Rep. Roy highlights the 'power of the cross' after devastating Texas floods
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
24 minutes ago
- Fox News
Mother of slain soldier held by Hamas terrorists for 4K days makes plea to Trump
It has been 4,000 days since Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old Israeli soldier and budding artist, was ambushed and killed by Hamas terrorists during a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza. His remains have never been returned. For his mother, Leah Goldin, the passage of time has only deepened the urgency. In a wide-ranging interview marking the grim milestone, she thanked President Donald Trump and his advisors for their efforts so far— and asked for them to ensure that no ceasefire, normalization deal or regional agreement moves forward without the return of her son. "We are turning to and hoping that President Trump and his people — who understand this issue — will recognize that the real victory over Iran is to bring everyone home immediately and unconditionally. Hadar is a symbol, and the Saudis must make this demand on their side, because you can't speak of normalization while we remain in a state of abnormality. "These deals are a bluff — and this selective process is horrific. It's killing the families and the hostages. The further we go without bringing everyone back and ending this awful war, the more Hadar Goldins there will be. It's unbearable." Hadar Goldin was born to a prominent family of educators and raised on values of faith, service and compassion. Hadar was known for his gentle character, sharp intellect and deep artistic talent. He had just gotten engaged. In his free time, he drew portraits, wrote poetry and taught children with disabilities. He was serving in the elite Givati Brigade when, on Aug. 1, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, Hamas violated a ceasefire — agreed upon hours earlier with U.S. and U.N. mediation — by launching a surprise attack. Hadar was killed and dragged into a tunnel inside Gaza. For his mother, that moment shattered not only her family's world, but also what she calls "the Israeli military's sacred code." "The IDF's ethos is never to leave a soldier behind," she said. "But on August 28, 2014, Israel signed a ceasefire with Hamas without demanding Hadar's return. That broke something fundamental." Over the past decade, Leah Goldin has met with world leaders, lawmakers and military officials across the U.S. and Europe, seeking justice for her son and others like him. She points to U.N. Security Council Resolution 2474, passed in 2019, which obligates all parties to an armed conflict to return the remains of the dead as a humanitarian act and confidence-building measure. "This is international law," she said. "And yet Hadar is still in Gaza." Goldin credits the Trump administration for taking the issue seriously. "When the resolution passed in 2019, it was Trump's people — Jason Greenblatt, Nikki Haley — who led the way," she said. Today, Goldin sees a rare opportunity — a convergence of diplomatic efforts with Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Gaza — to demand Hadar's return before any agreements are finalized. "Saudi Arabia has enormous leverage," she said. "They're leading the Islamic world. If they want normalization with Israel, then let them demand the return of Hadar and all of the hostages as a gesture of goodwill." She also praised Steve Witkoff, a Trump envoy on both Iran and Saudi issues, and urged him to connect the dots. "He's in charge of the deals. He knows the hostages matter. Don't say you'll finish the business and deal with the hostages later. That's immoral." Goldin says she has lost trust in the Israeli government, which she believes has repeatedly sidelined her son for political convenience. "It's the same people for 11 years, just in different chairs," she said. "They sign ceasefires, they release terrorists — but leave Hadar behind." Since Hamas' October 7 massacre, Leah and her family have taken on a new role: advising and supporting the families of current hostages through the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, a group they helped build in the days after the attack. "My son Tzur, who also served in special forces, said no family should go through this alone," she said. "So we organized — gave them our contacts, our tools, our lessons. But it's painful. Because we've seen this before. And we know how easy it is to be forgotten." She calls the ongoing hostage negotiations "a nightmare of selection," where some are prioritized and others left behind. "As a daughter of Holocaust survivors, this feels like moral collapse," she said. Goldin says she will not stop until Hadar — and all the hostages — come home. "Hadar is not just my son," she said. "He's a symbol now. And in every ceasefire, in every backroom deal, in every 'business as usual' moment — I want the world to remember his name."
