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Authored by Casey Harper via The Center Square,

U.S. taxpayers have shelled out tens of thousands of dollars in recent years to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for research on LGBT issues, the kind of funding now under scrutiny by the Trump administration.

The research relies on conducting interviews – in one case for $373 per Zoom call – to explore a researcher’s hypothesis of widespread discrimination.

For instance, one taxpayer-funded research grant studied “queer farmers quality of life in Pennsylvania,” federal records show, one of several grants of its kind.

The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Projects – a federally funded research arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture – paid $14,997 for the 2018 grant.

While this grant is relatively small, there are others, and critics argue the spending is a distraction from helping farmers and lowering food prices, which soared during the Biden administration alongside this kind of research funding.

The aforementioned 2018 queer farmers grant went to Pennsylvania State University for a project titled: “Sexuality and Sustainable Agriculture: Examining Queer Farmers’ Quality of Life in Pennsylvania.”

The grant proposal says the topic is “woefully understudied.”

“The deeply entrenched assumption of heteronormativity in farming has excluded queer farmers from full inclusion and benefits from agriculture, even within sustainable agriculture,” the grant’s proposal abstract said.

The graduate student who assisted with the project, Michaela Hoffelmeyer, presented the findings to the Rural Sociological Society Annual Meeting in Richmond, Virginia.

Her research highlighted some of the challenges faced by queer farmers, reporting that “findings suggest that transgender, non-binary, and women farmers faced additional hurdles” but create support networks to overcome those challenges.

Hoffelmeyer has since gone on to join the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, where she has become a voice in the media and public policy on LGBT issues.

Hoffelmeyer says on the university website that she applies “feminist, queer, and labor theories” in her research to “inform agricultural programming and policy on how to make shifts to support viability, well-being, and sustainability.”

The faculty advisor for Hoffelmeyer’s project, Penn State University Assistant Professor Kathleen Sexsmith, oversaw another taxpayer-funded project along the same lines.

Latinx Gender Identities

Sexsmith’s 2021-2024 grant for $14,923 was awarded during the Biden administration and was titled: “Farming as a Latinx: Analyzing how ethnic and gender identities shape Latino/a participation in sustainable agriculture in Pennsylvania.”

The grant proposal points to the shift from white farmer in the U.S. to Hispanic farmers because of immigration and takes a moment to consider Hispanic masculinity.

“How do rural Latin American masculinities become reproduced or reshaped in the U.S. as they establish themselves as sustainable farmers, and how does is it impact the ability of women and men to meet sustainable agriculture goals?” the grant’s proposal abstract reads.

The researcher conducted 40 interviews over Zoom, averaging about 45 minutes, putting the taxpayer cost at about $373 per Zoom call.

“Initially, the project aimed to interview farmers directly, but due to the difficulties in accessing this hard-to-reach population, the focus shifted to institutional perspectives,” the report said.

The researcher said in the final report that Hispanic farmers suffer from systemic discrimination.

Queer Farmers’ Relationships

Another $15,000 grant in the federal database is titled: “Gender, Sexuality, and Social Sustainability: Exploring Queer Farmers’ Relationships, Ethics, and Practices in the Midwest.”

That 2022 grant went to the University of Notre Dame in response to a grant proposal promising to develop “a more comprehensive understanding of queer farmers’ experiences.”

The proposal for that grant posited that “we still have much to learn about the specific ways that narratives which posit heterosexuality and cisgender identities as ‘normal’ continue to uphold hegemonic power dynamics within alternative agriculture.”

The research’s final report said “findings show that queer farmers often struggle to find safe, supportive work or learning opportunities as a result of how other farmers, customers, and community members perceive their gender or sexuality, and even though many queer farmers having family connections to farming, they struggle to secure access to land because their family’s agricultural or social values don’t align with theirs.”

The faculty advisors for all three projects did not respond to a request for comment or declined to comment to The Center Square.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order upon taking office banning federal funding for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion projects, initiating a purge within the federal government.

Since then, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have been combing through federal spending records, exposing controversial taxpayer-funded projects, many of which the Trump administration has since terminated.

Musk and the Trump administration have faced legal challenges to these cuts, but the administration’s cost-cutting momentum has been fueled by examples of all kinds of controversial federal spending, particularly on DEI and LGBT issues.

