Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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? Sticker shock

Data: S&P Global Market Intelligence. Chart: Axios Visuals American companies lost about $3 trillion in value from yesterday's stock-market rout, as the S&P 500 fell 4.8%, Dow dropped 4% and NASDAQ lost 6%. The selloff cost the world's 500 richest people a total of $208 billion, per Bloomberg's "Billionaires Index" — the biggest single-day loss since the onset of the pandemic. Investors are hurting today, and consumers aren't far behind. ? Food prices are expected to rise by about 2.8% overall due to the tariffs, Axios' Emily Peck reports. Some staples — including coffee, chocolate, vanilla, bananas, fruits and vegetables — will get even more expensive than that. ?️ Clothing could get a lot more expensive. The U.S. imports about 97% of the clothes we buy, and more than half comes from China and Vietnam — two countries subject to especially high tariffs. Nike, Lululemon and other major apparel companies saw double-digit drops in their stock prices yesterday. ? Apple built its empire on a foundation of open trade, Axios' Scott Rosenberg notes, and though it has diversified away from China, it can't realistically give up on overseas labor. An iPhone manufactured in the U.S. could cost $3,500. ?️ All consumer tech relies heavily on imports. Tech stocks plunged yesterday, as did retail giant Best Buy. Go deeper: Who's most at risk.

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? Trump's tariff math

Source: U.S. Trade Representative. Graphic: Kavya Beheraj/Axios The Trump administration used a surprisingly simplistic approach to calculate its much-hyped reciprocal tariffs, Axios' Neil Irwin explains. This wasn't a finely tuned set of import taxes calibrated to exert pressure on trading partners to adjust specific policies with which the U.S. has grievances. Rather, it was some simple arithmetic, based on overall trade data. ? Why it matters: It implies fewer off-ramps for countries that seek tariff relief, and thus less potential for de-escalation. If tariffs are applied without regard to the details of each country's economic policies and circumstances, what is there to negotiate? The logic implies that any country with which the U.S. experiences a trade deficit, regardless of the reason, is in some way a bad actor and requires tariffs as payback. Go deeper.

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China imposes 34% reciprocal tariffs on imports of US goods in retaliation for Trump’s trade war

China said Friday that it will impose reciprocal 34% tariffs on all imports from the United States from April 10, making good on a promise to strike back after US President Donald Trump escalated a global trade war.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/04/business/china-us-tariffs-retaliation-hnk-intl/index.html?

Fear that Trump tariffs will spark recession wipes out more than $2 trillion in value from US stocks U.S. companies had trillions of dollars in value wiped out Thursday after President Donald Trump slapped sweeping tariffs on foreign imports. Virtually every sector suffered big losses as U.S. financial markets closed with their biggest one-day drop since COVID-19 flattened the global economy five years ago. Read more.

Why this matters: Banks, retailers, clothing, airlines and technology companies were among the hardest hit, with consumers expected to cut spending if tariffs lead to higher prices for goods and services.   Many economists said the tariffs were much worse than expected, and investors dumped shares in companies they predict will suffer most from what is effectively a business tax.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ China punches back as world weighs how to deal with higher US tariffs   Trump says things are ‘going very well’ after worst stock market drop in years over tariffs   Stellantis temporarily halts production at 2 plants in Canada, Mexico as auto tariffs take effect   Trump fires NSC officials a day after far-right activist raises concerns to him about staff loyalty   A look at Laura Loomer, longtime Trump ally criticized for racist posts and Sept. 11 conspiracies   Trump says Musk will probably leave in ‘a few months’   Senate confirms Mehmet Oz to take lead of Medicare and Medicaid agency   Federal judge says she will temporarily block billions in health funding cuts to states   States sue to block Trump’s election order, saying it violates the Constitution   FACT FOCUS: Democratic leaders’ challenge to Trump’s election executive order misrepresented online   Brown University to see half a billion in federal funding halted by Trump administration   Colleges say the Trump administration is using new tactics to expel international students   Trump says he supports proxy voting for new parents in Congress   Transgender student’s arrest for violating Florida bathroom law is thought to be a first   Pence will get the Profile in Courage Award from JFK Library Foundation for his actions on Jan. 6   White House trims weekend garden tours due to expected protest Saturday

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Dow drops more than 1,700 points after China retaliates against Trump tariffs

Stock markets worldwide are careening even lower Friday after China matched President Donald Trump’s big raise in tariffs in an escalating trade war. Not even a better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market, which is usually the economic highlight of each month, was enough to stop the slide. Read More.

How Trump's latest tariffs could affect your wallet

President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs, on top of previous levies and retaliation worldwide, are expected to increase prices for everyday items. Which impacts will be felt by consumers and workers first? And what can households do in the face of so much uncertainty? Read More.

‘Oh sh--.’ RH CEO sees stock slide as reciprocal tariffs unveiled during Q4 earnings conference call

A real-time reaction to the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff actions and lackluster earnings has the CEO of luxury furniture maker RH in the spotlight. During the earnings call for RH, CEO Gary Friedman saw the company’s stock tumble as Trump’s policy was being announced. Read More.   Bondi announces charges in MS-13 killing as the Trump administration highlights its gang crackdown Three alleged MS-13 gang members have been federally charged in connection with a killing a decade ago in Florida, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday, seeking to highlight the Trump administration’s push to prosecute violent gangs. Read More.

