Donald Trump has declared that his sweeping global tariff agenda is “going very well” despite about $3.1 trillion in market value being wiped from Wall Street in its largest one-day decline since the Covid pandemic.
On a historically bad day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 4 percent. The S&P 500 fell 4.8 percent, and the tech-focused Nasdaq had dipped 6 percent — dragged down by declines from Amazon, Apple and Nvidia.
JPMorgan’s Chief Economist Bruce Kasman said the investment bank now sees a 60 percent chance of the global economy entering recession in 2025, up from 40 percent.
If follows the president unveiled his blanket 10 percent tariffs that would be imposed on all nations — bar Russia — Wednesday afternoon. About 60 countries deemed the “worst offenders” — including China, Vietnam, and Japan — face vastly higher reciprocal levies. The baseline tariffs go into effect on Saturday, and reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday.
After being probed by a reporter at the White House about “how it’s going” amidst the market decline, Trump responded: “I think it's going very well. It was an operation. I like when a patient gets operated on and it's a big thing.”
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Key Points
- China counters Trump tariffs with with 34% levies on all US goods
- Trump tariffs wipe $3.1tn from Wall Street: Dow, Nasdaq S&P 500 down
- Trump thinks his tariffs roll out is 'going very well'
- Global recession risk at 60%, JPMorgan predicts
- Trump fires national security staffers staff after meeting with far-right activist
BREAKING: China strikes back with 34% counter tariff on all US goods
11:51
,
James Liddell
China has struck back with 34 percent tariffs on all U.S. goods Friday matching Donald Trump’s levies on Chinese goods.
The import taxes on U.S. goods would be imposed from April 10, according to China’s Finance Ministry.
China’s Ministry of Commerce also announced that it was adding 11 American companies to its “unreliable entities” list, essentially inhibiting them from doing business in the nation.
"The purpose of the Chinese government's implementation of export controls on relevant items in accordance with the law is to better safeguard national security and interests, and to fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation," the Commerce Ministry said in a statement, per Reuters.
Watch: Trump hawks $5m gold cards for wealthy immigrants to gain U.S. residency
11:44
,
James Liddell
Amid a market meltdown following his dramatic announcement of worldwide tariffs, Trump took the time on Thursday to show off his “Gold Card” to reporters aboard Air Force One.
Wealthy immigrants can buy the card for $5 million to gain U.S. residency. It features Donald Trump’s face.
Tariffs and trade wars Q&A: Ask The Independent's John Rentoul anything
11:30
,
James Liddell
Global markets are slumping, an international trade war may be brewing and, to top it off, analysts have raised their recession risks.
So, what does Trump’s latest move mean for the UK?
The Independent’s chief political commentator John Rentoul will tackle your questions live at 8 a.m. ET (1 p.m. BST).
Click the article below for more information about how to participate:
Trump: 'FREE MARINE LE PEN!'
11:22
,
James Liddell
Donald Trump expressed support for Marine Le Pen, the French far-right politician and leader of the National Rally party, sniping the court’s decision to bar her from running as the nation’s president in 2027.
“The Witch Hunt against Marine Le Pen is another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech, and censor their Political Opponent, this time going so far as to put that Opponent in prison,” he wrote on Turth Social on Thursday night.
Trump then reflected on his judicial battles and compared them to Le Pen’s trial after she was found guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds Monday.
“It is the same ‘playbook’ that was used against me by a group of Lunatics and Losers, like Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, and Lisa Monaco. They spent the last nine years thinking of nothing else, and they FAILED, because the People of the United States realized that they were only Corrupt Lawyers and Politicians,” he continued.
The president concluded his rant with: “FREE MARINE LE PEN!”
NSA chief fired after president's Laura Loomer meeting
11:05
,
James Liddell
Donald Trump has fired the director of the U.S. National Security Agency, according to a report from the Washington Post.
It marks the latest in a series of dismissals at the agency following the president’s meeting with far-right activist Laura Loomer Wednesday, whom he later called a “patriot.”
General Timothy Haugh, who also heads the U.S. Cyber Command, was dismissed with NSA deputy directory Wendy Noble on Thursday.
Following the news, Loomer posted on X: “NSA Director Tim Haugh and his deputy Wendy Noble have been disloyal to President Trump. That is why they have been fired.”
Steffie Banatvala has more.
Penguins, pay up: Trump slaps tariffs on uninhabited islands near Antarctica
10:45
,
James Liddell
President Donald Trump announced wide-reaching tariffs against many U.S. trade partners on Wednesday — but the list inexplicably includes a series of uninhabited islands near Antarctica.
The Trump administration has placed a 10 percent “reciprocal tariff” on the Heard and McDonald Islands, which are external territories of Australia near Antarctica, home to penguins, seals and glaciers.
