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Tariff fallout, Loomer power and a South Korean ouster

 
Today's GLOBAL TRADE story

Trump says tariffs 'going very well' as markets dive

What happened
Stock markets in the U.S. and around the world plummeted yesterday in response to the steeper-than-expected universal tariffs President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday. "Virtually every sector suffered big losses as U.S. financial markets closed with their biggest one-day drop since Covid-19 flattened the global economy five years ago," The Associated Press said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 1679, or 4%, while the Nasdaq fell 6% and the S&P 500 tumbled 4.8%. U.S. stocks "lost roughly $3.1 trillion in market value," The Wall Street Journal said.

Who said what
Trump told reporters yesterday he thought the tariff rollout was "going very well" and "the markets are going to boom." He suggested he would add new import taxes on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. The tariffs Trump has already announced would "lift the average duty above the previous peak of 1930," making it "by far the most disruptive component of an agenda that may be one of the most disruptive of any new president since the 1930s," the Journal said. 

Trump also "contradicted his top aides on the purpose" of the tariffs, "adding to the uncertainty over the trade war," The Washington Post said. Top trade advisers and White House internal talking points insisted the tariffs are not a starting point for negotiations, but Trump told reporters yesterday evening that "the tariffs give us great power to negotiate," adding, "Every country is calling us."

What next?
Wall Street traders "voted with their dollars" but "Republicans on Capitol Hill — who could use their own votes to stop the new tariffs cold — made clear they had no intention of acting anytime soon," Politico said. The bulk of the new tariffs take effect April 9, and "grocery shoppers are likely to feel the impact of the Trump administration's sweeping new tariffs before April is over," The New York Times said, starting with fresh produce, then "staples like sugar and coffee, which is already priced at a historic high," and clothing, electronics and cars.

 
 
Today's NATIONAL SECURITY story

Trump fires NSA head, NSC staff post-Loomer chat

What happened
President Donald Trump reportedly fired Gen. Tim Haugh, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, yesterday and sacked at least five National Security Council officials, a day after far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer had recommended the firings in a closed-door Oval Office meeting, according to Loomer and multiple White House officials.

Who said what
Trump confirmed Wednesday's meeting yesterday but "downplayed Loomer's influence on the firings," The Associated Press said. Loomer later "appeared to take credit." Haugh and his civilian deputy, Wendy Noble, "were "fired" because they "have been disloyal to President Trump," she said on X. "The NSC officials I reported to President Trump are disloyal people." 

Loomer brought to the Oval Office a "sheaf of papers attacking the character and loyalty of numerous NSC officials" and "vilified" several "by name," The New York Times said. Remarkably, Loomer, "viewed as extreme" even by some of Trump's "far-right allies," apparently wields "more influence over the staff of the National Security Council" than their embattled boss, Michael Waltz.

What next?
Lt. Gen. William J. Hartman, Haugh's deputy at Cyber Command, will reportedly serve as acting NSA director. Trump told reporters yesterday, en route to a golf gala in Miami, that  "we're letting go" of "people that we don’t like or people that we don't think can do the job or people that may have loyalties to somebody else."

 
 
Today's INTERNATIONAL Story

South Korea court removes impeached president

What happened
South Korea's Constitutional Court this morning unanimously upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol and removed him from office. Yoon's Dec. 3 declaration of martial law was a "grave betrayal of the people's trust" and a "serious challenge to democracy," acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae said from the bench. The National Assembly had quickly quashed the decree and impeached Yoon Dec. 14.

Who said what
When the verdict was announced, protesters supporting Yoon's ouster "reacted with hugs and screams," The New York Times said. At a rally of his supporters, "there was loud booing." The court "removed a major source of uncertainty," and "not a moment too soon," Leif-Eric Easley of Seoul's Ewha University told Reuters. The next president "must navigate North Korea’s military threats, China’s diplomatic pressure and Trump’s trade tariffs."

Yoon's conservative People Power Party said it "humbly" accepted the verdict. Yoon said he was "regretful and sorry that I could not live up to your expectations." Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the acting president, said he would do his "utmost to manage the next presidential election" and ensure a "smooth transition to the next administration."

What next?
"Deeply divided" South Korea "must now hold a presidential election within 60 days," The Associated Press said. Yoon, barred from office for five years, "may refuse to be ignored," as he would "strongly prefer a conservative president who could pardon him if convicted" of insurrection charges in a separate criminal trial.

 
 

It's not all bad

Nihal Tammana's nonprofit, Recycle My Battery, has kept more than 625,000 batteries out of landfills worldwide. The 15-year-old from New Jersey works with youth volunteers to place recycling bins in schools, businesses and libraries. The team also educates people on the environmental reasons why they should recycle rather than put their batteries in the garbage. "If I can make the Earth a better place to live, you can," Tammana said on his website.

 
 
Under the radar

South Africa's Constitutional Court recently rejected a bid to appeal a 2022 ruling that the apartheid-era song "Kill the Boer" does not "incite violence" but is a "historic struggle song." Billionaire Elon Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa but left before the end of apartheid, has repeatedly condemned the song as promoting "white genocide."

Following the high court's decision, the Black nationalist Economic Freedom Fighters party released a video of its leader, Julius Malema, singing the song at a political rally, prompting Musk to tweet his outrage at the "whole arena chanting about killing white people."

To its defenders, the protest song "commemorates the fight against apartheid and shouldn't be taken literally," said The Associated Press. Musk has railed against "Kill the Boer" multiple times over the years and even called for a boycott of The New York Times after it published an article in which South African historians defended the song.

For President Donald Trump, who cut off all funding for South Africa to protest alleged anti-white violence, "Kill the Boer" is one of several "political hotcakes" in the country he can use to stoke indignation within the MAGA movement, said Al Jazeera. Musk's and Trump's reactions to "Kill the Boer" have been noticeably "more extreme" than that of AfriForum, the Afrikaner rights group that lost the appeal application. AfriForum has declined to suggest any kind of "white genocide" is taking place in South Africa. "They have to paint within the lines," said historian Thula Simpson. "Trump and Musk, however, have no such limitations."

 
 
On this day

April 4, 1968

Civil rights icon Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis while standing on a motel balcony. King's death caused widespread outrage and rioting in Black communities, but it also galvanized further civil rights advancements, including passage of the Fair Housing Act a week later. Today, the Lorraine Motel is the site of the National Civil Rights Museum.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

"Onslaught of tariffs ripples across globe," The Washington Post says on Friday's front page. "Stocks suffer steepest slide since 2020", as Donald Trump "looks to the past to remake the economy," The Wall Street Journal says. With his "tariff shock waves," Trump is "turning longtime grievance into emergency," The New York Times says. "Confusion over what president aims to achieve," the Los Angeles Times says. "Suspected tornadoes" and deadly "storms ravage West Tennessee" and other parts of the South and Midwest, The Commercial Appeal says. "Experts predict 'above-average' storm season," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Foiled again

A robotic submersible has found something deep in Loch Ness — but not the famous rumored monster. While undergoing trials, the National Oceanography Center's Autosub found a Nessie-hunting camera trap, believed to be one of six placed there in 1970 by the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau. The camera snapped four pictures when the bait line was taken, and those images and the trap will soon be displayed at the Loch Ness Center in Drumnadrochit, Scotland.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Joe Raedle / Getty Images; Julia Beverly / Getty Images; Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images; Saul Loeb / Getty Images