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03-27-25 victor
savo, also the time it was posted.
the dt team must be burning the midnight oil, getting everything ready before april 2nd.
( Donald J. Trump - Mar 27, 2025, 1:50 AM ET )
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03-27-25 victor
savo, also, 2 hours ago.. see what i mean?
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If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had!
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03-27-25 victor
2 hours ago
LIBERATION DAY IN AMERICA IS COMING, SOON. FOR YEARS WE HAVE BEEN RIPPED OFF BY VIRTUALLY EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, BOTH FRIEND AND FOE. BUT THOSE DAYS ARE OVER — AMERICA FIRST!!!
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03-27-25 pillz
US secondary tariffs announced for importers of Venezuelan oil; if buyers comply, unsustainable revenue losses likely in Venezuela
Wed Mar 26 23:17:49 2025 EDT
On March 24, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing 25% tariffs from April 2 on all imported goods from any country that imports Venezuelan oil “directly or indirectly.â€|(9D) The tariffs will apply for one year after the last day Venezuelan oil was imported, or earlier at the discretion of the US secretary of state.
Tugboats mobilize the Crude Oil Tanker President, anchored in Pampatar Bay two years ago in Margarita Island, Nueva Esparta state, in Venezuela on Jan. 19, 2024.
Source: Gustavo Granado/AFP via Getty Images.
* The use of the new tariff instrument indicates US policy move from sanctions and demonstrates the administration’s focus on deportations. The use of secondary tariffs is novel and unprecedented, seemingly combining the US president’s power to issue secondary sanctions, normally conducted via executive order, with the president’s tariff power, generally based on legal statutes. This action demonstrates Trump’s preference for using tariffs instead of sanctions as a punitive economic instrument. Previously, Trump claimed that excessive use of sanctions has created incentives for countries to pursue alternate forms of exchange that avoid using the US dollar, potentially weakening its reserve currency status. In Venezuela’s case, the move appears designed to apply maximum pressure to compel it to comply more fully with US migrant-related demands, as the administration begins to increase the number of deportations. Secondary tariffs also create an additional mechanism to apply pressure on China to decrease its financial support to Latin America, with the US already placing significant pressure on Chinese exporters via existing tariffs, which Trump has increased by an additional 20% tariff since January 2025. Due to nature of the executive order, which provides US Secretary of State Marco Rubio flexibility to choose whether to apply tariffs, this new tool appears designed to be used to obtain negotiating leverage, as this specific approach would enable tariffs to be raised, lowered or eliminated depending upon a targeted country’s response. The use of tariffs as a negotiating tool has already been displayed when the US threatened and then canceled tariffs on Colombia over its acceptance of US military flights of deportees (see Colombia — United States: Jan. 27, 2025: US president pauses immigration-related tariffs against Colombia; potential re-introduction poses trade and security risk). US policy toward Venezuela has also shifted depending upon the Venezuelan response to US migration-related demands, with oil sanction waivers initially permitted to continue in January and then canceled in February (see Venezuela — United States: Feb. 28, 2025: US president announces non-renewal of Venezuela’s main export license, threatening cooperation over migration and sizable revenue losses).
* China is unlikely to completely end Venezuelan oil purchases given its significant investments in Venezuela and broader strategic and political interest in opposing US tariffs. According to March 25 media reports, Chinese oil importers have stalled purchases of Venezuelan crude pending a decision by the Chinese government. Credible reports of dissatisfaction within the Chinese leadership over CK Hutchison’s withdrawal from the Panama Canal indicate increased likelihood that the Chinese government will counter additional US tariff measures and maintain its financial support for Venezuela. Venezuela holds significant importance for China as one of its closest strategic partners in Latin America and as a critical partner to counter US regional influence. Venezuelan oil covers only 3%-4% of Chinese import demand, but assists China’s goal of diversifying its oil import sources from Russia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Venezuela is a leading recipient globally of Chinese financing, having received US$60 billion in Chinese investment between 2007 and 2017. Chinese imports of Venezuelan oil also serve to underpin Venezuelan fiscal and external sustainability (likely providing up to 15%-25% of the government’s revenue) and protect existing Chinese investments through â€|(9D)loans-for-oilâ€|(9D) deals. In the less likely event that China stops or reduces direct imports to evade tariff increases, Chinese importers will likely redirect their purchases through proxies. China would also be likely to increase non-oil financial aid or trade in other sectors such as mining to continue overall support for Venezuela.
