Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican who sits on Senate committees overseeing the military and national intelligence, told reporters it “raises eyebrows” whenever “there is a firing of people on the National Security Council or their staff, particularly people that we have respect for.”
Rounds said he had never met Laura Loomer, but acknowledged that staff working in the executive branch faced more “volatility” than those working for Congress.
▶ Read more from AP’s report on Trump and his National Security Council
How can the President enact sweeping tariffs when Congress is the entity with the power of the purse?Bradley B.
Hey, Bradley, thanks for your question. The U.S. Constitution grants the power to set tariffs to Congress. But over the years, Congress has delegated those powers to the president through several different laws. Those laws specify the circumstances under which the White House can impose tariffs, which are typically limited to cases where imports threaten national security or are severely harming a specific industry.
However, Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley and Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell have recently been working on new legislation that would expand congressional authority over tariffs. Grassley said he was working on this legislation long before Trump introduced sweeping global tariffs. Whether it gains traction in the Republican-controlled Congress remains to be seen.
The president commented as he left the White House for a trip to Florida, saying, “I think it’s going very well.”
“The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom and the country is going to boom,” Trump said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 1,300 points as U.S. stocks lead a worldwide sell-off after Trump’s announcement of tariffs against much of the world ignited a COVID-like shock.
Giorgia Meloni told Italian state TV on Thursday that she believes Trump’s decision to impose 20% tariffs on exports from Europe is “wrong,’’ but “it is not the catastrophe that some are making it out to be.’’
The U.S. market represents 10% of Italy’s total exports, but she argued that retaliatory tariffs could do more harm to Italy’s economy.
She said that the government would meet next week with representatives of affected sectors to formulate proposals to present to Italy’s European partners. “We need to open an honest discussion on the matter with the Americans, with the goal — at least from my point of view — of removing tariffs, not multiplying them,’’ Meloni said.
The watchdog at the Pentagon said he would review Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to convey plans for a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen.
The review will also look at other defense officials’ use of the publicly available encrypted app, which is not able to handle classified material and is not part of the Defense Department’s secure communications network.
▶ Read more about developments involving this probe of the Signal chat controversy
“It was an honor to meet with President Trump and present him with my research findings,” Loomer said in a posting on X. “I will continue working hard to support his agenda, and I will continue reiterating the importance of, and the necessity of STRONG VETTING, for the sake of protecting the President of the United States of America, and our national security.”
Trump has moved to dismiss at least three senior National Security Council officials and multiple lower-ranking aides after Loomer met with the president on Wednesday and urged him to fire officials she contends are insufficiently loyal to Make America Great Again movement, according to several people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive personnel matter said Thursday.
Loomer, who has promoted 9/11 conspiracy theories, was a frequent presence on the campaign trail during Trump’s successful 2024 White House run. But more recently, she’s been speaking out on social media about some members of Trump’s national security team who she insists can’t be trusted.
The tours originally scheduled for Saturday and Sunday will now be held only on Sunday.
The White House says it made the decision because of a protest planned near the White House on Saturday.
Thousands of people are expected to participate in more than 1,000 related protests around the country — including at the Washington Monument — focused on Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.
Garden tour tickets that were assigned for Saturday will be honored on Sunday between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Twice a year, in spring and fall, the White House allows the public to tour the South Lawn and its gardens.
Trump’s pick as ambassador to China told lawmakers on Thursday it’s time to “stand up” against unfair trade practices by the United States’ top trade rival.
David Perdue, a wealthy businessman and former U.S. senator from Georgia, spoke at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Economists warn of higher prices for American consumers as one result of Trump’s sweeping new tariffs, including a 34% levy on Chinese imports.
Perdue acknowledged that some sacrifices are needed, because “what we’ve become seduced by are the cheap prices that we gave in to over the last 30 years coming out of China.”
“If the American public says enough’s enough, what will happen to their economy?” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida asked of China.
“It’ll collapse,” Perdue answered.
FILE – Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., speaks during the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management, and Trade on Commodity Programs, Credit and Crop Insurance hearing at Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., brushed off the harsh reaction financial markets are having to Trump’s new tariffs.
