The Irish Times view on the weekend events in the US: more evidence of a divided country
shocking assassination on Saturday
of senior Minnesota politician, Melissa Hortman, and her husband, and the wounding of her colleague State Senator John Hoffman, and his wife, are vivid evidence of the deep, and dangerous polarisation of US politics. Although the precise motivation for the attacks is as yet unclear, police have identified right-wing Christian activist Vance Boelter (57), a private security company owner, as chief suspect. Police found a list of 70 potential other targets, overwhelmingly Democrats, in his abandoned car.
Condemnation of the killings has come from across the political spectrum, including from president Trump. But the inflammatory rhetoric of public discourse has seeded a culture which appears to legitimise gun violence by a tiny minority, as Trump discovered to his own cost last summer.
The country's divisions were also vividly manifest
on the streets on Saturday
– in Washington DC marching troops celebrated 250 years of the US army's history (and Trump's birthday) at a cost of $45 million, supposedly stoking national pride and reminding the world of America's hard power. 'Succour to our allies', a Fox TV commentator insisted.
Meanwhile,
demonstrations in up to 2,000 centres
in all 50 states across the US, including a dozen in Indiana alone, reflected popular anger at the president's immigration crackdown and executive overreach, not least what is seen as political abuse of the self-same US Army and National Guards in policing overwhelmingly peaceful protest. Sporadic violence in LA was easily managed by local law enforcement.
READ MORE
Trump has said that the 'enemy from within' is more dangerous than foreign adversaries, and has conjured up images of insurrection to justify special powers. The sheer number of political confrontations across the country, and the fact that the president, instead of being a force for reconciliation is, as one historian has put it,' fuelling the fires', makes this a dangerous time for the US. Democracy is being tested.
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Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
US trading partners rush to sign deals before Donald Trump's tariffs hit
Top officials from big US trading partners have rushed to Washington in a bid to strike last-ditch trade deals with Donald Trump less than 24 hours before being hit again with the president's highest levels of tariffs . US allies Canada and Mexico sent delegations, according to people familiar with the negotiations, and were locked in intense talks to Trump administration officials on Wednesday. As the August 1st deadline neared, Mr Trump signalled late progress with key trading partners, announcing a deal with South Korea late on Wednesday while also saying he would hold last-minute talks to India – just hours after he announced 25 per cent tariffs on the country. But Mr Trump also warned other trading partners he would not back away from the sweeping tariff regime he has threatened on countries that do not reach an agreement by his deadline. 'The August first deadline is the August first deadline – it stands strong, and will not be extended. A big day for America!!!' the president posted on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday. The threats, coupled with deals struck in recent days with the EU and Japan, have left negotiators from other trading partners in an urgent rush to find time to meet administration officials and settle terms. Despite Mr Trump's tariff threat to India, one person familiar with its negotiations said New Delhi was close to an agreement, even though its top negotiators have left Washington. Canada's prime minister Mark Carney struck a cautious tone about the progress of his country's talks to the Trump administration. 'These are complex, they're comprehensive, they're constructive negotiations,' Mr Carney told reporters. 'It's possible that they may not conclude by the first of August.' Trump hit out at Canada late on Wednesday, writing on his Truth Social platform that Mr Carney's decision to recognise Palestinian statehood would 'make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them'. Foreign diplomats have spent hours in recent weeks negotiating with commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US trade representative Jamieson Greer. Although one diplomat described Mr Lutnick as 'instrumental' in securing any deal, many said he had warned them that all final decisions rested with Mr Trump. People familiar with various trade talks said Mr Trump had on more than one occasion rejected potential deals proposed to him by Mr Lutnick and other aides, and demanded they push for more concessions to the US. The president had personally intervened in several deals, including joining a call with the Indian trade minister and Mr Lutnick as negotiations progressed, according to two people familiar with the talks. Mr Trump is also due to decide whether to extend a pause in his trade war with China , after treasury secretary Scott Bessent and Mr Greer held a third round of talks to a team from Beijing in Sweden this week. The latest diplomatic blitz comes as US markets broadly shrug off Trump's trade war. The S&P 500 share index has zoomed to record highs, while the dollar has hit its highest level since May as traders bet on the president baulking at imposing levies severe enough to spook investors. But some Wall Street banks and investors remain concerned that markets are complacent. 'Deadlines have come and gone, tariffs have climbed ... but economic data and markets have not rolled over. So, it's tempting to move on from the idea that US trade policy will move markets,' Morgan Stanley told clients in a note. 