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Havana a ghost town with little activity, garbage piling up, and population struggling to make a living- pictures as France's Le Monde sees it in Jan 2026. Was it all worth it?  A revolution happened in 1956 against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista that lost its way over 4 decades to 2000, on life support for another 2 decades to 2026. The Cuban experiment caused Venezuela to enter the same realm of disillusionment and many insurgencies in the rest of Latin America that failed with too much rhetoric and little to back it up with in investment and growth through patient effort and inputs of capital, labor and technology, and cooperation with US and EU, the very stuff that changed lives in China and India for 2.5 billion people.

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Vast majority of DJT supporters 88% (down from 95%), approve of the president DJT's overall performance. On tariffs and Big Beautiful Bill. Democrats vastly disapproving, the messaging on cuts to Medicaid even though it's funding had grown close to $1 trillion ($909 billion in 2024), the uncertainty on tariffs even though the $1 trillion China trade surplus needed serious corrective action, federal government job cuts, leads to much larger proportions of Democrats opposing than Republicans supporting leading to about 60% unfavorable overall on tariffs and Big Beautiful Bill. Such unpopular action is sometimes the role of government like the action to rebuild the trading system and bring restraint to runaway spending on benefits, and can be overcome with a strong economy and capital investment for growth in future years. Another problem for the DJT administration is in the messaging to get the message across when some of the president's actions can be inconsistent or appear inconsistent. Add to this the distractions such as international diplomacy on Ukraine that take the president's time. Yet changes were needed in the international trading system and tough action is sometimes necessary when most countries and groupings, China EU, Canada, Mexico, can game the system their benefit to the detriment of the American people and jobs/communities at home. On the Big Beautiful Bill at the rate of growth in funding for Medicaid to $909 billion in 2024 from $2 billion at its inception under LBJ in the 1960's some restraint on spending would ultimately keep such help flowing where it is needed over the long haul. ...

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In extended diplomacy Carney visits Beijing, China and says middle powers are seeking ways to interact and trade in a world of big power rivalry. His visit is followed by visits by UK's Starmer and Germany's Merz, and preceded by Macron. At the same time Merz visits Ahmedabad for a kite festival and signs a new trade agreement with India, followed by Leyen and Costa of the EU who sign a EU-India trade agreement for 27 countries of the European Union. All this suggests carefully planned effort in Europe to create new channels of trade and reorient existing trade relationships that will be more resilient with the US shifting to focus on Monroe Doctrine idea of the Western hemisphere as its region of influence and security. This report shows pictures of Starmer and Xi meeting at the Plough Pub in UK in 2015 and reflects on how this has changed 11 years later with China now  a dominant power with the world's 3rd largest economy and a third of world's manufacturing and logistics. How does this change the relationship with China in 2026 for UK and Canada, and the EU? At the same time Germany-India and EU-India relationship creates a 2 billion people market with capital, technology and labor potential to create the largest potential driven economic group in the world, combining EU's 20 trillion to India's $4 trillion economy and mutually complementing, which has potential to rival the US at $30 trillion by 2030 as India grows rapidly in the new EU/Germany/India market and the EU gets a new boost with the complementarity of the two regions by 2035. This suggests that something new is happening and Germany after a lot of soul searching have hit on something we should see blossom by 2030 in the way China has grown since that picture with Cameron of Xi at the Plough Pub in UK. A problem China faces as it continues to push exports is that EU/ India and US will take in less exports and there is only so much it can put in Latin American and African market, UK/Canada market leading to industries with massive oversupply. Major economic redirection may result from the Merz/Leyen/Costa visit and firming up trade agreements with India if the EU, Germany and India have the determination to seize this opportunity in the 21st Century. As Leyen said it has the potential to create a stable world with values of the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, and Mahajima Nikaya of the Buddha supporting the industrial states that emerged from the Industrial Revolutions. ...

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High level Swiss business team negotiators reach agreement with US for 15% tariffs in exchange for $200 billion in investment in US by 2028. One third of this investment has to take place in 2026. The Swiss business team met with DJT at the White House. 

Swiss will remove taxes on US beef and poultry exports. Swiss investments cited by trade negotiator Helene Artieda are plane maker Pilatus to build a US plant, and train maker Stadler to expand operations in Utah.

