Morning Wire - Trump's Asia Trip & Carriers To The Caribbean | 10.27.25

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

President Trump brokers monumental deals in Asia, the U.S. ramps up its military presence in the Caribbean, and we get an expert opinion on the state of the Trump economy. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. - - - Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 - - - Today's Sponsors: Boll & Branch - Get 20% off Bed Bundles at https://BollAndBranch.com/WIRE SelectQuote - Save more than 50% on term life insurance at https://SelectQuote.com/morning - - - Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy morning wire,morning wire podcast,the morning wire podcast,Georgia Howe,John Bickley,daily wire podcast,podcast,news podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump's Asia trip has kicked off with a whirlwind of handshakes and signatures as he brokers several monumental deals in the region. The United States will have a robust commerce and cooperation. Transactions, lots of them, with both nations as long as they live in peace. How could these agreements reshape everything from tech to trade? I'm Daily Wire, Executive Editor John Bickley, with Georgia How. It's Monday, October 27th. This is Morning Wire. As the U.S. ramps up its war on drugs in the Caribbean, the so-called Maryland man, Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, gets set for deportation.

I would be frankly shocked if his lawyers don't claim yet again that Kilmar fears he will be persecuted or tortured if removed to Liberia. And with the new inflation numbers in and trade deals paying dividends, we talked to an expert about the state of the Trump economy. One of the reasons why I'm so optimistic here is that the growth we have seen thus far this year has been driven by increases in early. earnings not simply increases in debt. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.

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new trade deals and peace treaties. Daily Wire's senior editor Cabot Phillips has the latest on those efforts and the ongoing negotiations here at home. Hey, Cabot, so a lot happened yesterday on this first leg of the Asia tour. Lots of wheeling and dealing. Tell us about this. Yeah, President Trump arrived in Malaysia this weekend on style. one of a swing through South Asia. It's going to last almost a week. It'll include stops in South Korea and Japan later on in the week as well. Now, the main goal of this trip is to lock down more trade deals and open up access to Asian markets for U.S. exporters. And he hit the ground running almost immediately. Within hours of his arrival, President Trump announced new trade deals

with Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia. Each of those countries will now eliminate the vast majority of tariffs that they have in place on American goods. And the latter two will also allow for unprecedented American access to rare earth minerals, which is a very big deal for the White House. Indeed. And while this trip was focused on trade primarily, President Trump also helped broker a new formalized peace agreement between Thailand and Cambodia. Two longtime foes who were on the brink of war this summer, as we talked about on the show,

after fighting broke out over a border dispute. So under this new Trump-broker peace deal, the two sides will pull back military forces from the border and then exchange POWs as well. In a moment that quickly went viral, President Trump spoke to his fondness for ending wars. You can see just how much he likes this aspect of the job. And I love doing it. I love, it's like, I shouldn't say it's a hobby because it's so much more serious than a hobby, but it's something that I'm good at.

So the White House is obviously thrilled about these new trade agreements and that peace deal as well, but this trip is going to be defined by this looming showdown with President Xi Jinping. of China. The two will meet face to face on Thursday for the first time since back in 2019. Ahead of that high-stakes showdown, Trump expressed optimism regarding what he called a comprehensive deal that could end the tit-for-tat trade war that's lasted all year and resulted in unprecedented tariff rates exceeding 100% on China. The White House says Trump is going to push for Beijing to resume the purchasing of American farm products, primarily American soybeans. He also wants more access to China's rare earth minerals and, of course, assurances that they are going to do more.

to crack down on fentanyl production. Ahead of that sit-down, officials from both sides have been meeting virtually nonstop this week to hammer out the framework of a potential broader deal that we're going to see. Those terrorists were set to take place on November 1st. Here is what Besson had to say earlier this weekend. We had a very good two-day meeting.

I would believe that the... So it would be an extra 100% from where we are now, and I believe that that is effectively off the table. And for their part, Beijing also seemed to be optimistic going in. They said that a, quote, basic consensus had been reached and that the two sides, quote, engaged in candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges. Certainly all good news. Now, on the trade issue, we had something with our northern neighbor crop up, which is kind of actually remarkable. A TV ad prompted this.

