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The New Yorker magazine, a staple of American literary and cultural life defined by its distinctive covers, long-form journalism, witty cartoons and particular grammar, is celebrating 100 years on newsstands.To mark the publication’s centenary milestone, four commemorative issues are being released, while its namesake city will host seven exhibitions ahead of a Netflix documentary on the title known for its artistic cover creations.Despite its storied history, the New Yorker often puts a mirror up to current events. Three founding fathers were shown on a recent cover design being marched out of office, carrying their effects in cardboard boxes in a satirical commentary on US President Donald Trump’s assault on the status quo.Francoise Mouly, the magazine’s artistic director, said the New Yorker was not immune from the crisis plaguing the media.”But I’m stubborn and I see the future with a lot of confidence and hope,” she said.Mouly has been one of the conductors of the New Yorker orchestra since 1993, selecting the cover that week after week lends the magazine its unique identity.”There are some printed products that will never be replaced by digital — children’s books, comics, and the New Yorker,” she told AFP at a recent exhibition showcasing the magazine’s art, held at New York’s Alliance Francaise cultural center.One example of cover art on display depicts a rush-hour subway scene in which all the passengers are animals, while another by Mouly’s husband Art Spiegelman shows a Black woman kissing a Hasidic man.That 1993 design, which followed clashes between the two communities in a Brooklyn neighborhood, stirred controversy at the time and remains one of the title’s most discussed covers.With more than 5,000 editions over the past century, the magazine has published literary greats like Truman Capote’s 1965 “In Cold Blood”, while also giving James Baldwin space to write about race relations.- ‘Incredibly successful’ -Ernest Hemingway, Susan Sontag and JD Salinger are among the authors to have graced the pages of the magazine which combines current affairs, analysis, fiction, reviews, criticism, poetry, and of course its legendary cartoons.Published weekly, the magazine has reported global scoops like the fullest account of the US atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, with the entirety of the August 31, 1946 edition given over to John Hersey’s article.In 1961 Hannah Arendt covered the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in the reporting of which she coined the phrase “the banality of evil.”In recent years the magazine won a Pulitzer Prize for Ronan Farrow’s reporting of predatory film mogul Harvey Weinstein, fuelling the “MeToo” movement.”These were all remarkable, long-form stories that really changed the course of American history, not just American journalism,” said Julie Golia, curator of an exhibition on the magazine at The New York Public Library.Founded on February 21, 1925, the New Yorker did not always have such lofty ambitions.At the height of the Jazz Age, amid post-war and pre-depression euphoria, husband and wife founders Harold Ross and Jane Grant set out to create “a magazine of wit and cosmopolitanism, an urbane magazine, but not one that took itself too seriously.”One hundred years on, it boasts 1.3 million subscribers, most of whom subscribe in both print and digital formats. It is a jewel in the crown of media group Conde Nast, which also publishes Vogue, Vanity Fair and GQ, having bought the New Yorker in 1985.Despite its highbrow image, the magazine has adapted to the digital age emphasizing subscriptions over advertising, editor-in-chief since 1998 David Remnick said in a recent radio interview.”The New Yorker is much more than those pages that people get in the mail,” said Golia.”It’s a website, it’s podcasts, it’s a festival, and it’s a brand (and) as a brand, it’s incredibly successful.”

NASA announced Tuesday the dismissal of its chief scientist and others to comply with orders from President Donald Trump, marking the latest in a series of administration actions undermining climate change research.While the move affects only 23 people, a spokeswoman indicated more cuts are coming.The first round notably eliminates the Office of the Chief Scientist, led by Katherine Calvin, a renowned climatologist who contributed to key UN climate reports. She and other US delegates were also barred from attending a major climate science meeting in China last month.”To optimize our workforce, and in compliance with an Executive Order, NASA is beginning its phased approach to a reduction in force, known as a RIF,” agency spokeswoman Cheryl Warner said.”A small number of individuals received notification March 10 they are a part of NASA’s RIF. If they’re eligible, those employees may opt to participate in the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, or VERA, or complete the RIF process.”Also eliminated are the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Branch of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.NASA has so far avoided the deep cuts affecting other agencies, reportedly due to last minute intervention by Jared Isaacman, Trump’s nominee for NASA chief. Isaacman, an e-payments billionaire and SpaceX customer, is seen as close to Elon Musk — Trump’s key advisor and architect of federal cost-cutting efforts.In February, NASA had been preparing to lay off around a thousand probationary employees. However, Isaacman reportedly asked for the cuts to be put on hold, according to Ars Technica. NASA has not explained the reversal.The new layoffs, first reported by NASA Watch citing an internal memo, could signal a shift away from research and toward exploration.Trump and Musk both support a human mission to Mars. In his State of the Union address last week, Trump declared the US would “plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond.”NASA plays a crucial role in climate research, operating a fleet of Earth-monitoring satellites, conducting airborne and ground-based studies, developing sophisticated climate models, and providing open-source data to researchers and the public.Trump, who has called climate change a “scam” and expressed disdain for the UN and climate science, has already pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement for a second time.Meanwhile, his administration has dismissed hundreds of employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the nation’s other key climate agency, with more cuts expected.

