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Donald Trump defies market tumult and pushes ahead with trade war

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Donald Trump defies market tumult and pushes ahead with trade war

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Donald Trump rattled global investors again as he pressed ahead with his plan for aggressive tariffs on America’s largest trading partners even as he touted potential deals with some US allies.

Equity markets fell sharply as the president failed to soothe traders’ nerves just hours before he was set to hit countries from the EU to China with steep new levies, tilting the world into a full-blown trade war.

White House officials, including Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, had sought on Tuesday to talk up possible trade negotiations with South Korea, Japan and other countries — a message that gave hope to investors that Trump could soften his stance after pressure from billionaire allies, trading partners and Republicans in Congress.

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But any relief was shortlived as it became clear he was pushing ahead with his plan to unload an arsenal of tariffs against trading partners.

Speaking at a fundraising event for Republicans in Congress on Tuesday night, Trump struck a defiant tone, saying other countries “want to make a deal with us” but America didn’t “necessarily” need any agreements and was “happy the way we are”. He added: “I know what the hell I’m doing.”

The new blitz of Trump tariffs from Wednesday will include additional levies on China, despite Beijing’s warning that it would “fight to the end” in a fast-developing trade conflict.

The US’s extra 50 per cent tariff on China, the world’s second-largest economy, would “be going into effect at 12.01am” eastern time on Wednesday, said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“Everyone keeps hoping, keeps waiting for a pause in tariffs,” said Peter Tchir, head of macro strategy at Academy Securities. “But we’ve just slapped on the extra increased tariffs on China. We’re slowly losing this optimism that this is a negotiating tactic. That’s why trading has been so volatile today.”

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The benchmark S&P 500 index was up as much as 4.1 per cent early in the trading session, but ended with a loss of 1.6 per cent after Leavitt’s remarks — marking a fourth consecutive day of intense turbulence in Wall Street equities. Apple, which is heavily exposed to China through its supply chains, has dropped more than 8 per cent this week as investors worry about its margins.

The $29tn US Treasury market has also come under rising selling pressure in the past two days, sending long-term borrowing costs jumping as volatility prompts hedge funds to sharply scale back on risk.

“Market price action has been dramatic,” Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients, adding that “our estimates of ‘shocks’ to market views using the joint movements of US equities and bonds are consistent with a large downgrade to US growth views”.

The additional levies on China mean its exports to the US will face duties of more than 104 per cent — a level that will be seen as a provocation by Beijing, which has retaliated with its own 34 per cent tax on US imports and moved to devalue its currency.

Alongside the new China duties, the US will also impose taxes on almost all other imports from Wednesday — the “reciprocal” tariffs announced by Trump during his “liberation day” last week.

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That announcement has convulsed financial markets since then, wiping $6.2tn in market value from the S&P 500 and sparking warnings of spiralling inflation in the US and a slowdown in the global economy.

Oil markets have also slumped in reaction to expectations for a sharp slowdown in global trade, with the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate trading at less than $60 on Tuesday — a level that drillers have said will thwart Trump’s ambitions to increase American crude supply.

The president’s determination to follow through with his ultra-protectionist tariff policies has drawn a fierce backlash from Wall Street, business leaders and some Republican lawmakers.

The looming trade war and economic disruption has also opened divisions within Trump’s own circle. While Bessent on Monday described his plan to launch talks with Japan over a new trade deal, Trump’s trade tsar Peter Navarro wrote in the Financial Times that the president’s position was “not a negotiation”.

Elon Musk, the technology billionaire and Trump adviser, on Tuesday attacked Navarro as a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” after Navarro suggested the Tesla boss’s opposition to tariffs was self-interested.

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

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Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a former Army serviceman they accused of distributing instructions on how to build explosives that were used by a man who conducted a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.

The former serviceman, Jordan A. Derrick, a 40-year-old from Missouri, was charged with one count of engaging in the business of manufacturing explosive materials without a license; one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device; and one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The three charges together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.