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Announces 30% Duties on EU, Mexico
President Donald Trump revealed he isn't taking the weekend off as he released two open letters to prominent American trading partners informing them of steep new duty rates. On Saturday, the Commander in Chief took to Truth Social to post his missives to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, telling both that the countries they represent will face 30-percent duties on goods across the board beginning Aug. 1. More from Sourcing Journal US Apparel Imports From China Fell to a 22-Year Low in May Amid Trade War Escalation US-Brazil Trade Battle Puts Shoe Firms in Crossfire Trump Hits Canada With 35% Tariffs In his letter to Sheinbaum, Trump reinvigorated earlier claims that Mexico has aided in the 'pouring' of drugs like fentanyl into the U.S. market and failed to control the activities of criminal cartels. 'Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,' he wrote. The colloquial style of the communication underscored Trump's familiar relationship with Sheinbaum, with whom he has been negotiating for months. As in previous letters, Trump stated that the new duty rate excludes already established sectoral tariffs, and he wrote that transshipment or retaliatory duties will result in stacked taxes to Mexican imports. The letter did not mention whether U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement-covered (USMCA) products would be exempt from the new tariffs, though a White House spokesperson told Politico Friday that Canada's USMCA-compliant products would remain duty-free under the trade agreement, which is due to be revisited in July 2026. The tenor of Trump's letter to von der Leyen was different, belying a frustration that the 27-member European trade bloc and the U.S. have not been able to reach a consensus about the future of their trade relationship. 'We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with The European Union, and have concluded that we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, Trade Deficits, engendered by your Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers,' the president wrote. He struck a more threatening tone as he addressed the European leader, declaring, 'The European Union will allow complete, open Market Access to the United States, with no Tariff being charged to us, in an attempt to reduce the large Trade Deficit.' As in previous communications with world leaders, Trump emphasized that if the trade bloc retaliates with its own duties, its tariff rate only stands to grow. The 30-percent tariff comes as a surprise given that American officials, like U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer, have been negotiating ceaselessly in recent weeks with members of the European Commission. A principle agreement presented to Trump last week involved the levying of 10-percent duties, which the trade bloc said would cause major pain to exporters. Reportedly, von der Leyen was informed of the contents of the president's letter in advance of its social media debut. 'A 30% tariff on EU exports would hurt businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic,' she wrote on Twitter shortly after the announcement. 'We will continue working towards an agreement by August 1. At the same time, we are ready to safeguard EU interests on the basis of proportionate countermeasures.' Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US Apparel Imports From China Fell to a 22-Year Low in May Amid Trade War Escalation
Clothing imports from China fell to a 22-year low in May and were down by more than half (52 percent) from the same period in 2024 amid escalating tariff tensions between Washington and Beijing that have since resulted in a patched-up trade truce. For the first time in decades, China's share of apparel imports into the U.S. market dropped below 10 percent. May saw the sourcing superpower account for just 9.9 percent of clothing imports—a precarious plummet from the year-ago period, when China represented 19.9 percent of all apparel brought into the American market. More from Sourcing Journal Trump Announces 30% Duties on EU, Mexico Trump Hits Canada With 35% Tariffs Too Much Space, Too Little Demand: China-US Freight Rates Keep Crashing The May trade insights, compiled by University of Delaware professor of fashion and apparel studies Dr. Sheng Lu using U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) data, revealed that tariff rates on fashion products (especially steep duties on China-originating goods) ballooned beyond levels seen in the modern era. As a result of the Trump administration's reciprocal tariff regime, the average tariff rate for U.S. apparel imports grew to 23.8 percent in May, up several points from the already record-setting 20.8 percent seen in April (and substantially higher than the 13.9-percent average rate in May 2024, and even the 14.7-percent rate of January 2025, before the president's second term began). China predictably faced the brunt of that burden for several weeks after a tit-for-tat spate of escalating tariff threats between President Donald Trump and Chinese trade officials. On April 9, the president set a 145-percent duty rate on China-originating products—an unprecedented measure that was reversed on May 12 when U.S. cabinet officials traveled to Geneva to meet with their Chinese counterparts and broker a truce that brought down the duty rate on both sides significantly. The duty hike had the effect of driving down apparel imports from China significantly, but those that did enter the U.S. market during May faced tariff rates averaging at an unprecedented 69.1 percent, up from 55 percent the month prior, 37 percent in March and 22.1 percent in January. Lu calculated the applied tariff rate on apparel by dividing the duty rate by the value of imports. All told, while the overall value of apparel imports decreased 7 percent year over year, import duties grew by almost 60 percent during the same time frame. 