“They’re all emotional. I’ve invested in the stock market for years. They go up and down on whether it rains or doesn’t rain,” Tuberville said. “It’ll all turn around.”
Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., said it’s ok to have concerns about the tariffs, but he has confidence in Trump, and “as we move along, if we need to adjust, we adjust.”
Justice also said “we got to give it some time” in evaluating whether the tariffs are working. “It is a major reset to what we’re doing in this country, and anything that is a major reset, the markets usually act pretty severely to it.”
Federvini has denounced the new U.S. tariffs as a “severe blow against free trade” that will impact 2 billion euros($2.2 billion) in Italian exports of wine and spirits, 40,000 producers and 450,000 workers.
“We have been through this before, and we know the cost all too well: such measures in the past have led to a drop in exports to the United States of up to 50%,’’ Federvini President Micaela Pallini said in a statement.
“Now we risk reliving that economic trauma, with devastating consequences.’’ She warned of a looming production and employment crisis if a solution cannot be negotiated, underlining that U.S. companies that import and distribute wines will also be impacted.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday condemned the Trump administration’s tariffs, describing it them “negative for the American economy.” (AP Video: Nicolas Garriga)
Emmanuel Macron said it’s important “that future investments be suspended for a while until we’ve clarified things with the U.S. … because what would be the message of having major European players investing billions of euros (dollars) in the American economy at a time when they’re hitting us?”
Macron met Thursday in Paris with representatives of wines and spirits, food, cosmetics, health, metals, aeronautics and other industries. He called Trump’s announcement “brutal” and “unfounded because you can’t correct trade imbalances by imposing tariffs.”
The European Union needs to respond in “the most effective way” to send “a very clear message that we’re determined … to defend and protect ourselves,” Macron said, noting that American tech giants now profit from digital services in Europe.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada will match the U.S. president’s 25% auto tariffs with a tariff on vehicles imported from the United States — but not on their parts, as Trump did with his previously announced 25% tariffs on auto imports that took effect Thursday.
The prime minister said he told Trump last week in a phone call that he would be retaliating.
“We take these measures reluctantly. And we take them in ways that is intended and will cause maximum impact in the United States and minimum impact in Canada,” Carney said. He said Canada won’t tariff the parts because Canadians know the benefits of the integrated auto sector, where parts can cross the border multiple times as vehicles are assembled in Ontario or Michigan.
▶ Read more on Canada’s response to Trump’s auto tariffs
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is pictured during a television interview at the Capitol in Washington, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
“Donald Trump is using tariffs in the dumbest way imaginable. Donald Trump slapped tariffs on penguins and not on Putin,” the minority leader said on the Senate floor Thursday.
Schumer was referring to Trump’s 10% sanctions on the Heard and McDonald Islands, an Australian territory in the remote Antarctic. They’re mostly barren, with active volcanoes.
Vladimir Putin’s Russia, meanwhile, was left off Trump’s list, which also includes Jan Mayen, a small Norwegian island in the Arctic that possibly has more polar bears than people.
▶ Read more on remote island tariff targets
The legislation pushed by Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley and Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell would require presidents to justify new tariffs and secure congressional approval within 60 days, otherwise they would expire.
Grassley said he was working on this long before Trump introduced sweeping global tariffs. Whether it gains traction in the Republican-controlled Congress remains to be seen.
Congress already technically has authority over tariffs, but over the last century it has given much of that power to the president. This has effectively removed most of its check on executive power. Lawmakers have some standing to counter tariffs, such as nullifying a presidential emergency declaration, but such resolutions need to pass both chambers and then either be signed by the president, or have the votes to override a veto.
The NEH distributes hundreds of millions of dollars each year to state humanities councils, along with museums, historical sites, educational institutions and independent researchers. Projects have included organizing George Washington’s papers and supporting “American Prometheus,” the J. Robert Oppenheimer biography that led to an Oscar-winning film.
Now NEH grant recipients are getting termination notices, according to the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403.
