zerohedge

Japanese Carmakers Face Catastrophic Profit Hit From Trump’s Auto Tariffs

As the fallout from Trump’s tariff plans comes into relief, a harsh truth is emerging for the automotive industry: there are lots of losers and not many winners. But foreign automakers, those without US facilities, will be hit especially hard. 

As Bloomberg notes, from South Korea’s Hyundai to Germany’s Volkswagen, and to a lesser extent America’s own General Motors, many of the world’s most prominent carmakers will soon face higher costs from Trump’s new levies on auto imports and key components. That’s because about 46% of all new cars sold in the US are imported.

“There are very few winners,” Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions, said in a phone interview. “Consumers will be losers because they will have reduced choice and higher prices.”

One notable winner in the tariff chaos is Elon Musk. His Tesla, which has large factories in California and Texas, churns out all the electric vehicles it sells in the US, although as Elon noted late on Wednesday, the company will also not remain unscathed.

Important to note that Tesla is NOT unscathed here. The tariff impact on Tesla is still significant.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2025

Ford could also face a less-severe impact than some rivals, with about 80% of the cars it sells in the US being built domestically.

Others will be less lucky: starting April 2, the new 25% tariffs will apply to all imported passenger vehicles and light trucks, as well as key parts like engines, transmissions. 

Not surprisingly, the tariffs give automakers that heavily source parts in the US an edge, and Trump also allowed an exemption: the new levies will only apply to the non-US share of vehicles and parts imported under a free-trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. That may soften the blow for vehicles whose supply lines zig-zag across the continent. 

Tariffs on parts from Canada and Mexico that comply with the trade deal also won’t take effect until the US sets up a process to collect those levies. The US neighbors could use that window to try to stave off full implementation, even if it’s a long shot.

And while NAFTA, pardon USMCA, nations will do everything in their power to be loopholed out, foreign brands heavily reliant on imported vehicles are fresh out of luck. South Korea’s auto giant Hyundai risks being among the hardest hit: although the carmaker and its affiliate Kia have plants in Alabama and Georgia, and just yesterday announced a $21 billion US expansion plan, it imported more than a million vehicles to the US last year, accounting for more than half of its sales in the country, according to figures from Global Data. 

Hyundai “remains committed to the long-term growth of the US automotive industry through localized production and innovation,” the company said in a statement, noting it employs 570,000 people in the US. Unfortunately, according to Trump, it should employ many more, and if the company – which imports almost 60% of the cars it sells in the US -…

Watch: Dumbest Anti-Musk Activist Yet, Rams ATV Into Bulletproof Cybertruck

We present readers with what may be one of the dumbest, most brainwashed, unhealthiest, lowest IQ, and unhinged Democrat yet—a morbidly obsessed activist who slammed his ATV into the driver’s side of a Tesla Cybertruck, an incident likely linked to radical far-left political grievances captured by the vehicle’s Sentry Mode security cameras. 

Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt wrote on X, “This guy was arrested today after ramming his mini four-wheeler into a Cybertruck,” adding, “Little did he know that the Cybertruck has 1.8mm bulletproof stainless-steel doors capable of taking some heavy hits. He was charged with one count of felony criminal mischief & failure to identify.”

This guy was arrested today after ramming his mini four-wheeler into a Cybertruck.
Little did he know that the Cybertruck has 1.8mm bulletproof stainless-steel doors capable of taking some heavy hits. He was charged with one count of felony criminal mischief & failure to… pic.twitter.com/acludqm3tq
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) March 26, 2025
On Saturday, the FBI released a statement warning about the “nationwide incidents—arson, gunfire, and vandalism targeting Tesla EVs, dealerships, and charging stations in 9+ states, linked to political grievances.” 

PSA: FBI warns of nationwide incidents—arson, gunfire, and vandalism targeting Tesla EVs, dealerships, and charging stations in 9+ states, linked to political grievances. The #FBI urges vigilance and awareness around Tesla locations. https://t.co/1i97kbOgKB pic.twitter.com/jwWUKpvxoM
— FBI (@FBI) March 22, 2025
Democrats are being caught on camera destroying Tesla vehicles nationwide, and this is an optically displeasing look for the party, which is imploding with ratings at record-low levels. 