The USDA said in a news release in February that it had “begun a comprehensive review of contracts, personnel, and employee trainings and DEI programs.

“In many cases, programs funded by the Biden administration focused on DEI initiatives that are contrary to the values of millions of American taxpayers,” USDA added.

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Federal and local authorities are investigating a fire that damaged the headquarters of the New Mexico Republican Party in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on March 30.

Agents working with local authorities recovered unspecified “incendiary materials” at the scene, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) spokesperson Cody Monday said. He declined to say what the materials were or to share further details.

Albuquerque Fire Rescue stated that it was on the scene with teams from the ATF and the FBI.

Firefighters responded just before 6 a.m. on March 30 and brought the fire under control within five minutes of their arrival, the fire department stated.

There was damage to the building’s entryway, as well as smoke damage throughout the building.

The fire follows numerous acts of vandalism in recent weeks directed against Tesla, the electric car company owned by Elon Musk, who has led President Donald Trump’s effort to slash federal spending. Several of those cases involved Molotov cocktails that were used to start fires at dealerships.

The Republican Party of New Mexico said in a statement that the entryway of the headquarters “was destroyed in a deliberate act of arson.”

The party stated that some person also spray-painted the words “ICE=KKK” on the building. ICE is an acronym for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency responsible for immigration enforcement in the interior of the United States, while KKK refers to the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group.

“We are deeply relieved that no one was harmed in what could have been a tragic and deadly attack,“ Amy Barela, chairwoman of the New Mexico GOP, said. ”Those who resort to violence to undermine our state and nation must be held accountable, and our state leaders must reinforce through decisive action that these cowardly attacks will not be tolerated.”

She said the party is working with local and federal investigators.

“The Republican Party of New Mexico will not be silenced,” Barela said. “We will emerge from this stronger, more united, and more determined to fight for the people of New Mexico and the future of our country.”

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, a Democrat, said in a statement that all of the details on the fire are not yet known.

“But let me be clear, arson is a violent and cowardly act that has no place in our city,” he said.

“Politically motivated crimes of any kind are unacceptable, and I am grateful to our fire department for their swift response. This incident is being investigated at the federal level, and I urge anyone with information to report it immediately.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Authored by Christopher Tepedino via CoinTelegraph.com,

The US dollar could lose its status as the world’s reserve currency to Bitcoin or other digital assets if the United States does not get its debt under control, according to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.

Fink wrote in his Annual Chairman’s Letter to Investors that “decentralized finance is an extraordinary innovation” that makes “markets faster, cheaper, and more transparent.”

“To be clear, I’m obviously not anti-digital assets (far from it),” Fink states, but “that same innovation could undermine America’s economic advantage if investors begin seeing Bitcoin as a safer bet than the dollar.”

“The U.S. has benefited from the dollar serving as the world’s reserve currency for decades. But that’s not guaranteed to last forever.

…

If the U.S. doesn’t get its debt under control, if deficits keep ballooning, America risks losing that position to digital assets like Bitcoin.”

According to Trading Economics, the US debt equaled 122.3% of the country’s gross domestic product in 2023. That is a considerably higher percentage than the 105% observed in 2018. Moody’s Ratings retains the US’s AAA credit rating but has downgraded its outlook to negative, indicating a possible future rating downgrade.

The US’s Joint Economic Committee wrote that as of March 5, the country’s gross national debt was $36.2 trillion, growing $1.8 trillion, or roughly $4.9 billion per day, over the past year and $12.8 trillion in the past five years. The Bipartisan Policy Center warned this month that the US could default on its debt as early as July 2025.

Bitcoin has been branded as a safe haven for investors who are looking to avoid the perils of fiat currency, including inflation. Some believe that the end of the debt ceiling suspension could lead to a Bitcoin price boom. Others think, as Fink has stated, that the dangers of the national debt could increase Bitcoin adoption.

In 2025, cryptocurrency has gained prominence as an asset class due to adoption by countries such as the US and companies like Strategy. However, some argue that stablecoins could, in fact, increase the dominance of the US dollar.

Fink: Tokenization is democratization

In the letter, Fink says that “tokenization is democratization” with the technological innovation “enabling instant buying, selling, and transferring without cumbersome paperwork or waiting periods.”

