(End of the American Dream)—The United States imported 438 billion dollars worth of goods from China in 2024.  All of a sudden, most of that trade is being cut off.  Tariffs on Chinese goods are now so high that it no longer makes economic sense for Chinese companies to export products to us, and it no longer makes economic sense for U.S. companies to import products from China.  As a result, container bookings are absolutely plummeting, and retail CEOs are warning that store shelves all over America will “soon be empty”.  Yes, retailers will attempt to find replacement items from other sources when it is possible to do so.  But in many cases, things that are made in China are not made anywhere else.  As retailers run through existing inventory levels, shortages will begin to emerge.

I do not believe that we should have ever started trading with China. And I would love to see a day in the future when we no longer trade with China.

But at this moment we are deeply, deeply dependent on China. Nobody can deny this.

Our economy literally cannot function normally without Chinese imports, and now most of those imports will no longer be coming across the ocean. Most Chinese imports fall into these 10 categories…

• Electrical machinery and TV parts: $124.97 billion, 28% of total imports from China
• Nuclear reactor parts and mechanical appliances: $82 billion, 18% of total imports from China
• Toys, games and sports equipment: $30.03 billion, 7% of imports from China
• Plastics: $19.29 billion, 4% of total imports from China
• Furniture, lamps and pre-fabricated buildings: $18.52, 4% of total imports from China
• Vehicles: $16.85 billion, 4% of total imports from China
• Iron and steel: $11.98 billion, 3% of total imports from China
• Optical and photographic parts: $11.88 billion, 3% of total imports from China
• Clothing: $9.99 billion, 2% of total imports from China
• Shoes: $9.78 billion, 2% of total imports from China

Did you know that China makes 80 percent of our toys?

If you are going to need toys later this year, you may want to stock up now.

It is being reported that container bookings from China to the United States have already “plummeted by over 60% in just three weeks”…

Container shipping between China and the United States faces unprecedented disruption following the implementation of new Trump administration tariffs on U.S. imports from China, with industry leaders warning of potential widespread supply chain impacts and economic consequences that could rival the pandemic.

According to Ryan Peterson, Founder and CEO of Flexport, ocean container bookings from China to the United States have plummeted by over 60% in just three weeks since the new tariffs took effect. The dramatic decline follows the introduction of reciprocal tariffs that went into effect on April 9, setting rates at 145% for China and 10% for all other origin points.

I told you what I thought about this in an article that I posted yesterday.

Today, I would like to share some insights from an industry insider.

Molson Hart is the founder and president of an educational toy company called Viahart.  He just posted an analysis of what we are facing that is so good that I decided to share his entire Twitter post in this article…

The White House has put itself and the country in a bad situation but doesn’t realize it yet.

Around April 10th China to USA trade shut down.

It takes ~30 days for containers to go from China to LA.

45 to Houston by sea, 45 to Chicago by train.

55 to New York by sea.

That means that there are no economic effects of what was done on April 10th until about May 10th.

Around that time (it’s already started to happen) trucking work is going to dry up. Warehouses will start doing layoffs because no labor is needed to unload containers and some products will be out of stock, reducing the need for shipping labor.

All this will start in the Los Angeles area.

After about 2 weeks, it’ll start hitting Chicago and Houston.

Let’s say the White House, after 3 weeks, changes its mind, on May 31st.

“This isn’t working out like we thought it would. Tariffs back to 0.”

Let’s say China says “bygones be bygones, we’ll go back to how things were”.

Let’s say every factory in China that got screwed by their orders being cancelled says the same thing “no problem, we’ll make and ship”.

The problem is, even under the most favorable conditions of China and the factories restarting economic ties as though nothing happened, it will be at least another 30 days before economic activity is revived.

And that’s just in LA.

In Chicago/Houston, you’ll need to wait another 45 days.

New York, at that point, will still be getting containers from before April 10th, they will then have 50 days (May 31 minus April 10) of zero economic activity at the ports, in trucking of Chinese goods, in warehousing.

The whole situation is a bit like lockdowns. Once you shut down, it takes a long time to get economic activity back to where it was, if you ever can.

And again, this assumes, that China and its factories, which make things you can’t buy elsewhere, will start right back up again as though nothing happened, which is unlikely.

It’s almost like we’re speeding towards a brick wall but the driver of the car doesn’t see it yet.

