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The President's Daily Brief
April 10th, 2025: How The World Is Reacting To Trump’s Tariff Pause & Russia’s Spring Offensive Begins
00:22:24
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- [00:01]
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- [00:42]
Mike Baker
It's Thursday, the 10th of April. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll start things off with President Trump hitting pause on his reciprocal tariffs for 90 days. We'll look at the reasons behind the reversal and how the markets reacted to the news. Later in the show, Ukraine's top general says Russia's spring offensive is already underway, centered in the country's northeastern Sumy region. We'll bring you the latest from the front lines. Plus, after slashing foreign aid, the Trump administration is now walking some of it back. Quietly reinstating several programs, including those providing emergency food relief, will explain what's changing and why. And in today's Back of the Brief, an update on a story that we brought you yesterday as Beijing denies that a significant number of Chinese nationals are fighting alongside the Russian army. I guess it just depends on your definition of significant. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. In a whirlwind turnaround, President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday a 90 day pause on a sweeping global reciprocal tariffs, sending stocks soaring after a week of intense market volatility. The announcement came just hours after the reciprocal tariffs officially took effect, though one country was not granted a reprieve. Care to guess which one? While announcing the pause, President Trump singled out China for their, quote, lack of respect when it comes to international trade and said he was raising the tariff on imports from our third largest trading partner from 104% to to a staggering 125% that's effective immediately. We should also mention that a 10% baseline tariff on almost all US imports that was implemented on Saturday will remain in place, as will the 25% tariff on all foreign made automobiles and the 25% global tariff on imported steel and aluminum. Still, investors were jubilant. Look at that. They're jubilant. With the stock market posting one of its largest rallies in history, The S&P 500 climbed more than 9% on the news that's its biggest one day gain since 2008, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended nearly 3,000 points higher, its best day since March 2020. The tech heavy NASDAQ, meanwhile oh, listen to me, I sound just like a business reporter closed up more than 12%, the largest one day jump for the index since 2001 and its second best day ever. That's according to a report from CNBC. The news also quelled fears of a looming economic downturn, at least for now, with Goldman Sachs revising their probability of a recession from 65% down to 45%. And when, of course, was the last time you heard anyone use the word quelled? It's not entirely clear what prompted the turnaround by President Trump, who as recently as Monday said his administration was not considering a pause on the new tariff regime. But in a post to Truth Social on Wednesday, the president said he decided to pump the brakes to allow time for US Officials to negotiate new trade deals with targeted countries. President Trump wrote that more than 75 countries have called to negotiate a solution. He added that since none of these countries, unlike China, have implemented retaliatory measures since he unveiled his tariffs, he was more than happy to give them a little more breathing room to work on finding a resolution saying, quote, you have to have flexibility. The White House may have also been influenced by the bloodbath on Wall street over the past week, which erased trillions of dollars from stock markets and caused a spike in U.S. government bond yields, according to a report from Reuters. President Trump said Wednesday that he, quote, saw last night that people were getting a little queasy, a little yippee when it comes to China. However, he vowed to continue tightening the economic screws, saying hopefully in the near future China will realize that the days of ripping off the US and other countries no longer sustainable or acceptable. For now, the White House officials said they would not be releasing a list of the more than 75 countries that have reached out to negotiate, though analysts said that the eu, the European Union is likely at the top of the list. On Monday, EU leaders offered to eliminate all industrial tariffs on the U.S. but President Trump did not appear to be swayed by the idea at the time. Just ahead of the tariff pause On Wednesday, the 27 member European bloc voted to approve a 25% retaliatory tariff on some $18 billion worth of U.S. goods, though the levies were not set to be implemented until April 15 and are now expected to be paused as negotiations get underway. U.S. treasury Secretary Scott Bessen argued that Trump had used the threat of tariffs to create maximum negotiating leverage for himself. Bessen said, quote, this was his strategy all along. And you might even say that he goaded China into a bad position. They responded. They have shown themselves, he said to the world, to be the bad actor, end quote. Trump later said that he remains open to negotiations with China, but would first prioritize trade talks with nations that did not officially enact retaliatory measures. Over the past week, it's been a whiplash inducing saga when it comes to Trump and his tariffs. And while investors are celebrating well, the complex work of negotiating new trade terms with the rest of the world is just