Op-Ed: Now, the global chaos – Tariffs, pettiness and tantrums and a CCC credit rating.


By  Paul Wallis
DIGITAL JOURNAL
January 31, 2025


US President Donald Trump has reiterated that he plans to impose fresh tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, alongside China 

- Copyright AFP/File ROBERTO SCHMIDT

The Great Epidemiologist and the Servile Dwarves are now economists. Putting tariffs on America’s three largest trading partners would get you thrown out of day one economics. These tariffs go into force tomorrow.

It’s also godawful diplomacy. Canada, Mexico, and China can obtain pretty much anything anywhere else. They don’t have to put up with it and there’s every chance they won’t.

25% is a lot. It hits margins. It hits the net value of trade. It’s not worth it for the sellers if demand shrinks due to increased costs to customers. 25% shrinkage in demand can destroy trade.

The BRICS initiative is perhaps worse. The US dollar is the default international currency. It’s easy to convert any currency into any other currency.

Sending the message that America doesn’t understand basic trade anymore is at best a dubious situation. Tariffs will force American importers to pay more for their imports.

The theory of producing in the US doesn’t survive a second’s scrutiny. Your big TV is going to be made by some guy in a tree in Idaho? No, it isn’t.

“Made in the USA” would take years to happen, if ever, and more likely never. Most American manufacturers shifted offshore 30 years ago. That might be a bit recent for Republican policymakers to have noticed. Anything after 1940 seems beyond them.

Worse is the naivete. It’s bizarre.

Tariffs are regulations. Trump’s donors and supporters are experts at dodging regulations. They don’t even pay taxes if they can help it. Also experts are smugglers, and opportunists who can get those US goods elsewhere or simply copy them. The only beneficiaries will be the black market and organized crime.

Blocking computer chips is arguably dumber. Obstructing sales of one generation of chips means nothing. They’ll be obsolete by the time they get on the market and duly swiped long before that.

What is the point?

The Republicans were anti-global from day one, despite the huge amounts of money the US made dealing with China. Like the UK, they’re heavily weighted to the financial markets, not the real economy.

The UK destroyed itself with the Brexit idiocy and an unholy does of hyper-conservatism at its most pig-ignorant. A lot of very dodgy numbers were the excuse, while Brexiteers simply went and got European passports for themselves and their families. A huge black market has meanwhile sprung up in the UK since.

Check out this rather patient article on fxstreet.com for lousy logic. The other lucky winner in this lottery of lunacy is the EU. They’ll pay tariffs, too.

It simply won’t be worth doing business with the US. As America’s wealth in property melts down like the LA fires, real capital is likely to evaporate. Domestic prices are totally out of control. American private debt is well over 200% of GDP.

You’re looking at a CCC credit rating for the US. Interest rates will go through the roof in any bad, let alone worst-case, scenario. That will make borrowing much more expensive. The US will be a bad risk, a global deadbeat. Worse than Russia, because the US holds so much capital.

It’s like 1929 all over again, but much, much dumber.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Swiss court convicts Trafigura of corruption in Angola


By AFP
January 31, 2025


A Trafigura company statement expressed disappointment at the ruling and said it was reviewing judgment - Copyright AFP CHARLY TRIBALLEAU

Nathalie OLOF-ORS

A Swiss court convicted Trafigura and three people linked to the commodities trading firm of corruption in Angola, in what campaigners hailed Friday as a “historic” first in Switzerland.

A Trafigura statement expressed disappointment at the ruling and said it was reviewing judgment. The lawyer for one former director with the company said he would appeal his conviction.

The group, which is particularly active in oil trading, was fined 3 million Swiss francs ($3.2 million) for failing to properly monitor the activities of its intermediaries, the federal court said Friday.

Michael Wainwright, Trafigura’s former operational director, was sentenced to 32 months, of which he must serve 12 months in prison.

Prison terms were also handed down to a person who served as an intermediary for the payment of bribes, and to a former agent of an Angolan state company.

