Is Trump’s blind trust blind? Somaliland. Tariff’s regulatory costs.

Is Trump’s blind trust blind? Somaliland. Tariff’s regulatory costs.

Just another glass house moment for the president

If the president has his assets in a “blind” trust, then how did he just buy $2 million in Netflix and Warner Bros. bonds? At least he bought the bonds after Netflix agreed to pay $72 billion for Warner Bros and HBO Max’s streaming business. But isn’t this a bit unusual to say the least? This is from the Wall Street Journal:

“Trump has made public comments about a potential Warner acquisition, saying in December that Netflix’s proposed purchase “could be a problem” because it already holds a large share of the streaming market. The deal would require approval from federal regulators. “I’ll be involved in that decision,” he said on Dec. 7, just days after the Netflix deal was announced.”

Didn’t Trump rage at Nancy Pelosi for her “success” in the stock market? Well yes. “Crooked Nancy Pelosi, and her very ‘interesting’ husband, beat every Hedge Fund in 2024. In other words, these two very average ‘minds’ beat ALL of the Super Geniuses on Wall Street, thousands of them. It’s all INSIDE INFORMATION! Is anybody looking into this???” Trump then said that he would “absolutely” sign legislation to ban congressional stock trading if it reached his desk. “Well, I watched Nancy Pelisiget rich through insider information, and I would be okay with it. If they send that to me, I would do it,” 

Trump’s wealth has increased by $3 billion since he has become president. What is the saying about glass houses? Ironically, Trump’s purchases of Netflix and Warner Bros. were announced in an “ethics” disclosure form. I am waiting for the republicans in the House and the Senate to hold hearings. Just saying.

Israel recognizes Somaliland

The first country to recognize the breakaway country of Somaliland is Israel? Yes Israel and a Muslim country sitting on the Bab al-Mandab Strait that connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean are now officially buds. It is directly across the Gulf of Aden from the Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen. And our “peace president” played no part in it. Actually reports have it that the State Department was surprised by the agreement. This poses at last a legitimate threat to the Houthis whose leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi called the recognition a “hostile and illegitimate act.” 

Also, in addition to its strategic importance, recall the post I made a while back that Israel was talking with several African countries about relocating the Palestinians to those countries? Well Somaliland is one of them along with Libya, Syria and South Sudan. 

Israeli officials argue that their recognition of Somaliland is grounded in the fact that it has an effective democratic electoral system, with its own military and government acting independently from Somalia for decades. It is also free from the lawlessness and chaos embodied in Somalia which Trump calls a “hellhole, filthy, dirty and ridden with crime. The only thing they’re good at is going after ships.” Somaliland, In addition to its strategic location the country has an underutilized port and airfields with long runways. I wonder if Israel might even put a military base in the country? Regardless, this is a bold move.

Don’t forget about tariff compliance costs

The president from day one set out in a series of executive orders to reduce business regulatory costs. The White House said that during Biden’s term over $2 trillion in new regulatory costs had been imposed and the president’s actions have reduced those costs significantly. Well the White House probably omitted the increase in the cost burden imposed by trying to comply with Trump’s tariffs. Federal Reserve economists estimated that U.S. manufacturers would alone pay between $39 and $71 billion each year to comply with just content and reporting requirements in only four of Trump’s tariff actions. Mind you these are in addition to having to pay the tariffs (rather than the exporters as the president continues to assert). 

https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/trade-compliance-at-what-cost-lessons-from-usmca-automotive-trade-20250718.html?s=03

Tariff compliance has always been a Rube Goldberg machine but Trump has added layer upon layer of additional regulatory minutiae to an already unwieldy mess. The Cato Institute points out that “measures imposed by the Trump administration in 2025 have made the US tariff system excessively convoluted and complex” increasing from three tariff regimes in 2017 to 20 now. By the way, here is a tariff compliance guide.

https://geodis.com/us-en/blog/goods-transportation-integrated-logistics-solutions/how-stay-compliant-us-tariffs-and-reduce