The Headlines - Stocks Plunge Worldwide, and Trump Faces Mass Protests

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

Plus, Wayne Gretzky’s record finally falls. On Today’s Episode:Stocks in Asia and Europe Plunge as Trump Says Tariffs Will Stay, by Yan ZhuangJudge Calls Mistaken Deportation of Maryland Man a ��Grievous Error’, by Alan FeuerMass Protests Across the Country Show Resistance to Trump, by Shaila Dewan, Minho Kim and Katie BennerInspectors Say More Than 100 Chemical Weapons Sites Could Remain in Syria, by Megha RajagopalanAlex Ovechkin Scored No. 894 ‘In Theater And In Style.’ His Next Goal Will Be Even Grander, by Sean GentilleTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, April 7th. Here's what we're covering. Did you purchase your car faster because you knew that tariffs were coming? Absolutely. I could have just imagined how much more expensive it would be. It's going to hit food prices, it's going to hit gas prices, it's going to hit...

As President Trump's new tariffs set off alarm bells across the global economy, the Times talked with shoppers this weekend at grocery stores, car dealerships and malls who were trying to figure out what they should do. From what I hear, it's going to cause everything to go up. The new 10% baseline tariff applies to all imported goods, and goods from some countries will get hit with up to a 40% surcharge or more. That could mean higher prices for consumers as soon as this month, and it's spurred a lot of confusion and concern about whether to buy that new refrigerator or iPhone or

even printer paper. The panic is enough to make me want to buy. Yeah. Did you start today? I did. I did actually start today. The uncertainty continues to shake the stock market too. This morning, the financial markets in Asia and Europe fell sharply again after plunging last week following Trump's announcement. The U.S. markets had lost more than $5 trillion in value by the end of Friday.

President Trump, however, has dismissed the turmoil. I don't want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something. Speaking on Air Force One last night, he said the tariffs will stay in place until the trade deficits that the U.S. has with China, the European Union and other countries disappear, essentially until the rest of the world buys as much from the U.S. as the U.S. buys from them. And eventually it's going to straighten out and our country will be solid and strong again.

Yesterday a federal judge tore into the Trump administration, saying it committed a grievous error by deporting a man to a prison in El Salvador, even though he had permission to be in the U.S. The judge said the government had no right to arrest him, detain him, or send him to the notorious prison where he has been held since mid-March, and that the case, quote, shocks the conscience. She's given the government a deadline of midnight tonight to get the man home. But the Justice Department has been doubling down. It's appealing the judge's order to bring him back and even put one of its own lawyers on indefinite leave after he admitted the deportation was a mistake.

The lawyer told the judge he was frustrated by the case and said he would try to persuade the Trump administration to bring the man home In a statement after he was put on leave Attorney General Pam Bondi told the Times that the lawyer had failed to quote zealously advocate on behalf of the United States Meanwhile Meanwhile, around the country this weekend, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest President Trump, his administration, and a range of its policies, from tariffs to immigration crackdowns to government cuts. The protests were organized by a coalition of progressive groups who planned them in all 50 states. In Manhattan, the protests stretched for

20 city blocks and in Atlanta, police estimated some 20,000 people showed up to march. There were also protests in smaller places, including Leesburg, Tennessee, St. Augustine, Florida, and Ketchum, Idaho. In Syria, one of the most horrifying aspects of the country's civil war was the use of chemical weapons. The symbol for chlorine painted on the barrel bomb used in the air attack. The country's former president Bashar al-Assad used them against rebel fighters and civilians over more than a decade of conflict. First responders doused the victims with water, stripped off their clothes to wash off what they said was a chemical weapon.

Since Assad was forced from power, there remain a lot of major questions about this chemical weapons program, like how many weapons are left, where they're located, and what's going to happen to them under the new government. My colleague Megha Rajagopalan has been reporting from Syria. She says that a watchdog group, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,

now estimates there are more than 100 chemical weapons sites left in the country, far more than the Assad regime ever admitted. These sites could potentially contain weapons like mustard, sarin, or chlorine gas. These are some of the most toxic substances on earth, and for many of them, their use is actually a war crime under international law, particularly when it's used against civilians. In Syria's civil war, they were often used in cities that are really densely populated.

In alleyways that were full of local residences where people died within minutes in some cases, we met doctors who were working in hospitals, and they described the horror of having to treat patients, including children, that came through their wards, and just the smell of the chemicals on their clothing, and the things that they saw that they'd never be able to forget. Many experts, including people who were actually involved in hunting for chemical weapons in Syria in the past, say that many of these weapons stockpiles could be in locations that are extremely hard

to access and impossible to see on satellite images. Places like caves and other hidden locations. And so while Syria's government has pledged to get rid of these caches of weapons, it presents a major challenge for them because they first have to determine where the locations are. And finally, Alexander Ovechkin made hockey history on Sunday, scoring his 895th career goal to become the NHL's all-time leading scorer. There is but one! Alexander the Great, the greatest to ever do it!

Ovechkin broke the record set by Wayne Gretzky more than 31 years ago. The goal came in the middle of the second period and Ovechkin dove to the ice in celebration with his teammates from the Washington Capitals rushing off the bench to mob him. Referees paused everything so there could be a mid-game ceremony. At Center Ice, Ovechkin was joined by his family and the league's commissioner as he thanked his teammates, fans, coaches, and even the goalie he'd just scored on. I love you, brother. Bretsky himself was there to watch his record fall.

I can tell you firsthand, I know how hard it is to get the 894. 895 is pretty special. Bretsky said records are made to be broken, but quote, I'm not sure who's going to get more goals than that. Those are the headlines today on The Daily. This is a threat to our constitutional fabric, to our democracy, to our civil liberties. And to see Skadden be complicit to aid this

attack. I was so ashamed to work there. A conversation with a lawyer who quit his job at one of the country's most powerful law firms after it cut a deal with the Trump administration. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.