by 2030. It has also announced plans to reduce the contribution of natural gas to the country’s electricity generation to just 5 percent by the end of the decade. Thanks to the development of a more friendly investment environment, in an event in October some of the world’s largest green energy companies pledged to invest almost $31.39 billion across the U.K., demonstrating that greater public investment in the sector is attracting higher levels of private financing. 

U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said, “The U.K. has a boundless supply of wind that cannot be turned on and off at the whims of dictators and petrostates. It’s time to get off the fossil fuel rollercoaster, roll out clean power, protect our energy security and bring down bills for good.” He added, “This project puts us within reach of our clean power offshore wind target,” Miliband said. “Through our plan for change, we’re getting on with delivering the clean energy and jobs Britain needs.”

Last year was a record year for wind energy production, with onshore and offshore projects producing 83 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity across Great Britain, an increase from almost 79 TWh in 2023. In around 10 days in December alone, over 50 percent of Britain’s electricity production came from wind. 

However, there are also less windy periods, where energy production is lower. This suggests the need for greater investment in battery storage technology to make the renewable energy source more reliable and help reduce the U.K.’s reliance on fossil fuels during low-production times.

The U.K. is already a major onshore and offshore producer of wind energy, having developed several projects over the last three decades. 

The approval of the new Rampion 2 project is expected to put the country on track to achieve its end-of-decade climate goals, by decarbonising its transmission network. 

This is one of many clean energy projects the Labour government has announced over the last eight months, with the ambitious green transition agenda expected to attract high levels of private funding in the sector.

Official economic data from any government is always treated with suspicion by anyone with common sense.  The US, for example, witnessed some of the most egregious statistical tinkering imaginable under the Biden Administration, not to mention outright lies and propaganda from the establishment media on the health of the economy.  To this day no one has been fired (or tarred and feathered) for hiding the reality of the stagflation crisis.  Any government or corporate economist that called the threat “transitory” should be stripped of their financial prestige and banished to a cash register at Arby’s.

And let’s not forget Biden’s misrepresentation of the labor market, portraying millions of new jobs for illegal migrants and visa holders as if they were jobs benefiting American citizens.  In the US and across the western world, lying about the economy is generally seen by politicians as a temporary solution to secure reelection.  However, in China, lying about the economy is treated as a national security imperative.  If there’s anything in the world that gives communists a feeling of existential dread, it’s the fear that their ideological enemies will discover proof that communism doesn’t work.

The Trump Administration’s tariffs on China are not the initiator of the nation’s troubles, they are more a bookend to a process of decline that has been ongoing for years. 

Overall tariffs on Chinese goods currently sit at 124%, but some goods will be taxed as high as 245%.  Trump has given a 1 month exemption on electronic parts and devices, perhaps to offer manufacturers like Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft time to arrange sourcing from alternative vendors.  The problem for Chinese manufacturers is not just the tariffs but the uncertainty of timing and sudden changes to policy.  They say no one is willing to make a big move on production or shipments until the trade landscape becomes more predictable.  This means most Chinese factories are frozen in stasis.

Trump’s tariff actions are widely criticized by the media as erratic or poorly planned, but what they don’t understand is that uncertainty is the real leverage, not the tariffs.  What seems like a spur of the moment decision or a sudden capitulation on Trump’s part can be highly effective at throwing foreign governments and corporations off balance.  Globalism requires a perpetual status quo, change of any kind is like holy water to a vampire.

Chinese shipments are on standby and orders are frozen.  Nothing is moving.

At bottom, China will not be able to survive tariffs on the current scale for long (a single year of 124% tariffs would crush China’s economy beyond repair).  The US is 15% of China’s export market, which may not sound substantial but their next largest trading partner (outside of Hong Kong) is Vietnam at 4% of exports.  In terms of domestic buying, China is 11% of the global consumer market which is not too shabby, but compared to the US with its 30%-35% global consumer market share there is no chance that the Chinese will be able to fill the void domestically and stay afloat.