The destruction of private property by unhinged Democrats will haunt the party of Marxist radicals in the next election cycle because the ‘America First’ party will put all these clips into a montage of stupidity and remind the nation of who committed violent acts of domestic terrorism… 

There have been over a dozen violent attacks on Tesla stores and service centers across the U.S. that include shootings, arson and bombings.
Are we witnessing a rise in trans terrorism?
Subscribe and watch my new video: pic.twitter.com/euOQuqpjMg
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) March 21, 2025

FBI NOW PROBING TESLA ARSON AS TERRORISM
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is now investigating a firebomb attack on Tesla’s Las Vegas facility after a suspect torched cars with Molotov cocktails and fired into vehicles.
Trump has vowed to treat Tesla vandals as… https://t.co/awbZITbhvF pic.twitter.com/vHCs5TYzgv
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 19, 2025

More idiots.  

Another lunatic liberal was caught on camera keying a Tesla..
Make him famous.. pic.twitter.com/JycN9NyPuW
— American AF (@iAnonPatriot) March 22, 2025

This guy drove up next to a Tesla just to key it and drove away in California. Make him famous on 𝕏 pic.twitter.com/NkGnwxvxul
— MAGA Voice (@MAGAVoice) March 23, 2025

Another white liberal woman caught on camera keying a Tesla. pic.twitter.com/56hLFzyItv
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) March 25, 2025
To combat far-left domestic terrorists, Tesla quietly updated the Cybertruck’s webpage to include a new Sentry Mode feature. These updates for Tesla vehicle owners are expected shortly. 

Meanwhile…

Anti-Musk NGO Behind Color Revolution Against Tesla “Mass Deletes Content Off Website” After Being Exposed https://t.co/D6t3WanLJo
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 26, 2025
. . . 

Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/26/2025 – 18:00…

Import The Vote!

Authored by Robert Aro via the MisesInstitute,

You wake up tomorrow, finding that in a vote you never thought possible, Ben Bernanke (D), former Chair of the Federal Reserve, has just been installed as President of the United States. Making matters worse, the election in 37 days will secure his position, possibly for the next five years. The other wrinkle, New York City, in addition to all swing states, needs to vote Republican in order to remove him.

…That’s basically what elections are like in Canada… 

Looking at the projections, which were highly inaccurate for the American election, Canada has 343 seats in Parliament to fill (electoral ridings).

CPC (Conservatives/blue) have 126 versus LPC (Liberals/red) having 185; it’s a First Past the Post (FPTP) system, so first to 172 votes takes all. Playing around with the numbers sheds light on the issue, i.e., it seems slanted towards one party. For example, even if the Conservatives win the four maritime provinces considered Liberal strongholds, and Manitoba (MB) in the middle, they’d still only have 162 votes and inevitably lose.

Testing various combinations, the election truly hinges on winning in at least one of the three biggest cities, Toronto, Montreal, and/or Vancouver. Toronto for example had 25 ridings last election.

Like the USA, major cities are notorious for voting “left,” as last election all votes in Toronto went to the Liberal Party.

Naturally, the riding lines rely on guesswork and the bias of its creators. Although the majority of Canadians couldn’t even tell you whose job this is, the calculation looks something like this:

The formula yields some interesting results. Looking at the voter results from 2021:

It’s not uncommon that the party who wins the popular vote manages to lose the election. In 2021 with almost 300,000 less votes than the Conservatives, the Liberals won, ruling over a country of 38 million people via 5.164 million voters.

The election process never seemed quite right in Canada. Through various X posts and the Joe Rogan interview where Elon Musk discusses his experience with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the election strategy becomes quite elucidating. In the interview, Elon says (1:05:30 min) that without massive entitlements to draw foreigners, Democrats would lose a massive number of voters. 

