@hildeaustlid @thorsheim #FunFact: There were some #SourcingRequirement regulations on the table at @EUCommission demanding #HumanRights, #WorkersRights and #EnvoirmentalStandards as well as #HealthcareStandards / #WorkplaceSafetyStandards to make it legal to even import products.

• #Lobbyists canceled that!

In an example that may demonstrate how Trump's tariff policy is about amassing influence and not economic policy, a fossil fuel industry that donated to Trump in record amounts and remains closely tied to the regime through the numerous folks with industry ties appointed to the US administration, received an exemption from the tariffs.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/04/trump-exempts-big-oil-donors-from-tariffs

‘Oligarchy’: Trump exempts big oil donors from tariffs package

"The exemption came after the fossil fuel industry poured $96m into Trump’s re-election campaign and affiliated political action committees, as he pledged to deregulate the sector and roll back environmental regulations. This was less than the $1bn Trump requested from the sector in an infamous meeting at his Mar-a-Lago club, but still constituted record levels of spending.

“Oil and gas billionaires just bought themselves an exemption from Trump’s tariffs,” Stevie O’Hanlon, spokesperson for youth-led environmental justice group the Sunrise Movement, said on Thursday. “While the rest of us have to deal with skyrocketing prices and rising temperatures, they’re sitting on their thrones and raking in billions. We need an end to this oligarchy now.”

In the first three months of his second term, Trump has made good on his promises to attack green policies. He has also maintained a cozy relationship with the industry, appointing an array of industry interests to his administration.

Last month, the president held a meeting with more than a dozen oil executives at the White House, where he floated an energy exemption from his tariff package, according to the Washington Post, with one source telling the outlet that it was unclear if Trump was making a joke or a serious policy pledge."

Because Trump's tariffs are effectively a regressive, compounding tax that therefore harms labor class people way more than it harms the wealthy, there's a valid argument that exempting fossil fuel products from the tariffs represents an effort to mitigate the increased costs of Trump's mafia-style shakedown on regular people. The problem with that idea of course, is that Trump himself is *directly* responsible for those increased costs due to these tariffs (again, which function as a regressive compounding tax on labor class people) as part of his destructive global trade war, and thus clearly does not give a fuck about consumers. What he does care about however, is an oil and gas industry that happily turned over vast sums of money to fuel his political career; who will now be exempt from the tariffs threatening to bankrupt other American businesses and millions of average people who don't benefit at all from fossil fuel lobby donations.

@Dragofix No comment. . Also, I’m afraid no hope. This #COP30 is only a get together for #bigoil and their #lobbyists anyway.

Here are some of the posts. They were all posted (or at least ingested by mas.to) sequentially. Clearly some bot or AI driven accounts all being told to post the same thing. Or real people being shills for big tech/AIcrypto/nuclear power lobbyists.

#astroturfing
#greenwashing
#Lobbyists

@LovesTha @fixatedpersonsunit
We need to fix the problem of #Lobbyists in Canberra, period. But I agree, the #Israeli lobby is a worldwide issue. I can understand the need to remember the Holocaust because ‘genocide’ is a scourge on humanity, but that ‘essential need’ is manipulated by the current Israeli govt as a prop for their #UltraNationalism and their own #genocide goals.

The only really encouraging remarks from Commissioner #Virkkunen in my opinion were:

1. Her clear commitment that European "values" (I assume she means #EU law) are not negotiable.

2. That she has not been in touch with #bigtech CEOs yet (and let herself be lobbied for weak enforcement) and instead referred to her legal teams as the ones who deal with the platforms.

I hope she's also not discussing #DSA investigations with other industry #lobbyists like #business associations.

Susie Wiles: Corporate lobbyist running Trump2 White House
https://popular.info/p/the-corporate-lobbyist-who-will-run

* 2024 campaign Trump condemned power of lobbyists in Washington DC
* stressed key to effect. gov. "stop listening to lobbyists"
* suggested ending revolving door betw. lobbying/fed. gov.
* 2d after election Trump appoints corporate lobbyist Susie Wiles W.H. Chief of Staff

#USpol #GOP #Trump2 #fascism #authoritarianism #Project2025 #SusieWiles
#capitalism #corporations #billionaires #libertarianism #lobbyists

@samiamsam the constant deregulation, dismantling #oversight #accountability, #watchdogs, public reporting - is a tool of #GOP #MAGA formerly #republicans + #lobbyists #corporations #millionaires and now #billionaires. They monopolize, eliminate reasonable small business alternatives, pump up #stocks #markets #insider #trading = All About #Greed is Good - remember - it never went away.

@glnational_mirror wrote: "influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion." So, why aren't #Lobbyists and #CorporateDonors charged with #Terrorism?!

@ExtinctionR so far you and @AufstandLastGen have been #UsefulIdiots in that regard as to do bs stunts that only annoy and inconvenience #WageWorkers and not actually go after #FossilFuel #Lobbyists other #Cleptocrats.

• Go after the executives, not those that are commuting against their will to make ends meet, then you'd likely gain more popular support!

@QasimRashid

I can not bring myself to condone murder but the fact is that the #USA allows all of us to die earlier* than other developed nations because of our #healthcare policies.

Why are our policies so bad? Because we do not have #universalhealthcare

Why do we lack universal healthcare?

Because we have more #lobbyists in Washington than #senators and #representatives combined.

Then they all lie to a poorly educated populace and the circle goes on.

* translation: they kill us!