AFP USA

Auto giant Stellantis said Thursday it was pausing production at some plants in Canada and Mexico, a major disruption for the sector on the day US President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs came into force.The announcement from Stellantis — which owns Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge, among other major brands — impacts thousands of workers who have faced fear and uncertainty amid Trump’s efforts to force companies to make more vehicles in the United States.”Stellantis continues to assess the effects of the recently announced US tariffs on imported vehicles,” a company statement said.”Immediate actions we must take include temporarily pausing production at some of our Canadian and Mexican assembly plants,” it added.Vehicle production in North America is highly integrated and the full impact of Trump’s 25 percent levy on foreign-made vehicles and parts, which came into effect on Thursday, remains unclear.Individual parts can cross the US-Canada border several times during the assembly process.Trump’s tariffs will apply only to a vehicle’s non-American components and adhering to the policy could cause headaches at the border.Stellantis said it would “continue to engage with the US administration” on the new policies.The company confirmed the Chrysler plant in the Canadian city of Windsor, across a river from US auto capital Detroit, will pause production from April 7 to 21.The factory, which employs around 4,000 people and is one of three Stellantis has in Canada, manufactures the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and the electric version of the Dodge Charger.Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday he stood “in solidarity with those workers in Windsor and all those hurt by President Trump’s tariffs.”Carney said Canada would retaliate by imposing a 25 percent tariff on all autos imported from the United States that are not compliant with an existing North American free trade deal — roughly 10 percent of all vehicles shipped from the United States to Canada, or about 67,000 vehicles annually.- ‘Everybody’s uncertain’ -Windsor has been on edge since Trump first announced his plans for auto sector tariffs.US auto companies have employed people in the city for more than a century and the industry is vital to the local economy.Detroit and Windsor are connected by a suspension bridge and tunnel, with people crossing back and forth daily.Outside the Stellantis plant on Thursday, 58-year-old auto worker David Lumley told AFP Trump was making “a big mistake.””We’re all intertwined,” he said.A two-week production pause was manageable, he said, but warned: “We don’t know what’s going to happen after the two weeks,” raising concern Windsor’s auto industry could ultimately shut down.”This Donald Trump, you don’t know what he’s going to do,” Lumley said.Trump has publicly told auto companies that to avoid tariffs they need to build plants in the United States and employ American workers.Industry experts note North American production chains have developed to maximize efficiency and unwinding those links to relocate jobs to the United States would take years, if not decades.On a break outside the Windsor plant, Philip Sauve rejected Trump’s suggestion that he had taken a job which rightfully belongs to an American.”I feel like these jobs have been ours for a long time and I don’t really feel like we’ve taken anything from them,” he told AFP.Trump and Carney spoke last week and agreed Washington and Ottawa should discuss the broader future of bilateral trade after Canada’s April 28 election.”You feel nervous and you don’t know what the future’s going to be like,” Sauve said.He told AFP his job “provided a good situation at home… Food on the table and a house and a pretty good life so far and I would like to continue that.”burs-amp-bs/jhb

The trade uncertainty fueled by recent tariffs will likely raise the risks of higher inflation and slower growth, and pose challenges for Federal Reserve policy, a senior banking official said Thursday.As the US central bank, the Fed has a dual mandate to tackle inflation and unemployment, and faces the unenviable task of charting a path through the uncertainty thrown up by President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement on Wednesday, which has roiled financial markets.Inflation remains stuck above the Fed’s long-term target of two percent, while growth has been solid and unemployment has hugged close to record lows. Against this backdrop, and the looming threat of additional tariffs, it paused rate cuts in recent months.Speaking in Pennsylvania on Thursday, Federal Reserve board of governors member Lisa Cook said her baseline forecast still expects growth to slow “moderately” this year, with an uptick in inflation and a stalled inflation fight, “in part because of tariffs and other policy changes.”While it is possible that the disruption from tariffs could be minimal, Cook said in prepared remarks that she placed “more weight on scenarios where risks are skewed to the upside for inflation and to the downside for growth.””Such scenarios, with higher initial inflation and slower growth, could pose challenges for monetary policy,” she added, alluding to the challenges that the Fed would face, seeking to lower inflation without then sparking a spike in the unemployment rate. Cook said she was also closely monitoring whether a short-term spike in inflation could spark “more widespread” price increases. “Tariffs on steel and aluminum have already raised prices for those manufacturing inputs,” she said. “As those cost increases work their way through the manufacturing process, they could boost prices of a range of goods over time.”Using the motor vehicle industry as an example, Cook noted that the combined effect of steel and aluminum tariffs and auto levies could affect the price of new cars, feeding through into higher prices for used vehicles. “And, as seen in recent years, higher prices for motor vehicles could, with a lag, raise costs for related services, such as rentals, insurance, and car repair,” she said. “Amid growing uncertainty and risks to both sides of our dual mandate, I believe it will be appropriate to maintain the policy rate at its current level while continuing to vigilantly monitor developments that could change the outlook,” she added.

