Trump vows to tank $15B buyout of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon
President-elect Donald Trump doubled down on a campaign promise Monday, Dec. 2. Trump said he would block a $15 billion deal between Japan’s Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel, but its fate could be sealed before he ascends to the Oval Office.
“I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “As President, I will block this deal from happening. Buyer Beware!!!”
While on the campaign trail in U.S. Steel’s home state of Pennsylvania, Trump talked about the importance of the company.
“If you go back 70 years, our greatest company by far was United States Steel Corporation. That was the big deal. And now we have Japan buying it,” he said in August.
The United Steelworkers union has generally been against the deal between the two steel manufacturers.
“The proposed sale is bad for workers, our communities and the domestic industry — as well as our national security, critical infrastructure and domestic supply chains,” the union said in a statement released Monday.
However, The New York Times reports there’s more to the union’s opposition. The newspaper claimed they were upset Nippon didn’t consult union leaders during negotiations. The Japanese steelmaker reportedly believed doing so could risk the deal getting leaked to a competitor in the bidding process. That competitor, Cleveland-Cliffs, has close ties to the union.
The president-elect may have found an ally in United Steelworkers, but his former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed in January claiming opposition to the deal is rooted in xenophobia.
In the op-ed, he mentioned President Joe Biden, who had expressed concern about the deal at the time and later came out against it.
“If we were going to paint a picture of the best deal, this would be it because it checks all the boxes in terms of strengthening national security, strengthens economic security, strengthens job security,” Burritt told WTAE-TV Pittsburgh last month. “In fact, there’s opportunity to grow jobs as a result of the big investment. So you look at each one of those things; that’s thumbs-ups across the board.”
The president-elect has his own ideas of how to support the U.S. steel industry.
“Through a series of Tax Incentives and Tariffs, we will make U.S. Steel Strong and Great Again, and it will happen FAST!” he said on Truth Social.
The deal could be blocked on national security grounds, which Biden has entertained. But Burritt points out that Japan is one of America’s greatest allies and the two sides have shared a lot of technology.
Despite the promise from Trump, Biden could still beat him to the punch by stopping the deal. The White House was poised to block it in September but decided to allow Nippon to resubmit its filing with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which handles reviewing the deal.
The CFIUS investigation is set to conclude by Dec. 23 and Biden would then have 15 days to announce a decision.
Trump jokes Canada could be 51st state at dinner with Trudeau: Report
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told President-elect Donald Trump his proposed tariffs would “kill the Canadian economy” when they met for dinner last week. Trump allegedly responded, “If Canada can’t survive the tariffs, then maybe Canada should become the 51st state and Trudeau can become its governor.”
Sources at the dinner confirmed the exchange with Fox News when the two met at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Trudeau became the first G7 leader to meet with Trump since the U.S. presidential election in November.
The leaders discussed several issues, including trade and immigration. Tensions escalated when Trump threatened a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico unless both countries took stronger action to curb migration and drug trafficking into the U.S.
The U.S. is Canada’s largest trading partner, with American imports accounting for about 75% of Canada’s exports. The two countries currently trade under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a deal signed by Trump in 2020.
Both leaders described the talks as productive. Trudeau posted a picture from the dinner on X, thanking Trump in the caption. He said, “I look forward to the work we can do together, again.”
Before his dinner with Trudeau, Trump also spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum last week. During that conversation, Trump reiterated his threat of high tariffs unless Mexico took more decisive action at its border with the U.S.
China warns it will take action if US implements new chip control measures
China is putting out a warning that it plans to take action if the United States enforces new chip control measures. This comes after reports said the Biden administration could come out with new export procedures by the end of the week.
Reuters reported the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told its members the plan includes adding as many as 200 Chinese chip companies to a trade blacklist which would prevent most U.S. suppliers from shipping to them.
China’s Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong said China strongly opposes what he claims is the U.S. broadening the concept of national security and the “abuse” of control measures targeting Chinese companies.
The U.S. tightened controls on semiconductors over fears that China could use the technology to strengthen its military.
“These actions severely disrupt international economic and trade order, destabilize global industry security and harm the cooperative efforts between China and the U.S.,” Yadong said.
