Are Mexico and the US Heading for a Trade War?
08:51 Share

This video is brought to you by Brilliant. Today, a trade war is brewing between the US and Mexico. France says it will not arrest Netanyahu if he visits despite an ICC warrant. And a China-US prisoner swap is concluded. From TLDR News, this is your daily briefing for Thursday 28th November 2024.

On Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Mexico would retaliate against planned import tariffs by US President-elect Donald Trump, potentially signalling the start of a Mexico-US trade war.

During a press conference, Shane Baum, who leads the left-wing Morena Party, said if there are US tariffs, Mexico would also raise tariffs. This is the clearest statement yet that the country is preparing retaliatory measures. It comes after an announcement by Trump on Truth Social earlier this week, in which he said he will introduce 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China on his first day in office.

The Mexican government has warned the move could kill 400,000 U.S. jobs and drive up prices for U.S. consumers. And Erica York of the Washington-based Tax Foundation think tank said the tariffs would significantly increase costs and disrupt business across all economies involved.

Moreover, Trump's Mexican tariffs are also likely to hurt US businesses with production lines in Mexico, especially for cars and car parts, leading to massive job losses, lower growth and effectively forcing US firms to pay double the taxes they pay currently. For context, Mexico has a long and difficult relationship with Donald Trump, who has repeatedly disparaged Mexican immigrants to the US and once said that Mexico was "sending people that have lots of problems. They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists."

Throughout the 2024 election campaign, Trump repeated his pledges to deport millions of undocumented migrants, as well as introducing tariffs on Mexican goods, which he says will last until, in his words, drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country.

But there may also be more than just a trade war on the horizon. In the past few days, there have been reports that Trump is planning a soft invasion of Mexico, targeting drug cartels, which could involve US special forces assassinating cartel leaders in the country. When asked by Fox News in July about launching military action against Mexican cartels, Trump said, "Mexico is going to have to straighten it out really fast." Well, the answer is absolutely.

There's more on the way but remember to subscribe and ring the bell for more Daily Briefing tomorrow. Plus, if you want to support the channel like Emre Ari, then consider joining the TLDR daily membership program for just £1.99. The French Foreign Ministry has indicated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may not face arrest if he visits France, despite an outstanding International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes related to the Gaza conflict.

The ministry argued that, because Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, Netanyahu enjoys immunity that must be respected under international law. However, this position has drawn sharp criticism from human rights organisations like Amnesty International, which deemed it "deeply problematic" and indicative of France's failing obligations as an ICC member. The ICC's jurisdiction stemmed from a prior ruling affirming its authority over offences committed in the Palestinian territories, despite Israel's non-signatory status.

As tensions in the Middle East continue, particularly following France's role in brokering a recent ceasefire deal with Lebanon, the relationship between Macron and Netanyahu has grown strained. Calls for adherence to international law have intensified amid accusations of the ICC being biased and politically motivated, particularly from Israel.

Critics within France have also labelled the government's stance as capitulating to Netanyahu's demands, warning it could set a dangerous precedent. One they argue might extend to Russian President Vladimir Putin, also the subject of an ICC arrest warrant. Over to the US now, where several people nominated to roles in Donald Trump's incoming cabinet and administration have reportedly been targeted by bomb threats and swatting.

The alarming threats were made on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, prompting swift action from law enforcement to safeguard those targeted. A spokesperson for President-elect Donald Trump condemned the incidents, stating they constituted violent un-American threats, but that with President Trump as our example, dangerous acts of intimidation and violence will not deter us.

Among those targeted were Elise Stefanik, nominated as US ambassador to the UN, whose family home received a bomb threat while travelling for Thanksgiving. Former congressmen Matt Gaetz and Lee Zeldin, Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, also reported threats. Zeldin claimed a pipe bomb threat was accompanied by a pro-Palestinian message. Trump, who survived two assassination attempts during his campaign, was not among those who received the hoax calls.

Our next story is about a China-US prisoner swap. It's been reported this morning that three Americans who were detained in China were released in exchange for three Chinese prisoners in the US. This follows a prisoner swap negotiated by the Biden administration. The three US citizens detained by China who have now been released are Mark Suidan, Kai Li and John Leung. Suidan has been detained since 2012 and was facing the death penalty after a conviction for narcotics trafficking.

Suidan denied the charges and the State Department has classified him as wrongly detained. Li has been detained in China since 2016 on spying charges, which activists have claimed were trumped up. Finally, Leung was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison on espionage charges last year.

As for the Chinese side, a foreign ministry spokesperson explained in a statement that through the unremitting efforts of the Chinese government, the three Chinese citizens wrongfully detained by the United States have returned to their motherland safely. China has always been firmly opposed to the suppression and persecution of Chinese nationals by the United States for political purposes.

This swap will likely be viewed as a success for Biden. Over his four years in the White House, he had released more than 70 Americans detained abroad, notably from Russia, Venezuela and Iran. And in our final uplifting story today, we move to Yorkshire, Northern England, to discuss the case of Georgia Scully. Back in 2022, Scully was involved in a car crash and had to be taken to hospital. She suffered broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, damaged lungs and a severe bleed on her brain.

In fact, once she woke up in hospital, she was completely unable to talk and had lost movement in her right side. Her parents were advised to create a playlist of Georgia's favorite songs in order to help her recovery. Surprisingly, when the music played, Georgia burst out into song and sang along to Cardi B's 'Bodak Yellow' and Adele's 'Someone Like You'. Despite not being able to form sentences, she was able to sing these perfectly.

Two years on from the accident, she is still recovering, but is at home and is able to talk again. Speaking of her time in hospital, she explained, my right side would not work and I couldn't communicate with my worried parents. To everyone's surprise, I could sing. I sang an entire Adele song, Word Perfect.

Music became my solace and I would sing along to a playlist my sister put together for me. She's even wrote me a song. Her mum added that when Georgia sang for the first time, it was like a miracle. We'd been sat by her bedside hoping she would talk, but she just burst into song, singing Adele to the whole ward. She sang the songs word for word, although she couldn't communicate with us. Everyone was laughing. It was the breakthrough moment and the first sign that we had a piece of our Georgia back with us.

As you've hopefully realised after watching an 8 minute video explaining everything from the impending US-Mexico trade war to the Trump administration's bomb threats, here at TL;DR we're committed to helping you learn. Fortunately, the sponsor for today's video shares this commitment and is one of the best websites on the internet to help you learn new skills from the ground up.

That website is, you've guessed it, Brilliant. Now, one of the best things about Brilliant is that rather than simply throwing in information at you and testing you on it, Brilliant teaches you by doing. Each of their lessons is filled with hands-on lessons in problem solving that lets you actually play with the concepts.

This has proven to be six times more effective than simply watching lecture videos. And what's more, Brilliant actually helps you do all this learning wherever you are. You can complete their lessons on your phone, so you can easily utilize any spare minutes that you've got in the day with actually worthwhile learning. You can try everything Brilliant has to offer for free for a full 30 days. Just click on the link in the description. That way, you'll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription.