04-04-a-World Top Wires

Prime Minister Trudeau will host a Canada-U.S. summit amid threat of Trump tariffs – Pique Newsmagazine
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A Republican senator from Iowa is pleading for an exemption for potash if U.S. President Donald Trump triggers a trade war by imposing steep tariffs on Canadian imports.

Chuck Grassley’s agriculture state could be hammered if Trump ultimately moves forward on his plan to impose 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian imports, with a lower 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy.

The 91-year-old Republican blamed inflation under the Biden administration for a 20 per cent increase in farmers’ input costs. A steep levy on Canadian potash — a key component of fertilizer — could be devastating for those farm operations.

“Given these already-high input costs, President Trump should work to protect family farmers by ensuring Canadian potash and other fertilizer products aren’t subject to the threatened 25 (per cent) tariffs,” Grassley said in a statement emailed to The Canadian Press.

More than 80 per cent of the United States’ potash comes from Canada, said the American Farm Bureau Federation. The world’s next largest producers are Russia and Belarus.

Donald Trump signs order withdrawing US from several UN organizations including UNHRC– timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to withdraw US from several UN organisations, including the Human Rights Council (UNHRC), while initiating a comprehensive assessment of US financial contributions to the multinational organisation.
The White House also withdrew from the primary UN relief organisation for Palestinians (UNRWA), alongside a planned evaluation of involvement with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
White House staff secretary Will Scharf explained these actions were taken in response to perceived “anti-American bias” within these UN agencies.

‘China Wants to Get Rid of the US’: Beijing Spending Hundreds of Billions to Undermine America– www.cbn.com
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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil and NAIROBI, Kenya – China is aggressively expanding its global influence, specifically through control of key shipping ports.

It’s part of Beijing’s ongoing agenda to use economic, military, and infrastructure projects as leverage to overtake the United States as the world’s leading superpower. CBN News traveled to Brazil and Kenya for a closer look at China’s growing influence around the world.

What is clear from experts though is that China wants to dominate the high seas, and so far, it’s succeeding. Seven of the world’s largest shipping ports are in China, with the Port of Shanghai topping the list

It’s the ports outside of the country’s borders, though, that retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery tells CBN News concerns Washington and its allies the most.

“China’s primary goal is access,” said Montgomery. “Access for resource extraction, access to displace the United States position, access for future operations, but that access acts as the long-term goal of China displacing the United States as the economic partner of choice globally.”

Trump Cuts Funding for South Africa While Land Confiscation Investigated– slaynews.com
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President Donald Trump has temporarily cut off U.S. funding to South Africa while his administration investigates the nation’s new land expropriation law.

The law seeks to boot white farmers from their land in South Africa.

Land expropriation has led to murder, rape, and theft.

Trump posted about his plans on Truth Social Sunday night, saying:

“South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.

“It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention.

“A massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see.

Trump says ‘no guarantees’ Gaza ceasefire will hold a day before Netanyahu visits White House – Middle East crisis live | Israel– www.theguardian.com
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The US president, Donald Trump, has said he is not sure whether the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will hold.

“I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold,” Trump told reporters on Monday, a day before he is due to meet with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the White House.

Trump’s special Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, added:

It’s holding so far, so we’re certainly hopeful.

President Donald Trump signed an order that creates a government-owned sovereign wealth fund which he suggests might be used for purchasing TikTok. The fund must be approved by congress as it is new federal spending as opposed to the allocation of resources already granted by congress.

Trump signs order to create sovereign wealth fund in United States, possibly to buy TikTok – UPI News
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President Donald Trump on Monday ordered the creation of a government-owned sovereign wealth fund of financial assets, which he said possibly could be used to buy TikTok.

Trump designated Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick to create and lead such a fund. The new fund would take approval from Congresses, which normally approves federal spending, Axios reported.

President Donald J Trump’s use of tariffs has been justified by the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a distinction that enables him to use tariffs at will for whatever he deems an “emergency,” with little chance a court would dare set a precedent of empowering the courts to define what emergencies are.

The fruit of that labor has yielded two quick victories, with both Canada and Mexico capitulating to President Donald Trump’s demands to do something to limit the flow of fentanyl coming from both countries into America. Each nation has pledged 10K troops to the task, and each nation is now renegotiating its deals with America as a new 30-day deadline looms.

How Trump’s Bold Use of Tariffs Made Mexico and Canada Cave– www.dailysignal.com
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By using the threat of tariffs to pressure Canada and Mexico to pledge to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States, President Donald Trump pursued a novel legal theory. He declared an emergency then used his emergency authority to threaten to impose tariffs to get our neighbors to comply with his border enforcement and economic policies.

Trump bypassed the typical avenues of tariff policy and instead used the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare the emergency and justify his tariff threats.

The act has been used by various presidents since the 1970s to respond to threats such as the Iran Hostage Crisis, the international drug trade, and the rise of Chinese-owned social media app TikTok. 

But presidents have only used it to freeze transactions or seize properties—never to implement broad tariffs.

Trump threatened 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods if they did not address the importation of fentanyl into the United States. (GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)