'Resist that temptation.' The diplomatic efforts cap a tumultuous six months in US trade relations marked by truculent rhetoric and tariff threats from Mr Trump, often followed by reversals and climbdowns. US trading partners without a deal have until 12.01am eastern time on Friday to find one – or face Mr Trump reimposing the steep tariffs he announced in April but suspended after days of severe market turmoil. After threatening foreign capitals with levies to exact political concessions, the president has since made reciprocal tariffs the centrepiece of his combative trade agenda. Those tariffs, imposed on 'liberation day' in April, reached up to 50 per cent for most US trading partners. Mr Trump has said he wants the tariffs to eliminate trade deficits with foreign exporters. Although Mr Trump promised to strike 90 deals in 90 days of his earlier pause on the reciprocal tariffs, negotiations have often been fraught, with major trading partners seeking to protect crucial industries, and some negotiators confused by the administration's mixed messages. Mexico and Canada, among the US's top three trading partners, have been offered a substantial carve-out for goods complying with their existing 2020 free trade agreement with the US. But they were also among the countries Mr Trump threatened with steeper tariffs in a barrage of letters posted online in recent weeks. Trading partners have sought to understand the mechanism for new tariffs – or their removal – and have been confused about which tariffs might snap back or be imposed, and which would diverge from those announced. Mr Trump would need to issue executive orders in advance of the deadline on Thursday night to impose any levies that differ from those he set out in April. In the UK last week, the president also raised the possibility that he would impose blanket 15-20 per cent levies on countries without a new deal by August 1st. 'You can't sit down and make 200 deals,' Mr Trump said in Scotland, where he unveiled his trade deal with the EU. Several countries have also been sent letters outlining new tariff rates, or have agreed on new levies – but the administration has not yet issued any fresh legal documents to carry through on its threats. Mr Trump has suggested that he could send more letters to countries stipulating other tariff rates. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
Irish Times
14 hours ago
- Irish Times
European unity would have broken down in a trade war with the US
Not great, but could have been worse. That was the European Union negotiators' take on the tariff deal agreed with US president Donald Trump this week. The agreement saw the EU accept tariffs – or import taxes – of 15 per cent on practically all future trade with the US. US products heading in the other direction will not be subject to similar levies when sold into the EU. Indeed many pre-Trump tariffs the bloc charged on US goods at lower rates of 1 to 4 per cent will be dropped to zero. This deal is the product of the EU's strategy of calm dialogue over confrontation. The French government has led the criticism of the tariff deal, summing it up as the EU submitting to Trump. Some in Ireland have also expressed concern, but the Government knows it is in no position to gripe. READ MORE Given its exposure and dependence on trade with the US, Ireland was insistent throughout the talks that the EU should avoid doing anything to antagonise Trump or escalate the dispute. The European Commission , the EU's executive arm that led the talks, was not negotiating a trade deal. That would involve two countries or economic blocs trashing out a mutually beneficial accord, with concessions on either side. This was a loose political agreement on tariffs, where the EU sucked up a certain amount of pain to put an end to Trump's threats of even higher charges. Thoughts of an open tariff brawl between the two sides, escalating into a trade war, struck fear into the hearts of officials and politicians in Brussels, Dublin, Berlin and many other capitals. European trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic , who was heavily involved in the talks, has insisted this truce was the best it could get. Commission officials were privately smug when UK prime minister Keir Starmer signed a deal with Trump in June locking in 10 per cent tariffs. The EU felt confident it could land more favourable terms, given its greater economic heft. That thinking put too much weight on rules that previously governed global trade relations and failed to fully consider Trump's animus towards the European project. The EU also failed to fully grasp Trump's vision of tariffs as leverage for negotiating concessions from allies and generating tax revenue. In a normal year the US collects about €8 billion from – mostly very low – tariffs on EU goods. Internal commission calculations predict Trump's tariff shakedown will lead to about €80 billion a year being collected by the US. Those sums even take account of some slowdown in trade as a result of the tariffs raising the cost of EU-made products in the US. The alternative would have been to call the US president's bluff and see if he followed through on threats to put 30 per cent tariffs on trade on August 1st. Turmoil in the financial markets previously forced Trump to reverse the excesses of his 'liberation day' tariff agenda. This might have happened again. The problem for European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was that EU unity would not withstand any kind of prolonged trade war. An autocratic system such as China's can unilaterally match Trump's tariffs with its own, increasing the rates again and again to force Washington to the negotiating table on a more equal footing. The EU is a composite of 27 member states, each with different economic pain thresholds and perspectives on how the talks should be run. France is talking a tough game now. It was also lobbying hard behind the scenes to water down proposed retaliatory tariffs, one of the main pieces of leverage in the talks. Paris wanted the commission to drop plans to threaten counter-tariffs on US whiskey, bourbon and agricultural produce, fearing French wine, champagne and dairy would be targeted in response. Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris sent Sefcovic a shopping list of US products the Government wanted spared. It included aircraft, bourbon, agricultural goods, medtech, thoroughbred horses, animal feed and ingredients used by food producers. Ireland's had been one of the loudest voices of caution. The Government pushed back against the idea of the EU using emergency powers to target US multinationals and tech giants in the dispute. The commission was afraid a cycle of US tariffs and EU counter-tariffs would have put millions of jobs in Europe at risk. In such a scenario the governments of Germany, Italy, Ireland and others would have been clamouring, if not screaming, for the EU to cut a quick deal that stopped the economic bleeding. The end result of that alternative timeline might still have been blanket US tariffs of 15 per cent or painfully higher rates. Maybe Trump would have blinked first. We won't know.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Kamala Harris announces she will not run for governor of California