But the situation is far worse than most people know…

China has been suffering from a deflationary crisis since 2023.  An uptick in exports during the pandemic was offset by the CCP’s draconian lockdowns.  This was, essentially, fiscal suicide on the part of the government and China has been struggling ever since.  Their property market has imploded, partially due to overbuilding through government subsidized infrastructure programs that flooded the market with poorly constructed homes and buildings that were then left to rot.  Corporate defaults have run rampant and left investors with nothing.

There was some optimism that the government’s measures to end the crisis had been working to reinvigorate the market, but on Mar 31st, government-linked developer Vanke reported a record 49.5 billion yuan (S$9.1 billion) annual loss for 2024.  It’s the company’s first full-year loss since its initial public offering in 1991, reigniting concerns about the sector and showing just how deep the problem runs.

When these projects do finally see some progress it is often due to dangerously poor construction standards and subpar workmanship; what many now refer to as “Tofu Dreg” buildings.

The deflationary spiral has been eating away at employment and has also resulted in numerous factories refusing to pay their workers on time (or at all).  Unpaid wages are leading to frequent protests and a disturbing trend of factory fires.  The government is limited in how it can respond to the problem.  Stimulus is an option, but China’s overall non-financial debt is well over 300% of GDP already. 

China’s attempts to hide the decay from the outside world are becoming less and less effective.  With Chinese citizens able to access the internet beyond the “Great Firewall”, more and more videos are being leaked by people within the country who are tired of the misinformation.  Again, the CCP views negative economic data as a national security threat and any citizen caught leaking this info could be subject to harsh punishment.  Chinese citizens have taken substantial risks to get the truth out there.  

It cannot be stressed enough that the global economy is largely a farce, but China is closest to the edge of the cliff in terms of consequences and crisis.  The interdependency of globalism has left many nations without the ability to weather a trade dispute and China’s survival is almost entirely based on steady exports to the west and the US in particular. 

Don’t let high paid TikTok and YouTube influencers fool you with videos of Chinese skyscrapers caked with LED lights or lavish parties with dancing robots.  This is not the true China.  Underneath the facade is a nation on the brink of disaster.   

Authored by Darren Taylor via The Epoch Times,

Mcebisi Jonas doesn’t usually suffer from nerves. If he did, he wouldn’t have survived a brutal guerrilla campaign against South Africa’s apartheid foot-soldiers in the 1970s and 1980s.

“As a cadre for the ANC [then-banned African National Congress], I was fighting for freedom from racism, for black people’s right to vote, for human rights,” he told The Epoch Times.

“Now, I am about to fight another, very different battle. I am a bit nervous, but I am ready to talk with any and all representatives of the U.S. president, and I trust we will treat one another with respect,” said Pretoria’s eloquent former minister of finance and now successful businessman.

Jonas is part of a recently created exclusive club of special envoys appointed by most of Africa’s 54 countries to negotiate better export terms they hope will allow them to sell their goods for “reasonable profit” in the world’s most lucrative market.

This followed U.S. President Donald Trump’s April 2 announcement of tariffs on goods exported to the United States by its economic partners. Trump has said the duties would correct trade imbalances he said are unfair to America.

A week later, Trump paused his reciprocal tariffs for 90 days—except for those on China—indicating that many countries had reached out and that the United States was open to negotiations.

If nothing were to change after the 90-day pause, some of the highest tariffs—between 30 and 50 percent—would be for products imported from Africa.

Africa’s envoys are now rushing to meet the deadline in July when the raised duties are scheduled to come into effect.

A man melts pure gold fragments coming from different mines in the region, at a gold market in Geita, Tanzania, on May 28, 2022. Luis Tato/AFP via Getty Images

“Most African countries export much more to the United States than they import from the United States, so the Trump administration calculated that trade between the regions is unfairly weighted towards Africa and that the United States is losing out,” explained Morné Malan, deputy head of policy at South Africa’s Free Market Foundation.

Besides trade deficits, Trump also looked for other signs of trade barriers as criteria for imposing tariffs.

Kenya, with which the United States enjoyed a trade surplus, is an example.

According to the United States Trade Representative, East Africa’s largest economy exported goods—mainly textiles, coffee, tea, and fruit—to the value of $737.3 million to the United States in 2024.

