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Welcome to this week’s newsletter, !

We hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day; a friendly reminder that spoiling or calling your mom to tell her you love her doesn’t require a holiday or special occasion.  


History was made last week as Pope Leo XIV became the first American to ascend to the papacy.


In Washington, the Trump Administration continued its efforts to instill both order into chaos abroad, and sanity into public policy back home. In Congress, lawmakers continued to negotiate and fine tune the details of the “big, beautiful bill.”


In Texas, the State Legislature advanced proposals to protect the Lone Star State from both federal overreach and hostile foreign nations.


We break it down below.

Last week the Trump Administration revealed a newly established framework for revamped trade relationship with the United Kingdom. Details and formal ratification will take some time to iron out, but key components of the deal include:

  • A universal 10% tariff on all imports from the UK


  • An easement of tariffs on British automobiles; 100,000 UK produced cars will be subject to the aforementioned 10% tariff, as opposed to the existing 25% rate


  • No tariffs on British steel or aluminum


  • The UK dropping tariffs on American beef, ethanol, sports equipment, and a litany of other products


  • The UK purchasing $10B of Boeing airplanes  


  • Tax breaks for American tech businesses operating in the UK,


  • Cheaper access to UK automotive and agricultural markets  


The Trump Administration is reportedly close to securing similar trade victories with India, Japan, and Israel; negotiations are ongoing with Vietnam and South Korea.


But the week’s biggest geopolitical development came on Mother’s Day. Treasury Secretary Bessent and Trade Representative Greer met with the top economic official of the Chinese Communist Party on Sunday in Switzerland. Expectations were that this sit-down meeting would simply reopen a formal dialogue to de-escalate tensions over the trade stalemate.


Instead, President Trump’s Cabinet delivered a trade arrangement.


The importance of and speed which with this agreement transpired is shocking. After decades of economic brinksmanship and not-so-covert financial warfare, the dynamic of our international fiscal relationship with China may have been completely reset over the course of a single meeting.


Technicalities and framework of the trade deal are expected to be released in due time, but here’s what we know so far: the punitive tariffs on China will be rolled back from 145% to 30% for the next three months. China, in exchange, will roll their tariffs on us back from 125% to 10%--also for the next three months. Talks and negotiations will be ongoing over that time span, but the deal is already seemingly acting as jet fuel for the American economy; at time of writing the Dow is already up over 1000 points, and the Nasdaq appears to be on track to exit the bear market (i.e. markets are no longer slumping). Update: Big banks have begun to formally walk back recent predictions that a recession is on the way–and are raising their forecasts for economic growth in wake of the China deal.


It was a crazy week on the foreign affairs front; for the sake of brevity we won’t delve into anything else too deeply, but there were several other significant developments we’re tracking:


  • President Trump is visiting Saudi Arabia this week, and is floating another Gulf-name-change to regional leaders.


  • VP Vance softened his rhetoric on Iran, stating he would not be opposed to the maverick nation having a nuclear program for civic energy, just (reasonably) weapons.


  • Both Trump and Vance conversely hardened their rhetoric on Russia in wake of Ukraine’s formal ratification of our mineral rights deal this past week. Trump said he believes Putin is “stringing him along,” and floated the idea of additional sanctions on Russia. Vance said Putin is requesting far too much from Ukraine in terms of concessions; the White House wants parameters for a diplomatic ceasefire to end the war, and soon. Update: Over the weekend, Putin proposed restarting talks with Ukraine on the 15th; Zelensky called it a “positive sign,“ but is reluctant to engage in diplomatic talks without at least a temporary ceasefire in place. President Trump indicated he’s considering joining the two leaders in person, provided the meeting in Istanbul actually materializes–we’ll see.


  • India and Pakistan, two nations with nukes and a long history of conflict with each other, escalated military exchanges across their shared border this past week. Thankfully, Secretary Rubio and VP Vance helped broker a ceasefire between the two countries, which was announced on Saturday before things went further off the rails. Let’s hope the uneasy peace holds.

Marjorie Taylor Greene [R-GA-14] had been mulling whether to run as well, but announced Friday evening she will not be seeking higher federal office–she didn’t rule out running for Governor however.


The GOP primary will surely be entertaining; here’s hoping whoever wins it has the means to kick the incumbent Senator’s Ossoff his seat in the general election.  

In Other News

  • RIP former Supreme Court Justice David Souter.


  • Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy took a second loss in his recent battle with birds at the White House.


  • The Democrat Mayor of Newark was arrested for storming an ICE facility.


  • Rep. Maxine Waters [D-CA-35] attempted to grill Treasury Secretary Bessent at a Congressional hearing last week; Bessent admitted during the course of it that Waters is much better at dancing the electric slide than he.


  • New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has banned Twitter (aka X: The Everything App).


  • DOGE discovered over 100k then-active federal government employees illegally received unemployment benefits. Let’s hope they’re soon-to-be former government employees.


  • The Trump Administration fired the (former) sitting Librarian of Congress–the one who decided it was a good idea to lend the flute of founding father James Madison to Lizzo.


  • Sen. Bernie Sanders [Champagne Socialist Party-VT] has spent over $221K this year on his “Fight the Oligarchy” fundraising tour. Ironic to say the least.


  • Say what you will about President Trump’s bravado–he gifted us with two of the funniest bits ever uttered in the Oval Office this past week.


  • Happy 18th birthday to Kai Trump, competitive golfer and granddaughter of the President.


  • Freshman Congressman Brandon Gill [R-TX-26] and his wife welcomed their second child to the world on Friday.

Texas is Not for Sale

By Mark McCaig

The Texas Voice


Senate Bill 17, which would prohibit foreign adversaries from owning land in Texas, has been scheduled to be considered by the Texas House on Thursday.


The legislation is one of Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s priority bills, and a companion bill – House Bill 17 – is a priority of Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows. Governor Greg Abbott has also publicly voiced support for the legislation.


While some leaders within the Republican Party of Texas initially raised concerns that the bill was not strong enough, a group of activists, including Republican Party of Texas Chairman Abraham George, released a statement last week endorsing the revised version of the bill.


Senate Bill 17 and House Bill 17 fulfill the Republican Party of Texas’ legislative priority entitled “Texas is Not for Sale.”



Texas Sovereignty Act


House Bill 796 by State Representative Cecil Bell, Jr., also known as the Texas Sovereignty Act, is headed to the Texas Senate after passing the Texas House on Wednesday.


The Texas Sovereignty Act establishes a framework in which acts by the federal government that are determined to be “unconstitutional federal actions” will have “no legal effect” in Texas. The legislation also mandates that all political subdivisions in Texas may not recognize an act deemed to be an “unconstitutional federal action” as having any legal effect.


The legislation creates a Joint Legislative Committee on Constitutional Enforcement composed of six members of the Texas House appointed by the Speaker and six members of the Texas Senate appointed by the Lieutenant Governor. The Committee would have the authority to review any action by the federal government to determine whether the action was constitutional.


Should the Committee determine that an action by the federal government was unconstitutional, that finding would be sent to the Texas House and the Texas Senate for a vote. If both chambers, by majority vote, agree that a federal action was unconstitutional, that determination would then be sent to the Governor for final approval.


Should it become law, the Texas Sovereignty Act would likely be the subject of a legal challenge. Under the bill, the Texas Attorney General “may defend the state to prevent the implementation and enforcement of a federal action declared to be an unconstitutional federal action.”

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