End Times Headline News. April 9 2025

Trump Will Tariff China 104% at Midnight. Record-Breaking $1 Trillion Defense Budget. WH warns Iran. Iran defies Trump. Hezbollah ready to discuss disarmament. WHO’s Multi Country Pandemic Exercise

Lioness of Judah Ministry Apr 9

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President Trump Will Tariff China 104% at Midnight

The White House said Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports from China might rise overnight to 104%. Beijing refuses to withdraw its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports.

“It was a mistake for China to retaliate. When America is punched, (the president) punches back harder,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “That’s why there will be 104% tariffs going into effect on China tonight at midnight,” she said during a presser. Chinese goods were already set to be slapped with 54% tariffs. The figure combined a 20% previously imposed tariff and a 34% additional tariff on Chinese goods. This is in retaliation for the U.S.’s large trade deficit with China.

Bessent: China Escalation ‘Big Mistake,’ Playing a ‘Losing Hand’

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that China’s escalation of tariffs is a “big mistake” because it is playing a “losing hand.”

Bessent said, “If we put up a tariff wall, the ultimate goal would be to bring jobs back to the U.S. But in the meantime, we will be collecting substantial tariffs. If we’re successful, tariffs would be a melting ice cube, in a way, because you’re taking in the revenues as the manufacturing facilities are built in the U.S., and there should be some level of symmetry between the taxes we begin taking in with the new industry from the payroll taxes as the tariffs decline.”

At Least 12 House Republicans Consider Signing Anti-Trump Tariff Bill: Report

Which would be promptly veto’d by grudge-holding Trump…

At least a dozen House Republicans are mulling whether to sign onto Rep. Don Back’s (R-NE) bill which would restrict the White House’s ability to unilaterally impose tariffs, Axios reports. Bacon is crafting a companion bill to the Trade Review Act of 2025 introduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), which would require the president to notify Congress of any new tariffs within 48 hours with the administration’s reasoning as well as an analysis of their economic impacts. The bill would cause any tariffs to expire after 40 days unless Congress passes a resolution of approval. It would also give Congress the ability to pass a resolution of disapproval which would eliminate the tariffs within the 40 day period.

Musk Continues Anti-Tariff Tirade at Peter Navarro: ‘Dumber than a Sack of Bricks’

Elon Musk has continued his public feud with Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro for his role in implementing reciprocal tariffs, calling him a “moron” and “retard” who is “dumber than a sack of bricks.”

Musk, who leads the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), began publicly criticizing Navarro, President Donald Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, in a series of Saturday X posts. “A PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing,” the tech mogul wrote of Navarro’s degree. “Results in the ego/brains>>1 problem.”

Trump claims countries ‘kissing my ass’ for tariff deals

The president says US trade partners are begging for exemptions as even steeper tariffs go into effect Wednesday

President Donald Trump has claimed that dozens of countries are scrambling to negotiate trade deals with the United States following his sweeping new tariffs, boasting that foreign leaders are begging for exemptions to avoid the full impact of the levies. Speaking at a National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) dinner on Tuesday night, Trump said his administration is “doing very well” in early negotiations with countries already hit with a baseline 10% tariff last week – and dozens more facing even steeper duties starting Wednesday.

SCOTUS Upholds Trump’s Mass Firing of Federal Employees, Overturns Far-Left Judge’s Rehire Order

The Supreme Court has affirmed the Trump administration’s authority to dismiss thousands of probationary federal employees. This decision, passed by a 7-2 majority, nullifies the order from U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, which had previously mandated the reinstatement of 16,000 staff across various departments.

Judge Alsup’s ruling rested on arguments from nine nonprofit organizations claiming harm due to government staffing reductions. However, the Supreme Court dismissed these claims as inadequate to provide standing under the existing legal framework—effectively agreeing with President Donald J. Trump’s acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris, who argued in the appeal: “This Court should not allow a single district court to … seize control over reviewing federal personnel decisions.”

Trump signs executive orders to boost US coal as power demand rises

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump signed executive orders on Tuesday that aim to boost coal production in his latest action that runs counter to global efforts to curb carbon emissions.

Coal-burning plants generate less than 20% of U.S. electricity, a drop from 50% in 2000, according to the Energy Information Administration, as fracking and other drilling techniques have hiked production of natural gas. Growth in solar and wind power has also cut coal use.

US IRS chief to quit over deal to share data with immigration officials, report says

The acting head of the US Internal Revenue Service plans to resign over a new agreement to share the tax data of undocumented immigrants with Homeland Security personnel, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the situation.