That year, Kenya imported goods worth $782.5 million from the United States, primarily petroleum products, aircraft and related parts, machinery, and pharmaceuticals, giving the United States a trade surplus of $45.2 million.

Despite this, President William Ruto’s government had anticipated that Trump would hit Kenya with a higher tariff, as Nairobi charges a 10 percent tax on American imports.

So, said Trade and Industry cabinet secretary, Lee Kinyanjui, the country went into “damage control mode,” dispatching a team of negotiators to the White House a day before Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs announcement.

Although the Kenyan government’s main objective of securing duty-free or “very favourable duty access” for its goods into the U.S. market is still the subject of talks, Trump levied a reciprocal tariff of only 10 percent on Nairobi.

“We believe it helped us a lot to speak to Trump’s people ahead of his announcement, and directly afterwards,” Kinyanjui told The Epoch Times.

“We are considering a free trade agreement with the United States, and that will mean the scrapping of the tariff on American goods entering Kenya, and we will hopefully still export duty-free to the United States. That is reciprocity.”

Steven Gruzd of the South African Institute of International Affairs described Kenya as a “bit of an anomaly.”

“I am no fan of the African governments that steal their countries’ resources and keep their people poor, but I must also agree that it’s a bit of a stretch to expect nations with low GDPs and tiny budgets and huge debts and low manufacturing bases to import at large scale expensive goods, products and services from the wealthiest economy in the world,” he told The Epoch Times.

It is in this context that the African envoys will visit the White House.

“He’s about to enter a lion’s den,” Malan said of Jonas, the South African diplomat.

Artisanal miners collect gravel from the Lukushi river searching for cassiterite in Manono, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 17, 2022 Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images

The United States’ 31 percent tariffs on South Africa—which was included in a list of 60 nations Trump said had traded with his country unfairly during his announcement on April 2—is just the president’s latest salvo against the continent’s largest, most industrialized economy.

The country featured prominently in the series of executive orders Trump has signed since re-entering the White House on Jan. 20.

In one of his first executive orders, the U.S. leader accused Pretoria of implementing racist laws aimed at discriminating and encouraging violence against white Afrikaners.

Trump subsequently withdrew $440 million in annual funding to South Africa, resulting in a slowdown of the country’s HIV treatment and prevention program.

He said South Africa is a threat to U.S. national security as its ANC government has military and economic alliances with some of Washington’s primary geopolitical foes, including China, Iran, and Russia.

Trump also criticized Pretoria for launching a case of genocide in the Gaza war against Israel at the International Court of Justice. The war was triggered by terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Then, Secretary of State Marco Rubio expelled South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, the ANC’s Ebrahim Rasool, after the diplomat described Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement and his administration as “supremacist.”

Jonas grimaced and said, “Yes, recent history between South Africa and the United States is not good.

“But I am convinced we can cooperate going forward and we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement that will foster the flow of American goods into our country, and vice versa.”

Steven Gruzd of the South African Institute of International Affairs said that, in communications within the Trump administration, “it has become clear that they consider Pretoria to be the enemy, giving the [President Cyril] Ramaphosa government the same status as Beijing and Moscow and Tehran.”

Like many in Africa, said Gruzd, Pretoria has “good cards to deal” to convince the U.S. president. Its cards are beaming the allure of the continent’s vast resources, which include precious metals like gold and platinum, and critical minerals essential to energy security and defense, as they’re major components of weapons and military equipment.

In a paper analyzing Africa’s potential responses to the U.S. tariffs, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington said 24 of Africa’s 54 countries are dependent on mining and minerals for income.

Africa holds a third of the world’s critical minerals, according to a study by U.S. think-tank The Atlantic Council.

South Africa already supplies almost all of America’s chromium and provides a quarter of its manganese requirements.

Manganese is a diverse mineral, used to produce steel and rechargeable batteries.

Chromium features prominently in weapons manufacturing, including missile systems and fighter jets.

Other minerals produced at a large scale by African countries include lithium, used in electric car batteries, and coltan, used in communications equipment like cell phones and computers.

Although Trump has exempted critical minerals from tariffs, Gruzd said South Africa’s mineral wealth still has a role in possibly lowering the U.S. levies on South Africa, considering the Trump administration’s wish to reduce U.S. dependency on Chinese supplies.

