Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the United States ending the de minimis tariff exemption, Israel launching airstrikes near the Syrian presidential palace, and this weekend’s elections in Australia and Singapore.
Trump Eliminates Key Tariff Loophole
The Trump administration officially eliminated duty-free access on low-value imports from China and Hong Kong on Friday. Known as the “de minimis” rule, the tariff exemption previously allowed shipments worth $800 or less to come into the United States duty-free and often bypass certain inspections and paperwork.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the United States ending the de minimis tariff exemption, Israel launching airstrikes near the Syrian presidential palace, and this weekend’s elections in Australia and Singapore.
Trump Eliminates Key Tariff Loophole
The Trump administration officially eliminated duty-free access on low-value imports from China and Hong Kong on Friday. Known as the “de minimis” rule, the tariff exemption previously allowed shipments worth $800 or less to come into the United States duty-free and often bypass certain inspections and paperwork.
The de minimis policy was established by Congress in 1938 to reduce administrative burdens and has grown to encompass more than 90 percent of all cargo entering the United States. While the removal of the trade policy will hit Chinese e-commerce giants such as Shein and Temu, it is likely to also hurt low-income American consumers and small businesses that rely on cheaper products and materials from China.
The move comes against the backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump imposing wider tariffs on much of the world, including a whopping 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods; the president has accused China of unfair trade practices and of exploiting the de minimis rule to export fentanyl-related goods into the United States.
Even as the White House has downplayed signs of economic turmoil, the numbers paint a somewhat different picture. On Wednesday, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of the year. Meanwhile, according to a report released by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, consumer sentiment in the United States has fallen by 32 percent since January—the largest drop since the 1990 recession.
One surprising bright spot is the U.S. job market. On Friday, the Labor Department released its monthly jobs report, showing that U.S. employers added 177,000 jobs in April. That is down slightly from March but is higher than what economists had expected. The unemployment rate stayed steady at a low 4.2 percent.
That lingering resilience may not last, though, as economists and CEOs alike remain concerned about where the U.S. and global economies are heading. The International Monetary Fund, in a report released last week, warned that global financial instability has “increased significantly.” Executives from U.S. companies including PepsiCo, General Motors, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Domino’s, and Chipotle have also warned of retail shortages and a decline in demand, citing supply chain disruptions, economic uncertainty, and subdued market conditions.
Trump has acknowledged that his tariffs may cause some short-term economic pain for American consumers, but he insists it is necessary to reorient the U.S. economic relationship with the rest of the world. “Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls,” Trump said on Wednesday. “Maybe the two dolls will cost a couple bucks more than they would normally.”
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Israeli airstrikes on Syria. The Israeli military on Friday launched another round of airstrikes, the second this week, on the Syrian capital of Damascus. The military action comes amid a recent wave of sectarian violence in the country involving government forces, Sunni Muslim extremists, and militants from the minority Druze community. According to a U.K.-based monitoring group, this week’s clashes in Syria had killed more than 100 people, as of Thursday.
The Israeli military confirmed that Friday’s attack struck near the Syrian presidential palace but provided no further details. Since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of ground incursions and airstrikes across Syria and positioned itself as the defender of the Druze community.
“This is a clear message to the Syrian regime,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement shortly after Friday’s strikes. “We will not allow [Syrian] forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.”
The Syrian presidency called Friday’s attack a “dangerous escalation” and accused Israel of destabilizing the country. Earlier in the week, reacting to Israel’s first strike near Damascus, Syria’s foreign ministry reaffirmed its “unwavering commitment” to protecting all Syrian people, including the “honorable Druze community.”
AfD’s “extremist” label. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency on Friday classified the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as an “extremist party.” The move will allow the agency to use more surveillance tools to monitor the party and its leadership; it will also open legal pathways to potentially ban the party via Germany’s constitutional court.
“The ethnicity- and ancestry-based understanding of the people prevailing within the party is incompatible with the free democratic order,” the intelligence agency said in a statement. Leaders from the AfD, which is the second-largest party in the German parliament, have trivialized Holocaust remembrance, used Nazi slogans, and openly embraced xenophobic and racist rhetoric.
The AfD has dismissed the classification as being politically motivated and called it “complete nonsense.” The AfD has recently also attracted the support of many within the Trump administration, including U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and billionaire Elon Musk. On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Germany to “reverse course” on the extremist designation, describing it in a post on X as “tyranny in disguise.”
Weekend elections. Australians will head to the polls on Saturday to participate in federal elections to choose their next parliament. According to recent polls, the Labor Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, is faring slightly better than the Liberal-National Coalition, led by opposition leader Peter Dutton. While geopolitical concerns, including China’s growing regional dominance and the future of Australia’s long-standing military alliance with the United States, loom over the election, voters are mainly concerned about domestic issues—particularly rising inflation, housing prices, and the cost of living.
Australia has one of the highest voter turnouts in the world; in 2022, when the country held its last federal elections, around 90 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots. Polls close at 6 p.m. local time in each of the country’s multiple time zones, and Australians can expect an unofficial result on Saturday night via the Australian Electoral Commission website.
Also on Saturday, Singapore will hold general elections and elect 97 members of parliament. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and his People’s Action Party (PAP), which has dominated the city-state’s politics since it gained independence in 1965, are expected to win most seats.
Though the PAP enjoys a strong track record, the election has the potential to usher in new and diverse political voices: “Research suggests a growing number of voters desire a wider range of political options and are more tolerant of more robust discussion of sensitive social issues like race,” Joseph Rachman wrote for Foreign Policy in 2024.
What in the World?
Chile marked a holiday on Sunday to honor which group?
A. Tax officials
B. Military police
C. Military veterans
D. Farmers
Odds and Ends
An 18-wheeler traveling along a highway through the town of Alvord, Texas, overturned on Tuesday morning, spilling millions of coins across the highway and prompting a 14-hour road closure. The truck was estimated to be carrying a staggering $800,000 worth of freshly minted dimes. According to Alvord Mayor Caleb Caviness, cleanup crews used industrial vacuums typically reserved for sewer maintenance to recover the scattered currency; meanwhile, some even resorted to picking up coins by hand.
And the Answer Is…
B. Military police
In Chile, a person’s attitude toward the military police, or Carabineros, is often a clear marker of their political identity, FP’s Catherine Osborn writes in Latin America Brief.
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