Timelines Collide: Law, Trade, and the Soundtrack of Change”
In an ever-evolving world, the past, present, and future continue to collide in striking ways. The U.S. The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold deportations under an 18th-century law albeit with limitations demonstrates how centuries-old legal frameworks can still shape lives today. Meanwhile, China’s firm vow to “fight to the end” against the latest tariff threats from former President Trump highlights the continued global tension over trade and diplomacy.On a lighter note, in the realm of music and intellectual property, Dua Lipa has once again triumphed in court, winning a second copyright case over her hit single Levitating, reaffirming both her artistry and legal standing.
US supreme court allows deportations under 18th century law with limits
Donald Trump may continue using a 1798 law to deport alleged gang members to Venezuela, the supreme court ruled on Monday, however it will apply certain limits. Any challenges to the wartime law, called the Alien Enemies Act, must take place in Texas, where the migrants were held, and not in Washington DC, the court said.In a 5-4 ruling, the court granted the Trump administration’s request to lift a Washington DC-based judge’s order temporarily blocking the deportations.
However, the court did not immediately address whether the administration improperly utilized the act, writing in its order instead that such a determination must be made in Texas court: “The detainees are confined in Texas, so venue is improper in the District of Columbia.”
Despite siding with the administration, the court’s majority placed limits on how deportations may occur, emphasizing that judicial review is required.
Detainees “must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act. The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs,” the majority wrote.Trump celebrated the ruling on social media on Monday, writing on Truth Social: “The Supreme Court has upheld the Rule of Law in our Nation by allowing a President, whoever that may be, to be able to secure our Borders, and protect our families and our Country, itself. A GREAT DAY FOR JUSTICE IN AMERICA.”The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Conservative justice Amy Coney Barrett and the court’s three liberal justices dissented.
Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act on 15 March to swiftly deport the alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang, attempting to speed up removals with a law best known for its use to intern Japanese, Italian and German immigrants during the second world war.
In a legal challenge handled by the American Civil Liberties Union, a group of Venezuelan men in the custody of US immigration authorities on the same day sued on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, seeking to block the deportations. They argued, among other things, that Trump’s order exceeded his powers because the Alien Enemies Act authorizes removals only when war has been declared or the United States has been invaded.
The Alien Enemies Act authorizes the president to deport, detain or place restrictions on individuals whose primary allegiance is to a foreign power and who might pose a national security risk in wartime.The judge also has scrutinized whether the Trump administration violated his order by failing to return the deportation flights after his order was issued. Justice department lawyers said the flights had left US airspace by the time Boasberg issued a written order and thus were not required to return. They dismissed the weight of Boasberg’s spoken order during a hearing two hours earlier calling for any planes carrying deportees to be turned around.Family members of many of the deported Venezuelan migrants deny the alleged gang ties. Lawyers for one of the deportees, a Venezuelan professional soccer player and youth coach, said US officials had wrongly labeled him a gang member based on a tattoo of a crown meant to honor his favorite team, Real Madrid.
China vows to ‘fight to the end’ against latest Trump tariff threat
China’s government says it will “fight to the end” if the US continues to escalate the trade war, after Donald Trump threatened huge additional tariffs in response to China’s retaliatory measures.
On Tuesday, China’s commerce ministry accused the US of “blackmail” and said the US president’s threats of additional 50% tariffs if Beijing did not reverse its own 34% reciprocal tariff were a “mistake on top of a mistake”.A scathing editorial in Chinese official state news outlet Xinhua accused Trump of “naked extortion”.
“Utterly absurd is the underlying logic of the United States: ‘I can hit you at my will, and you must not respond. Instead, you must surrender unconditionally’,” it said. “This is not diplomacy. It is blunt coercion dressed up as policy.”
On social media a 1987 speech by then US president Ronald Reagan posted by China’s foreign ministry has been widely shared. The video clip, in which Reagan criticises the use of tariffs as leading to retaliation and ultimately hurting the US economy, “has a new meaning in 2025”, China’s The Paper said.
