Things Musk (and Trump) Did... 04-09-25 | Blog#42
"A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people” Mahatma Gandhi
Yesterday's post
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Yesterday’s news worth repeating
Trump’s massive ‘reciprocal’ tariffs are now in place, upending global trade
New York (CNN) — Despite rattled financial markets, threats of retaliation and some of President Donald Trump’s biggest supporters encouraging him to back off his signature economic policy, he didn’t give in. His administration piled on heaps of new “reciprocal” tariffs Wednesday on dozens of American allies and adversaries alike, aiming to — as he claims — restore fairness and boost American manufacturing.
Goods from China, by far the biggest target, are now subject to at least a 104% tariff. Trump tacked on even higher tariffs than initially announced after Beijing didn’t back off its promise to impose 34% retaliatory tariffs Tuesday.
The reciprocal rates, which aren’t exactly reciprocal, were calculated by dividing a country’s trade deficit with the US by its exports to the country and multiplying by 1/2. They range from 11% to a whopping 50%. Barring Mexico and Canada, America’s other top trading partners were hardly spared in this round. The EU was hit with a 20% reciprocal tariff, China at 34%, Japan at 24%, Vietnam at 46% and South Korea at 25%.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Gabbard creates task force to probe intelligence community
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced Tuesday that she was creating a task force to investigate the intelligence community to increase “transparency and accountability.”
The Director’s Initiatives Group (DIG) has plans to execute President Trump’s executive order “aimed at rebuilding trust” in the intelligence community, according to a statement from Gabbard.
The group will be “investigating weaponization, rooting out deep-seeded politicization, exposing unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence, and declassifying information that serves a public interest.”
The group will target “wasteful spending” in addition to “streamlining outdated processes, reviewing documents for declassification, and leading ongoing efforts to root out abuses of power and politicization,” Gabbard said.
So far, the task force is “well underway” reviewing documents for potential declassification on various topics including the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, Anomalous Health Incidents, the Biden administration’s “domestic surveillance” and censorship against Americans.
Continue reading at The Hill
China condemns JD Vance’s ‘peasants’ jibe
Beijing hammers US vice president as lacking “knowledge and respect” in escalating feud.
China on Tuesday branded U.S. Vice President JD Vance ignorant and disrespectful after he claimed that America was borrowing money from “Chinese peasants.”
Beijing “has made its position perfectly clear on its trade relations with the U.S.,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a press conference. “To hear words that lack knowledge and respect like those uttered by this vice president is both surprising and kind of lamentable,” he added.
Vance made the comments during an interview on Fox News last Thursday, while defending U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial tariff measures. In his remarks, he used the term “peasants” to refer to some Chinese people.
“I think it’s useful for all of us to take a step back and ask ourselves, what has the globalized economy gotten the United States of America?” Vance said.
“Fundamentally, it’s based on two principles, incurring a huge amount of debt to buy things other countries make for us … We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things that Chinese peasants manufacture,” he added.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Today's news
Democratic News Corner
Scoop: Democrats want to make DOGE answerable to Congress
A pair of House Democrats is introducing a bill that would force DOGE to open its books to Congress and provide insight into its firings and other changes to federal agencies, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The bill is likely a long shot in the Republican-controlled Congress, but it is the latest demonstration of how Democrats are trying to put their efforts to counter DOGE on display for voters.
Democrats have faced upheaval from their base in recent weeks, with many grassroots activists accusing lawmakers of not doing enough to take on President Trump and Elon Musk.
The party has responded with a flurry of letters, press conferences, protests outside of federal agencies, delay tactics, blocked nominations and even disruptions at Trump's speech to Congress last month.
Driving the news: The "DOGE Accountability and Transparency Act," introduced by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), would require DOGE to submit an impact report to Congress every week.
Continue reading at Axios
Democrats find Trump’s haphazard tariffs are uniting them on trade
The party has disagreed over tariff policy in the past, but has found common ground lately
Democrats are sharply divided over trade. But Donald Trump is helping them paper over those rifts.
The steep, sweeping tariffs the president unveiled in recent days have largely united a party that has for years undergone bruising internal battles over trade. From populists in the Rust Belt to free-trade champions in blue states, Democrats are lining up against the levies.
In interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers, congressional aides and strategists on the left, Democrats on Capitol Hill almost universally denounced them, even as many stressed they didn’t categorically oppose tariffs as part of policymaking.
“The problem is not tariffs, generally. It’s the way that Trump is doing them,” said Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.), from a swing state that relies heavily on car manufacturing. “Trump tariffs are bad, and the American people are suffering. It’s a pretty easy message.”
Even Democrats who had previously made public breaks with the party on trade got on the same page this week.
Continue reading at Politico
Democrats begin to confront their age problem in primary campaigns
A spate of challenges against longtime Democratic incumbents suggests some in the party are fed up with its current leadership.
A new crop of Democratic candidates is trying to turn the midterms into a referendum on age and complacency in their party’s ranks.
In recent weeks, Jake Rakov, a 37-year-old former staffer to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, announced he is challenging his onetime boss, lambasting the 70-year-old, 15-term incumbent for not doing enough when the district was engulfed by wildfires. Progressive YouTuber Kat Abughazaleh, 26, is taking on 80-year-old Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, declaring that the party desperately needs to “change the establishment.” Saikat Chakrabarti, the 39-year-old former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), is going up against former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying, “we are living in a totally different America than the one she knew when she entered politics 45 years ago.”
And on Wednesday, George Hornedo, a 34-year-old who went viral on TikTok for his comments about a “party elder” discouraging him from mounting a Democratic primary bid in Indiana, announced he is running against eighth-term Democratic Rep. Andre Carson.
“It’s clear that Congressman Carson is just holding the office and not actually doing anything with it so I’m stepping up because our community needs someone who will actually fight, deliver and show up,” Hornedo said in an interview. “This is not about one person. It’s about whether our government is working for the people who need it most, and right now, it’s not.”
Continue reading at Politico
Democratic group hammers Trump, Republicans over tax plans in new ad
Families Over Billionaires is putting six figures behind the ad.A Democratic group formed to counter Donald Trump’s tax policies is launching a Tax Day-themed ad criticizing the administration and Republican lawmakers over potentially pursuing cuts to Medicaid to fund the president’s agenda.
Families Over Billionaires is putting six figures behind the ad that will run on social media and streaming platforms through Tuesday in the DMV market, according to information shared first with POLITICO.
“This Tax Day, I want to thank Republicans in Congress for having the guts to slash health care for families, seniors, and our veterans — all to give billionaires like me another tax break,” a man says in the ad as a butler hands him a refund check on a silver platter.
Democrats’ latest attack comes as the House is set to vote as soon as today on the framework to advance Trump’s sweeping border security, energy and tax agenda that cleared the Senate last week.
Continue reading at Politico
Scoop: Democrats launch campaign to oust Musk by June
A group of House Democrats is launching a concerted campaign to force Elon Musk out of the Trump administration by May 30, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The effort is hinged on a legal requirement that special government employees — the designation given to Musk as he leads DOGE — not serve past 130 days.
"We demand an immediate public statement from your administration making clear that Musk will resign and surrender all decision making authority, as required by law, by May 30th," 77 House Democrats wrote in a letter to President Trump.
They wrote that Musk would not be allowed to return as a special government employee for a year "without divesting from his companies, including Tesla and SpaceX."
What they're saying: Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Greg Casar (D-Texas), who led the letter, told Axios in an interview that it is just the opening salvo.
"We're making it very clear that the public pressure is only going to ramp up on Republicans between here and May 30," he said.
Casar said Democrats have "have legal tools at our disposal, political tools at our disposal," as well as the "full force of public pressure."
Reality check: The Trump administration, in the view of many Democrats, has already ignored not only federal statute but the Constitution in areas far more weighty than government ethics rules.
Continue reading at Axios
National Security
Trump orders investigation of two first-term administration aides who criticized him
The president signed executive orders targeting Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs, an escalation of his retribution campaign.
The directives that Trump signed on Wednesday order the Justice Department to scrutinize Chris Krebs, who ran Trump’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and former senior Department of Homeland Security official Miles Taylor.
The two critics are the latest to be swept up in Trump’s expansive retribution campaign, where he’s sought to use federal powers in unprecedented ways to punish political opponents, law firms, universities and others that he believes have wronged him.
A president ordering investigations of specific individuals whom he considers to be his political enemies is a remarkable breach of the traditional wall of separation between the White House and the Justice Department. Under that norm of separation, criminal investigations are supposed to be insulated from political pressure, but Trump has repeatedly scorned the notion of DOJ independence. Making Wednesday’s action even more remarkable, and perhaps unprecedented, is that Trump used the formal power of executive orders to effectively brand two individuals as subjects of criminal investigations.
Krebs, who was the administration’s top cybersecurity official responsible for election security, was fired by Trump via tweet after he had asserted shortly after President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020 that “in every case of which we are aware, these claims [of fraud] either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.” He had also authorized a joint statement by CISA and other stakeholder groups that said the election was secure and that there was no indication of votes being changed or stolen, which angered Trump.
He was also a key witness for the Jan. 6 select committee, describing his efforts to secure the 2020 election and rebut conspiracy theories about the election and shore up voters’ confidence in the results. In his interview, he lamented that Republican leaders had catered to the false notion that the election was stolen, creating a “self-reinforcing cycle” of doubt. “Republican officials, senior officials, including the former President, lied to the American people about the security of the 2020 election,” he told the panel.
[…]
Krebs is currently the chief intelligence and public policy officer at cybersecurity company SentinelOne. The order signed by Trump also takes aim at his current colleagues, suspending any security clearances held by individuals at SentinelOne who work with Krebs.
Continue reading at Politico
Read: Whistleblower alleges Meta undermined U.S. national security
Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on crime and counterterrorism on Wednesday.
The big picture: The former global public policy director at Facebook, now Meta, will allege that Facebook cooperated with China's ruling Communist Party, per her opening testimony, as seen by Axios.
Wynn-Williams' bestselling memoir on her negative experience of working for the tech giant from 2011-2017 was published last month. Meta obtained an emergency ruling blocking her from promoting the book.
What she's saying: "Throughout those seven years, I saw Meta executives repeatedly undermine U.S. national security and betray American values," the prepared opening testimony of Wynn-Williams reads.
"They did these things in secret to win favor with Beijing and build an $18 billion dollar business in China," the former New Zealand diplomat will say.
"During my time at Meta, company executives lied about what they were doing with the Chinese Communist Party to employees, shareholders, Congress, and the American public," per the opening testimony.
Wynn-Williams will say she's appearing before the committee "to set the record straight about these illegal and dangerous activities," per the prepared testimony.
The other side: Meta spokesperson Andy Stone in a Tuesday evening emailed statement called the testimony "divorced from reality and riddled with false claims."
Continue reading at Axios
Whistleblower tells senators that Meta undermined U.S. security, interests
Sarah Wynn-Williams, the former director of global public policy at Facebook, which is now called Meta, testified at a Senate hearing Wednesday that she saw Meta executives “repeatedly undermine U.S. national security and betray American values” during her seven-year stint in that job.
In remarks to a hearing convened by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Wynn-Williams alleged that Meta executives worked vigorously to “win favor” with leaders in Beijing to build an $18 billion business in China.
Wynn-Williams told Hawley’s panel that during her time at Meta: “Company executives lied about what they were doing with the Chinese Communist Party to employees, shareholders, Congress and the American public,” according to a copy of her remarks.
Her most explosive claim is that she witnessed Meta executives decide to provide the Chinese Communist Party with access to user data, including the data of Americans. And she says she has the “documents” to back up her accusations.