 

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Trump to extend TikTok ban enforcement deadline after China tariffs derail deal

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will again postpone enforcement of the TikTok sale-or-ban law for 75 days. The delay comes after Trump’s tariff announcement derailed a deal that had been set to transfer control of the app’s US operations to American ownership, a source familiar with the deal told CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/04/tech/tiktok-deal-ban-extended-trump/index.html?

Dow plunges 2,200 points as tariff tumult rocks markets

US stocks were battered by a steep sell-off Friday after China retaliated against the United States for President Donald Trump’s tariffs in a tit-for-tat that escalates a global trade war.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/04/investing/stock-market-dow-tariffs/index.html?

Man mistakenly deported to El Salvador must be returned, judge orders

The Trump administration must return a man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador to the U.S., a judge ordered Friday.

https://www.axios.com/2025/04/04/el-salvador-man-deported-mistakenly-judge-order?

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Vance was wrong: Maryland father accidentally deported to El Salvador isn't 'convicted MS-13 gang member'

A confidential police source claimed he was an MS-13 gang member — but other cited "evidence" consisted of wearing a hoodie and Chicago Bulls hat.

Claim:

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father sent to an El Salvador prison due to an "administrative error" by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, is a convicted MS-13 gang member.

Rating: False

Context

According to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement court filing, an immigration judge said that evidence indicated Abrego Garcia was a "verified member" of MS-13. However, the word of an immigration judge is not the same as a criminal conviction — and there is no evidence Garcia has ever been convicted of a crime; furthermore, the claim that Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 member appears to rest almost entirely on the word of a confidential police informant.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/deported-maryland-father-vance/?

ps:Error? There was no error!! This was a purposeful deporting of people that were not given there "due process" as is the right of all people living in the USA.

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Posts online correctly cracked the formula for Trump's tariffs

Despite a White House spokesman claiming otherwise, the published formula matched what social media users calculated.

On April 2, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a large set of tariffs, or taxes on imported goods, on basically every other country in the world. In his announcement, Trump described the tariffs as "kind [and] reciprocal," suggesting the rates were lenient, tailored for each individual country, and meant to equalize the country's import taxes with rates other countries place on U.S. goods. (As Trump put it, "Reciprocal. That means they do it to us and we do it to them.")

However, according to some posts on the social media site X, Trump's tariff rates had nothing to do with equalizing the U.S. rates to foreign tariff rates. Instead, the posts claimed, the new rates were calculated by taking a country's trade deficit with the U.S. (how much it exported to the U.S. minus how much it imported from the U.S.) and dividing it by how much the U.S. imported from that country — in other words, the calculations were not based on foreign tariff rates at all.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/04/03/trump-tariff-formula/?

Understanding the chaos

In one 48-minute speech, President Trump scrambled every American's budget, every U.S. company's balance sheet and every global alliance.

• Tariffs, a sometimes obscure economic tool, have massive power, especially when enacted this expansively, Axios' Zachary Basu and Erica Pandey write.

Why it matters: Think fundamental re-ordering of the economy. Americans are staring down a disruption to their standard of living. Companies are about to find out how bad bad can get. The ripple effects may be felt for years to come.

? Trump's tariff revolution is rooted in a simple thesis: America has been humiliated and exploited by foreign nations for decades — and only he has the guts to make them pay.

• Trump's personal victim complex has powered much of his political career. Now it's going global — with the entire world, not just Trump's domestic enemies, feeling the weight of retribution.

?️ The big picture: Never mind that the U.S. boasts the world's largest economy, most powerful military, record household wealth, and historically low unemployment.

• From uninhabited islands to impoverished enclaves, no country is too small, too irrelevant, or too loyal to escape the wrath of a president who believes America has been cheated for decades.

?? That includes Israel, where officials were shocked to face a 17% reciprocal tariff despite removing their own tariffs on the U.S. a day prior.

• ?? It includes Lesotho, a tiny African nation where most people are too poor to import American goods, and which is now facing an existential crisis because of Trump's 50% tariff.
• ?? It even includes the volcanic Australian territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, whose population of mostly penguins was punished with a 10% tariff.

? Zoom out: Trump is right that plenty of countries engage in unfair trade practices, and that globalization has hollowed out key parts of America's industrial base.

• ?? China, the world's second-largest economy, has a long record of trade abuses: IP theft, forced technology transfers, state subsidies and market access restrictions for foreign companies.
• ?? The European Union doesn't cheat the way China does. But it protects its own through generous agricultural subsidies and strict regulatory standards that often double as trade barriers.

Covers of Financial Times, The Economist

? Reality check: That cost will likely be steep.

• Trump is inviting American factories to rise up and fill the demand for goods that consumers and companies get from other countries — but factories can't do that overnight, if at all.
• In the 1970s, a quarter of Americans worked in manufacturing. Now, less than 10% do. Recruiting and training a manufacturing workforce will take time and money.
• One big reason the U.S. has trade deficits is that we spent decades becoming a services economy, with the economic might to make our goods more cheaply elsewhere and buy lots of them.

? What to watch: Whether the Trump administration does anything to offset the pain.

• Tariffs will bring in some money themselves (the administration says up to $600 billion a year, which would cover about a third of the U.S. budget deficit). And Trump still wants to cut taxes — not just extending his 2017 cuts, but new reductions on things like overtime and tips.

Via Truth Social

Trump this morning: "THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION."