If every asset ends up being tokenized, Fink said, “it will revolutionize investing. Markets wouldn’t need to close. Transactions that currently take days would clear in seconds. And billions of dollars currently immobilized by settlement delays could be reinvested immediately back into the economy, generating more growth.”

What exactly is tokenization? 

It’s turning real-world assets – stocks, bonds, real estate – into digital tokens tradable online. Each token certifies your ownership of a specific asset, much like a digital deed. Unlike traditional paper certificates, these tokens live securely on a blockchain, enabling instant buying, selling, and transferring without cumbersome paperwork or waiting periods.

Tokenization democratizes access, shareholder voting, and yield, Fink wrote.

It can democratize access. Tokenization allows for fractional ownership. That means assets could be sliced into infinitely small pieces. This lowers one of the barriers to investing in valuable, previously inaccessible assets like private real estate and private equity.

It can democratize shareholder voting. When you own a stock, you have a right to vote on the company’s shareholder proposals. Tokenization makes that easier because your ownership and voting rights are digitally tracked, allowing you to vote seamlessly and securely from anywhere.

It can democratize yield. Some investments produce much higher returns than others, but only big investors can get into them. One reason? Friction. Legal, operational, bureaucratic. Tokenization strips that away, allowing more people access to potentially higher returns.

According to RWA.xyz, the tokenized real-world assets market amounts to $19.6 billion. There are currently around 93,000 asset holders, with 174 issuers. Industry projections indicate that the market could reach $4 trillion to $30 trillion by 2030.

BlackRock’s own BUIDL real-world tokenized asset fund is currently the largest such fund available for trading, with Tether Gold and Franklin Templeton’s BENJI funds coming in second and third place, respectively.

One day after Elon Musk and Antonio Gracias—founder and CEO of the Chicago-based investment firm Valor Equity Partners, and now a DOGE official—unveiled a “mind-blowing” chart showing a surge in Social Security numbers issued to illegal aliens over the Biden-Harris administration’s first term during an America PAC town hall in Wisconsin on Sunday, Musk’s America PAC hosted an online tele-town hall with Wisconsin voters on Monday night, where he provided more color on the SSN fraud. 

During the tele-town hall, one Wisconsin voter asked Musk: “You found a lot of fraud in Social Security. Do you know whether the Attorney General will investigate and prosecute that fraud?”

Musk responded: “I believe someone is going to be arrested tomorrow, because there’s someone who actually stole 400,000 Social Security numbers and personal information from the Social Security database… And was selling Social Security numbers and all the identification information in order for people to basically steal money from Social Security.“

“This is a particular avenue of fraud for illegal immigrants and voter fraud – because the main way identification is established in the US is via Social Security. If you comprise the Social Security system, you can basically get people to get defacto registered to vote – even if they’re not citizens – and get a bunch of benefits and to milk the system – this is pretty insane,” Musk said. 

Elon Musk: “I believe someone is going to be arrested tomorrow, because there’s someone who actually stole 400,000 Social Security numbers and personal information from the Social Security database… And was selling Social Security numbers and all the identification information… pic.twitter.com/cq2kyAVtTL

— America (@america) April 1, 2025

On Sunday, Musk and Gracias showed the audience of a town hall a chart titled “New Non-Citizen Social Security Numbers Issued” … 

Then again, Democrats are against DOGE’s efforts to find waste and fraud at Social Security. Wonder why?

American citizens deserve full transparency, accountability, and swift reforms to ensure this kind of fraud is never repeated and used to game elections and drain resources of citizens by illegals. 

Also, handing out stolen SNNs is a national security threat and can end up in the hands of bad actors, such as members of transnational gangs or terrorist networks.

One month after we got a “goldilocks” JOLTS report which showed an unexpected increase in job openings, hires and quits, moments ago the BLS reported that the US labor market reverted to its deteriorating trendline in February when the US had 7.568 million job openings, a drop from the 7.762 million in January (revised from 7.740 million), down 877,000 from a year ago, and below the 7.655 million estimate.

According  to the BLS, the most notable monthly change was the drop in job openings decreased in finance and insurance (-80K), although as shown in the table below, there were also sizable declines in job openings in trade/transportation/utilities (down 163K), in Private education/health (down 33K) and leisure and hospitality (down 61K). These were partially offset by a 134K increase in professional/business service job openings.

Yet, as always, there is a reason to doubt this particular set of numbers – just as there was reason to doubt every set of numbers from Biden – because according to the February JOLTS report, the number of Federal Government job openings was essentially flat both sequentially and YoY.

In  the context of the broader jobs report, in February the number of job openings was 516K more than the number of unemployed workers (which the BLS reported was 7.052 million), down from 913K the previous month, and one of the lowest differentials since the covid crash. 

Still, as noted previously, until this number turns negative, the US labor market is not demand constrained, and a recession has never started in a period when there were more job openings than unemployed workers.

Said otherwise, in January the number of job openings to unemployed rose modestly to 1.1, the highest since last May if on the low end of the pre-covid range in 2018-2019.

While the job openings data was a drop, miss and reversal of last month’s surprise increase, what softened the blow is that the number of hires unexpectedly rose to 5.396 million from 5.371 million, the highest since last October, and hardly screaming collapse in the labor market. Meanwhile, after surging in January, the number of workers quitting their jobs – a sign of confidence in finding a better paying job elsewhere – dropped slightly to 3.195 million from 3.256 million.

How to make sense of this modest drop in the labor market?

It’s possible that after surprising the market last month when we saw one of the a sizable increase in the number of job openings, Trump got the tap on the shoulder that the US market should probably continue shrinking slowly but surely, if his plan is to (still) blame Biden for any imminent recession, and so he sent a memo to the BLS to make sure that the numbers aren’t in freefall, but dropping more gradually. 

Then again, with markets now focused almost exclusively on the global trade wars which they are convinced (at least for now) will be far more negative for the US than anyone else, no amount of pig lipstick on hard data will offset the fact that the global trade war has become the Elephant Bear in the china shop, and until there is some clarity on that front expect most if not all rallies continue to be sold.

China on Tuesday launched major combined forces exercises around Taiwan as a “stern warning” in the wake of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s pledge to counter “China’s aggression” on his first visit to Asia, as well as alleged recent ‘separatist’ statements by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) army, navy, air force and rocket force are involved in the drills, which seek to “close in” on the self-ruled island  from “multiple directions” and practice maneuvers including “assault on maritime and ground targets” and “blockade on key areas and sea lanes.”

“It is a stern warning and forceful deterrence against ‘Taiwan Independence’ separatist forces, and it is a legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China’s sovereignty and national unity,” a PLA Eastern Theater Command statement said.

At least 20 Chinese warships and 50 jets were involved in the drills, the biggest in many months – and since early last year – to which Taiwan’s military responded by dispatching its own aircraft and ships, and land-based missile systems on coastal areas.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense listed out the following Chinese military weaponry which was moved near Taiwan by early afternoon:

• 71 sorties by military aircraft and drones
• 21 navy ships ranged around the island
• Shandong aircraft spotted about 220 nautical miles east of Taiwan

The Eastern Theatre Command simultaneous to all of this issued a brief video calling Lai a “parasite” in English, also depicting him as a green bug dangled by chopsticks over a burning Taiwan.

Video #3 features an animation of Taiwanese president Lai as a “parasite poisoning Taiwan island,” “parasite hollowing Island out,” (with Lai throwing his opponents in jail and grabbing money), and finally “parasite courting ultimate destruction,” with Lai being “burned” by PLA… pic.twitter.com/HwPNVqAUDH

— Lyle Morris (@LyleJMorris) April 1, 2025

According to the NY Times:

Ms. Zhu singled out a speech by Mr. Lai on March 13 in which he described China as a “foreign hostile force” and laid out 17 measures that Mr. Lai said would combat deepening Chinese subversion and spying in Taiwan.

Those included restoring military tribunals for cases against military personnel who spy and strengthening oversight of cultural, political and religious exchanges with China. Beijing says that Taiwan is its territory, and that it will eventually absorb the island, by force if Chinese leaders deem that necessary.

Taiwan officials have blasted the drills as “reckless” and “irresponsible”. Taiwan’s military subsequently elevated its readiness level to ensure China does not “turn drills into combat” and “launch a sudden attack on us.”

