Dear John,
In the week where Donald Trump took
office in the White House for the second time, enacting a host of
damaging executive orders in the process, here is your Weekend
Wire…
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Government
of the billionaires, by the billionaires, for the
billionaires |
The sight of Donald Trump becoming
the 47th President was as sobering as it was predictable.
Inaugurations have historically been moments for political victors and
losers alike to come together and display a united front for the
United States of America. But this was no ordinary inauguration as the
new President became the first in over 100 years to promise to expand American
territories.
Rarely in modern history have the
United States been so divided, and its politics so fraught and
contentious. The inauguration was marked by uncharacteristic chants of
“USA USA”, but it was the make-up of those in attendance which most
drew the eye with the design of the inauguration, symbolic and almost
certainly intentional.
A lot has been made of the
oligarchic developments within America, and fears that the powerful
tech barons have reincarnated the robber barons of the past. Those fears were all but
confirmed when Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos et al sat ominously in front of the new Trump
cabinet in a clear show of
strength and an illustration of why each man has kissed the ring of
the new Emperor in Washington.
Perhaps the clearest indication of
the next four years came in two separate parts of his speech at the
inauguration; firstly he promised to withdraw from the Paris Climate
Change Accord, whilst also outlining the ambitious task of landing Americans on Mars during his Presidency. Ambition no doubt,
but ambition for who? The decision to leave the Paris climate
agreement and “Drill,
baby, drill”, leaves international efforts to mitigate climate
disaster near paralysed, whilst the promise to launch an
(unimaginably) expensive public spending spree on reaching Mars whilst
cutting various welfare and health access protections illustrates who
Trump is President for.
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Evidently in a constant state of
campaign, President Trump hotfooted it over to a rally for his adoring
fans following the inauguration, where he broke with tradition and
signed his first executive orders to the glee of his followers. From
renaming the Gulf of Mexico, claiming that he is going to take back
the Panama Canal and withdrawing from the World Health Organisation,
Trump was in full swing.
Once he had returned to the White
House, Trump continued to show exactly who he was President for. In
pardoning the rioters of January 6th, Trump has legitimised
political violence and given the green light for crimes committed in
his name and for his cause. Likening the rioters to “hostages”, Trump
also opened the door to a more prominent role of far-right
organisations like the Proud Boys in his government.
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Trump vs the
Constitution |
Historically, Americans have viewed
their constitution as sacrosanct and an invaluable protection against
tyranny. On his first day, the new President went to war with the
constitution. His executive order that would remove American
citizenship rights for those born in the country is a direct affront to the 14th
Amendment and has sparked
widespread fury and legal challenges across the country.
It is the role of the Supreme
Court to strike down any legislation or Presidential order deemed to
be unconstitutional and so this will be an important test for the
separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive. In his
previous term Trump packed the Supreme Court with loyalists to the extent that six out
of the nine are openly sympathetic to Trump’s agenda.
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It was notable that Trump
namechecked William McKinley, the last President to make good use of
tariffs and expand American territory just before the beginning of the
gilded age.
For Trump’s new ‘golden age’ it is
clear he is targeting success through the same mechanisms. Mexico and
Canada have been again threatened by 25% tariffs on all goods, whilst
the UK and European Union are also in the firing
line for the new
administration as early as next weekend. However, in slightly more
positive news (rare this week), Trump announced that tariffs of only 10% would be enacted on China, rather than the
60% reported during the election campaign. Despite the noise, Chief
Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones MP, reaffirmed this week that he did not believe Trump would put
tariffs on the UK, let’s hope he is right…
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This week the UK Defence Secretary
John Healey MP called out Russia for using a secret spy ship for “mapping the UKs critical underwater
infrastructure”. Maybe they are also after our famous sandeels…
The Russian vessel was tailed by
the frigate HMS Somerset and the patrol ship HMS Tyne to avoid any
loitering around British cables and underwater networks. The incursion
comes at a time when cables under the Baltic Sea have been damaged in
suspicious circumstances at least three times over the last
18-months.
Healey had this message for
President Putin - “we see you, we know what you’re doing and we will
not shy away from robust action to protect this country”.
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Exiled leader of the Belarusian
opposition, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskayha, has dismissed the upcoming
Presidential “election” in the country as little more than a
‘ritual for a dictator’
Lukashenko is a long time ally of
Vladimir Putin and Belarus served as a staging post for Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine. The “election” will extend Alexander Lukashenko’s
31-year long reign into a seventh term. Hopefully President Trump
isn’t getting any ideas.
Both Belarus and Russia remain the
only two European countries not to be signed up to the European
Convention on Human Rights, which makes the desire to join them from
those on the right of the Conservative Party (cough Jenrick) all the stranger. However, one area where Britain does share
common ground with the international pariah is using a
first-past-the-post system for national elections.
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Following the release of the hotly
anticipated Bank of Dave sequel, the world's economic and financial
luminaries met in the Swiss resort of Davos for the World Economic
Forum.
The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves MP,
and the Business and Trade Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, were
amongst those to attend this
week to talk the UK up as a
place for international investment. The Government's attendance
follows a week of good news economically after the consultancy firm
PwC, ranked the UK as the second best place for foreign investment
after the U.S.A. for the first time in the survey's 28-year
history.
In other, slightly more
left-field, events at the sometimes controversial conference,
chainsaw-weilding Argentinian President Javier Melei restated his war on woke, bashing what he labelled radical
environmentalism. President Trump spoke on Thursday to the forum where
he restated his intention to upturn the applecart of global trade
with, you guessed it, the most beautiful tariffs you’ve ever seen.
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At
the Business and Trade Select Committee earlier this week, the
Minister for EU Relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds signalled his openness
to a potential discussion with the EU relating to the introduction of
a Mutual Recognition of Conformity Agreement (MRC for short). Read our
helpful explainer on what an MRC
is and how it will
help unlock Britain's business potential.
PlayPEM
On Thursday the
EU’s Brexit deal pointperson Maroš Šefčovič told
the BBCthat the EU would consider the UK joining a
pan-European customs union (PEM) which includes states like Moldova.
While a welcome step in the right direction, such a move falls short
of the meaningful change that British businesses need that will only
come with beneficial regulatory alignment. Šefčovič also argued for
the reviewing of a new veterinary agreement between the EU and UK to
bring down trade barriers for agricultural and fresh produce
trade.
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Melania's milliner deserves a raise for this
kiss-barrier brim. |
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I hope you have a wonderful
weekend.
Joshua
Edwicker Best for Britain
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