Update (1117ET): The House passed the GOP budget blueprint minutes ago – giving Speaker Mike Johnson a victory just one day after he delayed the vote over vocal opposition within Republican ranks.

During the vote, Johnson huddled with Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) and multiple GOP holdouts just off the House floor in an effort to seal the deal.

Earlier in the morning, Johnson appeared alongside Senate Majority Leader John Thune to project unity, and reiterate a promise to reduce the deficit by at least $1.5 trillion in the overall package of Trump tax cuts, beefed up border security, energy policies and more, Politico reports.

The budget measure passed 216-214, and paves the way for a follow-on package to cut taxes by up to $5.3 trillion over a decade, and raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, in exchange for deep spending cuts. GOP Reps. Thomas Massie (KY) and Victoria Spartz (IN) joined Democrats in voting against it.

The holdouts in the House – around 20 budget hawks and members of the House Freedom Caucus, remained staunchly against the Senate-amended budget resolution until the Senate was willing to guarantee that they would reduce spending levels by the House’s $1.5 trillion over 10 years vs. the paltry $4 billion in cuts the Senate had originally proposed.

“Our ambition in the Senate is we are aligned with the House in terms of what their budget resolution outlined in terms of savings,” Thune said Thursday. “The speaker has talked about $1.5 trillion, we have a lot of United States senators who believe that is a minimum. We’re certainly going to do everything we can to be as aggressive as possible to see that we are serious about the matter.”

*  *  *

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Thursday morning that they “believe they have the votes” to pass a budget resolution and plan to move forward later in the morning with a vote in the House, as House Republicans have been trying to get a budget blueprint for President Trump’s agenda over the finish line, CBS News reports.

Negotiations had continued into Wednesday night, as Johnson and the White House struggled to convince GOP holdouts who wanted deeper spending cuts. The lower chamber was set to vote Wednesday evening on the budget resolution but punted after several House conservatives resisted increasing pressure from Mr. Trump to accept the blueprint that would open the door to implementing his border security, defense, energy priorities and extending expiring tax cuts. ​

“I’m happy to tell you that this morning, I believe we have the votes to finally adopt the budget resolution so we can move forward on President Trump’s very important agenda for the American people,” Johnson told reporters Thursday morning on Capitol Hill. ​

🚨 JUST IN: SPEAKER JOHNSON says he has the votes to move forward with Trump-backed spending bill – MAJOR cuts.

“At LEAST $1.5 trillion in savings for the American people… many of us are going to aim much higher.” pic.twitter.com/T6uiTmYUuH

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 10, 2025

Johnson called the budget a “big beautiful bill,” mirroring Mr. Trump’s language. The speaker said they’re looking for $1.5 trillion in savings, at a minimum.​

“Our aim is to deliver on our promises in this big beautiful bill regarding things like border security, restoring peace through strength and American energy dominance, and regulatory reform to get the economy really humming again. And of course also, tax relief, tax reductions. We have to make the tax cuts permanent. And that’s all involved and enveloped in this big effort.” ​

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that Republicans are “aligned on the need to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent.”​

“We’re ready to move forward,” Thune said.​

Approving the budget plan in both chambers is the first step in the reconciliation process, which allows Congress to bypass the 60-vote threshold required to advance most legislation in the Senate and pass Mr. Trump’s agenda with a simple majority. Going that route allows Republicans, who have control of the House and Senate, to pass the measure without any support from Democrats.​

The House and Senate worked on separate blueprints earlier this year but more recently reached a compromise resolution, which the Senate adopted early Saturday morning. Republican leaders in the House had hoped to unite their divided party behind the budget plan this week before Congress leaves town for a two-week recess.​

But Johnson said Wednesday night that he could keep the House in session next week if they can’t get it done before the weekend.​

The Senate set much lower minimum floors for spending cuts at just about $4 billion dollars, though committees could find far more. The compromise resolution also allows for the House to slash at least $1.5 trillion in spending.​

The Senate also wants to account for tax cuts enacted during Mr. Trump’s first term with a tactic known as “current policy baseline,” which assumes that continuing expiring policies will cost nothing. Under that baseline, the nearly $4 trillion it would cost to extend the 2017 tax cuts would not be counted, further frustrating House conservatives.​

Before backing the resolution, House conservatives want assurances from the Senate that there will be deeper spending cuts, which sent leadership scrambling to find another compromise.​

“We just don’t trust the Senate,” Rep. Eric Burlison, a Missouri Republican, told reporters Wednesday night after fiscal hawks huddled with Johnson for more than hour as the vote was delayed. “We all campaign on spending cuts, but again and again, that doesn’t happen. And when the Senate sent over something that said $4 billion is their floor, that was unacceptable to a lot of us.“​

Trump, meanwhile, has increased pressure on House Republicans in recent days to swallow the blueprint, telling holdouts on Tuesday night, “close your eyes and get there.” He added that individual lawmakers may not get “every little ounce” of what they want in the legislation.​

“It’s a phenomenal bill. Stop grandstanding,” Mr. Trump said at the House GOP campaign arm’s fundraising dinner.

