No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Update in Trump's trade war: empty shelves

Episode Date: May 11, 2025

The coming weeks look dire at American ports and shelves. Brian interviews New York attorney general Letitia James about a new lawsuit against the Trump administration and North Carolina Supreme Court justice Allison Riggs about her win finally being certified– 6 months after Election Day.Shop merch: https://briantylercohen.com/shopYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/briantylercohenTwitter: https://twitter.com/briantylercohenFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/briantylercohenInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/briantylercohenPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/briantylercohenNewsletter: https://www.briantylercohen.com/sign-upWritten by Brian Tyler CohenProduced by Sam GraberRecorded in Los Angeles, CASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we're going to talk about what the coming weeks are going to look like at U.S. ports and American shelves and why it's far worse than we think. And I've got two interviews this week. I speak with New York Attorney General Letitia James about a new lawsuit against the Trump administration and North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Alison Riggs about her win finally being certified six months after election day. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen and you're listening to No Lie. So there's new reporting out that should serve as a five-alarm fire to anybody who's worried about our economy, about the the cost of goods, or even about there being items on the shelves. For the first time since the pandemic, there are literally zero ships, zero, heading from China to California's top ports. Six days ago, there were 41 ships scheduled to depart China for the San Pedro Bay Complex, which includes the port of L.A. and the port of Long Beach. Today, zero, none. And of course, this catastrophic drop

in shipping is the direct result of Trump's trade war, where he has slapped a 145% tariff on most Chinese imports. Let me remind you, this is the same Donald Trump who promised us that he would make incredible deals with China. The guy who said, and I quote, trade wars are good and easy to win. The guy who swore he'd bring manufacturing back to America and reduce our trade deficit. None of that materialized, of course. Instead, we're seeing a collapse in trade that port officials say is worse than what we experienced during COVID. The port of Long Beach is seeing a 35 to 40% drop in cargo volume. The port of L.A. is seeing a 31% drop just this week. The port of Seattle doesn't have a single container ship in port, another anomaly that we haven't seen since the

pandemic. That's right. The pandemic, when business was famously booming and the shelves were famously overflowing. And this isn't some abstract data point here. This is going to hit Americans directly in their wallets and on their store shelves. Mario Cordero, he's the CEO of the port of Long Beach. He said, quote, if things don't change quickly, I'm talking about the uncertainty that we're seeing, then we may be seeing empty products on the shelves. This is now going to be felt by the consumer in the coming 30 days. In other words, empty shelves within a month. That's what Trump's easy-to-win trade war is bringing us. And let's be crystal clear about the economic danger that we're facing because we already have one quarter of negative economic growth behind us. That means that we're

one more negative quarter away from officially entering a recession. That's the official definition, two straight quarters of economic contraction. We are in a recession, which is why, by the way, Trump not only claimed that this is Biden's economy, because of course he doesn't want to take credit for the contraction that we're in right now, but why he's also signaling that it's going to remain Biden's economy, because he knows that his policies are plunging us into economic disaster, and he needs to preserve some plausible deniability that he's not to blame. Trump knows that we're, you know, a couple of months away from officially entering a recession, and he's desperate to diffuse responsibility to someone else. He's so quick to launch his trade war, but refuses to take the blame for its consequence. And of course, the irony here is that Trump campaigned on lowering costs for Americans. Remember all those promises about bringing down inflation? Yeah, slapping a 145% tariff on Chinese goods does not lower prices.

It sends them through the roof. And who pays those tariffs? It is not China. We do. American consumers, American businesses. It is a tax on Americans. And so now, desperate to try and fix some of the mess that he's plumped us into, Trump is suggesting that he might lower the tariffs down to 80%.

as if that's some kind of generous concession. Even 80% tariffs are catastrophically high. For context here, before this trade war, the average U.S. tariff on Chinese goods was around 3%. Even during the height of Trump's first term trade war with China, tariffs topped out at about 25%. We are talking about tariffs that are six times higher than they were during Trump's first term.

