ACTUAL NEWS: Thursday, April 3rd 2025 Recap
- Olga Nesterova
- Apr 3
- 10 min read
QUICK HITS
Ridiculed for imposing trade tariffs on frozen, largely uninhabited islands home mostly to penguins, President Donald Trump's tariff formula has a more serious consequence: it disproportionately affects some of the world's poorest nations.
Also, here's Day One of the "reciprocal tariffs" in 60 seconds
Meanwhile, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Fox News Thursday that the Trump administration is "months away" from deciding whether to compensate farmers for any financial losses caused by the tariffs.
Agriculture Sec Rollins on tariffs: For our farmers and our ranchers, there may be uncertainty
The tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump will put a strain on the United States' exports as well, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday.
At a press conference in Berlin, Scholz also pointed to complex supply chains: "Sometimes there are so many supply chain dependencies that some things are sent back and forth a 100 times. You cannot simply stop that."
French President Emmanuel Macron called on Thursday for European companies to suspend planned investment in the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping global tariffs on American imports.
Two senior lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee are introducing legislation to limit President Donald Trump's authority to impose tariffs, requiring congressional approval for new levies within 60 days.
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Democrat Maria Cantwell, both members of the Finance Committee, propose that Trump must notify Congress of any new tariffs, providing a rationale along with an analysis of their potential impact on American businesses and consumers.
Congress would then have 60 days to pass a joint resolution approving the tariffs; otherwise, they would automatically expire.
Modeled on the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the bill aims to reestablish congressional oversight and restrict the president’s ability to impose unilateral tariffs without legislative approval.
BBC: Elon Musk's father has said he and his son admire Putin and consider him "an example of a strong leader."
"It would be foolish not to admire him because he's always calm. I listen to his speeches - he says logical things. It's very hard not to admire Mr. Putin."
TODAY IN HISTORY
1860: The Pony Express mail delivery system, which used continuous horse-and-rider relays along a 1,800-mile (2,900-km) route between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, was launched in the United States.
1879: Sofia, liberated from the Ottoman Empire by Russian troops, was named the capital of Bulgaria.
1882: While adjusting a picture on the wall of his home in St. Joseph, Missouri, American outlaw Jesse James was shot and killed by Robert Ford.
1922: Joseph Stalin became secretary-general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, a position that provided the power base for his dictatorship.
1946: The Japanese army general Homma Masaharu was executed for forcing the Bataan Death March.
1948: On this day, U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed into law George C. Marshall's post-World War II plan to revive the economies of western and southern European countries to foster democracy in the region.
1968: At an event for the Memphis sanitation workers' strike, American civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his Mountaintop Speech; the following day he was assassinated.
1973: The first handheld mobile telephone call was made by an employee of Motorola, who called AT&T's Bell Laboratories.
1996: Federal agents in Montana apprehended Ted Kaczynski, an American terrorist known as the “Unabomber,” who had killed 3 persons and injured more than 20 with explosives sent through the U.S. postal system.
2016: Private papers from a Panama law firm were made public and revealed how wealthy clients concealed their wealth and avoided paying taxes; the “Panama Papers” represented one of the biggest leaks of confidential data.
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NATIONAL
Termination notices sent by Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team to U.S. Agency for International Development staff were riddled with errors, prompting the issuance of corrected versions to prevent disruptions to pensions and pay, according to five sources familiar with the matter.
A U.S. judge said Thursday that there is a "fair likelihood" the Trump administration violated a court order temporarily blocking the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members under a rarely invoked 18th-century law.
Shipping giant Maersk warned Thursday that the tariffs announced by President Donald Trump a day earlier spell bad news for global trade and economic stability. The 10% levy on most U.S. imports—along with significantly higher duties on dozens of countries, including key allies—has deepened a global trade war, raising fears of inflation and economic slowdown.
The Trump administration is expected to make a decision on an American buyer for TikTok before a weekend deadline, Vice President JD Vance said Thursday. The race to secure non-Chinese ownership is intensifying as the short-video platform faces a Saturday deadline to avoid a U.S. ban.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that the administration is in discussions with major trading partners worldwide about lowering Trump’s newly imposed tariffs. However, he added that these countries would need to amend their trade policies to allow more U.S. imports.