Via SchiffGold.com,

In a special video released yesterday, Peter discusses the ongoing fallout from President Trump’s tariff policy and the broader implications for the American economy. He outlines how the tariffs are not only ineffective but also counterproductive, worsening the trade deficit and the nation’s competitiveness. 

Additionally, Peter highlights the growing demand for gold amidst economic trouble and suggests strategic opportunities for investors looking for sound money alternatives.

Peter opens the video by summarizing market movements before and after yesterday’s tariff pause. These tariffs, he believes, demonstrate a policy blunder masked as victory:

Today the price of gold rose by better than $100 an ounce. This was the biggest one-day dollar increase in the price of gold in the history of gold. And in fact, gold was up better than $100 even before President Trump announced that he was pausing the global trade war that he launched last week. 

Now once that news came out, there was a big rally in the stock market. 

Gold initially surrendered some of those gains, but it quickly recovered and closed back near the highs just under $3,100 an ounce. …  I think the President and his advisors tried to find a way to surrender but make it appear as if they were declaring victory.

Peter then emphasizes the root cause behind America’s persistent trade deficits, highlighting the nation’s lack of savings and investment. He contends that excessive spending and underinvestment at home leaves the country overly dependent on foreign producers:

The reason we have these horrific trade deficits is because as a nation we spend too much and save too little. And so because we don’t save enough, we don’t make the capital investments to build up the factories and the supply chains and the infrastructure. 

And so because of that we have to rely on all those factories abroad for the goods that we can’t produce. And because we spend more than we produce, we need to get those goods. And we run these massive deficits that we can’t finance. And so we depend on the world to finance them.

Though he appreciates President Trump’s stated goal of reducing deficits, Peter predicts the tariffs will have the opposite effect. Rather than solving America’s economic weaknesses, tariffs place an extra burden on American consumers and businesses, tipping the economy further into stagflation:

So while I admire Trump’s goal, he is not going to come close to achieving it. In fact, the tariffs that he’s already imposed are going to backfire and they’re going to make the American economy even less competitive than it was before the tariffs. And the tariffs are paid by Americans. They’re not going to be paid by our trading partners. There is no external revenue. It’s all internal. And this tax hike on average Americans is going to weigh down an already weak economy. And so we’re going to have a bigger dose of stagflation.

Shifting his focus to the gold market, Peter notes that worsening economic conditions and stagflation have created an attractive environment for gold investments. He underscores gold mining companies as potentially well-positioned to benefit, given the strong gold price and reduced oil costs:

And that is going to be great for Q2 earnings for the gold mining companies. They’re already going to have great earnings in Q1, but I think they’re going to blow the doors off in Q2 because I think gold is going to hang out near 3,100 or higher and oil is going to be slow to recover. So in the meantime, the profits are going to be huge for these gold mining companies. And I’ve been advocating for a long time that people buy physical gold, and since I started recommending physical gold, it was under $300 an ounce. It’s now over 3,000. So you’ve got a 10X.

Peter warns about America’s financial vulnerability, stressing the country’s dependence on foreign money to sustain unsustainable living standards. He predicts this dependence will end painfully, as a weakening dollar forces America to lower its consumption and accept a lower standard of living:

It’s America that’s been taking advantage of the world because we rely on the world to live beyond our means. 

But the world can only finance that by living beneath its means. Well, that’s going to change. 

It’s going to change because the dollar is going to go way down. And so we’re going to consume less and the rest of the world is going to consume more. And that’s how our trade deficits go away as our standard of living declines. 

But in the meantime, the world is getting rid of dollars in advance of a major depreciation.

Be sure to check out Peter’s recent interview on Soar Financially!

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

An American-Russian dual national imprisoned in Russia last year on treason charges for allegedly donating to a charity supporting Ukraine was freed on April 10, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced.

Ksenia Karelina, 32, is “on a plane back home to the United States,” Rubio said in an April 10 social media post.