It’s not clear what actions China would take, but Yadong said the country would do what it needed to protect the rights of Chinese companies.
The reported changes are a reversal after the Biden administration signed a bipartisan bill in 2022 providing incentives for chipmakers to set up manufacturing in the U.S., committing $53 billion to boost U.S. competitiveness with China.
The chips are an important component for several products including electronics, vehicles, medical devices and defense systems.
There are also concerns the revitalization of the semiconductor industry will be impacted when President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January 2025.
“That chip deal is so bad,” Trump said on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast in October. “We put billions of dollars for rich companies to come in and borrow the money and build chip companies here.”
Trump said he plans to put up to 60% tariffs on goods from China and a tax of at least 10% on all other imports.
What to expect on Cyber Monday as big-box stores look to attract customers
The holiday shopping season is now well underway with stores pushing big discounts to try to attract customers. Come Monday, Dec. 2, lots of people will be online clicking the box that says “buy” or “purchase”, as Cyber Monday deals launch.
Amazon began running sales on Friday, Nov. 29, including 50% off headphones and 40% off household items including vacuums.
Target is expected to kick off its online sales on Sunday, Dec. 1, and extend them through Cyber Monday. There’ll be big discounts on items such as Airpods and Apple Watches, some for $200 or less.
Walmart will also begin offering online deals on Sunday, Dec. 1. Electronics, such as a 32-inch smart TV, will be available for under $100. Laptop computers will go for less than $150.
Some analysts are urging shoppers to consider the effect President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs might have on popular gift items. Trump has threatened to hit China with a 60% levy, plus Mexico and Canada with a possible 25% tariff.
Chip Lupo, from Wallethub, told Newsweek that electronics, appliances, cars and furniture would be specifically vulnerable to price increases because of their reliance on imported parts and materials. He named smartphones, laptops, tablets and gaming consoles as items that would see price hikes.
In 2023, Americans spent roughly $12.5 billion on Cyber Monday. That number is expected to hit close to the $14 billion mark this year, according to marketing experts.
Mexico’s president refutes Trump’s claim she promised to close the border
President-elect Donald Trump said Mexico has agreed to stem the tide of migrants flowing into the United States, but Mexico’s president is now saying that’s not quite accurate. And Amazon workers are using Black Friday to make a statement about their labor situation. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.
Mexico’s president refutes Trump’s claim she promised to close the border
As President-elect Donald Trump gets ready to return to office, he’s already making moves to follow through on some of his biggest campaign promises. After announcing this week his plans to impose tariffs on goods from China, Canada and Mexico, he turned his attention to another hot-button issue: immigration.
It’s a bit of a case of “he said, she said” after Trump had a call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday, Nov. 27. President-elect Trump posted on his Truth Social platform after the call saying Sheinbaum agreed to stop migration into the U.S. through Mexico, “effectively closing our southern border.”
Sheinbaum appeared to contradict Trump in a post of her own on X, saying in part, “Mexico’s position is not to close borders…”
She did, however, lay out Mexico’s “comprehensive strategy” for addressing the migration issue. In a separate post on X, Sheinbaum said during the call, she told President-elect Trump, “No caravans are arriving at the border because they are being attended to in Mexico.”
En nuestra conversación con el presidente Trump, le expuse la estrategia integral que ha seguido México para atender el fenómeno migratorio, respetando los derechos humanos. Gracias a ello se atiende a las personas migrantes y a las caravanas previo a que lleguen a la frontera.…
The two leaders also talked about how they’re addressing the U.S. fentanyl crisis.
The call was scheduled after Trump unveiled plans to slap 25% tariffs on all imports from Mexico to the U.S. as part of the effort to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S. through Mexico.
Not only would that impact the prices of avocados and agave — both very popular in the U.S. — Mexico’s economy secretary said Wednesday 88% of all North American pickup trucks come from Mexico. Sheinbaum then suggested Mexico could retaliate with tariffs of its own.
“I hope he rethinks it,” Biden said. “I think it’s a counterproductive thing to do. You know, one of the things you’ve heard me say before is that we are – we have an unusual situation in America. We’re surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and two allies: Mexico and Canada. The last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships.”