The islands are entirely uninhabited by humans and only accessible via a two-week voyage from Perth via a boat.
Katie Hawkinson has the story.
A $2,300 iPhone?
10:22
,
James Liddell
Trump’s latest batch of tariffs could see Apple’s iPhone prices soar, analysts suggest.
The devices are largely made in China, which is expected to be hit with a 54 percent tariff next week. If those import taxes persist, Apple has a difficult choice to make: absorb the costs or pass them on to the consumer.
If the latter, iPhones could leave a larger dent in your wallet, with costs potentially increasing beyond 40 percent.
An iPhone 16 Pro Max, which currently retails at $1599, could cost almost $2300 if a 43 percent increase was passed to consumers, analysts told Reuters and USA Today.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer responds after Trump calls her a 'patriot'
10:01
,
James Liddell
Laura Loomer has gushed over President Trump calling her a “patriot” on board Air Force One on Thursday.
Loomer, a conspiracy theorist known for her racist remarks, met with Trump Wednesday and pressed him to fire several members of the National Security Council — and reports indicate he has taken her advice.
After their meeting, the president described her as “a very good patriot and she is a very strong person.”
“It’s an honor, President Trump. Thank you. I will always have your back. I will be continuing my vetting audit of the Trump administration and will continue submitting my findings to President Trump for review,” she said.
“I’ve always said there is a vetting crisis, and I’m grateful President Trump acted on my concerns and investigative findings. I will keep working hard to support him and his administration. Loyalty matters. And so does vetting!”
Watch Trump give his remarks here:
Asked about me moments ago on Air Force One, President Trump said,
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) April 3, 2025
“Laura Loomer is a very good patriot and she is a very strong person. I saw her yesterday for a little while. She makes recommendations of things and people, and sometimes I listen to those recommendations."… pic.twitter.com/aS9kAqTLL2
El Salvador deportation flights: Judge considers holding Trump officials in contempt for defying court orders
09:38
,
Oliver O'Connell
Lawyers for Donald Trump’s administration are refusing to answer who gave the order to ignore a federal judge’s ruling that blocked the government from deporting dozens of immigrants under the president’s use of the Alien Enemies act.
District Judge James Boasberg grilled government lawyers at a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to determine whether the government intentionally defied his court orders to turn planes around before they were emptied out into a notorious prison in El Salvador last month.
The administration appeared to be acting in “bad faith” after his court orders, Boasberg said.
Alex Woodward is following the case.
JPMorgan increases chances of global recession in 2025 to 60%
09:19
,
James Liddell
Donald Trump’s new batch of global tariffs have triggered a wave of economic uncertainty.
JPMorgan’s Chief Economist Bruce Kasman said the investment bank now sees a 60 percent chance of the global economy entering recession in 2025, up from 40 percent.
“Disruptive U.S. policies has been recognized as the biggest risk to the global outlook all year,” Kasman wrote in a research note Thursday. “The effect of this tax hike is likely to be magnified — through retaliation, a slide in U.S. business sentiment, and supply chain disruptions.”
JPMorgan economists describe tariffs “at a basic level” as a functional tax increase on U.S. household and business purchases of foreign goods. They “view the full implementation of announced policies as a substantial macroeconomic shock,” per the note.
At a domestic level, investment banking firm Goldman Sachs has echoed JPMorgan’s concerns, earlier this week raising its U.S. recession probability in 2025 to 35 percent, from 20 percent.
“The increase in our recession probability reflects the sharp deterioration in household and business confidence in the outlook over the last month,” its report stated.
Other Wall Street brokerages — including Barclays and Deutsche Bank — also warned of an enhanced risk that the U.S. economy could slip into a recession this year.
Trump tariffs wipe $3.1tn from Wall Street
08:57
,
James Liddell
Trump’s sweeping tariffs sent shockwaves through Wall Street, wiping about $3.1 trillion in market value in its largest one-day decline since the Covid pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 4 percent. The S&P 500 fell 4.8 percent.
And the tech-focused Nasdaq was down 6 percent — fuelled by declines from Apple, Nvidia and Amazon.
Recap — Thursday on Wall Street after Trump's tariffs announcement
08:45
,
Oliver O'Connell
On a historically bad day on Wall Street, the NASDAQ broke a record with its largest single-day point drop in the market's 50-year history as investors responded to President Donald Trump's tariff plan.
Both the NASDAQ and Dow Jones suffered their worst days since March 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dow fell 1,679 points, which ranks in the top five for most points lost in a single day. The NASDAQ fell 1,050 points for its largest one-day drop.
Kelly Rissman reports on a tumultuous day in New York.
