
Trump gives Mexico 90-day tariff reprieve as deadline for higher duties looms
The extension, which avoids a 30% tariff on most Mexican non-automotive and non-metal goods compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade, came after a Thursday morning call between Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
"We avoided the tariff increase announced for tomorrow," Sheinbaum wrote in an X social media post, adding that the Trump call was "very good."
Approximately 85% of Mexican exports comply with the rules of origin outlined in the USMCA, shielding them from 25% tariffs related to fentanyl, according to Mexico's economy ministry.
Trump said that the U.S. would continue to levy a 50% tariff on Mexican steel, aluminum and copper and a 25% tariff on Mexican autos and on non-USMCA-compliant goods subject to tariffs related to the U.S. fentanyl crisis.
"Additionally, Mexico has agreed to immediately terminate its Non Tariff Trade Barriers, of which there were many," Trump said in a Truth Social post without providing details.
Trump is expected to issue tariff rate proclamations later on Thursday for countries that have not struck trade deals by a 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) deadline.
South Korea agreed on Wednesday to accept a 15% tariff on its exports to the U.S., including autos, down from a threatened 25%, as part of a deal that includes a pledge to invest $350 billion in U.S. projects to be chosen by Trump.
But goods from India appeared to be headed for a 25% tariff after talks bogged down over access to India's agriculture sector, drawing a higher-rate threat from Trump that also included an unspecified penalty for India's purchases of Russian oil.
Although negotiations with India were continuing, New Delhi vowed to protect the country's labor-intensive farm sector, triggering outrage from the opposition party and a slump in the rupee.
Trump hit Brazil on Wednesday with a steep 50% tariff as he escalated his fight with Latin America's largest economy over its prosecution of his friend and former President Jair Bolsonaro, but softened the blow by excluding sectors such as aircraft, energy and orange juice from heavier levies.
The run-up to Trump's tariff deadline was unfolding as federal appeals court judges sharply questioned Trump's use of a sweeping emergency powers law to justify his sweeping tariffs of up to 50% on nearly all trading partners.
Trump invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare an emergency over the growing U.S. trade deficit and impose his "reciprocal" tariffs and a separate fentanyl emergency.
The Court of International Trade ruled in May that the actions exceeded his executive authority, and questions from judges during oral arguments before the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit in Washington indicated further skepticism.
"IEEPA doesn't even say tariffs, doesn't even mention them," Judge Jimmie Reyna said at one point during the hearing.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States believes it has the makings of a trade deal with China, but it is "not 100% done," and still needs Trump's approval.
U.S. negotiators "pushed back quite a bit" over two days of trade talks with the Chinese in Stockholm this week, Bessent said in an interview with CNBC.
China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with Trump's administration, after Beijing and Washington reached preliminary deals in May and June to end escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals.
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Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Victory for attorneys who waved guns at BLM protesters as they are rewarded after five-year battle
The St. Louis couple who drew national attention in 2020 for pointing firearms at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home has finally regained possession of one of those weapons after a years-long legal dispute. Mark and Patricia McCloskey, both attorneys, went viral during the summer of 2020 when they were seen armed on their front lawn as demonstrators passed through their private neighborhood. The couple said they felt threatened after protesters broke through a gate and ignored 'No Trespassing' signs displayed on their private street - no one was hurt in the instance. Now, five years after the viral spectacle, Mark posted a video to X showing himself collecting the AR-15 rifle from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department as he was finally rewarded with the return of the firearm after the lengthy fight. He wrote: 'It only took 3 lawsuits, 2 trips to the Court of Appeals and 1,847 days, but I got my AR15 back!' 'We defended our home, were persecuted by the left, smeared by the press, and threatened with death, but we never backed down,' he added. The McCloskeys were initially charged with unlawful use of a weapon. They later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in 2021 - Mark to fourth-degree assault and Patricia to second-degree harassment - and agreed to forfeit the weapons. However, the couple was pardoned by Missouri Governor Mike Parson shortly thereafter. In 2024, a Missouri appeals court approved the expungement of those misdemeanor convictions, and under state law, the ruling meant the offenses were effectively erased from the couple's records - paving the way for them to reclaim the confiscated firearms. 