No Rare Earth confirmed for US Military Industrial Complex. Civilians OK.
Trump's Tariffs & Trade Wars
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restrictions on Chinese drones imports reversed within a month 
restrictions on Chinese drones imports reversed within a month
DJI drones are a big problem. We have to address that.
China posts record surplus for 2025 of almost $1.2 trillion. +20% year over year. The Trade War was a complete failure in isolating China.
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Says China? Is this the same China that creates ghost cities to prop up their GDP?
There are two issues with this statement. One, what percentage of Chinese construction is ghost cities that won't ever be occupied, and two, is the practice still being done. Funding for housing projects in China has been throttled early this decade.
Ironically, the effect of overbuilding on the economy is to depress the GDP, by pulling down housing prices and rents, while the GDPs of F.I.R.E.-based economies like Canada, Australia or the US are greatly inflated by artificially-high housing prices, and by their use of imputed rents in GDP calculations, which China doesn't.
Here's another fun one.
Global Sales for Automotives with China has overtaken Japan despite an effective ban on them in the US.
Canada Mark Carney visits China to arrange a strategic partnership between the 2 nations.
Mark recognizes the new world order.
China cuts tariffs on Canadian rapeseed to 15% and suspends duties on canola, lobster and other products.
Canada to import 49,000 Chinese EVs at a 6% tariff down from 100%
Allows Visa-Free to China for Canadians.
Mark recognizes the new world order.
China cuts tariffs on Canadian rapeseed to 15% and suspends duties on canola, lobster and other products.
Canada to import 49,000 Chinese EVs at a 6% tariff down from 100%
Allows Visa-Free to China for Canadians.
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yikes!
I can smell the salt!
I can smell the salt!
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Memory Chips woes
The India-USA interim trade deal has finally been concluded, first step. Tariffs on Indian products are decreased from 50 to 18 percent, India will agree to halt Russian oil imports and switch to US oil. India is also committed to buying 500 bn USD of US products in the next 5 years, additional clauses mention a 20 bn USD defence deal. These are just some of the details.
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Bessent submits. I tried to warn you guys last year.
From @Rnaudbertrand.
Really quite extraordinary how humbled Bessent has been by China.
Reminder that this is the same guy who
- At the beginning of Trump 2.0 tariffs, when China retaliated, said that China made "a big mistake... they have a losing hand... they're playing with a pair of twos." (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/08/tre...mistake-country-playing-with-losing-hand.html)
- Said at the beginning of the tariffs that a group of other countries - specifically Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and India - would join the U.S. in a deal aimed at a "grand encirclement" of China (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/news...rclement-plan-for-china-bloomberg-new-economy)
- After China retaliated with rare earths in October he framed it as "China versus the world" and said that the U.S. would rally "substantial global support" against China on this. (https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/t...inancing-war-us-china-trade-tensions-escalate)
He was proven completely wrong on all counts.
And now he's adopting a very different tone, speaking of "mutual respect" and "fair competition" as a goal. As the saying goes, reality is the best teacher..."
From @Rnaudbertrand.
Really quite extraordinary how humbled Bessent has been by China.
Reminder that this is the same guy who
- At the beginning of Trump 2.0 tariffs, when China retaliated, said that China made "a big mistake... they have a losing hand... they're playing with a pair of twos." (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/08/tre...mistake-country-playing-with-losing-hand.html)
- Said at the beginning of the tariffs that a group of other countries - specifically Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and India - would join the U.S. in a deal aimed at a "grand encirclement" of China (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/news...rclement-plan-for-china-bloomberg-new-economy)
- After China retaliated with rare earths in October he framed it as "China versus the world" and said that the U.S. would rally "substantial global support" against China on this. (https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/t...inancing-war-us-china-trade-tensions-escalate)
He was proven completely wrong on all counts.
And now he's adopting a very different tone, speaking of "mutual respect" and "fair competition" as a goal. As the saying goes, reality is the best teacher..."
Thanks to China's Rare Earth ban for Military Use, Lockheed-Martin is proposing to deliver F-35 without their radars for the next 2 years.
Its a mounting issue, not a gallium issue. The bulkhead mounting are not cross-compatible between the current APG-81 and the new APG-85; the dual mount is apparently taking 18-24mo to field. This speaks to other issues endemic to the F-35 program, but the lack of Chinese raw materials isn't one of them.
Also, the photo with the 'balance weights' is an F-35A airframe that was written off some years ago in an accident and is used as a ground training aid, hence the janky weights.
388 LSS trains with Marines during aircraft recovery exercise
An emergency services Marine from MCAS Iwakuni, Japan and a military contractor supervise as an F-35A Lightning II is hoisted up by a crane during a joint training exercise lead by the 388 Logistics Support Squadron at Hill AFB, UT, on September 17, 2024. This training was performed to help...
Just one more Republican appointed Justice out of three was needed to win this case. Democrat appointed Justices know the drill. They always stick together. Plenty of other routes to justify tariffs. Trump won't lose here.
Correction, 6-3! That's pretty bad. I expected as much from Roberts. Since the branches of govt. are co-equal, can't the execution branch proclaim the tariff ruling unconstitutional?
SCOTUS takes upon itself the role of the executive branch. Activist judges. Seems they have more of a say in governing the country than even the President. Trump is still pushing the tariffs but changing some of the particulars to accommodate SCOTUS. I mainly shared the tweet because of the sharp irony in Trump threatening to expose someone else's "foreign interests." His entire second term has been him downplaying the real (((foreign interests))).