A statement from Trafigura said: “We are disappointed by today’s decision in Switzerland concerning Trafigura Beheer BV and are reviewing the matter.

“Trafigura has invested significant resources in strengthening its compliance programme over a number of years.”

Wainwright’s lawyer, Daniel Kinzer, told AFP: “Mike Wainwright was convicted on the basis of very general assumptions, without taking into account elements which demonstrate that he was not involved.”

Wainwright “maintains that he did not order or facilitate any payment for corrupt purposes and intends to prove it before the Court of Appeal,” he added.



– Legal ‘first’ –



The case concerns the payment of bribes to a former executive of an Angolan state-owned distribution company in exchange for ship chartering and bunkering contracts. Swiss federal prosecutors referred it to the court in Bellinzona, in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, in 2023.

Contacted by AFP, the office of the federal prosecutors said they were “satisfied” by the verdict.

“This is the first conviction by a court in Switzerland of a company for acts of corruption of foreign public officials,” the office said.

It was “a strong signal of the determination to fight against all forms of transnational corruption”, it added.

Anti-corruption campaigners Public Eye welcomed the convictions.

“This is the first time in Swiss history that a trading company has been convicted of corruption in a public trial,” it said.

It added: “The verdict is a warning to the entire commodities industry, as Swiss justice seems increasingly determined to trace the chain of responsibility.”

In March 2024, Trafigura, based in Singapore but with a significant presence in Geneva, agreed to plead guilty in the United States and pay $127 million over allegations of corruption in Brazil.

Switzerland is home to some 900 commodities trading firms, located primarily in Geneva and Lugano.

Founded in 1993, Trafigura employs 13,000 people worldwide and made a net profit of almost $2.8 billion in its 2023/2024 fiscal year ending September 30.

Thailand orders stubble burning crackdown as pollution spikes


By AFP
January 31, 2025


High air pollution levels in Bangkok. - © AFP Lillian SUWANRUMPHA

The Thai government has ordered a crackdown on farmers flouting a ban on crop burning, as pollution in Bangkok spiked on Friday a week after toxic air forced hundreds of schools to close.

Smoke from farmers burning crop stubble combines with vehicle and factory emissions to send air pollution in Bangkok and other cities soaring in the early months of the year.

On Friday morning, the sprawling Thai capital was seventh on the list of the world’s most polluted cities run by air monitoring company IQAir.

The level of PM2.5 pollutants — cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream through the lungs — hit 86 micrograms per cubic metre, according to IQAir.

A reading above 15 in a 24-hour period is considered unhealthy by the World Health Organization (WHO).

High levels of PM2.5 were also recorded Friday in the northern cities of Chiang Mai and Udon Thani.

Burning crop stubble sends air pollution in Thailand soaring in the early months of the year – Copyright AFP/File PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL

The government on Thursday ordered provincial authorities to enforce a ban on burning crop stubble, requiring them to report how many farmers they have arrested for breaching the rule.

“In every province, if you allow crop burning or fail to implement preventive measures, you will be punished,” the Thai government said in a statement on Thursday.

More than 1.1 million pollution-protection masks have been distributed around the kingdom, and the health ministry is to monitor vulnerable groups, including children and pregnant women.

The government has also told drivers to ensure their vehicles comply with emissions limits.

Pollution is expected to spike between Friday and Wednesday as cool, stable weather conditions hamper the dispersal of pollutants.

Last week, Bangkok authorities closed more than 350 schools as pollution soared, but no such order was given Friday.

The city’s Skytrain, metro, light rail system and bus services have been free to use all week in a bid to reduce emissions from vehicles.

Air pollution has closed schools across other parts of Asia recently, including in Pakistan and India.

Nearly two million students around New Delhi were told to stay home in November after authorities ordered schools shut because of worsening air pollution.