'That gun may have only been worth $1,500 or something, and it cost me a lot of time and a lot of effort to get it back, but you have to do that,' Mark told Fox News Digital. 'You have to let them know that you will never back down.' According to Mark, the AR-15 had been in the possession of St. Louis police, while Patricia's Bryco .380-caliber pistol was held by the St. Louis Sheriff's Department. He said he expects the pistol to be returned sometime next week. The firearms were initially ordered destroyed after the couple entered their guilty pleas. However, court proceedings later revealed that both weapons still existed. Mark sued in 2021 to get the guns back, but his request was denied multiple times. He eventually prevailed following the expungement ruling last month, which came despite opposition from city attorneys, who argued the couple still posed a threat and cited McCloskey's use of the incident in political advertisements during his unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign. He also noted that the protesters' statements addressed only perceived threats on the day of the incident, not any ongoing danger. Judge Joseph P. Whyte rejected those arguments, the Daily Mail previously reported, writing in his decision that the court was bound to rule based on the expungement statute and not on political grounds. He also noted that the protesters' statements addressed only perceived threats on the day of the incident, not any ongoing danger. The case drew national attention and political reaction at the time, with President Donald Trump and several Republican leaders expressing support for the St Louis natives. The couple later appeared in a video message during the 2020 Republican National Convention.


The Guardian
9 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Unmasked: the man behind one of the fastest growing far-right YouTube channels
The Guardian has identified the self-described 'national socialist' behind an openly extremist YouTube channel that in just over two months has accumulated 50,000 subscribers, seen more than 2.3m views, and likely made thousands of dollars from YouTube's revenue-sharing monetization program. Johnathan Christopher 'Chris' Booth, 37, lives in the unincorporated community of Coral, a part of Maple Valley Township in Michigan's Montcalm county, and is married to a senior local Republican official. Booth has published more than 70 YouTube videos since May on his Shameless Sperg account, whose graphic design elements feature stylized SS bolts. Titles of his videos – generally a recording of him delivering his views direct to camera – include: 'Why I Dislike Jews. It's not complicated', 'Black Crimes Matter: Never Relax' and 'Jews and FBI hate you and your free speech'. Typically the videos attract hundreds of comments from like-minded YouTube users. His channel has seen such remarkable success that it has drawn apparently baseless allegations from other far-right creators that he is a 'fed'. On an X account that frequently advertises his videos, his posts include antisemitic comments and in one response to a post about actor Jim Carrey he writes: 'All of them deserve rope. I advocate for national socialism though, under which idiots like this would not fare too well.' Despite YouTube's stated policies against hate speech and content that promotes violence against individuals or groups based on race, religion or other protected characteristics, Booth's channel appears to be monetized through the YouTube Partner Program. The channel displays ads and Booth has thanked subscribers for their financial support through the platform. YouTube's community guidelines explicitly prohibit content that 'promotes violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization'. A YouTube spokesperson said: 'Upon review, we terminated the channel for violating our community guidelines. Content that promotes violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on their ethnicity, nationality, race or religion is not allowed on YouTube.' According to YouTube, another account associated with Booth was terminated, and creators are no longer entitled to earn any revenue if their channel is terminated. The terminations happened after the Guardian reached out to YouTube with questions about Booth's activities. Also according to YouTube, content that promotes violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on their ethnicity, nationality, race or religion is not allowed on the platform. In the wake of the ban, Booth took to X to say that he would move his content to 'alt-tech' platforms such as Odysee. Booth is married to Meghyn 'Meg' Booth, the Republican treasurer of Maple Valley Township. Meg Booth has 'liked' several posts with extremist themes on Chris Booth's Facebook account with her personal account. Chris Booth's Facebook page also features extensive racist propaganda along with iconography often employed by neo-Nazis. The revelations raise questions about the extent to which YouTube, whose parent company Alphabet also owns Google, Waymo and other tech companies, has backslid on monitoring extremism on its platform. Jeff Tischauser, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), said Booth's operation across YouTube, X and merchandising platforms was a 'boilerplate Nazi grift'. 