And who exactly is better off because of this trade war? Not American consumers who are facing high prices and shortages of goods. Not American businesses, which rely on Chinese components, not American workers, especially those in shipping and transportation and retail, who are seeing their jobs threatened by this voluntary crisis, not even American manufacturers, because guess what? You can't just create complex supply chains overnight. The brutal reality is that this trade war is a lose-lose proposition. There are no winners in a trade war. It is economic self-harm that's disguised by Donald Trump as toughness. It is a prime example of his fake populism. actions that he claims are going to help regular Americans, but in actuality, hurt them, and yet Trump takes credit for being tough. So in the coming weeks, when you see empty shelves or notice prices jumping even higher, remember that this was not inevitable.

This wasn't necessary. This was a choice, a reckless, ill-conceived choice by an administration that apparently learned nothing from its first disastrous attempt at a trade war. But Trump doesn't care about the consequences for ordinary people. He doesn't care about the real economy. He cares about looking tough for himself. about creating crises that he can then pretend to solve. So while Trump tweets about how great his trade war is going,

real Americans are about to feel the pain of his policies. And that pain is unnecessary. A self-inflicted wound on an economy that was at record highs from the previous administration. All Trump had to do was literally nothing. But he decided to break it so that he could feel important. And it's the rest of us who have to literally and figuratively pay the consequences. Next up are my interviews with Letitia James and Alison Ray.

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BTC I'm joined now by the Attorney General of New York Letitia James. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you, Brian, for having me. So I want to get into some new news that had just broken and that is that you are co-leading an effort to sue the Trump administration over some changes that they've made as it relates to HHS and Doge.

But before we jump into that, there's a story that was kind of percolating that I want to ask you about. And there was concern a few months back that Donald Trump had given a heads up to before his announcement as it relates to tariffs, that that announcement was going to be handed down. And that resulted in some accusations of insider trading. We of course know that Donald Trump's Department of Justice, that Donald Trump's FBI, his SEC isn't going to investigate

possible crimes committed by Donald Trump or any Republicans. But as this kind of relates to the stock market, is that something that your office might have jurisdiction in? Is it something that your office is looking into? So as you know, Brian, we have jurisdiction over the Martin Act. And so we investigate market manipulations, and we basically police Wall Street. And so this is an area that we are looking into. The question is, in the past, we've had partners on the federal level, federal agencies that work with our office.

And as you know, those federal agencies, unfortunately, are now beholden to the president of the United States and do not work for the general public. So it's an issue that we are considering. And at this point in time, there's really nothing more to say on that matter. You can say no if I'm asking a question that you can't answer. But is there a way, hypothetically speaking, is there a way if there is no cooperation with the SEC, for example, that New York has enough tools unto itself to be able to conduct an investigation or or proceed with any charges? It all depends upon the facts.

And as you know, I don't operate in hypotheticals. Okay. All right. So let's get into what you're doing right now, which is leading this coalition of 19 other state attorneys general in suing the Trump administration. Can you speak about what this effort is in regards to? So HHS, under Secretary Kennedy,

has engaged in a brazen assault on public health. Its mission is to protect and promote public health, and they're doing the opposite. They are dismantling Head Start, dismantling vaccinations. They are dismantling the 9-11 health program. They're removing doctors. They're dismantling lead poisoning for children. They're dismantling protections for firefighters. And the list goes on and on.

They're dismantling opioid funding at a time when we're. we are seeing increases in addiction. And SAMHSA, the suicide prevention hotline, they are dismantling it. And they're laying off 20,000 workers from health and hospitals services. And it, again, is this a frontal attack on public health under administration, which unfortunately does not believe in science and does not believe in facts. And so what is the goal here? What are you trying to accomplish along with these other attorneys general?

To basically halt all of these reductions in force, rifts, two, to restore all of these programs. One billion dollars, Brian, in states and localities to support a number of programs and services to promote public health. tobacco cessation. We are seeing tobacco companies applaud the effort by this administration. And what we are trying to do is maintain the status quo. Listen, we oppose bloat. We oppose corruption. We oppose, we believe in efficiency. But this is just not the way to do it. That's not the role of one individual. They should do it again in cooperation with Congress. and consistent to and inconsistent with the law. There are congressional mandates.