A recent headline from Reuters gives great context:

New York State’s top court on Thursday struck down a New York City law that would have permitted more than 800,000 legal non-citizens to vote in municipal elections.

Musk spoke of this again just last week to Ted Cruz, saying:

By using entitlements fraud, the Democrats have been able to attract and retain vast numbers of illegal immigrants.

Should humanity have a future, one can only imagine how this epoch in time is described, where elected officials happily flooded their countries with foreigners in an attempt to enshrine the vote in their favor.

The abstract from the 177-page UN report titled: Replacement Migration, from 2000, illustrates the idea. Based on predictions by the few, being an aging and declining population, requires:

… comprehensive reassessments of many established policies and programmes [SIC], including those relating to international migration. Focusing on these…

Robert Lighthizer: “We’re In A Cold War, A Second Cold War Now”

“A lot of us who were sort of united in this Cold War, particularly in the early years, it kind of brought the country together. We realized we were in a Cold War. Indeed, I think we’re in a Cold War, a second Cold War now,” former US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Tucker Carlson on a podcast last week while discussing topics ranging from the current failing trade system to trade deficits and more.

Continuing the second Cold War theme, we told readers in 2022 that “The New Cold War Has Begun.”

Over the last decade, the US spent $8.4 trillion on defense, while the rest of NATO spent a fraction of that, around $3.8 trillion.

The ‘Trump Effect’ has created an urgent need for EU countries to boost defense spending in a world where rising geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia drive global superpowers to modernize their armed forces.

In the Americas, Trump has been bolstering efforts to increase hemispheric defense, whether stronger economic integration between the US and Canada or a hardened defense perimeter stretching from the Arctic to the Panama Canal.

Let’s visualize Trump’s hemispheric defense that ultimately will deter China … 

Lighthizer’s view of a second Cold War taking shape is correct. 

Proxy conflicts between global superpowers, an accelerating arms and AI race, economic sanctions, trade wars, and cyber warfare are some of the classic hallmarks of a new Cold War unfolding for the last decade. 

Regarding global military expenditures, Goldman analyst Germaine Khong told clients that the figure topped $2.6 trillion in 2024, accounting for 2.4% of GDP – up from 2.2% in 2021-22, with much of the increase coming from European and Asian countries. 

Khong cited the Geopolitical Risk (GPR) index, a measure of adverse geopolitical events and associated risks based on a count of newspaper headlines covering geopolitical tensions, which finds heightened perceived risk and tension amid conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, as well as a worsening Sino-U.S. trade war. 

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Aerospace & Defense-focused funds have been ripping higher and have received inflows totaling $12 billion, with AUM quadrupling to $24 billion, according to Khong, citing fund flow data from EPFR. 

In a separate note, Goldman analyst Sven Jari Stehn and others expect EU defense spending to jump from 1.9% of GDP in 2024 to 2.8% in 2027.

We expect defence spending to increase significantly across the currency union, from 1.9% of GDP in 2024 to 2.8% by 2027 (Exhibit 1, left). We then look for defence spending to eventually reach 3% according to our analysis of Europe’s military needs. In Germany, defence spending already increased from 1.5% before 2022 to 2.1% in 2024 and will from now on be largely exempted from the constitutional debt brake (Exhibit 1, right). In France, a multi-annual budget law already enshrines defence spending of 2% until 2030, and political leaders broadly concur on further increases. In Italy and Spain, the increase in defence will start from a lower level—at 1.4% and…

The Real Importance Of The Latest Russian-Pakistani Naval Drills

Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,

Pakistan continues relying on Russia to pragmatically rebalance ties with China…

The Russian and Pakistani Navies conducted a passing exercise (PASSEX) in the Arabian Sea last week. This is a standard drill, “during which communication and interaction between them are checked in a military situation or when providing humanitarian assistance”, according to Izvestia. It therefore wasn’t a big deal even though some observers, both within their respective countries and India, might hype it up given those two’s impressive rapprochement over the past decade.

