--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe, and I'm here with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for having me on, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Today, we're talking about the latest developments in Ukraine, Trump's tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and the President's new crypto reserve. Let's start with Ukraine. The Trump administration continues to pull back from Ukraine following the heated Oval Office exchange with President Zelensky.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right, Georgia. The Trump administration is taking concrete steps to pull back from Ukraine. On Monday night, we learned that President Trump would be pausing all military aid to Ukraine. This pause will apply to all weapons, ammunition, and other equipment not already inside Ukraine's borders.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What does this mean for Ukraine, and how will it impact the conflict?
--:-- John Bickley: According to European officials, without any new weapons from the U.S., Ukraine would have enough resources to last until this summer. So, this could be a means of Trump attempting to force Zelensky to the negotiating table.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's interesting. Let's talk about the reaction from European leaders. They've been rallying around Ukraine, taking open shots at the U.S., accusing Trump of siding with Putin and abandoning democracy.
--:-- John Bickley: For their part, White House officials were quick to point out that the European Union actually gave more money to Russia last year than to Ukraine. The EU purchased $23 billion worth of Russian oil and gas in 2024, compared to the $19 billion in military and financial aid to Ukraine.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's a fascinating point. And it seems like the American public is backing Trump's approach to ending the war. According to a new CBS poll, Trump has a net approval rating of plus two on Russia-Ukraine.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right, Georgia. And all of this comes as the president gears up for his joint address to Congress this evening. What are we expecting to see?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, he's almost certain to touch on Ukraine. But more broadly, from what we're hearing, the president is going to tout his efforts to fulfill campaign promises and reverse course from the Biden administration. Specifically, expect to hear him focus a good chunk of time on immigration.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right. According to the latest government data, in the month of February, there were just 8,450 illegal crossings along the southern border. For context, last February, that number was 140,000. It's now 8,000. That means that Trump's first full month in office saw the lowest number of illegal border crossings for any month since 1968.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Wow, that's a stunning turnaround. And it's going to be streaming live on Daily Wire at 9 p.m. Eastern. And of course, we're going to have a full report Wednesday morning.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for reporting, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Anytime.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: New tariffs on the United States' largest trading partners go into effect this morning as President Trump tries to leverage America's economic might to score wins on drugs and immigration. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about how the new tariffs could impact Americans.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, Canada and Mexico were able to negotiate a pause to these tariffs the first time around, but not again. What was the White House's message yesterday?
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, President Trump delayed the tariffs last month. And leading up to the second deadline, there was a lot of confusion about what these tariffs would look like. Would an agreement be reached to avoid the tariffs? Would Trump delay again? Would he go halfway? None of those scenarios played out.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here was Trump yesterday. Very importantly, tomorrow tariffs 25% on Canada and 25% on Mexico. The blanket tariff is now in place except for Canadian energy, and this is going to have some major economic effects on North America, especially as Canada and Mexico implement their own retaliatory tariffs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Many companies have already shifted supply lines and factories to avoid the brunt of the costs. Of course, onshoring this manufacturing is one of the goals of putting these tariffs in place.
--:-- Tim Pierce: I should note that Trump also levied this morning an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods to the United States. That falls on top of the 10% tariff Trump applied on China last month.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. Now, the president has said that he wants Canada and Mexico specifically to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs. Has there been any progress there? And what does Trump want to see happen?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was on Fox News over the weekend, and he said that the illegal immigration numbers are way down. But drugs are another matter. Here's Lutnick. They just haven't moved on the fentanyl deaths in America, and that's one of those key things protecting the lives of Americans.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So it's not that Canada and Mexico won't work with the White House, but the president feels like they could do more. For what it's worth, Mexico has evidently taken some basic law enforcement steps that it's been neglecting for decades.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's what Mexican General Hector Jimenez-Báez told The Daily Caller. We are working every day, National Guard and Mexican Army, to stop the drugs, to stop illegal immigration that tried to cross the border.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That is the first time in my entire career that I see checkpoints shaking Mexican vehicles and people before to cross the border to USA.