* If worldwide imports of Venezuelan oil slowed significantly, this would lead to economic deterioration and greater political instability in Venezuela in the 12-month outlook. Venezuelan state-owned oil firm PDVSA reported oil revenue of US$15.7 billion in 2024, with oil accounting for 94% of total Venezuelan government revenues in 2024, according to Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) estimates (in the absence of official data). If most US-bound oil exports from Venezuela are suspended from end-May 2025 as scheduled, and other countries curtail Venezuelan oil imports to avoid the threatened 25% tariff, this would significantly reduce Venezuelan government revenues, forcing reliance on financial support from Venezuela’s non-US-aligned allies including China, Russia, Iran and Turkey. Based on precedents, Venezuela would seek this support through loans, increased non-oil exports and investment. Even if this were forthcoming, it would be unlikely to fully replace oil revenue: Venezuela also still owes approximately US$15 billion to China. If this scenario were prolonged, the resulting economic deterioration would be likely to become unsustainable and potentially destabilizing for President Nicolás Maduro’s administration. Previously, after maximum US oil sanctions were imposed in 2019, Venezuela mitigated their impact via black-market oil exports mainly to Asian markets, including China, via intermediaries, providing revenue albeit at below-market prices. If China stops direct purchases, the main determinant of the economic impact on Venezuela would become the volume of black-market oil imports continuing to China.
Indicators of changing risk environment
* Announcements by countries including China, India and Spain (current importers of Venezuelan crude) that they are reducing Venezuelan oil imports prior to the sanctions enactment date would encourage the US to adopt secondary tariffs for other foreign policy goals, most likely affecting Iran, Cuba and others.
* If Venezuela can increase black-market oil exports to China, this would mitigate the economic impact of the US executive order.
* A reduction or halt in Chinese purchases of Venezuelan oil as measured by shipping data or port activity would indicate compliance or at least temporary caution by China while assessing tariff enforcement.
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03-27-25 victor
UAW..
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In a Victory for Autoworkers, Auto Tariffs Mark the Beginning of the End of NAFTA and the “Free Trade” Disaster
This afternoon, the Trump administration announced major tariffs on passenger cars and trucks entering the U.S. market, marking the beginning of the end of a thirty-plus year “free trade” disaster. This is a long-overdue shift away from a harmful economic framework that has devastated the working class and driven a race to the bottom across borders in the auto industry. It signals a return to policies that prioritize the workers who build this country—rather than the greed of ruthless corporations.
“We applaud the Trump administration for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades. Ending the race to the bottom in the auto industry starts with fixing our broken trade deals, and the Trump administration has made history with today’s actions,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “But ending the race to the bottom also means securing union rights for autoworkers everywhere with a strong National Labor Relations Board, a decent retirement with Social Security benefits protected, healthcare for all workers including through Medicare and Medicaid, and dignity on and off the job. The UAW and the working class in general couldn’t care less about party politics; working people expect leaders to work together to deliver results. The UAW has been clear: we will work with any politician, regardless of party, who is willing to reverse decades of working-class people going backwards in the most profitable times in our nation’s history. These tariffs are a major step in the right direction for autoworkers and blue-collar communities across the country, and it is now on the automakers, from the Big Three to Volkswagen and beyond, to bring back good union jobs to the U.S.”
BRINGING BACK THOUSANDS OF GOOD, UNION AUTO JOBS
With these tariffs, thousands of good-paying blue collar auto jobs could be brought back to working-class communities across the United States within a matter of months, simply by adding additional shifts or lines in a number of underutilized auto plants. Right now, thousands of autoworkers are laid off at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis following recent decisions by auto executives to ship jobs to Mexico.
Across a dozen Big Three auto plants that have seen major declines, production has fallen by 2 million units per year in the past decade, while millions of vehicles sold here are made with low-wage, high-exploitation labor abroad. That means auto companies that have made record profits get to drive wages down further for both Mexican and U.S. workers while Wall Street and the corporate class get record payouts.
