California asks to be exonerated from commercial retaliation

California, the world’s fifth largest economy, will seek agreements with the rest of the world to be exempt from future tariff retaliation against the United States, Governor Gavin Newsom announced Friday. “Donald Trump’s tariffs do not represent all Americans,” the Democrat said in videos posted on social media. “California is not Washington, D.C.,” he insisted in a statement, presenting his state as a “stable and reliable partner for generatio…