‘A different world.’ Politico: With President Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs in effect since midnight, “the free trade system that America has embraced and nurtured since the mid-1930s has been officially torpedoed.”
■ China’s reciprocating against the reciprocation—raising its surcharge on U.S. goods to 84%, effective tomorrow.
■ Europe, too.
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: Trump “appears unconcerned that other countries could work together against the U.S. and seems to assume they will have to do what he says.”
■ A Michigan State University supply chain management professor tells Wired: If you need an electronic gadget, “Buy it now.” (Cartoon: Marc Stopeck.)■ The Sun-Times found grocery shoppers across Chicago yesterday already putting off nonessential purchases.
■ Axios: More Chicago homebuyers are backing out of deals.
■ Chicago news veteran Jennifer Schulze: Local news is offering “a reality check on Trump’s tariff carnage.”
■ Stephen Colbert: “I hope you’ve finished your Christmas shopping.”
■ The American Prospect: “The economy was already stalling out before Liberation Day. A trade war on the entire world will only make everything worse.” (Cartoon: Jack Ohman.)
■ Desi Lydic at The Daily Show: “It’s been one week since Donald Trump announced his bold plan to destroy the economy, and guess what? It’s working.”
■ Follow updating coverage of the story from The Associated Press here.
Aliens vs. predator. In the first such challenge since the Supreme Court cleared Donald Trump to deport migrants to a Salvadoran prison under the Alien Enemies Act, the American Civil Liberties Union is suing Trump on behalf of two migrants facing just that prospect.
■ Law Dork Chris Geidner: “The ACLU’s intention is for a full class to be protected if the litigation succeeds.”
■ Trump’s acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief says he wants a deportation process as efficient as Amazon: “Like Prime, but with human beings.”
■ The acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service and several other top officials of the agency are reportedly quitting to protest a deal to share immigrants’ tax data with ICE (New York Times gift link).
■ As Trump and Elon Musk cut government spending almost across the board, Popular Information marvels at his plans to increase the military budget by $107 billion.
■ Inside Medicine: No one’s in charge at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
‘Judge Writes Gulf Of Mexico On Trump's Face In Sharpie.’ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst celebrates an order that the White House restore full access to presidential events for the AP—which the president has excluded for its refusal to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
■ But CNN media monitor Brian Stelter sees no guarantee Trump will comply.
■ Chicago’s ABC7, for one, has deferred to Trump.
Clarification, 4:35 p.m.: We’re told the station hasn’t made any editorial changes. That reference was a mistaken ad-lib.
‘I hate to rain on the marching parade, but …’ Columnist Laura Washington cautions the resistance not to put too much faith in the impact of Saturday’s nationwide protests: “Trump and his MAGA crowd still have a firm grip on our collective throats.”
■ The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg turns his column over to a Duke University historian who explains the “very deep roots” of Trump’s “carnival of cruelty.”
Northwestern squeezed. Under investigation by the Trump administration for ostensibly having “failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination,” Northwestern University’s out—at least temporarily—to the tune of $790 million in federal funding.
■ Cornell, too.
■ The American Press Institute surveys a time of high anxiety for student journalists.
Oops. After a Tribune inquiry, the Illinois Board of Elections has concluded that Senate President Don Harmon improperly accepted $4 million more in political contributions than allowed under campaign donation laws that he once championed.
■ The Senate’s considering approving a study of deploying artificial-intelligence-powered cameras to monitor speeders along Lake Shore Drive.
■ An ordinance advancing in the Chicago City Council would give police power to seize tow trucks whose predatory operators descend on crashes around town.
‘Cut any red tape faster than a Pete Townshend riff or an animatronic squirrel.’ A Trib editorial calls for quick action at City Hall to replace the city’s “twin symbols of blight,” the now-shuttered Rainforest and Hard Rock Cafes.
■ Block Club: Chicago cops are bracing for another “teen takeover” Friday night at Millennium Park.
A reader writes. “Unlike your (now former) subscriber who said Public Square is too depressing, I find it deepening my faith. Every other item or so, I utter a loud ‘Dear God!’”
■ Like Square? Your support—as little as $1, just once—helps cover the cost of this service’s production and distribution, keeping it free for all.