Those plants include Ford Flat Rock Assembly (Flat Rock, MI), Ford Louisville Assembly (Louisville, KY), Ford Ohio Assembly (Sheffield, OH), Ford Michigan Assembly (Wayne, MI), GM Fairfax (Kansas City, KS), GM Lansing Grand River (Lansing, MI), GM Factory Zero (Detroit & Hamtramck, MI), GM Spring Hill (Spring Hill, TN), Stellantis Warren Truck Assembly (Warren, MI), Stellantis Toledo Assembly (Toledo, OH), Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly (Sterling Heights, MI), Stellantis Jefferson North Assembly (Detroit, MI). The same pattern can be seen in the heavy truck industry, whether at Freightliner in North Carolina, Navistar in Ohio, or dozens of other employers across the economy.
The economic benefits of filling these plants back up with product and good auto jobs would be enormous and have a cascading effect throughout communities from Michigan to Tennessee.
At Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the company recently violated labor law by unilaterally announcing the elimination of a shift during first contract negotiations. Volkswagen makes 75% of their North America product in Mexico for $7 an hour, and over 40% of their U.S. sales are produced by workers earning poverty wages in Mexico. That shift should be restored immediately as production shifts back to the US.
At Warren Truck Assembly Plant in Warren, Michigan, for example, over 1,000 autoworkers are laid off while the plant sits underutilized and $100,000 Stellantis trucks are built in Mexico for $3 an hour. These layoffs were announced less than six months ago and could be undone. Those jobs could be brought back to Michigan immediately with well-designed auto tariffs.
In addition to idle capacity at existing plants, there are plants that stand empty and with moderate retooling could easily employ tens of thousands of workers. Lordstown Assembly sits empty in Lordstown, Ohio, and employed nearly 10,000 autoworkers when NAFTA was passed. Belvidere Assembly is slated to reopen with around 1,500 jobs; as recently as 2019, the plant employed 5,000 autoworkers.
The Big Three have closed or spun off 65 facilities in the past 20 years. There is plenty of work to go around at profitable margins, and plenty of working-class people looking for good, union jobs. With a serious tariff regime, we can incentivize the Big Three and the rest of the auto industry to reinvest in the American autoworker, and America’s blue-collar communities.
WHAT THE WORKING CLASS NEEDS ON TRADE
Every time an autoworker dares to ask for fair pay, a decent retirement, healthcare, or work-life balance, the automakers threaten their job by exploiting a broken trade system that is set up to intimidate and threaten workers on both sides of the border.
The UAW has encouraged the Trump administration to take clear, aggressive action to bring back good, union auto jobs. We are heartened by the significant measures they have announced today, and we urge the administration to take similar action to protect and reshore the heavy truck sector. Beyond tariffs, a continued, dramatic shift in our country’s trade agreements and economic policies will be necessary to end the free trade disaster.
The next step is to immediately begin renegotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which has only perpetuated NAFTA’s harmful effects by increasing the trade deficit with Mexico and allowing automakers to offshore U.S. jobs and drive a race to the bottom.
In a new trade deal, autoworkers have some simple demands:
A significant number of cars that are sold in the U.S. should be made in the U.S., with strong wages and good working conditions like those that generations of UAW autoworkers have fought and died for.
Companies must not be allowed to close factories and ship jobs to high-exploitation, low-wage countries, and to pad already-massive profits by driving a race to the bottom among autoworkers. This includes a North American minimum wage to significantly raise pay and benefits for Mexican autoworkers, along with stronger protections for labor rights and penalties for offshoring, so that workers are no longer forced to compete with one another over crumbs while the automakers walk away with a bigger and bigger slice of the pie.
Fix the auto parts supply chain, following the same principles: fair wages and benefits for all, and an increase in American-made parts for American-assembled and American-sold vehicles.
We can fix our broken trade deals to benefit workers. But we must be consistent, send clear signals to the auto industry, and make sure that working-class people – who have paid the price for so-called “free trade” for 30 years – don’t pay the price for this transition back to high-road manufacturing jobs.
As they shift their supply chains and investments to the US, auto companies that have enjoyed years of record profits should absorb the cost of these tariffs rather than passing them on to consumers, and the UAW would support legislative or regulatory action requiring them to do so. Workers must be held harmless during any disruption that accompanies the reshoring process, with financial support from the federal government if necessary.