President Donald Trump’s 25% tariff on auto imports could cost American consumers over $30 billion in higher vehicle prices and reduced car sales in its first full year, according to a report released Thursday by consultancy firm Anderson Economic Group.
Businesses around the world are bracing for higher costs, trade uncertainty, and reduced access to the U.S. market after President Trump confirmed their worst fears with the implementation of sweeping global tariffs.
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in February, but imports remained high as businesses rushed to stock up on goods ahead of anticipated tariff hikes, setting up trade to be a drag on economic growth in the first quarter.
The Republican-led Senate confirmed Dr. Mehmet Oz as head of Medicare and Medicaid in a 53-45 party-line vote Thursday, following his nomination by President Trump.
Thousands of employees dismissed this week from the Department of Health and Human Services and its affiliated public health agencies may be asked to continue working for up to two months, and some could be reinstated, officials said Thursday.
A livestreamed speech by Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook at a university was interrupted Thursday when hackers flooded the feed with racist remarks, Nazi symbols, and pornographic images, forcing organizers to cut off online access.
Morgan Stanley said Thursday that it does not expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this year, citing the inflationary pressure likely to result from Trump’s latest round of tariffs.
A Republican senator came under fire Thursday for referring to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer—the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S.—as "Fuhrer," a term historically associated with Adolf Hitler.
The Senate Banking Committee on Thursday advanced President Trump’s nominee to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, along with his picks for top banking and transportation oversight roles.
Leading cryptocurrency executives are making a last-minute push in Congress to allow interest payments on U.S. dollar-pegged tokens as part of new legislation to regulate stablecoins.
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can require arts organizations to certify they do not promote "gender ideology" in order to receive grant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging Trump’s executive order that mandates voters provide proof of U.S. citizenship and prohibits states from counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day.
A Tufts University student from Turkey, who was arrested in Massachusetts last week by U.S. immigration officials after speaking out for Palestinians amid Israel’s war in Gaza, said Thursday that she remains undeterred.
The Food and Drug Administration is halting efforts to enhance bird flu testing in milk, cheese, and pet food due to massive staffing cuts, according to an internal email reviewed by Reuters and a source familiar with the situation.
President Trump gave a "strong endorsement" of Elon Musk on Thursday amid criticism of Musk’s government downsizing initiative, saying Musk is welcome to stay in his advisory role "as long as he likes" before eventually returning to his businesses.
Attorneys general from 12 Republican-led states sent letters Thursday to 20 major law firms demanding details about their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices. The move follows a similar inquiry by the federal agency responsible for enforcing workplace discrimination laws.
The Pentagon’s inspector general announced Thursday that it has opened an investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of an unsecured commercial texting app to coordinate the March 15 U.S. strikes on Yemen’s Houthis.
Ongoing discussions about restructuring parts of the U.S. military—including the potential relinquishment of its leadership role in NATO forces in Europe—could pose significant challenges, the top U.S. general in Europe warned Thursday.
A federal appeals court temporarily blocked a ruling from last week that had handed a significant victory to government workers and consumer advocates fighting Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
A U.S. judge ruled Thursday that Walmart, Beech-Nut, and Gerber must face a nationwide lawsuit alleging that toxic heavy metals in their baby food caused brain and neurodevelopmental damage in children.
The Trump administration announced Thursday that it has identified 16 potential sites on Department of Energy lands for the development of data centers and power plants to support the growing demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Trump’s sweeping new tariffs could significantly reshape global trade, with consumer goods such as iPhones facing price increases of 30% to 40% if the costs are passed on to consumers, analysts warned Thursday.
Federal Reserve officials who had called for more details before assessing Trump’s trade policy got more than they bargained for Wednesday when he unveiled a wide-ranging tariff plan that analysts say could profoundly alter the U.S. economic outlook.
U.S. Senate Republicans took a key procedural step forward on Thursday in advancing President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cut agenda, overcoming opposition from some GOP lawmakers who had raised concerns over the plan’s lack of spending reductions.
