🇺🇸💲❌🇨🇳 — 📰 ZeroHedge | Bessent's Grand Strategy: Use Tariff Negotiations To Isolate China From The Rest Of The World | April 16, 2025:

"(...) Trump laid out the stakes in the ever-escalating trading war between the US and China, in typical laconic fashion: "We may want countries to choose between us and China" (a topic discussed further here), with the White House adding that "The ball is in China’s court. China needs to make a deal with us."

This strategy, of forcing the world into "us (or US) vs them" camps first emerged last week when Trump reduced reciprocal tariffs for all countries except China, something we highlighted at the time.

A few days later, this now appears to be the official strategy in the global trade war."

#WWT

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🇺🇸💲❌🇨🇳 — 📰 The Wall Street Journal | U.S. Plans to Use Tariff Negotiations to Isolate China | Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wants trading partners to limit China’s involvement in their economies in exchange for concessions on reciprocal tariffs | April 15, 2025:

"The Trump administration plans to use ongoing tariff negotiations to pressure U.S. trading partners to limit their dealings with China, according to people with knowledge of the conversations.

The idea is to extract commitments from U.S. trading partners to isolate China’s economy in exchange for reductions in trade and tariff barriers imposed by the White House. U.S. officials plan to use negotiations with more than 70 nations to ask them to disallow China to ship goods through their countries, prevent Chinese firms from locating in their territories to avoid U.S. tariffs, and not absorb China’s cheap industrial goods into their economies.

Those measures are meant to put a dent in China’s already rickety economy and force Beijing to the negotiating table with less leverage ahead of potential talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The exact demands could vary widely by nation, given their degree of involvement with the Chinese economy."

#Geoeconomics #WWT

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🇺🇸🏭❌🏭🇨🇳 — 📰 ZeroHedge | Made In China Vs Made In America | April 16, 2025:

"While China’s status as the world’s largest manufacturing hub seems to be a law of nature these days - one only challenged by President Trump - that hasn’t always been the case. 

In fact, as Statista's Felix Richter shows in the chart below, as recently as 2009, the U.S. trumped China in manufacturing output as measured by total value added in the sector."

#Geoeconomics #WWT

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🇮🇱💬🇺🇸➡️🇸🇾 — 🌟 Ynet | US tells Israel it will begin withdrawing troops from Syria within 2 months | First report: After Trump expressed empathy for Erdogan during his meeting with Netanyahu, Ynet has learned that Washington announced US forces in Syria will begin a phased withdrawal within two months; Israel is warning of the consequences and trying to prevent the move - amid fears that Turkey will take over more strategic assets in the new Syria | April 15, 2025:

"U.S. defense officials have informed their Israeli counterparts that the United States plans to begin a phased withdrawal of its troops from Syria within two months, according to information obtained by Ynet.

Despite previous Israeli efforts to prevent such a move, Washington has made it clear those efforts were unsuccessful. Still, Israeli defense officials are not giving up and continue to press the Biden administration to reconsider.

The planned withdrawal comes as no surprise. Former President Donald Trump, now back in office, had long promised to pull U.S. troops out of the region under his administration’s isolationist doctrine, influenced in part by Vice President J.D. Vance."

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🇮🇷📞🇸🇦 — Chief of Staff of Iranian Armed Forces General Bagheri receives the Saudi Minister of Defense Khalid bin Salman and his accompanying delegation in Tehran.

🇸🇦📞🇮🇷 — Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman delivered a message from the King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Iranian Regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

🇺🇸🌏❌🇾🇪❗️ — United States Central Command announces the Total destruction of Ras Issa Fuel Port in Al-Hodeidah Province, held by Houthi terrorists, in a major warning to "Houthi terrorists and their Iranian masters"

Destruction of Houthi Controlled Ras Isa Fuel Port

The Houthis have continued to benefit economically and militarily from countries and companies that provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. The Iran-backed Houthis use fuel to sustain their military operations, as a weapon of control, and to benefit economically from embezzling the profits from the import. This fuel should be legitimately supplied to the people of Yemen. Despite the Foreign Terrorist Designation that went into effect on 05 April, ships have continued to supply fuel via the port of Ras Isa. Profits from these illegal sales are directly funding and sustaining Houthi terrorist efforts.

Today, US forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorize the entire region for over 10 years. The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis, who continue to exploit and bring great pain upon their fellow countrymen. This strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen, who rightly want to throw off the yoke of Houthi subjugation and live peacefully.