Tell us about this. Yeah, this is one of the wilder chapters of the entire trade saga. So for context, earlier this year, Trump hit Canada with a 35% tariff on a host of goods. along with 50% rates on steel and aluminum exports. That resulted in an unusually chilly relationship between the U.S. and Canada over the summer, but it looked like things were starting to cool down and moving in the right direction.

There were meetings going on. New Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed to remove retaliatory tariffs put in place by Justin Trudeau. And then there were the high-level negotiations going on again all month with both sides expressing optimism. But then the government of Ontario stepped in with a new ad campaign. They started running a commercial during the World Series and elsewhere, quote, in their words, making the case against American tariffs. That ad actually features extensive quotes from a 1987 radio address from President Ronald Reagan in which he makes his case against tariffs.

Have a listen to that ad. Over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer. High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade. That commercial drew immediate condemnation from President Trump, who said that, quote, based on their egregious behavior, all trade negotiations with Canada are hereby terminated. So he was very mad. And it's worth noting, while President Reagan was famously opposed to most tariffs in a rare move, the Reagan Foundation actually stepped in, releasing a statement saying that they were viewing legal options here as a result as well.

So they're also not happy. Now, for their part, the government of Ontario said they would be removing that ad campaign. but it looks like the damage has already been done. Rather than wrapping up a new trade deal, Trump now says, quote, because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts and hostile act, I am increasing the tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now. Well, never a dull moment with Trump on the global stage.

Cabot, thanks for reporting. Absolutely. With everything going on in the world lately, it's no wonder people are focused on protecting their financial future. One option you might not have considered recently is life insurance, which gets significantly more expensive as you. you age. That's why it's time to look into SelectQuote. Life insurance doesn't have to be complicated. SelectQuote has been helping people like you for over 40 years, finding the right coverage at the

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as he floated the possibility of strikes against drug cartels on land. And the Trump administration placed sanctions on the President of Columbia as tensions continue to rise with the Erzweil U.S. ally. Here to talk about Trump's efforts to stop the flow of drugs from South America to the United States is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce. So, Tim, where do things stand now with regards to the military effort to intercept drugs in the Caribbean and now potentially on land? Yeah, stop me if you've heard this word before, but it's more escalation. Trump moved the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Group to the Caribbean to join the other U.S. forces located there. Now, the Gerald R. Ford carrier group is the largest carrier group in the U.S. military. So it's a pretty aggressive sign from Trump that he's not satisfied with just a few drugboats being blown up here and there.

Here he was last week on the possibility of land strikes. The land is going to be next. And we may go to the Senate. We may go to the, you know, Congress and tell them about it. But I can't imagine that have any problem with it. What are they going to do to say, gee, we don't want to stop drugs pouring in. They're killing 300,000 people here. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham went on CBS's Face the Nation over the weekend,

and he said he had spoken to President Trump about that. President Trump told me yesterday that he plans to brief members of Congress when he gets back from Asia about future potential military operations against Venezuela and Colombia. Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro said last week that there are 5,000 Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles stationed around the country to defend the airspace. He also said that millions of men and women with rifles would march across the country if the United States were to attack on Venezuelan soil. Well, as far as we know, the CIA is already there. Now, pivoting to another country nearby that is traditionally an ally of the United States, but lately has had tension with President Trump is Colombia.

What's the status there? Well, Trump is fed up with, as he sees it, Colombian president Gustavo Petro, secretly working with the drug cartels while lying to the U.S. about it. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson announced sanctions on Petro and his family on Friday, and he said in a statement that Petro, quote, has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refuse to stop this activity. Columbia says that's not true and has pointed to its continued interdiction of cocaine, but that's in spite of the country's coca fields growing continuously since Petro took office in 2022. On top of that, Petro's political campaign was reportedly funded by cartel cash, some of that even being passed through Petro's own son. Trump's moves against Petro have been applauded by lawmakers, such as Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, who represents a large Colombian-American district in Florida. Colombia is once again the number one producer of Coke in the world.

Colombians don't deserve that. And President Trump has their responsibility to stop drugs coming into this country. So obviously, there's some desire for the president to play hardball with some of these leaders in South American countries. Now, shifting gears, before you go, I want to follow up on something. We've been tracking Kilmer Abrago Garcia. He now has plans for deportation. What's the status?