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? Tariffs 101

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axois

Axios chief economic correspondent Neil Irwin breaks down the basics: ? What's a tariff? A tariff is a tax on imported goods. When a ship full of bananas or T-shirts or Toyotas arrives at a U.S. port, part of the paperwork for crossing the border is paying the applicable tariff. 2. ? When did America start using tariffs? From the colonial era through the early 1900s, tariffs were the predominant source of the federal government's revenue. Taxes on imports were relatively easy to enforce even in the days before computers, Social Security numbers, and the like. When a ship arrived at a port, customs officers could inspect the goods, charge the appropriate tariff, and ensure tax compliance. The Constitution limited the federal government's taxing authority. So a modern income tax wasn't legally permissible until the enactment of the 16th Amendment in 1913. 3. ? Why did the government back off of tariffs? This reliance on tariffs had deep-seated problems, which is why their use has been mostly in retreat over the last century. They disadvantaged agricultural interests and other U.S. exporters, as other countries put in place corresponding barriers to trade. The tax burden disproportionately fell on lower-income people, who spend a bigger share of their money on basics than the rich. Tariffs didn't raise nearly enough money to pay for a modern government, with a large military, social welfare programs like Social Security and Medicare, and the like. When the world economy stumbled in 1930, nations rushed to implement tariffs in hopes of bolstering domestic industry, particularly the Smoot-Hawley Act in the U.S. Mainstream economists view this cascade of protectionism as a key part of why that episode became the Great Depression. Based on those lessons, and as part of a broader effort to knit together the economies of the world's democracies in hopes of ensuring lasting peace, the U.S. and other advanced nations spent the postwar era gradually removing tariffs and other trade barriers. 4. ? Then why do we still have ANY tariffs? Even in the heyday of free trade enthusiasm, tariffs didn't move to zero. In recent years, tariffs have been relatively low — down to 1.5% in 2017, after decades of bipartisan efforts to craft global trade deals. Trump then pushed those up to around 3% in his previous term (which President Biden mostly maintained). The policies announced so far in Trump's current term are on track to push the average tariff to 22.5%, per the Yale Budget Lab. If the new tariffs announced this week stand, America's average tariff burden will be higher than nearly any living human has seen — higher than they were in the Smoot-Hawley era and roughly at 1909 levels. 5. ? How can Trump impose tariffs if that's part of Congress' authority? In his first term, Trump's tariffs came with careful legal limitations and a process for companies to seek exclusions — and their total scale wasn't enough to have much effect on the overall U.S. economy. This time is different. Trump is implementing tariffs at a scale an order of magnitude higher, on every country on earth and nearly all goods, and by invoking an emergency authority never used for this purpose. 6. ?️ When can I expect prices to go up? U.S. companies have been scrambling to import goods before tariffs hit to postpone the blow. But price hikes could come just days later if these tariffs go into effect Wednesday as planned.

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? Pocketbook pain

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Tariffs will likely increase the prices of necessities like food, clothing and cars, Axios' Emily Peck writes. That's the view of the Fed chair and most economists (even most on the right), and The Wall Street Journal editorial page: "There will certainly be higher costs for American consumers and businesses. Tariffs are taxes, and when you tax something you get less of it." ? By the numbers: The tariffs hit to earning power amounts to an average 2.3% "pay cut," or decrease in disposable income, for every American household, according to a widely cited estimate from the Yale Budget Lab. That translates to $3,800 a year. Keep reading. ? Case in point: Owning a mill     Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   Megan Murphy — a former journalist who owns La Crosse Milling Company, which processes grains for food ingredients and animal feed in Cochrane, Wis. — tells Axios' Courtenay Brown: "I don't think there's a single small U.S.-based agricultural company that thinks this is a good long-term strategy for building manufacturing competitiveness." "There isn't the capacity, knowledge, nor the facilities, to have American manufacturing compete on this scale over a 10-year horizon, let alone one." Keep reading.

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? Corporate nightmare

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

When everything gets more expensive everywhere, that starts a cycle that can include higher prices, layoffs and even bankruptcies. Three business glimpses from Axios' Ben Berkowitz: Electronics trade group IPC estimates the cost of critical components coming from overseas will rise 30% to 50%. Even if you're already manufacturing domestically, the parts you need from somewhere will get expensive, quickly. Automaker Stellantis (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep) paused production at multiple factories and laid off hundreds of people. Irrigation company Lindsay Corp. said the tariffs would increase its cost of goods, which it would pass through to customers. Those customers are farmers, who are getting squeezed by foreign retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.

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? Tariff math

Data: WITS, White House. Table: Erin Davis and Thomas Oide/Axios Axios AM reader question: "Is there any defensible reason why a country would impose a tariff on us but we shouldn't on them? I understand what a tariff is, and I understand the impact it has. But I really don't understand how other countries have tariffs on us, and we don't immediately have a tariff on them?" There are lots of reasons why rich countries in particular don't like imposing tariffs on their trading partners, regardless of what those partners do in the other direction, Axios chief financial correspondent Felix Salmon writes. The main reason is that tariffs are a tax, which is payable by the companies importing goods. That tax is invariably passed on to consumers, in one form or another. Since neither companies nor consumers like paying taxes, they generally push for lower tariffs. ? How it works: Consider India. As it happens, the country produces a lot of things of use to Americans, including pharmaceuticals. The U.S. would like its medications to be as cheap as possible, so it levies no tariffs on, for example, imports of some antibiotics from India. But India charges a 10% tariff on U.S. exports in the same category. In the end, whatever India decides to do in its pharmaceutical market, it's to the benefit of Americans to treat their infections as inexpensively as possible.