$16.3M boost for University of Guelph to drive agri-food innovation


By Jennifer Kervin
January 31, 2025

Photo by Getty Images on Unsplash

The University of Guelph is helping to lead a national effort to reshape Canada’s agri-food sector with nearly $16.3 million in new funding.

The Sustainable Food Systems for Canada (SF4C) platform, developed with institutions across the country, aims to bring lab-based food innovations to market and equip entrepreneurs with skills to tackle some of the sector’s biggest challenges.

This funding, awarded as part of a package of Lab to Market grants over five years, was announced by the Honourable Terry Duguid, Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada, on behalf of the Hon. François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry.
Building a national agri-food network

The goal of SF4C is to establish Canada’s first nationally networked entrepreneurial platform, said Rene Van Acker, interim president and vice-chancellor at U of G. The initiative will be dedicated to connecting agri-food researchers and innovators with industry, government, and community stakeholders.

“Through training, mentorship, and networking, SF4C ensures a continuous pipeline of talent to drive Canada’s economic security and productivity in a changing world,” said Van Acker.

Evan Fraser, director of the Arrell Food Institute, and Lenore Newman, director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, co-chair the initiative.

“Current methods of food production are insufficient to meet increasing global demand and to mitigate the effects of climate change,” Fraser said.

“At the heart of SF4C is a philosophy to nurture business-minded research and develop a Canadian base of educated innovators who will bring as many solutions as possible to the market.”

By bringing together experts in agriculture, veterinary medicine, Indigenous organizations, and startups, the co-chairs aim to form one of the world’s largest food innovation networks.

“As we face a changing climate and challenging global political situations, it is more important than ever to grow our domestic food system,” said Newman. “SF4C is a national step forward in agricultural innovation.”
Programs designed to build innovation capacity

SF4C will launch three core programs:A national training platform to develop entrepreneurial skills.
A mentorship and concierge service to connect innovators with additional resources.
Activities, events, and workshops to reduce barriers to learning and business growth.

“Now is the moment for Canada to embrace the agricultural sector as a pathway to sustainable and productive growth on a scale that cannot be achieved by any single institution,” Fraser and Newman said in a joint statement.

The initiative includes collaboration with 13 post-secondary institutions across Canada.
National partnerships and perspectives

SF4C’s emphasis on collaboration extends to addressing food security and climate challenges.

“Climate change is impacting Canada’s rural, remote, and Indigenous communities at an alarming rate,” said Janet Dean, executive director of the Territorial Agrifood Association.

“A national network like SF4C is vital to fostering the innovation necessary for food security and sovereignty for all Canadians as it empowers our communities to harness our local resources.”

While collaboration is an important piece of the puzzle, education plays a key role in turning agri-food innovation into real-world solutions, said Amy Proulx from Niagara College.

She added that Canadian colleges take a “unique approach to learning,” involving competency-based education and microcredentials for workforce-ready training.

“Innovation is a skill, and therefore it’s something we can teach and learn,” said Proulx. “Microcredentials are a practical way to meet these learning needs, by making learning accessible through both formal education and non-traditional learning.”
Strengthening Canada’s food systems

As a leading institution in this initiative, U of G is leveraging its expertise to build a unified voice for agri-food innovation in Canada.

“This funding is a testament to the University of Guelph’s expertise in catalyzing partnerships within and beyond this critical sector,” said Shayan Sharif, interim vice president of research and innovation.

With its broad reach and collaborative focus, SF4C aims to position Canada as a global leader in agri-food innovation, ensuring a resilient and sustainable food system for generations to come.

Read more here.

Written By Jennifer Kervin
Jennifer Kervin is a Digital Journal staff writer and editor based in Toronto.

CONSERVATIVES HATE SCIENCE; IT'S LIBERAL 

Employees at France's public research body up in arms over funding strategy

Researchers and students from France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) organised protests on Monday, calling for its president to step down. They are concerned that huge budget cuts and a new funding strategy will penalise some sectors more than others.