Economists forecast Trump’s planned tariffs would increase prices for American shoppers, costing the average U.S. household about $2,600 per year, according to an estimate from the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Israel and Hezbollah both claim ceasefire violations
Barely three days into a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, both sides are claiming violations.
Yesterday, Hezbollah had a precision-guided missile manufacturing site—today, they don’t.
Hezbollah’s largest precision-guided missiles manufacturing site, 1.4km wide and 70m underground, was struck and dismantled by IAF fighter jets yesterday.
Lebanese authorities also said two people, who were trying to return to southern Lebanon, were shot and wounded by Israeli forces. Lebanon’s health ministry said they were civilians, but the IDF claimed they were suspected of violating terms of the truce.
The agreement, brokered by the United States and France, includes an initial two-month ceasefire during which Hezbollah militants will withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border.
Thousands of Amazon workers to strike from Black Friday to Cyber Monday
Amazon workers in more than 20 countries, including the U.S., are on strike on some of the busiest pre-Christmas shopping days across the world. It started on Black Friday, Nov. 29, a day for bargain hunters to score some of the biggest discounts from stores across the country as holiday shopping kicks into high gear.
Organizers told the United Nations the so-called “days of resistance” are to hold Amazon accountable for alleged labor abuses, as well as “environmental degradation and threats to democracy.” According to ABC News, the strike could delay holiday deliveries.
The organizers said this is their fifth year of labor action against Amazon during the beginning of the holiday shopping season.
In a statement, Amazon said the group that organized the strikes is being “intentionally misleading” and promoting a “false narrative.” Management said the company offers great pay and benefits.
Canada sues Google over control of online ads
Canada’s antitrust watchdog said it is suing Google over alleged anti-competitive conduct in the company’s online advertising business. They’re calling for Google to sell off two of its ad tech services and pay a penalty.
The Competition Bureau said it’s necessary because an investigation into Google found the company “unlawfully” tied together its ad tech tools to maintain its dominant market position. Google insists the online advertising market is a highly competitive sector and is fighting the allegations.
This comes just a week after the U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal judge to force Google to sell its Chrome web browser, saying it continues to crush the competition through its dominant search engine.
America facing a live Christmas tree shortage again
As millions of Americans get ready to begin their search for the perfect Christmas tree, growers are having historic challenges getting them to sale lots, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The day after Thanksgiving is usually the biggest day for live tree sales, but since Thanksgiving came so late this year, it’s a very short selling season. On top of that, a nationwide shortage is expected thanks to severe weather across the country this year, such as a northeastern drought and North Carolina floods caused by Hurricane Helene. North Carolina is the second-biggest supplier of Christmas trees in the country.
Shoppers bought roughly 21.6 million real Christmas trees in the U.S. last year, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. The Department of Agriculture said the number of trees harvested in the U.S. has declined 30% since 2002, while the American population has grown 16% over the same period.
Alaska native air drops Thanksgiving turkeys to families in remote areas
In the most remote parts of Alaska a Thanksgiving turkey is hard to come by. So, one woman made sure families in roadless parts of the state had their holiday feast.
Pilot Esther Keim calls it “Alaska Turkey Bomb.” She flies in a small plane to off-the-grid homes and air drops frozen turkeys for families to enjoy for Thanksgiving.
Keim said it’s a tribute to a family friend who did the same thing for her family when she was growing up.
She started the tradition in 2022 after somebody that she knew told her they did not have much of a holiday dinner — and no turkey at all. Since then, she has delivered 30 to 40 turkeys every year to families living in remote areas of Alaska.
Trump taps Jamieson Greer for USTR to push ambitious tariff policies
President-elect Donald Trump made a cabinet pick Tuesday, Nov. 26, that will play a crucial role in his second administration. Trump announced trade attorney Jamieson Greer will be his U.S. trade representative, overseeing the policy central to his campaign.
Greer served as an Air Force lawyer and eventually transitioned to trade. He is a protégé of Robert Lighthizer, the USTR during Trump’s first term. The two worked together before Trump was elected in 2016, and Lighthizer brought Greer on to serve as his chief of staff when he assumed the role in the administration.