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DOJ attorney placed on leave after expressing frustration in court with government over deportation

The Justice Department has placed on administrative leave a government immigration lawyer who in court this week expressed frustration at not being able to answer key questions from a judge over a mistaken deportation case, according to two people familiar with the matter.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-tariffs-news-04-05-25?

Trump blows up America's China policy

Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios

A bipartisan consensus on how to compete with China that took shape in President Trump's first term has exploded at the start of his second, Axios' Dave Lawler writes. Why it matters: Nearly everyone in Washington agrees that to win the battle for the 21st century, the U.S. needs to strengthen its alliances in Asia, shift supply chains to friendlier countries, and convince the world Washington is a more dependable partner than Beijing. Nearly everyone, that is, except Donald J. Trump. It's not that Trump is taking it easy on China. He just increased tariffs on Chinese goods to a staggering 54%. China, which retaliated on Friday, faces sharp near-term economic pain. This time, the trade war is global. And so is the backlash. "China is on the move, and they're going to press their advantage and try to appear as the stable, pro-trade, pro-globalization global power," says Elizabeth Economy, a China expert at the Hoover Institution and former Commerce Department official. ? Breaking it down: Trump's first administration laid the foundation Biden built upon: tariffs, export controls on critical technologies, pressing allies to take stronger action on China and leaning on platforms like the Quad (U.S., Australia, Japan and India). But Trump returned to office with a different team and a clearer sense of his own foreign policy powers and priorities. Now, he's trying to unravel the CHIPS Act — which subsidized domestic production of key tech like semiconductors that are at the heart of U.S.-China competition — and has broken with his own party on everything from banning TikTok to standing with Taiwan. A White House official said Trump's tariffs would bring "fairness to our trade relationships," including the "imbalanced" relationship with China.

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? MAGA media's tiptoe

If you watched or read any legacy media outlets last week, President Trump's firings at the National Security Council and National Security Agency after an Oval Office meeting with conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer were hard to miss.

• But if you only paid attention to MAGA media, the news was hard to find, Axios' Tal Axelrod reports.

Why it matters: There was plenty of big news last week, chiefly Trump's tariff plan. But taking staffing advice on national security from a 9/11 truther also qualifies as news. Coverage around it was one of the starkest examples of the different media universes that exist for different parts of the country.

Zoom in: The New York Times called the Loomer-fueled firings "a remarkable spectacle."

• Trump told reporters on Air Force One that Loomer didn't influence the firings. Loomer has declined to say what she and Trump discussed, but said in a statement she "will continue reiterating the importance of strong vetting, for the sake of protecting the President and our national security."

MAGA media barely tiptoed near the story.

• Top MAGA podcaster Charlie Kirk posted on X: "Any person who helps expose and expel the warmongering cabal from power does this country a service."

MAGA online outlets and social media accounts focused heavily on the trade war, but also highlighted transgender teachers, local politicians and the live-action "Snow White" film's poor box office performance.

• The NSC story is a "silly distraction," said Mike Davis, the president of The Article III Project and a frequent MAGA media guest.

Trump goes all in with bet that the heavy price of tariffs will pay off for Americans

President Trump’s move Wednesday to place stiff new tariffs on imports from nearly all U.S. trading partners marks an all-in bet by the Republican that his once-fringe economic vision will pay off for Americans. How it shakes out could be a defining judgment on his presidency. Read more.    Texas county that swung to Trump grapples with immigration crackdown after bakery is targeted When immigration officials showed up at Abby’s Bakery and arrested the owners and eight employees, residents of Los Fresnos were shocked. The reaction may show the limits of support for President Trump’s immigration crackdown in a majority Hispanic region where Republicans made big gains last year. Read more.

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Angry protesters from New York to Alaska assail Trump and Musk in ‘Hands Off!’ rallies

Crowds of people angry about the way President Donald Trump is running the country marched and rallied in scores of American cities Saturday in the biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain its momentum after the shock of the Republican’s first weeks in office.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-doge-protests-hands-off-472c574303260cbac315367cc808960d?

Trump administration argues judge cannot order return of man mistakenly deported to El Salvador

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department told an appeals court Saturday that a judge did not have the authority to order the Trump administration to broker the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly sent to a notorious El Salvador prison, and it suspended a government lawyer who admitted in court that the deportation was an error.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-el-salvador-prison-kilmar-abrego-garcia-5a92d6bd7f893eed64c2607cc129a6f9?

Storms tore up two of America’s most iconic trails. Federal cuts have disrupted repairs

CAMPO, Calif. (AP) — Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is a challenge, especially for adventurers making the entire run from Southern California to Canada, and Eric Kipperman’s job is to greet them at the start and lay bare the difficulties ahead.

https://apnews.com/article/pacific-crest-appalachian-trail-federal-layoffs-934a5526570569b625f5d854ec339a04?

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Trump’s Border Czar Faces Backlash in His Hometown for Locking Up a Local Family

Tom Homan is taking heat in Sackets Harbor, New York, after ICE agents detained a mom and her three children in a raid.

https://theintercept.com/2025/04/04/tom-homan-ice-immigrant-raid-new-york/?

Trump's dark opening to Golden Age

With markets nosediving across the globe, President Trump played golf, raised money for MAGA and dug in deep on his tariff plans, after warning Americans to buckle up, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column.