Fox host fumes about media focusing on economic ‘pain’ of Trump’s tariffs
08:15
,
Oliver O'Connell
Fox Business anchor Charles Payne fumed that the mainstream media was focusing too much attention on the economic “pain” that President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs could inflict on average Americans, calling the coverage “mind boggling” and that “we need to rethink all of this.”
With global markets spiraling after the president unleashed across-the-board 10 percent tariffs on all imports, along with so-called “reciprocal” tariffs that appear to be based on “made-up” numbers, the administration and its MAGA media loyalists spent Thursday morning furiously defending Trump’s trade policy — which economists and business leaders fear will spark a global recession.
Justin Baragona reports.
As markets collapse, can you recession-proof your finances?
07:45
,
Oliver O'Connell
Global markets have been in disarray since Trump’s inauguration, with stocks tumbling, then rising, and then tumbling again after the latest tariffs news. Is it time to start panicking about the impending financial apocalypse?
In short, no. But it may just be time to start building a plan so that you are ready, should a recession happen.
Mike Bedigan spoke with personal finance influencer Vivian Tu.
DOGE firings fuel job layoffs, which hit highest level since pandemic
07:15
,
Oliver O'Connell
The number of layoffs in March hit its highest level since the pandemic, with U.S. employers announcing 275,240 job cuts—many of which are attributed to the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts.
The number of job cuts jumped 60 percent in March compared to the same data from February, which the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas attributed to DOGE’s massive cuts to the federal government.
Ariana Baio reports.
Trump’s treasury secretary begs other countries not to hit back at tariffs
07:15
,
Oliver O'Connell
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent implored America's foreign trading partners not to "panic" or "retaliate" to Donald Trump’s tariff policy, which has sent the stock market careening and earned international condemnation.
"I would advise none of the countries to panic. I wouldn't try to retaliate because as long as you don't retaliate, this is the high end of the number," he told Bloomberg.
Bessent also made similar, more threatening comments on Fox News.
Graig Graziosi reports.
Report: Trump fires National Security Council staff after Laura Loomer urged him to cut people she saw as disloyal
06:15
,
Oliver O'Connell
Far-right activist Laura Loomer met with President Donald Trump and pressed him to fire several members of the National Security Council — and reports indicate he has taken her advice.
Trump fired several members of the National Security Council, including senior directors, after the meeting, Axios reports. One U.S. official told the outlet the firings are shaping up to be a “bloodbath.” The New York Times added that “at least three” senior NSC officials have been fired.
Andrew Feinberg and Katie Hawkinson report from Washington, D.C.
RFK Jr admits health department may have to rehire 20 percent of people fired in DOGE cuts
05:45
,
Gustaf Kilander
Josh Marcus writes:
The Trump administration could end up rehiring as many as 20 percent of the agency employees it fires as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, according to Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
"At DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning ... we're going to do 80 percent cuts, but 20 percent of those are going to have to be reinstalled, because we'll make mistakes," Kennedy told reporters on Thursday at an event in Virginia, Politico reports.
“If we make mistakes, we're going to admit it and we're going to remedy it,” he added.
Read more:
Every country hit on ‘Liberation Day’ – and the surprising exemptions
05:15
,
Shweta Sharma
Donald Trump has imposed the steepest American tariffs on imports in over a century, levying rates as high as 50 per cent on some countries in a move described by the EU as a “major blow” to the world economy.
The US president shocked global market on Wednesday as he announced minimum tariffs of at least 10 per cent on almost all exporters to the US, with much higher duties for countries that enjoy the largest trade surpluses.
Southeast Asian nations and some of the world’s weakest economies were hardest hit, compounding the effects of the Trump administration’s cuts to the USAID programme in many of those countries.
Below is The Independent’s breakdown of the countries hit hardest by the new levies and those that have been exempt.
Mark Zuckerberg finally revealed as mystery cash buyer of a $23 million D.C. mansion
04:45
,
Gustaf Kilander
Graig Graziosi writes:
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly the mystery all-cash buyer behind the purchase of a $23 million mansion a short drive from Donald Trump’s Oval Office, according to a new report.
Residents of Washington D.C.’s Woodland Normanstone neighborhood have been curious about who purchased the 15,000 square-foot mansion, and noted an uptick in activity at the home on Monday. That's the same day that flight tracking software clocked Zuckerberg's private jet landing at Dulles Airport.
Now, Politico Magazine has confirmed via a Meta spokesperson that the buyer is in fact, the company’s CEO.
Read more:
Is there still time to buy a car before prices go up?
04:15
,
Oliver O'Connell
Americans looking to purchase a new car are likely going to see a higher price tag, by as much as $15,000, as a result of President Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariff on foreign-made vehicles.
