April 13: What Really Happened Last Week

Supreme court waffles, Trump destroys American prosperity, plus some good climate news from surprising places.

Hello friends!

It’s my beginning-of-the-week paywalled post! Copy this and send it to a friend who says they are “tuning out the news.” More of you are tuning IN every week!

I’m a journalist with two decades of experience.

This is my weekly, highly curated list of relevant news, bright spots, and action steps, helping you navigate the mayhem, and focusing on the topics of this newsletter: caregiving, youth, climate change, human rights, mental health. Thanks to everyone who shared their experience attending the Hands Off! protest last week; I believe, based on what I saw, that there were around 100,000 in NYC and I’ve heard estimates in the millions nationwide.

Hands Off! April 5, 2025, NYC

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My criteria for this news roundup:

• Real events that have real consequences for real people now.

• I’m trying to avoid pseudo-events, purely symbolic gestures and speculation. That means I’m leaving out some stuff you’ve probably seen elsewhere.

• I am presenting impacts alongside responses and solutions.

• I want to model healthy, balanced news consumption. I don’t know that I can become the only news you read, but I can at least point the way to a better news habit. I believe this is going to be crucial to our mental health and our ability to show up for others, including our kids, in this accelerating polycrisis.

Top 5 This Week

1. Tariff trampoline/Destruction of the dollar

2. Will courts stop the growth of the American gulag?

3. Princeton stands up

4. Lots of good climate news

5. Wild Card

1. Tariff trampoline/Destruction of the dollar

Undoubtedly the dominant story this week was Trump’s flip-flop on tariffs, which the Wall Street Journal has called “The dumbest trade war in history.” NPR:

About 12 hours after [enormous, double-digit, arbitrary] country-specific tariffs took effect on dozens of U.S. trading partners — and after days of insisting that he would hold the line — [And after the stock and especially the bond markets freaked out] Trump said Wednesday afternoon that he would pause most of them for 90 days.

As of now—and until July, when who knows—there is a 10% across the board tariff. Plus 25% on certain Mexican and Canadian goods. And a 145% tariff on goods imported from China, our third largest trading partner. They have retaliated with 125% tariffs on us. Oh wait—now there's an exemption for electronics. Are we winning yet?

Impact:

It’s hard for businesses, or really anyone, to make decisions in this environment. Prices are likely to go up. We could very much have a recession. Importantly, countries around the world are making plans to trade and grow without us. The EU has announced trade talks with the United Arab Emirates. Brazil could sell more soybeans to China. Canada is looking to build more housing from local materials.

And most of all, people from around the world, who own a third of all US Treasury Bonds, are looking to sell them and buy something else instead. Because they’re mad at us, and they think our leader is stupid and chaotic.

Quick reminder: When people buy US Treasuries, they are essentially lending the United States money. Because of the strength of the US economy, for many decades, Treasury bonds were considered among the safest asset you can buy.

Dollars are also favored for transactions around the world—half of all global transactions as of February.

This dynamic—the greenback as the world’s reserve currency—is generally considered a good thing. It allows our government to run up large budget deficits and props up our economy in countless ways.

There are some (including in the administration) who argue that having the dollar as the world’s reserve currency is not a pure advantage.

Basically because there are more total dollars in circulation—more “customers” for dollars, it makes prices higher for American consumers than they woul otherwise be. (My proposed fix to that problem would be to redistribute wealth and reduce inequality, not to play games with our currency or with trade.)

But now.

Slate:

Now, thanks to President Donald Trump, the dollar’s reliability and world-leading position are no longer sacrosanct. And the consequences of this possible shift are staggering—potentially catastrophic….

Should the U.S. dollar lose its potency, this country would face an unprecedented financial crisis. If you thought recent inflation was bad, just wait until you have to deal with a system where no one wants to even touch the dollar because there’s no global faith left, plunging it into near-worthlessness.

Will we get there?