• "THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN," he said on Truth Social on Saturday. "HANG TOUGH, it won't be easy, but the end result will be historic."

Why it matters: For one of the first times in his career, Trump seems more bent on making a point than making a deal. He's confident nations will bend to his will, just as universities and law firms have.

• "We don't have a playbook for fully committed Trump," a longtime adviser tells us. "He's always been the ultimate pragmatist — everything was on the table at all times: 'Give me a win and I'll consider anything.'"

CNBC now: "GLOBAL MARKET MELTDOWN INTENSIFIES."

• Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One yesterday: "I don't want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something."

Behind the scenes: Trump officials say 50+ countries have approached the administration to make tariff deals. But people involved in the process say there's frustratingly little structure or coordination around the negotiations.

• A White House official told us: "The phone lines are open and nations are free to make their pitch on how they will correct for decades of taking advantage of the American consumer. But for businesses looking for certainty, the message is clear: Don't wait, come build in America."

? Reality check: There were safe, easy and still fast ways to do all the things Trump is doing, many Republican insiders tell us.

• Trump could have laid out specific tariff threats for each country, given them a short period to comply with a proposed compromise on great U.S. terms, and explained his thinking before spooking the markets.
• Trump could have spent an extra month targeting spending cuts with precision — so he didn't have to cut and then rehire people deemed more vital than first thought.
• And he could have set up a more thorough vetting program for deportation — so his broadly popular action didn't get undermined by locking up or sending off people who are not clear-cut violent criminals.

? Between the lines: We talked to a bunch of leaders of businesses of all sizes this weekend. All are scrambling — even panicked — after all their planning was upended. But Trump and his Cabinet showed a real disconnection from the economic chaos unfolding coast to coast.

• On Friday, Trump headlined a $1 million-a-plate dinner fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago for MAGA Inc., the top pro-Trump super PAC.
• Then Trump golfed near Mar-a-Lago on Saturday and Sunday — and yesterday posted a video of himself teeing off.
• The White House issued a statement Saturday saying: "The President won his second round matchup of the Senior Club Championship today in Jupiter, FL, and advances to the Championship Round."

? Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on CBS' "Face the Nation": "The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in ... little screws to make iPhones, that kind of thing is going to come to America."

• "It's going to be automated," Lutnick continued. "And great Americans, the tradecraft of America, is going to fix them, is going to work on them. They're going to be mechanics. There's going to be HVAC specialists. There's going to be electricians."

That's amid warnings that Trump's tariffs could raise the cost of an iPhone by 30% to 40%. As Reuters put it: "A $2,300 Apple iPhone? Trump tariffs could make that happen."

Via Truth Social

"Economic nuclear winter": Bill Ackman, an investor who has been among the most powerful pro-Trump voices on X, pleaded yesterday in a post with 9 million views: "May cooler heads prevail." Otherwise, he said, "we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down.

• Ackman wants Trump to call a 90-day timeout, "negotiate and resolve unfair asymmetric tariff deals, and induce trillions of dollars of new investment in our country."

"The country is 100% behind the president on fixing a global system of tariffs that has disadvantaged the country," Ackman wrote. "But, business is a confidence game and confidence depends on trust.

• "y placing massive and disproportionate tariffs on our friends and our enemies alike and thereby launching a global economic war against the whole world at once," Ackman continued, "we are in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital."

The bottom line: Cracks in the Trump coalition are showing, however slightly. Even Elon Musk slammed protectionist Trump adviser Peter Navarro, and tweeted cryptic but clearly pro-free-trade clips.

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Deportations

The Trump administration has until 11:59 p.m. today to return a Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in March. A federal judge issued the order Friday after the administration conceded in a court filing that it had mistakenly deported Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. He is currently being held in a notorious mega-prison. Abrego Garcia had been living in the states under protected status since 2019 after fleeing gang violence in El Salvador. In its filing, the Trump administration admitted that ICE was aware of Abrego Garcia’s protected status and that his deportation was due to “an administrative error.” Now the White House claims it can’t get him back and is appealing the judge’s ruling.

 

Judge says deportation of Maryland man to an El Salvador prison was ‘wholly lawless’ The U.S. government’s decision to arrest a Maryland man and send him to a notorious prison in El Salvador appears to be “wholly lawless,” a federal judge wrote Sunday in a legal opinion explaining why she had ordered the Trump administration to bring him back to the United States. The Justice Department has asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to pause the judge’s ruling. Read more.

Why this matters: There is little to no evidence to support a “vague, uncorroborated” allegation that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was once in the MS-13 street gang, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis wrote. And in any case, she said, an immigration judge had expressly barred the U.S. in 2019 from deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, where he faced likely persecution by local gangs.    Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran national who has never been charged or convicted of any crime, was detained by immigration agents and deported last month. Abrego Garcia had a permit from DHS to legally work in the U.S. and was a sheet metal apprentice pursuing a journeyman license, his attorney said. His wife is a U.S. citizen.   In her order Sunday, Xinis referenced earlier comments from now-suspended Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni in which Reuveni said: “We concede he should not have been removed to El Salvador” and that he responded “I don’t know” when asked why Abrego Garcia was being held. The Justice Department placed Reuveni on leave after he made the comments.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ The frenzied 24 hours when Venezuelan migrants in the US were shipped to an El Salvador prison   Miami’s ‘Little Venezuela’ fears Trump’s moves against migration   2 US border inspectors are charged with taking bribes to wave in people without documents

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Jamie Dimon sounds the alarm bell on tariffs

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has issued a blunt warning about President Donald Trump’s tariff policy: It threatens to raise prices, drive the global economy into a downturn and weaken America’s standing in the world.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/07/business/jamie-dimon-tariff-warning?

