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Tariffs Could Still Go Up From Here: Commerce Secretary Lutnick

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said foreign nations will need to address a host of regulatory and other policies limiting imports of American products in order to secure relief from President Donald Trump’s new reciprocal levies. “These non-tariff trade barriers, they are the monster that needs to be slayed,” Lutnick said in an interview on Bloomberg Television and Radio. “Our teams are talking to all our great trading partners today,” he said. “It is time for them to do some deep soul searching on how they treat us poorly and how to make it right.” Offering specific examples of non-tariff barriers, the Commerce chief said that in the European Union some countries use the region’s 20% value-added tax to subsidize their own manufacturers’ production. Economists at the Council of Economic Advisers and staff at the U.S. Trade Representative’s office have pored over foreign nations’ trade barriers for decades, and that analysis formed the basis for the levies Trump announced Wednesday, Lutnick said. He also offered the example of a 2012 trade deal with South Korea, which involved the US letting Korean cars into its market, with Seoul agreeing to import American agricultural products. Nevertheless, McDonald’s Corp. was unable to bring in french fries because it was deemed to have shown the origin of the potatoes, he said. “You don’t understand the scale and depth of how they keep our products out,” Lutnick said. Asked about the sell-off in equities since Trump unveiled the reciprocal tariffs Wednesday afternoon, Lutnick said the president’s focus is on addressing “the economic pain that the United States of America suffered over decades.” S&P 500 futures were down 3.6% as of 8:52 a.m. in New York, while the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 1.8% — to the lowest level since October. The Commerce chief also confirmed that the new 34% surtax on China stacks on top of previous levies, including the 20% Trump imposed earlier this year over alleged Chinese production of precursors for illegal fentanyl. “All they have to have is a phone call from President Xi to Trump saying we’re going to stop fentanyl production,” Lutnick said, putting the onus on President Xi Jinping. “And it would drop to 20%,” he said of the tariff rate.

Trump’s IRS Fires 6,000 Workers of agency now employing roughly 100,000 people, up from 80,000 by Biden

Thursday, 20 February 2025 11:30 AM EST

An executive at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service told staffers Thursday that about 6,000 employees would be fired, a person familiar with the matter said, in a move that would eliminate roughly 6% of the agency's workforce in the midst of the critical tax-filing season.

The cuts are part of President Donald Trump's radical downsizing effort that has targeted bank regulators, forest workers, rocket scientists and tens of thousands of other government employees. The effort is being led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, Trump's biggest campaign donor.

The layoffs at the IRS largely target workers at the agency who were hired as part of an expansion under former Democratic President Joe Biden, who sought to expand enforcement efforts on wealthy taxpayers. The agency now employs roughly 100,000 people, up from 80,000 when he took office.

Independent budget analysts estimate the expansion could boost government revenues and help narrow trillion-dollar budget deficit. Trump's Republicans say the expansion would lead to more harassment of ordinary American taxpayers.

The workers being cut are in their probationary period and enjoy fewer protections than career employees.

The IRS has taken a more careful approach to downsizing than other agencies, given that it is in the middle of its busiest period, with the April 15 tax filing deadline just two months away.

The 2025 tax filing season opened on January 27, with the IRS expecting over 140 million individual tax year 2024 returns by the federal filing deadline.

The dismissals target revenue agents, customer-service workers, specialized auditors and IT specialists across all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., according to people familiar with the matter.

The IRS will retain several thousand probationary employees deemed critical for processing tax returns, including those involved in supporting and advocating for taxpayers, one source said.

The White House has not said how many of the nation's 2.3 million civil-service workers it wants to fire and has given no numbers on the mass layoffs. Roughly 75,000 took a buyout offer last week.

The campaign has delighted Republicans for culling a federal workforce they view as bloated, corrupt and insufficiently loyal to Trump, while also taking aim at government agencies that regulate big business and collect taxes -- including those that oversee Musk's companies SpaceX, Tesla and Neuralink.

Musk's Department of Government Efficiency team has also canceled contracts worth about $8.5 billion involving foreign aid, diversity training and other initiatives opposed by Trump. Both men have set a goal of cutting at least $1 trillion from the $6.7 trillion federal budget, though Trump has said he will not touch popular benefit programs that make up roughly one-third of that total.

Democratic critics say Trump is exceeding his constitutional authority and hacking away at popular and critical government programs at the expense of legions of middle-class families.

Hostages Speak Up About Hamas Sexual Abuse

A new documentary by former Meta executive Sheryl Sandberg shows the sexual abuse committed by Hamas on October 7th, as some hostages are beginning to speak out for the first time.

Civilians took me. "They sold me to Hamas" - Nili Margalit, freed hostage (Part 1)

Nili Margalit, who endured the brutality of Hamas captivity in Gaza for nearly 50 days, describes the chilling experience of being kidnapped.

TV host breaks down hearing former Hamas hostage’s torture story

Sky News host Sharri Markson has broken down in tears after hearing the tragic story of how a girl held captive with former hostage Aviva Siegel was beaten by Hamas terrorists.

An ex-hostage of Hamas speaks out on her harrowing experience

Former Hamas hostage Ilana Gritzewsky joined Sky News Australia to reveal the tragic story of when she and her boyfriend were kidnapped on October 7 in Israel.

