Month: April 2025

The stock market slid on Tuesday at closing, after a rally that had sent the S&P 500 and Nasdaq up more than 4% earlier in the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 320 points – or 0.8%; while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index dropped 2.2%, and the S&P 500 fell 1.5%, putting the index on the brink of a bear market — a term that indicates a 20% drop from a previous peak. Since President Trump’s tariff announcement last week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have each fallen more than 12%.

Before markets opened on Tuesday, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he had held a “great call” with South Korea’s acting president, Han Duck-soo, about the terms of a trade agreement: “we have the confines and probability of a great DEAL for both countries. Their top TEAM is on a plane heading to the U.S., and things are looking good. We are likewise dealing with many other countries, all of whom want to make a deal with the United States. Like with South Korea, we are bringing up other subjects that are not covered by Trade and Tariffs, and getting them negotiated also. “ONE STOP SHOPPING” is a beautiful and efficient process!!!”

However, the standoff between the U.S. and China continued, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirming that the President’s threat of an additional 50% tariff on China will go into effect early Wednesday — bringing the total tariff rate against Beijing to 104%.

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration’s firing of 16,000 probationary federal employees across six agencies and departments to go forward. The high court’s 7-2 decision blocks a ruling from a lower court judge that required the government to temporarily reinstate more than 16,000 probationary employees (per CNN).

In the unsigned, two paragraph opinion, the court said that the nine labor unions and nonprofit groups that brought the case did not have legal standing to sue over federal employees’ firings.  The opinion did not address the question of whether the terminations themselves were lawful, and it is not the final word on whether the employees will be allowed to keep their jobs, but it will have a significant impact on both the workers and the agencies in the meantime. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson publicly dissented the opinion, with Jackson offered a brief explanation, questioning the need for the high court to enter into the case on an emergency basis.

Last month, a federal judge had ordered the White House to reinstate the affected employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior and the Department of Treasury. The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the judge’s order, arguing the plaintiffs lacked standing and had “hijacked the employment relationship between the federal government and its workforce.”

The labor unions and nonprofit groups later asked the Supreme Court to preserve the district court judge’s order that those workers be reinstated because of the imminent harm that would come from termination.  In their brief, they wrote: “Because probationary employees include not only those new to the government but also those recently promoted, agencies lost experienced individuals and directors of programs and were left with arbitrary and unexpected gaps in critical functions. The reverberations throughout agencies and impacts on services were dramatic and immediate.”

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The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to block a judge’s order requiring it to return a Maryland man who was accidentally deported to a high-security prison in El Salvador, claiming that it “sets the United States up for failure” because it cannot compel El Salvador to “follow a federal judge’s bidding.”

The Justice Department’s request for emergency relief from the high court comes as it faces a court order from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals that the man Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, be returned to the U.S. by 11:59 p.m. Monday. Abrego Garcia was deported to a Salvadoran supermax prison on March 15 in what the Trump administration described as an “administrative error” – despite a 2019 protective order that should have prevented him from being sent to the country. Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old father, was removed from the U.S. on a series of deportation flights transporting hundreds of people to the notorious Salvadoran prison known as CECOT.

U.S. District Court Paula Xinis of Maryland issued the return order last Friday, calling Abrego Garcia’s deportation ‘unlawful.’  However John Sauer, who was confirmed as U.S. solicitor general last week, wrote in a filing: “The district court has no jurisdiction over the Government of El Salvador and thus no authority to order Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States. The Constitution charges the president, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and protecting the nation against foreign terrorists, including by effectuating their removal.”  Sauer called the district court’s decision “unprecedented and indefensible,” and claimed the the lower courts are trying to “seize control over foreign relations, treat the Executive Branch as a subordinate diplomat, and demand that the United States let a member of a foreign terrorist organization into America tonight.”

According to court records, Abrego Garcia, a native of El Salvador, came to the U.S. illegally in 2011 when he was 16 years old.  He was arrested in 2019 alongside three other men in Maryland and detained by federal immigration authorities while an immigration judge examined his case. The Department of Homeland Security put forth evidence during a bond hearing before the immigration judge, claiming that a “proven and reliable source” confirmed Abrego Garcia had ties to the MS-13 gang, and the judge denied his request for release on bond.  Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have argued in court filings that he has no criminal history, stating: “He has never been charged or convicted of any criminal charges, in the United States, El Salvador, or any other country.”

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As the fallout continues over President Donald Trump’s severe tariffs against virtually all U.S. trading partners, Trump threatened that the U.S. will apply an additional 50% tariff on imports from China on Wednesday if Beijing doesn’t remove the retaliatory tariffs it placed on the U.S. by Tuesday.

