US Treasury Secretary Says China Will “Eat any Tariffs”


Posted originally on Mar 4, 2025 by Martin Armstrong 

ScottBessent

The primary policy implemented under the Trump Administration that I believe has the potential to destroy the US economy is tariffs. The very people who are supposed to advise Trump do not comprehend the global nature of the economy and the repercussions of tariffs. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently came out to say that China will simply “eat any tariffs that go on.”

“Well, we don’t know yet because it’s path-dependent, but what I can tell you is that I’m not worried about China,” Bessent said. “China will pay for the tariffs because their business model is exporting their way out of this inflation.” Our own Treasury Secretary does not understand that tariffs are inflationary.

Trump’s tariffs on China were meant to correct the so-called trade imbalance. Yet, as I’ve repeatedly pointed out, tariffs do not address the core issue—capital flows. America’s trade deficit is driven by capital inflows, not trade policy. Foreign nations invest in US assets, which results in a capital account surplus. By imposing tariffs, the US government added to inflation, raised costs for American businesses, and forced manufacturers to seek alternative supply chains in Vietnam and Mexico rather than returning to the US.

Economic power shifts not through tariffs but through capital investment and confidence. China simply will redirect its exports elsewhere, while American consumers pay higher prices. We saw this happen during the first US-China trade war when Trump first entered the White House.

China is prepared to take retaliatory measures against the US. “If the U.S. insists on its own way, China will take all necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests,” a Ministry of Commerce spokesperson told CNBC. America has already lost China as its top trading partner, but what’s worse is that American politicians on both sides have caused the Chinese to stop purchasing US debt.

Trump is keen to see capital flowing back to the United States and must realize that these tariffs will have the precise opposite effect. I am less concerned about his tariffs on China than about his proposed tariffs on Europe. The tariff on China is more about the cost of production since “Made in China” means it was made cheaper with cheap labor and domestic (Chinese) parts.

China US Trade War

Trump Pauses all Funds to Ukraine – About Time!


Posted originally onMar 3, 2025 by Martin Armstrong 

2025_03_03_21_05_59_Donald_J._Trump_realDonaldTrump_Truth_Social

I have been stating all along all of my sources say the same thing. Zelensky is just a puppet of the Neocons. He takes his orders from them and they do not want peace. They have invested so much into this war to conquer Russia that they are not about to walk away.

I said I knew that Zelensky insisted upon meeting at the White House 5 days before. My sources told me the plan was to try to embarrass Trump, for they had all the media on their side and all the European leaders. Zelensky was all pumped up and thought he could turn the table on Trump and keep the money flowing.

Zelenskyy Johnson

Part of the reason I was told 2 days in advance was because they always send Boris Johnson to give Zelensky orders. He killed the peace deal that was on the table back then and that even made the front pages of the Ukrainian Press.

Boris Johnson Unkaine 2 25 25

They also send in Boris to give the commands to Zelensky because he is not in office right now. I was told that he urgently flew to Ukraine to kill the signing of the mineral deal and to tell Zelensky to fly to Washington and insist on a meeting at the White House. I believe the first vote by the Ukrainian MPs was not unanimous for Zelensky, and Boris instructed them to suddenly claim Zelensky was voted in. Their constitution does not allow for extensions, and the claim that Martial Law overrides the constitution calls into question whether Zelensky can even represent Ukraine legally.

When Boris urgently flew to Ukraine and did his Good Morning Britain interview, he did it from Ukraine—not London. This was a setup that backfired. Trump has seen through this facade and now knows that Europe has been conspiring against him. Trump has now come out and cut off all aid to Ukraine and lets see the Europeans put their money where their mouths are behind the curtain, pulling the strings.

“The President has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”

A White House official said.

Tusk wew Don’t Need USA


Posted originally on Mar 3, 2025 by Martin Armstrong 

QUESTION: You said Europe thinks it no longer needs the United States to defend it. Do you have any leaders saying that publicly?

UT

ANSWER: Polish PM Donald Tusk made a speech before he took his flight to London for the European Ukraine summit that was planned well in advance. He said:

“500 million Europeans are asking 300 million Americans to defend them against 140 million Russians. I want to repeat these words. If you know how to count, count on yourself, start relying on yourself. Not in isolation, but with full awareness of your own potential. Europe, if there is something we lack today, it is not economic or demographic power, but the belief that we are truly a global force.”

Zelensky told No


Posted originally on Mar 3, 2025 by Martin Armstrong 

25 Percent Tariffs Against Mexico and Canada Begin Tuesday


Posted originally on CTH on March 4, 2025 | Sundance 

For many of us who walk the deep weeds of honest economic analysis, this is the moment we have been waiting for.

Second only to the elimination of the U.S-Marshal Plan, which is scheduled to end April 2, 2025, the structural implementation of North American tariffs against Mexico and Canada provides the most significant opportunity for GDP expansion, jobs, wage increases and massive economic gains in the United States.

