TRADE WAR !!: China announced today that it’s putting a 34 percent tariff on American-made goods in retaliation for President Trump’s own drastic tariffs. The Chinese also added 11 US companies to its list of “unreliable entities,” effectively barring them from doing business in China.

  Stock futures are signaling another steep drop this morning.

  Trump’s tariffs already resulted in the loss of trillions of dollars of value in the markets. Stock in Apple Corporation dropped 9 percent yesterday, leading the selloff in tech stocks and the overall dumping of securities following President Trump’s Wednesday announcement of tariffs placed on imports from all over the world.

  The S&P 500 dropped 5 percent, its biggest dive since 2020 amidst the Covid pandemic. Apple took a hit because so many of its devices are made in China, now facing a 54 percent import tariff. Say hello to a $2300 iPhone.

  President Trump, who says stocks don’t matter when they’re falling and takes credit when they are rising, said, “The markets are going to boom. The country is going to boom.”

  Trump’s believes that tariffs will cause manufacturers to come running back to setup shop in the US, but that will take years — if it ever happens — and for now prices will rise. 

  The price of shoes and clothing made in such places as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia are likely to spike.

  A tariff of 25 percent on foreign-made cars has gone into effect. Trump’s tariffs are so far reaching that they have even extended to islands off Australia that are occupied only by penguins.

  What’s unknown is whether Trump is using the tariffs as leverage for trade concessions from other countries or he really means it. He’s all about power and making deals.

  In the meantime, the IRAs, 401Ks, pension plans, and individual investments of millions of Americans lost fortunes in value yesterday. The NY Times also estimates that the tariffs will cost Americans an additional $714 billion on top of $78 billion in current tariffs. Larry Summers, the treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, posted that, “Never before has an hour of Presidential rhetoric cost so many people so much.” 

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

— The US Education Department issued a memo to public schools ordering them to  eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs or federal funding will be cut off. A lot of federal education money goes to schools with a high proportion of low income students.

  The memo says school and state officials are required to sign a certification letter attached to the memo and return it to the department within 10 days, proving that they are complying with the directive.

— The Trump administration says it will block $510 million in grants and federal contracts with Brown University in what they say is a campaign against antisemitism on college campuses. Harvard, Columbia, the University  of Pennsylvania, and Princeton — all Ivy League schools —  have received similar notices. How much actual antisemitism there might be debatable, but the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses have been interpreted as that.

  Among demands the Trump administration has made of universities; ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs; implementing “merit-based” admissions and hiring; banning masks worn by protesters; and “full cooperation” with the US Department of Homeland Security.

— The White House fired at least five key aides on the National Security Council staff  just a day after the far-right activist Laura Loomer visited President Trump and urged him  to remove people she deems to be disloyal. Among those fired was Gen. Timothy D. Haugh ,the head of the National Security Agency and US Cyber Command. Trump told reporters on Air Force One that, “We’re always going to let go of people — people we don’t like, or people that take advantage of, or people that may have loyalties to someone else.”

— The inspector general at the Defense Department has opened an investigation of Secretary Pete Hegseth’s contributions of information about air attacks on Houthi rebels in an unsecured group chat on the Signal app. The White House and Department of Justice so far have chosen to take no action against officials involved with the incident.

— The Senate confirmed Dr. Mehmet Oz, the former television doctor who used to hawk questionable elixirs and diet supplements, to run Medicare and Medicaid, which insure nearly half of all Americans. Oz is a millionaire many times over and said he would divest his investments in healthcare, including a stake in UnitedHealth Group, the country’s largest provider of private Medicare supplement plans.

— After the Department of Health and Human Services fired 10,000 people on Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration is looking for people to come back and work another two months.

  Among the people fired by HHS is John Howard,  the longtime head of the federal program that provides medical benefits to first responders and survivors of the Sept. 11^th terrorist attacks.

KIMCHEE KRISIS: South Korea’s Constitutional Court earlier today removed President Yoon Suk Yeol from office, upholding a vote by  parliament to impeach him for his brief declaration of martial law in December. South Korea must hold an election for a new president within 60 days. The head of the liberal Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, is the current front-runner.

THE SPIN RACK: At least seven people have died in spring storms and tornados in Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana. The National Weather Service warns today that “potentially historic rainfall” is expected through this weekend from the Ozarks into the Mid-South, Middle Mississippi Valley, and Lower Ohio Valley. — The city of Baltimore yesterday sued the sports betting companies DraftKings and FanDuel, accusing them of violating state and city law by engaging in “unfair and deceptive practices,” and encouraging compulsive gambling.  

BELOW THE FOLD: It’s not all bad news out there. Washington’s cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

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