'He may be earning money from YouTube, as well as hawking these racist and antisemitic items on his website like cups and T-shirts,' Tischauser added. He said that YouTube is 'the premier site that these guys look to in order to expand their following and to make money off of that following'. The Guardian retrieved a Coral, Michigan, street address from EU-mandated General Product Safety Regulation compliance information on the Shameless Sperg merchandise page on the merchandising platform Printify. The property at that address is owned by Meg Booth, according to property records. Data brokers indicate that Chris Booth lives at the same address. Sites including show exterior views of the house at the property. The property's color and cladding match those visible in videos published to YouTube on 14 and 15 May. Chris Booth appears to have made some efforts to remove photographs of himself and other potentially identifying information from his own social media accounts and other online spaces. However, he is visible in 'shorts'-style videos posted by Meg Booth to Facebook. This video of Chris Booth depicts the same person visible in Shameless Sperg videos. The Guardian emailed both Chris and Meg Booth for comment. In an email, Meg Booth appeared to repudiate her husband's views. 'I am not involved in my husband's content or political views, and I do not share or support any form of racism, antisemitism, or hate speech,' she wrote, adding: 'My values are my own and are grounded in respect, inclusion, and service to the community.' Meg Booth concluded: 'As an elected official, I've always acted independently, with integrity, and in line with the expectations of my office. I respectfully decline further comment.' Chris Booth did not directly respond, but in the day after the email he took to X to reaffirm his views, including a post in which he wrote: 'I've come to believe fascists are born, not made. Discovering real fascism in my early thirties was like looking into a mirror and finally realizing why commies have called me a fascist for so long. They spotted it before I could, but then I wholeheartedly embraced it.' In his videos and on X, Booth explicitly embraces neo-Nazi ideology and promotes antisemitic conspiracy theories. On his Shameless Sperg X account, Booth writes: 'I am the Shameless Sperg, I am a National Socialist, and I do sperg rants here,' with a link to his YouTube channel. On the YouTube channel, he writes: 'This channel is a collection of sperg rants and commentary on the news & issues of the day, or whatever else is on my mind, from an autistically dissident and NS perspective.' 'Sperg', an abbreviation for Asperger syndrome, is used pejoratively in far-right circles for those whose obsessive and open extremism might put off normal people or draw unwanted attention. 'NS' is commonly used as an abbreviation for 'national socialist' in far-right circles. His videos almost all contain neo-Nazi perspectives, enunciating conspiratorial antisemitism, anti-Black racism and claims that white people are superior to all other races. In a June video titled 'There is no Anti-Semitism without Semitism', Booth states in relation to interwar Germany: 'Extreme sadism and humiliation towards Gentiles is a Jewish tradition … Now, you might begin to understand why, after 14 years of seeing their people tormented by the Jews, millions of Germans organized, gained political power and broke the chains of Jewish tyranny in Germany.' The video continues with Booth arguing that antisemitism is a just response to the behavior of Jews, and sarcastically dismisses the idea that it is 'just some ancient mental pathogen in the minds of the goyim, it just springs to life for no reason just to make things harder for the Jews'. In a July video, Booth defended recent attempts to create a whites-only community in Arkansas. He said: 'White people are allowed to congregate together without being accompanied by some fucking Black person or some Jew.' In another July video Booth said: 'Black people oppress themselves. I don't do it. I have no interest in it. I, you know, I just want them away from me. You know, I want them away from me, my community, my state, my country. I don't know. Just, I don't know, get the fuck away from me.' In a May video supporting Trump's program of allowing Afrikaner refugees into the country on the basis of a fictional 'white genocide' in South Africa, Booth said: 'You know, I'm hoping that they don't completely lose South Africa to the Black plague, but, um, but in any event, uh, things are going to fall apart for them and go shit sideways.' Tischauser, the SPLC analyst, said that the themes of Booth's videos mix 'crass racism, basic historic white power talking points' and 'pseudo-academic kind of takes on Black criminality or Black behavior'. Meg Booth, Chris Booth's wife, was in November elected as the treasurer of Maple Valley Township running as a Republican. Her public social media profile does not feature the kind of extremist messaging that Chris Booth offers on his platform, though she has interacted with posts on his Facebook account, which is also freighted with racist messaging and neo-Nazi imagery. Chris Booth also 'liked' posts in which his wife discussed her candidacy.


