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Executive order effective September 8 exempts gold bullion, graphite, tungsten, and uranium while extending reciprocal tariffs to silicone products, resin, and aluminum hydroxide.The Trump administration exempted graphite, tungsten, uranium, and gold bullion from US country-based reciprocal tariffs, while adding levies on silicone products—and extending those tariffs to resin and aluminum hydroxide.The move, set to take effect today under an executive order, formalizes the planned bullion carve-out after a recent US Customs and Border Protection ruling sowed confusion by implying certain gold bars could face import taxes.TRUMP EXEMPTS GRAPHITE, TUNGSTEN, URANIUM & GOLD FROM COUNTRY-BASED TARIFFS; SILICONE PRODUCTS TO FACE LEVIES—...

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that he is “confident” that President Donald Trump’s tariff plan “will win” at the Supreme Court, but warned his agency would be forced to issue massive refunds if the high court rules against it. If the tariffs are struck down, he said, “we would have to give a refund on about half the tariffs, which would be terrible for the Treasury,” according to an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He added, however, that “if the court says it, we’d have to do it.” The Trump administration last week asked the Supreme Court for...

As I write this, the Democratic press releases are still being edited, but the collective scream soon to come is perfectly predictable. Already, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu said on BlueSky that “Republicans are messing up the economy,” based on private jobs data that came out Thursday. You can see why Democrats might make that argument. It seems the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show a meager job gain in August of 22,000, with technical revisions to recent months data in the negatives by 21,000. Even without that revision, that’s a job growth rate of a tenth what...

President Trump fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner last month because he didn’t like the monthly jobs numbers. He claimed the numbers were “rigged.” But Friday’s monthly report for August confirms that job creation has stalled amid his tariff barrage. Employers added a mere 22,000 jobs last month while the numbers were revised down for the previous two by a combined 21,000. This means only 107,000 new jobs were created in the last four months—an average of 27,000. Monthly job gains averaged 167,000 last year. Nearly all of the new jobs last month were in social assistance and healthcare...

Political Junkie’s Advanced AI Review of the Federal Circuit Court’s Rejection of President Trump’s Tariffs Below is another Perplexity Pro AI discussion about emerging news. This time, I had the AI analyze the decision by the Federal Circuit Court that declared that President Trump had no delegated authority to issue his sweeping tariffs using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). As has happened before, the AI starts with the mainstream opinion, and then is slowly moved to an opposite opinion once the facts are more deeply explored. As usual, this is a VERY LONG thread, as it explores...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “11th Hour,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield (D) stated that if President Donald Trump is successful in his legal battle to use emergency powers to implement tariffs, then when a Democrat becomes president, “we’re going to have an emergency on climate change and maybe we’ll start putting tariffs on oil.” Rayfield said, “I wish that we could sit here and have a real, candid conversation with Republicans who support this and say, listen, we’re going to get a Democratic president in here soon, and what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. And...

The iconic denim brand Levi Strauss has warned that growing international backlash against President Donald Trump could negatively affect its sales and those of other U.S. companies. In a recent filing with the United Kingdom's national business registry, the California-based company noted the risk of "rising anti-Americanism as a consequence of the Trump tariffs and governmental policies." Levi's warned that this could increasingly push consumers in the U.K. away from American goods and toward non-American alternatives.

A group of anonymous federal judges is criticizing the Supreme Court for overturning lower court rulings and siding with President Donald Trump's administration with little to no explanation, NBC News reported Thursday.

NBC News reported shocking interviews with a dozen federal court judges who hid behind anonymity to attack the Supreme Court for overturning their anti-Trump decisions, accusing the conservative dominated Supreme Court of undermining the judiciary. This is the latest in an ongoing battle this year between anti-Trump Resistance judges on the federal bench using their rulings to enact their preferred policies and the Supreme Court trying to rein them in under constitutional order. With Republicans holding the White House and both houses of Congress, Democrat activists are using their allies on the federal bench to obstruct and delay actions by...