Kamala Harris , the former vice-president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, announced on Wednesday that she will not run for governor of California – a highly anticipated decision that leaves the contest to lead the country's largest blue state wide open. 'For now, my leadership – and public service – will not be in elected office,' Harris said in a statement, ending months of speculation about her political future after losing the 2024 US presidential election to Donald Trump . 'I look forward to getting back out and listening to the American people, helping elect Democrats across the nation who will fight fearlessly, and sharing more details in the months ahead about my own plans,' she added. Harris (60) who previously served as California's attorney general and US senator, had been exploring a run for the state's top job since leaving the White House in January. [ Tariffs: as new regime kicks in, what does it mean for Europe and for Ireland? Opens in new window ] But, she said in the statement, 'after deep reflection, I've decided that I will not run for governor in this election'. The decision does not rule out a future run for public office, including a third bid for the White House, after unsuccessful campaigns in 2020 and 2024. Her looming decision had in effect paralyzed the race to replace the term-limited Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, with early polling suggesting she was Californians' top choice. The Harris-less race to lead California will now take place in a political landscape dramatically reshaped by her loss to Trump in November, which plunged the party into a period of paralysis and soul-searching. In the months since, the Democratic base has grown increasingly furious with its old guard, demanding fresh leadership and a more combative approach to what they view as Trump's increasingly authoritarian agenda. In a nod to the discontent roiling her party, and the country, Harris said: 'We must recognize that our politics, our government, and our institutions have too often failed the American people, culminating in this moment of crisis. As we look ahead, we must be willing to pursue change through new methods and fresh thinking – committed to our same values and principles, but not bound by the same playbook.' While the decision was disappointing to supporters eager to see Harris square off again with Trump during the final years of his term, Harris had given few signals that she was deeply excited by the prospect of leading the state from the governor's perch in Sacramento. The months-long slog to next year's contest would have forced Harris to grapple with her role in Democrats' losses in November, which has already drawn criticism from corners of the party eager for leaders to step aside and make space for a new generation of candidates. The crowded field of Democrats running for governor in California is so far made up of long-serving or well-known political leaders, including Xavier Becerra, the former attorney general of California who served with Harris in Biden's cabinet as the secretary of health and human services; Antonio Villaraigosa, the former Democratic mayor of Los Angeles; the state's lieutenant governor, Eleni Kounalakis, who is close friends with Harris; and the former representative Katie Porter. The most prominent Republicans in the race are Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside county, and Steve Hilton, the former Fox host and former adviser to then UK prime minister David Cameron. Ric Grenell, a longtime Trump ally, has also toyed with the idea of running. In a statement, Villaraigosa commended Harris's leadership and said her decision 'reflects her continued commitment to serving at the highest levels of government'. 'We face critical challenges in California – and we need a proven problem solver to tackle our affordability crisis,' he said. Republicans – some of whom had been eager to elevate Harris as the face of the Democratic party – nevertheless touted her decision as a political victory for the president. 'Kamala Harris's political career is over thanks to President Trump,' said Kollin Crompton, a spokesperson for the Republican Governors Association, adding, perhaps prematurely: 'Americans across the country can sigh in relief that they won't have to see or hear from Kamala Harris any longer.' Harris had maintained a relatively low profile since she returned home to Los Angeles, offering few clues about her political future. She remained most out of view as protests erupted in response to the Trump administration's immigration raids in Los Angeles earlier this summer. In a statement issued after Trump ordered national guard troops deployed Los Angeles, she said that protest was 'a powerful tool' and said she supported the 'millions of Americans who are standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms'. She has been selective about when to weigh in against the Trump administration's actions. Earlier this year, Harris delivered a sharp speech in which she warned that the US was witnessing a 'wholesale abandonment of America's highest ideals' by the US president. On Wednesday, Harris vowed to remain politically engaged. 'We, the People must use our power to fight for freedom, opportunity, fairness, and the dignity of all,' she said. 'I will remain in that fight.' - The Guardian