This analysis here from late January explained why Russian-Pakistani defense ties will likely remain limited, namely because of the respect that Russia has for India’s sensitivities and due to Pakistan’s military-technical dependence on China, which disincentivize one another from taking such ties further. Their closer military cooperation in recent years (almost exclusively anti-terrorist and naval drills), however, have been interpreted in the following three ways by observers.

Some believe that Pakistan is pivoting away from the US towards Russia; others that Pakistan is pragmatically rebalancing its ties with China via Russia; while some think that Russia is doing the same with India via Pakistan. The second one is the closest to reality since Pakistan returned to the US’ sphere of influence after spring 2022’s post-modern coup against former Prime Minister Imran Khan while Russia relies on India as a means of preemptively averting disproportionate dependence on China.

It therefore doesn’t compute that Pakistan would pivot away from the US towards Russia, let alone without the US doing anything to obstruct this trend, or that Russia would disrespect India’s sensitivities. Even so, there are some in Russia’s “global media ecosystem” who push the first narrative to craft the optics that Russia “poached” a top US partner, while some in Pakistan’s domestic media ecosystem push the second since it crafts complementary optics of their country “poaching” a top Indian one.

That last narrative is also pushed or implied by some US-friendly Indian commentators so as to misportray Russia as an unreliable partner in order to then justify pivoting towards the US at the expense of India’s strategic ties with Russia on this emotive but nevertheless false pretext. As was written, the only one of the three that’s related to reality is the narrative that Pakistan is pragmatically rebalancing its ties with China via Russia, but with the caveat that this is being done with tacit US approval.

This analysis here from mid-December explained the rationale, namely that private American companies can’t compete with state-run Russian ones for modernizing Pakistan’s resource infrastructure, and obstructing Russia’s associated inroads in Pakistan would only deepen Pakistan’s dependence on China. It therefore follows that the US shouldn’t impede what’ll ultimately be the limited expansion of Russian-Pakistani ties in strategic spheres if it truly wants to see other countries rebalance their ties with China.

Pakistan’s de facto military regime also knows that their country’s closeness with China was one of the implicit pretexts upon which the US pressured it in the past so high-profile engagement with Russia, especially in the context of the nascent Russian-US “New Détente”, might help alleviate some of that….

The Golden Dome: We Have The Tools To Build It Right Now

Authored by Tory Bruno via RealClearWire,

Recently during President Trump’s State of the Union, he declared: “As commander in chief, my focus is on building the most powerful military of the future. As a first step, I’m asking Congress to fund a state-of-the-art Golden Dome missile defense shield to protect our homeland, all made in the USA.”

Also referred to as an “Iron Dome,” a Golden Dome is a pretty awesome rebranding of the current Israeli missile defense system and a new initiative to protect the US from missile and hypersonic attack. President Trump is right—we absolutely want one, and it is finally possible.

Ballistic missiles are the weapons of choice for our adversaries to strike the U.S. homeland from far away. Our most sophisticated adversaries are also developing the dreaded maneuvering hypersonic weapon which is capable of defeating today’s missile defenses.

A ballistic missile would arrive in minutes, be hard to see, and come in blisteringly fast. That’s because they are launched with rockets, the fasted delivery systems on earth, making this threat really tough to counter. Enter the missile defense interceptor.

If you want to stop a rocket, you use another rocket. An interceptor flies out at high velocity into the path of the incoming warhead, destroying it in midair. Its radar detects an incoming warhead and alerts your Battle Management System that aims and fires. All this only takes a few minutes. It’s like shooting clay pigeons. The interceptor is wicked fast, but so is the warhead, so we aim at a point in front of the target, so they arrive at that spot together.

The marquis example is THAAD, which I developed a few years ago. It utilizes a powerful radar and an interceptor that flies at twice the speed of a rifle bullet. The radar can also be tipped off by a SBIRS satellite, allowing it to focus and pick up the warhead earlier. THAAD is ideal for short range to medium range threats, but it can also handle ICBMs within a smaller area. It can operate above the atmosphere or closer in, where decoys will be stripped away. It’s a great underlay for systems designed to defend large swaths of the country from ICBMs and works well with its own underlay of systems like Patriot that defend against cruise missiles. Layering is vital.

