Donald Trump may be planning to break one of his key—and most disastrous—campaign promises to implement “universal” tariffs on goods imported into the U.S., The Washington Post reported Monday.

Trump’s aides have been quietly prepping a plan to target only critical imports, rather than all imports from a country, three people familiar with discussions anonymously told the Post.

The tariffs would be levied on imports considered to be critical to national or economic security, the people said. While it was not immediately clear which imports those would be, the tariffs are intended to strengthen certain U.S. industries, including materials for the military supply industrial chain, medical supplies, and energy production, two of the three people said.

Trump had previously stated his intention to place a 25 percent tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico, in addition to a 10 percent tariff on all imports from China—a plan that experts say would be disastrous for the U.S. economy, raising costs for consumers, ravaging the stock market, and severely damaging the America’s global economic standing.

Sector-based tariffs might be a “little bit easier for everybody to stomach out of the gate,” one of the people told the Post. “The thought is if you’re going to do universal tariffs, why not at least start with these targeted measures? And it would still give CEOs a massive incentive to start making their products here.”

It seems that some people inside the forthcoming Trump administration are hoping to avert some of the fallout of his outlandish, dangerous economic plan. In sharing this information, it seems insiders are hoping to float a more moderate approach to tariffs, despite what the president-elect may think. But Trump doesn’t seem to be ready to back down.

Trump immediately contradicted the reporting in a post on Truth Social. “The story in the Washington Post, quoting so-called anonymous sources, which don’t exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong,” Trump wrote. “The Washington Post knows it’s wrong. It’s just another example of Fake News.”

Donald Trump will avoid jail time in his New York hush-money criminal conviction—but that doesn’t mean he’s happy with the result.

In a Friday order, Judge Juan Merchan dealt the final blow to any suggestions of serious consequences for the president-elect’s guilty verdict. Merchan wrote that “unconditional discharge” had become the “the most viable solution” for Trump, indicating that the incoming president would not be hampered down with fines, court-appointed supervision, or incarceration.

But that outcome was, apparently, not satisfactory for the convicted felon, who took to Truth Social to rant about how the lingering effects of the trial still prevented him from bad-mouthing the judge.

“D.A. Alvin Bragg never wanted to bring this lawless case against me,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “He was furious at the way it was handled, and especially angry at MARK POMERANTZ for his behavior, and what he did. Ultimately, the Biden/Harris DOJ forced Bragg to concoct anything to embarrass TRUMP.”

“But it was even more so what the CORRUPT and TOTALLY CONFLICTED POLITICAL HACK Judge did, and is doing, on this sham trial,” Trump continued. “I even have, STILL, an Unconstitutional Gag Order where I am not allowed to speak about the Judge’s highly disqualifying Conflicts of Interest. Virtually ever legal scholar and pundit says THERE IS NO (ZERO!) CASE AGAINST ME.”

Trump also claimed that New York’s legal system was fundamentally corrupt and was contributing to the fleeing of businesses from the country’s banking capital.

“The Judge fabricated the facts, and the law, no different than the other New York Judicial and Prosecutorial Witch Hunts,” Trump wrote. “That’s why businesses are fleeing New York, taking with them millions of jobs, and BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TAXES. The legal system is broken, and businesses can’t take a chance in getting caught up in this quicksand. IT’S ALL RIGGED, in this case against a political opponent, ME!!!”

Although Trump will face consequences more or less in name only, former U.S. District Attorney Joyce Vance argued in her legal column Civil Discourse that there could still be a light at the end of the tunnel in Merchan’s order. Rather than forcing sentencing before Trump’s inauguration, Merchan’s decision to release Trump with........

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