Greer spent most of the time behind the scenes while Lighthizer was front and center during Trump’s first administration. Lighthizer is noticeably absent as the president-elect fills his cabinet this time around. He’s been passed over for Commerce Secretary, Treasury Secretary and now his previous post is being filled by his chief of staff.
In a statement posted to Truth Social, Trump said Greer played a key role during his first term, “imposing Tariffs on China and others to combat unfair Trade practices, and replacing the failed NAFTA deal with USMCA.”
Trump added Greer will focus “on reining in the Country’s massive Trade Deficit, defending American Manufacturing, Agriculture, and Services, and opening up Export Markets everywhere.”
Greer will have a full plate if his nomination is confirmed. On Monday, Nov. 25, Trump announced in a Truth Social post that on his first day as president, he’ll sign an executive order charging Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States.
Beyond implementing the policy, existing trade deals that Trump negotiated could cause a bit of a headache for Greer according to trade experts.
“It is a violation of the USMCA. The U.S. just basically said, ‘Oops, we are going to impose these tariffs no matter what our treaty says,’” Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics specializing in U.S. trade flows and U.S.-China trade, said.
The president-elect also announced an additional 10% tariff on China related to the fentanyl crisis, with more action on China expected. Politico reports Greer was instrumental in negotiating Phase One of the U.S.-China trade deal and the USMCA.
Tariffs are arguably the most prominent economic policy touted by Trump as he ran for a second term. He’s floating tariffs as high as 60% or more on China. If prior comments are any indication, Greer will aggressively enforce the president’s agenda.
In congressional testimony, Greer said Trump’s tariffs on China, “generally were not passed on to consumers and economic indicators such as unemployment, inflation and per capita GDP thrived during the height of the ‘trade war.’”
“There is no silver bullet, and in some cases the effort to pursue strategic decoupling from China will cause short-term pain,” Greer wrote. “However, the cost of doing nothing or underestimating the threat posed by China is far greater.”
The president-elect also announcedKevin Hassett would serve as the director of the White House National Economic Council. Hassett was a senior adviser during the first Trump administration. Before Trump, Hassett advised every Republican nominee for president since 2004.
Trump said Hassett “played a crucial role in helping to design and pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.”
“He will play an important role in helping American families recover from the Inflation that was unleashed by the Biden Administration. Together, we will renew and improve our record Tax Cuts, and ensure that we have Fair Trade with Countries that have taken advantage of the United States in the past,” Trump said about Hassett’s future role.
Cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah holding so far
The cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah marks a step toward peace in the Middle East, but what happens now in Gaza where Israel is still at war with Hamas? And rain or shine — but not wind — revelers get ready to celebrate in New York City at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024.
Cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah holding so far
A cease-fire deal between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon is holding, so far.
President Joe Biden announced the deal — which the United States and France helped broker — on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Israel and Hezbollah have agreed on an initial 60-day cease-fire, which sets the stage for a lasting truce.
Already, long-displaced residents of parts of Lebanon have started returning to their homes, hopeful the tenuous agreement will be extended beyond two months. That’s despite the Israeli military warning people to stay away from previously evacuated areas.
Israel has said if Hezbollah breaks the cease-fire agreement, it will attack.
Following the directive of the political echelon, the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon took effect at 04:00 today, and the IDF has been operating accordingly. IDF troops are stationed at their positions in southern Lebanon.
Over the past hour, the IDF identified a vehicle with…
During the 60-day truce, Hezbollah fighters are to retreat at least 25 miles from the border with Israel and Israeli forces will withdraw from Lebanese territory.
The agreement does not address the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, another Iran-backed militant group, in Gaza. However, Hamas has said it is ready for a truce.
“So, now Hamas has a choice to make,” President Biden said on Tuesday. “Their only way out is to release the hostages, including American citizens, which they hold. In the process, bring an end to the fighting, which would make possible a surge of humanitarian relief. Over the coming days, the United States will make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Biden told reporters he’s hopeful he’ll help achieve a cease-fire in Gaza before the end of his term in January. If not, President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to bring peace to the Middle East, though he has not yet said how.
