Israel executing ‘genocidal war’ against Palestinians, Qatar tells ICJ
NewsFeed A senior Qatari diplomat told the International Court of Justice that Israel is conducting a “genocidal war against the Palestinian people” and weaponising humanitarian aid. He joined a long list of representatives from governments across the world condemning Israeli actions in its war on Gaza. Published On 1 May 20251 May 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
US Senate rejects bid to block Trump’s tariffs
Three Republican senators join Democrats in voting for resolution to oppose US president’s trade policy. The United States Senate has rejected an effort to block US President Donald Trump’s tariffs amid bipartisan concerns about the impact of his trade salvoes on the economy. The upper house of the US Congress voted 49-49 to knock back the resolution on Wednesday, hours after government data showed that the US economy shrank for the first time in three years. Three Republican senators – Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – voted for the measure in a rare rebuke of Trump from within his own party, along with all present Democrats and Independents. “The United States Senate cannot be an idle spectator in the tariff madness,” Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, who represents Oregon, said ahead of the vote. “The Congress has the power to set tariffs and regulate global trade.” The resolution was widely viewed as a symbolic gesture since it was unlikely to have gained traction in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and would ultimately be subject to Trump’s veto power. Advertisement “It’s still a debate worth having, because, you know, if a month from now, we have massive tariffs go on, and we have a massive sell off in the stock market, and we didn’t have a first good quarter in growth, and if it’s worse again in the second quarter, people would start asking, ‘Is it good policy, or is it a bad policy?’” Paul, who co-sponsored the resolution, said of the failed vote. Trump has played down fears that his sweeping tariffs, including a 145 percent duty on China, could tip the US into recession. The US Department of Commerce on Wednesday reported that the economy contracted 0.3 percent during the first three months of the year, a period that occurred before Trump imposed his steepest tariffs. A recession is typically defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Adblock test (Why?)
Lakers-Timberwolves: Gobert stars, knocks LeBron, Doncic out of playoffs
Rudy Gobert’s 27-point, 24-rebound game for Minnesota Timberwolves knocks Los Angeles Lakers out of the NBA playoffs. The Minnesota Timberwolves sent LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers tumbling out of the NBA playoffs at the first hurdle, producing a clinical 103-96 win to complete a 4-1 series victory. Minnesota’s French centre Rudy Gobert delivered a dominant display at both ends of the court on Wednesday, finishing with 27 points and 24 rebounds as the Lakers exited the postseason in the first round for the second straight year. The Wolves advance to a Western Conference semifinal showdown against the winner of Golden State’s series against the Houston Rockets. The Lakers, meanwhile, were left to reflect on another disappointingly short postseason campaign after a regular season that had built impressive momentum after the stunning trade for Luka Doncic in February. The Lakers’ failure to acquire an authentic defensive big after Anthony Davis’s departure to Dallas came back to haunt them on Wednesday as Gobert dominated around the rim. The Lakers – who had surged to third seed following Doncic’s arrival – were also found wanting offensively, with James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves making just five three-pointers between them. Advertisement “It feels great,” Gobert told TNT television after the win. “We had a season with ups and downs so to come here and play the way we did means a lot. “We just have a bunch of guys that want to win. And a lot of guys who have been through adversity throughout their career and their life and we love each other … all the things we went through throughout the season prepared us for this moment.” Gobert’s contribution was backed by 23 points from Julius Randle while Anthony Edwards added 15 points with 11 rebounds and eight assists. Doncic led the Lakers scoring with 28 points while Rui Hachimura chipped in with 23 points and James 22. The Los Angeles Lakers ‘Big-3’ of Luka Doncic #77, LeBron James #23 and Austin Reaves #15 bow out of the first round of the NBA playoffs in Game 5 of the Western Conference, first-round playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 30, 2025, at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California, US [Juan Ocampo/Getty Images via AFP] Rockets avoid elimination against Warriors In Wednesday’s other playoff game, Houston kept their series against Golden State alive with a 131-116 thrashing of the Warriors, narrowing the gap in their Western Conference series to 3-2. Fred VanVleet scored 26 points, Amen Thompson added 25 points and five steals and Dillon Brooks chipped in 24 for the Rockets, who led by as many as 31 points and were up by 29 when Warriors coach Steve Kerr waved the white flag, pulling Stephen Curry and the rest of his starters with 5:50 left in the third quarter. Advertisement With their season on the line after an agonising loss in a game-four thriller, the Rockets blasted out of the gate. They connected on 64.7 percent of their shots in the first quarter on the way to a 40-24 lead. VanVleet drilled three of Houston’s six first-quarter three-pointers and the Rockets made all 13 of their free throws in their opening period blitz. The Warriors looked powerless to respond, with Curry and Jimmy Butler failing to score in the opening quarter, and the team turned the ball over five times. Curry’s first basket was a three-pointer midway through the second quarter. But the Warriors could make few inroads in the face of Houston’s suffocating defence and the Rockets led 76-49 at halftime. Kerr said he had no qualms about pulling his starters in a potential clinching game, a decision that gave some rest to 37-year-old Curry – playing through a thumb injury – Draymond Green and Butler, who missed game three with a pelvic injury. They can still close out the series when they host game six on Friday. “We can’t come out with that lack of defensive focus and energy and expect to beat a great team on their home floor,” Kerr said. “They took it to us – they were awesome tonight.” Curry finished with 13 points and Butler scored eight for the Warriors. Moses Moody scored 25 points and led the Warriors reserves in a late comeback bid that saw them pull within 13 points with five minutes left. Then things got chippy again, with Warriors’ reserve Pat Spencer ejected for head-butting Houston centre Alperen Sengun – and the Rockets pulled away to close out the Game 5 win. Jalen Green #4 of the Houston Rockets looks to pass the ball between Gui Santos #15 and Kevon Looney #5 of the Golden State Warriors during the first half in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center on April 30, 2025 in Houston, Texas, US [Alex Slitz/Getty Images via AFP] Adblock test (Why?)