By the time he does, it’ll be too late to hit the brakes.

I could not have said it better myself.

When we finally hit that brick wall, millions of people are going to be extremely angry.

Many are suggesting that we should just start making stuff here, and I agree with that.

But the reality of the matter is that it takes a long time to construct new factories.

In a subsequent post on Twitter, Molson Hart commented on this…

Lego is building a factory in the United States.

They began looking for a location in 2021.

They originally expected to start production in the second half of 2025.

They are now forecasting 2027.

The biggest toy company in the world needed 6 years to make in America.

We can’t wait for years until new factories are built, because we are going to be in the middle of a full-blown crisis just months from now.

For example, what are you going to do if you need to get your vehicle repaired and the parts that you need have tripled in price or are no longer available at all?…

“From brake pads and batteries to bumpers and sensors, many of the parts used to repair and maintain vehicles are imported,” Cars.com editor-in-chief Jenni Newman told FOX Business. “If those parts are hit with tariffs, suppliers are expected to pass on the extra cost to repair shops and dealership service departments.”

Not only would this drive up repair bills for consumers, but it could also cause longer wait times if parts become harder to get or inventory is scaled back, Newman said.

There are thousands upon thousands of supply chains that will be disrupted by ultra-high tariffs on Chinese imports.

Unless we want to have a full-blown meltdown, we need to reach a deal with China.

Unfortunately, the Chinese just publicly stated that no negotiations with the U.S. are currently happening…

China is not negotiating with the U.S. over tariffs, Beijing declared Thursday, despite President Donald Trump recently suggesting the 145% tax on its imports could be reduced “substantially.”

Ministry of Commerce spokesman He Yadong said, “Any claims about the progress of China-U.S. trade negotiations are groundless as trying to catch the wind and have no factual basis,” according to the Associated Press.

“The unilateral tariff increase measures were initiated by the United States. If the United States really wants to solve the problem, it should face up to the rational voices of the international community and all parties at home, completely cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China, and find ways to resolve differences through equal dialogue,” he continued.

We should have never allowed ourselves to become so dependent on China.

Sometimes I feel like tearing my hair out, because decades of very foolish decisions have put us into this position.

Now we desperately need Chinese imports, but most of them won’t be coming to us for the foreseeable future, and President Trump just told Glenn Beck that he feels like he is holding all the cards and doesn’t need to negotiate…

‘I don’t have to negotiate. I don’t have to negotiate. I’m talking to people out of respect, but I don’t have to,’ Trump told the former Fox News host.

‘So we’re this giant store that people want to come in and buy from, we’re the United States. We have the richest consumers, etcetera, etcetera, right?’ the president continued.

Trump said he was currently negotiating with ’70 different countries.’

‘We’re negotiating, we’re showing great respect, but in the end, we may make deals, but either that or I just set a price and I say “here’s what you’re going to pay for the privilege of servicing the United States of America,”‘ Trump said.

There are some people out there that are insisting that I am overstating the seriousness of the crisis that we are facing.

Okay, let’s see what happens.

If a deal with China can be reached quickly, it is quite likely that the damage will be minimized.

I would be thrilled if that actually happens.

But if a deal with China cannot be reached quickly, we are going to experience a tremendous amount of pain.

Container traffic across the Pacific Ocean has already fallen dramatically, and the clock is ticking…

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

(The Center Square)—New York City Mayor Eric Adams praised the Trump administration's efforts to deport members of the Tren de Aruga and MS-13 gangs during an appearance with the White House's border czar Tom Homan.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Adams gave a full-throttled endorsement of the Trump administration's deportation efforts, which he said are getting rid of "dangerous criminals" that are "wreaking havoc" on the streets of his city, and criticized fellow Democrats for bucking those efforts. 

"We have taken them down and we will continue to fight violent transnational crimes with the full force of the law," Adams told reporters. "It’s good to have partners in the federal agencies who are joining us in this priority on how important it is to keep our city safe."

The press briefing came after federal immigration officials on Tuesday announced the indictment of 27 alleged Tren de Aragua members and associates on racketeering, narcotics, sex trafficking and robbery charges.

“President Trump’s been clear, he made a promise to Americans to make the country safe again. And today you see one step, one small step, and many more steps to come here, to make this country safe and help Mayor Adams and the police commissioner,” Homan said.