Donald Trump’s Department of Education said Tuesday it was slashing its staff numbers by almost half, the opening gambit in a plan to dismantle a department that right-wing Republicans have long detested.The move is the latest to roil the US federal government in the six weeks since the president returned to the White House pledging to drastically slim what he says is a flabby and inefficient bureaucracy, with thousands of employees across the country already fired.Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Fox News the decision to chop her staff — just five days after she started work — was a step toward fulfilling Trump’s order last month that she “put herself out of a job.” “His directive to me, clearly, is to shut down the Department of Education, which we know we’ll have to work with Congress, you know, to get that accomplished,” said McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment.”But what we did today was to take the first step of eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat.”Employees at the agency, which manages student loans, monitors achievements among learners and enforces civil rights, were locked out of their offices on Tuesday.”As part of the Department of Education’s final mission, the Department today initiated a reduction in force impacting nearly 50 percent of the Department’s workforce,” said a statement.- Congress -The department had around 4,100 employees when Trump took office.Almost 600 agreed to resign or retire over the last few weeks as part of a government-wide plan to reduce headcount, overseen by billionaire businessman Elon Musk.A further 1,300 will be placed on administrative leave on March 21, although they will continue to be paid until June, a statement said, adding that no area would be spared the cuts.”All divisions within the Department are impacted by the reduction, with some divisions requiring significant reorganization to better serve students, parents, educators, and taxpayers,” a statement read.However, it said, statutory programs would continue unabated, such as student loans, Pell Grants and funding for students with special needs.Trump promised to decentralize education as he campaigned for a return to the White House, saying he would devolve the department’s powers to state governments.Traditionally, the federal government has had a limited role in education in the United States, with only about 13 percent of funding for primary and secondary schools coming from federal coffers, the rest being funded by states and local communities. But federal funding is invaluable for low-income schools and students with special needs. And the federal government has been essential in enforcing key civil rights protections for students. By law, the Education Department, created in 1979, cannot be shuttered without the approval of Congress.But Democrats and opponents of the plan see defunding it and firing staff as a way to neutralize it without the need to seek approval from the House and the Senate.Democratic Senator Patty Murray, a former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, accused Trump of demolishing the agency.”Families want help to get students’ math and reading scores up and ensure their kids can thrive. Instead, Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to the Department of Education and robbing our students and teachers of the resources and support they need, so that Republicans can pay for more massive tax cuts for billionaires,” said a statement.   “Fewer teachers, less accountability, less resources for students, and more chaos — it’s the last thing students and schools need, but it’s exactly what Trump is delivering.”  