“She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release,” Rubio wrote.

The Secretary of State added that the president will “continue to work for the release of ALL Americans.”

CIA Director John Ratcliffe told the Wall Street Journal newspaper that Karelina was transferred to the United States as part of a prisoner swap aided by the United Arab Emirates. 

The exchange took place at an airport in Abu Dhabi, he said.

“Today, President Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia,” Ratcliffe said. “ I’m proud of the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort, and we appreciate the Government of UAE for enabling the exchange.”

Karelina’s lawyer Mikhail Mushailov also confirmed to the Russian news agency Interfax that his client had left for the United States on a plane from Abu Dhabi.

“She was exchanged. She contacted her relatives two hours ago,” Mushailov said.

Mushailov told Reuters that Karelina had been released as part of a swap for Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen arrested in 2023 in Cyprus at the request of the United States for allegedly exporting sensitive microelectronics.

According to an Aug. 9, 2024 statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Petrov allegedly took part in a scheme to procure U.S.-sourced microelectronics on behalf of a Russia-based supplier of critical electronics components for manufacturers supplying weaponry and other equipment to the Russian military.

Russian and U.S. authorities have not confirmed the swap. The Epoch Times contacted the State Department for further comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Karelina—also identified in the media as Ksenia Khavana—is a former ballet dancer who was born in Russia.

She arrived in the United States in 2012 via a work-study program and later obtained U.S. citizenship after marrying an American, though the couple eventually divorced.

Karelina reportedly worked as an aesthetician at a Los Angeles spa before she was arrested in January 2024 by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, after returning to Russia to visit her family in Yekaterinburg.

She was initially charged with “petty hooliganism,” though authorities later accused her of treason, saying she had donated roughly $50 to a charity aiding Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February 2022.

Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in prison. A Russian court denied her appeal in November.

U.S. authorities have described the case against her as “absolutely ludicrous.”

It marks the second prisoner release negotiated between the United States and Russia since President Donald Trump took office in January.

In February, Moscow released Marc Fogel, a 63-year-old American schoolteacher who was jailed in Russia on drug charges.

Fogel was detained in Russia in August 2021. He was later sentenced to 14 years in prison for allegedly entering the country with marijuana.

Fogel was exchanged for Russian national Alexander Vinnik, who once operated one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, and was imprisoned in a U.S. jail on money laundering charges in 2017.

The House on Thursday passed a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, the first step in codifying one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders from his second term.

The the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act passed in a 220-208 vote, with four Democrats joining every Republican present in support of the measure.

The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), and would amend the National Voter Registration Act to require states to obtain proof of citizenship in person from people registering to vote.

It also requires states to establish programs to remove illegal immigrants from existing voter rolls, and allows US citizens to sue election officials who don’t adhere to the proof of citizenship requirements.

Opponents of the bill say that the SAVE Act would disenfranchise eligible voters who don’t easily have access to identification documents.

Hillary Clinton, for example, suggested divorced women would suffer greatly…

Are you a woman who changed your name when you got married?

Congress is considering a bill that could make it much harder for you to vote.

Call your rep—this is not a drill. https://t.co/P7CcCnFTk1 pic.twitter.com/jnfDUJCwh0

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 9, 2025

Federal law requires that people registering to vote swear under penalty of perjury that they are citizens and eligible to vote. Several courts have blocked efforts by states to require proof-of-citizenship for voters in federal races.

President Trump and his allies have slammed the threat of noncitizen voters. For example:

.@ElonMusk breaks down what I have been saying for years.

The Democrats are trying to tip the scales by allowing millions of illegal aliens into the United States with the hope that each one will be a future Democrat voter.https://t.co/WGlGPSDJgZ pic.twitter.com/JWyvSL2Jl0

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 17, 2025

While many of the biggest trading desks are saying, “buy Mortimer buy!” as Trump provided the pain relief yesterday, most obviously highlighted by the 3rd best day for US equities in history, this morning it appears we have woken up with a hangover from the policy pivot party.

“We still believe the anxiety around tariffs are alive and well. Volatility works in both directions — down and up. The path forward likely includes more market swings as we do not have a conclusion. In fact, we have the opposite, a likely extension of the tariff negotiation process,” said Nathan Thooft at Manulife Investment Management in Boston, which oversees $160 billion.

CPI and Jobless claims this morning removed considerable threat of stagflation, though of course, the former – we are constantly told this morning – is ‘backward looking’.

“Healthy drop in inflation or big drop in demand?” said Bret Kenwell at eToro. 