“Cutting NEH funding directly harms communities in every state and contributes to the destruction of our shared cultural heritage,” reads a statement from the National Humanities Alliance, a nationwide coalition of humanities advocates.
An NEH spokesperson did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment. The Trump administration has been dismantling institutions over what it calls “woke” culture.
A container ship approaches the port of Santos in Brazil, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says his administration will take all necessary actions, based on World Trade Organization principles and a new reciprocity bill approved by Congress on Wednesday, to protect Brazil’s companies and workers after the United States imposed a 10% extra tariff on all Brazilian exports.
“We stand for multilateralism and free trade, and we will respond to any attempt to impose protectionism, which no longer has a place in today’s world,” Lula said during an official ceremony in Brasília.
The U.S. is Brazil’s top trade partner after China, importing Brazilian crude oil, aircraft, coffee, cellulose and beef. America’s trade surplus reached $28.6 billion in goods and services last year.
Brazil has said it remains open to dialogue aimed at reversing the extra tariffs, while also considering taking the case to the WTO and imposing reciprocal tariffs. Lula has yet to sign the bill into law.
The president took action involving several senior White House National Security Council officials soon after he was urged by the far-right activist to purge staffers she deemed insufficiently committed to his Make America Great Again agenda, according to several people familiar with the matter Thursday.
Loomer presented her research to Trump in an Oval Office meeting, making her case for the firings, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. Vice President JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Serio Gor, the director of the Presidential Personnel Office, took part in the meeting, the people said.
NSC spokesman Brian Hughes declined to comment on the meeting or the firings.
▶ Read more on Trump and Loomer’s loyalty research
The Trump administration is ordering schools nationwide to certify that they are following federal civil rights laws — and eliminating DEI practices — as a condition for receiving federal money.
A notice sent Thursday by the Education Department gives the nation’s states and schools 10 days to sign and return the certification.
“Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement.
The certification asks state and school leaders to acknowledge that “the use of certain DEI practices can violate federal law” and result in a termination of funding.
It follows a Feb. 14 memo declaring that any school policy that treats students or staff differently because of their race is illegal.
The S&P 500 was down 4.3% in morning trading, on track for its worst day since COVID shattered the global economy five years ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,538 points, or 3.6%, as of 10:55 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 5.6% lower.
Fear is flaring globally about the potentially toxic mix of higher inflation and weakening economic growth that could be created by the tariffs rivaling levels unseen in roughly a century.
It’s “plausible” that Trump’s latest and most severe set of tariffs could reduce U.S. economic growth by 2 percentage points this year and raise inflation close to 5%, according to the multinational financial services company UBS.
Lesotho King Letsie III addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Lesotho is one of the smallest countries in Africa with a population of 2.2 million people, yet exports $237.3 million worth of goods to the U.S. — mostly textiles and diamonds — sectors which create most of its jobs.
“There is no country immune from those tariff hikes he made. That means countries will have to renegotiate their positions with the USA and see how they will manage to trade in,” said government spokesman Thabo Sekonyela.
The U.S. is Lesotho’s second biggest trade partner after South Africa. This a second blow for Lesotho after Trump withdrew foreign aid.
Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commander of United States European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told lawmakers Thursday that a potential Trump administration plan to relinquish U.S. control over the role of Supreme Allied Commander Europe as part of its downsizing efforts could create issues for control over U.S. nuclear weapons based there as well as the tens of thousands of troops deployed there.
The position oversees all NATO decisions in Europe, where the U.S. is often the largest troop contributor to NATO operations.
“I think that would bring some challenges in terms of nuclear command and control. It would put us in a position where, in an Article Five situation, we could have for the first time since the First World War large numbers of American troops under non-U.S. command. So I think those are things that would have to be considered carefully,” Cavoli told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Democrats are blaming Trump for plunging financial markets and calling on him to rescind his tariffs.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, said the tariffs amount to the biggest tax hike on families since World War II.
Schumer spoke on the Senate floor as financial markets tanked, saying “Donald Trump has singlehandedly created a financial forest fire.”
