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Newsom: Despite Trump policies, California is ‘open for business’
damages from Silverado Fire
By Joe Taglieri
By City News Service
joet@beaconmedianews.com
leader in global commerce. | Photos courtesy of the White House/Facebook and Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
alifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday echoed an announcement he made last week touting the state’s economic prowess in response to President Donald Trump’s policies. The state’s economy is the world’s fifth-largest and will continue as a leader in global trade and investment, while the Trump economic agenda “disrupts the national economy, sends markets spiraling and creates trade wars with trusted partners,” according to the governor’s office. “California knows the importance of trust and dependability, and unlike some folks in Washington, D.C., we don’t change the rules with every presidential mood swing,” Newsom said in a statement. “California
is a trusted, reliable partner for international trade and investments. We urge countries around the globe to continue to work with us — we’re open for business.” Trump has vowed to reverse free-trade policies. “For decades, the United States slashed our trade barriers on other countries, while those nations placed massive tariffs on our products and created outrageous nonmonetary barriers to decimate our industries,” the president told reporters Monday at the White House. “They manipulated their currencies, subsidized their exports, stole our intellectual property, imposed exorbitant VAT taxes to disadvantage our products, adopted unfair rules and technical standards, and created filthy pollution
havens. This all happened with no response from the United States of America, but those days are over.” Just after midnight Wednesday, dozens of countries started facing steeper “reciprocal” tariffs from the U.S., but by Wednesday afternoon, the Trump administration said it would suspend these higher rates for 90 days, and instead maintain a recent 10% levy on nearly all imported goods. China, however, was an exception. Trump said on social media that he would increase import taxes on Chinese goods to 125% “effective immediately” — escalating retaliatory levies that have mounted between the two global economic giants. California is a power-
OC settles with T-Mobile for
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President Donald Trump, at left, shows reporters a list of “reciprocal tariffs”; Gov. Gavin Newsom, at right, has said California remains a
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house in international trade in its own right to the tune of over $675 billion annually, which is more than 16% of the state’s total economic output, officials reported. The nation’s top exporter, California sends agricultural products for sale in markets worldwide. Manufactured goods also dominate the state’s exports, including computers, over $16 billion; aerospace parts and products, more than $8.3 billion; and semiconductor chips and equipment, nearly $6.5 billion. California is also consistently has the most U.S. jobs supported by foreign direct investment, according to Newsom’s office. The United Kingdom and Japan, respecSee Economy Page 05
he Orange County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a $4.5 million settlement with T-Mobile for its part in the setting of the 2020 Silverado Fire. The supervisors voted 4-0 for the settlement with Supervisor Janet Nguyen absent. The settlement comes after the board reached agreements in February with Southern California Edison totaling $18.125 million to pay for damages caused by the 2020 Silverado Fire and the 2022 Coastal Fire. The Silverado Fire broke out about 6:45 a.m. Oct. 26, 2020, near Santiago and Silverado canyon roads and blackened about 12,466 acres. It led to evacuation orders for about 70,000 people in Irvine and about 9,500 in Lake Forest. Two firefighters were seriously burned while battling the blaze. The California Public Utilities Commission fined the utility $2.4 million after regulators found evidence that conductors installed by SCE were not in accordance with clearance requirements. Edison filed a preliminary report with the commission saying “it appears that a lashing wire that was attached to an underbuilt telecommunication line may have contacted (Edison’s) overhead primary conduct, which may have resulted in
the ignition of the fire.” The county’s lawsuit alleged that the “broken lashing wire” belonged to T-Mobile, which was also a defendant. The Coastal Fire broke out about 2:40 p.m. May 11, 2022, around Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park in Laguna Niguel, about a quarter-mile from the South Orange County Wastewater Authority Coastal Treatment Plant at 28303 Alicia Parkway, according to the county’s lawsuit. The blaze was fueled by wind and thick brush as it ascended a hillside into an upscale neighborhood of ocean-view homes worth millions of dollars. The Coastal Fire scorched about 200 acres and consumed at least 20 homes and damaged another 11. The Orange County Fire Authority and Cal Fire later cited an “unspecified electrical event involving an Edison power line” as the cause of that fire. The lawsuit alleges “an electrical failure occurred on (an Edison pole) that supported a 12KV distribution line; causing an arc that ignited susceptible ground vegetation and resulting in the Coastal Fire.” The lawsuit alleges Edison failed to maintain its “aging” electrical infrastructure and clear away brush.
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