Issued on: 27/01/2025 - 

A researcher examines plants in an environmental chamber at the Ecotron, a CNRS facility (National Centre for Scientific Research) where researchers can experiment and measure the sensitivity of ecosystems to climate change. AFP/Thomas Samson

Tensions are rising among the 30,000 staff members at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) following the announcement in mid-December to create "Key Labs".

The Rogue ESR collective behind the Paris-based protest argues that management is planning to prioritise human and financial resources for a select group of leading laboratories, known as "Key Labs," at the expense of others.

The collective is now calling for the resignation of the CNRS president Antoine Petit.

"In fields like particle and nuclear physics, some sites will be well-funded, while others will receive little support," Olivier Coutard, president of the CNRS scientific council, told franceinfo.


This move, Coutard warns, is creating a "highly destabilising" effect on research teams.

The protest comes at a time of heightened tension, after French senators voted two bills in January slashing over a billion euros in funding.

French minister rules out new taxes on households amid budget showdown

The so-called "Key Labs" are seen as a way to "mask these budget cuts", according to CNRS astrophysicist Olivier Bernen.

"Instead of openly saying, 'We’re cutting funds,' they’re saying: 'Only the best will get funding,’" Bernen, who is also part of the Rogue ESR collective, explained.

"It’s a clever strategy because it pits people against each other. It avoids the direct issue of creating a funding shortage, because the last thing anyone wants is for students to take to the streets."

Decline in resources

For Marc Odin, a geosciences researcher at the CNRS branch in Toulouse, this decision goes hand in hand with the decline in resources invested by the state in research over the past ten years, which also favours closer ties with the private sector.

He is particularly concerned that research into major issues such as ecology will be abandoned due to lack of investment.

Funding for dinosaur fossil digging falls, as French interest rises

Petit, however, defends the strategy, insisting he’s not neglecting other laboratories.

"Research is a balance of cooperation and competition. We know that international competition is getting tougher. We need labs that are 'front-runners,' to attract top students and researchers," Petit said.

At this point, the criteria for selecting these "excellence" labs remain unclear.

CNRS management said it is open to discussions but insists it doesn’t need the board’s approval to move forward with the changes.

UNDER THE VICHY REGIME

'Rails of memory' Holocaust memorial opens in French city of Lyon

A Holocaust memorial was inaugurated in Lyon on Sunday, marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. Over 6,000 Jews from the French city were killed between 1941-1945.


Issued on: 27/01/2025 - RFI

"In Memory of the six million Jewish victims of the holocaust, which includes 1,5 million children, 1941-1945, 6100 came from our region" which adorns the "Rails de la memoire" (train tracks of memory) monument, in Lyon, France, inaugurated on 26 January 2025. AFP - ALEX MARTIN

The work, entitled "Train Tracks of Memory" (Rails de la mémoire), is made up of 1,173 metres of railway tracks, symbolising the 1,173 kilometres separating Lyon from the former Auschwitz concentration camp, in Poland, where a million Jews were murdered between 1941 and 1945.

Auschwitz was the largest of the extermination camps and has become a symbol of Nazi Germany's genocide of six million European Jews, along with more than 100,000 non-Jews.

The camp was liberated on 27 January by Soviet troops who found 7,000 survivors. The date has been designated by the United Nations as Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Around 76,000 French Jews, including more than 11,000 children, were deported by the Nazis with the help of the collaborationist Vichy government.

The new Holocaust memorial in Lyon – designed by Parisian architects Quentin Blaising and Alicia Borchardt – stands in a square near the central station, from which many convoys left towards the death camps.

How Allied photos revealed true horrors of the Nazi death camps

Inscribed on the edge of the rails are the words : "In Memory of the six million Jewish victims of the holocaust, which includes 1,5 million children, 1941-1945. 6,100 came from our region."

The architects recycled old railway elements to construct the memorial, including the rails, the wooden sleepers and the ballast.