After five brutal months of unrestricted lawfare against the Trump Administration, it looks like the Supreme Court will finally weigh-in on tariffs. On August 29, 2025, a Federal Circuit Court of Appeal decided that President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs were illegal. Specifically, the Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose tariffs of unlimited duration, on all goods from all countries. This is because tariffs are not mentioned in the Statute, and even if they were, the tariffs are not credibly related to a national emergency. The Trump Administration is appealing. Solicitor General...

The Real Economics of Tariffs: Why America Holds All the Cards The debate over tariffs is often frustrating because it so seldomly touches on reality instead of whiteboard economics of the Ivory Tower. Critics focus on textbook theories about comparative advantage and free trade efficiency, but they ignore the fundamental reality of how global trade actually works today. For decades, the U.S. has played a peculiar role in the global economy: we consume what the rest of the world produces. That is not a neutral or natural arrangement. It’s the result of policy choices—ours and theirs. And tariffs are finally...

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will ask the Supreme Court for an “expedited ruling” to overturn an appeals court decision that found most of his tariffs are illegal. “If you take away tariffs, we could end up being a third-world country,” Trump told reporters at the White House. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a 7-4 ruling on Friday, said that Trump does not have the authority to implement most of his tariffs.

President Donald Trump claimed on Sunday that tariffs are driving more than $15 trillion in new U.S. investment and that if courts should strike them down, the U.S. would likely become a "Third World Nation." Trump’s post comes in direct response to a federal appeals court delivering a major legal setback to his trade policy, declaring most of his sweeping tariffs unlawful under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. The decision supports earlier rulings by the U.S. Court of International Trade. Although they are still in effect, the tariffs face an uncertain future unless the Supreme Court intervenes....

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held warm meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, sending Washington a clear message after President Donald Trump's heavy tariffs against India went into effect last week. Xi hosted Modi, Putin and other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at the port city of Tianjin. China has long sought to build up the group in a challenge to U.S. and NATO dominance. Modi was pictured having friendly exchanges and holding hands with both leaders, and he emphasized that India sees itself as a "partner" of China's rather than...

Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi held hands as they walked side-by-side to greet Xi Jinping at a summit designed to showcase China’s vision for a new world order. The Indian prime minister rode in the back of a car with his Russian counterpart and shared a picture of the pair embracing, saying it was “always a delight to meet President Putin”. Mr Xi, the Chinese president, has used the summit to present his vision for a new global security and economic order in a direct challenge to the United States. “We should advocate for equal and orderly multipolarisation of the...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin stole the spotlight at the Shanghai Cooperation Council summit in Tianjin with their warm gestures and camaraderie. The two leaders walked together, shared light moments, and exchanged jokes, showcasing a bond that appeared stronger than ever. Modi was seen hugging Putin on the sidelines, a moment that fuelled headlines amid growing Western unease over India’s oil trade with Russia.

President Trump’s tariffs are one of the broadest claims of executive power in American history, taxing imports from anywhere on his personal whim. The problem is he doesn’t have that power under the law or the Constitution, as the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled late Friday in V.O.S. Selections v. U.S. This is a crucial moment for the Constitution’s separation of powers. A 7-4 majority upheld a lower-court decision striking down the tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). In February he invoked the law to slap taxes on imports...

A major can of worms just got opened. In a late decision on Friday, August 29, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC, decided 7 to 4 that Donald Trump’s tariffs were largely imposed without the proper authority. While the levies will remain in place until October 14, the fact that the challenge exists could be enough to cause more than just market turmoil.From Court to CourtThe DC court ruled the president did not have the right to implement the type of tariffs he did using the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Historically,...

Several postal services around the world have paused package deliveries to the United States this week, and it's not because they're overwhelmed with shipping demand. The suspensions, which affect shipments of goods valued under $800, follow a recent executive order that President Trump signed that effectively ends the de minimis exemption on August 29. The fallout has been swift and global. We're talking about major disruptions from Europe to Asia that might impact many American small businesses, limit where you can shop, and make it more complicated and expensive to receive the items you order. What countries have limited deliveries,...

Full statement from Pam Bondi: President Trump found there was a national emergency and took action under the law by imposing tariffs. The judges of the Federal Circuit are interfering with the President’s vital and constitutionally central role in foreign policy. This decision is wrong and undermines the United States on the world stage. The Justice Department will appeal this decision and continue to fight to restore the president’s lawful authority.