Yes, for that, I went to our friend over at the Tennessee Star reporter Tom Pappert. Here's what he had to say about it. Friday morning, the federal attorneys representing the Department of Homeland Security notified the Obama appointed judge overseeing Abrago Garcia's case that the United States now intends to deport him to Liberia. And they added that Liberia says they'll take him. means this is further along the road toward deportation than any of the government's previous efforts. And Pappert said that he fully expects the judge in that case to try to protect Kilmar-Abrego-Garcia from deportation, at least for the time being.

In my view, this judge, Paula Zennis, has really been acting as the fifth legal team representing Kilmar-Abrigo-Garcia. I would fully expect in some way, shape, or form she is going to try to make a final decision in this law. that somehow benefits Abrago Garcia. But as of right now, it seems to be a question of when, not if Abrago Garcia is deported. Well, it's been a long time coming. Tim, thanks for reporting. Thanks for having me. The latest economic report shows inflation slightly cooler than experts predicted at 0.3% rather

than the predicted 0.4%. The White House is touting the numbers as yet more proof that Trump's economic plan is working. Joining us now to discuss the numbers and the state of the economy amid President Trump's barrage of trade deals as economist E.J. Antony of the Heritage Foundation. E.J., thanks for coming on. My pleasure. Thank you for having me. So first, big picture, we're nine months into Trump's second term. How is the economy doing? Well, I'd say the best way to describe it is that it's in the midst of a transition, right? For basically the last two years of the Biden administration, you had a labor market that was being propped up in a lot of ways. government hiring. That's gone away. In fact, it's been replaced with government firings. And the result of that is a drag on the overall jobs numbers, right? In the same way, when you look at something like the way we measure the economy through gross domestic product or GDP, you had government purchases, which were accounting for a very large percentage of that. That's all gone away. In fact, it's been replaced by a reduction in those government purchases, which is a drag on the headline number. So as the government reprivatized,

as the Treasury Secretary says, you will see what looks like sluggish growth, which I think we're in right now, but in reality is actually a returning to health. It's almost like the chemotherapy that makes you feel really lousy, but gets rid of your cancer. We mentioned at the top, that the inflation numbers were a little bit cooler than projected. How do you feel about the state of inflation right now? Well, pretty good, especially since the number one driver of inflation in that CPI report for the month of September was gasoline prices, going up so much, except that increase has completely reversed in the first three weeks of October, and now prices are actually slightly lower than they were in most markets. So we should expect the next CPI report if we can even get it. It's unclear because the government shut down. But if we could get it, we would expect even cooler CPI numbers. Now, Treasury data shows the tariff collection has really surged in recent months. What is the net effect of Trump's tariff plan thus

far on the economy. Are they working as advertised? Well, I guess it depends on how we want to say as advertised, right? But here are the facts. They're bringing in way more revenue than anticipated to the Treasury. We can certainly have a debate over who is paying for those tariffs. But the fact is they're bringing in billions of dollars in revenue. In fact, hundreds of billions of dollars when you annualize it. And that's one of the reasons why September had the biggest surplus ever for the month of September in terms of the Treasury monthly statement. It was because not only have we seen a reduction in overall government spending, but an increase in revenues. Overall revenues, of course, because the economy is growing, but also specifically from customs duties, which are from the increase in tariffs.

Is the reshoring effect like Stalantus moving some production to the U.S.? Is that a real trend or just a few isolated incidents? Oh, it's certainly a real trend, but it is being blunted to a certain extent right now. You are seeing help to the manufacturing sector and that some of it is being reshore. but you're also seeing, at least in the short term, some pain inflicted on manufacturing because, again, some of the things being tariffed are actually input. So you're making it more expensive, let's say, for a car manufacturer to buy steel from abroad for the time being. Now, once that steel gets re-shored back to the United States and you can buy it domestically, then it's a moot point, right? But at least for the time being, you're having competing effects there where one is helping, the other is hurting. So final question, we're about to wrap up the year. A couple months left here. What do you project to happen big picture with the economy over the next few months? Well, I think we're going to continue to see some of these very positive trends with economic growth, where although the public sector, the government is shrinking, we're going to continue to see growth in the productive private sector. Their money is going further because earnings growth is outpacing inflation.

That's a very positive development. Yeah, certainly good news. Well, thank you so much for talking with us. My pleasure. Thank you for having me. Thanks for waking up with us. And if you're listening to the show, you can also watch us now on Daily Wire Plus. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.