President Donald Trump sought to boost plummeting Tesla share prices Tuesday by briefly turning the White House into a showroom, announcing he was buying one of the electric cars made by close advisor Elon Musk and threatening anti-Musk protesters with “hell.”The unprecedented product endorsement by a sitting president came after Tesla shares cratered amid market fears spurred by Trump’s tariffs and backlash to Musk’s controversial role in slashing the US government.Despite his troubles, Musk still announced that he plans to double Tesla production in the United States in the next two years.”I said, ‘you know, Elon, I don’t like what’s happening to you, and Tesla’s a great company,'” Trump told reporters while stood alongside Musk, his top donor, in front of a red Tesla on the White House south portico.”He has never asked me for a thing, and he’s built this great company, and he shouldn’t be penalized because he’s a patriot,” Trump continued.On returning to the White House in January, Trump gave Musk the task of slashing government spending and headcounts running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But DOGE’s cost-cutting has hit increasing resistance, including protests, court rulings and some pressure from lawmakers. The turmoil has tarnished the Tesla brand, with sales plummeting in Europe, its share price tumbling and multiple reports of cars being vandalized. Unhappy Tesla owners have even slapped bumper stickers on their vehicles saying they purchased them “before Elon went crazy.”Trump warned of a crackdown on protesters.Asked by a reporter if protesters should be “labeled domestic terrorists,” Trump said “I’ll do it.””You do it to Tesla and you do it to any company, we’re going to catch you and you’re going to go through hell,” he said.Musk said that thanks to Trump’s “great policies” and “as an act of faith in America” that Tesla would double vehicle output in the United States within two years.Musk also said that production would start in Texas next year of a self-driving “cyber-cab” vehicle that will not have a steering wheel or pedals. “It’ll either self drive or not drive at all, but it’ll self drive,” he commented.Trump posted on his Truth Social platform earlier that he would buy a Tesla “as a show of confidence and support” for Musk.”To Republicans, Conservatives, and all great Americans, Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!,” Trump wrote.He called the South African-born Musk “a truly great American”.Musk, the world’s richest person, responded on his X platform, thanking the president.- Tesla shares recover -While Musk enjoys Trump’s confidence, polling shows the multi-billionaire is deeply unpopular among ordinary Americans, and his government cuts have sparked angry confrontations between Republicans and their constituents.Tesla has lost more than one-third of its market value since mid-December as Musk deepens his association with Trump.But the automaker’s share prices rallied Tuesday after closing more than 15 percent down on Monday, amid uncertainty over Trump’s import tariffs and threats.Tesla has also seen sales drop across Europe following Musk’s controversial support for far-right groups, including the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party during Germany’s recent election campaign.Tesla sales in Germany — Europe’s biggest auto market — plunged more than 76 percent year-on-year in February, official data showed. Overall sales across the European Union almost halved, year-on, in January.In early March, a dozen Teslas were torched at a dealership in France in what authorities treated as an arson attack. The firm’s facilities have also been vandalized in the United States. Musk said his X platform was hit Monday by a major cyberattack.

The US House of Representatives approved a stopgap plan Tuesday to avert a government shutdown that would pile more pain on the economic chaos marring President Donald Trump’s early weeks in office.The Republican-led chamber agreed in a largely party-line vote to keep the government funded through September 30 — giving Trump the summer months to steer his agenda of tax cuts, mass deportations and boosted energy production through Congress.The drama now moves to the Republican-led Senate, which needs to provide its own rubber stamp before Friday night’s midnight shutdown deadline.But the bill needs Democratic votes and is on a knife edge.”Now it’s decision time for Senate Democrats: cast a vote to keep the government open or be responsible for shutting it down,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, laying down the gauntlet for the upper chamber minority.Passing the first hurdle marks a big win for Johnson, who had to sell the package to backbenchers skeptical of stopgaps — known as continuing resolutions (CRs) — which mostly freeze spending rather than making cuts.The threat of a weekend shutdown comes with Wall Street reeling from Trump’s trade war and radical cuts to federal spending that have seen tens of thousands of layoffs.Traders had initially reacted with optimism to the Republican billionaire’s election, but growing fears that his tariffs will reignite inflation and spark a recession have led to a three-week market sell-off. If the Senate fails to follow the House, there will be more economic misery as the government grinds to a halt, potentially leading to tens of thousands of public employees being furloughed as federal agencies shutter.Senate Democrats are mostly opposed to the 99-page CR, which would drop domestic spending by about $13 billion while increasing defense spending by about $6 billion.Republicans call it a “clean” CR, but critics counter that it is full of partisan ideological add-ons that make it a non-starter.Among the most contentious is a provision surrendering congressional authority to block any Trump tariffs imposed under emergency economic powers.  