IDF Soldier “It’s TIME to Tell You EVERYTHING that Happened to Me…”

Who We Are: In 2010, Rabbi Uriel & Shevy Vigler invited a group of wounded IDF veterans for a 10-day all-expense paid trip to New York City. “We felt the soldiers could boost morale and might appreciate recognition from their American Jewish friends.” Little did they expect the true impact the trip would have. Vigler’s heartfelt gesture of solidarity and support was the root of Belev Echad. Since then, the program has developed into a global organization that is dedicated to helping IDF veterans thrive. The connection and camaraderie between the staff and soldiers makes a tremendous difference when dealing with the trauma associated with war. The Belev Echad family provides a safe space where the soldiers, and their families, can let their guard down and don’t have to face the horrors they have witnessed alone.

 

Secret Service Seals Up White House Campus, Vice President’s house, & Treasury with riot fences today as election nears.

Fences are going up around the White House and the Vice President's house this weekend, along with more buildings in DC being secured from possible election violence.

New fences up at Treasury and the Vice President's house due to election violence fears.

Anti-scale riot fencing is being installed at the Vice President's residence tonight, and earlier today we saw spiked fences around the Treasury Building next to the White House. The election is just 72 hours away.

Christians MUST stand up and vote in the 2024 election

Should Christians vote in the 2024 election? Some argue that they can't support either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. Others say Christians should stay out of worldly politics. But Pastor Josh McPherson of Grace City Church joins Glenn to explain why he has "a fundamental conviction that we cannot be Biblical unless we ARE political." It's time for followers of Christ - both in the pews and in the pulpit - to stand up, speak out, and VOTE: "When the Church goes silent, a culture loses its conscience and government loses its mind, and everyone suffers."

NEW NUMBERS: Trump is UP in Our Poll, Just Like He Was Against Biden – Don’t Believe the Gaslighting

It's like we're living in a crazy town! How did Kamala Harris turn the race around in a way that Joe Biden never could? An information operation conducted by the media and pollsters, that's how! Don't fall for it. Nothing has changed in our numbers, and Donald Trump is still winning.

RASMUSSEN REPORTS

Trump Meets With Tulsi Gabbard To Prepare For Kamala Harris Debate

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 13: Tulsi Gabbard attends a live taping of Hannity at Fox News Channel Studios on September 13, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)
Tulsi Gabbard attends a live taping of Hannity at Fox News Channel Studios on September 13, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)

OAN Staff Blake Wolf
1:35 PM – Friday, August 16, 2024

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has sought the counsel of former Democrat congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as he begins preparations for an upcoming debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.

Gabbard ran for president within the Democrat party in 2020, destroying Harris in a viral Democratic presidential primary debate that led to Harris dropping out of the race.

Additionally, Gabbard has since renounced her affiliation with the Democrat party, as she became alienated with the direction that the party was following.

Gabbard has stated today that the Democrat Party of today is in no way the same political party she once believed in, similar to Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who recently switched from Democrat to Independent.

Gabbard’s debate with Harris in 2019 seems to be in part the motivating factor behind her involvement in Trump’s debate preparation.

Meanwhile, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump, expressed that Trump has “proven to be one of the best debaters in political history as evidenced by his knockout blow to Joe Biden. He does not need traditional debate prep but will continue to meet with respected policy advisors and effective communicators like Tulsi Gabbard, who successfully dominated Kamala Harris on the debate stage in 2020.”

During Gabbard’s debate with Harris, one topic that she pressed Harris on revolved around her time as San Francisco’s district attorney. Harris “put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”

It is also ironic that the Democrat Party, whose voters tout phrases such as “defund the cops” and “A.C.A.B,” an acronym that means “All Cops Are Bastards,” is gung-ho over a previous prosecutor who took pleasure in “meaningless convictions,” according to Republican commentators and political pundits.

Harris ended up dropping out of the race a few months after the debate with Gabbard.

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EXPOSED: The Radical Harris-Walz Agenda the Media WILL Bury | Glenn TV | Ep 370

The mainstream media is working overtime to hide the most radical presidential ticket in U.S. history in Harris-Walz. America has seen socialists run for president before, as fringe third- or fourth-party candidates. But now we have radical left-wing socialists at the TOP on a major party ticket. While Kamala Harris has never openly admitted to being a socialist, her Senate record gives it away. She scored to the left of Bernie Sanders! She voted TWICE against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. According to new reporting by the Daily Signal, when Harris was California’s attorney general, she had the home of pro-life journalist David Daleiden raided by California DOJ agents who seized video evidence that potentially incriminated employees of Planned Parenthood. Harris has found her dream socialist partner in Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Don’t buy the “Midwestern dad” propaganda. Last year, Walz proudly signed a law making Minnesota a “trans refuge” for children who want transgender surgery or irreversible hormone treatments. If parents in Minnesota refuse to grant their child these experimental trans treatments, this law allows state courts to take custody of the child. He also signed a separate bill mandating that all health insurance plans cover these gender transition procedures. Glenn dives beyond the media headlines to uncover the darkest details of their past. They are socialists in sheep’s clothing. And the evidence reveals their dictator tendencies and their anti-freedom, anti-American agenda for our nation. Vote accordingly this November.

Kamala Harris Is A Threat To Our Democracy