NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-03-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: April 3, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. U.S. stock markets just ended their worst day in five years as investors reacted to President Trump's latest tariffs plan. As NPR's Maria Aspin explains, the Dow was down nearly 4%. Investors, businesses, and consumers are all trying to process the implications of President Trump's newest sweeping tariff plan for the global economy. All of the major U.S. stock indices plummeted. Major household names, including Nike, Apple, and Amazon, lost billions of dollars in value. Trump has ordered a minimum

10% tax on nearly all imports starting this weekend, and much higher tariffs on goods from dozens of countries, including some of the United States' closest allies. Economists warn the new taxes will make consumers pay higher prices and weaken the broader U.S. economy. The investment bank JP Morgan is now warning that the tariffs, if sustained, will push both the U.S. and the world into a recession. Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York.

The Dow dropped more than 1600 points. The Nasdaq fell more than a thousand points. The S&P was down 274 points today. Despite the two and a half trillion dollars in wealth erased today by Wall Street's drastic plunge, President Trump seemed largely unfazed by market reaction. Trump aboard Air Force One, defending his steep tariffs on imported goods, comparing the US to a sick patient in need of an operation, saying the tariffs will boost US bargaining ability. With TikTok as an example, we have the situation with TikTok

where China will probably say, we'll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs? The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. Always have, I've used them very well. Trump again saying the tariffs will reverse unfair treatment by America's trading partners. China, a key exporter to the U.S.,

meanwhile announced a list of retaliatory measures. European stocks like those in the U.S. plunged in reaction to Trump's imposition of worldwide tariffs. Terry Schultz reports the European stock market saw its biggest daily loss in eight months after the imposition of a 20% duty on all imports from the European Union. Fears of an escalating trade war with the US sent shares tumbling across the EU. In some countries, that level is the lowest in months. In France and Italy, it was the worst drop in more than two years.

The EU has not yet announced countermeasures and says it's still open to negotiations. But Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade, says such attempts have been fruitless so far. It is really a mess, that it was not possible to have some really constructive talks. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbach said Wednesday was not a day of liberation as Trump called it but a day of inflation for consumers around the world. For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz in Brussels. You're listening to NPR News in Washington.

Last year was a busy one in terms of hurricanes reaching the U.S. and this year could include more of the same, according to Weather Watchers. Researchers at Colorado State University in their annual forecast released today predicting there will be at least 17 named storms this season, including nine hurricanes, four of them potentially reaching Category 3 strength or higher. That is above the typical forecast of 14 named storms. Hurricane season typically runs from June 1st through November 30th. Thousands of cultural groups across the U.S. have been told their federal grants

are being terminated. As NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports, the grants were distributed by the NEH, the National Endowment for the Humanities. A letter from the administration says NEH grants are being terminated effective immediately because the NEH is repurposing its funding to further President Trump's agenda. The NEH supports museums, libraries, education and history projects across the U.S. Nearly half of NEH funds goes directly to 56 state and local humanities councils. Caroline Lowry, head of the Oklahoma Humanities Council, says the impact will be devastating. Among its projects, oral histories from survivors of the 1921

Tulsa Race Massacre and archiving material from the 1995 Oklahoma bombing. This will mean the erasure of our ability to preserve and share our history. The NEH did not respond to NPR's request for comment. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News, Washington. Critical futures prices fell sharply today, oiled down more than 6% to $66.95 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.