She said that China is now Meta’s second biggest market and that Meta’s AI model has “contributed significantly to Chinese advances in AI technologies like DeepSeek.
Continue reading at The Hill
LIVE: Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Meta’s foreign relations
Defense firms unveil new weapons at Sea-Air-Space naval conference
Some of the world's most influential weapons makers brought their wares to National Harbor, Maryland, this week for the Sea-Air-Space convention.
Some even unveiled new products.
Why it matters: Defense conferences are a bellwether for U.S. strategy and industry plasticity. This one, hosted by Navy League, is no different.
Here's just a sample of what was announced, offered and on display:
Copperhead-100, -500 and the explosive -M variant, torpedo-like unmanned underwater vehicles made by Anduril Industries.
The company's Dive-XL can carry "dozens of Copperhead-100Ms or multiple Copperhead-500Ms," according to an announcement.
Bullseye, a missile reminiscent of Ice Breaker, that will be produced by General Atomics and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
They will be pumped out in Tupelo, Mississippi, according to the companies. Delivery is expected in the backend of this year.
Continue reading at Axios
Army inks potential $4.2 billion deal for intel-gathering blimps
The future, chock-full of super-stealth warplanes, blinding-fast missiles and network-crippling hacks, will also feature aerostats — specialty blimps, for the uninitiated.
Why it matters: For all the hoopla bleeding-edge technologies generate, it can be the simplest tools that prove most effective and long-standing.
Plus, the juxtaposition is absolutely wild.
Driving the news: The U.S. Army could spend as much as $4.2 billion over the next 10 years to sustain and upgrade its aerostat arsenal, according to a contract announced April 3.
Ten companies, including Leidos, Qinetiq and TCOM, will compete for work overseen by the service's intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors shop, PEO IEW&S.
Foreign military sales could also happen across European and Central commands. Poland last year announced a $1 billion arrangement.
How it works: The Army has long deployed and experimented with aerostats and lighter-than-air systems; they contribute to communications relay, jamming, shot-spotting and more.
One example, the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, made headlines a decade ago when it broke free of its mooring in Maryland and floated into Pennsylvania.
Continue reading at Axios
US warns China intelligence targeting fired federal workers
The Trump administration is warning federal workers about efforts by Chinese intelligence to target current and former U.S. officials for recruitment.
The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) warned that current and former workers are being targeted by Chinese intelligence officials posing as “consulting firms, corporate headhunters, think tanks, and other entities on social and professional networking sites.”
The center warned that contact could come via email or messaging platforms, and federal workers should not accept online invitations to connect with strangers.
The NCSC warned that deceptive practices have become “more sophisticated” and have targeted individuals with a federal government background who are seeking new employment.
“Current and former federal employees should beware of these approaches and understand the consequences of engaging,” the center said in its warning.
Continue reading at The Hill
Loomer sets her sights on Trump’s nominee to serve as Pentagon’s top lawyer
The far-right activist questioned the loyalty of Earl Matthews, Trump’s nominee to serve as general counsel at the Department of Defense.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer has chosen her next target in her campaign against those she sees as disloyal to President Donald Trump: Col. Earl Matthews, Trump’s nominee to be the Pentagon’s top lawyer.
Loomer, in a series of X posts on Tuesday and Wednesday, alleged that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was at risk of being “subverted and obstructed” by Matthews. The posts came after Matthews appeared before lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday for his nomination hearing.
Loomer’s targeting of Matthews also came less than a week after she took credit for persuading Trump to fire several top national security officials, including the director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Tim Haugh, over loyalty concerns.
The conservative activist, who has a history of promoting conspiracy theories and Islamophobia, has established opposition research firm Loomer Strategies and has tried to get a contract to do vetting for the Presidential Personnel Office.
Matthews, in a response Wednesday to Loomer’s allegation, reiterated his support for the president and his policies.
Continue reading at Politico
National Security Daily
Trump’s telling silence on Gaza aid worker killings
As the international community condemns the Israeli military’s recent killing of 15 humanitarian workers and paramedics in the Gaza Strip, the Trump administration is still insisting that Hamas bears responsibility for every tragedy in the enclave since fighting resumed last month.
It’s furthering doubts that President DONALD TRUMP and his team are willing to apply any sort of pressure on Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU to reduce civilian casualties and end the war in Gaza.
”Every single thing that is happening in Gaza is happening because of Hamas — every single dynamic,” State Department spokesperson TAMMY BRUCE said at a briefing last week when asked about the incident, after most of the aid workers’ bodies were discovered in a shallow grave.
And asked today whether the U.S. will call for an investigation, National Security Council spokesperson BRIAN HUGHES accused the Biden administration of “incentivizing” Hamas to use “ambulances and more broadly human shields.” Hughes went on to say the president “understands the impossible situation this tactic creates for Israel and holds Hamas entirely responsible.”
The Trump administration is currently an outlier on the world stage. France, Germany and the United Kingdom, among others, have demanded investigations into the incident, and called for an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza and a resumption of humanitarian assistance. The killing has also prompted outrage among some Israelis.
The Israeli military has claimed that nine of the people killed were Palestinian militants and that the vehicles had approached its troops “suspiciously.” They also accused the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad of “once again exploiting medical facilities and equipment for their activities.” The U.N. has disputed that characterization of the aid workers.
Yet videos reviewed by The New York Times show that the ambulances and fire truck were clearly marked and had their emergency lights on as they advanced. The aid workers in the vehicles also appeared to be wearing reflective gear.
Continue reading the Politico National Security Daily newsletter
Economics
China announces 84% retaliatory tariffs on US goods
Hong Kong CNN — China announced retaliatory tariffs of 84% on imports of US
goods on Wednesday, further inflaming a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
Continue reading the breaking news at CNN.com
China launches massive tariff retaliation on U.S. goods
China retaliated against President Trump's tariffs on Wednesday with a new 84% levy on exports from the U.S., Beijing announced.
Why it matters: The levy is the latest escalation stemming from Trump's trade war. It will be devastating for U.S. farmers in particular, who are major exporters to China. Markets dove on the news.
By the numbers: The U.S. exports about $145 billion in goods to China a year.
That trade is dominated by oilseeds and grains, per the U.S.-China Business Council.
Catch up quick: The trade tit-for-tat started when Trump put a 10% tariff on imports from China, alleging it was failing to control the flow of fentanyl out of the country.
He later doubled that to 20%.
Subsequently, Trump introduced a reciprocal tariff of 34% on China, which stacked on the drug tariffs. When the Chinese retaliated with a matching levy, Trump added another 50%.
That mean that as of 12:01 a.m. ET Wednesday, the U.S. now charges a 104% tariff on imports from China.
By the numbers: U.S. stock futures, which had been mostly flat in the early morning, took a sharp leg down on the retaliation news and were about 1.5% lower as of 7:30 a.m. ET.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump says ‘major’ pharmaceutical tariffs on the way
He predicted the move would bring drug manufacturing back to the US.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that pharmaceutical imports will soon be hit with “major” tariffs as part of his efforts to drive manufacturing back to the U.S.
Drug imports evaded the first round of tariffs that Trump imposed on countries around the world, but the president said they will not be spared.
“We’re going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals,” he said at a dinner of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “And when they hear that, they will leave China. They will leave other places because they have to sell — most of their product is sold here and they’re going to be opening up their plants all over the place.”
Domestic drug manufacturing has shrunk dramatically in recent decades. Most production of active pharmaceutical ingredients has moved to China and other countries, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Trump announced global tariffs of 10 percent on hundreds of countries on April 2 and additional reciprocal levies are scheduled to start Wednesday, including a minimum 104 percent tariff on Chinese imports.
The president gave no details on the pharmaceutical tariffs.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
EU slaps tariffs on US trucks, cigarettes and ice cream to target Trump’s red states
European trade officials sure know how to have fun.
The EU’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose so-called reciprocal tariffs on all of America’s trading partners may be less aggressive than expected, but it does show some creativity in its bid to hit the U.S. where it will hurt the most.
According to an internal document seen by POLITICO, the Commission is considering slapping tariffs of up to 25 percent on a broad range of exports from the U.S. worth around €22.1 billion based on the EU’s 2024 imports.
The list features run-of-the-mill agricultural and industrial commodities such as soybeans, meat, tobacco, iron, steel and aluminum — to hit the American sectors that rely most on transatlantic exports.
Chart: Agri tariffs hit red states harder
Dig deeper, and it turns out the EU’s trade nerds have stirred some unaccustomed creativity into their expert knowledge of obscure customs codes, while channeling a helping of passive aggression to inflict pain on Trump’s base.
EU countries are set to vote on the new duties on Wednesday, with no major opposition expected.
Once they’ve approved the list (which is technically made up of multiple lists), the first set of tariffs on goods such as cranberries or orange juice, which the EU initially imposed in 2018 during the first Trump presidency but suspended in 2021, will take effect on April 15.
A 25 percent duty will then kick in from May 16 on a second batch of imported items such as steel, meat, white chocolate and polyethylene. Finally, a 25 percent duty on almonds and soybeans will take effect Dec. 1. (Leave it to the Commission to build some suspense.)
Overall, EU duties are set to hit up to $13.5 billion worth of exports from red states, according to POLITICO's analysis of 2024 trade data.
Let’s start with the EU’s No. 1 target — soybeans, the most valuable item on the bloc’s hit list, a product whose economic and symbolic significance for the Republican Party's heartlands cannot be overstated.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Note from Rima: This is a very comprehensive look at these tariffs
Trump disrupts global economic order even though the US is dominant
WASHINGTON (AP) — By declaring a trade war on the rest of the world, President Donald Trump has panicked global financial markets, raised the risk of a recession and broken the political and economic alliances that made much of the world stable for business after World War II.
Trump’s latest round of tariffs went into full effect at midnight Wednesday, with higher import tax rates on dozens of countries and territories taking hold.
Economists are puzzled to see Trump trying to overhaul the existing economic order and doing it so soon after inheriting the strongest economy in the world. Many of the trading partners he accuses of ripping off U.S. businesses and workers were already floundering.
“There is a deep irony in Trump claiming unfair treatment of the American economy at a time when it was growing robustly while every other major economy had stalled or was losing growth momentum,” said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University. “In an even greater irony, the Trump tariffs are likely to end America’s remarkable run of success and crash the economy, job growth and financial markets.’’
Trump and his trade advisers insist that the rules governing global commerce put the United States at a distinct disadvantage. But mainstream economists — whose views Trump and his advisers disdain — say the president has a warped idea of world trade, especially a preoccupation with trade deficits, which they say do nothing to impede growth.
Continue reading at the AP
Asian shares deepen losses, with Tokyo’s Nikkei down 5%, as latest US tariffs take effect
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian and European shares slid on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipping more than 5%, as the latest set of U.S. tariffs including a massive 104% levy on Chinese imports took effect.
Markets have been wobbly for days, with investors flummoxed over what to make of President Donald Trump’s trade war.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.6% after wiping out an early gain of 4.1%. That took it nearly 19% below its record set in February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8%, while the Nasdaq composite lost 2.1%.
Stocks had rallied globally on Tuesday, with indexes up 6% in Tokyo, 2.5% in Paris and 1.6% in Shanghai. Any optimism or buying enthusiasm appeared to have dissipated by the time the sharply higher tariffs became reality.
The Nikkei 225 lost 3.9% to 31,714.03.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 0.4% to 20,041.03, while the Shanghai Composite index reversed early losses, gaining 0.9%. to 3,173.56.
Continue reading at the AP
GOP senator on Trump order: ‘Coal just wants a place at the table’
Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) said he supports President Trump’s efforts to boost coal mining in the U.S., reviving the industry once credited as the country’s largest energy source.