That authority allows any member to force a vote to terminate the levies. – ‘Slush fund’ -There are cuts totaling billions of dollars from a program for veterans exposed to Agent Orange and toxic burn pits, as well as from research into medical conditions from cancer and Alzheimer’s to heart disease. There are also economies running to hundreds of millions of dollars in nuclear non-proliferation programs, rural broadband, food inspections, rent subsidies and election security funding.The latest funding fight comes with Trump pushing unprecedented federal firings as he begins unilaterally shrinking or shuttering agencies from USAID to the Department of Education.   The drive is being spearheaded by Trump aide Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, who has enraged much of the country and Congress — including Republican lawmakers — with his seemingly haphazard approach.While Musk enjoys Trump’s confidence, polling shows he is deeply unpopular with voters, and his cuts have sparked angry confrontations between Republicans and their constituents at town halls.”House Republicans are not trying to responsibly fund the government,” said Patty Murray, the top Senate Democrat in the funding negotiations. “They are trying to turn it into a slush fund for Trump and Musk to wield as they see fit so they can shift their focus entirely to tax cuts for billionaires.”Congress needs a CR because it is so evenly split that it has been unable to approve the 12 separate bills that allocate full 2025 budgets for various federal agencies.In the Senate, Democrats are under pressure to offer strong opposition to Trump’s agenda but are wary of blocking the CR, fearing that they would be blamed for the resulting shutdown.Republicans have to clear anything the House passes by a 60-vote threshold, and one conservative has indicated he will be a no, meaning Majority Leader John Thune needs the support of at least eight Democrats.

The United States’ top transportation official expressed outrage Tuesday that aviation regulators had failed to notice a high risk of collisions at Washington’s airport prior to a deadly crash earlier this year.In that January 29 tragedy, a passenger plane preparing to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport, known as DCA, collided with a US Army helicopter flying along a designated air corridor.A total of 67 people died and there were no survivors in the worst US air disaster in two decades.”Does it piss me off? Yes,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told a press conference. “The data was there, it wasn’t effectively analyzed. To see that we had this kind of risk at DCA makes me angry.”Duffy blamed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the disaster.”How did they not study the data to say, ‘Hey, this is a hot spot. We’re having near misses, and if we don’t change our way, we’re going to lose lives.’ That wasn’t done,” he added.His comments came shortly after the National Transportation Safety Board published a preliminary report on the accident.NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said helicopters should be barred from that corridor when planes are planning to use the runway, known as number 33, that the American Eagle Bombardier CRJ-700 jet was headed for that day.The plane and helicopter ended up colliding and plunging into the cold waters of the Potomac River.US authorities have already temporarily banned helicopter flights at the airport because of the accident. But the NTSB is now recommending that this be made permanent for part of that particular helicopter corridor, known as Route 4.Homendy told a news conference the two routes had a separation of just 76 feet (23 meters) and that was insufficient.Reagan National is located in the heart of metropolitan Washington, a few miles from the White House and just across the river in Virginia, and helicopter flights over the city are common.Homendy said the probe has determined that between October 2021 and December 2024 there were 85 recorded incidents near the airport in which a plane and a helicopter had a lateral separation of less than 1,500 feet (460 meters) and vertical separation of less than 200 feet (60 meters).The FAA, she said, “could have used that information any time to determine that we have a trend here and a problem here, and looked at that route.”Homendy added that despite repeated warnings in recent years, “that didn’t occur, which is why we’re taking action today.””It shouldn’t take tragedy to require immediate action,” Homendy said.The probe of the January collision remains ongoing and it could take a year for a final report to come back.So far it has determined that faulty instruments and communication problems may have caused the accident.

