🇺🇸/🇻🇪 Trump’s Threat of ‘Secondary Tariffs’ Invents New Trade Tool

President Donald Trump appeared to invent a new economic statecraft tactic on Monday by threatening what he dubbed “secondary tariffs” on countries that buy oil from Venezuela to choke off its oil trade with other nations.

The move was meant to pressure Venezuela for the “tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals” that Trump said Venezuela has sent to the US.

“China is the main actor this is directed at because it’s essentially the black market for Venezuelan oil. They would not have to do secondary tariffs if it wasn’t for China.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-25/trump-s-threat-of-secondary-tariffs-invents-new-trade-weapon

https://archive.is/ZIeUf

🇵🇱 Poland suspends migrants' right to apply for asylum

Poland has temporarily suspended the right of migrants arriving in Poland via its border with Belarus to apply for asylum.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced it would be happening after the controversial bill, which will allow Polish authorities to suspend this right for up to 60 days at a time, was signed into law by President Andrzej Duda.

Tusk had said it would be adopted "without a moment's delay" while Duda said the changes were needed to strengthen security on the country's borders.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8719dl587zo

🇧🇷 Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro to stand trial on coup charges, court rules

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro should stand trial on charges related to an alleged plot to overturn the 2022 election results, the country’s Supreme Court has determined.

Bolsonaro was among 34 people charged last month with five crimes, including attempting a coup d’état. Part of the coup plot, prosecutors allege, involved a plan to potentially assassinate elected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his vice president and a minister of the Supreme Court. Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing.

The court on Wednesday decided unanimously to fully accept the charges against eight of the accused, including Bolsonaro, his vice presidential candidate and other military and political leaders.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/26/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-stand-trial-coup-charges/index.html

🇺🇸🇸🇻 DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on X:

"I toured the CECOT, El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.

President Trump and I have a clear message to criminal illegal aliens: LEAVE NOW.

If you do not leave, we will hunt you down, arrest you, and you could end up in this El Salvadorian prison."

🔗 Sec_Noem

🇿🇦 The South African government admits that it wants to expropriate ANY type of property, not just farms.

Under the new Expropriation Act, the government can legally take anything you own, including your vehicle, personal belongings, and financial assets.

📎 GovernmentZA

🇨🇦/🇺🇸 Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded to Trump’s tariffs.

“We’re going to make sure that we inflict as much pain as possible [on] the American people without inflicting pain on the Canadian population.”

🔗 AF Post

🇳🇱🇪🇺/🇺🇸 Dutch government wants to create “road map” for U.S. withdrawal from Europe

Europe and the United States of America have to create a “road map” with agreements about the U.S. withdrawal, the Minister of Defense, Ruben Brekelmans, has said. "Let us shape the transition together with the United States and not panic."

The Americans have indicated that Europe will have to take much more responsibility regarding their own safety. The U.S. wants to focus more of its attention on Asia. Brekelmans said on Tuesday during a debate in parliament that the U.S. withdraw will not come out of nowhere. “We should not be moving faster than the Americans themselves on this.”

The minister is calling for a road map to be developed for the transition. This document should include what the Americans will do less of in the short term and what Europe will have to take over. This will take years to do as Europe does not have important capacities like satellite communications, air transport, or intelligence.

https://nltimes.nl/2025/03/27/dutch-government-wants-create-road-map-us-withdrawal-europe

🇪🇺/🇺🇸 The EU is considering 'hitting US services exports, including Big Tech’s operations' in retaliation over Trump administration's tariffs, according to the FT.

🔗 The Spectator Index

🇺🇸Republicans are introducing legislation to abolish the TSA

🔗 Leading Report

🇦🇪 Dr Andreas Krieg: Iran has the 'Axis of Resistance' - the UAE has the 'Axis of Secessionists' from Libya, over Yemen, to Sudan and Somalia.

"Paradoxically, yearning for a strong state, Abu Dhabi’s ruling elite has created a network of strongmen whose reliance on armed violence has done more to destabilise central governments and undermine state sovereignty across the region

The UAE’s support for the RSF is just one piece of a much wider networked puzzle, which aims to generate strategic depth through a web of intermediaries. Abu Dhabi has established itself as a hub in a regional network that not only augments the UAE’s limited capacity and status, but creates an organic, self-sustaining system of interdependence, where nodes operate with degrees of autonomy that in turn provide the UAE with plausible deniability"

https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/abu-dhabi-built-axis-secessionists-across-region-how

🔗 andreas_krieg

🇺🇸/🇾🇪 Unclassified Report — Inside America’s 14-day ongoing strike campaign against the Houthi

At least 158 precision air and naval strikes targeting Houthi infrastructure & leadership.

My most detailed brief ever and an unprecedented look at U.S. strike operations in Yemen:

🧵 https://fxtwitter.com/ianellisjones/status/1905749402251415861

🇺🇸 The State Department has officially informed Congress that it will absorb the remaining functions of USAID, effectively dismantling the agency.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/state-department-absorb-remaining-usaid-programming-independent-agency-dismantled

🔗 AF Post

🇵🇪 An Indigenous community in Peru has built one of the largest informal copper mines in the world. Annual revenue: $300 million

It’s not entirely legal, yet its copper flows to top commodity traders.

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-copper-conflict-peru-indigenous-mining/

https://archive.ph/aPAA4

🇸🇴 Somalia Offers What It Doesn’t Control in Desperate Bid for U.S. Support

President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has reportedly written a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, offering exclusive control over key strategic assets in Somalia. The offer includes the ports of Berbera and Bosaso, as well as the airbases of Baledogle and Berbera, in exchange for increased American engagement in the region.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s decision to reach out to the United States comes amidst a rapidly deteriorating security situation in southern Somalia. The FGS has been losing ground in its war against the Al-Shabab militant group, with the government’s control extending little beyond the capital city of Mogadishu.

Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991, has long sought international recognition as a sovereign state. The region has established its own government, currency, and security forces, and has been out of Mogadishu’s control for decades.

Similarly, Puntland, a semi-autonomous region in northeastern Somalia, has also refused to recognize the new constitution of 31 March 2024, withdrawing its recognition of the FGS. Puntland has accused the FGS of failing to consult with regional stakeholders and of attempting to centralize power at the expense of the federal member states.

The assets offered by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to the United States are indeed strategically significant. The ports of Berbera and Bosaso are vital for maritime trade and security in the region. The Berbera port, in particular, has been the subject of international interest, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ethiopia both investing in its development as a regional trade hub. The base’s location, close to the Bab el-Mandeb strait, makes it a valuable asset for monitoring maritime traffic and responding to potential threats.

https://thesomalidigest.com/mogadishu-offers-what-it-doesnt-control-in-desperate-bid-for-u-s-support/