Israel’s Iron Dome system is quite good, but there’s one big challenge when we look at the United States: geography. Israel is only 85 miles wide vs. America’s 2,600 miles. But don’t worry, it turns out that we already have the most capable missile defense technology in the world. We just need more of them… Plus one extra for the dreaded hypersonic.

The United States requires a three-layered defense: 

An ICBM killer that takes a first shot and efficiently covers the entire country, 

a sea-based system off our coasts, and 

a regional defender providing an underlay for population centers.

Today, we have Ground-Based Midcourse Defense in Alaska. 

It’s there for North Korean ICBMs. It also…

Scambodia: Insiders Reveals How Major Money Laundering Network Gets Away With It

Every few weeks, fireworks explode across the night sky in Cambodia. These displays, however, are not festive celebrations or cultural ceremonies. Rather, they are the bold salutes of online scammers marking their most lucrative swindles – each colorful burst signaling the a successful operation on an unsuspecting target.

Victims worldwide lose tens of billions of dollars annually to scams involving romance fraud, fake cryptocurrency platforms, and investment hoaxes. Once stolen, the money disappears quickly, funnelled into a complex international money-laundering network designed to swiftly erase any trace of its illegal origins. Authorities across the globe—including the FBI, China’s Ministry of Public Security, and Interpol—have tried repeatedly to curb this phenomenon. Telecom companies block suspicious numbers, banks issue urgent warnings, and law enforcement agencies execute raids. Yet the scams continue, resilient as ever, according to some actual journalism by the NY Times.
Some Huione Pay branches advertise money-exchange services, including converting between Tether cryptocurrency and U.S. dollars. (NY Times)

Transactions within this network are predominantly denominated in Tether, which allows scammers to swiftly move money across borders and through a web of intermediaries known as “money mules,” obscuring its illicit origins.

The Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, and coastal city Sihanoukville serve as global hubs for these sophisticated money-laundering operations. In Phnom Penh, a sprawling financial conglomerate called Huione Group presents itself as a reputable enterprise with legitimate commercial activities across Southeast Asia. Huione’s recognizable QR codes are everywhere in Cambodia, facilitating transactions at hotels, supermarkets, and restaurants. Its advertisements line highways, highlighting services ranging from banking to insurance.

Integral to the money laundering operations are individuals called “matchmakers,” trusted intermediaries who connect scammers to money mules. These mules manage the bank accounts or cryptocurrency wallets that swiftly funnel the stolen funds. Transactions are strategically divided into amounts below reporting thresholds such as $10,000, and moved quickly, often converted into Tether within hours or days, greatly complicating law enforcement’s ability to trace the money’s path.

The network profits at every step. Huione affiliates earn fees for escrow services and charge for advertisements and transactions conducted on their platforms. Remarkably, this marketplace has even launched its own cryptocurrency, further facilitating illicit financial flows.

Documents reviewed in the investigation detail a highly organized system operated by a Huione affiliate known as Huione International Pay. Based at the conglomerate’s Phnom Penh headquarters, departments within this affiliate meticulously track mule accounts in numerous countries, manage customer relations with scammers, and actively monitor relevant online platforms like Telegram.
Huione International Pay operates out of the conglomerate’s headquarters in Phnom Penh, according to two people familiar with the operation. (NY Times)

The scale of this criminal enterprise is staggering. Analytics firms Elliptic and Chainalysis have traced approximately $26.8 billion in cryptocurrency transactions since 2021 back to the illicit marketplace run by Huione affiliates. One Telegram channel alone, aptly named “Demand and Supply,” had over 400,000 active users exchanging hundreds of daily messages about money-laundering services before being shut down briefly by Telegram after an inquiry….

NYC’s Congestion Toll Might Not Be Going Away After All

All of a sudden, it looks like New York City’s congestion pricing may not be going away after all…

That’s because with just a day left before the Trump administration’s March 21 deadline for New York to scrap its congestion pricing toll, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a 30-day extension on Thursday, according to Yahoo Finance.

