Trump downplays tariff concerns as US stock sell-off worsens

Washington, Mar 10 (AP) US President Donald Trump is dismissing business concerns over the uncertainty caused by his planned tariffs on a range of American trading partners and the prospect of higher prices and isn't ruling out the possibility of a recession this year.

Also, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday the Trump administration had finished its six-week purge of programs of the six-decade-old US Agency for International Development, and said he would move the 18% of aid and development programmes that survived under the State Department.

Here's the latest: Homeland Security app once used for asylum applications is now for leaving US The Trump administration has overhauled the cellphone app once used to let migrants apply for asylum, turning it into a system that allows people living illegally in the US to announce they want to voluntarily leave.

The renamed app, now called CBP Home, is part of the administration's campaign to encourage “self-deportations", touted as an easy and cost-effective way to nudge along Trump's push to deport millions of immigrants.

“The app provides illegal aliens in the United States with a straightforward way to declare their intent to voluntarily depart, offering them the chance to leave before facing harsher consequences,” Pete Flores, the acting commissioner for US Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement.

Moments after Trump took office, the former app, CBP One, stopped allowing migrants to apply for asylum, and tens of thousands of border appointments were cancelled.

No more COVID-19 tests from US govt The federal government has shut down ordering from the site where Americans could have COVID-19 tests delivered to their mailboxes for no charge.

“The free at-home COVID-19 test distribution programme is not currently accepting orders,” the website, covidtests.gov, reads.

Americans were able to order up to four tests through the site and they were delivered by the United States Postal Service. The Biden administration launched the programme during the COVID-19 pandemic and would intermittently turn ordering on and off, typically reopening it ahead of the respiratory illness season in the fall.

Any orders placed by 8 pm on Sunday, March 9 will still be shipped, according to the website.

Abortion Provider Appreciation Day focuses on Trump policies Abortion rights supporters were marking the day Monday through letter and postcard writing events, donation drives, social media posts and sidewalk chalking with messages of support.

The day honours the life of David Gunn, a doctor who was shot to death outside an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida in 1993. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which is designed to protect abortion clinics from obstruction and threats, was passed in 1994 in response to Gunn's murder and mounting violence against clinics.

Trump's Justice Department has curtailed prosecutions under the FACE Act, and he has pardoned anti-abortion activists convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances.

China learned from Trump's first trade war and changed its tactics when tariffs came again The leaders of both Canada and Mexico got on the phone with Trump this past week to seek solutions after he slapped tariffs on their countries, but China's president appears unlikely to make a similar call soon.

Beijing, which unlike America's close partners and neighbours has been locked in a trade and tech war with the US for years, is taking a different approach to Trump in his second term, making it clear that any negotiations should be conducted on equal footing.

China's leaders say they are open to talks, but they also made preparations for the higher US tariffs, which have risen 20% since Trump took office seven weeks ago. Intent on not being caught off guard as they were during Trump's first term, the Chinese were ready with retaliatory measures — imposing their own taxes this past week on key US farm imports and more.

After the US this past week imposed another 10% tariff, on top of the 10% imposed on Feb 4, the Chinese foreign ministry uttered its sharpest retort yet: “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we're ready to fight till the end.” Musk, DOGE try to slash govt by cutting out those who answer to voters For decades, conservatives in Congress have talked about the need to cut government deeply, but they have always pulled back from mandating specific reductions, fearful of voter backlash.

Now, DOGE is trying to do exactly that.

The dynamic of cutting government while also cutting out those who answer to voters has alarmed even some fiscal conservatives who have long pushed for Congress to reduce spending through the means laid out in the Constitution: a system of checks and balances that includes lawmakers elected across the country working with the president.

“Some members of the Trump administration got frustrated that Congress won't cut spending and decided to go around them,” said Jessica Reidl of the conservative think tank The Manhattan Institute. Now, she said, “no one who has to face voters again is determining spending levels.” Trump downplays business concerns about uncertainty from his tariffs and prospect of higher prices Trump is dismissing business concerns over the uncertainty caused by his planned tariffs on a range of American trading partners and the prospect of higher prices, and isn't ruling out the possibility of a recession this year.

After imposing and then quickly pausing 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada that sent markets tumbling over concerns of a trade war, Trump said his plans for broader “reciprocal” tariffs will go into effect April 2, raising them to match what other countries assess.

Asked about the Atlanta Fed's warning of an economic contraction in the first quarter of the year, Trump seemingly acknowledged that his plans could affect US growth. Still, he claimed, it would ultimately be “great for us”.

Though Trump's early implementation of tariffs has been inconsistent — with him imposing them, then pulling many back — he has been steadfast in endorsing the idea of 21st century protectionism. There have even been suggestions that higher import tariffs on the country's foreign trading partners could eventually replace the federal income tax.

Trump loves Gilded Age and its tariffs. It was great time for the rich but not for many In Trump's idealised framing, the United States was at its zenith in the Gilded Age, a time of rapid population growth and transformation from an agricultural economy toward a sprawling industrial system.

The desire to recreate that era is fuelled by Trump's fondness for tariffs and his admiration for the nation's 25th president, William McKinley.

Though Trump's early implementation of tariffs has been inconsistent — with him imposing them, then pulling many back — he has been steadfast in endorsing the idea of 21st century protectionism. There have even been suggestions that higher import tariffs on the country's foreign trading partners could eventually replace the federal income tax.

Experts on the era say Trump is idealising a time rife with government and business corruption, social turmoil and inequality. They argue he's also dramatically overestimating the role tariffs played in stimulating an economy that grew mostly due to factors other than the US raising taxes on imported goods.

And Gilded Age policies, they maintain, have virtually nothing to do with how trade works in a globalised, modern economy. (AP) SCY SCY

Source: PTI