Ukraine endorsed an American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and agreed to immediate negotiations with Russia in crunch talks in Jeddah on Tuesday after three years of grinding war.The positive response from Ukraine prompted President Donald Trump’s administration to lift a freeze on military aid and to predict the beginning to an end of the conflict.With Trump stunning allies by applying intense pressure on Kyiv and reaching out to Moscow, Ukrainian officials came to talks in Saudi Arabia eager to make up and had proposed a partial truce on air and sea attacks.Trump’s advisors pressed for more and said Ukraine agreed to their proposal for a full month-long ceasefire in a war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.”Today we made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a ceasefire and into immediate negotiations,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters after around nine hours of talks in an ornate hotel in Jeddah.”We’ll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope they’ll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court.”If they say no then we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here,” Rubio said of Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour in February 2022.Rubio said the United States would immediately resume military assistance and intelligence sharing it had cut off to pressure its wartime partner following a disastrous February 28 meeting between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky.In Washington, Trump said he was ready to welcome Zelensky back to the White House and may speak to President Vladimir Putin this week.Asked by a reporter about the prospects of a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump answered: “Well, I hope it will be over the next few days, I’d like to see.”I know we have a big meeting with Russia tomorrow and some great conversations hopefully will ensue.” In a joint statement, Ukraine and the United States said they would conclude “as soon as possible” a deal securing US access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, which Trump demanded as compensation for billions of dollars in US weapons under his predecessor Joe Biden.Zelensky was supposed to sign the deal at the White House before the dramatic on-camera showdown, in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance dressed down the wartime leader and accused him of ingratitude.Zelensky quickly thanked Trump over the “positive” ceasefire proposal made in Jeddah and said the United States must now work to persuade Russia.”The American side understands our arguments, perceives our proposals, and I want to thank President Trump for the constructive conversation between our teams,” Zelensky said in his evening address.- Russia must respond ‘clearly’ -Since the US cutoff of aid and intelligence sharing, Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and seized back land in Russia’s Kursk region which Ukrainian forces had infiltrated.Hours before the Jeddah talks, Ukraine staged a major direct attack on Moscow, with hundreds of drones slamming into the capital and other areas, leaving three people dead.Top Zelensky aide Andriy Yermak said in Jeddah that Ukraine had made clear that its desire is peace.”Russia needs to say, very clearly, they want peace or not, they want to end this war, which they started, or no,” Yermak told reporters.Trump’s abrupt shift on Ukraine following Biden’s strong support has rattled European allies, with France and Germany increasingly speaking of developing common European defence if the United States no longer offers its security guarantees through NATO.But Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security advisor, countered that the brash president has “literally moved the entire global conversation” in support of peace.”We’ve gone from if the war is going to end to how the war is going to end,” Waltz told reporters alongside Rubio.Waltz, who said he would speak in the coming days with his Russian counterpart, credited the Ukrainians with agreeing on the need to “end the killing, to end the tragic meat-grinder of people and national treasure”.- Allies cautious -Rubio will head on Wednesday to Canada — another country with which Trump is feuding — to meet fellow foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrial democracies.Rubio has said he will push the G7 to avoid “antagonistic” language about Russia for fear of scuttling diplomacy.French President Emmanuel Macron, who has mulled European forces in Ukraine as part of any deal, on Tuesday hailed the “progress” made in the Jeddah talks but insisted that Kyiv needs “robust” security guarantees in any ceasefire.Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the deal a “remarkable breakthrough” while Italy’s Giorgia Meloni said now the ceasefire “decision is up to Russia”.In Poland, a top supporter of Ukraine and where historical memories of Russia run deep, Prime Minister Donald Tusk praised the “important step towards peace” by the United States and Ukraine.Even if Russia agrees to a ceasefire, much remains uncertain in negotiations. Ukraine has pressed for security guarantees, but Trump, in another shift from Biden, has ruled out NATO membership.burs-sct/kir/bc/bfm