Trump picks nominations for NIH, trade
President-elect Trump has kept busy this holiday week. On Tuesday night, he announced new picks to join his administration.
Among them, Trump nominated Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to serve as the director of the National Institutes of Health. As head of the NIH, the Stanford University professor would work alongside Trump’s pick for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Bhattacharya, who also has a doctorate in economics, became known for opposing lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) November 27, 2024
Trump also selected Jamieson Greer to lead the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Greer is no stranger to the department, having served as chief of staff to the trade representative during Trump’s first term — which saw tariffs imposed on Chinese goods and the signing of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement.
Greer served as a lawyer in the Air Force and is currently a partner in international trade at the law firm King and Spalding.
Both of these nominations will need Senate confirmation.
Australia’s House passes bill to ban kids under 16 from social media
The bill would make platforms such as Tiktok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to $50 million ($33 million USD) for failing to prevent young children from holding accounts.
Australia’s communications minister Michelle Rowland introduced a world-first law into Parliament on Thursday that would ban children younger than 16 from social media, saying online safety was one of parents’ toughest challenges. pic.twitter.com/K0zui1wHLv
The legislation passed 102-13 in Australia’s House of Representatives and now moves on to the Senate. If the bill becomes law, social media companies would have one year to figure out how to implement the age restrictions before they are enforced.
More than 3,000 fake name-brand electric guitars seized in California
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it seized more than 3,000 fake electric guitars in Southern California. CBP said the knockoffs were destined for the e-commerce market, just in time for holiday gift shopping.
CBP said if the guitars were real, they would be worth about $18 million. Most of the fakes look like Gibson brand guitars, but some were supposedly from other well-known companies such as Fender.
Federal authorities would not release any details about suspects in the investigation or where the counterfeit guitars came from.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to go on, rain or shine
A Macy’s spokesperson told the New York Post the parade will proceed regardless of wet weather — good news for the expected 3.5 million people who will be along the parade route and the estimated 30 million watching at home. However, wind could pose a problem.
The spokesperson told the Post, “Based on the city’s guidelines, no giant character balloon will be operated when there are sustained wind conditions exceeding 23 miles per hour and wind gusts greater than 34 miles per hour on the parade route.”
So far, according to weather reports, the winds should not be a problem, and all 32 balloons should be able to fly. New ones this year include Minnie Mouse and Spider-Man, which is marking its return to the parade for the first time in a decade.
Happy Thanksgiving from Straight Arrow News
With Thursday being Thanksgiving, as you get ready to gather around the table with your family, we wanted to take this time for you to get to know ours a little better. In the video above, members of our Straight Arrow News team have special messages about what they’re thankful for this holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!
Trump’s proposed tariffs could violate his own trade deal with Canada and Mexico
Experts say President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to put 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada violates the trade agreement he negotiated during his first term. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA for short, fulfilled Trump’s 2015 campaign promise to terminate and replace NAFTA, America’s longstanding free-trade agreement with its neighbors.
Trump announced in a Truth Social post that on his first day as president, he’ll sign an executive order charging Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States.
“This tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” he posted.
“It is a violation of the USMCA. The U.S. just basically said, ‘Oops, we are going to impose these tariffs no matter what our treaty says,” said Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics specializing in U.S. trade flows and U.S.-China trade.
Lovely said Trump could try to unilaterally impose these proposed tariffs using the Emergency Powers Act.
“This would be a very unusual and certainly provocative application of that Emergency Powers Act,” she told Straight Arrow News. “Surely, it will go to the courts, but that seems to be the only route that he could do it given U.S. trade law in general and in particular, the promises we made under USMCA.”
Trump has no problem busting up trade agreements. It was a cornerstone of his candidacy that led to his first term, just as tariffs are for his second.
“It’s a disaster,” Trump said of NAFTA on “60 Minutes” in 2015. “We will renegotiate it or we will break it, because every agreement has an end.”
Is this the end of USMCA? Some are speculating that there is more behind Trump’s day-one tariff threat than meets the eye.
This constant threatening has a cost. It’s not a freebie.
Mary Lovely, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Trump supporter and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman cast doubt in an X post that Trump would even implement the threatened tariffs.