According to ABC News, a senior White House official said that the additional 50% tariff would be in addition to the 34% reciprocal tariff Trump announced last week and the 20% already in place, making for a potential total of 104%.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “China issued Retaliatory Tariffs of 34%, on top of their already record setting Tariffs, Non-Monetary Tariffs, Illegal Subsidization of companies, and massive long term Currency Manipulation, despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs, above and beyond their already existing long term Tariff abuse of our Nation, will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set. Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

On Monday, the S&P 500 opened down 4%, falling below 20% from its most recent high and entering “bear market” territory — a period of prolonged decline. The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined more than 4.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3.78% or 1,200 points.

Trump announced on April 2nd (on what he called “Liberation Day”) that the U.S. would implement ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on imports from about 90 nations, adding to a 10% global tax applied to all products shipped to the U.S. The president said the new taxes are needed to erase trade imbalances between the U.S. and other countries, ranging from China to members of the European Union. nIn response to the United States’ 34% tariff on Chinese imports – which is set to go into effect on April 9 – Beijing last week announced it would add a 34% tariff on imports of all U.S. products beginning April 10.

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A school-aged, unvaccinated child died at a local hospital in West Texas where they had been receiving treatment for measles – marking the second death of a minor in the state linked to the ongoing outbreak.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Sunday on X that he was in Gaines County, the epicenter of the outbreak, to meet with families in the community. He said he had spoken to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to offer continued support and that teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention teams had been sent back to the state. Kennedy noted in his post on X that “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine,” and added that the HHS is partnering with Texas health officials to better combat the measles outbreak in the state and has deployed teams from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the area. Source also said that Kennedy planned to attend the child’s funeral on Sunday.

Aaron Davis, vice president of UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, told CNN in a statement: “We are deeply saddened to report that a school-aged child who was recently diagnosed with measles has passed away. The child was receiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized. It is important to note that the child was not vaccinated against measles and had no known underlying health conditions.”

Texas’ first measles death linked to the ongoing outbreak was in an unvaccinated school-aged child in February, with another death in New Mexico remaining under investigation. The measles outbreak – now spanning Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and possibly Kansas – reached at least 569 cases Friday, according to data obtained from state health departments.

In Texas, health department data shows that nearly all outbreak-related cases were in unvaccinated people, and 70% were among children and teens. Many of those cases have broken out in West Texas, with Gaines County accounting for nearly 66% of cases.  In Lubbock County, which accounts for nearly 7% of the confirmed cases in Texas, UMC Health has started offering drive-up measles screenings at both of its 24/7 urgent care centers.

As of Friday, New Mexico has reported 54 cases, and Oklahoma reported 10 cases (eight confirmed and two probable). Cases in Kansas, which the state health department said may be linked to the outbreak, reached 24 as of Wednesday.

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Life-threatening weather conditions continued across multiple states on Sunday, with the threat of severe flooding in Memphis, Tennessee and Little Rock, Arkansas, and tornado watches in Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Florida (per ABC News.)

Areas that had been previously affected by high winds and heavy rains since midweek saw additional inclement weather from the same relentless storm system that caused widespread power outages and voluntary evacuations. At least 18 people in multiple states have died from weather-related causes since Wednesday.  NPR reported that the severe storms continued throughout the South and Midwest on Sunday,with powerful tornadoes from Mississippi to Kentucky.

In a video message posted on X, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear warned residents Sunday morning that the state was in for another day or more of bad weather: “Please, everybody be careful, We’ve tragically lost two individuals, two Kentuckians, two children of God already, and we don’t want to lose any more.” WLKY reported that one of the fatalities was 9-year-old Gabriel Andrews, who was swept away by floodwaters as he walked to his school bus stop in Frankfort Friday morning

The Tennessee Department of Health confirmed that 10 people had died in storms in that state ,with half of the deaths in Tennessee occurred in McNairy County. The McNairy County Emergency Management Agency said in a social media post that an EF3 tornado in the southwestern Tennessee county on Thursday damaged 332 buildings, destroying 108 of them.

According to the National Weather Service, parts of Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee had received more than a foot of rain, while areas of Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri saw more than 10 inches. More than 54,000 customers in Arkansas had no power early Sunday afternoon, while thousands were also in the dark in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas, according to the website PowerOutage.us.

The NWS said in a Sunday forecast that the storm system — along with the threats of heavy rainfall and flash flooding — will move east into the Southeastern U.S. throughout the day, and forecasters also warned that flooding could continue for several days in the affected areas even after the heavy rains have dissipated.

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