The Houthis, their Iranian masters, and those who knowingly aid and abet their terrorist actions should be put on notice that the world will not accept illicit smuggling of fuel and war material to a terrorist organization.

https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/1912937032059330962

🇮🇱❌🇮🇷❗️ — Israeli preparations for an independent strike in Iran is underway, Israeli N12 News says, citing unspecified foreign reports!

Israel can launch effective assault on Iran's nuclear program even without US support, report says.

🇷🇺❌🇺🇦 — 🇷🇺 SouthFront's high resolution map regarding Ukrainian frontlines

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🇺🇦⚠️⚠️❌🇷🇺 — 🇷🇺 SouthFront's high resolution map regarding Ukrainian strikes on Russian regions.

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🇺🇦❌🇷🇺 — 🇷🇺 SouthFront's high resolution map regarding Kursk front.

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🇷🇺❌🇺🇦 — 🇷🇺 SouthFront's high resolution map regarding Gorlovka front.

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🇷🇺❌🇺🇦 — 🇷🇺 SouthFront's high resolution map regarding Orikhiv front.

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🇷🇺❌🇺🇦 — ⭐️ Rybar:

"Breakthrough to Malaya Tokmachka: situation in the Zaporizhzhya direction as of 20:00 on April 17, 2025

The offensive of Russian troops is developing in the Zaporizhzhya direction. The eastern section of the front remained static for a long time, but since March of this year, units of the Russian Armed Forces have begun to move here, starting to liberate the constitutional territories of Russia occupied by the enemy.

🔻 More about the battles:

▪️ In addition to recent reports of Russian Armed Forces advances in the Mirny and Lugovskoye area, footage has also appeared online showing an attack by Russian armored groups along forest belts from the H-08 highway in the direction of Malaya Tokmachka.

▪️ The exact date of these events is unknown, but footage from the enemy side shows an exit to the eastern administrative borders of the settlement in the area of ​​the railway.

▪️ The situation in the Malaya Tokmachka area remains shrouded in the "fog of war", as a result of which it is currently unknown whether Russian fighters have managed to gain a foothold in the village itself. It is possible that additional details of the Russian Armed Forces' successes in the area will emerge in some time.

📌 At the same time, the very fact of the attack and subsequent advance once again confirms that the vector of attention of the Russian command is gradually beginning to shift to the Zaporizhzhya operational direction , noticeably increasing the intensity of military clashes on the once “frozen” section of the front.

High resolution map"

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🇷🇺❌🇺🇦 — 🖌 AFU StratCom:

"🔱 Operational information as of 08:00 on April 18, 2025 regarding the Russian invasion

❗️ The main point of the summary:

🔵 In total, 143 combat clashes were recorded over the past 24 hours.

🔥 Over the past day, the aviation, missile forces, and artillery of the Defense Forces have struck ten areas of concentration of personnel, weapons, and military equipment, a command post, an air defense system, two missile forces and artillery systems, and a UAV control post of the Russian invaders.

🔵 On the Kharkiv direction, the enemy once tried in vain to advance in the Vovchansk area.

🔵 In the Kupyansk direction, there were four attacks by the invaders yesterday. Defense forces repelled enemy assault actions near Petropavlivka, Synkivka, and Zagryzove.

🔵 In the Lyman direction, the enemy attacked 20 times. He tried to advance near the settlements of Novovodyan, Nadiya, Nove, Novomykhaylivka, Yampolivka and towards Hrekivka and Hryhorivka.

🔵 In the Siversky direction, our troops repelled two enemy attacks near the settlement of Bilogorivka and in the direction of Verkhnyokamyansky.

🔵 In the Kramatorsk direction, the enemy launched eight attacks on the positions of our troops in the areas of Chasovy Yar, Kurdyumivka, and towards Stupochky.

🔵 Over the past day, in the Toretsk direction, the enemy attacked Ukrainian units 11 times near Toretsk, Ozaryanivka, and Druzhba.

🔵 In the Pokrovsky direction, over the past 24 hours, our defenders stopped 64 assault actions of the aggressor in the areas of the settlements of Sukha Balka, Stara Mykolaivka, Zelene Pole, Vodyane Druge, Elizavetivka, Novotoretske, Promin, Lysivka, Kotlyne, Uspenivka, Preobrazhenka, and Andriivka.

🔵 In the Novopavlivka direction, Ukrainian defenders repelled nine attacks by the invaders in the areas of Konstantinopol, Rozlyv, and Pryvilne.

🔵 In the Orikhiv direction, Ukrainian defenders repelled an attack in the area of ​​Malaya Tokmachka.

🔵 In the Kursk region, 21 combat clashes took place over the past day.

❌ The enemy did not conduct offensive operations in the Hulyaipil and Prydniprovsk directions."

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