Meta, Microsoft report strong earnings despite trade war uncertainty
Tech giants beat Wall Street expectations after weeks of volatility in US stocks. Tech giants Microsoft and Meta posted better-than-expected results in the first quarter of the year, offering some reprieve to investors after months of turbulence unleashed by United States President Donald Trump’s trade war. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reported a net quarter profit of $16.64bn, or $6.43 per share, for the January–March period – up 35 percent year-on-year. Revenue rose 16 percent, ending at $42.31bn and higher than Wall Street expectations of about $41.4bn. Microsoft posted a net quarter profit of $25.8bn, or $3.46 per share, and up 18 percent year-on-year. The company’s revenue came to $70.1bn, up 13 percent year-on-year and ahead of analysts’ expectations. Both companies cited artificial intelligence (AI) as a major driver of growth, helping to ease investors’ concerns about a possible slowdown in demand for the burgeoning technology. Meta recently incorporated AI tools into its advertising business, its top source of revenue, while Microsoft reported strong growth in its cloud computing business. Advertisement Google’s parent company, Alphabet, which has also invested heavily in AI, last week reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue of $90.23bn. The results are a boost for the US tech sector, whose share prices have been on a rollercoaster ride since Trump returned to the White House on January 20. The market value of the top seven US tech companies – Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, Apple and Alphabet – plunged by 24 percent, or $4.2 trillion, in the first 100 days after Trump’s inauguration. Trump’s tariffs, including a 145 percent duty on China, have disrupted businesses and unnerved investors, who are anxiously awaiting his next moves following his announcement of a 90-day pause on so-called “reciprocal” duties targeting almost all countries. The US economy shrank 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2025, the US Department of Commerce said on Wednesday, adding to fears that the US is likely to tip into a recession this year. In an earnings call with investors, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Meta is “well-positioned to navigate the macroeconomic uncertainty” of recent months. The company also released a standalone AI app this week, MetaAI, and plans to spend between $64bn and $72bn on capital expenditure in 2025 to complete construction on data centres. Adblock test (Why?)
With song and seed, Brazil’s Indigenous Maxakali confront climate change
Maxakali territory once spanned at least three large valleys in the Atlantic Forest. Elders in the village remember how the forest supplied food, medicine and construction materials — in addition to serving as habitat for the yãmĩyxop, spiritual beings central to Maxakali beliefs. “There were medicines in the forest for us,” explained Damásio. “When we had stomachaches, we would use the bark from the trees to feel better. But now, it’s just grass. The farmers burned everything.” But the four remaining Maxakali reservations — reduced to 6,434 hectares (15,900 acres) of pasture — contain less than 17 percent of their original vegetation. Some experts consider the Atlantic Forest to be regionally extinct. That absence has many Maxakali leaders turning to reforestation — and finding in their musical traditions an ecological blueprint of the past. Manuel Damásio Maxakali tends to banana trees in Minas Gerais, Brazil [Sara Van Horn/Al Jazeera] Singing organises life in Maxakali villages: Music, for instance, is used to cure illness, teach history or transmit practical instructions, like how to make bags or weave fishing nets. “Songs tie together the whole Tikmũ’ũn social structure,” said de Tugny, the Hāmhi project coordinator, who is also a musicologist at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. “People don’t compose songs. They have songs.” To have a song, she added, means being capable of taking care of the spirit considered to be the song’s creator. Ancestral songs also provide an extremely detailed register of local ecology. Twelve musical canons, distinct in grammar and lexicon, total about 360 hours of song. Contained in the lyrics are hundreds of species of flora and fauna now extinct in the territory. “We sing about everything: the saplings, the bananas, ourselves,” explained Manuel Kelé, leader of the village of Água Boa. “Even dogs have a song within our religion.” Caretakers at the Hāmhi nursery tend to the growing trees and plants [Sara Van Horn/Al Jazeera] One song, for example, lists 33 species of bees, some of which don’t have names in Brazil’s national language, Portuguese, and only two of which are currently present in the territory. The lyrics supply information about bee behaviour that many Maxakali have never witnessed first-hand. “The songs are snapshots,” said de Tugny. “They are like photographs of every detail that exists in the Atlantic Forest: the names of insects, birds, plants, moments of relationship between an animal and a leaf. All these are registered.” For the Maxakali, ritual songs also play a crucial role in helping the forest regenerate. Singing is a daily part of their