April 9, 2025 - 104% Trump Tariffs on China
Interest groups should speak up on import taxes, state support for targeted immigrants, hands off our Medicaid and our schools, and more!
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NEW TRUMP TARIFF RESOLUTIONS AND UNITING ECONOMIC STAKEHOLDERS
The markets are collapsing at historic levels and fears are growing that the U.S. is headed into a completely self-inflicted recession, for no other reason than Trump says so. His team can’t even get straight what they’re trying to accomplish. But he steadfastly refuses to back off the Trump tariffs, and is heating up the cycle of retaliation and counter-retaliation with China, threatening even bigger price hikes. Collection on these new taxes started at midnight.
There is some good news – for the first time in Trump 2.0, we are seeing noticeable (if weak) pushback against Trump from the right, with conservative media figures and big-name senators expressing concern. We’ve even seen Republicans start to admit Democrats were right about needing to check the president’s tariff power and endorsing measures to do so. Now Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Rand Paul (R-KY) and Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Richard Neal (D-MA) have introduced privileged resolutions to force a vote on killing the latest round of tariffs.
So we have a fight on our hands. And we need to make sure everyone is raising their voice, from Wall Street to Main Street. Let’s call our members of Congress and tell them to support the Wyden-Paul and Meeks-Neal resolutions to stop the new Trump tariffs – we can find language here.
And let’s also reach out to our professional and trade associations, coalitions of business leaders, chambers of commerce, unions, lobbying organizations and other economic stakeholders we may be connected with and ask them to speak out as well – we want politicians hearing from as many different kinds of interests as possible that the Trump tariffs are a disaster.
MORE ALARM BELLS ON A NEW MEXICAN WAR
A new set of concerning reports from inside the Trump Administration suggest plans are actively being made for possible strikes against the cartels in Mexico. NBC has six current and former U.S. officials confirming the White House is discussing drone bombings – either with the cooperation of the Mexican government or without its consent. CNN published that the CIA is also reviewing its authorities for using lethal force against the cartels.
No final decisions have been made yet, leaving us with plenty of opportunities to build political momentum against what would be a bloody, risky conflict unlikely to do much to stop drugs from flowing into the United States. Let’s take this moment to reach out to our members of Congress and ask them to publicly oppose turning the War on Drugs into a real war. We can find scripts and language here or send this Resistbot message by texting SIGN PIAVWC to 50409.
NO ONE SHOULD GO INTO IMMIGRATION COURT ALONE
Trump and his thugs have repeatedly tried to get around the basic steps of due process to speed up their deportations. By doing so, they’ve clearly demonstrated its importance to avoiding mistakes and injustices. But it’s not enough for due process to simply be allowed in our immigration system. It also needs to be meaningfully accessible.
There is no right to counsel in immigration court like there is in criminal courts, and many who go through the system do not have the money or knowledge to get a lawyer. As of January, two-thirds of people facing deportation proceedings were doing so alone, without legal aid. Trump has actually tried to make this problem even worse, attempting to end legal services provided to unaccompanied migrant children.
Advocates have been working to change this on the federal level, but progress is unlikely under this Congress. Our state and local officials must be called on to fill in the gaps as much as they can. As of 2022, 55 jurisdictions, including 10 states, had committed at least some public funding to deportation defense. We need to be putting pressure on our state and local officials to join this movement, and to guarantee and provide truly universal representation in immigration proceedings.
Let’s see what our area offers folks dealing with the deportation machine, and contact our state legislators, governors and local officials to encourage them to work to ensure public defenders for immigrants. We can use scripts and language here. (We can also use these tools from the Vera Institute to reach out to our members of Congress to support universal representation on a federal level.)
THREE WAYS TO COME TOGETHER AGAINST THE MEDICAID KILLER BUDGET
The road to destroying Medicaid is not going to be easy for the Republicans. Yesterday they were forced to delay a Rules Committee meeting to get the Senate’s magic trick budget to the floor, as Speaker Mike Johnson has not yet secured the votes it takes to pass. They had hoped to get something passed before going on recess for Easter, and that’s looking dicey. But even if they get this next step done, our efforts are taking their toll: new polling has indicated even a majority of Trump voters oppose Medicaid cuts. So let’s keep it going. Today at 5:00PM Eastern, Medicaid advocates led by Protect Our Care and Senator Wyden will host a virtual town hall to spotlight the GOP plot and rally support, which we can attend by signing up here. Then tomorrow at 8:00PM Eastern, Indivisible and Crooked Media will be holding a strategy call we can sign up for here. All this is gearing up for the recess, when Indivisible aims to hold hundreds of rallies to turn up the heat on Republicans over their threats to our health care and food assistance to pay for billionaire tax cuts – we can find a toolkit to host one of our own here.
ORGANIZING MEETING TO PROTECT OUR SCHOOLS
Holding Title I funds hostage to punish schools who want every kid to count is just one of many ways public K-12 education is being attacked by the Trump Administration. Last week, Education Secretary Linda McMahon also told schools their time to spend COVID relief money had suddenly come to an end – informing them on Friday they had until 5PM to spend what they had remaining. This unexpected decision has put many after-school programs, tutoring services, school construction projects, and mental health support for students and their families at risk. We need to be fully engaged in the fight to protect our kids. The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools and the Center for Popular Democracy will be holding an organizing call TONIGHT at 7PM Eastern to discuss next steps in defending education. We can sign up to join here. (And we can keep up the pressure on our school officials on Title I funds and “DEI” here.)
KEEPING AN EYE ON…
Push local, state education leaders to refuse to comply with Trump hostage situation on funding
Votes restoring predatory bank fees, punishing judges, suppressing votes on the docket this week
Comment deadline on forced registration of undocumented immigrants FRIDAY
Comment deadline on protecting access to health care for trans folks FRIDAY
Detention Watch Network’s Communities Not Cages Day of Action April 17th
Target Fast boycott in effect through April 17th, Latino Freeze boycotts on resegregation supporters continuing
Resistance Rangers rallies at national parks for Earth Day April 22nd
Join the federal workers #SaveOurServices rapid response network here
My comment on health care for transgender people submitted today. Please feel free to copy or reuse parts. The third paragraph is from the form letter. I deleted the last part of the form letter since I have no trans stories to share.
"To the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS),
You are spending my taxpayer dollars in an effort to persecute less than 1% of the population. Let me point out that most bathrooms have stalls with doors that close. Unless you're a peeping Tom, you can't know for sure the biologic sex of the person behind the door. Bathroom use is a non-issue. Persecuting transgender people is truly a witch hunt, which the Republican Party uses to obfuscate their goal -- turning the US into an oligarchy and me into a peasant, a serf, a virtual slave.
I strongly oppose the proposed rule CMS-9884-P, which seeks to remove essential health benefits (EHB) coverage for sex-trait modification and exclude DACA recipients from the definition of “lawfully present.” I am a Cis female, and I can see the discrimination and hate behind this rule. I object.
The 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS) found that over 40% of transgender adults have attempted suicide, often linked to a lack of affirming health care. Denying access to medically necessary care, especially for trans people of color and immigrant trans people, will only increase health disparities and put lives at risk.:
The market today will adsorb the Chinese tariff addition. A total of 84% on U.S. goods and agriculture. One good thing, there is plenty of room for our stock market to fall. And don’t forget to think about the cruelty from 5 men on the Supreme Court. If my brother were in that El Salvadoran prison, I don’t see how 5 men could still be on the court. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/cruel-capriciously-smelly-supreme?r=3m1bs