The Herald Scotland
21 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
At long last, John Swinney has seen what grown-up politics is about
Mr Swinney and his fellow SNP ministers routinely like to churn out anti-Trump rhetoric seemingly because they think that'll garner them a few votes. But the reality of grown-up politics in which Mr Swinney has been obliged to indulge for just a few hours is that dialogue, pragmatism and diplomacy are key weapons in the armoury of a successful politician, not the kind of puerile sidelines sniping that's characteristic of the [[SNP]]. [[Donald Trump]] isn't my cup of tea either, but let's not forget that he leads the world's largest economy. I'm certain Keir Starmer has multiple reservations about Mr Trump, yet he, unlike Mr Swinney, heads up a sovereign state and has both a domestic and international remit – he can't wallow in Swinney-style futile populist virtue-signalling. Martin Redfern, Melrose. Knocking Labour off course Labour is on the way to running out of road for its long-term ambitions. All the MPs were elected on the same ticket with a destination in view and a driver to steer them in the right direction. They all want to reach the same destination but many of them differ with the driver on how fast they should proceed and what is the best route to reach their goal. It all boils down to how much they trust the driver and whether they can accept his gradualist approach. In today's world it would appear that everyone knows better than the people in charge and would like to impose their opinions on the ones whose skill got them on to the bus of government. In every walk of life you have to tailor your ambitions to fit in with the means at your disposal to hit those heights. Furthermore no one wishes to be compared to reckless teenagers who scream from the back of the bus for the driver to go faster, to take chances or to take a more direct route. Paying attention to excited MPs could lead to totalling the whole project the Government is trying to put in place. Do those MPs really want to jeopardise their chances of a second term in government with their short-sighted perspectives by showing that they cannot see the woods for the trees? Failure to take the global picture into consideration will run their bus off the road with regard to the Government's ambitions to improve the running of the UK for every level of the electorate. There is an old Roman tale about how the different organs and functions of the human body need to work together in harmony to achieve its desired results. It would be well worth the time of Labour MPs to reflect upon that. Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs. Read more letters Why not protest something important? So activists have been dangling themselves off the Forth Road Bridge over another issue which is of marginal, if any, concern to the rest of us ("Police arrest 10 Greenpeace activists after bridge protest", July 27). When have we seen such activists glueing themselves to the highway, roosting on motorway gantries, or dangling from bridges and buildings over anything that matters to the Many? Over out of control immigration? The housing shortage? The cost of living crisis? Lack of opportunities for our young people? The epidemic of stabbings and other lawlessness? The answer, of course, is that the narcissistic Few are completely indifferent to the plight of ordinary people. Whether they perform as Just Stop Oil, Climate Rebellion, Stand Up To Racism, or under whatever name, the extreme demands and their callous disregard for the interests of the Many are always the same. Otto Inglis, Crossgates, Fife. Such a sad life story Richard Holloway's life story ("The Bishop who abandoned God", July 27) is one of the saddest I have read. He is caught up in an orthodox version of the Christian world, and seemingly missing the most basic and fundamental uniqueness of this faith; put off by tradition and hypocrisy that he encountered in the various stages of his religious career. It strikes me that his experience of religious life is strikingly similar to the religious pomposity of the Pharisees of the 1st century, when Jesus was alive. Their religion was one of rules and regulations, burdensome traditions and rituals that were impossible to follow. They made life so difficult for the layperson, and were 100% convinced they were right. Their superiority and controlling natures led them eventually to crucify Jesus Christ, whom they hated with a vengeance, because he