Starting in September 2023, the authorities said, Mr. Derrick was using various social media sites to share videos of himself making explosive materials, including detonators. His videos provided step-by-step instructions, and he often engaged with viewers in comments, sometimes answering their questions about the chemistry behind the explosives.

The authorities said that Mr. Derrick’s videos were downloaded by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, who was accused of ramming a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025, in a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens. Mr. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police. Before the attack, Mr. Jabbar had placed two explosives on Bourbon Street, the authorities said, but they did not detonate.

The authorities later recovered two laptops and a USB drive in a house that Mr. Jabbar had rented. The USB drive contained several videos created by Mr. Derrick that provided instructions on making explosives. The authorities said the explosives they recovered were consistent with the ones Mr. Derrick had posted about.

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Mr. Derrick’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Derrick was a combat engineer in the Army, where he provided personnel and vehicle support, the authorities said. He also helped supervise safety personnel during demolitions and various operations. He was honorably discharged in February 2013.

The authorities did not say whether Mr. Derrick had any communication with Mr. Jabbar, or whether the men had known each other. In some of Mr. Derrick’s videos and comments, he indicated that he was aware that his videos could be misused.

“There are a plethora of uh, moral, you know, entanglements with topics, any topic of teaching explosives, right?” he asked in one video, according to the affidavit. “Of course, the wrong people could get it.”

The authorities also said that an explosion occurred at a private residence in Odessa, Mo., on May 4, and the occupant of the residence told investigators that he had manufactured explosives after watching online tutorials from Mr. Derrick.

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Mr. Derrick’s YouTube account had more than 15,000 subscribers and 20 published videos, the affidavit said. He had also posted content on other platforms, including Odysee and Patreon. Some videos were accessible to the public for free, while others required a paid subscription to view.

“My responsibility to my countrymen is to make sure that I serve the function of the Second Amendment to strengthen it,” Mr. Derrick said in one of his videos, according to the affidavit. “This is how I serve my country for real.”

Outside of the income he received through content creation, Mr. Derrick did not have any known employment. He did receive a monthly disability check from Veterans Affairs, the affidavit stated.

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded

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The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded
Allegations pile up, but Child Protective Services declines to investigate and the school district continues to promote Ronnie Stoner. We include an update at the end of the episode. “The Girls” is a 4-part series from the Louisville Public Media’s investigative podcast, Dig.
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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

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Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

A streamer known for hurling racist slurs in public settings under the nickname “Chud the Builder” was charged with attempted murder after a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday, the authorities said.

The streamer, Dalton Eatherly, 28, was involved in a confrontation with an unidentified man that escalated to gunfire outside the Montgomery County Court in Clarksville, about 50 miles northwest of Nashville, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Both men sustained gunshot wounds and were in stable condition, the office said.

In addition to attempted murder, Mr. Eatherly was charged with employing a firearm during dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.

Mr. Eatherly, who is white, has accumulated an online audience by livestreaming confrontations in which he uses racist language toward Black people in public.

Law enforcement did not provide any details about the second man involved in Wednesday’s shooting. Mr. Eatherly posted an audio recording online of paramedics treating his wounds in which he claims he shot the man in self-defense.

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A video posted by the website Clarksville Now shows Mr. Eatherly on a stretcher with a microphone attached to his lapel.

Mr. Eatherly is being held at the Montgomery County Jail, pending arraignment, the sheriff’s office said.

According to court records, Mr. Eatherly was scheduled to appear for a court hearing on Wednesday morning in an unrelated case brought by Midland Credit Management, a collections agency.

A lawyer listed in court records from a separate harassment case in which Mr. Eatherly was a defendant in November did not respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday, three days before the shooting in Clarksville, Mr. Eatherly was arrested in Nashville. According to a police affidavit, Mr. Eatherly live streamed his meal at a restaurant, Bob’s Steak and Chop House, on Saturday even though the restaurant had asked him ahead of time not to do so.

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When he was confronted, Mr. Eatherly “became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene,” according to the affidavit.

He then refused to pay for his $370 meal. Mr. Eatherly was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bond.

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