Conservative Think Tank Reveals the Massive ‘Error’ in Trump’s Tariff Formula

The math in President Donald Trump’s tariff formula isn’t adding up—and even conservatives are confused.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/conservative-think-tank-reveals-the-massive-error-in-trumps-tariff-formula/?

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Trump says he’s not backing down on tariffs, calls them ‘medicine’ as markets reel President Donald Trump said Sunday that he won’t back down on his sweeping tariffs on imports from most of the world unless countries even out their trade with the U.S., digging in on his plans to implement the taxes that have sent financial markets reeling, raised fears of a recession and upended the global trading system. Read more.

Why this matters: Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he didn’t want global markets to fall, but also that he wasn’t concerned about the massive sell-off either, adding, “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”   Trump’s Cabinet members and economic advisers were out in force Sunday defending the tariffs and downplaying the consequences for the global economy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said unfair trade practices are not “the kind of thing you can negotiate away in days or weeks.” and Top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett acknowledged that other countries are “angry and retaliating,” and, he said, “by the way, coming to the table.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Panic Monday: World stock markets plunge again as Trump doubles down on tariffs   As markets implode, US trading partners puzzle over whether there’s room for negotiations   Congress has the power to halt Trump’s tariffs. But Republicans aren’t ready to use it   WATCH: Farmer concerned over impacts of tariffs introduced by President Trump   The US has revoked visas for South Sudanese while civil war threatens at home   Yemen’s Houthis say US strikes kill 6 as Trump’s bombing video suggests higher overall death toll   US blocks sea salt imports from South Korean salt farm over forced labor concerns   Russia reduces prison sentence for US soldier convicted of theft   Trump administration ends key grant program that helps communities prepare for disasters   Trump administration fires staff of program that helps low-income households pay for heat   Trump administration rolls back forest protections in bid to ramp up logging   Maya Angelou memoir, Holocaust book are among those pulled from Naval Academy library in DEI purge   NY public schools tell Trump administration they won’t comply with DEI order   About 500 law firms sign brief challenging Trump’s executive orders targeting the legal community   RFK Jr. visits epicenter of Texas measles outbreak after death of second child who was infected   North Carolina judges side with Republican colleague in close Supreme Court election   ‘This has got to be a moment in America,’ Cory Booker tells 1st town hall since record speech   WATCH: Former US president Obama tells arts college audience: 'It's up to all of us to fix this'   Drug dealer whose sentence was commuted by Trump is charged with violating his release ps:Clueless!!!!!

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Trump Lets “Good” Banks Hide Their Bad Fees

Federal credit unions are often seen as the kinder, gentler version of big banks, since they are designed to serve members of modest means without a profit motive. But data from a new reporting rule reviewed by The Lever found that the largest credit unions made nearly $4 billion charging their members unnecessary overdraft fees last year. 

https://www.levernews.com/trump-lets-good-banks-hide-their-bad-fees/?

Extreme volatility sends US stocks on a roller coaster ride as Wall Street is rattled by tariffs

US stocks mostly fell after an extremely volatile day Monday — tumbling, surging and then bouncing around in every direction, as traders searched for any sign that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could be negotiated or halted.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/07/investing/us-stock-market-dow-tariffs?

Trump issues veto threat on tariff bill

President Trump would veto a bill introduced by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that would limit the president's authority to unilaterally impose tariffs, according to a White House statement seen by Axios.

https://www.axios.com/2025/04/07/trump-veto-tariff-bill-grassley?

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? If I had a hammer… President Donald Trump’s tariffs have prompted a stock crash now being called “Orange Monday.” On MSNBC last night, The Lever’s David Sirota described tariffs as a hammer that can be used to build things or destroy things. President Biden carefully used the tariff hammer to build manufacturing jobs — with real success. By contrast, Trump is recklessly using the tariff hammer to destroy the economy. Watch the interview here, watch this clip describing what a constructive tariff policy would look like, and watch this clip about what Congress can do. Then listen to the latest Lever Time about what this all means.

? Liberation Day creates chaos in MAGA-land. Several key figures in Trumpworld are now publicly opposing the president’s tariffs. A right-wing legal organization with ties to Leonard Leo and the Koch network is pushing to get the tariffs knocked down in court, arguing Trump doesn’t have the constitutional authority to issue them. Meanwhile, Elon Musk — who’s publicly broken with Trump and said he wants a “free trade zone” established between the United States and Europe — and top White House tariff adviser Peter Navarro are now catfighting.

• This weekend, Musk jabbed at Navarro’s alma mater, writing on X, “a PhD in Econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a good thing.” Navarro then hit back saying, “when [Elon’s] in his DOGE lane, he’s great. But we understand what’s going on here. We just have to understand, Elon sells cars.”

? Mr. Zuckerberg goes to Washington. As Meta seeks to lobby the Trump administration to settle its federal antitrust probe into the tech giant, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is setting up shop inside the beltway. Politico reveals Zuckerberg recently purchased a $23 million D.C. mansion, one of the most expensive home sales in city history — and he’s wasted no time courting his new neighbor on Pennsylvania Ave. According to the Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg has visited the White House at least three times since January to lobby for a favorable settlement ahead of Meta’s April 14 trial date. 

