Feinstein, Dinish D’Souza, Trade Tariffs: 3 News Stories You Should Read Today – 5/31/2018
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In the category of: In the context of everything, this makes sense.
Trump to Give Full Pardon to Satan’s Favorite Author, Dinesh D’Souza
What the president failed to mention is that the pardon he’s giving D’Souza wasn’t because the government treated him unfairly—it’s because D’Souza pleaded guilty to making an illegal campaign contribution.
According to CNBC, D’Souza pleaded guilty in 2014 to directing two of his associates to contribute $10,000 each to Wendy Long’s Senate campaign. Once the donations were made, D’Souza reimbursed both associates and admitted that he knew he was violating the law.
In the category of: If you can’t get a ground war going fast enough, why not try for a trade war??
This is how trade wars start.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced Thursday morning that hefty tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from the European Union, Mexico, and Canada will go into effect Thursday at midnight. Steel imports from those places will be taxed at 25 percent and aluminum imports at 10 percent. Those are huge numbers; the average tariff rate on US-EU traded goods is under 3 percent.
The targeted countries responded almost immediately. Mexico announced it will impose tariffs on American imports in retaliation. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said in a statement that Europe would “impose rebalancing measures,” likely meaning some kind of retaliatory tariff on US imports, and take any other “necessary steps to protect the EU market.” Possible European targets for tariff increases include American bourbon, jeans, and motorcycle exports.
This is a big deal. The EU, Canada, and Mexico are (respectively) the United States’ first-, third-, and fourth-largest trading partners. While steel and aluminum tariffs alone aren’t the end of the world, a trade war — defined as the two sides getting locked in a cycle of retaliatory tariff increases — is.
In the category of: Families torn apart by the “family values” party.
Feinstein plans bill to halt separation of families at the border
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) plans to introduce legislation to prevent the separation of immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, as the Trump administration is facing deep scrutiny over its policy.
“It’s hard to conceive of a policy more horrific than intentionally separating children from their parents as a form of punishment. … This is not what the United States of America should be,” Feinstein said in a Thursday statement.
She added that she is working on legislation to “prevent the intentional separation of families. Congress has a moral obligation to take a stand here.”
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