Reuters World News - Tariff jitters, Marine Le Pen, FDA and Republican budget cuts

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

Markets are on edge as the world awaits President Trump’s reciprocal tariff push on April 2. We look at the political fallout of Marine Le Pen being barred from running in the French 2027 presidential election. What’s next at the FDA after the ousting of the top vaccine official. And how Republican budget cuts could impact a California district.   Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Find the Recommended Read 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, markets are on tenterhooks as the world awaits Trump's tariffs. Uncertainty looms over the FDA as its top vaccine official is forced out. France's Marine Le Pen vows to appeal after being barred from a presidential run. Plus what the proposed Republican budget cuts would mean in one rural California town. It's Tuesday, April 1st. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Jonah Green in New York.

And I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. US President Donald Trump is set to unveil a massive tariff plan tomorrow in what he's been dubbing Liberation Day. The president says tariffs would essentially cover all countries, stoking fears a global trade war could lead to recession. Kristina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund,

told Reuters the fund doesn't see recession on the horizon. But she warned the longer uncertainty persists, the worse the economic hit. The sooner there is more clarity, the better. On Monday, the Trump administration released an encyclopedic list of foreign countries' policies and regulations it regards as trade barriers.

But it's unclear how the 397-page report will impact Trump's tariff plans. White House reporter Jarrett-Renshaw is in Washington, D.C. We don't know what this we're going to see. We've heard tariffs on all countries. We've heard senior aid say, I'm much more limited, 10 to 15 countries. The dirty 15, as one senior aide said, the ones with the biggest tariffs on U.S. goods. So the market's taken a wait-and-see approach.

There seems to be different song every day in terms of kind of what to expect. China has launched military exercises around Taiwan, as Beijing calls the Taiwanese president a parasite. The army, navy and rocket force exercises intended as a warning against the island's independence aspirations. Taiwan has sent warships in response to China's navy approaching its coast. In Myanmar, earthquake survivors don't have enough food or shelter. Aid groups arriving in the worst-hit areas say the need for clean water and sanitation is urgent. Friday's 7.7 magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,700 people. The U.S. has deported more alleged Venezuelan and MS-13 gang members to El Salvador.

The ACLU has challenged previous deportations, citing a lack of due process. The Trump administration says it is reviewing $9 billion in federal contracts and grants awarded to Harvard University. It's part of a crackdown on what the White House says is anti-Semitism on college campuses. And if you want to know more about this crackdown, check out our weekend podcast. We'll put a link in today's description. Shares of U.S. drug makers are down after reports that the Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine official, Peter Marks, has been forced to resign. Moderna tumbled over 12%.

Marx's departure adds to uncertainty in the pharma and biotech sector, which faces concerns that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs could include drugs, which have traditionally been excluded. Global Health editor, Michelle Gershberg, is looking at why the FDA shake-up is rattling investors. Well, there are a number of layers to this. We've seen plans for big layoffs at the major health agencies that regulate drugs and medical devices and food. There's the question looming this week of whether or not there will be tariffs that also affect pharmaceutical products, and that would be a big blow to the pharma industry's profits. And And now this new move is the kind of forced ouster of the top vaccine official at the FDA,

Peter Marks, creates new concerns. So Marx was a key figure in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine. He also oversees a department that deals with biotech drugs, gene therapies, really cutting-edge medicines, and that's, you know, a big piece of the biotech sector. and the companies that are most deeply embedded in that sector are some of the names that are getting hurt the hardest on Wall Street. Is this an indication of what else the industry is worried about going forward? Marx's exit is a very powerful example of the kind of disruption that's happening within the FDA. The question really looms over the agency of how is that going to affect the day-to-day job,

the day-to-day business of keeping America's drug supply safe, making sure there are no shortages, making sure the food supply is safe. These are all, you know, big question marks for how that's going to work going forward. That's a big deal. That's a very big deal. I know all about it. And a lot of people thought she wasn't going to be convicted of anything. And I don't know if it means conviction, but she was banned for running for five years and she's the leading candidate. That sounds like President Trump reacting to far-right leader Marine Lappen's conviction for embezzlement and ban on running in France's 2027 presidential election.

In a prime-time TV interview on TF1, Le Pen told viewers that she's innocent and plans to file an appeal. The National Rally Party leader is one of the most prominent figures of the European far-right and is a frontrunner in polls to succeed French president, Emmanuel Mali. Macron. Our France and Benelux Bureau Chief, Richard Locke, is following the reaction. You cannot underestimate what a political earthquake this is for France. Marine Le Pen has changed the face of her party. She has broadened its support across the entire country, essentially, and she was a genuine contender in the 27 presidential election. It's not impossible that she runs in that vote, she will file an appeal. It's not impossible that that appeal is heard and

concluded before the election in the spring of 2027. But as things stand, right here, right now, she's barred from running. What's the reaction over there? So reactions have been, I suppose, pretty mixed across the political spectrum and through the electorate as well. Some people are saying, we've seen this before from other politicians, maybe she's no different. Others are saying she was the woman we wanted to vote for, now we don't have that opportunity. Her far right National Rally party officials clearly see the hand of a politically motivated judiciary here. So there is a sentiment out there amongst some, in particular on the far right, that this is the action of an establishment sort of determined to keep her from power. Florida is holding a pair of special

elections today to fill two house seats vacated by Trump's cabinet picks. Republicans are expected to easily recapture these seats. But the party's budget cut proposals could become a liability for the GOP as it tries to hold its narrow majority in the House. In California's 22nd Congressional District, a rural area in the Central Valley, with a Republican representative, those cuts would have a big impact. I don't know what I would eat because I rely on that to expect to eat for the month. That's Echantis McDonald. She's a food stamp recipient, as is Stevie Moore. They are helping us and helping our kids and helping us be able to feed our children when we don't have jobs right now.

Food and agriculture reporter Renee Hickman recently traveled to this district. So, Renee, what kind of area is this? And how important are these benefits to the people who live there? Well, it's agriculturally very rich. A huge proportion of the nation's fruits and vegetables come from there. vineyards, there's orchards, there's cattle ranches. But, you know, alongside that agricultural wealth there are very high rates of poverty, especially among people who work on those very farms. Despite the fact that it grows a huge amount of the food that we eat in this country,

there's really high levels of food and security. And there are, you know, medical facilities that really depend on Medicaid. So I've been told by, um, people who run some of the largest hospital systems in the area, that there are facilities that are at risk of closure in these rural communities if these cuts end up going through. And I've also heard from people at food pantries who don't know how they're going to keep up with the additional demand if these cuts to snap are made. And for today's recommended read, read readjusting to life back on Earth. Went to bed. Felt good. Lay down on a bed for the first time in nine months. It was pretty awesome. I just crashed until the next day and then just, you know, trying to get up

and trying to move around and understand gravity. After nine months stranded in space, find out how NASA astronaut Sonny Williams is doing. There's a link to the story in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out roiders.com or the Reuters app. Make sure to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.