did not fit in with their version of religion. Richard Holloway appears to be very knowledgeable about various religions, yet he clearly has missed the whole theme of the Bible, that God, the Creator, loves his creatures with an unending love, yet seeks truth and justice from his people. A God whose love is so immense that, to deal with the root problem of the human race, "sin", he allowed his one and only Son, Jesus, to die on that cross... taking all the pain and sorrow and evil of the world upon himself. This is, I admit, a profound mystery; yet it is the foundational truth that resonates throughout the whole Bible. This same God does not ask us to "obey rules" or to "follow religious traditions"... He asks us to trust him, and to commit our lives to him... he longs for a relationship with us humans; longs that we speak with him, listen to him, and experience the love, the joy, and the peace that comes with him. Trying, as so many do, like Richard Holloway, to follow Christ's teaching without following Christ, is actually impossible, for his teaching demands impossible standards that only he can help us meet, in the strength he provides. I could go on and on, for Richard Holloway's story is so incredibly sad. He says "religion left me"; but Jesus Christ says, "I came to seek out and to rescue those who are lost in this world" – and that is all of us. He has not yet given up on Richard Holloway, and my earnest prayer is that he will truly find the Lord, who died for him, and who was raised from the dead. Now, that truth makes Jesus unique, and worth following. May God bless Richard Holloway, and all who are yearning for truth, and true fulfilment; these are found in God himself. Alasdair HB Fyfe, Carmunnock. Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh (Image: Newsquest) Reasons behind Russia's actions Ronald Cameron (Letters, July 27) says that "Ukraine has come close to destroying the Russian war machine". Mr Cameron has got it the wrong way round. Russia has come close to destroying Ukraine' s army. Ukraine is in the position Germany was in in 1944, fighting losing battles, the war effectively lost, but continuing to lash out with deadly but strategically pointless missile strikes. The writing is on the wall for President Zelenskyy and his gang. Mr Cameron repeats the false claim that Russia is going to invade Nato's eastern border, but the fact is that Russian fears invasion from the West more than we fear them. In 1812 Napoleon burned Moscow. In 1854 Britain and France invaded Crimea. In 1918 Germany invaded Russia and Russia lost one million square miles of territory at the subsequent Treaty of Brest Litovsk. Britain, Canada and the United States invaded Russia between 1918 and 1925. In 1941 German forces were at the gates of Moscow and on their retreat destroyed virtually everything. President Eisenhower, then Supreme Commander Allied Forces in Europe, wrote: "When we flew into Russia, in 1945, I did not see a house standing between the western borders of the country and the area around Moscow." Declassified official documents record that in February 1997 the then Prime Minister John Major said: "If I were Russian I too would be concerned that Nato might move up to Russia's borders." Since then Nato has expanded to 32 countries. Russia warned repeatedly from 2008 that Ukraine's admission to Nato was a red line. The coup of 2014 which brought a nationalist government hostile to Russia to power resulted in a civil war between the eastern Russian-speaking provinces and the Kiev regime, which bombed and shelled them for eight years. Russia invaded in their support and to prevent Nato forces on a border which geographically is difficult to defend. Flying the Ukraine flag is risible. William Loneskie, Lauder. • Ronald Cameron contradicts himself. First he writes that "we" (presumably the UK) must do "everything possible" to support Ukraine, but then "there are plenty of better things to spend the money on". Come on, money can't be spent twice, so which is it to be ? George Morton, Rosyth. Off pat Rab McNeil's excellent article on Dougie MacLean ('Singer made every ex-pat yearn for home … and a pint', July 27) was interesting but its headline ignored the fact that an ex-soldier is someone who used to be a soldier, an ex-teacher is someone who used to be teacher and an ex-pat is someone who used to be a pat. If text space is so scarce that an abbreviation for expatriate is needed, it is expat, no hyphen being involved. Peter Dryburgh, Edinburgh.