? Oops. After cutting over 10,000 federal employees at the Department of Health and Human Services last week, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now says as much as 20 percent of those layoffs were made in error. These firings reportedly included the entire Office of Infectious Diseases and HIV Policy as well as the CDC’s Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance Branch.

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Wall Street could be headed for a bear market. Here’s what that means

Wall Street could soon be in the claws of another bear market as the Trump administration's tariff blitz fuels fears that the added taxes on imported goods from around the world will sink the global economy. Read More.

Ex-official says he was forced out of FDA after trying to protect vaccine safety data from RFK Jr.

Shortly before he was forced to resign, the nation’s top vaccine regulator says he refused to grant Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s team unrestricted access to a tightly held vaccine safety database, fearing that the information might be manipulated or even deleted. Read More.

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to block order to return Maryland man from El Salvador

The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to block a court order requiring it to return a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Read More.

Appeals court reverses Trump firings of 2 board members in cases likely headed for the Supreme Court

Two board members fired by President Donald Trump can go back to their jobs for now, a split appeals court ruled Monday ahead of a likely Supreme Court showdown on the president’s power over independent agencies. Read More.   Even in conservative Alabama, there are quiet concerns and caveats amid Republican cheers for Trump Alabama Republicans cheered President Donald Trump and his agenda at a GOP party the day he imposed tariffs and sent stock markets tumbling worldwide. But in a state that depends on federal funding, some have quiet concerns. Read More.

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Trump's game of chicken

Data: Financial Modeling Prep; Chart: Axios Visuals President Trump and China are now firmly engaged in a high-stakes game of tariff chicken. Trump today threatened an extra 50% in tariffs on China if the country didn't back down from its own retaliatory tariff on U.S. goods Friday. That announcement suggests the total tariffs on Chinese goods could now reach 104% or more, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes. ? The intrigue: U.S. stocks were only down slightly today, compared to the deep losses they suffered last week. But the smell of desperation is still palpable, Axios Closer author Nathan Bomey writes. Stocks started the day down, then a false report that Trump might pause the tariffs sent them surging. That rumor was quickly corrected — and stocks tumbled yet again. The S&P 500 jumped over 8% in about 30 minutes, but then shed 5% of those gains in the next 20 minutes. That reaction tells you all you need to know about how twitchy investors have gotten since "Liberation Day." ? Trump said in the Oval Office this afternoon: "It's the only chance our country will have to reset the table — because no other president would be willing to do what I'm doing, or to even go through it." "Now, I don't mind going through it because I see a beautiful picture at the end. But we are making tremendous progress with a lot of countries. And the countries that really took advantage of us are now saying: 'Please negotiate!'"

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☢️ Trump reveals Iran talks

President Trump said in a surprise announcement this afternoon that the U.S. has been holding "direct talks" with Iran and that a "very big meeting" involving "very high-level" officials will be taking place this Saturday.

• Trump has repeatedly warned that Iran must sign a new nuclear deal or face military strikes. Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had ruled out direct talks with the U.S. so long as Trump kept his "maximum pressure" policy in place, Axios' Barak Ravid writes.

? "I think everyone agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious," Trump said from the Oval Office alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

• "And the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or frankly, that Israel wants to be involved with, if they can avoid it," he said.
• Go deeper.

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Scoop: New donor plea

Republicans admit President Trump's tariffs are spiking their blood pressure. Their Wall Street donors are feeling it too, with some giving top GOP lawmakers an earful this weekend.

Why it matters: Trump is making it clear he won't tolerate any limits on his ability to impose tariffs, we scooped today. But rattled GOP donors wanted lawmakers to help convince the president that tariffs are crushing the economy, sources told us.

• Trump was rankled by the introduction of such a bill by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). His veto threat sent a message to any Republican senators thinking about signing onto it: Don't even think about it.
• "I don't think that has a future," Senate GOP leader John Thune said of the bill.
• Lawmakers declined to cite specific donor conversations, but their level of concern is high after three days of stock market chaos.

Zoom in: Some Republican senators, notably Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), are openly critical of Trump's tariffs, insisting they are a tax on American consumers.

• "Every country is freaking out. The American stock market is in decline. Now, we're in the second week. Where do we go from here?" Cruz said on his podcast today.

Between the lines: House Appropriations Committee chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.), an old-school Republican whose farm-heavy district is poised to be hit hard, told reporters his reaction to the tariffs is "mixed."

• "It makes everybody uneasy," Cole said about the market fallout.

The bottom line: Despite the Senate version of Rep. Don Bacon's (R-Neb.) bill — imposing limits on the president's ability to unilaterally impose tariffs — garnering more than a half dozen GOP cosponsors, support may be more limited in the House.

• Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) the House GOP campaign chief, said the bill "doesn't have the votes in the House, so that's not going to happen."
• "Do you really think a bill like that is going to be signed by the president? I kind of doubt it," said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), "so why waste the time?"
• Simpson said he expects "some members will" raise concerns directly to the administration, telling us, "When I've done that, they've listened."