Homan praised Adams for cooperating with federal authorities to address "significant public safety threats and national security threats" and said NYPD officers aren't being enlisted as immigration agents. 

"This is what collaboration looks like," Homan said Tuesday. "Work with us, give us access to the person you locked in a jail cell cause they’re obviously a public safety threat. That’s all we're asking." 

Adams, who is running for reelection as an independent, has been criticized by other New York Democrats over his support for the Trump administration's crackdown on undocumented immigration. Several challengers have made Adams' cooperation with Trump a key plank of their campaigns to oust the incumbent.

Democrats have also targeted Adams over his administration's decision to enter into an agreement with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents to reopen their offices at the notorious Rikers Island prison. That deal has been temporarily blocked by a state judge after the New York City Council was sued over the agreement.

Homan also defended the Trump administration's handling of the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose deportation to an El Salvador mega-prison has become a flashpoint over the White House immigration policies. A federal judge has accused Homeland Security of violating court orders to return the man to the United States. He said that despite reports, Garcia was deported due to an "administrative error," there were "no mistakes" by authorities.

"I stand by the fact that this guy, this El Salvador national criminal and gang member terrorist is home," Homan said at Tuesday's briefing. "Every member of TDA should be on the run because the Trump administration is committed to removing every single member of TDA and MS-13." 

Adams also criticized Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen for his controversial taxpayer-funded trip to El Salvador to meet with Garcia and call for his return to the country. 

"I will tell you this: we have dangerous gangs in our city. And I would not be sipping drinks with them," Adams said in remarks Tuesday. "I would not be turning them into heroes."

Editor's Note: I am exceedingly skeptical of any so-called "prophecies" that are not in the Bible. This feels more like fodder than something of concern, but since we appear to be in the midst of a crucial time for both the church and the world, I cannot completely dismiss such things as what is written below because we are not privy to the details of how everything will unfold. Whether you give credence to "the Prophecy of the Popes" or not, it will play some role in world events if the "prophecy" does appear to come true. With that said, here's Snyder...

(End of the American Dream)—The death of Pope Francis has created a firestorm of speculation about the next pope.  There is no clear frontrunner, and all sorts of names are being thrown around.  Many liberal Catholics are hoping for another liberal pope that will be able to continue the legacy of Francis, while many conservative Catholics are desperate for a conservative pope that will move the Vatican in a very different direction.

Meanwhile, a controversial document that was discovered in the Vatican archives in the sixteenth century known as “the Prophecy of the Popes” is getting a ton of attention on social media.  Many are suggesting that the pope that will soon be elected will actually be the last pope before the return of Christ.

I will try to take this one step at a time.

On Monday, it was being reported that Pope Francis died “of a cerebral stroke and irreversible heart failure”…

Pope Francis died of a cerebral stroke and irreversible heart failure, the Vatican’s top doctor said Monday. Francis was 88.

The stroke led to a coma and “irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse,” Dr. Andrea Arcangeli, the head of the Vatican’s health department, said in a statement reported by multiple news outlets.

Francis died Monday at 7:35 a.m. at the Casa Santa Marta guesthouse at the Vatican where he lived.

Francis is being remembered as a “reformer” that often said very controversial things.

For example, just a few months ago Francis publicly declared that all religions “are paths to God” during a visit to Singapore…

“All religions are paths to God. I will use an analogy, they are like different languages that express the divine,” Francis said during a September trip to Singapore. “But God is for everyone, and therefore, we are all God’s children.”

Francis broke with traditional Catholic teaching in many other areas as well.

Now a new pope will be elected, and according to ABC News that process usually begins “between 15 to 20 days after the pope’s death”…

It’s also during the interregnum that all cardinals under the age of 80 who are eligible to participate are summoned to Rome to prepare for the secret conclave inside the Sistine Chapel to choose the next pontiff, a gathering that typically commences between 15 to 20 days after the pope’s death. The cardinals spend the interregnum housed in private rooms in the Domus Marthae Sanctae — essentially a residence hotel in the Vatican with dining facilities that usually houses visiting clergy and laity. Per tradition, the cardinals are cut off from the outside world, including televisions, phones, computers and newspapers.

