Month: March 2025

President Trump’s 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada took effect on Tuesday, and doubled the tariff on all Chinese imports to 20% from 10%. The Trump administration said that the tariffs were necessary to stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States. Mexico and Canada on Tuesday responded to tariffs imposed by the United States with retaliatory levies, with China and Canada immediately retaliating with tariffs on American goods. Mexico said it would announce retaliator measures Sunday.

According to a statement released by the White House shortly before the tariffs took effect: “President Trump continues to demonstrate his commitment to ensuring U.S. trade policy serves the national interest. While President Trump gave both Canada and Mexico ample opportunity to curb the dangerous cartel activity and influx of lethal drugs flowing into our country, they have failed to adequately address the situation.”

In a statement from the State Council Tariff Commission, Beijing retaliated on Tuesday by announcing 15% tariffs on chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton imports from the US. Additionally, a 10% tariff on “sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products,” was also imposed.  In addition, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it added 15 American companies, including drone maker Skydio, to its export control list, which would bar Chinese companies from exporting dual-use equipment to them.

Alfredo Montufar-Helu, head of the China Center for the Conference Board, stated that China’s retaliatory tariffs followed a “restrained, targeted approach aimed at causing pain to those industries that matter the most to the supporters of the Trump administration.  Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, said: “China will fight till the end…  if the US insists on waging a tariff war, trade war or any other kind of war. I want to reiterate that the Chinese people have never feared evil or ghosts, nor have we ever bowed to hegemony or bullying. Pressure, coercion and threats are not the right ways to engage with China. Trying to exert maximum pressure on China is a miscalculation and a mistake.”

Canada’s Department of Finance said that dairy products, meats, grains, wine, beer, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and certain pulp and paper products are just some of the US goods that will be subject to immediate tariffs. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a press conference on Tuesday in a press conference that Canada “will not back down from a fight,” and that Canada would implement a 25% tariff on C$30 billion ($20.7 billion) of US goods immediately, followed by an additional C$125 billion ($86.2 billion) in 21 days’ time. Trudeau said in response to the tariffs from Trump: “this is a very dumb thing to do. We two friends fighting is exactly what our opponents around the world want to see.  We will also be challenging these illegal actions by filing dispute resolution claims at the World Trade Organization and through the USMCA. In the meantime, our tariffs will remain in place until the US tariffs are withdrawn and not a moment sooner.”

Mr. Trump responded to Trudeau’s statements with a post on social media threatening to raise tariffs further: “Please explain to Governor Trudeau, of Canada, that when he puts on a Retaliatory Tariff on the U.S., our Reciprocal Tariff will immediately increase by a like amount!”

Meanwhile, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum also slammed the tariffs and announced plans to impose retaliatory tariffs on American imports into Mexico, as well as non-tariff measures.  Sheinbaum rebuked remarks made by Trump alleging that “vast amounts of fentanyl” have entered the U.S. from Mexico, citing CBP data showing that seizures of fentanyl from Mexico declined 50% between October 2024 and January 2025.  Sheinbaum added: “The unilateral decision made by the United States affects national and foreign companies operating in our country, as well as our people. No one benefits from this decision. There is no motive or reason, nor justification that supports this decision that will affect our people and our nations. We have said it in different ways: cooperation and coordination, yes; subordination and interventionism, no.” Sheinbaum said she will speak over the phone with Trump on Thursday, and if no deal can be reached, she’ll announce the tariff and non-tariff measures at a rally on Sunday.

Editorial credit: Gints Ivuskans / Shutterstock.com

The Highland Park, Illinois parade shooting suspect has changed his plea to guilty on the first day of the trial (per Chicago ABC affiliate WLS). The trial was expected to last three to five weeks, and see nearly all shooting survivors take the stand.

Shooting suspect Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III, 24, pleaded guilty at the start of the trial to all 21 counts of first-degree murder (three counts of each person killed) and 48 counts of attempted murder. He is accused of killing seven people and injuring dozens of others in the mass shooting at a 2022 Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. (from NBC News.). He is now scheduled to be sentenced on April 23; he faces life in prison without parole if convicted.

Crimo was arrested several hours after the Independence Day shooting and confessed to firing more than 80 rounds into the parade crowd from a nearby rooftop.  After leaving the murder weapon from the Highland Park shooting in an alley near the scene, prosecutors said Crimo was armed with a second rifle and 60 rounds of ammunition while in Wisconsin. Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Chris Covelli stated at the time that Crimo “seriously contemplated using the firearm he had in his vehicle to commit another shooting in Madison. Following the attack, Crimo exited the roof, dropped his rifle, and he blended in with the crowd and escaped.” He was dressed as a woman on the day of the attack and wore makeup to hide his facial tattoos to blend in with the crowd, according to prosecutors.

Crimo had originally pleaded not guilty in August 2022 to all criminal charges after he was accused of opening fire from a rooftop during the parade. Crimo was expected to accept a plea deal in June 2024, but later rejected the deal and keep his plea of not guilty.

Those killed in the attack were married couple Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35; 88-year-old Stephen Straus; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78, Eduardo Uvaldo, 69, Katherine Goldstein, 64 and Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63.

Editorial credit: ChicagoPhotographer / Shutterstock.com

At least two people were killed and several others were seriously injured when a German man drove a vehicle into a crowd of people in the western  city of Mannheim, Germany on Monday, during an annual carnival celebration. Mannheim has a population of 326,000 and is about 52 miles south of Frankfurt.

In statements posted on social media, Mannheim police confirmed an ongoing operation after “a 40-year-old suspect drove a car into a group of people who were in the Planken area of Mannheim city center. Two people were killed and five seriously injured.” Police stated they “were able to arrest the 40-year-old German suspect from Rhineland-Palatinate [about 90 miles from Mannheim]”. They said “at the current stage of the investigation, it is not assumed that there is a political background” to the incident.

The incident came as crowds gathered in cities across Germany for parades to mark the Christian Carnival season, on what Christian Germans mark as Rose Monday, the highlight of their carnival season that takes place on Shrove Monday, before the Lenten period begins on Ash Wednesday.

Video footage from the Planken shopping district area near Paradeplatz Square in the center of Mannheim showed shoppers standing outside an area cordoned off by police tape and strewn with debris. In addition to the two people killed, 10 people were injured, five seriously. Police have not said if the driver under arrest deliberately plowed into the crowd or whether it was accidental.

Editorial credit: Robert Buchel / Shutterstock.com