Bruce Springsteen announced Thursday he will release a boxed set of new music this summer spanning 83 songs.”Tracks II: The Lost Albums” is slated to drop June 27, seven complete albums recorded between 1983 and 2018, The Boss said.”‘The Lost Albums’ were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released,” said Springsteen in a statement on his website.”I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now. I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.”The 75-year-old released a preview in the form of the track “Rain In The River,” an electrified arena-rock anthem.In a video clip accompanying the announcement, he said he took advantage of the pandemic to finish “everything I had in my vault.”Springsteen last released a studio album in 2022, a collection of covers of classics by the likes of the Four Tops and the Supremes entitled “Only the Strong Survive.”His forthcoming albums will be released by Sony, which bought the rights to Springsteen’s catalog in 2021 for a reported half billion dollars.Next month Springsteen and the E Street Band are due for a tour of Europe and the UK, set to begin May 14 in Manchester, England.

Tom Cruise paid tribute to late “Top Gun” co-star Val Kilmer on Thursday, leading movie theater owners in a moment’s silence at the CinemaCon event before unveiling new footage from his latest “Mission: Impossible” movie.”I’d like to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer,” said Cruise, at the start of his hotly anticipated appearance at the annual industry summit in Las Vegas.”I really can’t tell you how much I admired his work, how much I thought of him as a human being, and how grateful and honored I was when he joined ‘Top Gun’ and then came back for ‘Top Gun: Maverick,” said Cruise. Kilmer, one of the biggest Hollywood actors of the 1990s, who shot to fame playing Iceman in the original 1986 “Top Gun”, died aged 65, his family announced this week.The cause of death was pneumonia. Kilmer had battled throat cancer after being diagnosed in 2014, and made his final appearance in the “Top Gun” 2022 sequel “Maverick,” physically diminished and with a raspy voice. Cruise on Thursday led the audience at Caesars Palace casino in a lengthy silence, asking attendees to “take a moment and just think about all the wonderful times that we had” watching Kilmer on the big screen.”I wish you well on your next journey,” said Cruise, to Kilmer.He added to the attendees: “Thank you all for doing that. I know he appreciates it.””Top Gun” was Kilmer’s breakout role. Starring opposite Cruise, he played the cocky, square-jawed and mostly silent fighter pilot in training Tom “Iceman” Kazansky.When he reprised his role as “Iceman” in the long-awaited sequel “Top Gun: Maverick,” Kilmer’s real-life health issues were written into the character.Cruise on Thursday also introduced a new trailer for “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” out May 23.Footage shows Cruise’s ageless hero Ethan Hunt clinging to the wheels of a small biplane as it soars down a narrow canyon and barrel rolls through the skies.The trailer contained extensive flashbacks to famous scenes from earlier in the eight-film blockbuster franchise, such as Cruise dangling between lasers and climbing the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai.”I need you to trust me one last time,” says Cruise’s character, in what Paramount is marketing as supposedly the final movie of the franchise.