--:-- Tim Pierce: For context, the general is in his 36th year of his career with the Mexican military.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Wow, and just now seeing these kinds of enforcement. You mentioned that the tariffs will have some major impacts. What could they mean for American consumers and workers?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, we've already seen a lot of investment come into the U.S. as companies try to avoid the cost of importing. That includes companies such as Honda that now plans to build its new Civic in Indiana instead of Mexico.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Trump announced on Monday that Taiwanese chip giant TSMC is also making a heavy investment in the United States. Here's that. This $100 billion in new investment will go into building five cutting-edge fabrication facilities in the great state that we just discussed, Arizona, and will create thousands of jobs, many thousands of jobs and high-paying jobs.
--:-- Tim Pierce: In total, today's announcement brings Taiwan semiconductor investments to about 165 billion. So some major investments in the U.S., but economic experts are warning about the inflationary pressure these new trade barriers could put on prices.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But Trump's team is confident that their pro-growth policies will ultimately counteract those pressures.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. The Trump team remains very bullish that this is going to ultimately benefit Americans.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: President Trump sent cryptocurrency markets soaring over the weekend when he announced the creation of a crypto reserve. Here to tell us more about the announcement is Daily Wire deputy managing editor Tim Rice.
--:-- Tim Rice: So, this is clearly a big announcement, but what would a crypto reserve actually look like?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, let's start with what we do know. Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday that quote a U crypto reserve will elevate this critical industry after years of corrupt attacks by the Biden administration.
--:-- Tim Rice: He said that the reserve would include Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies like Solana, Ether, and Cardano. Trump says creating this reserve will ensure that the United States becomes the crypto capital of the world.
--:-- Georgia Howe: At a basic level, this just means that the federal government is going to buy and hold a bunch of cryptocurrency. That's going to signal the government's support of digital currencies, and it will allow the government to release crypto to stabilize the market if need be.
--:-- Tim Rice: Crypto advocates have long been pushing for the government to do something like this in the hopes that it will bring some modicum of stability to this notoriously tumultuous market.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, how would the government go about doing that and building the reserve? That's where things get a little bit unclear.
--:-- Tim Rice: Trump gave us a clue as to how this could work in July when he spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville. Many Americans do not realize that the United States government is among the largest holders of Bitcoin.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Does anyone know that? The federal government has almost 210,000 Bitcoin or 1% of the total supply that will ever exist.
--:-- Tim Rice: But for too long, our government has violated the cardinal rule that every bitcoiner knows by heart. Never sell your Bitcoin.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. And so as the final part of my plan today, I am announcing that if I am elected, it will be the policy of my administration, United States of America, to keep 100% of all the Bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires into the future.
--:-- Tim Rice: We'll keep 100%. Now, this could be as simple as sitting on all the crypto the federal government seizes from criminals. But Trump could also direct the Federal Reserve or some other agency to purchase a lot of crypto outright and build the stockpile that way.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Critics are suggesting that Trump will pursue that latter route in a bid to enrich certain members of the crypto community.
--:-- Tim Rice: That includes his AI crypto czar David Sachs, who is reportedly an early investor in Solana, one of the currencies set to be included in the stockpile.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, Sachs said on Sunday that he sold all of his crypto before joining the Trump administration, but we can still expect a lot of this speculation in the coming days, or at least until Friday.
--:-- Tim Rice: That's when the White House is scheduled to host a crypto summit where Sachs is expected to outline the plans for the strategic reserve in greater detail.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, how did the market respond to his first announcement? Bitcoin briefly surged to $95,000 on Monday, along with other cryptocurrencies.
--:-- Tim Rice: But after a sell-off, it dipped back into the mid-80s, which is part of a general downward trend. The crypto market hit an all-time high in January, but has been faltering ever since.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Just last week, Bitcoin dropped below $90,000 for the first time in months, a significant dip that had experts worrying the value would continue its nosedive.
--:-- Tim Rice: So still a little bit unclear as to what's going to happen here. Although I'll leave you with this. Cathie Wood, the CEO of ARK Invest, a pretty big figure on Wall Street, insists that Bitcoin is going to hit $1 million by 2030.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, interesting to see what we learn on Friday.
--:-- Tim Rice: Thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: You bet. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And if you enjoyed what you heard this morning, share this episode with a friend.
