Trump Announces Tariffs, Hopes for a Ceasefire Fade, Ukraine’s New Incursion Into Russia

Richard Palmer’s “Trade Wars Are Here” is our feature story this morning, from the latest Trumpet issue. It’s a timely article considering the escalation in trade hostilities we saw just yesterday. You thought Europeans were upset at the Trump administration for its NATO comments?

[BRIEF]

Trump just announced 25 percent tariffs on all foreign cars and auto parts, beginning April 2. Europe lashed back with anger and pledges to impose countermeasures, as our In Brief below explains.

This is truly a consequential threat. “Is Donald Trump going nuclear on the German car industry?” Mr. Palmer wrote on X. This 25 percent across-the-board tariff could combine with a rumored additional 20 percent tariff on cars from the EU that Trump is considering—all on top of the existing 2.5 percent tariff.

Meanwhile, the president is also considering allowing U.S. citizens to deduct the price of a new car from their taxes—saving them 12 to 32 percent.

So, Palmer speculates, for an American with that tax write-off, a $50,000 U.S.-made car would cost $34,000. A car with the same initial price from Germany with 47.5 percent tariffs would cost $73,750—more than double for the same value car. “Who would ever buy a German car under those conditions?” he asks. “I’m not saying if this is good or bad at this point—just that this is big. If this happens, it’s not leveling the playing field, it’s declaring all-out economic war on the German car industry.”

As I have written, measures like these tariffs could end up proving helpful to America, or catastrophic—and President Trump is truly unable to foresee which. This should drive him to try to secure God’s blessing first before plowing ahead. If he doesn’t, biblical prophecy shows that the second outcome is virtually assured.

Hopes for a ceasefire are retreating over the horizon: The path to a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, which President Trump is working so hard to create, is getting longer and bumpier. Trump admitted that Russian negotiators may be “dragging their feet” in these talks aimed at ending the Ukraine war.

One significant obstacle is Russia’s demand that, before it will comply with a ceasefire, it must regain access to the SWIFT global banking system and the ability to conduct trade, finance and port operations with fewer restrictions. Yesterday EU leaders rejected the demand and said firmly they will maintain sanctions on Russia as long as it remains in Ukraine’s territory.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has launched a new incursion into Russia, the Telegraph reports. A modest force of fewer than 500 soldiers, including elite units and U.S.-supplied Bradley vehicles, is steadily capturing ground in Belgorod region despite fierce resistance (and Kremlin claims of thwarting the attack). Again, not exactly the work of people hopeful for a peace deal.

But Putin is celebrating a quarter-century of being “prince of Russia”: Vladimir Putin’s first presidential win was 25 years ago this month. The Kremlin is praising him for pulling Russia back from the “abyss” as he works to restore the Soviet empire, Peter van Halteren reports. Russia’s strongman certainly has helped drag the world into a new era—a “dangerous new era,” in fact.

Gazans to Hamas—“Get out!”: Two days ago it was hundreds; yesterday it was reportedly thousands of Gazan Palestinians taking to the streets with banners reading “Hamas does not represent us,” and chanting, “Hamas get out!” the Times of Israel reports. Armed gangs are calling for an “uprising” against the terrorist group. One video showed a large group of children chanting, “We don’t want to die.” This just a week after the ceasefire deal collapsed and Israel renewed its bombing in the region.

The heart aches for these people living under the oppressive rule of this death cult. Hamas is perfectly willing to subject its people to bombardment in order to hold leverage by keeping Israel’s hostages. Don’t be fooled, however, into thinking that this anger at Hamas reflects any change of heart toward Israelis. The Jew-hatred that catalyzed the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel remains strong.

And Iran, Hamas’s paymaster, isn’t backing down from its hostility toward America:

Defiant Iran unveils another “missile city”: On Tuesday, Tehran showcased new footage of an underground “missile city,” the Jerusalem Post reports. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says this is one of hundreds under its control, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The facility, unveiled with senior IRGC commanders present, houses an arsenal including missiles with ranges up to 1,550 miles. Iran’s state media framed the reveal as a defiant response to escalating threats from the Trump administration and Israel.

America sending in the big guns: The U.S. has deployed B-2 Spirit stealth bombers to Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, Iran International reports. This is a significant military escalation in the ongoing strikes against Yemen’s Houthis—and as tensions with Iran rise. The deployment, involving at least three bombers alongside support aircraft, underscores America’s intent to project power and deter adversaries in the region. Just how firm this resolve is, from a nation that in many ways is seeking to reduce its military commitments from the rest of the world, remains to be seen.

Back home, a sign of America at war with itself:

These judges really seem to want Tren de Aragua here: Yesterday a federal appeals court in the D.C. Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, upheld a lower court’s temporary block on the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelan migrants accused of being part of the Tren de Aragua gang. The court ruled that the migrants were likely denied due process, as the administration sought to deport them to El Salvador without hearings, under a wartime law not used since World War II. This decision hampers Trump’s immigration agenda, and the administration is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court. This remarkable commitment to individual liberty and the “rule of law” no matter how it constrains the president was almost nowhere to be found during the previous administration.

Parents—take courage from Georgia’s lawmakers: On Tuesday, Georgia’s Senate voted 54-2 to pass House Bill 340, the Distraction-Free Education Act. The measure aims to curb distractions and boost student well-being by banning cellphones and personal electronic devices for students in public elementary and middle schools during school hours, effective July 2026. Now it just needs Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature. At least 19 states in the U.S. have enacted laws or policies that ban or restrict cellphone use in K-12 schools statewide or recommend that local districts implement such measures. The Trumpet has advocated for years to beware the family-destroying effects of such technologies and the benefits to families and individuals in eliminating or at least strictly curbing their use.