“China dominates Africa’s minerals sector, and it has mines all over the place, from DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo] to Zambia to Guinea,” Gruzd said.

“Beijing’s harvesting of the continent’s minerals and metals and processing them has placed the United States at an immense disadvantage in terms of making sure it has a reliable supply of these critical items well into the future.

Gruzd said if the United States and South Africa can strike a deal on critical minerals, “that would be a big win, politically and economically, for the Trump administration.”

“If Trump is offered mining rights in certain African countries, this would go a long way in persuading him to lower tariffs and perhaps even drop them because it would give the United States a big foothold in global supply chains,” he said.

The CSIS said that Trump should revoke tariffs on African countries and that the African Union and African leaders “should seek to demonstrate that preferential trade with the continent, in fact, overall serves U.S. national interests.”

“Just like Canada and Mexico were exempt from the reciprocal tariffs due to the United States’ national interest, a similar case can be made for Africa in terms of market access and critical minerals supply chain security,” wrote economic development experts Hannah Ryder, Trevor Lwere, and Ovigwe Eguegu.

“As tariffs are set to hit U.S. firms in the automotive, aerospace, and chemical sectors, which are heavily dependent on critical minerals, the bulk of which Africa has, it is not in the U.S. interest to impose tariffs on African goods.”

Ryder, Lwere, and Eguegu highlighted that one of the Trump administration’s aims is to gain greater market access for American firms and products abroad.

“This requires the existence of purchasing power amongst foreign consumers. By imposing tariffs on African exports to the United States, however, the United States makes it difficult for Africa to obtain the purchasing power necessary to demand U.S. products,” they said.

The experts said the United States should support preferential access for African goods to the American market as a market-building strategy.

This is critical, they wrote, especially considering that Africa has the youngest population and will be home to over 25 percent of the global population in the next few decades.

Bamidele Ayemibo, lead trade policy consultant at Nigeria’s 3T Impex Consulting Limited, said African governments’ response to Trump’s tariffs should be to sign preferential trade agreements with the United States—and with other partners.

“The last thing they should do is retaliate with higher tariffs on U.S. products; they do not have the economic power to do so and they will only hurt themselves,” he told The Epoch Times.

“Now, more than ever, it is time for talk and for bargaining.”

Authored by Mollie Engelhart via The Epoch Times,

I don’t fit neatly into a political box, especially when it comes to immigration. I’m a wife to a man who came here illegally at 16. I’ve taken legal guardianship of an unaccompanied minor and folded him into my family. I work in both hospitality and agriculture—industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor. My views on the border don’t align with any party line, and I’m aware that people on both sides of the aisle might find something in this article to disagree with. But that doesn’t make the conversation less necessary. It makes it more urgent.

America needs labor. That’s not up for debate. We’ve raised a few generations of kids who are not equipped for hard, uncomfortable work—especially those who came of age during the pandemic. I’ve had over 350 employees at any one time in my businesses, and I’ve watched the workforce shift dramatically in just 10 years.

At the same time, I believe a border wall is not racist.

A wall, like a fence or a locked front door, doesn’t carry moral weight. Strong borders make good neighbors. But let’s be honest: the southern border is already secured—just not by us. It’s secured by the Mexican cartels. 

Every person crossing is paying $10,000 to $13,000 to make that journey—not including the pre-planned robbery that happens to nearly every person along the way, and sometimes additional financial extortion afterward. 

We’re not just turning a blind eye to this—we’re funding it. 

Our labor shortage—our need for labor—is creating a massive revenue source for the cartels.

Many commentators scream, “Come legally!”—but the reality is, there are almost no viable legal pathways for Mexicans to do so.

Unlike people from other countries, Mexicans cannot easily claim asylum. Citizens of many Central and South American nations can claim asylum and stay in the United States while they await trial—a process that often takes five to 10 years. Even if their claim is denied, most never leave. Mexicans do not have this option. We are effectively prioritizing other nations over our immediate neighbor, and it makes no sense. We should be prioritizing Mexico first, and then Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.

The humanitarian crisis is not what the media portrays. The real crisis is what happens before these people arrive – the women and children abused, trafficked, and disappeared in cartel territory.

