China hits back with a 34% duty on all U.S. imports as trade partners react to Trump’s tariffs.
What to know today
- Global markets are taking a beating from President Donald Trump’s decision this week to announce sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
- The Trump administration fired the top two officials at the National Security Agency yesterday. The reasons for the firings were not immediately clear.
- ByteDance, the Chinese-based company that owns TikTok, is facing a Saturday deadline to either sell the popular social media app to a non-Chinese company or risk being banned in the U.S. Trump met Wednesday with high-ranking administration officials about the approaching deadline.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and other foreign leaders in Brussels today. Rubio spoke to reporters about the administration’s tariffs and the talks with Russia on a ceasefire with Ukraine.
Trump administration fires NSA director, other top security officials
The Trump administration abruptly fired the top two officials at the National Security Agency yesterday. It comes after the White House also fired at least three National Security Council officials after a meeting between Trump and far-right activist Laura Loomer, who pushed for their firings, telling the president that the officials were disloyal. NBC’s Peter Alexander reports for “TODAY.”
Bond yields dive as investors anticipate economic damage from trade war
Investors plowed into government bonds in anticipation of global growth slowing dramatically in response to China slapping tariffs on imports from the U.S.
Yields on bonds fell to 3.90%, the lowest level since before election day. When traders anticipate reduced growth, they demand so-called safe-haven assets like bonds that pay fixed income. When demand for bonds increases, their prices rise and yields fall.
The lower yields also coincide with increased bets that the Federal Reserve will be forced to cut interest rates to soften the blow from reduced economic activity.
While Trump has sought both lower bond yields — which influence other borrowing rates in the economy, like mortgage rates — and lower interest rates from the Fed, it may end coming at a high cost.
China is trying to replicate USAID programs in Africa, U.S. general says
China is “trying to replicate” USAID programs in Africa as the Trump administration dismantles the agency, the commander of the U.S. Africa Command told lawmakers.
Massive cuts to USAID, which administers civilian foreign aid, have jeopardized programs such as Pepfar, an anti-HIV/AIDS initiative that has been credited with saving more than 26 million lives globally — mostly in Africa, where Chinese influence has been growing.
“There’s a number of programs that we see that the Chinese Communist Party is trying to replicate,” Gen. Michael E. Langley told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday.
Though Langley declined to comment on Trump administration policy, he said of the USAID programs, “Those capabilities are needed for the U.S. to maintain a strategic advantage over the Chinese Communist Party, because we do it best.”
Rubio defends Trump’s tariffs, says U.S. will know soon whether Russia is serious about peace
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Andrea Mitchell, Carlo Angerer and Rebecca Shabad
Secretary of State Marco Rubio today defended Trump’s tariffs and said that the U.S. will know soon whether Russia is serious about reaching a peace deal with Ukraine.
“We need to get back to a time when we were a country that can make things. And to do that we have to reset the global order of trade,” Rubio told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where he was attending a meeting with foreign ministers. “We have to be able to make things to provide jobs for Americans.”
“The president rightly has concluded that the current status of global trade is bad for America and good for a bunch of other people,” he added. “And he’s going to reset it, and he’s absolutely right to do it.”
On talks on a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire, Rubio expressed hope that peace is possible, saying Trump wants to end the war but Russian President Vladimir Putin would need to show he wants peace as well.
“We will know soon enough, in a matter of weeks, not months, whether Russia is serious about peace or not,” Rubio said. “I hope they are. It would be good for the world if that war ended, but obviously we have to test that proposition.”
Jobs report expected to show hiring slowed in March ahead of Trump tariffs shock
The federal government will release the latest monthly jobs report today — but in the wake of Trump’s shock announcement Wednesday seeking to disrupt the global economy with broad tariffs on U.S. imports, the new labor market data for March will essentially end up reflecting a different era.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the survey at 8:30 a.m. ET. Estimates from Dow Jones showed forecasts for about 140,000 net new payrolls, compared with 151,000 previously, with the unemployment rate unchanged for the month at 4.1%.
Trump says far-right French politician Le Pen is subject of ‘witch hunt’
Trump expressed public support for Marine Le Pen, a far-right French politician who was convicted of embezzlement earlier this week and sentenced to four years in prison.
The conviction also means a five-year ban from public office for Le Pen, who was seen as a front-runner in the 2027 French presidential election and whose anti-immigration and other policies have drawn comparisons to Trump.
“The Witch Hunt against Marine Le Pen is another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech, and censor their Political Opponent, this time going so far as to put that Opponent in prison,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “It is the same ‘playbook’ that was used against me.”
“FREE MARINE LE PEN!” he added.
JP Morgan predicts 60% chance of recession if trade war continues
Economic fallout is growing after stocks plummeted yesterday in response to Trump’s sweeping new reciprocal tariff plan. JP Morgan is now predicting a 60% chance of a global recession if the tariffs continue. NBC’s Christine Romans reports for “TODAY.”
Trump’s new tariffs will hit lower-income households the hardest
Shannon Pettypiece and Alexandra Marquez
The ripple effects of Trump’s new wave of sweeping tariffs announced this week will be felt the most by lower-income Americans, who are heavily reliant on products from countries hit the hardest by Trump’s tariffs and have less disposable income to absorb higher prices.
Trump is placing some of his highest tariffs on goods coming from countries making the low-cost products that line the shelves of discount retailers. Products from Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, for instance, will have a more than 40% tariff — that is, now importers will need to pay 40% of the value of those goods to Customs and Border Protection at ports of entry to get them into the country. Goods from China will have a total of more than 70% worth of additional tariffs.