During the kick-off to Hegseth’s Asia visit, he hailed Japan in Sunday remarks as an “indispensable partner” in deterring Chinese aggression in the region. He further unveiled an upgrade in the US military command in Japan to a new “war-fighting headquarters”.

China’s Foreign Ministry in turn on Monday slammed the US’ use of “China threat” rhetoric which is bent on provoking confrontation, but which will end in regional countries being used as “cannon fodder” for US hegemony.

Taiwan’s Presidential Office posted on X that “China’s blatant military provocations not only threaten peace in the Taiwan Strait but also undermine security in the entire region, as evidenced by drills near Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, the Philippines & the SCS. We strongly condemn China’s escalatory behavior.”

While hard data continues to improve, ‘soft’ data hit a new six-month low yesterday as more regional Fed surveys signaled trouble ahead (because of tariffs)…

Source: Bloomberg

And so all eyes are on the premier ‘soft’ data today as Manufacturing PMIs drop their final print for March.

The S&P Global Manufacturing PMI improved intra-month, rising from a  flash print of 49.8 (contraction) to a final print of 50.2 (expansion), but that was still well down from February’s 52.7.

The ISM Manufacturing PMI weakened notably from 50.3 to 49.0 (below the 49.5 expectation) – the lowest since November.

Source: Bloomberg

Under the hood it was even more messy…

…with Prices Paid soaring to its highest since June 2022 and New Orders & Employment tumbling…

Source: Bloomberg

Inventories surged as manufacturers front-run the ‘Liberation Day’ headlines…

As Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, notes:

“The strong start to the year for US manufacturers has faltered in March. A combination of improved optimism surrounding the new administration and the need to front-run tariffs had buoyed the goods-producing sector in the first two months of the year, but cracks are now starting to appear. Production fell for the first time in three months in March, and order books are becoming increasingly depleted.

Trump-based optimism is fading?

“While business confidence about the outlook remains relatively elevated by standards seen over the past three years, this is based on companies hoping that the nearterm disruption caused by tariffs and other policies will be superseded as longer-term benefits from the policies of the new administration accrue. However, March has seen more producers question this belief. Business optimism about the year ahead has deteriorated further from January’s near threeyear high, and has dropped sharply over the past two months, causing firms to stop raising payroll counts for the first time since October. 

And of course, it’s all about tariff terror…

“A key concern among manufacturers is the degree to which heightened uncertainty resulting from government policy changes, notably in relation to tariffs, causes customers to cancel or delay spending, and the extent to which costs are rising and supply chains deteriorating in this environment. 

Tariffs were the most cited cause of factory input costs rising in March, and at a rate not seen since mid-2022 during the pandemic-related supply shock. Supply chains are also suffering to a degree not seen since October 2022 as delivery delays become more widespread. 

“Data in the coming months will provide important insights into how the inflationary aspects of policies such as tariffs balance out against any benefits to US producers.”

So, both Services PMIs are in expansion (above 50) and Manufacturing is mixed (50.2 vs 49.0) – take your pick on ‘recession’ talk.

It was only on Sunday that President Trump declared he’s “very angry” at Russian President Putin, statements which featured the threat of secondary tariffs on Moscow, but now the US leader is already dialing back this criticism, Bloomberg observes.

Instead he’s once again focused his ire on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, warning of “big problems” if he doesn’t sign the controversial minerals agreement and tries to renegotiate. 

“I see he’s trying to back out of the rare earth deal. And if he does that, he’s got some problems. Big, big problems,” Trump earlier told reporters aboard Air Force One. “We made a deal on rare earth and now he’s saying, ‘well, you know, I want to renegotiate the deal.’”

“He wants to be a member of NATO. Well, he was never going to be a member of NATO. He understands that. So if he’s looking to renegotiate the deal, he’s got big problems,” Trump said.

Zelensky has signaled that Ukraine is positive about the deal but has complained that its conditions are “constantly changing”.

Trump has still kept up some pressure on Putin, however, saying Monday of the Russian leader, “I want to make sure that he follows through, and I think he will.” He continued in Monday remarks from the Oval, “I don’t want to go secondary tariffs on his oil, but I think, you know, something I would do if I thought he wasn’t doing the job.”

