Attention to the Unseen

The Guardian reports: A libertarian group that has been funded by Leonard Leo and Charles Koch has mounted a legal challenge against Donald Trump’s tariff regime, in a sign of spreading rightwing opposition to a policy that has sent international markets plummeting. The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a suit against Trump’s imposition of import tariffs on exports from China, arguing that doing so under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) – which the president has invoked to justify…

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Politico reports: During the first two turbulent months of President Donald Trump’s term, the White House has shrugged off scrutiny of its most controversial policies with a simple assertion: The American people voted for this. Now, Trump allies and GOP voters spooked by the tariff-induced market crash are beginning to respond en masse: No, we didn’t. Trump won in November because many voters saw him as an antidote to their economic malaise; as a candidate, he frequently promised to lower…

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CNN reports: Elon Musk took another jab at President Donald Trump’s senior trade adviser Peter Navarro Tuesday, calling him a “moron” on social media as the Tesla CEO further splits from the White House’s tariffs plan. Musk’s remarks were in response to a CNBC interview with Navarro on that aired Monday, during which the White House trade adviser discussed how Tesla’s position as a “car assembler” rather than a car manufacturer could be at odds with Trump’s tariff policies. The…

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The New York Times reports: Wall Street billionaires are not used to being on the outside looking in. But that is where they find themselves after President Trump ignored their appeals to call off his tariff plans which they fear could endanger the economy. With the backdrop of rapidly mounting stock market losses, corporate titans have worked every angle — phone calls, social media and even a typically staid shareholder letter — to try to change Mr. Trump’s mind. The…

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CNN reports: Wealthy business leaders are turning on US President Donald Trump over his plan to impose a colossal set of tariffs on America’s trading partners, as losses mount on stock markets around the world. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, warned Sunday that going ahead with the new tariffs was tantamount to launching an “economic nuclear war.” On Wednesday, Trump said he would impose significantly higher “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries that have the…

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Brent Neiman writes: My first question, when the White House unveiled its tariff regime, was, “How on earth did they calculate such huge rates?” Reciprocal tariffs, after all, are supposed to treat other countries the way they treat us, and foreign tariffs on American goods are nowhere near these levels. The next day it got personal. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released its methodology and cited an academic paper produced by four economists, including me, seemingly in support…

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The Daily Beast reports: Elon Musk has taken a massive swipe at President Donald Trump’s trade adviser amid the deepening economic chaos caused by the sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs. In a Saturday X post, the Tesla CEO ripped Peter Navarro as someone who “ain’t built s–t” and shaded his Harvard PhD in economics as “a bad thing, not a good thing.” Musk, who’s openly expressed disdain for Ivy League institutions, commented, “yup” under a quote from U.S. economist Thomas Sowell…

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The Telegraph reports: Donald Trump’s tariffs will tip the world’s largest economy into recession, America’s biggest investment bank has warned. Investment bank JP Morgan has torn up its growth forecasts for the US, after global stocks tumbled and wiped more than $5 trillion (£3.8 trillion) off America’s most valuable companies in only two days. The investment bank downgraded US growth by 1.6 percentage points for this year, while predicting far higher unemployment that could leave nearly 2m additional Americans jobless….

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The Wall Street Journal reports: Americans elected Donald Trump with a favorable opinion of his economic plans. But his expansive push for tariffs has helped turn that confidence into skepticism, a new Wall Street Journal poll finds. Tepid support for tariffs through the past year has become disapproval, with 54% of voters opposing Trump’s levies on imported goods, 12 points more than those who support his plans. Three quarters of voters say that tariffs will raise prices on the things…

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The New York Times reports: The financial market meltdown was underway when President Trump boarded Air Force One on his way to Florida on Thursday for a doubleheader of sorts: a Saudi-backed golf tournament at his family’s Miami resort and a weekend of fund-raisers attracting hundreds of donors to his Palm Beach club. It was a fresh reminder that in his second term, Mr. Trump has continued to find ways to drive business to his family-owned real-estate ventures, a practice…

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Politico reports: Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon said he plans to introduce a companion bill to the bipartisan Senate legislation aimed at reclaiming Congress’ authority over tariffs, becoming the first House Republican to openly challenge the powers President Donald Trump is using to launch a massive global trade war. Bacon confirmed his plans to POLITICO on Friday as market losses continued to pile up and rattle Republicans on Capitol Hill. The Senate bill introduced Thursday by Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and…

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Politico reports: Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz is warning about major risks for the American economy and its automotive industry thanks to President Donald Trump’s trade war, saying it could result in the biggest tax hike in a “long, long time.” “I’m seeing a lot of Republican cheerleaders reflexively defending what the White House is doing,” Cruz said on his podcast Friday, but cautioned the administration’s latest actions could “hurt jobs and hurt America.” Cruz added he is “not a…

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The Guardian reports: The sweeping package of tariffs unveiled by Donald Trump on Wednesday includes an exemption for the energy sector, which is a clear sign of the president’s fealty to his big oil donors over the American people, advocates say. Trump’s new 10% universal tariffs – which are higher for many major economies – are wreaking havoc on the global economy and are expected to increase consumer prices in the US. But the levies will not apply to many…

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