“President Trump should reverse course on his disastrous tariffs immediately,” Schumer said. “Or else, he risks plunging America into recession.”
The Home Furnishings Association, which represents more than 13,000 U.S. furniture stores, predicted that the tariffs will increase prices between 10% and 46%. Vietnam and China are the top furniture exporter to the U.S.
The association said manufacturers in Asia are offsetting some of the costs by discounting their products and lowering ocean freight rates. But it still expects U.S. furniture prices to rise. Even domestically made furniture often relies on imported components, the association said.
“While many in the industry support the long-term goal of reshoring manufacturing, the reality is that it will take at least a decade to scale domestic production,” Home Furnishings Association CEO Shannon Williams said in a statement. “Permitting, training a skilled workforce and managing the higher costs of U.S. manufacturing are significant hurdles. Applying steep tariffs during this transition period only hurts the American consumer.”
“There are some who believe now is the time to reduce drastically our military footprint in Europe,” Republican Sen. Roger Wicker said at Thursday’s hearing with U.S. military commanders for Europe and Africa.
“I’m troubled at those deeply misguided and dangerous views held by some mid-level bureaucrats within the Defense Department. They’ve been working to pursue a U.S. retreat from Europe and they’ve often been doing do without coordinating with the Secretary of Defense,” Wicker said.
It was not immediately clear what “mid-level bureaucrats” Wicker was talking about. U.S. troops in Europe increased by about 20,000 to a total of roughly 100,000 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to assist with training and logistics and to reassure NATO allies that the U.S. would defend them.
▶ Read more on Armed Services hearing on Trump NATO plans
Nayib Bukele is scheduled to visit with Trump on April 14.
Bukele posted on social media a signed letter from Trump inviting him to a meeting and thanking him for help fighting illegal immigration.
The Trump administration is paying Bukele’s government to house deportees, particularly people it accuses of being Venezuelan gang members, at one of his notorious prisons.
A White House official confirmed the date of the visit. The official was not authorized to speak publicly.
Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry says its government is calculating the impact on its exports including electronics, textiles and textile products, footwear, palm oil, rubber, furniture, shrimp and marine fishery products, and taking “strategic steps to mitigate the negative impact on the Indonesian national economy.”
“The Indonesian government is committed to maintaining the stability of the yield of Government Securities (SBN) amidst global financial market turmoil following the announcement of the U.S. reciprocal tariff,” the foreign ministry statement says.
As Mexico had hoped, the free-trade agreement it has with the United States and Canada shielded many sectors producing things covered by the treaty from avocados to clothing and electronics. Discussions continue over the 25% tariff the U.S. has placed on auto imports, as well as tariffs on steel and aluminum.
“The last call I had with President Trump I said that in the case of reciprocal tariffs, my understanding was that there wouldn’t be tariffs (on Mexico), because since Mexico doesn’t place tariffs on the United States, the United States doesn’t put tariffs on Mexico,” Claudia Sheinbaum said during her morning press briefing Thursday.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum gives a media briefing from the National Palace in Mexico City, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, the morning after her inauguration. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard pointed out that many other countries that have free-trade agreements with the U.S. were nevertheless targeted by the tariffs Trump announced Wednesday. Ebrard says Sheinbaum’s strategy worked, “because today we do have preferential treatment.”
Some Americans may be giving the president the benefit of the doubt for now on his Department of Government Efficiency.
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults “somewhat” or “strongly” approve of Trump’s handling of Social Security, and similar approvals on his management of the federal government.
The latest AP-NORC numbers on his changes to government are almost identical to Trump’s overall presidential approval, suggesting that his Republican administration’s moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close Social Security Administration field offices, effectively shutter entire agencies and cancel thousands of government contracts haven’t yet created a significant independent backlash — or spurred independent support.
▶ Read more on the poll results
The U.S. secretary of state and U.S. ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker are in Brussels for a meeting of alliance foreign ministers.
Many hope Rubio will clarify Trump’s intentions amid persistent signals from Washington that NATO as it has existed for 75 years may no longer be relevant.