“Coal is not turning its back on any of the energy forms. Coal just wants a place at the table. And today coal needs a place at the table,” Justice said during a Tuesday appearance on NewsNation’s “NewsNation Now.”
The West Virginia lawmaker said he supports the president’s efforts to restructure trade deals and increase the national rate of production amid the threat of a looming debt crisis.
“America can’t do without its fossil fuels. Maybe someday, maybe someday, but today it can’t.
Continue reading at The Hill
Behind the Curtain: In just 80 days ...
President Trump has done more unprecedented, lasting things in 80 days than many presidents do in a four-year term.
Why it matters: There are 1,382 days to go in this term.
So let's step back and appraise the indisputable acts of power that have changed America in Trump's first two months and three weeks, as synthesized by Axios' Zachary Basu:
1. A new global economy.
Trump has declared an all-out war on globalism, detonating every one of America's trading relationships — allies and adversaries alike — by imposing the largest tariffs in nearly a century.
Trump's push for a manufacturing renaissance has helped secure at least $1.6 trillion in U.S. investment pledges. But his tariff rollout melted markets globally and dramatically raised the threat of a recession.
The renewed trade war with China carries the biggest potential blast radius, with the world's two largest economies engaged in a tit-for-tat escalation that could snarl global supply chains.
2. A new world order.
The rules-based system forged after World War II is dead: Trump has withdrawn from multilateral institutions, threatened to expand U.S. territory to Greenland, Gaza and Panama, and alienated America's closest allies.
Continue reading at Axios
Tariffs could lead to thrift store boom as other retailers falter
President Trump's global tariffs mean clothes at U.S. retailers stand to get a lot more expensive.
The big picture: With the U.S. importing nearly all of its clothing and shoes — more than half from China, Vietnam and Bangladesh alone — soaring apparel prices could send shoppers thrifting.
While resale does well all the time, "it does even better during an economic turn down," said Adele Meyer, executive director of the National Association of Resale Professionals.
By the numbers: The popularity of secondhand shopping was already on the rise before the tariffs.
A 2024 Recommerce Report from Offerup found that 35% of shoppers embarked on their first resale journey in the past year; an 8% year-over-year increase.
A majority of shoppers said they turned to resale due to increased cost of living (58%) or cost savings compared to buying new (53%).
55% growth is projected for the re-commerce market by 2029, reaching $291.6 billion, with resale expected to account for 8% of total retail, even without the tariff impact.
Zoom in: "During any past recessions, this industry has absolutely flourished," Meyer told Axios, adding that when people look to save money it can attract those who have never shopped resale before.
Continue reading at Politico
Facing a crisis, Americans do their thing and shop
When the going gets tough, Americans go shopping. With high tariffs about to engulf the country, they're doing it again.
Why it matters: Consumer spending is the engine that drives the U.S. economy.
How it works: We don't yet have hard data to show that spending is ticking up, but anecdotally folks appear to be stocking up on imported goods — TVs! Cars! Wine! Yoga pants! — that will likely see price hikes with high tariffs.
And some very early data from last week seem to confirm that something's going on.
Where it stands: Retailers are offering sales ahead of the tariffs. Media outlets are doing their thing and publishing listicles of what to buy.
Bloomberg reported Apple stores were "slammed" with panic buyers.
By the numbers: Sales volume in "shelf stable" groceries rose after tariffs were announced last week, according to new data from Consumer Edge, which tracks spending through credit and debit card data from major retailers.
Instant coffee sales rose 21%, ketchup 18% and beer 3%, compared to the previous week. Plus, the data showed transaction size increased across several retailers, including BJs, Costco and Target.
Continue reading at Axios
Two days of historic volatility roil the markets
Chart: S&P 500 intraday trading range
Percentage difference between the high and low values of the day; Daily; Jan. 3, 1978, to April 8, 2025
The volatility we've seen in the markets this week is not unprecedented, but it's extremely rare, and has happened only four previous times since 1978.
Why it matters: This kind of noise is a sign that we've now entered a world of radical uncertainty, and that the markets are finding it impossible to do their main job, which is price discovery.
Flashback: Last Thursday, as the markets reacted to the tariffs unveiled the previous evening, the S&P 500's intraday trading range — the gap between the high and low points of the trading day — was a relatively modest 2%.
Stocks opened down 3.1% and ground lower to close down 4.8%, in what looked like a large but orderly decline.
Where it stands: This week's trading has been very different, marked by wild intraday swings. The S&P 500% rose 8.3% in a mere 34 minutes on Monday. On Tuesday it opened up 4% and closed down 3%.
Continue reading at Axios
Tariffs are just part of pharma's Wall Street tumble
Even before President Trump's announcement that he plans a "major tariff" on pharmaceuticals, the sector was getting hammered in the markets — and not just over concerns about higher costs.
Why it matters: Investors are also responding to broader uncertainty about the Food and Drug Administration and how the industry will be regulated, experts tell Axios.
The big picture: Pharmaceutical companies have seen their market values plummet in the wake of Trump's baseline 10% tariff on U.S. imports and steeper duties on goods from Europe, Japan and China.
In the past five days, Pfizer shares dipped more than 10%, Merck slid more than 9% and Amgen shares fell more than 8%. The Dow Jones Pharmaceutical Index is off more than 12% over the past month.
The industry has been bracing for expected sector-specific tariffs, though most companies are staying quiet about the threat.
"No one knows how to characterize that risk," said William Blair analyst Matt Phipps.
Analysts say the picture is complex.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump claims leaders are ‘kissing my ass’ to make trade deals as tariff onslaught begins
“They are dying to make a deal,” says U.S. president as tariffs come into force.
U.S. President Donald Trump said overnight that global leaders are willing to do anything to make a trade deal with him as American tariffs come into force.
“I am telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my ass,” Trump said during a speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner in Washington,
“They are dying to make a deal. 'Please, please sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything sir,'” he imitated a begging foreign leader.
Many new tariffs, announced by Trump on April 2, took effect on Wednesday morning. They target a wide range of imported goods and have triggered a global trade war, as major economies plan retaliatory measures.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
EU targets Trump’s red states with tariffs on US trucks, cigarettes and ice cream
European trade officials sure know how to have fun.
The EU’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose so-called reciprocal tariffs on all of America’s trading partners may be less aggressive than expected, but it does show some creativity in its bid to hit the U.S. where it will hurt the most.
According to an internal document seen by POLITICO, the Commission is considering slapping tariffs of up to 25 percent on a broad range of exports from the U.S. worth around €22.1 billion based on the EU’s 2024 imports.
The list features run-of-the-mill agricultural and industrial commodities such as soybeans, meat, tobacco, iron, steel and aluminum — to hit the American sectors that rely most on transatlantic exports.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Trump tariff war puts UK financial stability at risk, Bank of England warns
The global risk environment has deteriorated and uncertainty has intensified, the central bank’s Financial Policy Committee said.
As the prospect of an all-out global trade war grows, the FPC also warned of reduced international cooperation. It highlighted the U.K.’s “open economy with a large financial sector,” meaning that “global risks are particularly relevant to UK financial stability.”
“The probability of adverse events, and the potential severity of their impact, has risen,” the committee said.
“A major shift in the nature and predictability of global trading arrangements could harm financial stability by depressing growth,” it added.
Trump’s additional “reciprocal” tariffs came into force overnight, following days of market volatility in anticipation. The FPC said markets were orderly, despite the exceptionally high volumes — although noted the sharp fall in prices of global equities, risky corporate credit and commodities, and warned the risk of further “sharp corrections” remains “high.”
Still, it said the U.K. banking system is well capitalized and would be able to support households and businesses “even if economic and financial conditions were to be substantially worse than expected.”
However, companies relying on market-based finance face risks from turbulent conditions, the FPC cautioned.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Why Trump’s tariffs may do little to pay for tax cuts
The White House is arguing that revenue from President Trump’s tariffs on U.S. importers is going to help pay for domestic tax cuts.
“This time around, tariffs will help pay for both tax cuts and deficit reduction,” Stephen Miran, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), said Monday, distinguishing the incoming general tariffs from more targeted tariffs initiated in Trump’s first term.
“Lower taxes on Americans, financed in part by revenue provided from foreigners, will create economic growth,” he said.
But there is a lot more to this argument than simple addition and subtraction.
The tariffs’ inflationary effects could undercut savings for American households spurred by the tax cuts, undermining revenue gains from higher consumer spending.
Looked at another way, tax cuts for consumers could end up effectively subsidizing cost increases spurred by tariffs.
Continue reading at The Hill
Wilbur Ross: Tariffs are ‘typical Trump’ high-risk, high-reward play
“This is probably the most important decision that he will make during his whole next term,” Wilbur Ross, who served as Commerce secretary for the entirety of Trump’s first term, told The Hill in an interview.
“If he gets it right, it’s off to the races. If he gets it wrong, that means a very good chance that the Republicans will lose control of the Congress in the midterms,” Ross continued. “This is sort of typical Trump in that it’s high-risk, high reward.”
The tariffs, which President Trump announced last week, went into effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT Wednesday. There is a baseline 10 percent tariff on all countries, with some nations facing much higher rates, including China, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, South Korea and Japan. That’s on top of previously announced tariffs on auto imports and steel and aluminum imports.
Continue reading at The Hill
Axios Markets newsletter
1 big thing: Who ends up paying for tariffs
When Trump imposed tariffs on China during his first term, U.S. importers paid the price, that we know (now). Exactly how those costs were passed on to U.S. consumers, though, is surprisingly less clear.
Why it matters: The key question for anyone in the U.S. who buys stuff — i.e., all of us — is who pays for Trump's latest tariff increases.
The answer is probably everyone.
The big picture: Americans and the entire global economy will effectively be living through a real-time economics experiment, because the sheer size and scale of the tariffs going into effect today has never been seen before.
It's possible that some products simply won't be available at all. In the U.S. we can't preorder the new Nintendo Switch, for instance. Some automakers are pausing exports.
Catch up fast: During Trump 1.0., when tariffs on China were put in place, economists had a natural experiment in pricing to chew on.
There had been theories that perhaps exporters would lower prices on goods going to the U.S. to accommodate the increases.
That didn't happen, according to the research done at the time, says Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute who specializes in trade.
Continue reading the Axios Macro newsletter
Treasury's Bessent says economy "in pretty good shape" amid market rout
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that the economy was on steady footing, and played down the panic on display in financial markets as a result of the escalating global trade war.
Why it matters: The comments come hours after President Trump's reciprocal tariffs took effect, further unnerving the investors worried that the economy is in turmoil.
Continue reading at Axios
EU takes revenge on Trump’s tariffs as countries approve €20B+ retaliation
Brussels is now set to strike back against U.S. president’s steel and aluminum measures.
BRUSSELS — The EU can apply retaliatory tariffs on around €22 billion of U.S. products like soybeans, motorcycles and orange juice after the bloc’s 27 countries assented to the measures on Wednesday, the European Commission announced.
"The EU considers U.S. tariffs unjustified and damaging, causing economic harm to both sides, as well as the global economy. The EU has stated its clear preference to find negotiated outcomes with the U.S., which would be balanced and mutually beneficial," the EU executive said in a statement.
Hitting back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, the European Union’s countermeasures will apply in three rounds. After some go into force next week, others will apply from mid-May and the final round follows in December.
Only Hungary opposed the package, according to four EU diplomats with direct knowledge of the vote, while all other 26 countries voted in favor.
"Escalation is not the answer. Such measures would cause further damage to European economy and citizens by raising prices. The only way forward is negotiations, not retaliation," Hungary's Foreign and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a post on X.