And finally, the working class can’t wait. The auto companies have been given time to plan, and now it’s time to act.
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03-27-25 victor
here it is.. the tax is not just for finished cars, but also for the most important car parts: engines, transmissions, etc.
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President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday evening announced tariffs of 25% on all cars not made in the U.S. and certain automotive parts, but appeared to omit levies on some car parts.
Trump said the new auto tariffs will be collected starting April 3, which would be a day after his administration is slated to roll out a much-anticipated plan for reciprocal tariffs.
The Trump White House said in a news release that the levies will be imposed on passenger vehicles and “certain automobile parts” such as “engines, transmissions, powertrain parts and electrical components.” It added that there would be “processes to expand tariffs on additional parts if necessary.”
Parts compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement will remain free of tariffs until the Trump administration establishes a process to apply tariffs to their non-U.S. content, according to the White House.
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03-26-25 savo
now that the dust settled... two things have been confirmed:
1) Veni is, for all practical purposes, a US colony and veni oil belongs to the US who decides how much of it it takes and when and how much it pays for it. Other countries have no access to that oil unless they pay 25% tariffs on all exports to the US. We will see how other countries with muscle respond, but the basic fact is that.
2) To confirm 1) above the US needs somebody running veni who can be blamed. Maduro is the perfect culprit and he is delighted to play that role ans stay in Miraflores.
I still can't see how punishing americans with tariffs is good for the american people, as some of the tariff will be absorbed by the supplier but some will come in higher prices domestically. |
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03-26-25 spal
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03-26-25 ruspan
| "The EU was not invited to those talks. " :-) |
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03-26-25 panasonic
Good!! More skin in the game:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-says-unconditional-withdrawal-russia-ukraine-is-precondition-amend-sanctions-2025-03-26/ |
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03-26-25 panasonic
Savo, Houties are microscopeic military operation, money in defense is spent with or w/o such wars...
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03-26-25 victor
"This story has been going on for years... against Russia, Iran and Veni... yet oil continues flowing."
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savo, not really.. with the threat of tariffs to the whole country, it plays in dt's book. but was unthinkable before dt. |
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03-26-25 victor
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03-26-25 savo
spal... you how the oil market works... people say one thing and then do whatever suits them... if there is a good cargo of veni oil at a good price Reliance will find a way to take and the US will not do anything about it.
This story has been going on for years... against Russia, Iran and Veni... yet oil continues flowing. |
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03-26-25 savo
pana... If those numbers are correct, EU should act accordingly on their own interests.
the US does not do this to help Europe as a good cop.
They do it because they are always looking somewhere to use their weapons and then have to replace them and enrich the political elites.
If you have somebody like Russia at your door.. you must to decide whether to be friend or foe.
If Europe chooses foe... then they have the problem that being a friend of the US is "lethal" as somebody said.
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03-26-25 spal
| NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Reliance Industries, operator of the world's biggest refining complex, will halt Venezuelan oil imports after the United States announced a 25% tariff on nations buying crude from the South American nation, three sources said on Wednesday. |
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03-26-25 panasonic
Vic, all money for electric infrastructure went to Salamanca condos and spent in surrounding luxury stores.
Petro "gladly" will have to absorb 3~4 million venezolanos in the nest 2 years.
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03-26-25 victor
Maduro reduce la jornada laboral a 13,5 horas a la semana para ahorrar energía
La administración pública trabajará solo un tercio de horas y tres días a la semana para atender al público
Para enfrentar la sequía y ahorrar energía el gobierno de Nicolás Maduro ha anunciado la reducción temporal de la jornada laboral solo a un tercio de 13,5 horas de las 40 semanales establecidas a partir de este lunes en toda la administración pública.
El nuevo horario de laborable será de tres días con una jornada de 4 horas y media, de 8 am a las 12:30 pm solo los lunes, miércoles y viernes durante las próximas seis semanas si el régimen de Maduro logra solventar la crisis eléctrica en ese tiempo o deberá prolongar la emergencia.
Para bien o para mal los venezolanos se han llevado una gran sorpresa por cuanto sin previo aviso han debido modificar sus agendas y compromisos adquiridos con antelación.