"The reuse of railway materials symbolises the resilience and ability of humanity to rebuild after periods of atrocity" they wrote in their brief.

Several hundred people gathered for the ceremony on Sunday, including Jean-Olivier Viout, president of the Association for a Holocaust memorial in Lyon.

Visitors at the "Rails de la memoire" (train tracks of memory) monument, in Lyon, eastern France, on 26 January, 2025. AFP - ALEX MARTIN

He said it was important to remember the victims from the region but it should also be a "tribute to the six million victims of the Holocaust".

As a magistrate, Viout was a member of the prosecution at the 1987 trial of SS officer Klaus Barbie, known as "the butcher of Lyon".

Survivors strive to ensure young people do not forget Auschwitz

The mayor of Lyon, Grégory Doucet described the deportations that took place in Lyon as "unspeakable crimes".

Lyon was "smeared in blood" by "the incredible cruelty of its executioners", he said, referring to Barbie and the leader of the French militia, Paul Touvier.

"Anti-semitism is a poison that must be fought forcefully," Doucet told reporters, and thanked his predecessor Gérard Collomb, who died in 2023, for getting the memorial project off the ground.

(with AFP)

EU and UK clash in first post-Brexit legal battle over North Sea fishing ban

The EU and UK face their first post-Brexit legal showdown as the bloc challenges Britain's North Sea sandeel fishing ban – a minor environmental case with major political implications.


Issued on: 28/01/2025 - RFI

Fishing rights were one of the toughest sticking points in the Brexit deal. REUTERS - PASCAL ROSSIGNOL

In a significant moment for post-Brexit relations, lawyers for the European Union have taken Britain to an arbitration tribunal over a ban on sandeel fishing in the North Sea.

The case marks the first legal dispute between the EU and the UK since Brexit and could influence the Labour government's efforts to rebuild ties with the bloc.

The EU's legal representative, Anthony Dawes, addressed a three-member panel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on Tuesday.

"We are here today because the UK's prohibition of all sandeel fishing in its North Sea waters nullifies rights conferred on the European Union," Dawes stated.

Ten EU states back France in fishing row with Britain

The hearing, set to last three days, will delve into whether Britain's fishing ban violates the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) signed by both sides.

The arbitration panel, composed of legal experts from France, New Zealand, and South Africa, is expected to deliver a final ruling by late April.

While the financial stakes are modest – Britain estimates a worst-case revenue loss of upto €54 million for non-UK fishing vessels – the political implications loom larger.

The tribunal has two options: uphold the ban or determine it breaches the TCA.

If the latter, the EU could take retaliatory measures if the ban is not lifted, putting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government in a challenging spot.

France to seek EU legal action against UK over fishing rights
Opposition to concessions

Britain has defended its sandeel ban, citing scientific research that highlights the species’ critical role in marine ecosystems.

Sandeels serve as a vital food source for larger fish, marine mammals, and seabirds like puffins.

While UK fishing fleets don’t target sandeels, Danish vessels catch them primarily for animal feed and oil production.

The EU, however, argues that the ban is discriminatory, excessive, and unsupported by the best available science.

According to the bloc, it unfairly restricts EU fishing vessels' access to UK waters guaranteed under the TCA.

As both sides make their case, the dispute underscores a delicate balance of post-Brexit relations.

As environmentalists and Brexiteers alike might oppose any concessions, the legal spat could make it harder for the UK to smooth relations with the EU.

Starmer is scheduled to meet EU leaders next Monday to discuss enhanced defence cooperation in response to Russia's aggression, as well as NATO's defence spending goals.

But beyond defence, Britain is also eyeing a veterinary agreement with the EU to streamline agricultural and food trade, signalling a desire for broader cooperation.

African nations set to light up the homes of 300 million people by 2030

Several African nations have committed to open up their electricity sectors to attract investors and light up the homes of 300 million people currently lacking power over the next six years. "Mission 300" is driving the agenda at a two-day energy summit in Tanzania.