beginning. It's a huge task, especially with just a three month window to execute. Economic uncertainty also remains regarding the escalating tariff war with China, given that they export some $400 billion in goods to the US each year. But when it comes to next steps, Trump struck an optimistic tone, saying, quote, we'll see how it all works out. I think it's going to work out amazing. End quote. All right. Coming up next, Ukraine says Russia's spring offensive is underway near Sumy. And the Trump administration quietly walks back some of its foreign aid cuts, reinstating key food relief programs. Those stories when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Have you heard about the Maha movement? Of course. I'm talking about the Make America Healthy Again movement. It's all about inspiring people to make fitness a priority. And that is so important. It's why I'm excited to be working with Don Mastello and the team at Jacked Up Fitness. Look, their commercial grade Power Rack Pro has everything you need for a full body workout at home. The cable crossover system with integrated 200 pound weight stacks and the Smith machine allows you to do hundreds of exercises. 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- [08:43]
Josh Hammer
A china shop, Donald Trump came in to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C. but with his bullshit bold reform and rejuvenation agenda comes so many legal questions. Nationwide injunctions. Are they constitutional? What's the deal with birthright citizenship? What about the administrative state? Can he actually clean the deep state and end the politicization of the federal bureaucracy? I'm Josh Hammer, host of America on Trial with Josh Hammer. Subscribe to America on Trial with Josh Hammer for your daily updates on all of these questions and more.
- [09:14]
Mike Baker
Welcome back to the pdb. In an interview Wednesday, Ukraine's military chief confirmed that Russia has launched a new offensive in northeastern Ukraine as large assaults are being observed in possible defiance of President Trump, who's weighing whether Moscow is serious about peace. Oh well, here's a spoiler alert. They're not. In an interview Wednesday with Ukrainian news outlet lb, military chief Oleksandr Serki confirmed what Ukrainian President Zelensky previously warned for the Sumy region in February, stating this offensive has already begun. The military chief added that Russian attacks across the front line have nearly doubled in the past week. In the Kremlin's latest push, the heaviest concentration appears along Ukraine's northeastern border and in the embattled Donetsk region since late March. Ukrainian units in drone surveillance reported a sharp uptick in Russian movements of vehicle caravans, troop deployments and tactical units now massing with renewed coordination and aggression. In Donetsk, the Kremlin is applying pressure near a key logistics hub that Kyiv once used to stage reinforcements and supplies. A Ukrainian reconnaissance officer told local press that Russian forces are advancing in larger numbers, backed by armor and fresh manpower. The officer stated, quote, we see it on the drone footage and we hear them talking about it on the radio intercepts. The chatter suggests that Moscow is laying the groundwork to encircle Ukrainian positions in the area to the south, the fight for control of a village in Zaporizhzhia is intensifying. Should Russian units break through to the border, it would mark the first time since early 2022 that Russia has brought new Ukrainian territory under partial occupation. The Ukrainian military mapping platform Deep State now places Russian forces within four miles of the region, prompting evacuations along the border, as longtime PDB listeners may recall. Along Ukraine's northeastern front, near Russia's Kursk region, Ukrainian forces are retreating amid a 30% spike in engagements since 23 March. That's according to Ukraine's General Staff. While Ukrainian commanders point to signs of dwindling Russian armor as a potential limiting factor, they concede that Moscow's strategy of relentless waves of ground troops continues to pose an encirclement risk there. In some areas, officials report Russian casualties of up to 50 troops per day. And yet Russia's territorial gains remain modest. Britain's Ministry of Defense reports that Russia's rate of advance has declined from 280 square miles in November to just 55 in March. For reference, that's roughly the size of Washington, D.C. despite Trump's signals that he may soon reevaluate Russia's willingness to engage in peace talks, Moscow appears to be escalating its war effort. Instead, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that Trump is expected to decide, quote, in a matter of weeks on whether the Kremlin's actions indicate any genuine interest in ending the conflict. So far, the signs point in the opposite direction. Yeah, that would be the case. Shifting to the US President Trump's administration has reportedly reversed course on foreign aid cuts, restoring several emergency food assistance programs just days after scrapping them. At the center of the storm is USAID Acting Deputy Administrator Jeremy Lewin, who has previously been identified as a member of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or doge. Internal emails obtained by Reuters reveal that Lewin instructed staff Tuesday to reverse terminations of at least six recently canceled U.S. foreign aid programs for emergency food assistance. These included World Food Program, or wfp, initiatives in Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Iraq and Ecuador, regions where food insecurity remains acute. Sources also confirmed his restoration of four additional grants to to the International Organization for Migration across the Pacific, suggesting a selective yet sweeping rollback. In a message to USAID staff, Lewin acknowledged the chaos, writing, quote, sorry for all the back and forth on awards, adding, quote, there are a lot of stakeholders and we need to do better about balancing these competing interests. But not all programs have been revived. Emergency funding for Taliban controlled Afghanistan and Houthi held Yemen remain suspended. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the Trump administration had, quote, serious concerns that aid in those countries might benefit terror groups. Bruce told reporters Tuesday, quote, there were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not meant to be cut that have been rolled back and put back into place while insisting that the administration remains committed to humanitarian assistance. The reversal came just one day after the administration had terminated over $1.3 billion in foreign aid across more than a dozen countries, including Somalia and Syria. According to Stand up for Aid, an advocacy group of current and former American officials, WFP contracts canceled over the weekend accounted for more than $463 million. Among those cuts, the most severely affected country was Somalia, where nearly $170 million in WFP funds for food assistance, child nutrition and humanitarian air support had been slashed. In Syria, $111 million in food aid was cut. The World Food Program warned Monday that the loss of USAID could amount to a death sentence for those dependent on food aid. Humanitarian organizations and lawmakers quickly sounded alarms, decrying the cuts as catastrophic and demanding an immediate reversal. It appears their pressure worked, at least in part. Officials say mounting unrest from within the administration, as well as blowback from Capitol Hill drove the last minute pivot. Still, the landscape remains unsettled and aid operations in several regions remain in bureaucratic limbo, subject to rapid fire reversals and opaque decision making. From Washington, according to Reuters, the overhaul's principle is to eventually fold USAID into the State Department, a restructuring that critics argue would slash its independence. Senate Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee minced no words. Oh, they were mincing no words in a letter sent Tuesday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling the plan unconstitutional, illegal, unjustified, damaging and and inefficient, end quote. I guess they ran out of other negative words. For now. While a portion of the aid has been restored, the broader instability surrounding U.S. foreign assistance has left humanitarian groups and recipient nations on edge. And in today's Back of the Brief, an update on a story that we covered yesterday. Beijing now flatly denies reports that large numbers of Chinese nationals are fighting alongside Russian troops. We'll have those details next. In today's Back of the Brief, an update on that story we brought you yesterday about Chinese nationals being captured while fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. Chinese officials are denying the reports, calling the allegations, quote, entirely unfounded. Ukrainian President Zelensky said over the weekend that Ukrainian forces had detained two Chinese citizens in the Donetsk region, accusing them of operating with Russian military units. According to Zelensky, Ukrainian intelligence now believes as many as 150 Chinese nationals may have been recruited to fight for Russia. Beijing quickly responded, rejecting the claims and stating it had received no such confirmation from Ukrainian authorities. A spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry said the government has strict rules prohibiting Chinese citizens from joining foreign militaries or participating in overseas conflicts. The spokesperson added that China was seeking more information through diplomatic channels and reiterated that the country has not provided any military assistance to either side in the war. That's what they claimed. The truth is, Chinese economic support to Russia over the past three years has kept Putin's war machine chugging along. The Chinese government, with a straight face, also emphasized its, quote, neutral position on the war in Ukraine. Sorry, I tried to say that without laughing, something it has maintained publicly since Russia's full scale invasion began. Still, the capture of Chinese nationals, if confirmed, would be a major development, of course, potentially drawing Beijing deeper into the geopolitical fallout of the conflict. So far, there is no public evidence that the Chinese government has sent troops to assist Russia. However, intelligence officials in both Ukraine and the west have long warned about growing military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, including the transfer of dual use technologies and battlefield equipment. Analysts caution that even a limited number of Chinese fighters on the ground, especially if tied to unofficial militias or private security contractors, could further complicate Beijing's efforts to remain above the fray diplomatically. The presence of Chinese nationals in a Russian uniform, even unofficially, would be a major diplomatic headache for Beijing. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily brief for Thursday, 10 April. Now, if you have any questions or comments, and I hope you do, please reach out to me@pdbhefirsttv.com and to listen to this show ad free. Well, it's simple. Become a premium member of the President's Daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.