The US House of Representatives approved a stopgap plan Tuesday to avert a government shutdown that would pile more pain on the economic chaos marring President Donald Trump’s early weeks in office.The Republican-led chamber agreed in a largely party-line vote to keep the government funded through September 30 — giving Trump the summer months to steer his agenda of tax cuts, mass deportations and boosted energy production through Congress.The drama now moves to the Senate, which will still need to provide its own rubber stamp before Friday night’s midnight shutdown deadline, but the bill’s prospects in the upper chamber are on a knife edge.Republicans were nevertheless jubilant, praising Speaker Mike Johnson, who had to sell the package to backbenchers skeptical of stopgaps — known as continuing resolutions (CRs) — which mostly freeze spending rather than making cuts.The threat of a weekend shutdown comes with Wall Street reeling under Trump’s trade war and radical cuts to federal spending that have seen tens of thousands of layoffs.Traders had initially reacted with optimism to the Republican billionaire’s election, but growing fears that his tariffs will reignite inflation and spark a recession have led to a three-week market sell-off. If the Senate fails to follow the House, there will be more economic misery as the government grinds to a halt, potentially leading to tens of thousands of public employees being sent home without pay as federal agencies shutter.Democrats are mostly opposed to the 99-page CR, which would drop domestic spending by about $13 billion while increasing defense spending by about $6 billion.Republicans call it a “clean” CR but Democrats counter that it is full of partisan ideological add-ons that make it a non-starter.Among the most contentious is a provision surrendering congressional authority to block Trump’s tariffs, which were imposed under emergency economic powers, meaning any member can force a vote to terminate them.- ‘Mad king’ -There are cuts totaling billions of dollars from a program for veterans exposed to Agent Orange and toxic burn pits, as well as from research into medical conditions from cancer and Alzheimer’s to heart disease. There are also economies running to hundreds of millions of dollars in nuclear non-proliferation programs, rural broadband, food inspections, rent subsidies and election security funding.Illinois Democrat Sean Casten accused Republicans of “strapping on the ball gag (and) climbing into Trump’s dungeon.””This is what you do to cower before a mad king,” he posted on X. “It is not what you do if you are defending a constitutional democracy.”The latest funding fight comes with Trump pushing unprecedented federal firings as he begins unilaterally shrinking or shuttering agencies from USAID to the Department of Education.   The drive is being spearheaded by Trump aide Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, who has enraged much of the country and Congress — including Republican lawmakers — with his seemingly haphazard approach.While Musk enjoys Trump’s confidence, polling shows he is deeply unpopular with voters, and his cuts have sparked angry confrontations between Republicans and their constituents at town halls.The White House marshalled its big guns — from Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Vice President JD Vance to Trump himself — to work the phones and meet would-be dissidents ahead of the House vote. Congress needs a CR because it is so evenly split that it has been unable to approve the 12 separate bills that allocate full 2025 budgets for various federal agencies.In the Senate, Democrats are under pressure to offer strong opposition to Trump’s agenda but are wary of blocking the CR, fearing that they would be blamed for the resulting shutdown.Republicans have to clear anything the House passes by a 60-vote threshold, and one conservative has indicated he will be a no, meaning Majority Leader John Thune needs the support of at least eight Democrats.

Global stock markets extended losses on Tuesday as US President Donald Trump waffled on the size of tariffs he will levy on Canadian steel, aggravating concerns his trade policies could push the United States toward recession.In New York, the Dow index of blue-chip stocks closed down 1.1 percent while the broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.8 percent.The tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 0.2 percent, though Tesla and Amazon staged rebounds a day after the index closed four percent lower in its worst session since 2022.Europe’s main indices ended the day in the red, as did most in Asia.”Markets are jittery and volatility seems like the only certainty while the White House pushes hard to usher in a new era, seemingly happy for stock markets to be collateral damage,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.Traders had initially welcomed Trump’s election win in late 2024, optimistic that his promised tax cuts and deregulation would boost the world’s biggest economy and help equities push to further record highs.But there is growing concern that tariffs against key trading partners will reignite inflation, forcing the Federal Reserve to again start raising interest rates and triggering a recession.Since taking office in January, Trump has announced sweeping tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China, though he had allowed a partial and temporary rollback for the two US neighbors.Tariffs on steel and aluminum are due to take effect on Wednesday, affecting a wide range of producers from Brazil to South Korea and the European Union.Trump announced earlier in the day that he was doubling the tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50 percent, in response to the Canadian province of Ontario imposing of a 25 percent surcharge on electricity exports to three US states.But by the afternoon, the plan had been binned, with Canada facing only a 25 percent tariff after midnight as originally planned.Analysts said investors were also concerned that Trump appears more willing to see stock markets fall than during his first term in office, after he said the economy was facing “a period of transition” and refused to rule out the risk of recession.”The problem for markets is that this is a man-made crisis,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at the trading platform XTB.Trump’s “‘bull in a china shop’ approach to economic policy has spooked investors. The question is, will it continue to spook consumers, the life blood of the US economy,” she said.