'In May, I think the most of the [average apparel tariff] increase was because of China. And for the rest of the world, they were charged a 10-percent universal tariff rate. Some products, especially those from Asia, were able to enter [the country] in May before the new tariff rate hit,' Lu said. Across the board, all countries paid more duties on apparel in May than they did in previous months due to the universal baseline tariff. Vietnam's average apparel import duty rate reached 25.9 percent, up from 20.5 percent in April, while Bangladesh saw a similar percentage jump from 17.8 percent to 21.1 percent month over month. India's average clothing tariff rate climbed from 15.8 percent to 20.1 percent, while Cambodia's increased from 19.7 percent to 24.6 percent. There were winners to be found in May, however, and their growing import values correlated with manageable tariff rates. Mexico, for example, saw its average import duties paid on apparel products decrease from a negligible 2.2 percent in April to 1.4 percent in May—nearly the same rate it paid one year ago. But Mexico's apparel import values jumped considerably year over year, by 12.2 percent. The country's apparel imports are covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), giving them duty-free access. However, the country still only accounted for 4.6 percent of U.S. apparel sourcing in May. The biggest players are still the Asian nations, many of which have received letters this week from the Trump administration regarding their new, double-digit tariff rates. They also faced threats against transshipment, or rerouting products from other countries with the goal of evading tariffs. Lu, like other experts, believes the reference may allude to the administration's intent to revisit of content requirements and Rules of Origin, as true transshipment of finished goods is already illegal. In his view, 'The signal is very clear—the Trump administration not only wants to decouple from China, but it wants Asian countries to decouple their supply chains from China.' But the Trump administration's long-held goal of encouraging Asian nations to abandon China as a partner 'does not appear to be realistic, at least in the near to medium term,' with so much dependence on the country for inputs, he said. For example, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data from 2020 (the latest year for which insights are available) showed that about 55.4 percent of the value of Vietnam's textile and apparel gross exports contained content added from other countries—including 26.6 percent contributed by China. UNComtrade data was even more stark, showing that China accounted for 63.8 percent of the $16.6 billion in textile imports to Vietnam in 2023, a 'notable increase' from 37.4 percent in 2010. Like other developing countries with limited capabilities to manufacture certain fabrics and components, Vietnam still relies on imported raw materials. Meanwhile, the country represented the biggest apparel supplier to the U.S. in May, accounting for 21.7 percent of clothing imports. Limiting or discouraging access to the imported raw materials needed to produce apparel products could easily threaten Vietnam's stability as a sourcing base, Lu believes. The same is true for many of America's current top suppliers, which in May included Bangladesh (which accounted for 9.7 percent of U.S. apparel import market share), Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) countries (10.4 percent), India (8.2 percent), Indonesia (5.1 percent), Cambodia (5.2 percent) and U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) members (5.5 percent). As companies brace themselves for the impact of the incoming duties, they're caught between a rock and hard place. 'Even though the situation between China and the U.S. has stabilized, and there's a deal out there, companies still see sourcing from China as having huge risks,' Lu said. 'They want to source from more countries, but they remain mainly looking at Asian countries, because they need these sourcing designations to be ready to provide products immediately.' There are 'not too many options' in terms of mature sourcing markets with the capabilities and capacity to take on production at scale, aside from 'second-tier emerging sourcing destinations in Asia' that are tight with China and about to be hit with steep duties themselves. Lu believes that despite those conditions, companies will continue to move into sourcing locales like Vietnam and Bangladesh, with the hope that more beneficial trade terms might be reached. 'They are developing countries, they don't pose any national security threat toward the U.S., and they're not the focal point of Trump's trade policy,' Lu said. 'So there's a hope that some kind of deal can be reached before the August deadline.' Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
