The daily business briefing: March 2, 2018

Trump announces tariffs that spark fears of a trade war, Kroger and L.L. Bean raise the minimum age for gun purchases, and more

A Kroger store in Michigan
(Image credit: AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

1. Trump announces steel and aluminum tariffs, raising trade war fears

President Trump announced Thursday that next week he will formally impose a tariff of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports. The news raised fears of a trade war, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a nosedive. It closed down by 420 points, or 1.7 percent. U.S. stock futures slid further early Friday. Treasury Department officials had been concerned about the market reaction during debates Wednesday night over announcing the tariffs. Thursday morning it appeared critics of the plan had temporarily stalled the declaration. Trump then made the announcement during a listening session. On Thursday, Trump tweeted the U.S. can't let itself be "taken advantage of any longer." On Friday he tweeted that "trade wars are good, and easy to win."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.