The Pentagon inspector general’s office will investigate Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of commercial messaging app Signal to discuss air strikes on Yemen, a memo released Thursday said.President Donald Trump’s administration is facing a scandal over the accidental leak of a group chat by senior security officials on the strikes, which targeted Yemen’s Huthi rebels in a bid to curb their attacks on commercial shipping and military vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.The probe will evaluate “the extent to which the Secretary of Defense and other DoD personnel complied with DoD policies and procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business,” said the memo from the acting inspector general, Steven Stebbins.”Additionally, we will review compliance with classification and records retention requirements,” according to the memo, which said the investigation is in response to a request from the top two members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, a Republican and a Democrat.The Atlantic magazine revealed last week that its editor — a well-known US journalist — was inadvertently included in the Signal chat in which officials including Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Hegseth discussed details of air strike timings and intelligence.

Wall Street led a global markets bloodbath Thursday as countries around the world reeled from President Donald Trump’s trade war, while the White House insisted the US economy will emerge victorious.The Dow Jones dropped more than three percent and the S&P 500 plummeted more than four percent. The Nasdaq toppled more than five percent.Shock waves also tore through markets in Asia and Europe in the wake of Trump’s Wednesday announcement, while foreign leaders signaled readiness to negotiate but also threatened counter-tariffs.Trump slapped 10 percent import duties on all nations and far higher levies on imports from dozens of specific countries — including top trade partners China and the European Union.Separate tariffs of 25 percent on all foreign-made cars also went into effect and Canada swiftly responded with a similar levy on US imports.In a sign of the real-world impacts expected to become common, Stellantis — the owner of Jeep, Chrysler and Fiat — paused production at some Canadian and Mexican assembly plants.Trump dismissed the turmoil, insisting to reporters as he left for a weekend at his Florida golf resorts, that stocks will “boom.”- ‘Trust Donald Trump’ -Trump, 78, says he wants to make the United States free from reliance on foreign manufacturers in a massive economic reshaping.And he likened his trade policy declaration to a painful medical procedure.”THE OPERATION IS OVER! THE PATIENT LIVED,” he posted on his Truth Social app, with his trademark use of all-caps.”THE PATIENT WILL BE FAR STRONGER, BIGGER, BETTER, AND MORE RESILIENT THAN EVER BEFORE.”Amid howls of protest abroad and from even some of Trump’s Republicans, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called for patience.”Let Donald Trump run the global economy. He knows what he’s doing,” he said on CNN. “You’ve got to trust Donald Trump in the White House.”But China demanded that the tariffs be immediately canceled and vowed countermeasures, while France and Germany warned that the EU could hit back at US tech firms.French President Emmanuel Macron called for suspending investment in the United States until what he called the “brutal” new tariffs had been “clarified.”The 27-nation EU and other countries also showed willingness to negotiate as they refrained from immediate retaliatory measures, with almost a week until the harsher US levies actually take effect.Beijing said it was “maintaining communication” with Washington over trade issues, and EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic planned to speak with US counterparts on Friday.However, Brazil’s president vowed to take “all appropriate measures.”Gold — a safe-haven investment — hit a new record prices, oil fell and the dollar slumped against other major currencies.The head of the World Trade Organization, which helps manage global trading, warned the upheaval may lead to contraction of “one percent in global merchandise trade volumes this year.”- Global economic ‘sumo wrestler’ -Trump has brushed off warnings about triggering a global economic slowdown and politically damaging price rises at home.Republican Senator Mitch McConnell broke ranks with Trump, slamming tariffs as “bad policy.””Preserving the long-term prosperity of American industry and workers requires working with our allies, not against them,” he said.But while Trump is under pressure to avoid a drawn-out trade war, he appears determined to stick with the tariffs until he forces competitors to play by US rules.White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told CNN that Trump made it clear that “this is not a negotiation.”And Lutnick also struck a hard line, saying, “You can’t really fight with the United States.””You fight… the greatest customer in the world, you’re going to lose. We are the sumo wrestler of this world,” he said.