U.S. stocks nose-dived after Trump’s tariffs rollout
Wall Street tumbled to its worst day since the pandemic yesterday in response to President Trump’s major round of tariffs on U.S. imports, as countries reeling from the blow weighed countermeasures. Stocks in Asia and Europe also fell.
Some European leaders vowed to retaliate after Trump slapped a 20 percent tariff on the E.U. “If you take on one of us, you take on all of us,” Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said.
China, which faces a new 34 percent tariff on top of the blanket import tax imposed earlier this year, vowed to respond to “safeguard its own rights and interests.” Britain said that negotiations with the U.S. would continue.
The S&P 500 fell 4.8 percent, its worst drop since June 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The reaction suggested that the scale of the tariffs had come as a surprise. Apple led a tech sell-off, falling about 9 percent.
Reactions: Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada had introduced a 25 percent tariff on cars and trucks and called for a new global trading order without the U.S. President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico announced plans to increase domestic production of food, energy, textiles and other items in a bid to blunt the impact of tariffs. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, called on European companies to suspend all investments in the U.S. “until things have been clarified.”
Asia hard hit: The punishing tariffs on Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and others in the region threaten their position as manufacturing hubs for the U.S. market and as an alternative to China. Trump’s tariffs also hit garment makers in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka hard. See which countries have the highest tariff rates.
Vehicles: New tariffs of 25 percent on all automobiles made outside the U.S. took effect yesterday. Trump said the tariffs would encourage investment in U.S. factories, but analysts said car buyers would end up paying more. Here’s what else to know about the tariffs.
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An Israeli strike hit a shelter in Gaza
An Israeli airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City killed dozens of people yesterday, local health authorities said. The Israeli military said it was looking into reports about the incident and could not immediately provide a comment.
The deadly strike took place as Israel was ramping up its offensive in Gaza. The health ministry of the territory said the bodies of 27 people arrived at a hospital after the strike, which hit a school in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, where civilians had been sheltering. Videos verified by The Times showed people carrying victims, including children, to ambulances as fires burned in the background.
Syria: Israel carried out what appeared to be one of its deepest and deadliest raids into the country.
South Korea’s highest court ousted the president
South Korea’s Constitutional Court voted unanimously to remove Yoon Suk Yeol from office. The court’s decision cannot be appealed, and the country will now shift gears toward holding a national election to choose his successor within the next 60 days.
Moon Hyungbae, the acting chief justice, said Yoon had violated the “constitutional order” and “betrayed the trust of the people.” Here’s the latest.
Context: Yoon is the second president in the country’s history to be removed through impeachment. He was suspended and impeached after he unexpectedly declared martial law on Dec. 3, having accused the opposition-controlled National Assembly of stymying his government.
Reactions: Anti-Yoon protesters who were gathered outside the court cheered and shook their fists when the decision was announced. Some were in tears as they hugged each other. One protest leader led the chant, “We won!”
The surf scene in Hong Kong — a territory that includes more than 250 islands — is not ideal. Surfers ride waves called slabs, which quickly break on rocks. They coast on them for a few seconds and take what they can get. One surfer said it was all about “turning nothing into something.”
Lives lived: Richard Bernstein, a Times correspondent, critic and author, died at 80.
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Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Lost Albums’
Fans have long known that Bruce Springsteen withheld songs throughout his career. Now, he is opening his vault.
Springsteen announced yesterday that he would release “Tracks II: The Lost Albums” in June. Of the 83 songs featured on these seven albums, 74 have never been released in any form. Among them are working tapes from Springsteen’s fruitful period before “Born in the U.S.A.” and a hip-hop-influenced album from the early 1990s.