RFI
Issued on: 28/01/2025 

Heliostats (mirrors) at the KHI thermal solar plant in Upington, South Africa, produce electricity even when the sun is down. 

AFP - EMMANUEL CROSET

Nearly 600 million Africans live without access to electricity – higher than any other continent.

A plan dubbed "Mission 300", launched by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) last April, is now racing to connect half of those homes to power by 2030.

The push aims to unlock at least $90 billion (€85 billion) in capital from multilateral development banks, development agencies, finance institutions, private businesses and philanthropies, according to the Rockefeller Foundation, which is part of the initiative.

"We want to expand and rehabilitate our electricity grids using the least cost possible," said Kevin Kariuki, vice president for infrastructure at the AfDB during a two-day energy summit of African heads of state in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

In Nigeria, an estimated 90 million people, 40 percent of the population, don't have access to electricity. The country, along with Senegal, Zambia and Tanzania is one of a dozen that committed Monday to reform their electricity utility companies, push renewable energy integration and raise targets to improve access national electricity.

Multilateral development banks and commercial banks represented at the summit will use the country's commitments to persuade their clients to invest in Africa's energy sectors, said World Bank President Ajay Banga.

UAE pledges $4.5 billion investment in clean energy for Africa

Create new jobs

Providing 300 million people with access to electricity is a crucial building block for boosting Africa's development by creating new jobs, Banga said.

The World Bank expects to spend $30-40 billion on the plan, Banga said, while the AfDB will provide $10-15 billion. The rest will come from private investors and other sources.

"The World Bank will pay countries as part of our support only when they make the (regulatory and policy) changes," Banga said.

Private capital has in the past blamed unfriendly regulations, red tape and currency risks for making investments in Africa's electricity sector hard.

Half of the targeted new connections will get electricity from existing national grids, the World Bank and the AfDB said, while the other half will be from renewable energy sources, including wind and solar mini-grids.

While Africa may have the most potential to generate solar power, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the continent has not yet installed enough capacity.

Zambia's crippling drought creates chance for solar power to shine

(with Reuters)

Facing Bolivia's economic crunch with toy houses, fake banknotes

La Paz (AFP) – For a month every year, thousands of Bolivians throng the stalls of an unusual market in La Paz, shopping for tiny toy houses and wads of fake cash -- substitutes for the real-life objects their hearts desire.

Issued on: 29/01/2025 - 

The Bolivian government is running out of dollar reserves -- forcing it to limit imports of subsidized fuel, causing shortages that have led to numerous protests

 © AIZAR RALDES / AFP


Customers of the Alasita market believe the trinkets, "blessed" by shamans, will somehow pave the way for the real thing.

This year, with Bolivia in economic and political turmoil, few items have been as popular as stacks of worthless, paper dollar notes similar to Monopoly money.

"The dollar is disappearing in Bolivia," said Vilma Mariaca, a homemaker who said she bought some fake greenbacks "in the hopes that we will have more" real ones.

Some items go for less than a dollar, while a stack of fake bills costs about $2. A house can fetch anything from $10 to $30 depending on the size and ornateness

 © AIZAR RALDES / AFP

She did not buy a single boliviano -- the national currency that has lost some 40 percent of its value to the US dollar since 2023.

At the same time, the Bolivian government is running low on dollar reserves -- forcing it to limit imports of subsidized fuel, causing shortages that have led to numerous protests.

Set in one of the world's highest cities, the Alasita market offers a stunning array of miniatures to choose from.

There are tiny buses and trucks, jewelry boxes, fuel canisters, stoves, visa cards, even replicas of university degrees.

In a reflection of recent shortages, there are tiny bottles of cooking oil, miniscule bags of rice, and canisters of diesel.

Pocket-sized houses, too, can be purchased, or for those on a budget, the doors, windows or construction materials needed to build one.