Simultaneous to the tariffs scheduled to go into effect tomorrow, President Trump notes U.S. food prices are positioned for major supply-demand changes that will benefit all American consumers.  What President Trump notes in the Truth Social message below, is a reality we experienced in 2018/2019 as the result of national agriculture supply.

[Source]

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNBC on Monday that the inflationary impact from any tariffs would be “second-order small, so I don’t see the president wavering on any of this, because he knows in order to get to a world in which America is strong and prosperous, with real wages going up and (more) factory jobs. This is the path that he’s chosen.” (more)

CTH outlined the prediction for ’18/’19 back in 2016 when we discussed what happens when the American food supply equation is modified to focus on domestic production to the benefit of domestic consumers.   The food supply chain will shift, slowly at first and then ultimately by around Thanksgiving of this year (fall harvest) we will see major price drops in the American food basket.

There are going to be major opposition forces, notably related to decades of Big Ag exfiltration, screaming that U.S. consumers will see higher prices.  However, as previously experienced/outlined these claims are entirely false. We will see major drops in food prices as a result of a more balanced U.S production-import/export dynamic.

Think in terms of the COVID-19 disruption we experienced in the food supply chain.  Major shortfalls in consumer products were noted because the supply chain for agriculture could not respond quickly enough to the shutting down of 50% of the food/caloric delivery system (food away from home).

In the food production system we are about to experience, a reversal of product availability is to be anticipated; there will be abundance.

In the short term, there will be some supply chain disruption as the import equation (total cost of goods) changes to reflect the tariff impact.  However, long term, we will see (example citrus) farm products returning to FL/CA farm production from Mexico.

Generally speaking about 50% of the USA bulk food system is ‘one full harvest’ ahead of demand.  Grain silos, frozen product and processed food stuffs are generally a full harvest ahead.  Ex. the Frozen turkey you purchase in November is a product outcome of a production process that takes place all year. Canned foods, dried foods, spices and other derivatives follow the same supply chain background.  The length of this process is approximately 6 months.

On the fresh food side (think in terms of the perimeter of the grocery store), the supply chain is thin and holds less inventory in the supply system; the flow from field to fork is much faster.  Fresh seasonal foods come/go as this supply chain reflects the seasonal harvests – with a portion of those fresh products also entering the processed space as ingredients.

The USA exports a massive amount of food.  Our farmers are some of the most productive farmers in the world, not only feeding Americans but also exporting food and ingredients globally.  Corn, soybeans, wheat, hay, potatoes and derivatives are major exports.  Also, as an example, every McDonald’s french frie in the world comes from U.S.A potatoes.

Our row crops are top quality products recognized throughout the world for the consistency that comes from a loving God who has blessed the United States with some of the most fertile soil on the planet. Americans are blessed.

The issues we have faced in the past several decades comes from Big Ag and Big Rx manipulating our domestic production (genetically modified outputs) in order to maximize the corporate profit agenda.  Big Ag and Big Rx will fight against tariffs with extreme ferocity because the dynamic of economic nationalism, supply-demand production and lower prices therein are against the multinational interests.

Our sunbelt farmers can produce everything that is imported from Mexico and central America, an import tariff resets the price structure permitting them to enter the production system with organic profits.  It may take a little time for the reset of pricing to travel to new fields and then ultimately to our forks, but it will happen if the USA holds strong in support of the rebalancing.

Influential people, politicians (rules) and corporate leaders (profits), both with vested financial interests in the process, have sold a narrative that global manufacturing, global sourcing, and global production is the inherent way of the future. The same voices claimed the American economy was/is consigned to become a “service-driven economy.”

What was always missed in these discussions is that advocates selling this global-economy message have a vested financial and ideological interest in convincing the information consumer it is all just a natural outcome of economic progress.

It’s not.

It’s not natural at all. It is a process that is entirely controlled, promoted and utilized by large conglomerates, lobbyists, purchased politicians and massive multinational corporations.

To understand who opposes President Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, or any economic nationalist, specifically because of the economic leverage against multinational corporations their policy creates, it becomes important to understand the objectives of the global and financial elite who run and operate the institutions. The Big Club.

Understanding how trillions of trade dollars influence geopolitical policy we begin to understand the three-decade global financial construct they seek to protect.
That is, global financial exploitation of national markets.

FOUR BASIC ELEMENTS:

♦Multinational corporations purchase controlling interests in various national outputs (harvests and raw materials), and ancillary industries, of developed industrial western nations. {example}

♦The Multinational Corporations making the purchases are underwritten by massive global financial institutions, multinational banks. (*note* in China it is the communist government underwriting the purchase)

♦The Multinational Banks and the Multinational Corporations then utilize lobbying interests to manipulate the internal political policy of the targeted nation state(s).

♦With control over the targeted national industry or interest, the multinationals then leverage export of the national asset (exfiltration) through trade agreements structured to the benefit of lesser developed nation states – where they have previously established a proactive financial footprint.