- Oil sees slight rebound -Investors will also keep a close eye on US consumer inflation data on Wednesday, as it could influence the Fed’s next move.Oil prices began a slight rebound after dropping more than one percent Monday on worries about demand as US recession speculation builds. However, both main contracts remain down around eight percent for the year so far.In company news, shares in Volkswagen dipped 0.1 percent as the German auto giant geared up for another tricky year after posting a sharp loss in annual profits for 2024.Tesla was up 3.8 percent and Amazon gained 1.1 percent after plunging the previous day, but tech heavyweight Apple extended its losses as it fell 2.9 percent.- Key figures around 2100 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 1.1 percent at 41,433.48 points (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.8 percent at 5,572.07 (close)New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 0.2 percent at 17,436.10 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.2 percent at 8,495.99 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 1.3 percent at 7,941.91 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 1.3 percent at 22,328.77 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 36,793.11 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: FLAT at 23,782.14 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 3,379.83 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0915 from $1.0836 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2954 from $1.2878Dollar/yen: UP at 147.70 yen from 147.26 yenEuro/pound: UP at 84.26 pence from 84.13 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.3 percent at $66.25 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $69.56 per barrelburs-rl-bfm/st

The United States and Canada traded angry tariff warnings Tuesday, as trade tensions soared and President Donald Trump doubled down on provocative plans to annex his country’s northern neighbor.Despite a compromise arising after a day of threats and counter-threats, Canada and other US trading partners will still be hit at midnight by a blanket 25 percent levy imposed on all steel and aluminum imports.The move comes with “no exceptions or exemptions,” a White House spokesperson told AFP.The steel and aluminum levies threaten to affect everything from electronics to vehicles and construction equipment — and have manufacturers scrambling to find cost-effective domestic suppliers.Early Tuesday, Trump threatened to double the rate on imports of both metals from Canada, after its province of Ontario imposed an electricity surcharge on three US states.Canadian Prime Minister-elect Mark Carney, in turn, vowed that his incoming administration would hit back with “maximum impact.”But Ontario has since halted the surcharge after talks with Washington.Wall Street stocks slumped for a second straight day after major indexes fluctuated over Trump’s tariff threats.Ontario Premier Doug Ford, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are set to meet in Washington Thursday “to discuss a renewed USMCA ahead of the April 2 reciprocal tariff deadline,” according to a US-Canada joint statement.This refers to a North American trade pact that also includes Mexico.Canada, historically among the closest US allies, had been facing aggressive rhetoric and found itself the target of Trump’s ire on trade — alongside unprecedented questioning of and threats to its sovereignty.Canada supplies half of US aluminum imports and 20 percent of US steel imports, says industry consultant EY-Parthenon.- Electricity, autos -On Tuesday, Trump said on Truth Social that if Canada uses electricity as a bargaining chip “they will pay a financial price for this so big that it will be read about in History Books for many years to come!”He also threatened to boost tariffs on cars from April 2, saying this would “essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”Trump has vowed reciprocal levies as soon as April 2 to remedy trade practices Washington deems unfair, raising the potential for more products and trading partners to be specifically targeted.Reacting to Trump’s announcement on MSNBC, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the US president made “an unprovoked attack on our country, on families, on jobs.”Trump, meanwhile, backed up his tariff threats by saying again that Canada should be absorbed.The “only thing that makes sense” is for Canada to join the United States as a 51st state, he said. “This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.”- Costs and opportunities -Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said on X that Trump’s tariff threats on Canada would be “a self-inflicted wound to the US economy that we cannot afford, at a moment when recession risks are rising.”Trump, however, played down fears over the economy, saying he does not see a recession coming while dismissing losses on Wall Street.If some companies were bracing for a damaging period of higher production costs, others sensed an opportunity.Drew Greenblatt, owner of Baltimore-based metal product manufacturer Marlin Steel, said incoming levies on imported steel have already boosted his new orders.”We only use American steel, so we’re thrilled with the tariffs,” he told AFP, adding that these helped him gain an edge over a competitor.For Robert Actis, whose firm makes stucco netting used in construction, the expanded scope of incoming levies is a relief.Currently, a business like his imports wire for manufacturing, facing added tariff costs. But foreign-made finished products could enter the US market.With incoming levies covering a range of finished metal products too, Actis said this levels the playing field.But higher import costs will likely ripple through the economy.A major US maker of steel products warned American steel prices would surge to match the elevated costs of foreign goods.Supply constraints nudge prices up too, making items like nails, for example, more expensive as much of their cost is in original steel.Purchasers in industries like homebuilding would therefore end up spending more and could pass costs to consumers, making homes less affordable.