Summary of the day
Much of the day has focused on the continued fallout from the major escalation of Trump’s trade war. Despite China clapping back to Trump’s tariffs with a 34% levy on US goods, Trump doubled down on his tariff policies (which he reportedly chose the formula for himself) saying “China played it wrong” and asserting: “My policies will never change.”
Here’s what else we covered:
The markets closed at a steep slump today, ending a brutal week of decline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2,231.07 points, a 5% drop, while S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite each took 5.97% and 5.82% hits respectively.
The supreme court has granted the Trump administration’s plea to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in teacher-training money as part of its anti-DEI efforts.
Agricultural products are among those severely slumping on the futures market on Friday, after China announced retaliatory tariffs on American exports
Vietnam, India, and Israel are reportedly already in talks with the president as some countries work to negotiate new trade deals with the US to lessen the blow from tariffs.
California’s governor Gavin Newsom is hoping to make some deals of his own, calling on international trading partners to negotiate tariffs with the Golden State directly.
A federal judge ruled today that Columbia University must give students, including detained activist Mahmoud Khalil, 30 days’ notice before giving documents to Congress.
Key event
A federal judge ruled today that Columbia University must give students, including detained activist Mahmoud Khalil, 30 days’ notice before giving documents to Congress, the Associated Press reports.
The representative Tim Walberg, chair of the House education and workforce committee, celebrated the ruling, claiming that barring all document handovers would create obstacles in a congressional investigation into antisemitism on college campuses. The inquiry has targeted protesters and outspoken students who demonstrated against the violence against civilians by Israel in the war in Gaza, and the schools where protests took place.
Activists and lawyers had hoped for a stronger ruling that would stop the school from complying, but the decision enables the legal fight to continue.
“We now know that the government is testing the First Amendment’s limits, and the limits of what we as a society will allow,” the lawyers wrote in a statement. “We, as a collective, must stand together against these unlawful incursions into our protected speech.”
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