'Wishes come true'

Miniature items for sale include bricks, paint and other construction materials 

© AIZAR RALDES / AFP

Some items go for less than a dollar, while a stack of fake bills costs about $2.

A house can fetch anything from $10 to $30 depending on the size and ornateness.

In an age-old tradition inspired by El Ekeko -- the indigenous Aymara deity of abundance -- the purchased items are "blessed" by shamans clutching bouquets of smoking incense, then taken home to put on display.

Trader Rosa Vito, 75, insists the system is foolproof.

"When I was young, I bought a miniature house. We didn’t have a penny. And my husband said: 'What are you buying? It's expensive!' I bought the little house with faith, and within a few years, I bought my (real) house."

Many clients, she told AFP, "have had their wishes come true."

Mine worker Luis Sosa, 40, said his purchases at the market last year brought him good luck -- particularly the dollar notes.

There are miniature houses too, such as this one complete with a patch of lawn, a car and a pool © AIZAR RALDES / AFP

"I didn't lack any, I even had more than I needed," he told AFP.

This year, Bolivians may need more than a lucky charm to get ahead.

Experts warn of a difficult 2025, with inflation at its highest in 16 years and a ballooning fiscal deficit.

And while the populace is in uproar over high fuel, food and medicine prices, President Luis Arce and his predecessor Evo Morales are locked in a power struggle ahead of elections in August.

The Alasita market, listed on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, will be open for nearly a month to mid-February.

© 2025 AFP

Presidents ‘are not kings’: Trump faces legal headwinds to birthright citizenship order

Analysis

Pushback against President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration orders gathered steam Thursday with a court hearing the first of a set of lawsuits filed by a coalition of at least 22 US states to block his bid to end birthright citizenship. Many legal experts see the crackdown on immigrants as unconstitutional and predict a potentially protracted legal dispute.

FRANCE24/AFP
By: Nicole TRIAN
Issued on: 23/01/2025 

People line up against a border wall as they wait to apply for asylum after crossing the border from Mexico, Tuesday, July 11, 2023, near Yuma, Ariz. © Gregory Bull, AP


A federal judge in Seattle on Thursday temporarily blocked US President Donald Trump’s executive order ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional”.

It was the first setback among a spate of lawsuits filed by multiple US states and advocacy groups seeking to challenge the order.

On Monday, Trump ordered federal agencies to refuse to recognise the citizenship of children born in the United States if they do not have at least one parent who is a citizen or legal permanent US resident.

With the ink on Trump’s numerous executive orders barely dry, 22 US states, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Hawaii and California, came together in a dramatic show of political defiance, serving Trump with a barrage of lawsuits.


The cities of San Francisco and Washington, DC, joined the states in filing a complaint in the federal district court in Massachusetts.

Separate lawsuits were filed by immigrants’ rights groups and a pregnant woman who has lived in the United States for 15 years and is seeking permanent residency.

The United States grants automatic citizenship to anyone born on US soil, codified in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

Text from Section 1 of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution

 © Library of Congress

"For more than 150 years, our country has followed the same basic rule: babies who are born in this country are American citizens,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said at a press conference after the complaint was filed on Tuesday.

He described Trump’s order as “an extreme and unprecedented act”.

“Presidents in this country have broad power. But they are not kings," he said.

New York Attorney General Letitia James reiterated her counterpart’s sentiments, saying that birthright citizenship is a fundamental right, part of “the great promise of our nation … that everyone born here is a citizen of the United States, able to achieve the American dream”.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) in a statement called the order “unconstitutional” and “a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values".

Signed just hours into his second presidency, Trump’s order seeks to end birthright citizenship, which is the automatic citizenship granted to anyone born in the US, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

Under the order, federal agencies – starting from next month – will cease issuing citizenship documents to children of undocumented mothers or mothers in the country on temporary visas, such as tourists or foreign students, if the father is not a US citizen or permanent resident.