It’s the man who hasn’t seen his mother in 20 years, or the woman who has children on both sides of the border and cannot return to see her children or grandchildren. She may never see her children here again. These are real stories. I live with them in my family and in my community. My husband didn’t see his mother for 12 years prior to marrying me and becoming an American citizen.

Yes, America is a melting pot. Yes, we welcome the tired and the poor. But no, we cannot take everyone. It’s not sustainable. And pretending otherwise only perpetuates suffering.

Let’s create a 10-year low-skill work visa. It would cost $10,000 – money that currently goes to cartels. Workers would be permitted to come and go, visit family, and live with dignity. Employment would be mandatory; workers could not remain unemployed longer than three months. Applicants must have no criminal history. This visa would never lead to citizenship, even through marriage. The best case would be a green card, but not a vote. Workers would pay taxes and contribute $10 per paycheck to Social Security, which they would never draw from. After 10 years, the visa could be renewed once—or the worker could return home.

We would prioritize Mexico, and then Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras—because a strong neighbor is national security. If your neighbor’s house is burning down, your own home is at risk. 

A strong, thriving Mexico makes for a safer America. 

A healthy economy and stable society in the countries closest to us reduces pressure on our border and increases mutual prosperity.

This plan would dismantle the cartels’ business model, reunite families, end the incentive to bring children as props for border entry, and redirect billions of dollars from crime syndicates to the U.S. government. Migrants could fly directly into cities where jobs await—no more treacherous desert crossings or predatory smugglers.

One side of the aisle screams that we don’t want them—but still enjoys the literal fruits of their labor. The other side screams “humanitarian crisis” and “racism”—but takes no meaningful action, even when in power.

In closing, I believe there’s a solution that supports integrity for our border, for our businesses, for our families, and for our neighbors. 

But both sides of the aisle have not been interested in real solutions for a long time—and that begs the question: why? 

What is the benefit of the gray? What is the benefit of a system that is clearly broken and leads to drugs, rape, murder, and chaos?

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Japan’s already collapsing population just posted its biggest annual drop on record, falling by 898,000 people as of last October compared to a year earlier, Kyodo News reported.

This marked the 14th consecutive year of population decline in the country, according to a government estimate. The previous record drop was 861,000, reported in July 2024.

This was the largest demographic drop since 1968.

Some more details: according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan’s total population was 123,802,000, as of October 1, 2024, down by 550,000 or a 0.44% year-on-year decrease.

The population of only Japanese citizens was 120,296,000, plunging by 898,000, or a 0.74% YoY drop.

The IMF projects that the total population will shrink by a further 3.5 million by the end of the decade.

The natural population decline, calculated by subtracting births from deaths, reached a record high of 890,000, rising for the eighteenth year running. This decline was 437,000 for women and 453,000 for men. 

The silver lining: for the third straight year, there was a net increase in immigration, with 340,000 more people entering than leaving Japan. Which is good news for globalists: if they are so worried where to put all those African and Middle Eastern refugees who have swept across Europe sparking unprecedented blowback against establishment politics, there is always Japan… assuming the locals accept the flood of foreigners.

The data underscore the country’s unprecedented demographic crisis amid a rapidly aging society and collapsing birthrate.

Japan’s total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime — fell to its lowest level in 2023 since records began in 1947, while the death/birth ratio at over 2.2, is the highest on record.

The figures, released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, show that only Tokyo and neighboring Saitama prefecture registered population increases.

By age group, the working population, consisting of people aged 15 to 64, stood at 73,728,000, a year-on-year decrease of 224,000, while the population aged 65 or older (red and orange in the figure below) increased by 17,000 to 36,243,000. Those 75 or older (red) increased by 700,000, to 20,777,000, and this age bracket now accounts for 57.3% of those aged 65 or older.

In response to the demographic crisis, the Japanese parliament passed a law in June 2024 aimed at reversing the falling birthrate. Measures under the law include expanded child allowances and enhanced parental leave benefits.

And beginning this month, the city government of Tokyo started offering its employees a four-day workweek, hoping to increase the population and create a healthier work-life balance in a country notorious for long hours at the office.

