Reuters World News - Myanmar quake, Vance in Greenland, Stefanik and auto tariffs

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake hits Myanmar. U.S. Vice President JD Vance visits Greenland as Trump insists that Washington should control the Arctic island. Trump bumps his pick for UN ambassador opting to keep Congresswoman Elise Stefanik in the House. And American drivers face higher car prices and fewer choices as auto tariffs loom.    Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Greenlanders bristle at Trump's overtures as his VP heads to the island. What U.S. auto tariffs mean for your wallet and for American companies. Plus why Trump dumped his UN pick and what it tells us about House Republicans. It's Friday, March 28th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, every weekday. I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. And I'm Jonah Green in New York. First, some breaking news. A 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar early this morning.

The tremors felt as far away as Bangkok, sending panicked people pouring out of buildings in the Thai capital. Multiple buildings have collapsed in Myanmar, as well as a skyscraper under construction in Bangkok. At least one person has been killed and dozens of workers rescued from the skyscraper rubble. To keep on top of this breaking story, check out the Reuters app and Reuters.com for updates. We don't want you here. Just a clear message.

We don't want you here. That's Kaj Sangran, a resident of Greenland's capital, Nuk, with a very clear message for U.S. President Donald Trump. He's not welcome to Greenland and his administration because he wants to buy us. Fellow resident Tangutak Larson says he's also not thrilled by Trump's threats to buy his homeland. I am a human. I am a human. Human are not for sale. We are not for sale. Trump's Vice President J.D. Vance is visiting the Cold Island nation today. An earlier plan for his wife Usha to visit the capital and a popular dog sled race was

called off amid local protests. The trip will be closely watched by political leaders in Nuke, who are expected to form a coalition government today after a recent election that was overshadowed by Trump. Our reporter Tom Little is there. I think you can see that the two gentlemen that we talked to in the street were both very, very angry about President Trump's previous comments about wanting to annex Greenland, about wanting to buy Greenland. And that was something that came across very clearly when we were talking to the people there. Why was the original trip by Usha Vance so controversial? They were offended, I think, by the original plans for the trip.

because they felt that it was not appropriate to be having a visit of that kind at that level, while Greenland still hasn't got a government that's been formed. They had the elections on March the 11th and up until today. The main political parties have been involved in negotiations to form a coalition. Russian President Vladimir Putin, floating the idea that a temporary administration runs Ukraine to allow for new elections and signing a deal to end the war. His suggestion, in line with his complaint that Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky,

is not a legitimate negotiating partner because he stayed in power beyond his May 24 mandate. There's been no immediate comment from Ukraine. Six Russians are dead after a tourist submarine sank off the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hergada. The submarine was equipped with large portholes for passengers to see the Red Sea's spectacular corals and marine life. Egyptian authorities are conducting investigations with the submarine's crew members. Turkish authorities have detained a lawyer for President Tayyap Erdogan's top political rival. Istanbul Mayor Ekram Imammolu has been in jail for almost a week. His arrest has triggered the biggest anti-government protests in decades and also mass arrests across Turkey.

A U.S. judge has ordered the Trump administration to preserve messages sent on signal discussing attack plan. against the Houthis. A government accountability group is suing the federal agencies involved in that now infamous group chat, alleging that the use of signal violated federal law, though Attorney General Pam Bondi made clear that the Department of Justice is not interested. We're not going to comment any further on that. If you want to talk about classified information, talk about what was at Hillary Clinton's home that she was trying to bleach bit, talk about the classified documents in Joe Biden's garage,

that Hunter Biden had access to. Investor enthusiasm for AI appears to be waning. Corweave, an artificial intelligence cloud computing company, backed by NVIDIA, has slashed the size and value of its initial public offering. The listing was seen as a test of market appetite for IPOs and AI generally, but investors are concerned about the company's long-term growth and its debt burden. Recent stock market volatility doesn't help share sales either. CoreWeave's shares begin trading on the NASDAQ today.

President Trump has withdrawn his pick for UN ambassador, Representative Elise Stefanik. The New York Republican lawmaker is a close Trump ally and has been waiting for months for her nomination to move forward. But Republicans need to maintain their slim majority in the House of Representatives, and there are currently four vacant seats that need to be filled. Jeff Mason is at the White House. This is a sign that Republicans and the White House are concerned about, about the House and concerned enough by the most recent election in Pennsylvania of a seat that was open that came from a district that had supported Trump and then chose a Democrat for that

seat that they could potentially face the same issue in Elise Stefanix District and some of these other open seats. So it absolutely would inhibit his ability to implement his agenda if the Republicans don't keep control of the House right now. So that's big stakes for him, and it certainly shows they're thinking very hard about that. It'll be interesting to see who he nominates in her place. The fact that he had nominated her in the first place was a sign that he was sending somebody in there

who could implement his views about the United Nations, and I think it's fair to say those views are skeptical. Who could replace her? Is there any talk about who these candidates could be? No names have floated out yet, but that'll be a big question in the coming hours, days. We'll see how long it takes for him to decide. But his choice of Elise Tophonic was clearly a sign that he wanted a very tight connection and bond with his nominee for the United Nations. So my guess is he'll try to find somebody else who's a full-on MAGA supporter.

President Trump's 25% tariff on auto imports kicks in next. week. But the impact on an industry already struggling to manage the transition to electric cars has been nearly immediate. America is the largest importer of cars and global automakers are warning that US consumers will be the ones to take the hit. Nick Carey covers autos and is here to break down what the ripple effects could be. Car prices, I think, are going to go up across the board. Carmakers do not have the margins to absorb those costs. So as I say, if you're For a car maker that's producing in the US and importing, you'll spread the cost out over your entire lineup. So premium carmakers like Mercedes, they will either pass on the cost wherever possible

or for lower volume, lower margin models, they'll just stop selling them altogether. It's not really going to be worth carmakers while to raise prices. There's already an affordability problem when it comes to vehicles in the US anyway. and so what you'll find is that the carmakers will look at their lineup and in a more affordable model where they can't raise the price, they can't absorb the tariff, they're just going to stop selling it. So that's going to mean less choice at the affordable end. And then for vehicles that they continue to sell in the US, it will mean price hikes across the board. And then there's one additional thing that they can do. They will start taking content out of vehicles.

So people are going to have to pay more for this vehicle. going to end up getting less. How might a carmaker that stops selling particular models in the US look up to make for that volume of cars? What they will do is they'll have to spread the cost of that lost volume in their production in their home country. Those carmakers will then raise prices in their home market. So it'll be more of an indirect consequence of tariffs, that that's how it's going to

affect consumers in Europe or Japan, as that they'll see a price rise because the carmakers will have less of a volume base to spread their costs over and generate profits. And before we leave you, a recommended listen for your Saturday morning. The universities in Trump's crosshairs. 60 colleges have been notified they're under investigation for anti-Semitism. And in our weekend episode, we'll dig into what the White House wants from these schools and what it means for higher education and freedom of speech in the US. For more on any of the stories from today,

check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. We'll be back on Monday with our daily headline show.