La medida de trabajar solo tres días a la semana no incluye al sector educativo. De hecho, los maestros y profesores dan clases tres veces a la semana porque no hay suficiente personal docente, que se queja del bajo sueldo que gana en el sector público.
El gobierno chavista dijo que la reducción de la jornada laboral obedece a la «emergencia climática», debido a la sequía, producto del descenso del nivel de agua en los embalses que suministran la energía hidroeléctrica y termoeléctrica.
Plantas termoeléctricas y hidroeléctricas
Venezuela padece de una crisis energética crónica pese a las cuantiosas inversiones que se han hecho para recuperar las plantas termoeléctricas e hidroeléctricas (Guri) pero el dinero se ha esfumado por la corrupción dejando a la nación en la oscuridad.
Según Oscar Murillo, director de la ONG Provea, la generación eléctrica en Venezuela está «al 80% por debajo de su capacidad. La generación de energía y la transmisión siguen al límite por lo que las medidas de racionamiento vuelven como salvavidas».
La medida se aplicará ahora a todos los trabajadores de la administración pública. Representa un retroceso a la gran crisis energética que vivió el país hace diez años y a la epidemia del Covid 19 (2020 y 2022) cuando se restringieron las actividades laborales y sociales. «La reducción de la jornada laboral contraerá más la economía nacional», dijo el economista José Guerra.
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03-26-25 panasonic
| Ruspan, indeed people voted for that ...we like it or not. |
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03-26-25 ruspan
| I think DT admin is acting quite coherently, fighting trade deficit outside, an internal corruption monster and unnecessary war expenses. |
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03-26-25 panasonic
“3 percent of US trade runs through the suez. 40 percent of European trade does"
If those numbers are correct, EU should act accordingly on their own interests.
When USA wants to be world's police everyone hates them, now that they want to quit, everyone hates them.
Not even one "thank you" ... |
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03-26-25 victor
savo, it's more about giving credit where credit is due, than being us-centric.
and obviously the rest of the world is also v important, and the more likely scenario is that dt will not be able to isolate the usa as much as he would like to.. and that deep down the usa depends more on the rest of the world than many realize.
but this is all beyond the scope right now, savo.
did you ever play tug of war? it's an endurance game similar to the present scenario, in my op. dt thinks he can win at tug of war vs the rest of the world. i doubt it, but we'll see.
btw, if this article is an indication of things to come, the trump administration's real cow is with europe as a whole, especially the vp.
maybe the focus will be on squeezing europe as much as possible with tariffs.
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The Trump administration has harsh words for Europe. In private, they’re even harsher
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Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other high-ranking members of the Trump administration spoke with palpable fury about Europe.
Their sentiment was so strong that Vance suggested halting an attack on the Houthis, who had disrupted key international shipping routes for months, because it would help European economies more than it would America’s.
“I think we are making a mistake,” Vance wrote. “3 percent of US trade runs through the suez. 40 percent of European trade does.” He was referring to the Suez Canal, a vital sliver of ocean upon which much of the global economy depends.
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https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/25/europe/trump-administration-europe-intl/index.html |
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03-26-25 savo
victor... with all due respect... you have a very US centric way of looking at things... the rest of the world also exists... there are some big countries out there with very powerful economies ... and they make their own decisions... they are also players and do not stay still if attacked... they react...
the US is also an exporter.. it needs to sell its products... may be Europe discovers that Putin was a better ally after all ... The Bidens got Europe into the Ukraine war and destroyed Nord Stream 2.. leaving it without a reliable and cheap source of energy ... and now Trump launches a trade war against Europe and the rest of the world which as any war nobody knows how it will end.
May be people stop buying veni oil for a while... but after that while veni oil will still be there and somebody will buy it as long as veni is able to produce it.
All this does not help us and does not help veni...if you wish to see Maduro gone .. the first thing that you do not want to see is Maduro cornered. |
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03-26-25 victor
| savo, maybe dt will give india a tax break, given the good relationship with modi. |
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03-26-25 victor
savo, dt recently mentioned a possible tax on lumber in the future.
taxes on cars will supposedly be announced in the next few days.
plus announcing that he can give some countries tax breaks.. which translates into "i'll give argy, etc a tax break, but not colombia".
you are either with me or against me. along those lines im my op. |
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