“@realdonaldtrump is going to use tariffs as a weapon to achieve economic and political outcomes which are in the best interest of America, fulfilling his America first policy,” Ackman posted.
“Trump sees an opening to push China further out of America’s backyard,” international relations expert Andrew Law wrote in his publication, The Mexico Brief. “This is less a policy declaration than a move to stir up more trouble amongst bickering allies. The goal? To extract even more concessions from Mexico and Canada on China. He’s throwing a cat amongst the pigeons to watch what happens. It’ll probably work.”
“It is a threat, obviously, and threats do get people to do things sometimes,” Lovely said. “The problem is that every time he threatens a trading partner, particularly free-trade-agreement partners, the rest of the world loses trust in the U.S. as a partner.
“Supply chains start to go around the U.S. rather than through the U.S., and that makes it more difficult for the companies in the U.S. that export,” she continued. “It also makes it more difficult for global companies that are trying to arrange supply chains to serve the United States. So this constant threatening has a cost. It’s not a freebie.”
In conjunction with tariffs on America’s neighbors, Trump also announced an additional 10% tariff on China related to the fentanyl crisis.
If the 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada do go through, the question is, what will be impacted the most?
“Autos has to be number one,” Lovely said. “The U.S. auto industry is fully integrated with the industries in Mexico and Canada, so much that we don’t think about it as three industries; it’s one integrated platform. Some vehicles are said to go back and cross the border more than seven times before they hit car lots.”
On news of the threat, Detroit’s Big Three automakers traded down on Tuesday morning, Nov. 26. Ford started the day trading down 3%, GM went as far as 8% down, and Chrysler-owner Stellantis went down about 5%.
Food could also be set for a huge sticker shock. The guacamole is always extra, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture says Mexico provides about 90% of the avocados eaten in the U.S. More than half of all U.S. fresh fruit imports come from Mexico. On the northern border, oil is the top import from Canada.
The U.S. is the largest importer of goods in the world, with China, Mexico and Canada as its top suppliers, according to the U.S. Trade Representative. The U.S. is also the second-largest goods exporter after China. The top three recipients of U.S. exports are Canada, Mexico and China.
While the USMCA is not set to expire until 2036, there is a six-year review coming up in 2026. And China has more to do with North American trade than the acronym suggests.
“Many of us expect that the role of China in supply chains that serve the U.S. from Canada, but in particular, Mexico, would be on the table, would be an issue,” Lovely said. “Whether it is in this case I think is just speculation, since President-elect Trump said nothing about that in the social media post he made last night.”
Trump plans new tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China over drugs, migrants
President-elect Donald Trump vows to hit Canada, Mexico and China with new tariffs on their products coming into the U.S. And TSA is laying out its expectations as the Tuesday before Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel days of the year. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024.
Trump plans new tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China over drugs, migrants
President-elect Donald Trump has announced some of the first executive orders he plans to issue on day one of his administration. Trump said he will make good on a campaign promise by raising tariffs on goods from China, Canada and Mexico – the latter two being the top trading partners of the U.S. – due to illegal border crossings and drugs entering the country.
Trump made the announcements Monday night, Nov. 25, on his Truth Social platform. He targeted Canada and Mexico first.
The president-elect said on his first day in office, he will impose a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States from those two countries, which account for 30% of trade volumes. Trump said the tariffs will remain in effect until drugs, specifically fentanyl, and illegal immigrants stop crossing into the U.S.
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) November 26, 2024
“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem,” Trump said. “We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”
In a second post on Truth Social, Trump turned his attention to China, saying he’ll charge China an additional 10% above any other tariffs on all their products coming into the U.S.
While he said he has had many talks with Chinese officials about drugs being sent into the U.S., Trump said nothing has changed. He added, “Representatives of China told me that they would institute their maximum penalty, that of death, for any drug dealers caught doing this but, unfortunately, they never followed through, and drugs are pouring into our country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before.”
Reaction has been coming in from the countries affected by Trump’s tariff plans.
Chinese Embassy Spokesperson Liu Pengyu said, “China believes that China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature. No one will win a trade or a tariff war.”