- ‘Treat us badly’ -Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called “nations that treat us badly.” That included an additional 34 percent on goods from China — bringing the new added tariff rate there to 54 percent.  The figure for the European Union was 20 percent, and 24 percent on Japan.For the rest, Trump said he would impose a “baseline” tariff of 10 percent, including on another key ally, Britain, which will come into effect on Saturday while the higher duties will kick in on April 9.burs-sms/bgs

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told nervous NATO members on Thursday that Washington remained committed to the alliance, but said they must agree to massively ramp up their spending targets for defence. President Donald Trump has rattled Europe by casting doubt on his willingness to defend all allies, and by reaching out to Russia over the war in Ukraine — before further raising tensions with his latest trade tariffs. “Some of this hysteria and hyperbole that I see in the global media and some domestic media in the United States about NATO is unwarranted,” Rubio said on his first visit to meet his NATO counterparts in Brussels. “President Trump’s made clear he supports NATO. We’re going to remain in NATO,” he said.Ahead of NATO’s June summit in The Hague, Trump has demanded that the alliance more than double its current spending target to five percent of GDP — more than any, including Washington, spend now.  “We do want to leave here with an understanding that we are on a pathway, a realistic pathway to every single one of the members committing and fulfilling a promise to reach up to five percent spending, and that includes the United States,” Rubio said.”No one expects you’re gonna be able to do this in one year or two. But the pathway has to be real,” Rubio said. He insisted that Trump was “not against NATO. He is against a NATO that does not have the capabilities that it needs to fulfil the obligations.”The words of reassurance will provide succour to allies, who are rushing in the meantime to show Washington they are stepping up. A string of European countries have announced steep increases in military budgets, with economic powerhouse Germany opening the way for a major splurge. “Great things are happening. Over the last couple of months, we literally see hundreds of billions of euros rolling in,” NATO chief Mark Rutte said. “So this is probably the biggest increase in defence spending here on the European side of NATO since the end of the Cold War,” he said. “But we still need more.”- No ‘sudden’ withdrawal -As Europe grapples with the threat from Russia, Trump’s administration has set the continent on edge by raising the prospect it could shift forces away to focus on other challenges like China. Officials have said that if Washington is planning a major shift away it needs to agree a clear timeline over years for Europe to fill the gaps left behind. “There are no plans for them to all of a sudden draw down their presence here in Europe,” Rutte said.”But we know that for America, being the superpower they are, they have to attend to more theatres than one. It’s only logical that you have that debate.”Europe is nervously eyeing Trump’s outreach to its number one nemesis Russia as he sidelines allies to press for a deal with Moscow to end the Ukraine war. Allies are pleading with Trump to stand strong against Moscow as he pushes for a partial ceasefire despite the warring sides trading accusations of ongoing strikes.He has cheered allies by menacing Putin with sanctions for dragging his feet,  but there are fears Trump may ultimately want to draw close to a country viewed as NATO’s main foe.- ‘Increase pressure’ -“It is time to increase pressure on Moscow. Now is the time for diplomacy, but also pressure and deterrence,” Ukraine Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said as he met NATO counterparts. “While the media attention is on global trade wars, we must not forget there is a real, full scale war going on in Europe. Russia remains an existential threat to Europe.”Foreign ministers largely looked to skirt the issue of a looming trade war after Trump’s hefty tariffs on allies, in particular the European Union.But some warned that economic disputes risked jeopardising NATO’s unity and its ability to strengthen itself. “It’s important to understand that we grow faster and better together, that if we want to build resources for a stronger defence, we need to have economic growth,” Norway’s Espen Barth Eide said.”Protectionism will not do us any good.”

