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Simon Lester

@simonlester.com

6.7K followers 700 following 6.4K posts

Founded WorldTradeLaw.net & ChinaTradeMonitor.com Non-Resident Fellow @bakerinstitute.bsky.social Formerly @wto.org @cato.org Trade Policy feed: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xqzu2eazvxb5fohoc4nap33y/feed/aaab5ctu4u4fc .. more

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Political science 43%

Economics 28%

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · Apr 3

I see lots of new followers popping up today. I assume you are here for the trade policy, in which case you might like my custom trade policy feed: bsky.app/profile/did:...

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Reposted by Anna O. Law, American Library Association, Melissa Johnson , and 7 more Anna O. Law, American Library Association, Melissa Johnson, Michael J. Allen, John Collins, Michael Kevane, Dana R. Fisher, Lisa Diedrich, Simon Lester, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

Q: Politico reported on a group chat of young Republicans. Does this just reflect some bad apples?

HOCHUL: Some bad apples? These are the future of the GOP. This is so vile it's hard to find the words to put into context ... there's gotta be consequences ... this bullshit has to stop.

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Reposted by Will Jennings, David R. Miller, Bob Hudson , and 4 more Will Jennings, David R. Miller, Bob Hudson, James Goodwin, Cullen S. Hendrix, Simon Lester, Dunlap

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 11h

Trump at the Charlie Kirk memorial event: "They fired sniper rifles at ICE agents, and me. But I made a turn at a good time. I made a turn at a good time. Charlie couldn't believe it, actually."

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Reposted by Simon Lester

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 12h

Trump on Charlie Kirk: "He was able to fight people that were enemies. And he didn't necessarily love those enemies so much. You know, I heard 'he loved his enemies' and I said, 'Wait a minute, is that the same Charlie that I knew? I'm not sure.' But I didn't want to get into it."

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Reposted by Simon Lester

Matt Peterson @mattpeterson.bsky.social · 12h

I asked the White House if the president was talking about used cooking oil, and they haven't answered. (Trump often gets ahead of his comms staff.) But UCO imports from China—used for biofuel—hit a record last year, prompting some domestic complaints. Brooke Rollins was talking about it midyear.

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 12h

Just saw someone on the other site praising the Roberts court for "ending racial discrimination in schools," and I'm kind of glad the link was paywalled so I didn't have to read the full explanation, which I'm sure was going to irritate me.

Reposted by Simon Lester

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 12h

Meiselas: Would you be willing to confirm that you would only be serving one term if you were to be elected?

Mills: I would only serve one term. That’s a realistic expectation, and it’s one I would certainly agree with.

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Reposted by Bessma Momani, Simon Lester

Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 13h

US President Donald Trump said he might stop trade in cooking oil with China, injecting fresh tensions into the trade relationship between the world’s two largest economies

Trump Threatens China Cooking Oil Trade as Retaliation for Soybean Boycott

US President Donald Trump said he might stop trade in cooking oil with China, injecting fresh tensions into the trade relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

bloom.bg

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Reposted by Henry Farrell, Simon Lester

Matt Peterson @mattpeterson.bsky.social · 13h

Don't look now but Trump just freaked out the market again by continuing to escalate the trade war.

I believe that China purposefully not buying our Soybeans, and causing difficulty for our Soybean Farmers, is an Economically Hostile Act. We are considering terminating business with China having to do with Cooking Oil, and other elements of Trade, as retribution. As an example, we can easily produce Cooking Oil ourselves, we don’t need to purchase it from China.

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Reposted by Simon Lester

Jane Coaston @janecoaston.bsky.social · 14h

the least surprising news of our time www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Reposted by David R. Miller, Simon Lester, Blair Fix

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 14h

Oh hey, check this out. They talk the same way in their private chats as they do on Twitter www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Jacob T. Levy, Simon Lester

Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 14h

Given the now fifth U.S. strike in the Caribbean, reposting my recent essay in @justsecurity.org.

There’s a word for premeditated killing outside of armed conflict.

www.justsecurity.org/120568/carib...

Asserting a License to Kill: Why the Caribbean Strike is a Dangerous Departure from the “War on Terror”

An absence of credible legal basis for the Caribbean strike suggests the Trump admin is asserting a prerogative to kill outside the law.

www.justsecurity.org

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Reposted by Will Jennings, Fabián Muniesa, McKenzie Wark , and 1 more Will Jennings, Fabián Muniesa, McKenzie Wark, Simon Lester

Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 15h

Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.

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Reposted by Henry Jones, Simon Lester

Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 17h

Whenever I see men complain about the male loneliness crisis or unique emotional/psychological issues faced by men, it’s very clear that they just don’t see women as full people capable of experiencing the exact same emotions they do

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 17h

It's a strange state of affairs where world leaders have to consider whether public support of Trump's Nobel Prize quest can get them, say, a tariff reduction of 5 percentage points.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18h

Johnson: "Together with my friend Speaker Ohana of the Israeli Knesset we're going to rally speakers and presidents of parliaments around the world so we will jointly nominate President Donald J Trump for next year's Nobel Prize. No one has ever deserved that prize more & that is an objective fact."

