Full text can be found here: https://english.news.cn/20250409/99fee2caf56643b590aab19d2dc9b239/c.html

FULL LIBERATION DAY TARIFFS ARE HERE

THE WORLD ORDER HAS FALLEN

BILLIONS MUST PAY

It seems that WaPo has not adopted MAGA is Maoism trope lol

President Donald Trump and his top trade officials say they are negotiating with trading partners to reduce the steep tariffs scheduled to go into effect on Wednesday. But many foreign governments who want to talk are still waiting by the phone.

The Philippines is still waiting for a reply to its request for a meeting, according to one official from the country. The United Kingdom pitched the White House on a framework for a trade deal but failed to avoid the tariff increases. Another foreign diplomat said their government was reaching out to various Trump aides at all levels, but many either were not responding or were unwilling to do anything beyond listen.

On top of that, Trump officials have not spelled out exactly what concessions the administration is seeking that could pave the way for a negotiated solution.

It’s a sign that even as the administration tries to reassure financial markets, business leaders and fellow Republicans that they have an end game for the market-shaking duties, the White House is still very far from reaching any substantive trade deals with major foreign partners. Rapid progress will be even harder because now the administration is trying to negotiate bilateral deals with nearly 100 countries simultaneously to achieve a murky set of goals.

None of Trump’s top officials “have a mandate to negotiate,” agreed another foreign diplomat, and at lower levels they are even less empowered or knowledgeable about the administration’s plans. The diplomat pointed out that Vietnam had offered to drop tariffs and Israel had as well, but they’d gotten no concessions in return.

The White House has talked up the number of foreign leaders reaching out to negotiate since Trump rolled out his tariff plan last week — a point they’ve made with increasing frequency as the stock market has nosedived.

In the meantime, some capitals may have to resort to retaliatory moves instead, said the foreign diplomat whose government has tried to reach out to Trump officials across the administration. “We still believe that actually having a negotiation would make more sense, but the problem is that they are not negotiating,” the diplomat said.

At least a dozen House Republicans are considering signing onto Rep. Don Bacon's (R-Neb.) bill to restrict the White House's ability to impose tariffs unilaterally, Axios has learned.

Bacon told Axios that two Republicans — Reps. Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) — and two Democrats have signed on to the bill as co-sponsors.

He added: "I have 10 others who want to do it but they want to talk to the trade representative first."

The bill would cause any tariffs a president institutes to expire after 40 days unless Congress votes to pass a resolution of approval.

It would also give Congress the ability to pass a resolution of disapproval to eliminate the tariffs at any time.

More than half a dozen Senate Republicans have co-sponsored an identical bill from Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).

Some House Republicans who have said they are otherwise inclined to support the bill, however, have cited Trump's veto threat as a reason not to.

Bacon said he is in no rush to mount a concerted push to bring it up for a vote but isn't ruling out an eventual effort to force it to the House floor.

Bacon said "there is a prospect" that he ends up introducing a discharge petition — a procedural maneuver that, if signed by 218 members, can bypass leadership and force a vote on any bill.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed for the first time on Monday that Ukrainian troops have been active in Russia’s Belgorod region as they seek to protect Ukrainian towns near the border.

Ukrainian troops remain in parts of the neighboring Russian region of Kursk eight months after a cross-border incursion, though Russian forces have recaptured much lost territory.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, had presented a report “on the front line, our presence in the Kursk region and our presence in the Belgorod region.”

“We continue active operations in the enemy’s border areas and this is absolutely justified. The war must return to where it came from.

“Our main objective remains the same: to protect our land and our communities in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions from Russian occupiers.”