On Politics

Mon Apr 7 2025

Rebecca Morin | Newsletter Writer

@RebeccaMorin_

Happy Monday! It's Rebecca Morin here. I'm manifesting the downpour in D.C. to stop soon.

Stock market plunges as Trump doubles down on tariffs

No relief anytime soon. U.S. stocks plunged for the third day in a row after President Donald Trump last week announced an aggressive tariff plan. And the president and his top allies are doubling down on the 10% tariff on most countries that went into effect over the weekend. Trump will implement higher tariffs on dozens of nations starting on Wednesday. Despite reports that there could be a 90-day pause on the tariffs, the White House swiftly denied it. Follow today's updates.

•	*Both the European Union and China plan to respond to Trump's tariffs.* The European Union this week will likely approve a first set of targeted countermeasures on up to $28 billion of U.S. imports, which could include U.S. meat, cereals, wine, wood and clothing. China announced it was imposing reciprocal 34% tariffs on all imports from the U.S. on Friday. Trump on Monday slammed China for its retaliatory tariffs and threatened an additional 50% tariff on imports from China.
•	One of the countries with the highest of all of Trump's tariffs is the tiny, rural southern African nation of Lesotho. Its exports to the U.S., mostly denim and other textiles used for American brands such as Levi's and Calvin Klein, account for more than a tenth of its GDP. The country is sending a high-level delegation to the U.S. to convince the White House to let *Lesotho "maintain the current market dispensation."* It's unclear what progress Lesotho's delegation would make if they met with the Trump administration, but Trump indicated on Truth Social on Monday that he was willing to negotiate with some countries on tariffs.
•	*Trump on Sunday defended* his sweeping tariffs that have rattled markets and brought fears of a recession, saying, "Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something."
•	Despite Trump's justification for his tariffs, the president's trade war is putting some of his high-profile allies on edge – from Elon Musk to Joe Rogan to Dave Portnoy – *exposing cracks in his coalition.*

A Reuters journalist looks at a screen as he monitors global trading activity following President Donald Trump's tariff announcement, in London, Britain, on April 7, 2025.

Kevin Coombs, REUTERS

A politics pit-stop

•	A banana taped to a wall? Artist says he did it first. Supreme Court weighs in.
•	Palestinian teenager with U.S. citizenship killed by Israeli forces in West Bank.
•	Book ban at military service academies draws flak from Congress.
•	Watch: Democrat vows to file impeachment articles against Trump.
•	Are some of Trump's firings making their way to the Supreme Court?
•	Harriet Tubman quote and portrait removed from National Park website

Trump administration faces deadline to return deported Maryland man

The Trump administration has until Monday at 11:59 p.m. to bring back a Maryland father who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and is being held in the country's CECOT prison, which has been accused of overcrowding and human rights abuses. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday left in place a deadline for the administration to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States. A judge in a lower court issued the deadline last week. The administration filed a request to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday morning to suspend the order to return Abrego Garcia.

•	Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia? Meet the man the Trump administration said *was deported due to an "administrative error."*

Got a burning question, or comment for On Politics? You can submit them here or send me an email at rdmorin@usatoday.com.

Podcasts, f-bombs and Elon Musk: Dems try various messaging strategies

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, joined by Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart, speaks during a town hall at Roosevelt High School on Friday, March 14, 2025, in Des Moines.

Democrats are looking everywhere for their missing mojo as progressives demand they turn up the volume and fight back against Trump 2.0

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U.S. President Donald Trump holds a copy of an executive order honoring Jocelyn Nungaray, a a 12-year-old girl who was killed by illegal immigrants, as he addresses a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.

This immigrant voted for Trump. His family may lose legal status.

Biden offered humanitarian protections during a period of record migration. Now Trump is revoking their status.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies Jan. 29 at his Senate hearing on his nomination to be the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

RFK Jr. MMR vaccine support spurs backlash

RFK Jr. and his "MAHA" movement's popularity appears to be at least in slight jeopardy with vaccine-skeptical supporters.

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A handgun is checked in during a community gun buy-back program in White Plains, New York.

Supreme Court passes on suit testing New York state gun law

The U.S. Supreme Court turned away on Monday a challenge to New York firearms restrictions adopted shortly after the justices in 2022 struck down the Democratic state's previous limits on carrying concealed handguns in a landmark ruling that expanded gun rights.

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