“At the end of the day, we do need to see lower inflation to justify lower rates from the Fed and ease the burden on consumers. However, getting lower inflation due to a material drop in economic activity — and thereby jeopardizing the economy — isn’t the best route to take.”

US equity markets have retraced more than half of the gains already….

The dollar is getting clubbed like a baby seal…

Gold exploded higher an uncertainty remains high, breaking out to a record high…

That is gold’s biggest 2-day gains since the COVID lockdown lows.

Bitcoin has almost entirely erased yesterday’s gains…

HY credit spreads are blowing out wider again…

Treasury yields are blowing out again…

And even more problematically, SOFR swap spreads are plunging again as basis unwinds continue to stress funding markets…

Basis trade resumes rapid unwind https://t.co/Jkbi76Otw9 pic.twitter.com/9Lr3R555j1

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 10, 2025

“It’s the calm before the storm,” said Stan Shipley at Evercore ISI.

As one veteran trader at a major trading desk MSG’d us privately “shit’s breaking again… yesterday looks like the rip to sell.”

Bears had two arguments:

1) Tariffs are ideological 

2) Recession is not priced in.

… maybe the are still valid.

Somebody call Bessent!!!

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

The Trump administration has announced it will issue fines of $998 per day to illegal immigrants who do not voluntarily deport themselves.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News, “Illegal aliens should use the CBP Home app to self-deport and leave the country now.” 

“If they don’t, they will face the consequences. This includes a fine of $998 per day for every day that the illegal alien overstayed their final deportation order,” McLaughlin added.

Reuters further notes that a Trump official confirmed the administration intends to use a 1996 law to apply retroactive penalties on illegal aliens dating back up to five years, meaning fines could rack up to over $1 million.

Trump plans to fine migrants $998 a day for failing to leave after deportation order https://t.co/x1NP5omvg9 pic.twitter.com/krOREZ7wbd

— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) April 8, 2025

The report also states that government emails suggest the administration could seize property owned by illegals who refuse to pay the fines.

🚨HAPPENING NOW🚨

DHS will enforce a law that will allow them to fine illegal aliens up to $998/day for failing to self deport from the U.S.

This 1996 law also allows them to seize property for non-payment. pic.twitter.com/DfxmtXkje1

— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) April 8, 2025

A DHS flyer aimed at illegals has also been highlighted by Fox News, touting the “benefits” and “consequences” of self-deporting, and includes mention of the huge fines.

“Self-deportation is safe. Leave on your own terms by picking your departure flight,” the flyer states.

3/ Just got confirmation: DHS is sending “formal termination notices” RIGHT NOW. They’re telling people to “voluntarily self-deport” using the rebranded “CBP Home App” 🤔

If you don’t self-deport, you can NEVER come back! pic.twitter.com/tCUX1kg3kX

— Rod D. Martin (@RodDMartin) April 8, 2025

The flyer further notes that those who make the decision to leave will be allowed to keep the money they earned in America, and still be eligible for legal immigration, in the future as well as subsidized flights if they cannot afford them.

It further adds that those who do not leave immediately will be “apprehended by DHS with no opportunity to get your affairs in order beforehand,” and could face additional fines of $1,000 to $5,000 for failing to self deport after “claiming that you will.”

*  *  *

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Thursday morning that they “believe they have the votes” to pass a budget resolution and plan to move forward later in the morning with a vote in the House, as House Republicans have been trying to get a budget blueprint for President Trump’s agenda over the finish line, CBS News reports.

Negotiations had continued into Wednesday night, as Johnson and the White House struggled to convince GOP holdouts who wanted deeper spending cuts. The lower chamber was set to vote Wednesday evening on the budget resolution but punted after several House conservatives resisted increasing pressure from Mr. Trump to accept the blueprint that would open the door to implementing his border security, defense, energy priorities and extending expiring tax cuts. ​

“I’m happy to tell you that this morning, I believe we have the votes to finally adopt the budget resolution so we can move forward on President Trump’s very important agenda for the American people,” Johnson told reporters Thursday morning on Capitol Hill. ​

🚨 JUST IN: SPEAKER JOHNSON says he has the votes to move forward with Trump-backed spending bill – MAJOR cuts.