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Stephan Lewandowsky, Daniel W. Drezner , and 11 more Lisa W. Fazio, Stephan Lewandowsky, Daniel W. Drezner, Smith, Alan Richardson, David R. Miller, Adrian Daub, Scott A. Imberman, Michael D. McDonald, Ann Bartow, Simon Lester, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Francesco Nicoli, David Darmofal

Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 17h

I'm sorry, is the Trump Administration talking to a tech platform?

Is it...requesting content moderation?

Today following outreach from @thejusticedept, Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target @ICEgov agents in Chicago.
The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.

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Reposted by Simon Lester

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 17h

Rep. Scalise calls the “No Kings” protests a “hate America” rally.

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 18h

I don't know what to make of any of this. Hoping the Thursday night debate will help clarify things.

Reposted by David Rothschild, Simon Lester

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18h

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 19h

Based on my vast experience with the state of Maine, including three separate week-long visits to cool off during the summer, I think Mainers should consider all of the Democratic candidates during the primary election and decide which one they like best.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 21h

Breaking News: Janet Mills, the Democratic governor of Maine, is running for Senate, aiming to unseat Senator Susan Collins, a Republican.

Gov. Janet Mills of Maine to Run for Senate, Aiming at Senator Susan Collins

A two-term Democratic governor, Ms. Mills called herself “battle tested” in an interview. But she faces a Democratic primary before she can challenge the Republican incumbent.

nyti.ms

Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 19h

I've heard good things, and I think they should consider extending their coverage a bit to the south.

Reposted by Simon Lester

Rob Francis @robfranciseu.bsky.social · 20h

Dutch trade minister Aukje de Vries denies that the Netherlands had bowed to US pressure when it seized Nexperia earlier this week.

“We always take as the Netherlands our own decisions on export controls,” de Vries said.

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 20h

I feel like the Dodger runners should have been watching the umps for a signal -- the left field ump gave a clear no catch signal.

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Reposted by Simon Lester

Nick Baumgardner @nickbaumgardner.bsky.social · 20h

Go Birds

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 21h

There's a lot of demand for a center left Washington newspaper, if anyone wants to jump in to the market.

karl rove knausgård @uhactually.bsky.social · 1d

Lmao WaPo has fewer than 100K circulation now. It turns out “alienate your liberal subscriber base” is not a good strategy when the Republicans also hate you. www.forbes.com/sites/andyme...

The Washington Post Is Running Out Of Readers Willing To Pay

Once a titan of American journalism, The Washington Post now struggles to reach even 100,000 print subscribers most days.

www.forbes.com

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Reposted by Jennifer Dill, Maya Sen, Nazita Lajevardi , and 1 more Jennifer Dill, Maya Sen, Nazita Lajevardi, Simon Lester

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 21h

Breaking News: Janet Mills, the Democratic governor of Maine, is running for Senate, aiming to unseat Senator Susan Collins, a Republican.

Gov. Janet Mills of Maine to Run for Senate, Aiming at Senator Susan Collins

A two-term Democratic governor, Ms. Mills called herself “battle tested” in an interview. But she faces a Democratic primary before she can challenge the Republican incumbent.

nyti.ms

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Reposted by Simon Lester

Soumaya Keynes @soumayakeynes.ft.com · 22h

The Dutch government seized control of chipmaker Nexperia after Washington warned the company would not be removed from its export control list if its Chinese CEO Zhang Xuezheng remained in charge

by @andybounds.bsky.social @benhallnews.bsky.social & Ryan McMorrow
www.ft.com/content/db01...

Dutch seizure of chipmaker followed US ultimatum over Chinese chief

Takeover of Nexperia plunges Netherlands into US-China tech war

www.ft.com

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Reposted by Kori Schake, Simon Lester

Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham.bsky.social · 1d

EU trade ministers meeting in Denmark today. Will discuss China's rare earth controls. Sefcovic says he has requested a call with Wang Wentao

"Discussion on economic security will be more pronounced today than expected, especially with the measures announced by China last week"

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Reposted by Ian Campbell, Simon Lester, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 1d

"Sapiens" is so normal for the first 70,000 years of human history but then goes absolutely buckwild as soon as it gets to colonialism

Had the Aztecs and Incas shown a bit more interest in the world surrounding them - and had they known what the Spaniards had done to their neighbours - they might have resisted the Spanish conquest more keenly and successfully.

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Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 1d

Chase Utley would have been hit twice by that pitch.

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Reposted by Simon Lester

David Schneiderman @dschneiderman.bsky.social · 1d

Montesquieu well understood, in 1748, that tariffs ultimately are ‘paid by the buyers.’ Trump and his advisors would be well advised to spend some time with the ‘Spirit of the Laws.’

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