The President's Daily Brief
April 21st, 2025: Signs Emerging That Trump’s Tariff Strategy May Be Working & The ‘Easter Truce’ That Wasn’t
Mon, 21 Apr 2025
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: President Trump’s tariff strategy appears to be yielding results, with Japan, Indonesia, and others signaling trade deals that could open up massive markets to American exports. Russia’s so-called Easter ceasefire proved hollow, as its military continued launching attacks across Ukraine despite Putin’s pledge. A suspected terrorist long wanted by India has been arrested on American soil—a big development in the growing counterterrorism partnership between Washington and New Delhi. And in today’s Back of the Brief: The Pentagon confirms a substantial drawdown of U.S. troops from Syria, following reports we first brought you last week. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. StopBox: Get firearm security redesigned and save with BOGO the StopBox Pro AND 10% OFF @StopBoxUSA with code PDB at http://stopboxusa.com/PDB ! #stopboxpod Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold TriTails Premium Beef: Visit https://TryBeef.com/PDB for 2 free Flat Iron steaks with your first box over $250. Plus, for a limited time enjoy 5% off on almost everything site-wide excluding subscriptions and B-stock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What signs indicate Trump's tariff strategy might be working?
It's Monday, the 21st of April. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. And for those of you celebrating, I hope that you had a very happy and peaceful Easter. Alright, let's get briefed. We'll start things off today with signs that the Trump White House's tariff strategy may be paying off.
Japan, Indonesia and others are offering deals and opening their markets of hundreds of millions of people to American goods. I'll have those details. Later in the show. It was the Easter ceasefire that never was. Despite Vladimir Putins announcement of a holiday truce, Russian forces pressed ahead with attacks in Ukraine.
And perhaps at some point folks will realize that Putin has no interest in stopping his war at this time. Unless, of course, he feels the pain, he's not coming to the negotiating table. Plus, an accused terrorist wanted by India has been captured on US soil, marking a major win for New Delhi and a notable moment in US-India cooperation.
And in today's Back of the Brief, a follow-up on a story we brought you last week, as the Pentagon officially announces that the US will be withdrawing a significant number of troops from Syria. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. I wanted to start today with a story you're not seeing on the front pages, but one that suggests President Trump's tariff policy might be working.
Chapter 2: Which countries are opening markets to American exports and what products are involved?
Now, I'm no economist, I know that surprises you, but I'm not half bad at recognizing patterns. And over the past several days, a fairly clear one has begun emerging. Countries are either announcing or considering plans to boost imports of US goods, moves that are clearly aimed at appeasing President Trump into lifting tariffs.
According to reports, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh are amongst a number of nations planning to offer up concessions. We're talking everything from soybeans and cotton to liquefied natural gas and high-end industrial equipment. And together, those four countries alone represent a combined population of more than 640 million people. That's nearly twice the size of the US.
And that's a very large potential market for American exporters. So... Let's walk through what we're seeing here. We'll start with Japan, which is reportedly weighing major concessions on U.S. agricultural goods, soybeans, rice, meat, fish and potatoes. It's also considering revising its car safety regulations.
Now, on the surface that might not sound like much, but those regulations have historically been used to prevent foreign carmakers from penetrating the Japanese market. Thailand has agreed to buy $500 million worth of U.S. liquefied natural gas next year with a 15-year plan to import 15 million tons in total. That's potentially billions of new dollars flowing into the American energy sector.
Indonesien begleitet, US-Importe von bis zu 19 Billionen Dollar zu erhöhen, insbesondere 10 Billionen Dollar in Energie-Vorschlägen, zusammen mit großen Verkaufsvermögen von Weizen, Sojaprodukten und amerikanischer Industrie-Maschinerie.
Und Bangladesch signaliert jetzt, dass es Verkaufsvermögen von US-Farmgütern wie Kotten auflösen wird, während es auch Tarife auf Gas-Turbinen, Semi-Kondukteure und medizinisches Equipment schlägt. Sie pflegen sogar, Nontarif-Berufe wie redundantes Testen und Verpackungsregeln zurückzuheben, die den US-Akzess lange verringert haben. Also fragst du dich selbst, was hier eigentlich passiert ist.
Well, for all the noise about trade wars, what we're seeing is more like economic hardball. Trump isn't using tariffs necessarily to isolate the US, he's using them as leverage to strong arm America's way into foreign markets and to boost key industries, agriculture, energy and advanced manufacturing. Es ist ein bisschen wie die Diplomatie von Schiffen, nur mit Tarifen anstatt von Schiffen.