Though he reiterated the demand for Gov. Kathy Hochul to end the $9 daily fee for most drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street, Duffy cited ongoing talks as reason for the delay.

Duffy said on X: “The federal government and @POTUS are putting New York on notice. Your refusal to end cordon pricing and your open disrespect towards the federal government is unacceptable.”

“We will provide New York with a 30-day extension as discussions continue. Know that the billions of dollars the federal government sends to New York are not a blank check. Continued noncompliance will not be taken lightly,” he added.

Rep. Jerry Nadler responded on Thursday: “Let me be clear, these attacks on congestion pricing are an attack on New York’s sovereignty. New York has the right to govern itself, to implement policies that improve the lives of its residents, and to make decisions that benefit our infrastructure and our economy.”

The Yahoo Finance article says that MTA CEO Janno Lieber has said the toll will stay unless a judge says otherwise.

Meant to ease traffic and fund MTA projects, the $9 fee was approved last year and began in January.

In February, Duffy claimed to revoke a key federal approval—granted under his predecessor—sparking Trump to call himself “king” online. The MTA sued, calling Duffy’s move unconstitutional; the Trump administration hasn’t responded in court.

This isn’t the first time the feds have threatened transit funds. In a recent letter, Duffy demanded crime stats—most already public—and warned of “redirecting or withholding funding” if unmet by March 31.

MTA says it’s happy to help find the data.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 03/24/2025 – 05:45…

The Dissolution Of The US Agency For Global Media Could Lead To A Revival Of American Soft Power

Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,

American soft power operations in this new era that’ll likely follow USAID and USAGM’s far-reaching reforms under Trump 2.0 will be more creative, appealing, and effective than all that came before.

Trump’s Executive Order last week eliminating the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the rationale of which was explained here as regards to stopping the state’s funding of ideologically radical propaganda, has been condemned by critics as a deathblow to American soft power. 

That body is responsible for Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia, among several other foreign-focused outlets. 

It’s therefore understandable why some are concerned about the consequences.

The reality though is that their operations will probably resume after some time, albeit through what’ll likely be public-private partnerships abroad instead of purely state-run enterprises inside the US, and only with like-minded partners that share Trump 2.0’s populist-nationalist worldview. To elaborate, the $950 million that the USAGM requested for this year could be put to more effective use funding foreign experts, influencers, media, etc. who are from the places whose public the US wants to influence.

That was already happening through USAID, which is also being gutted and transformed as was explained here in early February, so it’ll either return to its original focus on physical development projects or divide information warfare responsibilities with whatever remains of USAGM. In any case, the point is that USAGM’s influence operations and USAID’s more direct meddling ones are expected to be less centralized than before and outsourced to a much greater degree as a result of Trump 2.0’s reforms.

They’ll also be optimized by replacing their ideologically radical agenda with his team’s much more pragmatic one, which resonates with a much wider audience, and relying a lot more on informed figures abroad who have a better sense of the local pulse than DC-based bureaucrats do. The end result is that American soft power will be less visibly connected to the US, more effectively fine-tuned for targeted audiences, and promoted by what can be described as many more “agents of influence” than before.

It’s this final point that captures the essence of Trump’s reforms. As a successful businessman, Trump appreciates the free market, ergo why he envisages liberating the so-called “marketplace of ideas” from what he considers to be USAID and USAGM’s overbearing influence. Instead of keeping that marketplace “unfree” by letting them continue dictating editorial preferences, he wants to reduce their roles mostly to funding and supervising like-minded foreign contractors who’ll then function as “agents of influence”.

The problem though is that their host countries could replicate the US’ FARA like Georgia recently did to identify which broadcasters, influencers, media, etc. are receiving foreign funding and then obligate them to inform their audience of this so that they can keep it in mind when consuming their content. Additional responsibilities could also be mandated to make such arrangements too onerous for many to agree to, such as regular and detailed reporting of their…