New York Mayor Eric Adams, who saw corruption charges against him dismissed this week, said on Thursday he would run as an independent, after being heavily criticized by members of his Democratic Party over his cooperation with President Donald Trump.The move allows Adams to bypass an upcoming Democratic primary election ahead of the mayoral vote in the United States’ largest city in November. On Wednesday, a federal judge dismissed corruption charges against Adams, while sharply criticizing apparent efforts by Trump’s administration to use the case as political leverage over the city leader.”The dismissal of the bogus case against me dragged on too long, making it impossible to mount a primary campaign while these false accusations were held over me,” said Adams in a short video on Thursday.”But I’m not a quitter. I’m a New Yorker,” said Adams, whose approval rating was down to 20 percent by last month, according to a Quinnipiac poll.Adams has come under fire for cozying up to Republican Trump since he took office, agreeing to enforce the White House’s crackdown on immigration despite New York’s policy of being a “sanctuary city.” On Wednesday, while dismissing the charges against the mayor, Judge Dale Ho was nonetheless excoriating about the circumstances.”Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the Indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions,” Ho wrote.In his video, Adams vowed that he would remain a Democrat, despite running as an independent. The 64-year-old would have faced a crowded field in the Democratic primary, led by former governor Andrew Cuomo, who like Adams was once a rising star in the party before being disgraced and forced to resign after allegations of sexual assault and harassment.Cuomo is leading in the polls, followed by Zohran Mamdani, a grassroots organizer and political outsider who is gaining momentum.”There is nothing ‘independent’ about Eric Adams, who is completely beholden to real estate moguls, billionaires, and the far-right,” said Mamdani, reacting to Adams’s announcement. A former police officer from a modest family, and New York’s second African-American mayor, Adams was initially popular but saw his star wane under the weight of corruption allegations, rising costs of living and other challenges. The mayor was accused of wire fraud, soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations and a bribery conspiracy involving Turkish citizens and at least one Turkish official. He denies the charges. New York is a bastion of the Democratic party, and the party’s candidate will be the favorite to win November’s election.

Indian police said on Thursday they had arrested a US tourist who sneaked onto a highly restricted island carrying a coconut and a can of Diet Coke to a tribe untouched by the modern world.Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, set foot on the restricted territory of North Sentinel — part of India’s Andaman Islands — in a bid to meet the Sentinelese people, who are believed to number only around 150.All outsiders, Indians and foreigners alike, are banned from travelling within five kilometres (three miles) of the island to protect the Indigenous people from outside diseases and to preserve their way of life.”The American citizen was presented before the local court after his arrest and is now on a three-day remand for further interrogation,” Andaman and Nicobar Islands police chief HGS Dhaliwal told AFP.Satellite photographs show a coral reef-fringed island — stretching to some 10 kilometres (six miles) at its widest point — with thick forest and white sand beaches.The Sentinelese last made international headlines in 2018 after they killed John Allen Chau, 27, an American missionary who landed illegally on their beach.Chau’s body was not recovered and there were no investigations over his death because of the Indian law prohibiting anyone from going to the island.India sees the wider Andaman and Nicobar Islands as strategically sited on key global shipping lanes. They are closer to Myanmar than mainland India.New Delhi plans to invest at least $9 billion to expand naval and air bases, troop accommodations, the port and the main city in the region.- Bow and arrows -Dhaliwal said Polyakov kept blowing a whistle off the shore of North Sentinel Island for about an hour to attract the tribe’s attention before he went ashore.”He landed briefly for about five minutes, left the offerings on the shore, collected sand samples, and recorded a video before returning to his boat,” Dhaliwal said.”A review of his GoPro camera footage showed his entry and landing into the restricted North Sentinel Island.”Police said Polyakov was arrested late on Monday, about two days after he went ashore, and had visited the region twice in recent months.He first used an inflatable kayak in October 2024 but was stopped by hotel staff, police said on Thursday. Polyakov made another unsuccessful attempt during a visit in January 2025.This time Polyakov used another inflatable boat with a motor to travel the roughly 35 kilometres (22 miles) of open sea from the main archipelago.The Sentinelese, whose language and customs remain a mystery to outsiders, shun all contact and have a record of hostility to anyone who tries to get close.A photograph issued by the Indian Coast Guard and Survival International two decades ago showed a Sentinelese man aiming a bow and arrow at a passing helicopter.Indian authorities have prosecuted any locals who have aided attempts to enter the island and are trying to identify anyone who may have helped Polyakov.The Andamans are also home to the 400-strong Jarawa tribe, who activists say are also threatened by contact from outsiders. Tourists have previously bribed local officials in a bid to spend time with the Jarawa.