“At LEAST $1.5 trillion in savings for the American people… many of us are going to aim much higher.” pic.twitter.com/T6uiTmYUuH

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 10, 2025

Johnson called the budget a “big beautiful bill,” mirroring Mr. Trump’s language. The speaker said they’re looking for $1.5 trillion in savings, at a minimum.​

“Our aim is to deliver on our promises in this big beautiful bill regarding things like border security, restoring peace through strength and American energy dominance, and regulatory reform to get the economy really humming again. And of course also, tax relief, tax reductions. We have to make the tax cuts permanent. And that’s all involved and enveloped in this big effort.” ​

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that Republicans are “aligned on the need to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent.”​

“We’re ready to move forward,” Thune said.​

Approving the budget plan in both chambers is the first step in the reconciliation process, which allows Congress to bypass the 60-vote threshold required to advance most legislation in the Senate and pass Mr. Trump’s agenda with a simple majority. Going that route allows Republicans, who have control of the House and Senate, to pass the measure without any support from Democrats. ​

The House and Senate worked on separate blueprints earlier this year but more recently reached a compromise resolution, which the Senate adopted early Saturday morning. Republican leaders in the House had hoped to unite their divided party behind the budget plan this week before Congress leaves town for a two-week recess.​

But Johnson said Wednesday night that he could keep the House in session next week if they can’t get it done before the weekend.​

The Senate set much lower minimum floors for spending cuts at just about $4 billion dollars, though committees could find far more. The compromise resolution also allows for the House to slash at least $1.5 trillion in spending.​

The Senate also wants to account for tax cuts enacted during Mr. Trump’s first term with a tactic known as “current policy baseline,” which assumes that continuing expiring policies will cost nothing. Under that baseline, the nearly $4 trillion it would cost to extend the 2017 tax cuts would not be counted, further frustrating House conservatives.​

Before backing the resolution, House conservatives want assurances from the Senate that there will be deeper spending cuts, which sent leadership scrambling to find another compromise.​

“We just don’t trust the Senate,” Rep. Eric Burlison, a Missouri Republican, told reporters Wednesday night after fiscal hawks huddled with Johnson for more than hour as the vote was delayed. “We all campaign on spending cuts, but again and again, that doesn’t happen. And when the Senate sent over something that said $4 billion is their floor, that was unacceptable to a lot of us.“​

Trump, meanwhile, has increased pressure on House Republicans in recent days to swallow the blueprint, telling holdouts on Tuesday night, “close your eyes and get there.” He added that individual lawmakers may not get “every little ounce” of what they want in the legislation.​

“It’s a phenomenal bill. Stop grandstanding,” Mr. Trump said at the House GOP campaign arm’s fundraising dinner.

President Trump announced an increase in tariffs on Chinese imports to 125% on Wednesday afternoon, following the Chinese government’s move to raise tariffs on U.S. goods to 84%. So far, the Chinese Communist Party has not taken retaliatory action on the latest tariff round. These steep tariffs are poised to crush Chinese sellers that have long dominated Amazon’s marketplace by flooding the U.S. with cheap junk. 

Data from SmartScout shows that most of Amazon’s sellers are based in China. Over the years, Chinese sellers have figured out how to cut out intermediaries and use Amazon as a direct-to-consumer marketplace for low-cost goods such as electronics, toys, household items, and fashion accessories.

Now, the crushing blow of tariffs has sparked turmoil for Chinese sellers. 

Wang Xin, head of the Shenzhen Cross-Border E-Commerce Association—which represents over 3,000 Amazon sellers—told Reuters, “This isn’t just a tax issue; the entire cost structure gets completely overwhelmed,” adding, “It’ll be very hard for anyone to survive in the U.S. market.”

Wang called President Trump’s tariff war a “truly an unprecedented blow.” 

Reuters spoke with other sellers about the turmoil unfolding in China:

Of the five sellers who spoke to Reuters, three said they would look to raise prices for their exports to the U.S., while two planned to leave the market entirely.

Dave Fong, whose products range from schoolbags to Bluetooth speakers, said on Thursday he has raised prices in the U.S. by up to 30% and would let inventory levels fall and lower spending on Amazon advertising fees, which once took up 40% of his U.S. revenue.

“For us and anyone else, you can’t rely on the U.S. market, that’s quite clear,” Fong said. “We have to reduce investment, and put more resources into regions like Europe, Canada, Mexico and the rest of the world.”

On Wednesday, word spread that a document viewed by Bloomberg specified that Amazon reduced its exposure by slashing shipments of Chinese products. 

Trade data via the supply chain platform Sayari shows that Amazon suppliers are primarily based in China. 