Officials have warned that the period leading up to 2030 represents a critical window to address the trend. Late marriages, financial insecurity, and limited support for working parents are commonly cited as contributing factors.

What was a miserable shortened week for the USD has gone from bad to worse in early Asia trading, when the Dollar index suddenly collapsed to a fresh 3 year low

While there is no specific catalyst for the suddenly collapse in the illiquid early Asian session, which sees many countries on extended Easter holiday, Bloomberg quotes traders that hedge funds are selling the dollar against virtually any currencies after National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Friday that President Donald Trump is still exploring ways to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, according to traders.

“The president and his team will continue to study that,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Friday when asked by a reporter if removing Powell was an option.

Hassett then suggested, accurately, that the Fed under Powell, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, had acted politically to benefit Democrats.

“The policy of this Federal Reserve was to raise rates the minute President Trump was elected last time, to say that the supply-side tax cuts that were going to be inflationary,” Hassett said, adding that Fed officials opted not to go “on TV and at IMF meetings and warn about the terrible inflation from the obvious runaway spending from Joe Biden, and the obvious runaway spending from Joe Biden was textbook inflationary,” Hassett continued. “And then they cut rates right ahead of the election.”

Hassett, is of course, correct, as we first pointed out two weeks ago…

Fed reaction function pic.twitter.com/80AzJlZo3h

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 9, 2025

… as Bank of America’s Michael Hartnett pointed out on Friday…

Fed cut 50bps in Sept when stock market at record high, Atlanta Fed was forecasting +3% US GDP growth; Fed now determined not to cut rates after 20% market plunge, Atlanta Fed forecasting -3% GDP growth

… and as former NY Fed president Bill Dudley made crystal clear all the way back in 2019.

The day is August 27, 2019. Former NY Fed president Bill Dudley writes a Bloomberg oped saying “the Fed shouldn’t enable Donald Trump” and urged the central bank not to “provide offsetting stimulus” in Trump’s trade war with China.

Six years later, here we are pic.twitter.com/H6WT5O0cMD

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 11, 2025

But since the market is terrified of the truth, especially if it means that Trump could take monetary policy actions into his own hands, the result has been a wholesale liquidation of all main currency pairs, with the EUR jumping to 3 year highs, even though Europe’s economy remains an unmitigated disaster (Germany’s upcoming debt spending spree notwithstanding), and even though the surge in the euro will make Europe’s modest recession into a brutal one..

… the Yen surging 11% from its January lows, and at just over 141, the highest it has been against the dollar since the summer of 2023…

… and, of course, gold which is storming to new record highs this evening, spiking above $3,373, its dip last week now a distant memory.

Yet none of these moves are surprising to anyone who read – as we repeatedly urged – the Miran Mar-A-Lago paper: yes, the plunge in the dollar is just what the admin quietly wants (they have repeatedly stated they want a strong dollar “in the long term”, but certainly not in the short, when the collapse in the greenback will boost US exports). 

Ironically, if Powell will not cut rates to ease financial conditions, Trump’s repeated browbeating of the Fed chair and threats to fire him will crash the dollar low enough to where Trump will get his financial easing one way or another.

Still, there was one notable outlier in tonight’s Dollar selloff: bitcoin. While previously any plunge in the dollar (and by extension surge in the yen) would batter what was little is left of the carry trade, hammering tech stocks and cryptos, tonight we finally saw a regime shift, and after flatlining initially, a burst of buying pushed bitcoin almost $2000 higher, above $87000, and its biggest one day move since Liberation Day…

… and the result is that while bitcoin had generally tracked the DXY Dollar index lower for much of 2025, the last few weeks – and certainly Sunday night – have seen a very tangible snap in this relationship.

This breach in the right correlation between the two, suggests that with gold approaching ridiculous prices, the next flight to safety away from the collapsing dollar will be bitcoin – after all, it’s only a matter of time before all other central banks unleash a money printing frenzy to hammer their own currencies.

And since all bitcoin needs is a little unexpected upside to spark a huge short squeeze and to get the momentum trades piling on, should today’s phase reversal sustain for a few days, we may see new all time highs in bitcoin in a very short time.