TRADE WAR: China today responded to  President Trump’s 104 percent tariff on their goods with an 84 percent tariff on US-made goods brought into China. The Chinese government swears it is not backing down as the world economy and financial system tremble.

  The stock markets rose for a while yesterday on optimism about softening in President Trump’s trade war with the world before falling again and making it another losing day. 

  President Trump appears to have opened a global game of “Let’s Make a Deal.” The White House says up to 70 countries have been on the phone looking to negotiate the level of tariffs on their exports to America.  “These countries are calling us up,” Trump said. “Kissing my ass. They are dying to make a deal. Please, please sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything sir.”

  Foreign diplomats are not the only ones calling. CEOs from banking, technology, and industrial companies have been ringing the phone lines of Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, arguing that the tariffs policy will crater the global economy and credibility of American business and government. 

  “There are voices in the White House that want high tariffs forever. There are angels and demons sitting on President Trump’s shoulders,” Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz posted on Twitter/X. “Who does he listen to? I hope he listens to the angels.”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

— The acting head of the Internal Revenue Service and several top officers resigned after the agency agreed to share the tax information of undocumented immigrants with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a breech taxpayer coinfidetiality. This is the third IRS chief to resign since Trump became President. 

   Immigration and Customs Enforcement had demanded the tax information to aid its campaign to deport undocumented immigrants. Federal law is supposed to protect home addresses, earnings ,and other data from disclosure to other government agencies.

— The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration’s firing of 16,000 probationary federal employees to remain in effect, for now, ruling that the nonprofits that brought the case did not have legal standing to sue. In other words, they were not directly affected.

— A federal judge ordered the White House to allow The Associated Press back into smaller pool coverage events including those in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One. President Trump barred the news organization because of its refusal to change the name of  Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in its stylebook and news articles. 

  In a sharply worded opinion Judge Trevor McFadden said, “The Court simply holds that under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists—be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere—it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints.” 

  Judge McFadden, however, gave the White House until Sunday to file an emergency appeal. 

— In a continuing assault on elite universities, the Trump administration froze $1 billion in funding to Cornell University and $790 million to Midwestern amid what they say are civil rights investigation into the schools.

  Cornell joins five other Ivy League Universities threatened with loss of federal funding because of what the Trump administration says is failure to fight antisemitism on their campuses. Northwestern is the first non-Ivy school under threat and as many as 60 universities have been warned that they might lose federal money.

  Northwestern and Cornell also face investigations into allegations of racial discrimination stemming from their efforts to promote diversity.

NIGHTCLUB COLLAPSE: As many as 113  people are dead in the roof collapse of a well-known nightclub in the capital of the Dominican Republic early Tuesday during a merengue concert. 

  Two former Major League Baseball players were among those killed in the event  attended by politicians, athletes and other Dominican notables at the one-story Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo. Also dead is popular merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who was performing that night. 

  Another 160 people were injured, authorities said. Responders are still looking through the rubble for survivors and bodies.

THE WAR ROOM: The Ukrainian military captured two Chinese men fighting alongside the Russian army in the eastern Donetsk region and has intelligence that “significantly more” are with Russian forces, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced. 

  China is not known to have officially sent military support to the Russian front, but Russia allows foreigners to join its forces. Zelenskyy said that if China has officially given support that would be the third country to join the fight including  Iran, which has supplied attack drones, and North Korea, which has sent thousands of soldiers.

THE SPIN RACK: The number of measles cases in the Texas outbreak has grown to more than 600 in 23 states. —- A transgender woman was arrested at the Florida State Capitol last month after using the ladies room  to protest a state law that blocks transgender people from using a rest room that aligns with their gender identity. The woman, 20-year-old Marcy Rheintgen, sent advance notice of her visit and two police officers were waiting for her. —  Three people were killed and three wounded in a shooting on a residential street just outside Fredericksburg, Virginia, yesterday. Photos show a car with bullet holes in it. The motive is unknown but investigators say it was not the result of a domestic dispute.

BELOW THE FOLD:  The rich are different. Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Tesla Billionaire Elon Musk are in an open spat about the President’s tariffs after Musk declared the world should be tariff free.  Navarro opened fire dismissing Musk, saying he doesn’t make cars,  “He’s a car assembler in many cases.”

  Musk responded that, “Navarro is truly a moron,” and that Tesla has “the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks.”

  He followed up saying his insult was unfair to bricks.

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