Fourteen EU countries would have needed to vote against the retaliation, which had been seen as unlikely considering the shows of unity in recent weeks.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Ackman: Many small businesses will go bankrupt if Trump doesn’t pause tariffs soon
Billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman suggested small businesses will be crippled by President Trump’s sweeping tariffs if a pause on global import taxes isn’t implemented by the administration.
“If the president doesn’t pause the effect of the tariffs soon, many small businesses will go bankrupt,” Ackman wrote Wednesday in a post on social platform X. “Medium-sized businesses will be next.”
“A 90-day pause will enable @realDonaldTrump to accomplish his objectives without destroying small businesses in the short term,” he added.
His comments come a week after Trump imposed a 10 percent baseline tariff on all foreign imports — including traditionally exempted products such as tea or coffee — as well as higher reciprocal tariffs on a handful of countries. The latest duties went into effect early Wednesday.
Ackman said he’s received emails from several start-up companies that he’s invested in with concerns about their ability to meet the margin amid the market shake up.
Continue reading at The Hill
What a tariff recession might look like
If the current level of tariffs remains in place, the U.S. appears likely to find itself in a recession.
What's much less clear, however, is how severe such a recession would be, and therefore how much incentive the Trump administration has to try to avoid that outcome.
Why it matters: Even with the tariffs fully in place, any recession might be shallow enough — and early enough in the electoral cycle — for the White House to decide it's worth just riding it out.
The big picture: Goldman Sachs, whose economic team has been more accurate than most in recent years, now expects GDP growth of 0.5% this year — avoiding a recession, but barely so.
That forecast assumes tariffs go up by 15 percentage points — a huge number, but still short of the 20 percentage-point increase that's in place as of Wednesday.
If those stay in place, Goldman says it would then expect a recession, albeit a pretty mild one.
The last mild recession in the U.S. was in 2001, when employment and corporate investment both fell in the wake of the dot-com bust. There weren't crisis-level financial dislocations like we saw in 2008-09 or in 2020.
Between the lines: Among forecasters expecting a recession, that mildness is a common refrain. Loomis Sayles, for instance, is now predicting a recession in 2025, with GDP growth of 0% for the year as a whole.
Continue reading at Axios
Bessent doesn't rule out delisting Chinese stocks
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday declined to rule out the possibility of delisting Chinese stocks from U.S. exchanges, during an interview on Fox Business Network.
Why it matters: The trade war could bleed beyond tariffs.
Zoom in: Bessent didn't raise the delisting prospect, but also didn't flinch when asked about it by Maria Bartiromo.
"I think everything's on the table," Bessent said, before talking about export controls on both goods and capital to China. He then added: "That will be President Trump's decision. At the end of the day, President Trump and Chairman Xi have a very good personal relationship and I'm confident this will be resolved at the highest levels."
By the numbers: As of March 7, there were 286 Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges with a $1.1 trillion market cap. That's a slight year-over-year increase in the number of companies, and obviously the market cap has dropped over the past month.
It's hard to see another issuer increase given Bessent's comments, even if they aren't ever acted upon. And that could become a boon for foreign exchanges like London, which already nabbed Shein's prospective IPO due to U.S. regulatory issues.
Also worth noting that Shein, the Chinese apparel maker once valued by VCs at $66 billion, is suddenly under major pressure due to Trump removing the "de minimis" exemption, so its IPO is now up in the air.
And then... Bessent follows up his Fox Business hit by lobbing new rhetorical grenades at China during a conversation with the American Bankers Association, adding that any U.S. allies aligning with China on trade would be "cutting your own throat."
Continue reading at Axios
Dimon warns of recession, expects defaults as trade war worsens
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Wednesday said he expects there to be a recession and for defaults to rise as President Trump's tariffs roil global financial markets.
Why it matters: Dimon's blunt forecast puts a headline on the market's broad fears that Trump's trade war has already set in motion a lasting global crisis.
The comments come amid a historic plunge in the bond market, part of what some strategists are calling a "sell America" trade.
Catch up quick: Dimon, in an interview with Fox Business's Maria Bartiromo, said he personally felt recession was a "likely outcome."
"Markets aren't always right, but sometimes they are right, and I think this time they are right, because they're just pricing in uncertainty at the macro level and uncertainty at the micro level, at the actual company level," Dimon said.
He also said he expected CEOs to start cutting back and pulling in expenses.
Zoom out: Dimon's comments follow those earlier this week from Wall Street peer Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, who said the economy was weakening, and that most CEOs would say there was already a recession.
Continue reading at Axios
Tariffs are making a recession more likely. Here's what to know.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Wednesday said he expects a recession as President Trump's tariffs roil global financial markets.
Why it matters: Dimon's comments come amid a historic plunge in the bond market, part of what some strategists are calling a "sell America" trade.
Driving the news: Trump made good on his promise to charge reciprocal tariffs on about 60 countries on Wednesday, on top of the baseline 10% tariffs the U.S. started collecting last Saturday.
Are we in a recession?
The big picture: There is no solid evidence that the United States is currently in a recession.
The warning signs that have emerged include some surveys of expectations and drops in the stock market, which do not predict recessions reliably. As one famous line goes, "the stock market has predicted nine of the last five recessions."
But the most important indicators for that determination are released with significant lags, so if the economy is starting to lurch into contraction, or does in the months ahead, it will take a while for definitive evidence to arrive.
Who is predicting a recession?
What they're saying: Dimon, in an interview with Fox Business's Maria Bartiromo, said he felt a recession was a "likely outcome."
"Markets aren't always right, but sometimes they are right, and I think this time they are right, because they're just pricing in uncertainty at the macro level and uncertainty at the micro level, at the actual company level," Dimon said.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said on Monday that most CEOs would agree there was already a recession.
Goldman Sachs, however, predicts the U.S. will avoid a recession, but barely so.
Continue reading at Axios
TRUMP SCALES BACK TARIFFS, EXCEPT ON CHINA
President Trump paused the sweeping reciprocal tariffs the U.S. imposed this week, saying dozens of countries had reached out to negotiate new trade deals.
Why it matters: It's the relief global markets, U.S. allies and many Trump advisers wanted, as fears of a global crisis mounted. But Trump didn't back off fully, keeping 10% baseline tariffs in place while increasing tariffs on China to 125%.
U.S. stocks promptly kicked off a ferocious rally, with the S&P 500 rising 7% in a matter of minutes. Gold, oil and cryptocurrencies surged as well, as investors quickly re-embraced risk.
The big picture: Since the day Trump took office, the global economy has been whipsawed by uncertainty over his trade plan — on and then off and then on, paused and then modified and then raised and then lowered.
Meanwhile consumer and business confidence has plunged, the economy has slowed, and all sense of stability and permanency has evaporated.
Catch up quick: Trump announced the tariffs April 2 — a 10% base global tariff as of April 5, and sharply higher reciprocal tariffs on around 60 nations as of April 9.
Continue reading at Axios
Charted: What does the U.S. export to China
Chart: U.S. trade with China
1992 to 2024 (as of October, annualized)
China retaliated against President Trump's tariffs on Wednesday with a new 84% levy on exports from the U.S., threatening American jobs and industry that rely on the crucial trade partner.
Why it matters: There's very little modern precedent for one of the largest importers of U.S. goods throwing up such a giant barrier. The full scope of the consequences for the economy are not yet clear.
Trump on Wednesday afternoon paused the administration's sweeping reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries for 90 days — except those for China, which he raised to 125%. He kept 10% baseline tariffs in place.
By the numbers: In 2024, U.S. exported $143.5 billion worth of goods and materials to China, down 2.9% from 2023, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
More than 930,000 jobs were supported by U.S. exports to China alone in 2022, per a 2024 report from the U.S.-China Business Council.
"Jobs supported by exports to China outnumber those supported by the next two Asian markets combined," the report stated.
China was the third-largest export market in 2023 for the U.S., the report said, with oilseeds and grains as the top exports.
Continue reading at Axios
Elon Musk scores again as Trump pauses tariffs, Tesla stock soars
Elon Musk scored a big win Wednesday as President Trump paused most of the tariffs that had bludgeoned Tesla's stock and caused serious consternation in the broader market.
Why it matters: The Tesla CEO and Trump confidante had become increasingly public in his opposition to tariffs in recent days.
He ripped Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro as a "moron" and called for "a zero-tariff situation" between Europe and North America.
Catch up quick: Trump announced he would pause reciprocal tariff hikes on all countries that haven't retaliated. He'll now negotiate what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called "bespoke" trade deals with each country.
Continue reading at Axios
Apple scrambles to get iPhones to U.S. to beat tariffs
The Trump administration's massive tariffs on China have Apple reportedly flying planes full of iPhones to the U.S. and consumers rushing to buy them before the prices potentially skyrocket.
Why it matters: The iPhone maker is one of many large companies caught up in an escalating trade war between the world's two biggest economies. Around 90% of iPhones are assembled in China, and more than half of iPhone sales are in the U.S.
Driving the news: China announced retaliatory tariffs of 84% on imports of U.S. goods on Wednesday after President Trump imposed a sweeping 104% tariff on Chinese goods, including clothes, shoes, toys and tech products.
Trump later Wednesday announced he was increasing tariffs on China to 125% while pausing the sweeping reciprocal tariffs the U.S. imposed to other countries this week.
State of play: U.S. consumers are rushing to stores to buy iPhones in anticipation that the new tariffs will prompt Apple to raise prices.
Some customers told the WSJ that they aren't waiting to see if iPhone costs increase, with one person stating that "the tariffs for sure pushed me out of the door."
Continue reading at Axios
Walmart "not immune" to tariffs but vows to maintain low prices
DALLAS — Walmart officials pledged Wednesday to keep prices low despite uncertainty about the impact of President Trump's tariffs.
Why it matters: The world's largest retailer — whose brand is inextricably linked to low prices and affordability — is "not immune to some of the effects" in the short term, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said.
"We are positioned to play offense," McMillon said at the company's investment community meeting in Dallas. "Nothing about the current environment impacts our confidence in our business or our strategy."
"We can't control some things. We're going to focus on what we can control," he said, noting that over the years Walmart has "adjusted country of origin" on products.
Zoom in: Walmart is maintaining its guidance for full-year sales and operating income growth, and said its Q1 sales outlook of 3% to 4% growth remains on track.
Continue reading at Axios
Social Security backs off cuts to phone services amid outcry
After weeks of confusion and outcry, the Social Security Administration said it is backing off its announced drastic cuts to phone services.
Why it matters: The changes would've strained an already backlogged agency and possibly even kept eligible Americans from receiving benefits.
"Telephone remains a viable option to the public," the agency said in a statement.
Zoom in: The cuts were slated to begin in less than a week. Instead the agency said in an email that "beginning on April 14, SSA will allow all claim types to be completed over the telephone."
"This includes Retirement, Survivors, and Auxiliary (Spouse or Child) benefits that SSA previously announced would require in-person identity proofing, in addition to Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare, and SSI."
Where it stands: Going forward, Social Security will implement some fraud safeguards in phone service, the agency said.
Continue reading at Axios
Mapped: The U.S. states that export the most to China
Map: Estimated value of goods exported to China in 2023
U.S. exports to China account for hundreds of billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs — but that's all now caught up in a fast-escalating trade war.
Why it matters: If sky-high tariff rates announced Wednesday remain in place, many U.S. companies will no longer be able to compete in China's market.
Catch up quick: China announced Wednesday that it would subject most U.S. goods to 84% tariffs in retaliation for President Trump's 104% tariffs — which Trump promptly raised to 125%.
