President Trump announced the first sweeping trade actions of his administration, enacting tariffs on solar panels and components (as well as washing machines) from nearly every country around the world. Even though Trump was right to blame Chinese government subsidies to its solar manufacturers for bankrupting U.S. solar producers, his "America First" tariffs are a decade too late to matter.
Solar manufacturers across Asia can now stand on their own feet without public handouts, and their massive scale enables them to win brutal price wars. As they have driven down the cost of solar panels by three quarters over the last decade, the global share of U.S. solar manufacturing has dwindled to less than 5%.
What's next: Expect minimal investment in U.S. solar factories (any that are built will be highly automated), net U.S. job destruction as higher solar panel prices shave the boom in solar installations by 10%, and Chinese trade retaliation. Ultimately, the WTO may well rule Trump's tariffs illegal.
Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr. is the latest conservative media personality and Trump supporter to have his Twitter account hacked by the Turkish cyber group Ayyıldız Tim. The pro-Erdogan collective has taken over a variety of prominent accounts, changing their photos and username — which results in the loss of the verified checkmark — while posting pro-Turkey messages and claiming to obtain contents of the victims' direct messages.
Why it matters: The right-leaning Twitter accounts appear to have been targeted due to their proximity to President Trump, as the hackers have messages critical of American foreign policy toward Turkey. In some cases, Ayyıldız Tim have used their control of accounts followed by Trump's famous @realDonaldTrump account to send direct messages straight to his inbox.
Hulu has attracted about 450,000 subscribers to its new live TV service, while competitor YouTube Live has signed up just over 300,000, according to CNBC.
Why it matters: Both services (Hulu Live TV: $39.99/month; YouTube Live: $35/month) launched last year as alternatives to traditional cable packages. Despite strong early numbers, they still trail Dish's Sling TV (2 million) and DirecTV Now (1 million).
Unveiling the annual Edelman Trust Barometer in conjunction with tomorrow's opening of Davos, president and CEO Richard Edelman told Axios that the U.S. has fallen to "an Iraq war level of trust" around the world.
"It’s the first time we've seen such a trust drop delinked from either a major event, or economic chaos."
President Trump tweeted thanks to Republican consultant Brad Blakeman for giving the first year of his presidency an "A" during an appearance on Fox News this evening — while a crucial Senate vote looms later tonight to end the ongoing government shutdown.
Trump in November: "And believe it or not, even when I'm in Washington or New York, I do not watch much television. I know they like to say that. People that don't know me, they like to say I watch television — people with fake sources. You know, fake reporters, fake sources."
A few days after the New York Times turned over its editorial page to pro-Trump readers, the paper’s opinion section torched the president from just about every angle imaginable.
The big picture: Thumb through the paper’s Sunday Review to see a variety of takes — which combine to present a view of a dumb, racist, Hillary-obsessed, globally clueless, historically awful liar of a president.