There are programs that are mandated by law. And for the president of the United States, just to rearrange, re-engineer government with the stroke of a pen is illegal, unconstitutional, and exceeds his authority. Is the fight that you're bringing to the Trump administration here on firm legal ground as it relates to some precedent or even very recent precedent in terms of all,

of these cases that have been brought forward, the majority of which Trump is lost, as it relates to his efforts to unilaterally block funding that's been legally allocated by Congress? So, Brian, you said it right. We're winning. He's losing. He's upset. And that's why, you know, I'm on his target list. The reality is, is that he is acting arbitrarily. He's acting in violation of the Separation of Powers Act. He fails to recognize that Congress has the power of the purse. And last but not least, he is seeking to basically broaden and expand executive power and it constitutes overreach. Well, on that note, switching gears a little bit here, but on that note of seeking to expand executive power, you know, Donald Trump has come in front of the

Department of Justice and basically given a list of names. That name, that list includes Mark Golias, Norm Eisen. Obviously, you have been a target of his ire in the past. I'm in good company. In good company, that's right. You can judge yourself by the company you're in, and you are in good company there. But what does it say that someone is so overtly trying to wield our law enforcement apparatus as kind of like this personal army to settle some vendettas that he has because you dared uphold the law in front of him? they're doing a dishonor to the oath that they've taken. I took an oath to the Constitution.

I took an oath to uphold the law and to follow the Constitution and to follow the rule of law. I did not take an oath to a king or to one individual. And it is my job as the Attorney General of the great state of New York to protect its citizens against any harm, both foreign and or domestic. And so it's really critically important that individuals understand that these attacks, the harm that he's causing, he's causing to farmers, veterans, law enforcement, to 9-11 heroes, to regular everyday people, regular citizens, to children and to seniors who depend upon meals on wheels. For me to sit idly by and do absolutely nothing in the face of all of these threats, in the face of the loss of billions of. of dollars to the state of New York that we would have to pick up, or in some cases, programs would just be dismantled to be, is, you know, would, you know, is just something that I is, I cannot conceive of. And something which is contra, in contravention to my mission and to my powers and most importantly to my oath of office.

Something that's been a little bit troublesome for me to figure out is, we, we, We have seen the ways in which Donald Trump will go after these prosecutors at the DOJ or the FBI for the crime of having done their job or investigating him or January 6th, whatever it may be. These were virtuous efforts that were carried out by these prosecutors, efforts that resulted in indictments when they were brought in front of grand juries. And we're seeing now that a lot of the folks who Donald Trump is pressuring out are indeed taking this way to leave government.

And they're resigning because, I mean, look, it's not surprising why these folks are resigning when the alternative is to work for somebody like Pam Bondi or Cash Patel or Dan Bongino. But the flip side of that, in light of these virtuous resignations, is that those spots are then going to become open and filled with somebody who's going to show adherence

not to the Constitution, not to statute, not to the law, but instead to Donald Trump. He's making sure that everybody who fills these spots are, again, loyal to him. And so what is your take on that? this, where on one side, you do have, you know, it makes sense why these law enforcement officers are not going to be falling over themselves to work for a DOJ that is openly that is openly working in deference to Donald Trump.

But on the flip side, when they do leave, we're left with a weaker DOJ, a DOJ that, again, is showing more loyalty to Donald Trump than the Constitution. individuals who are exiting DOJ are profiles in courage individuals who took an oath an oath in office to the Constitution and individuals who are not going to put their reputation and or their professionalism on the line and what we have heard if you read some of the arguments and if you witness some of the hearings is that oftentimes these attorneys come to court ill-prepared, inexperienced, and they make arguments which are in total contradiction and in contravention of the law. And that's why they are leaving in record numbers.

And that's why, you know, we're winning. In some cases, we actually feel sorry for them because they're embarrassed. And because privately what they say to us is like they can't do this. anymore. And they have to leave. They just can't do this anymore. And going forward, it's going to be a challenge because, you know, I am blessed to represent an office with the best, you know, with some of the best legal minds in this nation. And when they go to court, they're prepared. And they make these arguments consistent with the law and with precedent. And to face some of these attorneys in DOJ that make ridiculous and outlandish arguments is a shame.