In a joint statement, Canada’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, and public safety minister, Dominic LeBlancr, said, “Canada and the United States have one of the strongest and closest relationships – particularly when it comes to trade and border security. Canada places the highest priority on border security and the integrity of our shared border.”
Ricardo Monreal, Mexico’s lower house leader for the ruling party, responded in a post on X, saying, “The imposition of a possible tariff on Mexican products goes against the United States–Mexico–Canada agreement and does not solve the common problems of the border between Mexico and the United States…escalating trade retaliation would only hurt the people’s pocketbooks.”
Scott Bessent, Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary — who says tariffs would not add to inflation — supports the move, but many economists forecast tariffs would increase prices for U.S. consumers.
The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimated over the summer the tariff plan Trump promised on the campaign trail, which included 60% tariffs on Chinese goods, would cost the typical U.S. household more than $2,600 a year.
A CNBC analysis said retail chains like Five Below and Dollar Tree, along with online outlet Wayfair, would be some of the most vulnerable companies when it comes to a trade war.
Meanwhile, multiple reports said President-elect Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Monday night following the social media posts. The reports said the two had a “good conversation” about trade and border security.
Federal judge dismisses Trump’s 2020 election interference charges
Special Counsel Jack Smith has dropped all federal charges against President-elect Trump in connection with attempting to overturn the 2020 election results. He filed the motion Monday and a federal judge granted it within hours.
A different judge had already dismissed the federal charges against Trump for mishandling classified documents. Smith was appealing that decision before he dropped those charges as well on Monday.
The Justice Department’s longstanding position that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime is set to apply to Trump once he takes office again in January, which is why Smith decided to give up the cases against him.
On Truth Social, Trump posted, “I persevered, against all odds, and won.”
FBI agent acquitted in 2020 shooting arrested on sexual assault charges
An FBI agent has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting two women, according to police in Montgomery County, Maryland. Authorities there also said they believe there might be other victims out there.
Valdivia is now suspended from the FBI pending the outcome of this case.
This is not his first brush with the law. In 2020, prosecutors charged Valdivia with attempted murder in an off-duty shooting on a metro train in Bethesda, Maryland. A Montgomery County jury found him not guilty in that case in 2022.
Macy’s says employee hid $154M in expenses, delays Q3 report
Macy’s said one employee intentionally created so many accounting inconsistencies it had to delay its quarterly report.
While the department store chain said it saw stronger-than-expected sales from July to October this year, it also discovered a now-former employee hid up to $154 million in expenses over nearly three years. The company said the issue was related to delivery expenses in one of its accrual accounts.
Macy’s delayed its third-quarter earnings report after the retailer said an employee hid up to $154 million in delivery expenses over several years, prompting an investigation https://t.co/7PlNTb2qp0
While the questionable expenses only account for a small fraction of the $4.36 billion in delivery expenses during that almost three-year period, the company found the errors to be significant enough to delay reporting its full quarterly earnings.
That report was originally set to be released Tuesday, Nov. 26. It has now been pushed back until Dec. 11.
TSA preparing for ‘busiest Thanksgiving ever’ for air travel
Thanksgiving travel is taking off and this year is expected to be another for the record books. The Transportation Security Administration said it’s ready for the rush and expects to screen 18.3 million people at U.S. airports from Tuesday through next Monday, Dec. 2.
Today we kick off our busiest travel week of the year! Flying to visit with family or friends? Start your packing with an empty bag. Leftover items from past adventures often include prohibited items. Unsure what’s allowed in your carry-on or checked bag? Send a DM to our @AskTSA… pic.twitter.com/kduiVqKY5a
The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Dec. 1, is expected to be the busiest day for air travel. The TSA estimates more than three million people are likely to pass through their checkpoints that day alone.
The word went viral after a video was posted on TikTok by user @JoolsLebron in August. Dictionary.com said demure saw a nearly 1,200% increase in usage in digital web media alone from January to the end of August, mainly attributed to the video.
The website said while demure was traditionally used to describe those who are reserved and quiet, the new usage seen on social media is meant to describe refined and sophisticated appearance or behavior.
Trump’s transition team tussles over choice for top economic post
It’s the most important pick for President-elect Donald Trump’s economic agenda. Now it appears Trump is having second thoughts about his treasury secretary options.