Und es fordert Länder, echte Konzessionen zu präsentieren. Konzessionen, die Zugang zu über 500 Millionen neuen Kunden erlangen können, wenn es um diese vier Länder allein geht. Und wir wissen, dass es auch andere große Spieler gibt, die Konzessionen betrachten, auch Indien. Das sind noch 1,5 Billionen potenzielle Kunden, für die von Ihnen im Homekeeping-Score.
Now, many have framed this as Trump needing 90 trade deals in 90 days in order to justify the 90-day tariff pause. But in reality, Trump doesn't need 90 deals, he just needs enough of the right ones. Deals that shift the balance in America's favor, open high-value markets and prove that the tariff strategy can actually extract real concessions. So, will it work? Well, that does remain to be seen.
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Chapter 3: How is the Trump administration using tariffs as leverage in trade deals?
wants access to your markets. Alright, coming up next. Russia breaks its own Easter ceasefire with more strikes on Ukraine. And the US arrests a wanted terrorist, marking a major win for India and a boost in law enforcement ties between the two countries. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker hier.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a temporary Easter ceasefire over the weekend, but as Monday morning dawned, well, it was clear the guns actually never went silent. In a video released by Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Putin, flanked by Chief of the General Staff Valery Yaroslavov, said that guided by humanitarian conditions...
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Chapter 4: What happened with the so-called Easter ceasefire in Ukraine?
would take a pass on further diplomatic efforts unless tangible progress was made quickly. As we reported here on the PDB last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed that sentiment, saying the U.S. was, quote, not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end, as it had other priorities to focus on.
Rubio added, "...we need to determine very quickly now, and I'm talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable. If it's not going to happen, then we're just going to move on." And after another failed truce and another round of finger pointing, it's unclear whether diplomacy has any path forward here. All right, turning to the U.S. The FBI has announced the arrest of a man on U.S.
soil wanted by India for terrorism, marking a rare and significant win for New Delhi and another sign of tightening law enforcement ties between the U.S. and India under the Trump administration. The FBI says Harpreet Singh, an Indian national, was taken into custody Thursday in Sacramento, California.
Chapter 5: How did Russia and Ukraine respond to the Easter ceasefire announcement?
Now Singh is said to have entered the US illegally and managed to evade capture for years, relying on disposable phones and encrypted messaging apps to stay off the radar. Indian authorities say Singh is a key figure in what's called Babar Khalsa International, a banned Sikh separatist group with ties to Pakistan's intelligence services.
The group seeks to establish an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan by violently seceding from India's Punjab region. He is accused of providing funds, weapons and logistical support to operatives inside India and has been linked to a grenade attack last year on a retired police officer in a northern city of India.
While no injuries were reported, the attack was seen as part of a broader campaign of intimidation and violence. Authorities in the Indian state of Punjab say Singh wasn't just involved in that one attack. He allegedly orchestrated a string of targeted killings, grenade assaults on police compounds and extortion campaigns across the region.
Chapter 6: What are the implications of the continued fighting despite the ceasefire?
Im Januar hat Indias National Investigation Agency eine Geldaufgabe für Informationen gefordert, die zu Singhs Behandlung führt. Jetzt, dass er in der US-Verwaltung ist, wird der Fokus auf das Nächste wechseln, ob Singh in Indien extradiert werden wird. Das ist keine kleine Frage.
India has submitted more than 60 extradition requests to the US over the past two decades, most of them unsuccessful due to concerns over the strength of evidence, differences in legal standards or fears that the accused could face political persecution or human rights abuses if returned.
Singh's arrest is being viewed in India as a breakthrough moment in a system that has long frustrated Indian authorities. And there are signs of a broader shift. Just this month, the U.S. extradited a Pakistani-Canadian man named Tahir Rana. He was accused of helping plan the deadly 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.
That move was widely praised in India and seen as a gesture of goodwill from the Trump White House. Also, Vizepräsident J.D. Vance und seine Frau planen eine Besuch in Indien nächste Woche. Während die Agenda größtenteils unter den Rappen bleibt, ist die Zeitung nicht wertvoll, um einen breiteren Eindruck zu geben, um die Beziehungen zwischen den beiden Nationen zu erneuern und zu stärken.
Okay, kommen wir zum nächsten in den Hintergrund der Brief. Die US-Militär annunziert einen großen Ausdruck von Truppen aus Syrien. Ich habe diese Details nächstes Mal. Hey, Mike Baker hier. Well, you probably heard about the tariffs, right? The trade wars. It's thrown the global economy into chaos.
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Chapter 7: What is the current US stance on diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine?
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