And that really just read like they were dictated onto paper by Donald Trump himself. I mean, I've read some of these transcriptions from these hearings where the Trump administration officials have to go in and speak to a judge and are juggling their desire not to get sanctioned and to lose their own law licenses with their, you know, the expectation of fealty that they're supposed to give to Donald Trump. I mean, these two things are obviously in conflict, and you can read that in plain as day on the papers that they have to submit to the judges here. And without any facts. Right.

And sometimes their argument is inconsistent with what we are hearing from Trump himself. Trump himself. Yeah. And it's unfortunate. And Brian, let me just close by saying this. That's why we're getting so many resumes from former employees of DOJ. We're flooded with resumes. And I wish that I could expand my office all across this nation because there are so many individuals who are former DOJ employees, individuals who are retired individuals in private practice, who are running now and who want to be a part of an effort to represent the public will, the public good,

and to defend the rule of law. And finally, let's finish off with this. We are watching right now as the Trump administration is kind of subverting reality here and pretending that, for example, as it relates to this illegal deportation of Kilmora Brego-Garcia, that this was somehow not a 9-0 unanimous decision against the Trump administration, but instead a 9-0 decision in favor of the Trump administration. So if they can't win on the facts, they'll just turn reality itself on its head. But what this represents, in effect, is a slow role toward a constitutional crisis.

This is one branch of government, the executive branch, basically defying the will of the judicial branch. And so I think maybe Trump is under this impression that if he does it slowly or out in the open, that somehow it won't feel as grave as it is. But can I get your reaction to the fact that we are right now, watching this constitutional crisis unfold in real time? This is the first time that I've ever heard President Trump say, I don't know, and that he's relying upon his brilliant attorneys.

Right. And his brilliant attorneys are telling him X when the reality is something else. Right. And the reality is, and it's pretty clear from this decision that obviously he should do everything that he can to expedite and to secure Mr. Garcia's return back. back to these United States and or to provide him with simple due process. And that's all that we are requesting, simple due process. But Mr. Trump, President Trump, refuses to admit that he's ever made a mistake.

And he refuses notwithstanding the fact that this kidnapping is in violation of our foundational principles of this country. and totally inconsistent with the rule of law and totally inconsistent with the Supreme Court. I would urge the United States Supreme Court to make it plain to Mr. Trump, to DOJ, to Homeland Security, that Mr. Garcia should be returned immediately with all due haste. Let me ask one more quick question. And that is Donald Trump's response of, I don't know, to whether or not his job is to uphold the law. Your reaction to that. He took an oath.

He took an oath as we all did. We pledged to the flag. And we pledged on, and he put his hand on a Bible and said that he was going to uphold the law. He would follow the Constitution. And he would do it, obviously, as president of these United States. We are more divided than ever. And more individuals, obviously, are experiencing chaos and confusion. And a lot of this is intentional, intentional because he wants the American public and attorneys to look away from the grift and from the self-enrichment.

But at the end of the day, all that we are asking is to just normalize government. This is not how government works. And it's unfortunate that he is taking a reckon ball to our government. and to serving individuals who rely upon government each and every day, including seniors who rely upon Social Security, including children who rely upon Head Start, including law enforcement who rely upon law enforcement grants, and to individuals who rely upon meals and people, low-income individuals

who rely upon heat and energy. That's all that we're asking, and all that I am doing is my job to protect the interest of the residents of this great state who elected me. as the Attorney General. Perfectly put. Well, look, let me just say that fighters are in short supply and that has been my rallying cry, especially in the last few months since the results of this last election. So very grateful for the work you're doing and the forward-leaning posture you're taking with all of this. Attorney General, Lettissue James. Thank you so much for your time.

I appreciate you so much. Thank you. Let's continue to inform the electorate. Let's continue to inform Americans about what is happening to our democracy and let us stand together in community and raise our voices and fight back. No lies brought to you by Beam. Summer is almost here, but let's be honest. That doesn't mean we can slow down and take a break. The new cycle is relentless. Every day we get served up, a new outrage designed to overwhelm us and take us out of the fight. This is the right trying to scare us. They want us to get burnt out, tune out what's happening, and roll over. But we can counteract that by waking up every day, ready, refreshed, and energized.