During his “Liberation Day” speech, Trump said his 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles would go into effect on Thursday at midnight. Beginning May 3, that tariff will also apply to imported car parts, which is likely to raise the cost of vehicles and repairs in the United States.
The president’s tariffs are part of his effort to increase domestic manufacturing, thus adding and protecting auto worker jobs.
But automakers and sellers are expecting those tariffs to be passed onto consumers, as Ariana Baio reports.
NSA chief Gen. Timothy Haugh removed from post
04:02
,
Gustaf Kilander
The director of the National Security Agency (NSA) was fired on Thursday, according to The Washington Post.
Gen. Timothy Haugh was also leading U.S. Cyber Command. He was removed from his NSA post alongside his deputy, Wendy Noble.
Noble was reassigned to a job with the office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, The Post reported.
Last month, DOGE leader Elon Musk visited the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. It was Musk’s first known visit to an intelligence agency.
The paper reported that Lt. Gen. William Hartmann, the deputy at the Cyber Command, was named acting NSA director.
The executive director at the NSA, Sheila Thomas, was named acting deputy.
Vance says market chaos could have been worse after shock Trump tariff announcement
03:51
,
Gustaf Kilander
Vice President JD Vance rejected concerns about the market meltdown following President Donald Trump’s announcement of widespread tariffs.
In response to Trump’s trade war, the S&P 500 had its worst day since 2020, with a fall of 4.8 percent. Tech stocks such as Apple and Amazon fell further while markets in Asia and Europe pulled back. All three major market indexes had their worst days since the pandemic, and the U.S. dollar has been losing all its gains since Trump’s second election victory. But according to Vance, it could’ve been worse.
“We’re feeling good. Look, I frankly thought in some ways it could be worse in the markets, because this is a big transition,” Vance told the rightwing broadcaster Newsmax on Thursday night.
“Look, one bad day in the stock market compared to what President Trump said earlier today, and I think he’s right about this, we’re going to have a booming stock market for a long time because we’re reinvesting in the United States of America,” said Vance. “The people on Wall Street have done well. We want them to do well. But we care the most about American workers and about American small businesses. And they’re the ones who are really going to benefit from these policies.”
Tech moguls who grinned behind Trump at inauguration lose billions in wake of his tariffs announcement
03:45
,
Gustaf Kilander
Tech billionaires whose companies donated millions of dollars to Donald Trump lost billions of dollars on Thursday, as the stock market plunged in reaction to his sweeping “Liberation Day” agenda of worldwide tariffs.
As of 6:30pm Eastern time, Meta stock was down 8.96 percent, Amazon was down 8.98 percent, Google had fallen 3.92 percent, while Apple had plunged over 9 percent.
White House adviser Elon Musk’s marquee companies also felt the pain, with Tesla sliding 5.47 percent and X down 8.14 percent.
Read more:
How the White House calculated the new rates and why it’s not reciprocal at all
03:15
,
Oliver O'Connell
The math behind Donald Trump’s sweeping and allegedly “reciprocal” tariffs may actually be simpler than it seems.
With the help of a large chart, the president unveiled his latest wave of tariffs Wednesday on what he called “Liberation Day.” Trump announced blanket levies of at least 10 percent on every nation - with many facing higher but “discounted reciprocal tariffs.”
Tariffs are taxes charged on goods imported to the U.S., but frequently passed on to consumers by companies.
Trump has long promoted the idea of reciprocal tariffs and said the U.S. was going to charge countries what they charge America. He claimed the new policy is necessary to balance out American competitiveness.
However, financial journalist James Surowiecki noted the tariff rate for other nations Trump showed off is not related to a tariff American manufacturers pay, but a calculation using the trade deficit.
Mike Bedigan explains.
Tufts doctoral student speaks out for first time after she was grabbed by masked ICE agents
02:45
,
Gustaf Kilander
Alex Woodward writes:
A Turkish doctoral student who was grabbed off the street by plain-clothes federal agents in apparent retaliation for her op-ed criticizing Israel says her arrest and ongoing detention won’t stop her from speaking out.
Tufts University’s PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk — among several international students targeted for removal from the country for their Palestinian advocacy — remains in detention in a Louisiana facility while her lawyers argue in court for her release. She has not been accused of a crime, and the government’s only apparent evidence against her is an op-ed in a student newspaper.
Read more:
CNBC reporter trashes Trump for ‘made-up’ tariff rates
02:15
,
Oliver O'Connell
CNBC reporter Steve Liesman assailed Donald Trump on Thursday for the “made-up” way his administration calculated the “Liberation Day” tariffs, which the president claimed were reciprocal rates based on how much other nations were charging the United States.
Justin Baragona reports.
El Salvador deportation flights: Judge considers holding Trump officials in contempt for defying court orders
