Financial markets plunge in reaction to new Trump tariffs
The Dow Jones Industrial Stock Average opened down 1,200 points this morning and continued to fall as the stock market reacted to the new tariffs announced yesterday by President Trump. The initial Wall Street reaction was in line with the way overseas stock markets reacted to Trump’s announcement. In overnight futures trading, the S&P 500 fell by 3.4% and NASDAQ futures were down 3.8%. The value of the U.S. dollar fell and oil prices sere down 4%.
New U.S. global tariffs applied to places with no international trade
President Trump announced sweeping new minimum 10% tariffs for products imported from all countries. The White House has not yet attempted to explain how the list of countries it released that will be subject to the new tariffs includes uninhabited islands, volcanoes, island that are inhabited only by penguins and sea lions, places where the human population is only around 500 and places where there is no manufacturing and no international trade.
Reaction to Trump tariffs
China said today that it intends to take countermeasures against the U.S. unless Donald Trump cancels the new tariffs he announced yesterday. European Union leader Ursula v his new 20% tariff on member countries of the European Union is a major blow to the world economy and the European Union is ready to negotiate with the U.S. before imposing retaliatory tariffs. German Chancellor Scholz said the European Union needs to show that it is strong.
Legislation to block health agency firings
Virginia Democratic Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan has introduced a bill that would block the firings of personnel from the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he intends to fire 10,000 workers at key health agencies including the FDA, National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control. As of Thursday, key personnel working on combatting Alzheimer’s, cancer and opioid addiction have been fired, crippling those programs. McClellan’s bill so far has 20 co-sponsors.
Tornado outbreak kills at least four
Three people were killed in Tennessee and one in Missouri overnight when a wave of tornadoes swept through the central parts of the country. More storms with possible tornadoes are forecast to continue through Saturday. Nearly 300 tornado warnings have been issued by the Weather Service since yesterday morning. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center says that a 1,500 mile swath of the country is at risk of severe thunderstorms. Severe flooding is expected from heavy rainfall.
Earthquake death toll rises
The death toll from the Myanmar earthquake has passed 3,000 with almost 5,000 known injured. Some parts of the country still have not been reached by first responders. The death toll in Bangkok, Thailand, several hundred miles from the quake’s epicenter has passed 20. There has been a temporary ceasefire in Myanmar’s civil war that began about four years ago when the military seized control of the country. A Myanmar military unit fired on a convoy of aid workers from China’s Red Cross.