The College of Cardinals will cast as many as four ballots in a single day for the next pope, with a two-thirds majority required to elect a pontiff. After each vote, the ballots are burned and smoke is released from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney as a signal to the throngs holding vigil in St. Peter’s Square. Black smoke — fumata nera in Italian — indicates an inconclusive vote, while white smoke — fumata bianca — will signify that a new pope has been elected. If three days pass with no pope elected, voting can be suspended for a day to allow the cardinals time for reflection before the next round of ballots are cast.

This upcoming conclave is going to be fascinating to watch, because at this stage nobody knows who is going to win.

Right now, more money is being bet on Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin than anyone else.  He is currently the Vatican’s Secretary of State, and he is considered to be very “influential”…

The Vatican’s influential top diplomat and a popular moderate, he has recently been installed as the bookmakers favourite. Like his boss, the 70-year-old has espoused a liberal worldview and recently said he was hoping for “an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people”, and also urged Europe to “rediscover itself” in order to be able to face the “major challenges” of the era, in a recent interview.

Parolin is one of three leading contenders named “Peter”, and he would be the first Italian pope since 1978. The other leading contender is Cardinal Luis Tagle…

Tagle, 67, has been dubbed the “Asian Pope Francis”, because his views largely align with the late Pontiff.

He has criticised the Church’s “severe” stance on gay people, divorcees and single mothers.

Tagle is the seventh cardinal ever from the Philippines and, if picked, would become the first Asian Pope.

One expert claims that Tagle was once “Pope Francis’s favourite to succeed him”, but it appears that his age may work against him…

Edward Pentin, a Vatican expert and the author of The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates, said: “Five or six years ago, he was Pope Francis’s favourite to succeed him. He’s head of the important new super-dicastery for evangelisation. He’s quite a strong contender. And he’s still relatively young,”

His age may count against him, however – cardinals are wary of appointing a relatively young man because his papacy could last decades, thwarting their own ambitions and squeezing their chances of one day being elected.

Another candidate to watch closely is Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu.

He is considered to be very conservative, and he would be the very first black pope…

Besungu, 65, is a Congolese cardinal who has publicly clashed with Francis in the past.

He rejected a decree from Francis that the church should give its blessing to homosexual couples, arguing it “cannot be carried out in Africa without [Christians] exposing themselves to scandals”.

He effectively declared the doctrine, called Fiducia supplicans, null and void on the African continent.

There are many that are speculating that one of the three candidates named “Peter” will win because that would fit “the Prophecy of the Popes”.

“The Prophecy of the Popes” was supposedly written by St. Malachy in the twelfth century, and it was supposedly “discovered” in the Vatican archives in the sixteenth century by a Benedictine monk named Arnold Wion…

The “Prophecy of the Popes” (Latin: Prophetia Sancti Malachiae Archiepiscopi, de Summis Pontificibus) was discovered in 1590 by Benedictine monk Arnold Wion and is kept in the Vatican Secret Archives. This work describes 112 cryptic mottos in Latin, each relating to succeeding popes, starting with Celestine II.

This list supposedly describes all of the popes that will reign until the return of Christ.

The final pope in the list is given the title “Peter the Roman”, and “the Prophecy of the Popes” says some very alarming things about the time when he will lead the Vatican…

“In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End.”

A number of scholars were completely convinced that Pope Francis was “Peter the Roman”.

But Francis was not named Peter, and he was not Italian.

However, Cardinal Pietro Parolin fits both of those criteria.

“Pietro” is the Italian version of the name “Peter”, and he would be the first Italian pope since 1978.

Of course all of the speculation that we are witnessing about this on social media may be for nothing, because as Ricky Scaparo has pointed out, the authenticity of “the Prophecy of the Popes” is “highly questionable”…

The authenticity of the prophecy is highly questionable. The document first appeared in 1595, over 400 years after Malachy’s death, in a text by Benedictine monk Arnold Wion.

Scholars widely regard it as a forgery, possibly created to influence papal elections during the late 16th century. The mottos are vague and open to interpretation, making them easy to retrofit to various popes after the fact.

There is no way that we can prove that this document was originally authored by St. Malachy.

So ultimately we don’t have any way of proving if it is authentic or not.

But if a candidate named “Peter” is eventually elected, a lot of people out there are going to go nuts over this.

Personally, I will be very interested to see how all of this plays out.

What we do know is that we really are living in the end times, and so it is entirely possible that the next pope could be the last pope.

No matter how much time we have left, all of us should be living with a sense of urgency, and all of us should be trying to make an impact on this world while we still can.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.