Trump paused reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, except those against China, which he blasted for retaliating.
By the numbers: China is the U.S.' third-biggest export market. More than 931,000 jobs were supported in 2022 by U.S. exports to China, according to the U.S. China Business Council.
That includes more than 125,000 jobs in California; 89,000 in Texas; 53,000 in Illinois; and 42,000 in New York.
Zoom in: Texas' 38th congressional district was the biggest goods exporter to China in 2023 with $4.9 billion in exports, per to the U.S.-China Business Council.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump's unknowable tariffs leave investors hanging
With his new tariff announcement on Wednesday afternoon, President Trump has cemented his reputation for being unpredictable.
Why it matters: The markets like 10% tariffs more than they like the broad-brush application of a potentially erroneously calculated formula. But investors are still far from happy.
The big picture: The White House and its friends think of this as the art of the deal. (Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday it was Trump's intention all along.)
America's trading partners, and U.S. companies that crave predictability aren't likely to see much art in it.
Where it stands: The S&P 500 closed at 5,455 on Wednesday, which is 3.8% below where it closed on April 2, before Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs were announced.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond closed at 4.34%, similarly representing a flight away from U.S. assets in comparison to the April 2 closing level of 4.20%.
By the numbers: The new tariff regime represents a rise of about 15 percentage points overall, Goldman Sachs economists estimated on Wednesday — which means they still think there's a 45% probability of a recession this year.
Continue reading at Axios
The global economy's next problem: When to trust Trump
President Trump blew up global trade and rattled the economy with huge, hotly disputed tariffs on major trading partners. Exactly one week later, he said never mind.
Why it matters: The new question for top CEOs and Wall Street traders is which of Trump's "burn-it-all-down" economic policies actually stick.
"125% on China + permanent uncertainty that this volcano can erupt again at any moment probably means a recession can still happen," investor Spencer Hakimian posted to X — though he noted it was still better for growth than the alternative.
The intrigue: The reciprocal tariffs are paused, though at least two threats to the global economy have only grown:
Forever uncertainty and eroding trust — a combination that makes it unpalatable for businesses to expand or invest.
Global allies may see trade deals as more flimsy than in recent years, further crushing the reliability of the U.S. as a trading partner.
Threat level: If businesses pivot to adjust to Trump's trade policies, they might get burned by a policy reversal.
But a slow pivot could be equally painful, if promised negotiations fall through and huge tariffs loom on the other side of the White House freeze.
Continue reading at Axios
Health and Science News
The US brain drain has begun
The White House appears hell-bent on destroying not just economic and political paradigms, but a higher education system that really did make America great.
John Kampfner is a British author, broadcaster and commentator. His latest book “In Search of Berlin” is published by Atlantic. He is a regular POLITICO columnist.
Every empire, real or imagined, builds monuments to progress.
The Nazi regime was developing a colossal science center as part of Hitler’s great Germania project for Berlin, only for war to intervene. It was buried in rubble under an artificial hill, where the victorious Allies eventually built a listening post instead.
In 2010, the Skolkovo Foundation built a glistening tech hub in the west of Moscow, as the Kremlin’s answer to Silicon Valley. Much of it now lies empty, with the war in Ukraine and economic sanctions putting paid to that dream.
Political power has been projected through science since the time of the ancients. But when scholars’ ability to work freely is threatened, they depart — as happened under Nazi rule, during the Soviet period and, in recent years, as President Vladimir Putin has consolidated his stranglehold over the Russian Federation.
Over the 20th and early 21st century, most of these scholars fled to the U.S. — a land that encouraged research without fear or favor. No matter its other failings, people from all over the world flocked there to take up opportunities at unrivaled universities. But now, thanks to President Donald Trump and his rapid-fire assault on the country’s higher education institutions, a reverse brain drain has begun.
And much of it is headed for the continent he seemingly abhors — Europe.
These scholars aren’t leaving just out of choice. As funding is summarily removed, home-grown scholars and researchers are finding themselves out of jobs, and entire departments are closing. Meanwhile, foreign academics, many who have made the U.S. their home, are being kicked out or refused entry, often on spurious grounds, or are in fear it will happen to them.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
A closer look at the nationwide impact of NIH cuts
Chart: Estimated economic losses from federal health research cuts, by county
Nearly half of all U.S. counties will experience economic losses of at least $250,000 as a result of the Trump administration's planned cuts to indirect funding by the National Institutes of Health, per the Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project.
Why it matters: Much of the discourse around the cuts has focused on the impact to states or individual universities. But this data compiled from a consortium of universities shows just how widespread the effects of the cuts would be at the local level, researchers tell Axios.
More than 500 counties will lose more than $6.25 million in funding, their data shows.
Catch up quick: In February, the Trump administration said it would cap the indirect cost rate on all new and current grants at 15% of the total cost.
Continue reading at Axios
Idaho restricts vaccine mandates
Idaho will enforce a first-in-the-nation ban on vaccine mandates in businesses and schools this summer after legislators on the last day of their session passed a revised "medical freedom" bill.
Why it matters: The ban reflects a growing distrust of immunizations among Americans that helped install vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the nation's top health official.
More than a dozen states have introduced bills to ban medical intervention requirements or restrict the use of certain vaccine types, sometimes singling out mRNA shots, according to Bloomberg Law.
State of play: Gov. Brad Little (R) signed a bill last week that prohibits government entities, schools and companies doing business in Idaho from denying admission or services to a person because they haven't received a "medical intervention," including a vaccine, procedure or medication.
Little vetoed a similar bill last month, saying it infringed on parental freedom by jeopardizing schools' ability to send home kids with contagious conditions.
Continue reading at Axios
‘It’s a mess': Inside the RFK Jr. revamp tanking HHS morale and worrying industry
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s drastic overhaul has reshaped the U.S. health apparatus in a matter of weeks.
Kennedy in his first seven weeks atop the Department and Health and Human Services has dramatically reshaped the U.S. health apparatus, eliminating entire agency divisions, abruptly shifting policy priorities and leaving the sprawling department in what six current and former employees described as an unprecedented state of upheaval.
The health secretary and his team forced out top scientists in charge of developing new vaccines and evaluating the safety of medicines, stripping away centuries of collective expertise and institutional knowledge. Government offices that manage key functions like ensuring safe drinking water and alerting Americans to contaminated drugs have been decimated.
In the meantime, Kennedy appointees have sought greater control over scientific decision making in agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration — going against longstanding norms and roiling a health sector that accounts for nearly one-fifth of the U.S. economy.
“It’s a mess,” said one former senior HHS official granted anonymity to discuss internal matters. “What was once a very robust place to work, that was trying to lead on innovation, is gone. It’s just gone.”
Continue reading at Politico
Menopause makes it on the policy map
Chart: States that introduced or passed at least one piece of menopause-related legislation, 2023-2025
More than 20 bills focused on menopause care have been introduced across at least 13 states so far this year.
Why it matters: Menopause education isn't just having a moment. Changes that could permanently reshape insurance coverage and health care resources are being set in motion.
Proposed legislation aims to improve affordability of menopause treatments, bolster workplace support and increase medical training.
Catch up quick: Menopausal symptoms can be so severe and varied that some women, including Oprah, feel like they're dying. Because most doctors receive little menopause education (even if they're OB-GYNs), symptoms are often dismissed or misdiagnosed.
Even if patients connect with a menopause-certified provider, care and treatments might not be covered by insurance.
Halle Berry is among several celebrities trying to change the narrative.
The actress recently appeared virtually before the Maine legislature to support a bill advancing perimenopause and menopause education, and attended a Michigan roundtable with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
State of play: One in four states has proposed menopause laws, note Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, a gender and politics advocate and executive director of the Birnbaum Women's Leadership Center at NYU Law, and Mary Claire Haver, a menopause-certified OB-GYN and bestselling author.
Michigan, Illinois, West Virginia and Pennsylvania are states to watch, Weiss-Wolf says.
Continue reading at Axios
House Democrats warn Trump tariffs could devastate medical supply chains
With President Trump’s latest tariffs underway, a group of House Democrats are calling on the administration to try to protect medical supply chains from the “devastating consequences” the mounting trade war could inflict on patients.
Led by Democratic Reps. Doris Matsui (Calif.) and Brad Schneider (Ill.), 26 House Democrats signed a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warning that “reckless tariffs” are a threat to already fragile medical supply chains.
While Trump exempted pharmaceuticals from his sweeping tariffs unveiled last week, experts cautioned that elevated costs along the supply chain could still drive up costs, particularly for generic drugs.
“The supply disruptions of critical medical products will unavoidably hurt U.S. patients, force providers to make impossible rationing decisions, and potentially even result in death as treatments are delayed, or more effective medicines and products are swapped for less effective alternatives,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter.
While speaking at a dinner hosted by the National Republican Congressional Committee on Tuesday, Trump complained over how the U.S. doesn’t manufacturer its own pharmaceuticals stating that tariffs on these products would be forthcoming.
Continue reading at The Hill
Butter Recalled in 7 States Over Possible Fecal Contamination
Cabot Creamery is recalling 1,700 pounds of butter after testing found elevated levels of coliform bacteria in the product, a marker of potential fecal contamination.
The voluntary recall, initiated by Agri-Mark Inc, Cabot Creamery's parent company, affects the brand's 8-ounce Extra Creamy Premium Sea Salted Butter and was distributed in seven states.
Continue reading at Newsweek
States seek lifeline to protect Obamacare’s federal subsidies
The looming possibility of slashing Medicaid spending and not extending ACA subsidies has prompted a legislative scramble from Sacramento to Annapolis.
States facing budgetary pressures have few good options to keep millions of people from losing health coverage if Congress lets federal funding for Obamacare expire at the end of the year.
That isn’t stopping health officials from trying.
California, Colorado, Maryland, Washington and others are all scrambling to avoid a fiscal cliff that could sharply increase health care costs for their residents.
“It’s such a large chasm, we can’t quite fill it from a state-level perspective, but it doesn’t mean we’re not trying,” said Kevin Patterson, the CEO of Colorado’s state-run health insurance exchange.
The Hail Mary efforts, ranging from repurposing a state reinsurance program to having the legislature pony up millions of dollars in new spending, come as the prospects of Congress extending Obamacare subsidies grow increasingly dim. They also come as new tariffs create a wave of economic uncertainty, increasing the odds of a recession, which would further strain state budgets.
The loss of the so-called enhanced subsidies — which provide financial assistance to lower- and middle-income Americans — might hit states alongside Republican cuts to Medicaid, which are being considered to help pay for Republicans’ plan to extend President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, border security and energy production.
Continue reading at Politico
Moves against fluoride in drinking water alarm health experts
As the Trump administration takes steps to discourage the incorporation of fluoride in drinking water, experts warn the moves may have serious consequences for Americans’ health.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday announced it would “expeditiously review new scientific information on potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water.”
The move came after a judge last year required the agency to take a second look at fluoride due to potential concerns.
Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters Monday that he would direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop recommending fluoride in drinking water.
Kennedy was in Utah, which banned adding fluoride to drinking water starting in May.
“I’m very, very proud of this state for being the first state to ban it, and I hope many more will,” he said.
Continue reading at The Hill
Polling- Surveys
72 percent think Trump tariffs will hurt economy in short term: Survey
A large majority of Americans think that President Trump’s sweeping tariffs will end up hurting the U.S. economy in the short-term, according to a new survey that was released on Wednesday.
The Quinnipiac University poll found that 72 percent of Americans think that Trump’s tariff agenda will hurt the economy in the short term, while just over half of Americans, 53 percent, said the new duties will also hamper the economy in the long term.