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So we have some very big news that I've spoken about on my channel already, but congratulations on the district court ruling, affirming your win, and basically negating all of Jefferson Griffin, your Republican opponent's efforts to cast off more than 60,000 ballots. Can I have your reaction first and foremost to this saga being over? Granted, he could still appeal, but for all intents and purposes, very much looks like it's over. Yeah. Yesterday was a huge win for the voters of North Carolina, for the voters across this country who were threatened by this effort to selectively cancel the votes of people that a disappointed candidate believed didn't support him after an election. It was rewarding to have

the federal judge agree with all of our federal constitutional arguments. But I just, I, today I celebrate the people of North Carolina who stood hand in hand with me for the last six months and said, democracy's not going to die here, not on our watch. What do you make of the fact that this was a Trump-appointed judge who handed down this very definitive ruling? It's a great reminder that judges can put politics aside, put people and their duty to uphold the Constitution above party. It's what I've been doing on the bench for the last two and a half years. It's what judges from all political stripes did after the 2020 election when there was an attempt to overturn that presidential election. This is what people deserve from judges.

And I hope that folks take away from this, that an independent judiciary, one that does the right thing without fear or favor is something worth fighting for, that we can get back there. And it's what I'm going to be working on tirelessly here in North Carolina over the next two election cycles. You know, this effort by Jefferson Griffin was so egregious that even a Trump appointed. federal district court judge summarily discarded all of his arguments. And yet, despite that, you still have judges in, you know, your own colleagues on the North Carolina Supreme Court who did opt to or did rule to move forward these arguments. And of course, again, that had to be summarily shut down when it jumped from the state court system to the federal court system. But, you know, going back to work and seeing these people who are so off base and who were so

willing to be complicit in such a blatantly illegal scheme, again, so illegal that even a Trump appointed judge was willing to summarily discard all of these arguments. How do you go back and face these people, your own colleagues on the bench? What I can tell you is I will go back to court tomorrow committed, as always, to serving the people of North Carolina and doing the best I can to make sure that this court is reminded of and does its job in serving the people. I also believe that this is a moment for North Carolina voters to realize the importance of our state courts and the importance of electing people of strong constitutional convictions, people who will put voters' rights over their own personal political ambition. And I've talked to so many voters over the last six months who were lumped in in that 68,000 voter challenge, people who didn't vote for me. And I've been able to say to them, I'm sorry, I didn't earn your vote in November.

I will work hard to earn it in my next election. And in the meantime, I will fight tooth and nail to make sure your vote counts regardless of how you voted. That's what North Carolinians deserve. We won't let our guard down on future attacks against voting rights, against the very structure of our democracy. and we will use this as a long-term accountability tool to highlight the importance of an independent judiciary. Is there any likelihood that Jefferson Griffin's team will appeal this ruling to the

Fourth Circuit, which, by the way, has a very pro-democracy bend. So I'm assuming that, you know, if he couldn't win in front of a Trump-appointed district court judge, then things aren't going to fare much better at the appeals court. But then again, you know, I don't know what the ultimate strategy is. Yeah, I don't know where my team is being, is getting prepared for an appeal. My opponent has seven days to appeal this ruling and will be prepared to respond forcefully and quickly. I don't understand why this has gone on six months. So I don't understand why it would continue to go on. But that doesn't change my day to day, which is fighting for the people of North Carolina and their right to decide who represents them, their right to have their voice heard

and have voters decide elections, not politicians or courts. What is your reaction to the fact that very much the same scheme that Republicans were hoping to deploy in favor of Donald Trump in 2024 if the situation arose that he needed it? Instead, he won that election. But your case, your election was the specific one that they decided to try and employ this scheme to try and in broad daylight overturn a free and fair election. You know, I'm sure you didn't enter this process with thousands and thousands and thousands of races across the country thinking that yours was going to be the one that would not get certified for six months and would be the