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Washington Post Analysis and details of Census Bureau trade information in September 2025 -showing the country by country and product tariffs by US and which tariffs are waiting for final trade agreements. China, India and Switzerland, Mexico face high tariffs. UK, EU, South Korea, Japan have made trade agreements with the US, China, India Swiss are still to finalize trade agreements leading to the uncertainty. The North American Trade Agreement is being renegotiated leading to uncertainty for Mexico and Canada which have both benefitted from trade with the US to detriment of US manufacturers.  China has huge surpluses that keep growing over time to $1 trillion ($992 billion) a year in 2024.  DJT Tariffs are designed as a bold step to remake the international trading system so that it does not work to the benefit of other nations gaming the system over decades as US administrations Clinton, Bush, Obama, paid no attention. Trade Deficits and the National Debt are a problem not just the National Debt. On the National Debt Republicans have pushed through cuts in parts of the budget where costs had escalated tremendously. ...

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Iranian public reaction to the air strikes Feb 28 2026 and death of Khamanei- disconnect with the government policies and economic hardship caused by lack of focus on development and modernization of the Iranian economy.

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Supreme Court nominee Kavanuagh has shown a pro-business tilt on many issues. On net neutrality he favored telecom and IT companies. On a ruling on the Consumer Protection Bureau he empowered the president to fire the director on the legal reasoning that there should be several commissioners running the agency. The Net Neutrality ruling from the Obama years was overturned by president Trump, the Consumer Protection Bureau continues to have a Director. On other issues such as Clean Air Act he overturned a ruling. He also defended the rights of pharmaceutical companies vs. the FDA.

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WSJ committed to orthodox economic theory thinks of tariffs as tariffs such as Smoot Hawley from the 30's. This is why it is not true- It is about fentanyl flows that have led to 490,000 deaths over 12 years in the US and few in the US like to talk about it. Smoot Hawley had nothing to do with fentanyl, drugs trafficking and migrant trafficking that every nation not only has a right but a No.1 responsibility to its citizens to keep its neighborhoods and its children in neighborhoods safe. Smoot and Hawley were US Senators and US Congress was isolationist in mood. Their grasp of the world trading system was meager and they stepped in at a time when the world had economically not recovered from World War I, and the French against US General Pershing's advice had set the most punitive arrangement in Germany that crushed Germany after an armistice Pershing opposed that left the Kaiser's political structures intact. Tariffs is not DJT's idea. It is the solid experience of Deputy US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer under Reagan who conducted negotiations with the Japanese who stalled and stalled Lighthizer says, let negotiations drag on into endless nights, and Lighthizer and his team stood firm. The relentless Japanese relented and Lighthizer secured the agreements that ended this phase of trade relations in the 1980's. Lighthizer was Trade Representative in the DJT first term 2016-2020 and launched the negotiations with China. This is now 8 years since 2016 and 2016 itself was 35 years after Lighthizer negotiated with the Japanese. Today's US Trade Representative is Jamieson who was Deputy Trade Representative under Lighthizer in 2016. Each detail is carefully thought through to bring it to a fair conclusion in the interests of the world and the US. Information traveled slowly GM could not tell at any time how many cars were in inventory on its lots in 1920's. US lacked basic infrastructure for government that FDR and Labor Secretary added firt in New York in the 1930's and which was transferred to 50 states by 1940's. Today information is quickly at fingertips and consultation processes are built in between industry and government at all levels. A lot of information is carefully evaluated. USTR as DJT showed, the major study of USTR Office in the Rose Garden on April 2, 2025, has all trade barriers carefully analyzed in minute details for every country. And is working on this for 40 years. There isn't even a slightest  comparison between this and the Smoot Hawley crowd in the 1920's.  The goal not to beat anybody. Just to set the goal of a level playing field for world trade. That is the foundation of trade that is fair and respected, and is a win-win for all. WTO's basic foundation No. 1 principle is a level playing field. It is just that this was a kind of Marshall Plan for Asia of the US to let poor countries such as Japan war wrecked in 1950, and China colonial power wrecked by first Britain then Japan struggling and poor in 1990's, giving them some time to rebuild by ignoring unfair barriers to trade for 10-15 years 2005 for China. Barriers that never got dismantled and technology that leaked from the US 2005-2016 under the Obama administration. Smoot Hawley was not about the US Navy building its own ships and US shipyards in the 1920's. In 2025 US shipbuilding industry is stolen, this is why the words used "pillaged" "looted" were used in the Rose Garden. Little by little American private enterprise capitalism was superseded by a new form of capitalism in Japan then in China that combined state capitalism with private enterprise capitalism. This then was the threat America faced, and needed to redouble its energies and seek fair play.   ...