All of the weekend criticisms of Putin appeared to arise from the Russian president’s comments late last week declaring that Zelensky’s ‘illegitimacy’ could be fixed by a UN transition process guiding Ukraine to new elections. Only then would Moscow negotiate an end the war, Putin stipulated.

“He’s supposed to be making a deal with him, whether you like him or don’t like him,” Trump told reporters Sunday, referring to Putin. “So I wasn’t happy with that. But I think he’s going to be good.”

But again, he reserved blunter criticism for US ally Zelensky: “I heard that they’re now saying, well, I’ll only do that deal if we get into NATO or something to that effect,” Trump had said.

Bloomberg has concluded the following of this latest back-and-forth:

The result is a geopolitical whiplash on the eve of Trump’s global tariff announcement on April 2 and shows US impatience with the process of securing a temporary truce between Russia and Ukraine more than three years after Putin’s invasion of its neighbor. 

Trump had vowed he would end the war within 24 hours of taking office but has found Russia to be a tough negotiator and able to wrest concessions from the US by exploiting Trump’s desire to get a deal done quickly. On Sunday, Trump told NBC he was “pissed off” at Putin. 

Of course, this is also due to Russian forces rolling up several villages and towns on the battlefield in Ukraine’s east and south just this week alone. Putin has less incentive for a hasty deal, and is in the driver’s seat – but surely the White House knows this, which is perhaps why the pressure is ramping up on Zelensky once again.

As for the apparently ever-changing draft minerals deal, Ukraine and its supporters have continued to charge that it’s tantamount to a big resource grab by Washington.

Ukraine received its latest version of a new draft of the text on Friday, its foreign ministry stated. CNN writes that “The new proposal for a natural resources agreement, of which CNN has obtained a copy, was put forward by the US Treasury Department and goes well beyond the initial draft, particularly on future US rights and reimbursement for past assistance.”

Some independent geopolitical observes have said the deal effectively imposes ‘indentured servitude’ on Ukraine. “This ‘deal’ is pure extortion and robbery. It would bind Ukraine indefinitely. It would also discourage any investment in any natural deposits in Ukraine. There is no chance that any such deal will be ratified by the Ukrainian parliament,” Moon of Alabama writes.

The source then questions, “one wonders then: Why does the Trump administration even bother?“

By Michael Every of Rabobank

April Fools

Spot the April Fools’ Day jokes among the following recent headlines:

The Daily Mail says Trump could technically be President for a further two terms using a loophole Eisenhower considered, running as Vice President to a presidential candidate who resigns after they are sworn into office: then Trump alluded to that possibility.

The Financial Times’ chief foreign affairs commentator Gideon Rachman therefore recommends Americans “embrace and push forward” AOC and Bernie Saunders as a defence against a slide into authoritarianism, a-la “Russia, Turkey, and India.”

The Washington Post says a Department of Defence memo declares China the strategic focus, along with preventing the capture of Taiwan: Russia, Iran, North Korea, and terrorism are all secondary. Further, the US must now guarantee control over the Panama Canal and ensure a military presence in the “near abroad” –a Russian term– of Greenland and Panama, the former of which Trump refuses to rule out the use of military force to obtain.

Worse, the memo says the US cannot fight on two fronts, so Europe must fight Russia itself. That’s as Moscow signed up another 160,000 conscripts, saying they won’t be sent to Ukraine, and Europe only did the latter; and Germany’s intel service reports Russia is most likely preparing for a “large-scale conventional war” with NATO by the end of the decade.

British Steel shut down its Scunthorpe plant after 150 years just as the UK aims to rearm. The government says it had “productive negotiations” with the US on an “economic prosperity deal” –not “co-prosperity”?– as reports say London will buy F-35 fighter jets rather than Eurofighters; yet the UK was also just told “no free trade without free speech” by the US.

Finland’s President dropped in to play golf at Mar-a-Lago and emerged with a deal, Trump saying: “President Stubb and I look forward to strengthening the partnership between the US and Finland. That includes the purchase and development of a large number of badly needed icebreakers for the US.”

Then again, the leading 2027 French presidential candidate, the National Rally’s Le Pen, has just been banned from running for office for five years and sentenced to four years for embezzlement. The same accusation had already circled the French Prime Minister, who wasn’t charged, and Le Pen called it a political attack and appealed, as populists, including Trump, rally round her. Moreover, El Pais reports the EU is considering using their Anti-Coercion Instrument on the US as a response to tariffs, which would be economically escalatory – and geopolitically naïve.

Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Fico claims European Commission President Von der Leyen called him “a complete idiot” for half an hour in a phone call over his attempt to negotiate lower tariffs with the US directly.

Trump is “p***ed off” at Russia’s Putin and may put 25-50% secondary tariffs on Russian oil if he doesn’t play ball on Ukraine peace, as with/double Venezuela. The implications for the oil market are enormous – Brent is just shy of $75, which is surely not what ‘no Russian oil’ implies(?)

An IDF source says a clash with Iran is “inevitable”, and some muse on the same vis Israel-Turkey. Iran’s president rejected direct negotiations with the US, to which Trump replied: “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing – and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.” Iran then warned it will strike the Diego Garcia base if the US uses it to attack it –quite the logistical feat!- as a new airstrip appeared next to the Bab-el-Mandeb maritime chokepoint – a likely UAE contribution.

Trump’s first foreign visit as president will, again, be to Saudi in May, showing big changes may loom. That’s as Israel steels its border with Jordan and, with the unconditional backing of the US, demanded Egypt dismantle its growing military presence in the Sinai Peninsula. Moreover, as Israel’s PM Netanyahu was called out of one of his now-regular court corruption trial sessions for a police interview after two of his aides were arrested for receiving funds from Qatar.

US Secretary of Defence Hegseth just ramped up arms and promises to the Philippines and Japan, and claimed the latter shares a “warrior ethos”. Then China, Japan, and South Korea pledged deepened regional trade relations and, said Chinese media, a joint response to US tariffs, as well as an attempt to denuclearise North Korea.

China passed a law saying if it’s sanctioned by another state, it can legally expropriate that country’s firms’ IP or assets, just as it stressed how open to global businesses it is again.

Canada’s caretaker PM Carney proposed pivoting from “because markets” on housing to post-WW2 state interventionism. There’s a lot of that about, and markets clearly don’t like it.

The EU is reportedly exploring a weaker 2040 climate goal, keeping a 90% emissions-cutting target but changing how countries calculate their progress – either less now, more later; or letting other countries do it for them and buying carbon credits.

The US Trade Representative released a 397-page report detailing other economies’ non-tariff barriers ahead of tomorrow’s ‘Liberation Day’, which cover just about everything imaginable. That’s as The Wall Street Journal says, ‘The Era of Cheap Stuff Was Already Ending. Now Comes the Tariff Threat,’ and Bloomberg adds Trump tariffs “pose a generational challenge to Asian economies built around exports to the US and low trade barriers.”

Yet an FT op-ed yesterday argued ‘Globalisation will triumph over Donald Trump’, quoting those saying even if the US stops buying everything from everyone, within a year, 70 of its trading partners would have redirected all their exports to others, and within five years, 115 would have. To whom? Priced and cleared in which currency? And, if so, why are worrying about tariffs at all?

The market continues to ponder ‘dedollarisation’: in which case nobody is net exporting to the US or has future access to enough dollars to repay their outstanding Eurodollar debts, let alone import bills priced in it, so the global financial system crumbles – and I don’t mean a ‘correction’.

As @balajis puts it: “No reindustrialisation without dedollarisation. But dedollarisation means imperial collapse. On the other hand, so does deindustrialisation! This is the fundamental paradox.”  It has been for some time if you looked at the world with the right lenses, and they also show everything is now about US Grand Macro Strategy, not macrostrategy, to try to square the above circle by whatever means necessary: if lines on maps can move, so will lines on screens.

As two Fed speakers (Williams and Barkin) just said they don’t know where monetary policy needs to be ahead, and that the risk is of higher inflation ahead from tariffs despite matching uncertainty, @daniel_mcdowell puts it: “We’re living through a natural experiment. Can economic and monetary orders built atop particular political orders survive when the latter are dismantled? Markets may very well be grossly underestimating the kind of economic changes heading our way if we continue on this course.”

So, how many April Fools were there today? None. Unless you aren’t looking at any of the above news – then there’s at least one.