poster child for Republican efforts to subvert democracy. And yet here you are. And so can I have your reaction now that the dust has settled on the fact that you were kind of inadvertently thrust into this position? You know, I knew there would be post-election. litigation. I had my legal team ready to go before Election Day because I felt the threat was that real that we might have litigation and action similar to what happened in 2020 after 24. You're right that I didn't expect to be the only one sort of standing in this place right now, but in many ways I'm grateful that my experience and my prior work well equipped me for this. I am grateful that I had the infrastructure and the people around me willing to stand firm for six

months when there's a lot of things happening in the world. That was no small feat. So I was happy to take on this fight for the people of this state, for the people of this country who want better, who deserve better, and who want people in government to serve them first and foremost. And so it's been challenging for sure, but it was a tough fight that I was up for. And I'm not letting my guard down until my hand is on the Bible again and swearing my oath to serve out my full eight-year term. You know, I know you had mentioned previously speaking to voters who, you know, may not have cast their ballot for you, but who got caught up in this whole machine, in the gears of this machine that was Republicans' effort to discard legal and

lawfully cast ballots. An anecdotal, though it may be, was there anybody that you spoke with that kind of expressed disgust or even regret not voting, not voting for you, but who voted for Jefferson Griffin, and yet who saw the overt scheme, the, you know, the election subversion scheme that he and his team were running. Yeah. I mean, we've met them. We've heard from those voters, local elected Republican representatives who followed every rule, did everything right. You know, on one hand, you have the last six months being really harmful to people's faith in the electoral system and the possibility for feeding a cynicism and a distrust of the electoral process.

And on the other hand, you had an opportunity for me and others across the political spectrum to join hands and say this isn't right. Have Republican leaders come out and say this isn't right, former Republican governor Pat McCrory that our service members who raise their hand to serve us shouldn't be raising their hands to be targeted based on the county in which they maintain their permanent residence. that we shouldn't be canceling ballots in a Supreme Court race when these same ballots were fine in every other race up and down the ballot. This has been an opportunity to build a bridges in a swing state where elections will continue to be tight. And, you know, I'm always looking for the positive. And I think we've built some relationships that hopefully will ensure that, you know, we changed the face of North Carolina's judiciary because voters have that power here in North Carolina. Voters have the power to elect judges who will defend their rights even to their

own detriment. I have been fighting nonstop for all of these voters, even the ones who didn't vote for me. And that's what voters in this state and in this country deserve. And finally, let's finish off with this. You know, you have. obviously been engaged in a long bout of post-election litigation, like you mentioned, six months. When you heard the news that this Trump-appointed federal district court judge ruled completely in your favor, what do you do in the immediate aftermath of that? When you finally sigh that breath of relief, what do you do to, like, blow off some steam after this grueling process? You know, the last 20 hours, 16 hours, for me,

has been really focused on reaching out to people to thank them because there hasn't been one day in the last six months where I've woken up and felt alone and felt like there haven't been people wrapping me in their love, support, and prayers. And this is a moment for me to just live in that gratitude, share it with others and remind people that we have work to do yet ahead, but we can celebrate each other and celebrate a great win. And I'm not going anywhere. Voters are going to keep seeing me across the state because I think part of what being a good public servant means is being transparent and accountable and in community. And I'm going to continue living my values that way and working to ensure that we elect great judges up and down the

ballot. Well, look, you know, I've been lucky enough to have gotten the chance to know you over these last few months. My audience has gotten a chance to know you over these last few months. Could not be more grateful for the sense of fight that you've brought to this whole saga and for the grace and class that you've had, certainly to a degree that I would not be capable of if I was in your shoes. So thank you, you know, for seeing your way through to the end of this thing and fighting as hard as you did. And very glad to see the resolution that we got right here and really excited to see to watch your career on the North Carolina Supreme Court over these next few years and hopefully subsequent election cycles after that. So Justice Riggs,

thank you so much for your time. Congratulations on the win. Thank you so very much. Thanks again to Letitia James and Allison Riggs. That's it for this episode. Talk to you next week. You've been listening to No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen. Produced by Sam Graber, music by Wellesie, and interviews edited for YouTube by Nicholas Nick. If you want to support the show, please subscribe on your preferred podcast app and leave a five-star rating in a review. And as always, you can find me at Brian Tyler Cohen on all of my other channels, or you can go to Brian Tyler Cohen.com to learn more.