Brian Miller, who has sold on Amazon from China for seven years, told Reuters, “I don’t see a scenario, if things don’t change, that serving the U.S. from China is viable anymore and manufacturing that serves the U.S. will have to be transferred to other countries like Vietnam, or Mexico.” 

Why sellers did not heed Trump’s warning about the tariff war for the last decade is beyond comprehension and inexcusable—clearly their loss. And for those who listened and either friend-shored or re-shored supply chains out of China …

The silver lining is that high tariffs on China will begin to stop cheap Chinese junk flooding this nation. Americans need to detox from their obsession with cheap Chinese products that routinely break or come broken.

Done this before. 

1987 Raegan slapped a 100% tariff on Japanese electronics. pic.twitter.com/CsyXOSKDy1

— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) April 9, 2025

Now comes the hard part of restarting America’s industrial base.

Authored by Owen Evans via The Epoch Times,

The European Union said on Thursday that it will pause its countermeasures against U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs for 90 days.

“We took note of the announcement by President Trump. We want to give negotiations a chance,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in an April 10 statement posted on the social media platform X.

“While finalising the adoption of the EU countermeasures that saw strong support from our member states, we will put them on hold for 90 days.”

“If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in. Preparatory work on further countermeasures continues. As I have said before, all options remain on the table,” she added.

The countermeasures, which were agreed upon by the EU on Wednesday, had been due to start on April 15.

Trump announced on April 9 that he is pausing for 90 days reciprocal tariffs that went into effect earlier in the day, maintaining a 10 percent baseline tariff across the board, while at the same time raising rates for China.

Early Thursday morning, von der Leyen made a separate statement on X saying Trump’s decision to pause tariffs is “an important step toward stabilizing the global economy.”

“Tariffs are taxes that only hurt businesses and consumers,” she said. 

“That’s why I’ve consistently advocated for a zero-for-zero tariff agreement between the European Union and the United States.”

She said that the European Union remains committed to “constructive negotiations with the United States, with the goal of achieving frictionless and mutually beneficial trade.”

Before Trump’s 90 day pause, the Unites States had imposed a 20 percent tariff on all EU goods. Following Trump’s announcement on April 9, however, the 27-nation bloc will now be subject to a 10 percent baseline tariff on most goods, except steel and aluminum products, which are still subject to higher tariffs of 25 percent.

The EU’s first set of retaliatory measures in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum was approved on April 9, with countermeasures to the steel and aluminum tariffs on items such as jeans, whiskey, and motorcycles, if implemented.

The 25 percent tariffs imposed by the United States on all steel and aluminum imports went into effect shortly after midnight on March 12.

Trump said that he was introducing new standards requiring steel to be “melted and poured” and aluminum to be “smelted and cast” in North America to prevent countries such as China from circumventing trade restrictions.

When asked by a reporter at the White House on April 7 whether von der Leyen’s previous offer to negotiate a “zero-for-zero” tariff pact on industrial goods was enough for him to back down on 20 percent duties on imports, Trump said: “No, it’s not.”

“The European Union’s been really tough over the years. We have a [trade] deficit with the European Union of $350 billion, and it’s going to disappear fast,” the president said. 

“And one of the ways that that can disappear easily and quickly is they’re going to have to buy our energy from us. They can buy it, we can knock off $350 billion in one week.”

LNG

European Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen told the Financial Times on April 10 that the EU may push to buy more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States.

“There is potential for us to buy more LNG from the US but of course it needs to be on conditions that are also in line with our [green] transition,” Jørgensen said.

The EU is already a major buyer of U.S. energy. Trump has previously said that he is determined to make the EU an even bigger purchaser of LNG.

EU leaders are also prioritizing a renewables-first energy approach, along with comprehensive legislation aimed at making the bloc the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

“We are all well aware that the high energy prices we are paying are not sustainable in the global competition in the future,“ Jørgensen said. ”We have spent more money buying fossil fuels from Russia since 2022 than we have given in aid to Ukraine.”

Another week, another solid jobless claims print, seemingly crushing the Paul Revere-ish cries of “a recession is coming” from the Left and the legacy media.

223k Americans filed for jobless benefits for the first time last week – a number that has basically been flat (near multi-decade lows) for the last four years…

Source: Bloomberg

Last week’s break above 1.9 million Americans continuing to take jobless benefits was revised back down and into the range it has been in for the last year or so…

Source: Bloomberg

Looking at the ‘Deep Tristate’ area, we see claims surged in Virginia…

Source: Bloomberg

…and Continuing jobless claims in the ‘Deep TriState’ region continue to rise…

Is DOGE’s work finally starting to show?