The survey was conducted prior to Trump’s decision on Wednesday to increase tariffs on China to 125 percent and institute a 90-day halt on reciprocal tariffs versus all other trading partners.
“A large majority of voters acknowledge the tariffs are delivering a bruising body blow to the economy in the near term. Will time reduce the pain? Some think it will, but a majority don’t envision that happening,” Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said.
Nearly all Democrats, 97 percent, and a large majority of independents, 77 percent, think that tariffs will deal a short-term blow to the nation’s economy. Some 44 percent of GOP voters agreed, the poll found.
Continue reading at The Hill
How Americans view Israel and the Israel-Hamas war at the start of Trump’s second term
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the United States on April 7 for the second time since President Donald Trump took office.
As Americans look at the Middle East, fewer say the Israel-Hamas war is important to them personally – or important to U.S. national interests – than felt that way early last year, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
In addition, the public’s views of Israel have turned more negative over the past three years. More than half of U.S. adults (53%) now express an unfavorable opinion of Israel, up from 42% in March 2022 – before the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. (Pew Research Center regularly asks about attitudes toward countries like Russia, the U.S., China and others. Refer to the “How we did this” box for more details.)
Americans’ confidence in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also remains relatively low (32%), according to the new survey. The survey was conducted March 24-30 – just before Netanyahu’s most recent visit – among a nationally representative sample of 3,605 U.S. adults.
How important Americans say the Israel-Hamas war is to them personally
A slight majority of Americans (54%) say the Israel-Hamas war is either very or somewhat important to them personally. This is down from 65% who said the same in January 2024, a few months after the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023.
Republicans and Democrats are about equally likely to describe the conflict as personally important. (In this analysis, all references to Republicans and Democrats include independents who lean toward each party.)
Continue reading at Pew Research Center
6 in 10 now support nuclear energy: Gallup
Six in 10 Americans now support nuclear energy, according to a new Gallup poll.
When asked about “the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity for the U.S,” 61 percent in the Gallup poll said they “strongly favor” or “somewhat favor” it. Thirty-five percent said they “somewhat oppose” or “strongly oppose” the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in their country, with 4 percent saying they had “no opinion.”
The percent of Americans backing the use of nuclear energy to provide electricity for their country is up 6 points from 2023 when it was 55 percent and 10 points from 2022, when it was 55 percent, a notable rise in a span of three years.
Last July, former President Biden signed a bipartisan bill with an aim to boost the U.S.’s nuclear power. The nuclear package was expected to shorten the timeline for new reactors’ licensing and made the Nuclear Regulatory Commission create a report considering ways to simplify and shrink the environmental review process for such reactors.
Continue reading at The Hill
The Courts
Two justices control Trump’s fate at Supreme Court
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett are emerging as the key to Trump’s success as a pileup of applications land at the justices’ feet.
Though the two justices often vote together, their alliance has come into greater focus as the high court’s emergency docket becomes the place where Trump’s agenda lives or dies.
When the three liberal justices persuade both Roberts and Barrett to join them, the administration loses. That’s what happened when the court declined the administration’s bid to freeze $2 billion in foreign aid payments.
But Roberts and Barrett haven’t always been consistent on whether they join the conservative majority or side with the court’s liberal dissenters in Trump cases.
On Monday night, only Barrett joined the three liberal justices in dissenting from the Supreme Court’s decision to vacate an order temporarily blocking Trump from invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans. Roberts, in siding with conservatives, provided the administration with the crucial fifth vote to reach a majority — and give the White House a victory.
Last Friday, it was reversed.
Continue reading at The Hill
Judge gives Trump administration 1 day to show evidence Khalil should be deported
An immigration judge in the case surrounding detained activist Mahmoud Khalil has given the Trump administration one day to show evidence the former Columbia University student should be deported, as she wants to make a decision on the issue Friday.
Louisiana Judge Jamee Comans said Tuesday the government had 24 hours to produce evidence against Khalil, a green card holder being targeted by the Trump administration over his role in pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations last year.
Comans said that without sufficient evidence, she will terminate the case Friday and Khalil will be released. The federal government would not be able to file the case again unless the judge throws it out without prejudice.
Khalil was the first known target in the Trump administration’s escalating battle with foreign students, starting with those who participated in the pro-Palestinian movement but seemingly expanding to others with minor infractions such as traffic violations.
Continue reading at The Hill
2 judges limit Trump’s bid to deport ‘alien enemies’ in back-to-back rulings
The near-simultaneous rulings further hamstring the Trump administration’s efforts to deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua.
NEW YORK — A federal judge in Texas on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from deporting people designated as “alien enemies,” citing a Supreme Court ruling earlier this week and warning of the potential for “irreparable” mistakes.
The ruling by a Trump-appointed judge, which appears limited to defendants currently confined in Texas, came moments after a Clinton-appointed federal judge in New York said he would order the administration to guarantee those alleged “alien enemies” in his Manhattan-based district a chance to challenge their deportations.
The near-simultaneous rulings further hamstring the Trump administration’s efforts to deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, by using the two-centuries-old Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used law meant to guard against foreign invasions in wartime. It’s the latest legal setback for President Donald Trump’s effort to deploy these war powers to summarily deport foreign nationals he labels terrorists.
Many of those targeted by Trump’s invocation have claimed they were misidentified as members of the gang. The White House dismissed those claims and initially contended Trump’s designation was enough to justify their speedy removals. But the Supreme Court disagreed, ruling Monday that those labeled “alien enemies” must have a meaningful chance to challenge their deportations.
Continue reading at Politico
Appeals court clears way for Trump to restart mass firings of probationary workers
A three-judge panel said the Democratic attorneys general who brought the case appeared to lack the legal standing to do so.
A federal appeals court has cleared the way for the Trump administration to resume firing thousands of probationary government employees, lifting a lower-court judge’s order that had blocked most of the mass terminations.
A divided three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded Wednesday that the coalition of Democratic attorneys general who brought the case appeared to lack legal standing to challenge the firings.
The appeals court’s 2-1 ruling came one day after the Supreme Court lifted another judge’s order blocking the dismissal of some of the same federal workers, also on standing grounds. That leaves no remaining legal impediment, for now, to the effort by Trump administration leaders to shrink the federal workforce by summarily firing large swaths of employees across nearly 20 major federal agencies.
Judges Allison Rushing, a Trump appointee, and Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee, agreed that the Democratic attorneys general lacked standing. Judge DeAndrea Benjamin, a Biden appointee, dissented, arguing that the AGs had a legitimate basis to bring the lawsuit on behalf of their states.
The 4th Circuit’s ruling scraps an April 1 order from U.S. District Judge James Bredar, a Maryland-based Obama appointee. Bredar concluded that the administration had defied laws requiring notice to the states before conducting mass layoffs. He initially ordered the Trump administration to reinstate fired probationary employees across 18 federal agencies nationwide, but later narrowed his order to reinstate only those employees who live or work in the states that filed suit.
Continue reading at Politico
Anti-DEI-Whitewashing
Nothing new to see here, yet
General News
France’s Fifth Republic is on the ropes
The eligibility ban on presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen and the market-wrecking tariffs of U.S. President Trump are just the latest challenges roiling Emmanuel Macron’s second term.
PARIS — Emmanuel Macron’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week began with his far-right rival taking a flamethrower to a pillar of French democracy, and ended seven days later with his country’s main stock index plunging deep into the red.
But Marine Le Pen’s ban on running for office and Donald Trump’s market-wrecking tariffs are just the latest challenges threatening to upend the French president’s second term.
A trade war brews to the west while a real war rages to the east. Parliament is hopelessly fractured. France’s budget deficit remains stubbornly high, with little prospect of bringing it down beyond painful spending cuts or tax hikes that suffocate growth. Meanwhile, the country’s fourth prime minister in the last 18 months, François Bayrou, might be on his way out if far-right lawmakers make good on recent threats to bring down the government.
The pillars of France’s 66-year-old Fifth Republic appear fundamentally ill-equipped to withstand this unprecedented onslaught of domestic and international crises.
Macron’s room for maneuver is curtailed, his prime ministers are vulnerable, and workable majorities seem elusive. The president has few options to remedy the political deadlock beyond calling another snap election this summer, which could end up delivering yet another hung parliament.
“Things are bad. Things are really bad right now,” Bruno Cautrès, a political analyst at the Sciences Po Centre for Political Research in Paris, said last week — before global stock markets, including France’s benchmark CAC40, plummeted as a result of the Trump tariffs.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Germany’s Merz seals coalition deal under pressure to face challenges posed by Trump
The U.S. president’s tariffs and stance on Ukraine pressed the incoming chancellor to quickly form a stable government capable of responding.
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz’s conservatives and leaders of Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) reached a swift coalition agreement on Wednesday, according to an invitation to a press conference by parties involved in negotiations.
The deal comes amid intense pressure on German politicians to quickly form a new government that can confront the historic challenges wrought by United States President Donald Trump’s trade war and the threat posed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The agreement, which comes 45 days after Merz’s conservatives won a snap election, was reached quickly by typical standards in Germany, where postelection coalition negotiations between parties set to govern can take months.
The deal clears the way for Merz, the leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union, to be sworn in as Germany’s next chancellor within weeks.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Meloni’s solo Trump visit triggers anxiety in France
French industry chief warns against European disunity on trade as Italian PM heads to the White House.
PARIS — French Industry Minister Marc Ferracci warned Wednesday that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s upcoming trip to meet U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to undermine European unity against American tariffs.
"We need to be united because Europe is strong if it's united," Ferracci told broadcaster FranceInfo. "If we start having bilateral talks, of course it'll break this momentum [on European unity]."
The right-wing Meloni has presented herself as a possible bridge between Europe and the Trump administration, and will meet with the U.S. president at the White House on April 17.
But Ferracci argued that such a visit risks playing into Trump's strategy, which the French minister claimed is aimed at preventing a united European response to the U.S. president's severe tariff regime that has brought the world to the brink of an all-out trade war.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Putin wants Western Balkans as his next ‘playground,’ UK warns
Tensions are rising in the Western Balkans, Europe’s ‘other hotspot.’ Britain’s foreign affairs chief David Lammy sees the ‘long hand of Russian interference.’
BELGRADE — Alarm bells are ringing in Belgrade, Kosovo and Sarajevo.
While Europe’s attention has been focused on Ukraine, tensions in the Western Balkans have been simmering, and leaders in the region — as well as in Britain — worry Russian President Vladimir Putin will use the moment to further exploit fault lines in the former Yugoslavia.
The Western Balkans are described as “the other hotspot” by figures in the upper echelons of the U.K. government — and with the heat now being turned up, Britain is pushing for all six states in the region to join the EU to ward off Russian influence.
“At this time, with war in Europe and seeing the long hand of Russian interference also in the region, you would be a fool if you took your eye off the Western Balkans, where there are still legacy issues that are yet to be overcome,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told POLITICO during a visit to the region last week.
“Putin’s interests here are to keep the region destabilized. It’s in his interests to keep the countries that make up the Western Balkans on edge, to have a destabilized population and to wage a cyber and hybrid war.”
All six western Balkan states are attempting to become EU member states, a protracted process in which geopolitics can be as important as fulfilling alignment tasks. They face significant challenges, both domestically and with their neighbors. Bosnia-Herzegovina, for example, has been pushed into crisis as Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of the country’s three-way presidency, evades arrest for his separatist policies. Meanwhile, Serbia accuses Kosovo of repressing its Serb minority, while Kosovo blames Serbia for violence within its territory.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
IMF reaches deal with Argentina on $20 billion bailout
The fund’s long-awaited announcement offered a lifeline to President Javier Milei.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday said it has reached a preliminary agreement with Argentina on a $20 billion bailout, providing a welcome reprieve to President Javier Milei as he seeks to overturn the country’s old economic order.