GLOBAL
The U.S. government's decision to impose steep tariffs on African nations signals the potential end of the AGOA trade deal, a program designed to support African economies by granting them preferential access to U.S. markets, trade experts said on Thursday.
A London judge ruled on Thursday that Donald Trump must pay over £626,000 (approximately $821,500) in legal fees to a private investigations firm he sued over a dossier alleging ties between his 2016 election campaign and Russia.
Gold prices pared losses on Thursday after initially dropping more than 2% from an all-time high. The decline was triggered by a broader market selloff, which was further fueled by U.S. President Donald Trump's newly imposed import tariffs, unsettling bullion traders.
Swiss watch seller Sacha Davidoff scrambled on Thursday to assess the impact of new U.S. tariffs on Swiss goods, announced by President Donald Trump. The unexpected levies left him uncertain about the cost implications for goods he was set to export from his Geneva shop this week.
During a visit to Greenland on Thursday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called for greater Arctic defense cooperation with the United States while firmly rejecting any U.S. interest in annexing the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Sweeping tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday are expected to drive up the cost of cannabis products in the U.S., as many companies rely on Asian manufacturers. The new levies will be added to existing duties on imports from China, Canada, Mexico, and the EU.
The U.S. State Department has approved a potential $400 million deal for the upgrade and recertification of Patriot missiles for Kuwait, the Pentagon announced on Thursday. The primary contractor for the project will be RTX Corporation.
On Thursday, the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a conservative legal group, filed what it claimed to be the first lawsuit challenging Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports, arguing that the U.S. president had overstepped his authority.
Senior U.S. and Chinese military officials met in Shanghai on Thursday for talks aimed at reducing the risk of unsafe encounters between military ships and aircraft from both nations, the U.S. military reported.
The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted on Thursday to reject an effort to block $8.8 billion in arms sales to Israel. The decision comes amid mounting concerns over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, following Israel’s airstrikes on the enclave and the suspension of humanitarian aid deliveries.
During an interview on Fox News' The Story with Martha MacCallum on Thursday, U.S. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett dismissed the possibility of China retaliating against new U.S. tariffs by cutting off pharmaceutical supplies. When asked whether China could restrict access to critical medications in response to the 34% tariffs imposed on Chinese goods by President Donald Trump, Hassett downplayed the likelihood of such an action.
Chinese outdoor furniture manufacturer Jin Chaofeng relocated production to Vietnam last July in an effort to sidestep U.S. tariffs. However, with Washington now imposing steep duties on Hanoi and other trading partners, he is considering shutting down his Vietnamese factory entirely.
On Wednesday, the U.S. government formally requested that Mexico review potential labor rights violations at Aludyne Automotive, an auto parts factory, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced in a
statement on Thursday.
MEMES OF THE DAY
POSTS OF THE DAY
NEWS CLIPS - NO COMMENTARY
Lutnick: You're going to see employment leaping starting today
NYC Mayor Adams to run for reelection as an independent
Carney: global economy is fundamentally different today than it was yesterday
Lutnick: Let President Trump run the global economy
Citizenship for sale, citizenship of sale… anyone?!
Trump complains about Biden economy, NAFTA and says we will “boom”
TODAY IN PHOTOS
Atarib, Syria
Children watch a play organised by Smile Younited in a Syrian displacement camp
Photograph: Bilal Hammoud/EPA
Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine
The aftermath of a Russian ballistic missile strike that killed at least four people and wounded 17 others in the Ukrainian president’s home city
Photograph: Ukrainian Emergency Service/AFP/Getty Images
Hunter Valley, Australia
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, falls off a stage during a federal election campaign
Photograph: Lukas Coch/Reuters
Sagaing, Myanmar
A monk takes a photo on the banks of the Irrawaddy River in front of the collapsed Ava Bridge, also known as the Inwa Bridge
Photograph: Sai Aung Main/AFP/Getty Images
Trinidad, Bolivia
Livestock surrounded by flood water caused by heavy rain
Photograph: Ipa Ibanez/Reuters
That's all from me for now. Thank you for reading.
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