Acting IRS commissioner Melanie Krause will participate in the deferred resignation program the government offered to agency employees in recent days, the newspaper said.

Record-Breaking $1 Trillion Defense Budget: Trump, Hegseth Say It’s Happening

“Nobody’s seen anything like it. We have to build out military & we’re very cost-conscious, but…”

With much of the globe and American public focused exclusively on tariff mania, President Trump as well as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth unveiled massive news on Monday, which would have normally made a bigger impact in headlines. The Pentagon will soon have its first $1 trillion budget. President Trump said while hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, “Nobody’s seen anything like it. We have to build out military, and we’re very cost-conscious, but the military is something we have to build, and we have to be strong.“

SecDef Pete Hegseth Vows the US Will Take Back the Panama Canal from China’s Influence

During his trip to Panama today (8), ostensibly for a Central American Security Conference, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was crystal clear about the absolute priority for US President Donald J. Trump that is securing the Panama Canal, and ridding this vital shipping lane from Chinese influence.

Fox News reported: “’The United States of America will not allow communist China or any other country to threaten the canal’s operation or integrity’, he said during a press event from the Central American nation. ‘To this end, the United States and Panama have done more in recent weeks to strengthen our defense and security cooperation than we have in decades’.

US intelligence agency warns China is trying to recruit government employees

The US warned on Tuesday that Chinese intelligence is using deceptive methods to target current and former US government employees for recruitment.

The warning from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center comes amid mass federal firings led by Elon Musk’s Department of Government of Efficiency.

$109,000,000,000 in US Gold Reserves Now in Question as German Officials Demand to Count Bullion Bars At New York Fed: Report

Germany is storing over $109 billion worth of gold in the New York Federal Reserve’s vaults, but some officials in the country are beginning to call for less trust and more verification.

Michael Jäger of the European Taxpayers’ Association – a federation of 29 national taxpayers associations throughout Europe – is urging Germany to immediately obtain its gold from the USA amid tension between the White House and the US, Bild reports. Says Jäger, “The Bundesbank and the German government must demonstrate foresight in this phase of global power shifts and immediately retrieve German gold from the USA. Especially at a time when Berlin and Brussels are discussing immense new debt, we need immediate access to all gold reserves in an emergency.”

TAP – steady on, Dump.

The name ‘Desperate Don’ is an echo of Desperate Dan who was in The Dandy comic when I was a boy (Or was it The Beano?)

There’s a statue of him in Dundee.  Desperate Dan in Dundee | After Dunbar we moved onto the cit… | Flickr

Very similar to President Dump, Desperate Dan has swivel eyes, and shoots from the hip in his responses to the world around him.  No one ever expected his kind to become President….until now!

US President Donald Trump has threatened to go further in his tariff war by adding an additional “major tariff on pharmaceuticals.” Drug imports were not included in the US administration’s first round of tariffs last week, but hopes that they might continue to evade an additional levy could soon be extinguished.

The United States is the biggest market for British Pharmaceutical products, accounting for half of UK exports, which have an approximate value of £8.7 billion. Speaking at a dinner of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Trump said: “We’re going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals. When they hear that, they will leave China.

“They will leave other places because they have to sell – most of their product is sold here, and they’re going to be opening up their plants all over the place.”

Domestic drug manufacturing has declined in the United States in recent decade, in a similar way to many other industries.

China has been the main beneficiary of the exodus of drug manufacturing out of the US, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Last week, Donald Trump announced a range of tariffs for dozens of countries across the world, ranging from a blanket tariff of 10%, rising to a whopping 104% on China.

The subsequent market reaction has seen stocks tumble across global markets, although thus far, the US President has shown no signs of relenting.

Trump said: “These countries are calling me up, kissing my ass…they are dying to make a deal… They are, they are dying to make a deal. Please, please, sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything.”

China has responded strongly to Trump’s actions, slapping reciprocal tariffs on US goods entering Chinese markets, heightening fears of a looming global trade war.

Trump added: “China will now pay a big number to our treasury. This is all taxes.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt backed the actions of the US President.

She told reporters: “Countries like China, who have chosen to retaliate and try to double down on their mistreatment of American workers, are making a mistake.

“President Trump has a spine of steel, and he will not break. The Chinese want to make a deal, they just don’t know how to do it.”

Donald Trump threatens fresh £8.7bn blow to UK economy in hours