As a staff-level agreement, the rescue package still requires final approval from the IMF’s executive board, which was expected to meet in the coming days.
The fund’s long-awaited announcement offered a lifeline to President Milei, who has cut inflation and stabilized Argentina’s economy with a free-market austerity agenda. His policies have reversed the reckless borrowing of left-wing populist governments that had brought the country infamy for defaulting on its debts numerous times. Argentina has received more IMF bailouts than any other nation.
It came at a critical moment for South America’s second-biggest economy. Pressure had been mounting on Argentina’s rapidly depleting foreign exchange reserves as the government tightened rules on money-printing and spent more of its scarce dollars to prop up the wobbly Argentine peso.
Fears grew that if Milei’s government failed to secure an IMF loan or tap a major source of foreign currency, its hard-won austerity measures would veer off-track and leave Argentina, once again, unable to service its huge debts or pay its import bills.
The fresh cash gives Milei a serious shot at easing Argentina’s strict foreign exchange controls, which he says he needs to encourage investment and convince markets that his reforms can be sustained in the notoriously volatile nation.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump faces a House Republican mutiny
The president is used to steamrolling his internal opposition. This time, rebellion is in the air.
First they caved on the speaker election. Then last month they fell in line on a budget vote, and again on a divisive government funding bill. But now, it seems, House conservatives are ready to make a stand.
Speaker Mike Johnson is staring down the most significant internal revolt he’s faced all year — one that threatens his own plans to advance the Republican legislative agenda and one that even President Donald Trump has been so far unable to squelch.
Dozens of House Republicans are undecided or outright opposed to rubber-stamping a Senate-approved budget blueprint for the GOP’s domestic policy megabill, and an all-out whip effort from Johnson and his leadership team — including a private meeting Tuesday between Trump and key holdouts — has only produced modest gains. If Johnson and Trump can’t flip most of them in the next 48 hours, lawmakers will start to board flights for a two-week recess, denying the president a show of legislative progress as financial markets wobble over his tariffs.
“Why am I voting on a budget based on promises that I don’t believe are going to materialize?” one key GOP holdout, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, said about the Senate plan.
Continue reading at Politico
‘An unlimited piggy bank:’ Inside a powerful union’s lavish spending
Labor leader George Gresham has for years used union money to benefit himself, his family and political allies.
NEW YORK — When Jesse Jackson found himself facing a mountain of medical bills two years ago, the civil rights leader was blessed with an unusual saving grace: the largest health care union in the U.S.
His longtime ally George Gresham, president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, sent him $50,000 from the union’s coffers, according to public financial disclosures and four union staffers present when the payment was discussed.
The request did not come as a surprise to the union’s officers. What surprised them, the staffers said, was that Gresham went through the trouble of requesting a vote.
“Whatever George needs, they find the money to do it,” one of the four staffers said.
Gresham has for years used the politically influential union’s funds to benefit himself, his family and political allies, a nine-month POLITICO investigation found. In some cases, Gresham bypassed the officers tasked with signing off on major expenses and had to request retroactive approval or pay back the union.
POLITICO interviewed more than 20 current and former union employees and reviewed thousands of pages of union financial reports filed with the U.S. Department of Labor and the IRS, as well as internal emails and invoices. Nearly all of the people interviewed were granted anonymity for fear of reprisal by Gresham and his allies.
Continue reading at Politico
"We like it": Why Trump's team shrugs at Navarro-Musk feud
Backstabbing was rampant in President Trump's first White House. In Trump 2.0, it's front-stabbing:
Trump's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, slights Elon Musk's car company on TV. Musk, a senior adviser to Trump, then calls Navarro a "moron" on social media.
At the White House, staffers shrug and chuckle. "Boys will be boys," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says.
Why it matters: The Navarro-Musk spat over Trump's tariffs — Navarro is their biggest cheerleader, Musk thinks they're too much — would have embarrassed any other administration, and likely resulted in some sort of mea culpa or reconciliation.
But in Trump's White House, public feuding by his team of rivals reflects the smashmouth, unapologetic style that's part of its policymaking process.
As Trump's controversial tariffs, layoffs, budget cuts and power grabs rip through American society, he and his top aides don't seem to mind the images of a couple of advisers airing their policy differences in very personal terms.
"The fact is, we like it," a senior White House adviser said with a chuckle.
Continue reading at Axios
Don Jr. traveling to Romania before controversial election
Why it matters: MAGA heavyweights, including Trump Jr., Vice President Vance and Elon Musk erupted after Romania's top court annulled the first round of the country's presidential election over worries of Russian meddling — lambasting it as evidence that European countries are silencing the right.
Vance in particular has argued European elites pretend to care about democracy while ignoring the will of their voters, if those voters happen to choose "extreme" candidates.
Catch up quick: Romanian government intelligence indicated that Moscow ran digital influence operations to benefit ultranationalist candidate Călin Georgescu, who had praised Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and won the election's first round.
Trump Jr. slammed the decision at the time as "another Soros/Marxist attempt at rigging the outcome & denying the will of the people," referencing Democratic megadonor George Soros.
The latest: The new first round of voting will be held on May 4, with a runoff penciled in for May 18. Trump Jr. is visiting on April 28.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump’s new goal: Revive a major climate pollutant that power markets have turned against
But even coal-friendly Republicans and executives say it won’t revive the industry to its former glory.
President Donald Trump announced sweeping executive orders on Tuesday that aim to achieve a goal that has long seemed implausible — bringing a national renaissance for coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel.
His actions, first reported Monday by POLITICO, include steps that would draw on emergency powers to reinvigorate a coal industry that has been struggling for decades because of tightening environmental regulations and competition from less-expensive natural gas and renewables.
Even some coal supporters conceded that Trump’s orders are unlikely to reverse coal’s dramatic decline from its once-predominant role as a source of U.S. electricity. But they represent yet another 180-degree reversal from the priorities of the Biden administration, whose regulations were expected to shut down more coal plants in the U.S. and eventually phase out all greenhouse gas-emitting power plants.
If successful, Trump’s efforts could also add tons more planet-warming gases to the atmosphere, contrary to previous U.S.-led efforts to zero out climate pollution in the coming decades.
“We are bringing back an industry that was abandoned despite the fact it was just about the best in terms of power — real power,” Trump said in remarks at the White House, where he was joined by coal workers in hard hats. “We are ending Joe Biden’s war on beautiful clean coal once and for all.”
Continue reading at Politico
IRS losing third chief this year amid agency turbulence
Melanie Krause has been acting IRS commissioner for less than six weeks, and her pending exit comes after the agency inked a controversial information-sharing deal with immigration officials.
The acting head of the IRS, Melanie Krause, will resign soon, adding to the exodus of top leaders from the agency, according to current and former government officials.
Krause has served as the acting agency commissioner for not even six weeks, in what’s become an increasingly turbulent period for the tax collector. She was the third person to hold the top job at the agency — which is facing sharp job cuts and unusual data requests from the Trump administration — this year.
Krause’s impending departure comes as the IRS is poised to share confidential taxpayer data with immigration authorities, under an agreement struck this week between the Treasury Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
The Trump administration is also working through plans to dramatically cut the agency’s staffing levels, while Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is examining the agency’s technological capabilities.
Several other key IRS officials, including the agency’s chief financial, privacy and risk officers, are also planning to leave, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump moves to hobble major US climate change study
The cuts are a potentially fatal blow to the National Climate Assessment that Congress mandated to ensure the government understands the threats posed by rising temperatures.
The Trump administration is canceling funding for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the entity that produces the federal government’s signature climate change study, according to three federal officials familiar with the move.
The move, which had been widely expected, is a potentially fatal blow to the National Climate Assessment, the study that Congress mandated under the Global Change Research Act of 1990 be issued every four years to ensure the government understands the threats that rising temperatures pose and what is driving climate changes. The report is the U.S. government’s most comprehensive look at climate change and serves as a crucial guide to state and community efforts to prepare for the effects.
The officials said NASA has canceled the contract with consulting firm ICF International, which coordinates the U.S. Global Change Research Program and the 13 federal agencies that write the National Climate Assessment.
Killing that contract has “forever severed” climate change work occurring across agencies, said one federal official heavily involved in USGCRP efforts, who was granted anonymity to discuss the politically sensitive issue to avoid retribution.
The practical effect means the National Climate Assessment will not move forward even though Congress requires a new assessment be issued by 2027, said a second official who is involved in USGCRP activities and was also granted anonymity.
ICF International did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Continue reading at Politico
‘It’s a shambles’: DOGE cuts bring chaos, long waits at Social Security for seniors
When Veronica Sanchez called a Social Security hotline Thursday, she waited two hours before her call was abruptly disconnected.
On Friday, she was on hold for six hours and still did not get through to anyone.
“I’m gonna have to take time out of my work to stand in line and hopefully get this resolved,” the 52-year-old medical practice manager in Canoga Park said Monday before calling one more time.
For Sanchez, the stakes are high: If she does not obtain a medical letter from the agency by April 15, her parents, who are on a fixed income, risk losing about $2,500 a month in medical care. They would no longer receive insulin medication for their diabetes, she said, and could lose their daily visit from a nurse.
But even if Sanchez shows up in person, she is not likely to speak to an agent. Field offices are no longer accepting walk-in appointments.
“The system, it’s broken down,” Sanchez said.
Elderly and disabled people — and those who care for them — are encountering a knot of bureaucratic hurdles and service disruptions after the Trump administration imposed a sweeping overhaul of the Social Security Administration system.
No field offices in California have closed. But there is rising frustration across Southern California and the nation as many seniors experience crashed webpages, endure jammed phone lines and are turned away at offices. Social Security officials have downplayed the problems and said some of the issues predate the Trump administration and the government efficiency push headed by Elon Musk.
Continue reading at the Los Angeles Times
White House "will consider options" if Chinese are fighting for Russia in Ukraine
The White House threatened on Wednesday to take steps against China if it allows its citizens to join the Russian military in fighting against Ukraine.
Why it matters: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Wednesday that at least 155 Chinese nationals are fighting with the Russian military in Ukraine.
He said Russia has been recruiting Chinese nationals on social media and accused the Chinese government of being aware and not preventing it.
Zelensky said on Tuesday that two Chinese nationals were captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting with the Russians.
The Chinese foreign ministry denied the accusations.
What they are saying: National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the White House is still trying to confirm the information.
Continue reading at Axios
CNN video clip: Matthew Chance reports
GOP senator: ‘Eye for an eye’ on tariffs ‘leaves both people blind’
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) criticized President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, arguing an “eye for an eye just leaves both people blind.”
Kennedy, who serves on the Banking and Budget Committee, joined MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” just hours after Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs went into place, with an emphasis on China.
“With tariffs, an eye for an eye just leaves both people blind,” Kennedy said. “When a government imposes a tariff, it’s putting its thumb on the scale. It interferes with people’s freedom to exchange goods and services.”
Kennedy pointed to China’s trade barriers and how it will hurt the American economy.
Continue reading at The Hill
China issues US travel advisory as Trump ramps up tariff retaliation
The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism Wednesday cited a “deterioration of economic and trade relations.”
The Chinese government issued a new travel advisory for the United States on Wednesday amid growing tensions between the two nations sparked by President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs.
The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism cited a “deterioration of economic and trade relations” and the “security situation” with the U.S. in its risk advisory, which it issued the same day Washington and Beijing levied retaliatory tariffs on one another.
Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday to up the ante again, saying he’d be levying 125 percent tariffs charged to China “effective immediately.” He also issued a 90 day pause on tariffs on other countries — charging a universal 10 percent tariff in the interim while singling out Beijing in his post.
“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Continue reading at Politico
NASA chief nominee, contradicting Musk, opts for the moon first over Mars
Jared Isaacman promised to continue the space agency’s efforts to return to the moon over Elon Musk’s push to prioritize Mars.
NASA administrator nominee Jared Isaacman vowed to prioritize a lunar landing on Wednesday, siding with lawmakers who want to focus efforts on returning to the moon over the desires of Elon Musk to head straight to Mars.
Isaacman, a commercial astronaut and billionaire business partner of Musk’s, allayed concerns during his confirmation hearing that he would pull resources out of a long-planned mission to the moon in favor of a more perilous — and nearly impossible — trip to the red planet.
“I’d like nothing more than to see … Americans walking on the moon,” he said, referring to a planned moon mission known as Artemis. “I don’t think we have to make any tough trades” between a moon and Mars mission.
Isaacman’s comments — in response to questions from Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chair Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — appeared to conflict with his opening statement, which supported a crewed mission to Mars but made no explicit promise to land on the moon.
The entrepreneur didn’t rule out the agency ever supporting a Mars landing. But he made it clear that the moon would come out on top. And he committed to maintaining NASA’s Artemis mission at least through its next voyage in 2026.
Continue reading at Politico
Hope Florida’s mysterious $10M came from settlement with state’s largest Medicaid operator
First lady Casey DeSantis launched Hope Florida in 2021 as a welfare assistance program designed to become a clearing house of community-based services to help people become less reliant on taxpayer-funded programs.
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — A Florida welfare assistance project spearheaded by first lady Casey DeSantis received a $10 million donation from the state’s largest Medicaid managed care operator — part of a $67 million out-of-court settlement involving the company’s pharmacy benefit manager.
According to a copy of the settlement provided to POLITICO on Wednesday, Centene, which owns Sunshine Health in Florida, agreed to pay the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration $67 million. Of that amount, the agreement directed Centene to contribute $10 million to Hope Florida.
The settlement, finalized in September, gave Centene seven days to wire transfer the $10 million directly to the Hope Florida Foundation.
“The Centene Entities’ obligation to pay the Hope Florida Donation shall be fully satisfied and extinguished upon completion of the wire transfer deposit of such installment into the account of The Hope Florida Foundation, Inc., as directed by AHCA,” the settlement said.
Casey DeSantis launched Hope Florida in 2021 as a welfare assistance program designed to become a clearing house of community-based services that help people become less reliant on taxpayer-funded programs. The state House began to scrutinize the program last week after a legislative analysis noted difficulties in obtaining financial details.
Continue reading at Politico
CNN to host town hall with Bernie Sanders on April 9
CNN —
CNN will host a town hall with independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday, the network announced Sunday.
The town hall will be moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, which will air at 9 p.m. ET on April 9 in Washington, DC.
During the town hall, Sanders will answer questions from both Cooper and a live audience that will include a mix of Democrats, Republicans and Independents.
Sanders, a progressive who caucuses with Democrats, has been on the road to multiple cities in recent weeks as a part of his cross-country “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, alongside Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Up next
Thursday 4/10: CNN to host town hall with battleground members of Congress
Ackman on Trump tariff pause: ‘Brilliantly executed’
Billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman on Wednesday praised President Trump’s decision to implement a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs against foreign trading partners, with the exception of China.
“This was brilliantly executed by @realDonaldTrump,” Ackman wrote on the social platform X. “Textbook, Art of the Deal.”
His praise came after Trump ratcheted up tariffs to 125 percent on Beijing in response to retaliatory tariffs from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. The administration, early Wednesday, levied a 104 percent import tax on the nation after China imposed a 34 percent reciprocal tariff on the U.S. following the president’s announcement of new duties last week.
In return, the Chinese government raised tariffs on the U.S. by 50 percent, bringing the overall level to 84 percent. On Wednesday afternoon, Trump announced the 90-day pause and the increase of import taxes on Beijing.
“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Continue reading at The Hill
Ex-Treasury secretary: US being treated as ‘problematic emerging market
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said Wednesday that the U.S. is being treated as a “problematic emerging market.”
“Long-term interest rates are gapping up, even as the stock market moves sharply downwards. This highly unusual pattern suggests a generalized aversion to US assets in global financial markets,” Summers said in a Wednesday morning thread on the social platform X.
“We are being treated by global financial markets like a problematic emerging market,” he added. “This could set off all kinds of vicious spirals, given government debts and deficits and dependence on foreign purchasers. The only way to mitigate these risks is for the President @realDonaldTrump to back off his current path. This is the first US bout of US financial instability caused by the US government.”
Continue reading at The Hill
House Republicans pursue spending cut plan with GOP senators ahead of budget vote
The clock is ticking before a final vote.
House fiscal hawks are scrambling to get to “yes” on a final vote Wednesday night to advance the Senate’s budget blueprint and begin the process of drafting party-line legislation to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda.
To get there, fiscal hawks are furiously working with a group of GOP senators to hammer out an outline of further Senate spending cuts that would provide assurances to remaining House holdouts that the final package of tax cuts, border security spending, energy policies and more will be offset by major reductions to the federal deficit.
House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) has told people he won’t vote for the budget resolution without that Senate outline, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
“It’s a group that’s collaborating on getting things in order,” said Freedom Caucus member Ralph Norman of South Carolina. “I think if it comes together, we’ll vote for it. If it doesn’t, we won’t.”
Continue reading at Politico
More than 300 student visas revoked as the government expands reasons for deportation
(CNN) — Kseniia Petrova’s path from a Harvard laboratory to an immigration cell began with frogs.
The Russian national who has been working as a researcher at Harvard Medical School failed to declare “non-hazardous” frog embryos she was carrying with her on her return to the US from France in February, Petrova’s attorney said. Rather than issue a fine, Petrova’s exchange visitor visa was revoked, and she was taken into custody.
Revoking Petrova’s visa was “a punishment grossly disproportionate to the situation,” her attorney, Greg Romanovsky, said, calling the error on the customs form “inadvertant.”
CNN did not receive a response from the Department of Homeland Security to a request for comment, but the department told ABC News, “Messages found on (Petrova’s) phone revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them.”
Continue reading at CNN.com
Held by ICE for 12 Days Over Visa Renewal, Canadian Actress Tells Her Story
Tulsi Gabbard declared her residency in Texas. Then she voted in Hawaii
(CNN) — As Tulsi Gabbard completed her transformation from a Hawaii Democratic politician to a MAGA surrogate last year, she put down stakes in a far redder state. Gabbard and her husband bought a home outside of Austin and declared under oath last June that they were “resident(s) of the State of Texas.”
But a few months later, Gabbard voted in the 2024 general election back in Hawaii.
Election law experts said Gabbard’s vote, coupled with her claiming a homestead tax break on her Texas home, raises questions about whether she properly cast her ballot and illustrates the complexity of state voting laws.
Gabbard is now director of national intelligence under President Donald Trump. Trump has continued to press false claims of widespread voter fraud and demanded further actions by state and federal authorities to address it.
Representatives for Gabbard said she never intended to abandon her longtime Hawaii residency, despite signing the sworn declaration calling herself a Texas resident.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Trump sends DOGE to review the Navy
The Navy has struggled for years to build ships on time or on budget.
Trump, in a Wednesday executive order, said DOGE will begin a review of shipbuilding within three months, “to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these processes.”
Both the Biden and Trump administrations have tried to tackle decades of Navy shipbuilding delays and over-budget projects, with little to show for their efforts. Promises by the Navy to speed up the process, reduce bad planning decisions and more efficiently design new warships have mostly failed.
The order, which seeks to revive the beleaguered industry, also instructs both the Navy and Coast Guard to launch 45-day reviews of their shipbuilding efforts.
The document requires the secretaries of Defense and Transportation to work together on revitalizing the commercial shipbuilding industry, which is dominated by China. It also tasks the Defense, Commerce, Labor, Transportation and Homeland Security departments with developing a Maritime Action Plan by November that outlines new ways to invest in the shipbuilding industrial base.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump on his new water pressure executive order: I like ‘to take care of my beautiful hair’
The president has long gone after policies that aim to conserve water in the bathroom.
“In my case I like to take a nice shower, to take care of my beautiful hair,” Trump told reporters while signing the order in the Oval Office on Wednesday. “I have to stand under the shower for 15 minutes till it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.”
In a fact sheet that accompanied the executive order announcement, the White House framed the new order as a push by Trump to undo overregulation that “chokes the American economy, entrenches bureaucrats and stifles personal freedom.”
But the president has long gone after policies that aim to conserve water in the bathroom.
“My hair, I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect, perfect,” he said outside the White House in 2020.
Continue reading at Politico
The return of Erik Prince: How a notorious military contractor maneuvered his way back inside Trump’s orbit
In late January, Erik Prince, a long-time ally of President Donald Trump and a notorious private security contractor, gathered a meeting of executives in Washington, DC, to discuss ways their own private security firms might help the new administration deport millions of undocumented migrants.
One proposal in particular caught Prince’s attention: the idea of sending migrants with criminal records for detention in another country as they awaited transit to their countries of origin.
In the months leading up to Trump’s victory in November, Prince had struck up a working relationship with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, which not everyone at the meeting knew. Trump officials had also been having separate conversations with Bukele about accepting undocumented migrants from the US.
Prince eventually excused himself from the group, telling those gathered that he planned to pitch the detention idea directly to Bukele.
The next week, Bukele stood beside Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the presidential residence in San Salvador for a major announcement:
Not only would El Salvador accept and jail potentially hundreds of thousands of violent undocumented immigrants currently in the US, it would also take in “dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of US citizenship and legal residents.”
Continue reading at CNN.com
House GOP cancels budget vote
Republican leaders were unable to sway enough holdouts to move forward with their plans.
The outcome is a brutal blow for House GOP leaders and President Donald Trump, who have spent days trying to wrangle the votes for the fiscal blueprint. Adoption of identical budget resolutions in both the House and Senate is an essential step to allowing committees to start drafting and passing a party-line package of tax cuts, military spending, energy policy and border security investments.
The evening roll call on the budget was delayed as House hard-liners back-channeled with a group of Senate Republicans to sketch out deeper spending cuts. Then a parade of more than a dozen fiscal hawks streamed off the House floor to meet with Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise while the vote on another measure was held open. But those eleventh-hour talks were not enough.
Fiscal hawks are miffed that the Senate’s fiscal blueprint does not require the deep spending cuts they baked into the House’s version, prompting the group of Trump loyalists to ignore the president’s pleas to vote for the measure.
After a group of House fiscal hawks met before the vote with Senate GOP leaders, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said, “Republicans in the Senate, Republicans in the House, are all on the same page — we are all committed to serious and significant savings.”
But many House Republicans are not pleased with alterations made in the Senate, where GOP leaders are calling for a total of at least $4 billion in savings in a final package, while the House set a mandate of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in spending cuts to balance out tax cuts.
“We just don’t trust the Senate,” Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), chair of the House Republican Policy Committee, said in a brief interview this week. “It just seems very unserious that they want to control the deficits in this country.”
Continue reading at Politico
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That work wardrobe you need? Fuhget it for the next four years | Blog#42
If you’re a white collar worker, one of the costs of working is having to maintain a work-appropriate wardrobe, and pencilling in time at your favorite department store at your local upscale mall. No matter what kind of work you do, if you have children, you pencil in a trip to the local mall to buy children’s clothing, with time at their favorite restaurant for a burger and dessert.