— Hans Nichols, Stef Kight and Andrew Solender

? Trump vs. tech titans

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

President Trump has a much different vision of the future than the tech titans who raced to shape and support his economic agenda, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column. Why it matters: The collision of those visions helps explain the most glaring private and public fights inside the Trump coalition over tariff strategy. ? The tech vision: We're at the dawn of the AI Epoch — powered by a technology so all-powerful it will reorder markets, industries and nations. The U.S. enjoys an early, decisive AI advantage that could fuel a manufacturing and middle-class renaissance. American-made chips, data, minerals and energy companies (and adjacent work) will proliferate and prosper. Lose this race and little else matters. ? The Trump vision: America is in steep, perhaps fatal decline. The country has been "looted pillaged, raped and plundered." Salvation demands brute, unapologetic force to erase trade deficits, and muscle a 1950s America back into existence. AI won't do that. Tariffs will. Yes, it'll be painful. But big buildings, new factories and good-paying jobs will follow for millions of Americans. Some'll be AI jobs. Many others will be traditional gigs like line worker, plumber or electrician. ?What they're saying: Steve Bannon — a White House official in Trump's first term, and now an influential MAGA podcaster — told us he sees tech bros as "narcissistic globalists that put their wealth and power first." With his fellow populist nationalists, Bannon says, "the country and the American citizens come first." ? Musk tweeted over the weekend (now deleted) that Peter Navarro, the Trump trade adviser leading the populist charge, "ain't built s--t." Navarro retorted Monday on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that Musk is "not a car manufacturer. He's a car assembler, in many cases." ? The big picture: Look at who's speaking out — or staying quiet — to understand how this dynamic is unfolding. It's both tech innovators (Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman) and hedge-fund magnates (Bill Ackman, Stan Druckenmiller) sounding the alarm about tariffs. They know little can be made cheaply in America fast, especially vital technology ingredients. We simply don't have the materials or workforce here. They want Trump to unleash his unpredictability and power to impose mineral deals and savvy incentives. Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of the tech investment firm Altimeter Capital, tweeted Monday: "nuclear style tariffs is not what people voted for - they will break the US economy NOT make us great again. CEOs support pro business Trump who promised precision guided truly reciprocal, smart tariffs that level the global playing field." Joe Lonsdale, a pro-Trump tech investor, said on X that there are ways "the tariffs could be done better." Balaji Srinivasan, a well-known angel investor and crypto bull, posted to his 1.1 million X followers after Trump's "Liberation Day" announcement: "This is nuking every single supply chain that passes through the US in any way, under the illusion that 45 years of deindustrialization can be fixed in one day of 45% tariffs." ? On the other side sit true "America First" believers like Bannon, who hold deep suspicion, even disdain, for the tech titans. The Bannonites see tariffs as the world's comeuppance for screwing America's working class, and firmly believe good-paying jobs will materialize. They believe AI could hurt U.S. workers — just like trade deals did — and envision a broader-based renaissance. So tariffs are a smart, if painful, way to reset things. Eventually, companies will build here, come here, stay here. Bannon, after the administration announced Monday that Trump had kicked off high-level tariff negotiations with Japan, texted us: "Isolate China ... Let a New Golden Age Now Begin." ?Between the lines: The merger of Trump's MAGA base with what we call the Tech Bro Industrial Complex (tech CEOs, investors, workers, podcasters) was always an imperfect fit. Trump, 78, assembled his original base with a mix of grievances and nostalgia, promising to make America what it once was. Trump and tech share a move fast, break things, high-testosterone mentality. But most tech CEOs are fixated on two things: future growth and AI. Trump spends little time fixating on tech, advisers tell us. The tariffs fight is testing the durability — and compatibility — of the Trump-tech alliance. After all, the top tech companies are taking an absolute beating, with the Magnificent 7 losing more than $1 trillion in the past three trading days alone. They can easily stomach such losses. But it's the vital technology ingredients (cell phones from Vietnam, chips from Taiwan) that are not mere nice-to-haves. Axios' Ben Berkowitz and Zachary Basu contributed reporting ...

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?? ?? Trump picks Witkoff for Iran talks

President Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff will lead the U.S. delegation for nuclear talks with Iran on Saturday in Oman, sources tell Axios' Barak Ravid.

• Why it matters: President Trump surprised the world yesterday by announcing the high-level meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials. If diplomacy fails, the next stage is likely war.

? Behind the scenes: So far, there have only been negotiations about the negotiations — which don't yet seem to be resolved.

• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, whom Iranian press reports say will be Iran's chief negotiator, insisted the talks would be "indirect" — with Omani mediators passing messages between the sides.
• Trump insisted the talks would be "direct."

Keep reading.

? RFK wants fluoride out of water

The Trump administration is formally taking on fluoride in drinking water, with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. planning to tell the CDC to end its longtime recommendation for the practice, Axios Salt Lake City's Erin Alberty writes.

• ? Why it matters: U.S. public health agencies have recommended fluoride be added to drinking water since 1962 to reduce the risk of chronic dental problems in children.

? RFK Jr. and EPA administrator Lee Zeldin joined Utah lawmakers at an event yesterday to praise the state's first-in-the-nation ban on fluoride in public water systems.

• Zeldin said his agency is "ready to act" on this issue.

Kennedy told AP he planned to assemble a task force to examine the mineral in drinking water and tell the CDC to stop recommending it. He has claimed fluorination is "associated with" a number of medical conditions.

• ?Medical and dental groups have warned that banning fluoride would reverse one of the great public health breakthroughs in recent history.

? What to watch: Bills similar to Utah's have been introduced in Tennessee, North Dakota and Montana.