For three decades economic “globalism” has advanced, quickly. Everyone accepts this statement, yet few actually stop to ask who and what are behind this – and why?

Every element of global economic trade is controlled and exploited by massive institutions, multinational banks and multinational corporations.

Institutions like the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), control trillions of dollars in economic activity. Underneath that economic activity there are people who hold the reins of power over the outcomes. These individuals and groups are the stakeholders in direct opposition to principles of America-First national economics.

The modern financial constructs of these entities have been established over the course of the past three decades. When you understand how they manipulate the economic system of individual nations you begin to understand why they are so fundamentally opposed to President Trump.

In the Western World, separate from communist control perspectives (ie. China), “Global markets” are a modern myth; nothing more than a talking point meant to keep people satiated with sound bites they might find familiar; but the truth is ‘global markets’ have been destroyed over the past three decades by multinational corporations who control the products formerly contained within global markets. This is the function of the World Economic Forum.

The same is true for “Commodities Markets.” The multinational trade and economic system, run by corporations and multinational banks, now controls the product outputs of independent nations. The free market economic system has been usurped by entities who create what is best described as ‘controlled markets’.  {GO DEEP}

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick gets it. The essential core of MAGAnomics.  Drive down the cost of goods through expanded energy development, then leverage reciprocity in tariffs to end the exfiltration of wealth.  Then cut out regulation and unleash American enterprise. This is the way to reverse this insufferable economic trajectory that creates a “service driven economy.”

President Trump wants to Make the American Farmer Great Again!

President Trump Pauses Ukraine Support for Evaluation – JD Vance Discusses Breakdown


Posted originally on CTH on March 3, 2025 | Sundance

The White House has announced an executive pause of support for Ukraine with a reevaluation of priorities following Zelenskyy’s expressed intransigence against peace.

[…] “President Trump has been clear that he is focused on peace,” a White House official told POLITICO. “We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution.” (more here)

Vice-President JD Vance appears tonight on Fox News with Sean Hannity to discuss the breakdown in relationship between President Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. As noted by Vance, it does no good to verbally antagonize Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the same time President Trump is trying to create the environment for peace and bring all sides to the negotiating table.  WATCH:

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Again, Zelenskyy Rejects Peace Possibility – President Trump: “America Will Not Put Up With it Much Longer”


Posted originally on CTH on March 3, 2025 | Sundance

Expressing frustration over the intransigence of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who demands to maintain the killing fields in Europe, President Trump says, “America will not put up with it much longer.”

[SOURCE]

The remarks by Zelenskyy follow a meeting in London with various EU leaders who are assembling a ‘coalition of the willing’ to support Ukraine with enlarged military operations.  Zelenskyy tells the AP:

““We are talking about the first steps today, and therefore, until they are on paper, I would not like to talk about them in great detail.” “An agreement to end the war is still very, very far away, and no one has started all these steps yet. The peace that we foresee in the future must be just, honest, and most importantly, sustainable,” he added.

President Trump notes the intransigence from Zelenskyy seemingly hails from the mindset that the United States will continue to fund and support the Ukraine government in their conflict against Russia.  “This guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing,” President Trump noted on Truth Social.

Europe and the NATO organization continue to demand the United States maintain the financial and weapon system support for Ukraine, despite the White House urging for a peace deal.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the person who will not move, and the EU maintains their posture against the Trump proposal with continued statements of support for Zelenskyy.

The only way for President Trump to force Zelenskyy to the negotiation table is to pull all support away from Ukraine.  However, the EU leaders who oppose President Trump together with their allies in the USA who want to see President Trump removed from office are looking to exploit that growing likelihood.

Death and bloodshed must be retained in the Ukraine war, the multinationals who are on the cusp of exploiting the nation, together with the bankers, intelligence apparatus, various EU leaders and NATO leverage alliance are all singing from the same hymnal of chaos, war and greed.

In many ways one could argue the various western leaders are proving that Vladimir Putin was correct when he said the elements in control of Ukraine want blood and destruction regardless of consequence.

Fox News is now reporting:

[Source]

President Trump Announces $100 billion Investment from TMSC to Chip Manufacture in Arizona


Posted originally on CTH on March 3, 2025 | Sundance

President Donald Trump held a press briefing Monday where he announced a $100 billion investment from Taiwanese Chip company TMSC in the United States.

President Trump on the TMSC investment: “We’ll be at close to 40% of the [chips] market with this transaction and a couple of others that we’re doing.” The investment will be to produce semiconductor chips in Arizona. WATCH:

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The press questions and answer period begins at 11:00 of the video above.

“Going Rogue with Lara Logan” Episode 1 Prayer


Posted originally on Rumble By Lara Logan on: Mar 2, 2025 at 9:00 pm EST

Jaeson Jones Talks Cartels on “Going Rogue with Lara Logan”


Posted originally on Rumble By Lara Logan on: Feb 28, 2025 at 5:30 am EST