“The United States is as active in NATO as it has ever been,” Rubio told reporters as he greeted NATO chief Mark Rutte. “And some of this hysteria and hyperbole that I see in the global media and some domestic media in the United States about NATO is unwarranted.”
“President Trump’s made clear he supports NATO,” Rubio said. “We’re going to remain in NATO.”
▶ Read more about Rubio in Europe
Traders, including Christopher Lagana, center, work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
And the U.S. stock market may be taking the worst of it.
The S&P 500 was down 3.3% in early trading Thursday, more than the losses seen in other major markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1150 points, and the Nasdaq composite was off 4.3%.
Little was spared as fear flares globally about the potentially higher inflation and weakening economic growth that tariffs can create.
Prices fell for everything from crude oil to Big Tech stocks to small companies that invest only in U.S. real estate.
▶ Read more on market reaction to Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs
Vance says the president will have something to say about the popular social media site before his reprieve on the congressionally-approved ban of the platform expires.
“We have a couple days to continue working on it, to finalize some things. And of course, we’ll let the president announce whatever we ultimately decide,” Vance said on Fox & Friends.
Trump on Inauguration Day gave the platform a reprieve, barreling past a law that had been upheld unanimously by the Supreme Court, which said the ban was necessary for national security.
Under the law, TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance is required to sell the platform to an approved buyer or take it offline in the United States.
The vice president appeared on Fox & Friends, saying it will take some time for Trump’s tariffs, spending cuts and support for U.S. industries to help everyday Americans. “We are not going to fix things overnight,” Vance said.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington, as Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins listen. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“Frankly, a lot of people have gotten rich from American jobs moving overseas,” Vance said. “But American workers have not gotten rich. And frankly, American companies have not gotten wealthy from the increasing growth of foreign competitors manufacturing overseas.”
“We know people are struggling. We’re fighting as quickly as we can to fix what was left to us, but it’s not going to happen immediately. But we really do believe that if we pursue the right deregulation, we pursue those energy cost reducing policies — Yes, people are going to see it in their pocketbook. They’re also going to benefit from the fact that foreign countries can’t take advantage of us anymore.”
The sweeping tariffs declared by Trump could increase prices for Americans who depend on citrus from 1400 producers across southern Africa, according to Boitshoko Ntshabele, chief executive of the Citrus Growers Association in Johannesburg.
“South Africa does not compete with the citrus producers of the US,” Ntshabele said. “In fact, quite the opposite — we sustain customers’ interest when their local citrus is out of season, benefitting US citrus growers in the end.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Trump’s 30% tariffs on U.S. imports of South African products shows the urgent need for a new bilateral trade deal.
Greece’s exports of canned peaches to the United States in 2020 were worth 32 million euros ($35.3 million) and soared to 95 million euros ($105 million) in 2024. The new 20% tariff, on top of existing duties, could reverse those gains, according to Christos Giannakakis, vice president of Venus, one Greece’s largest peach canning cooperatives.
“This creates a huge problem,” Giannakakis told the Associated Press. “It means reduced exports, lower revenue and shrinking production.”
Trump said his decision to impose sweeping import tariffs will boost American industries.
At 1 p.m., Trump will receive his intelligence briefing in the Situation Room. After, at 2 p.m., he will travel to Florida to attend an event for LIV golf this evening. He will then head to his home at Mar-a-Lago, according to the White House.
Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said the new U.S. tariffs may violate NATO’s Article 2, which stresses the importance of economic cooperation among allies to avoid conflict.
“If you want a strong NATO, you should ensure that there is as much economic growth as possible in the NATO countries. That was the insight of those who established NATO, that economic cooperation would be good for the entire alliance,” Eide said during a visit to Brussels for a NATO meeting, according to the NRK broadcaster.
Eide told NRK that he will raise the tariff war with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the meeting.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the new U.S. tariffs many reduce Poland’s GDP by 0.4%.
He said it was “a severe and unpleasant blow, because it comes from the closest ally, but we will survive it.” The Polish-U.S. friendship, he added, “must also survive this test.”