Shares of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Xiaomi tumbled in Hong Kong trading on Tuesday following a deadly crash involving one of its SU7 sedans, which claimed three lives on Saturday. The accident has intensified scrutiny over the safety of advanced driving systems, as data from the vehicle has been turned over to local authorities for investigation.

HK shares of Xiaomi closed down 5.5% and have since tumbled into a bear market since peaking in mid-March. Downward pressure began when it raised about $5.5 billion in an equity sale last week to fund EV expansion. 

“Investors might have concerns over Xiaomi’s competitiveness and growth outlook after reports of the car accident,” Shen Meng, director at Beijing-based investment bank Chanson & Co., said, adding that the completion of the share sale has “also weighed on sentiment.”

The accident is the first major one involving the SU7 sedan, which Xiaomi launched in late 1Q24 and has outsold Tesla’s Model 3 monthly since December. 

On Xiaomi’s Weibo account, the company stated it was “deeply saddened” by the accident and said the “vehicle was in the NOA intelligent assisted driving state before the accident.” 

Here are more details about the accident from Xiaomi:

At 22:44 on March 29, 2025, a Xiaomi SU7 standard version encountered a serious traffic accident while driving on the Chiqi section of the Deshang Expressway. We are deeply saddened by this.

According to preliminary information, the vehicle was in the NOA intelligent assisted driving state before the accident and continued to travel at a speed of 116km/h. Due to construction and repairs on the section where the accident occurred, the self-lane was closed with roadblocks and diverted to the reverse lane. After the vehicle detected the obstacle, it issued a reminder and began to slow down. The driver then took over the vehicle and entered the human driving state, continued to slow down and control the vehicle to turn, and then the vehicle collided with the cement pile of the isolation belt. The last speed that the system could confirm before the collision was about 97km/h.

After the collision, we immediately contacted the owner to understand that it was not the owner who was driving. At the same time, emergency rescue called the passengers on the car, called the police, and called 120 emergency services.

After that, the police arrived at the scene immediately and fully intervened in the investigation of the accident. At the same time, we immediately set up a special team and rushed to Tongling on the 30th. Under the guidance of the police, we actively cooperated with the investigation, evidence collection and other work, and submitted the vehicle driving data and system operation information we had to the police in accordance with the law on the evening of the 31st. We will continue to fully cooperate with the police and strictly follow the results of the investigation to ensure that the handling of the incident is open and transparent.

At the same time, our special team will also contact the families of the accident victims with the permission and guidance of the police, fully assist in the aftermath, and provide support and help.

We are summarizing the information we know so far and have submitted to the police as follows:

• March 29, 22:27:17 NOA activated, vehicle speed 116km/h

• March 29, 22:28:17 Mild distraction alarm March 29, 22:36:48 NOA issued a hands-off warning prompt “Please hold the steering wheel”

• March 29, 22:44:24 NOA issued a risk warning “Please note that there are obstacles ahead”, issued a deceleration request, and began to decelerate

• March 29, 22:44:25 NOA was taken over and entered human driving state, the steering wheel turned 22.0625 degrees to the left, and the brake pedal was opened 31%

• March 29, 22:44:26 The steering wheel turned 1.0625 degrees to the right, and the brake pedal was opened 38%.

• Between 22:44:26 and 28 on March 29, the vehicle collided with the concrete guardrail on

• March 29, 22:44:28 Ecall triggered on the vehicle side.

• 22:44:39 on March 29. Ecall connected on the vehicle side, confirming the accident, calling the police and 120 emergency services.

• 22:45:06 on March 29. Contacted the owner and confirmed that the driver was not the owner.

• 22:47:15 on March 29. 120 was dispatched successfully.

• 120 arrived at the scene at about 23:00 on March 29.

Here is an alleged video of the accident scene on the Dezhou-Shangrao Expressway in Tongling in southern Anhui Province, eastern China. 

Mar 29: three young women — reportedly university students — were killed in a blaze that broke out after the Xiaomi SU7 they’re travelling in crashed into the divider on Dezhou-Shangrao Expressway (德上高速; Deshang Expressway for short) in Tongling (铜陵), Anhui province in the… pic.twitter.com/xjKnn3HMBm

— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) April 1, 2025

Last month, Xiaomi raised its 2025 sales target to 350,000 units. Whether the fatal crash last weekend will dampen confidence and affect sales moving forward remains uncertain.