The Treasury secretary acts as the president’s closest economic advisor and is fifth in the presidential line of succession. The person who holds this cabinet post will play a key role in helping Trump carry out his agendas on tax cuts and tariffs.
The president-elect’s search for a Treasury secretary is expanding this week after reports of infighting in Trump’s camp over the selection.
Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent have been floated as the final two candidates but they are now joined by two more names, Marc Rowan and Kevin Warsh.
Howard Lutnick
Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick is Trump’s transition co-chair and has had a big say in how Trump’s cabinet has shaped up so far. The two have known each other for decades and Lutnick fundraised for Trump during a critical part of the campaign. He’s also a big proponent of Trump’s tariff policies.
“Tariffs are an amazing tool by the president to use. They’re an amazing tool, but he understands, don’t tariff stuff we don’t make,” Lutnick said on CNBC. “If we don’t make it and you want to buy it, I don’t want to put the price up there. It’s pointless. But use tariffs to build in America. If we want to make it in America, tariff it, or if we’re competing with it, tariff it. But you gotta remember, we need to protect the American worker. Finally, someone’s going to protect the American worker.”
But will he get his desired post of Treasury secretary? The New York Times reports Lutnick has gotten on Trump’s nerves lately, with Trump privately expressing frustration that “Lutnick has been hanging around him too much and that he has been manipulating the transition process for his own ends.”
Would be interesting to hear more people weigh in on this for @realDonaldTrump to consider feedback.
My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change.
Lutnick does have the public backing of Elon Musk as a changemaker. Musk said another frontrunner, Scott Bessent, would be “business-as-usual,” which is “driving America bankrupt.”
Scott Bessent
“I’ve been in the investment business 35 years, and Donald Trump is the most sophisticated leader on economics that I’ve met,” Bessent told Fox Business.
Bessent is the founder and CEO of the hedge fund Key Square Group, an ex-Soros executive and a key economic adviser to Trump during the 2024 campaign.
Trump has said he is “a nice-looking guy” who is “one of the most brilliant men on Wall Street.”
Bessent is seen as a safe bet for markets. Investment manager Dan Loeb appeared to back Bessent as the better choice in an X post, indicating Lutnick would shake markets.
But the jockeying for Treasury secretary between these two was described in the Times “as a knife fight, with Mr. Lutnick as the primary aggressor.” Now, two more choices have entered the fray.
Marc Rowan
“I think this administration has a remarkable chance to really pivot the country, to take advantage of all the inherent positives that we have,” Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan told Yahoo Finance.
Rowan is a new face in the race but does he want the job? According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump aides have reached out to the Wall Street billionaire to gauge his interest. The Times said Trump wants someone “big” for the role and has made clear he’s impressed with Rowan.
“Our financial situation is fixable,” Rowan said. “It is fixable in a way that is positive for the base that [the] President-elect has said that he wants to help. But it is not fixable by small amounts of tinkering. It is about wholesale change, and we as humans, we are sometimes scared of wholesale change.”
If the offer of Treasury secretary doesn’t entice Rowan to step into the public sector, there’s another candidate with whom Trump has more history.
Kevin Warsh
Trump once considered former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh as a potential Fed chair before choosing Jerome Powell, a choice Trump has long lamented.
“When times were tough, what did the Federal Reserve say? They went to Congress and said, ‘Please spend more.’ So they acted asymmetrically,” Warsh said of the Fed’s pandemic-recovery moves. “That’s the big mistake you can make. Well if you’re going to get into the fiscal business when you’re running these kinds of deficits at a time of relative peace and relative prosperity, you have to open your mouth the other way too. You cannot have fiscally responsible economic policy and irresponsible monetary policy. When one policy is irresponsible, so is the other, and that’s the fix we’re in, and we need to get out of it.”
Warsh will likely be interviewed for the Treasury post but has also been raised as someone who could potentially replace Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve when Powell’s seat is up in 2026.
According to reports, Trump is expected to invite potential Treasury picks to interview at Mar-a-Lago this week. But given Trump’s uncertainty over the role, there could be more names floated before the week is done.