FILE – Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez delivers his speech during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Thursday that his government will implement a $15.6 billion (14.1 billion euro) spending package to mitigate the effects of U.S. tariffs on the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy.
The Spanish leader called the tariffs “19th-century protectionism,” against which the European Union and Spain had to act proactively and diversify their economic ties with the rest of the world.
Sánchez also called for a negotiated solution with the U.S. “We’re once again asking President Trump to reconsider, to sit down at the negotiating table with the European Union and also with the rest of the world.”
A man walks into a merchandise store displaying Chinese and United States’ national flags, in Beijing, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson says “there are no winners in trade wars and tariff wars, and protectionism is not a way out. What the U.S. should do is to correct its wrong practices and resolve trade disputes with all countries, including China, through consultations based on equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit.”
Guo Jiakun added that the tariffs violate WTO rules, “harm the common interests of people of all countries, and do not help solve the problems of the U.S. itself. It is clear to everyone that more and more countries are opposing the U.S.’s unilateral bullying actions, such as imposing tariffs.”
Germany’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, said that these are “the most disruptive tariff increases for 90 years.” He also drew a comparison with the fallout from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
FILE – Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, takes part in the East German Economic Forum (OWF) in Bad Saarow, Germany, Monday, June 13, 2022. (Patrick Pleul/dpa via AP, File)
“I think this is an extraordinary day for the world economy, comparable with the situation after the Russian aggression on Ukraine, where we knew that something new was happening and we were not prepared in Europe to cope with the challenge,” Habeck told reporters in Berlin. “And we looked in(to) the abyss in that time, but we worked it out and we managed it by putting aside everything that was restricting economic strength and energy security.”
“I think a similar reaction is necessary now from the European Union and its world partners,” Habeck said.
The local government leader of Christmas Island, one of several Australian external island territories that like Australia have been assigned a 10% U.S. tariff, said his Indian Ocean atoll exported nothing to the United States.
The Australian outpost of fewer than 2,000 people 360 kilometers (225 miles) south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta has used U.S. heavy machinery to mine phosphate for decades, Christmas Island Shire President Gordon Thomson said.
The uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands in the remote Antarctic are another Australian territory included in the 10% tariff. The mostly barren islands include two active volcanoes and can only be reached by sea.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia imposes no tariffs on U.S. imports. The U.S. and Australia have a free trade agreement.
We’ll answer your questions during our live coverage.
Trump’s announcement of a new 20% tariff on the European Union drew a sharp rebuke from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said it was a “major blow to the world economy.”
“The consequences will be dire for millions of people around the globe,” von der Leyen said. Groceries, transport and medicines will cost more, she said while visiting Uzbekistan. “And this is hurting, in particular, the most vulnerable citizens.”
Von der Leyen held off, however, from announcing new retaliatory measures and underlined that the EU was ready to negotiate with the U.S.
Analysts say there’s little to be gained from an all-out trade war since higher tariffs can lower growth and raise inflation.
“On the other hand, Trump seems to understand only the language of force, and this indicates the need for a strong and immediate response,” said Matteo Villa, a senior analyst at Italy’s Institute for International Political Studies.
“Probably the hope, in Brussels, is that the response will be strong enough to induce Trump to negotiate and, soon, to backtrack.”
▶ Read more about the global response to the tariffs
Trump announced far-reaching new tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners — a 34% tax on imports from China and 20% on the European Union, among others — that threaten to dismantle much of the architecture of the global economy and trigger broader trade wars.
In a Rose Garden announcement on Wednesday, Trump said he was placing elevated tariff rates on dozens of nations that run meaningful trade surpluses with the United States, while imposing a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries in response to what he called an economic emergency.
The action amounts to a historic tax hike that could push the global order to a breaking point. It kickstarts what could be a painful transition for many Americans as middle-class essentials such as housing, autos and clothing are expected to become more costly, while disrupting the alliances built to ensure peace and economic stability.
▶ Read more about Trump’s new sweeping tariffs