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A big win for the US and a win-win for the European Union in the sense that it brings stability to the trade relationship. For the US it brings a level playing field in world trade that had suffered fo far too long from unfair advantages taken by Japan, Canada, European Union and other nations, in addition to the serious distortions of the world trade system with China's state version of capitalism financing an export model. So the first step was to straighten out the situation with partners and allies the US has supported in the past 75 years. US European Union Trade Agreement is reached July 27, 2025, at meeting between Von Der Leyen of Eu and DJT of the US in Scotland. It includes $750 billion EU purchases over 3 years of US oil and gas, LNG, nuclear fuel, semiconductors, etc and $650 billion in investments in US, including military purchases. It puts a 15% tariff on all products from the EU entering the US, replaces the tariff of about 5% under Biden. On Pharmaceuticals it is what the US president decides says Leyen, though for now it is included.  The EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefovic says- “I think that what was most important for us was to make sure we would have this predictability and we would have stability for our businesses." ...

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In 2007 the Pakistan Supreme Court issued rulings that led to the ouster of the army led government of President Musharraf. A similiar situation is occurring today as the Supreme Court issues anti-corruption rulings against the government of President Zardari. The chief justice of the Supreme Court Justice Chaudhry says he is "buttressing democratic and parliamentary norms," as extensive corruption is affecting justice in Pakistan. Critics say Justice Chaudhry was not elected and is now questioning the authority of an elected government.

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US sending signals of 'very strong talks'  with Iran delaying attack for 5 days March 23 2026.

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US sets up diplomatic ties to Venezuela March 6 2026. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visits Caracas and is shown here with Delcy Rodriguez.

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The tariffs dispute with China escalates as China increases the tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods from 5-10% to 25% starting June 1st. The U.S. put its tariff increase on $200 billion of Chinese goods in effect on May 9, increasing it from 10% to 25%. The U.S. exports less to China than China does to the States by a wide margin making it possible for Mr. Trump to up the ante. Mr. Lighhizer's office says it is looking at tariffs on all remaining goods from China imported to the U.S. if China does not agree not to renege on its commitments and assurances to the U.S. in the talks on improper technology transfers and other matters. 

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Canadian steel and lumber industries get government aid, as talks to end US tariffs are halted over an ad on Reagan misrepresenting him on tariffs by Ontario state.  Canada's steel and lumber industries will get the aid in the form of railway costs cut in half with rail subsidies, and tariffs on US steel imports into Canada to reduce domestic steel costs for other industries. Stellantis shifts car production for a new Jeep from suburban Toronto to Illinois, GM cut a shift at a pickup plant and closed a electric van plant in Ontario. Not all imports to the US from Canada face tariffs. Other products enter the US from Canada under a free trade agreement USMCA that went into effect July 1 2020. Canada is also shifting policy under Carney's Liberals on climate change, as it seeks to reorient its economy to export oil to China and India- a new pipeline is now approved for oil and gas to be shipped across the country from Alberta. Since it's independence with Dominion status in 1867 Canada's economy has struggled with the idea of building a economy separate from the US so that trade between the northeastern Canada and Northeastern US which is next to each other is foregone for trade with distant provinces in the western states such as Alberta and British Columbia. In Brazil Lula's Worker's Party is also slowing efforts on climate change for the economy as it approves oil and gas projects in the Amazon, at the same time as it holds COP30 at Belem port in the Amazon. Even Biden had shown flexibility on the economy to support cost of living measures that are in conflict with climate change action. In DJT's second term climate change action has taken a back seat to cost of living concerns when a large majority of people are living paycheck to paycheck. ...

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Since 1994 when Norway did not win any gold medals in winter Olympics the country started its Olympiastoppen Norwegian Olympics training programs . As a major oil producer the program is funded by fossil fuels.  For all of its history except the last 55 years Norway was a small fishing nation. Oil was first discovered by Phillips Petroleum in 1970.