Despite Trump’s steps to unilaterally scrap birthright citizenship, most experts agree that his powers are limited as only the US Supreme Court can determine how it applies.

Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economic and social policy studies at the Cato Institute, told FRANCE 24 that the challengers to Trump’s executive order were likely to be successful in the courts.

“There is no legal basis for this order,” Nowrasteh said.

“They (those challenging the order) have more than 400 years of legal precedent on their side, the text of the 14th amendment, other US statutes, and numerous court decisions over the last 200 years,” he added.

‘Bedrock of American identity’

Birthright citizenship has been protected under the US constitution since 1868 and was instrumental in granting citizenship rights to African-Americans. The US Supreme Court last examined the issue of birthright citizenship in 1898, when it ruled in favour of a US-born child of Chinese immigrants who won a challenge after being denied citizenship.

Trump’s attempts to eliminate birthright citizenship would need a two-thirds vote in both the US House and Senate to successfully change the Constitution.

Supporters of Trump’s hardline immigration stance argue that birthright citizenship promotes illegal immigration and encourages pregnant women to enter the US illegally to have so-called “anchor babies”.

The belief that pregnant women exploit birthright citizenship has helped fuel longstanding arguments made by Trump that the children of unauthorised immigrants should be deported, along with their parents, even if they were born in the US.

According to recent figures from the Pew Research Center, about 4.4 million children born in the US and under the age of 18 were living with an undocumented immigrant parent in 2022. Of adults born in the US, an estimated 1.4 million have undocumented parents.

Dr Tara Watson, the director of the Center for Economic Security and Opportunity at the Brookings Institute and author of the book, “The Border within: The economics of Immigration in an Age of Fear,” said she is confident birthright citizenship will continue to exist.

“This order is mainly to create fear and signal hostility to second-generation Americans,” Watson said. “Birthright citizenship is such a bedrock of American identity and law that even creating the conversation is a really strong and disorienting statement.”

And only about a third of Americans favour bringing an end to automatic citizenship.

In an AP-NORC poll last week, 51 percent said they opposed changing the Constitution so people born on US soil are not automatically granted citizenship if their parents are here illegally. Some 28% said they favoured revoking that right while the rest did not have strong feelings on the subject.
‘Repel, repatriate or remove’: Broadening scope for deportations

Since being sworn in, Trump has left little doubt about whether he intends to follow through on his promise to “repel, repatriate or remove" migrants.

The US president has fast-tracked immigration changes that have left swaths of immigrants across the country fearful of the future.

Trump has suspended the programme for US refugee resettlement for at least three months and demanded a review of security that could see travel bans enforced on travelers from certain countries, something critics say would be a resurrection of the notorious “Muslim ban” from his first term.

In another sweeping move, Trump lifted existing restrictions on Tuesday to empower the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and the Customs and Border Protection agency to conduct arrests at schools, churches and other sensitive locations previously deemed off limits.

An estimated 733,000 school-age children who are in the US illegally, according to the Migration Policy Institute, could be targeted for arrest at schools.

Some 43 percent of Americans support the idea of deporting illegal immigrants while 37 percent oppose it, according to an AP-NORC poll this week. But nearly two-thirds oppose separating children from their parents if they have been detained for entering illegally and 55 percent oppose deporting immigrants if it separates them from their US citizen children.

Watson said that many of the bold statements made by the US administration were designed to test the limits of executive power “legally and politically, both on immigration and a range of issues”.

“Allowing arrests in sensitive locations is intended to create a climate of fear and uncertainty,” Watson said.

“I’ve been expecting some large-scale immigration raids,” she said, adding the next few weeks still held a lot of uncertainty. “We’ll have to see how things play out.”

Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship is slated to take effect from February 19, and legal experts appear to agree that lengthy court battles culminating in a US Supreme Court hearing is almost certain.

Trump will have to battle legal head winds, fending off a storm of lawsuits and a potentially wider public backlash from those concerned that any meddling with constitutional rights sets a dangerous precedent.