Major US trade partners pilloried US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs onslaught on Thursday, but left the door open to negotiations as markets tanked over fears his trade war would damage the world economy.Trump spared almost no nation on his “Liberation Day” on Wednesday, hitting friends and foes alike and reserving some of the harshest tariffs for major trade partners, including the European Union and China.China demanded that the tariffs be “immediately cancelled” and vowed “countermeasures”, while France and Germany warned that the EU could hit US tech firms.But the 27-nation EU and other countries also showed willingness to negotiate as they refrained from immediate retaliatory measures, with almost a week until the harsher US levies take effect.Beijing said it was “maintaining communication” with Washington over trade issues, and EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic planned to speak with US counterparts on Friday.”Unjustified tariffs inevitably backfire,” Sefcovic posted on X. “We’ll act in a calm, carefully phased, unified way, as we calibrate our response, while allowing adequate time for talks. But we won’t stand idly by, should we be unable to reach a fair deal,” he added.However, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told CNN that Trump “made it clear yesterday (Wednesday) this is not a negotiation”.The tariff announcements rattled stock markets while safe haven gold hit a new record high, oil prices fell and the dollar slumped against other major currencies.”The last 24 hours have seen an historic transformation to the global trading system,” said Jim Reid, analyst at Deutsche Bank’s research arm.”There are some credibility issues over how the (tariff) calculations have been made and markets are already highlighting this, with the dollar index seeing its largest fall today since 2022,” Reid added.Wall Street’s main indexes opened deep in the red, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq sinking more than four percent and the broad-based S&P 500 shedding more than three percent.European stock markets were down sharply in afternoon trading, with Paris shedding three percent.In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 2.8 percent lower after paring back bigger losses. Hanoi shares dropped more than seven percent after Vietnam was targeted with tariffs of 46 percent.- ‘Treat us badly’ -Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called “nations that treat us badly.” That included an additional 34 percent on goods from China — bringing the new added tariff rate there to 54 percent.  The figure for the European Union was 20 percent, and 24 percent on Japan.For the rest, Trump said he would impose a “baseline” tariff of 10 percent, including on another key ally, Britain, which will come into effect on Saturday while the higher duties will kick in on April 9.The White House said Russia was spared because it is already under sanctions over its war in Ukraine which “preclude any meaningful trade”.Trump labelled Wednesday’s tariffs “reciprocal” but many experts say his administration’s estimates for levies placed on US imports by other countries are wildly exaggerated.Separate tariffs of 25 percent on all foreign-made cars also went into effect.Business lobbies voiced concerns about the impact of tariffs, which already prompted US-European automaker Stellantis, owner of Jeep, Chrysler and Fiat, to announce it would temporarily pause production at some Canadian and Mexican assembly plants.- ‘Catastrophe’ for economy -While economists say US consumers would be the first to pay the price from tariffs, Trump insisted on his Truth Social platform Thursday that the US economy would emerge “far stronger … than ever before”.French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said the tariffs were a “catastrophe” for the world economy but also “for the United States and for American citizens”.Germany said “everything was on the table” as it joined France in saying the EU could tax US tech giants.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country is a major exporter of cars to the United States, called the US tariffs “fundamentally wrong” but said Europe was open to further talks.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the tariffs are “not the act of a friend” but he said his country, which was hit by the lower 10 percent tariff, would not retaliate.Certain goods like copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber and gold will not be subject to the tariffs.Canada and Mexico are not affected by the new levies as Trump has already punished them for what he says is their failure to stymie drug trafficking and illegal immigration.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Trump’s duties “fundamentally change the global trading system”.burs-lth/gv