Wen-ti Sung, a non-resident fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub said the US and China were “locked in a game of chicken”. “Like two race cars driving directly toward each other, whoever swerves first will stand to lose prestige and profit,” Sung told them.
“China seems determined to signal that the world is still bipolar, and that Beijing will not let Washington get to call the shots, lest it sets the tone for the years to come. Plus China is still waiting to get more assurance from Trump that if it accommodates Trump’s demand will it get China out of his crosshairs or whether it will only whet his appetite more.“If not, China’s main option is to respond with proportional retaliatory trade sanctions against the US, while trying to negotiate with Washington at the same time.”
On Tuesday, Japan’s Nikkei index rose 6%, rebounding from an 18-month low on Monday, after Trump and Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba agreed to open trade talks in a phone call late on Monday.
Chinese blue-chips climbed 0.7%, recouping a fraction of the more than 7% slide on Monday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 2% after suffering the worst day since 1997. US stock futures also pointed higher after a rollercoaster session in which it touched its lowest level in more than a year.
Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs targeted dozens of countries, and China is not the only one to respond. The European Commission has proposed counter-tariffs of 25% on a range of US goods, including soybeans, nuts and sausages, while saying they stood ready to negotiate a “zero for zero” deal with Trump.
EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said at a news conference: “Sooner or later, we will sit at the negotiation table with the US and find a mutually acceptable compromise.”The 27-member EU, which had already been hit with tariffs on vehicles and metals, faces another 20% on other items from Wednesday. Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs on alcoholic drinks from the bloc.
Taiwan, which faces a 32% reciprocal tariff and saw its worst ever market fall on Monday, has said it is ready to negotiate “at any time”, with president Lai Ching-te proposing a zero-tariffs agreement, removal of trade barriers, and increased investment in the US.
Taiwan has repeatedly said its large trade surplus with the US is due to the US’s soaring demand for tech, given its companies are major suppliers to companies such as Apple and Nvidia.
Dua Lipa wins second copyright case over single Levitating
A US judge has dismissed a claim by two disco songwriters that Dua Lipa copied her single Levitating from two of their songs, stressing that to find in their favour would “completely foreclose” the evolution of the genre.
In 2022, L Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer accused the singer of breach of copyright over their 1979 song Wiggle and Giggle All Night and their 1980 song Don Diablo on the single from her 2020 album Future Nostalgia.Judge Katherine Polk Failla ruled that the songs only shared genetic similarities that exist outside copyright, including the “patter style” of delivery which features one syllable per note, as used by Mozart and Gilbert and Sullivan, and the rapid tempo recognisable from songs such as the Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive.
The songwriters alleged that Levitating – which spent 43 non-consecutive weeks in the UK Top 40 – took its opening melody and phrasing from their song, describing it as a “duplicate”.
The judge wrote: “The court finds that a musical style, defined by plaintiffs as ‘pop with a disco feel,’ and a musical function, defined by plaintiffs to include ‘entertainment and dancing,’ cannot possibly be protectable … To hold otherwise would be to completely foreclose the further development of music in that genre or for that purposeLawyers for Brown and Linzer told Billboard they “respectfully disagreed” with the ruling and would appeal. “This case has always been about standing up for the enduring value of original songwriting, and we continue to believe in the strength of Mr Brown and Mr Linzer’s creative legacy,” said attorney Jason T Brown. “There’s a growing disconnect between how these cases are decided – by academically analysing briefs, bar lines and musical notation – v how audiences actually experience music.”
Lipa previously won another copyright case over Levitating, in which the Florida reggae group Artikal Sound System claimed that it stole the chorus from their 2015 song Live Your Life.A judge ruled that there was no proof that Lipa and her co-writers Clarence Coffee Jr, Sarah Hudson and Stephen Kozmeniuk had access to the Artikal Sound System song.
Levitating remains subject to a third lawsuit from featured artist Bosko Kante, who said his contribution to the song, vocals sung through a talk box, had been used on remixes without his permission.
Lipa is currently touring her 2024 album Radical Optimism in Australia and promoting a fifth-anniversary reissue of Future Nostalgia, including a remix of the song Physical with Australian singer Troye Sivan.