work in Hāmhi’s tree nurseries. Nursery caretakers not only sing to seeds as they are buried, but they also make music as part of the regular rhythms of harvesting and cultivation. Caretakers divide into groups, position themselves around the nursery, and sing in concert with each other. The song lyrics help participants remember the ecological knowledge of their ancestors. And while some of the work at Hāmhi is dedicated to planting fruit trees and other crops, the project’s leaders see reforestation as key to reducing the region’s fire risks. Song is an important part of the growing cycle in Maxakali culture [Sara Van Horn/Al Jazeera] Since its inception in 2023, the Hāmhi project has planted over 60 hectares (148 acres) of fruit trees and 155 hectares (383 acres) of Atlantic Forest vegetation. The goal is a reforested area nearly twice that size. Programme participants have also organised themselves into a provisional fire brigade and even created natural fire barriers, using traditional methods like planting species of fire-resistant vegetation. “Songs help the forest grow,” said Damásio, the village leader. “We ask those who have died to help us. They walk here and assist us. We are calling on the forest to grow back.” Adblock test (Why?)
Automakers suspend financial guidance amid tariff uncertainty
Several global automakers, including Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis, have joined Michigan-based General Motors and Volvo in suspending their respective annual financial guidance reports for investors amid growing tariff uncertainty. The announcements on Wednesday came even as US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to soften the blow of the auto tariffs that he had imposed earlier this month. “While we further assess the impact of the tariff policies on our North American operations, we look forward to our continued collaboration with the US administration to strengthen a competitive American auto industry and stimulate exports,” Stellantis board chairman John Elkann said in a statement. Stellantis said it was “suspending its 2025 financial guidance … due to evolving tariff policies, as well as the difficulty predicting possible impacts on market volumes and the competitive landscape.” This comes amid layoffs at Stellantis, a carmaker that houses 14 brands including Jeep, RAM Trucks, Dodge, Fiat, and Maserati. In April, it temporarily laid off 900 workers for two weeks and said at the time it was because of uncertainty about how Trump-imposed tariffs would affect its business. Advertisement Antonio Filosa, Stellantis’s chief operating officer for the Americas, said in a company-wide email that it would assess the medium- and long-term effects of these tariffs on its operations, but also have “decided to take some immediate actions”. The company reported a 14-percent drop in its first-quarter sales to $40.7bn (35.8bn euros) in its first-quarter earnings report released on Wednesday. Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmakers, reported big drops in their net profits over the same January-March period, before the US tariffs kicked in. Mercedes cited “volatility with regard to tariff policies” that meant business development could not be reliably forecast. Mercedes’s net profit plunged almost 43 percent in the first three months of the year to $1.9 bn (1.73 billion euros) Finance chief Harald Wilhelm said Mercedes still remains in a strong position, thanks to what he said was a strong position in profitable, top-end vehicles. “This, combined with a healthy balance sheet, provides a solid foundation to navigate our company through a period of geopolitical uncertainties,” he said. ‘Towards the lower end’ About 40 companies worldwide, across industries, have pulled or lowered their forward guidance in the first two weeks of the first-quarter earnings season, an analysis by the news agency Reuters showed. On Tuesday, social media giant Snap declined to offer future guidance, saying it was seeing a slowdown in ad spending and raised doubts about advertising budgets due to tariff impact, sending its stock down 15 percent on Wednesday. Advertisement Before the tariffs, European automakers were already facing slowing sales of electric cars and stiff competition from local rivals, as well as from Chinese EVs, for which it is a key market. Volkswagen, a 10-brand group that includes Audi, Skoda and Porsche, said its net profit fell 40.6 percent to $2.49bn (2.19 bn euros). For the rest of the year, the carmaker said that it expected business “towards the lower end” of its guidance, citing challenges including increased competition, more stringent emissions regulations and trade tensions. Speaking on a call for analysts and investors, Volkswagen’s finance chief Arno Antlitz said that it was “too early to say” if Volkswagen would step up manufacturing in the US to circumvent any tariffs. Volkswagen expects a profit margin of 5.5 to 6.5 percent for the coming year, but its guidance does not take into account changeable American tariffs. “It’s highly difficult to give a projection for the full year,” Antlitz said. UBS analyst Patrick Hummel wrote in a client note that the German group’s outlook did not “include any impact of US tariffs,” calling it “essentially a withdrawal of guidance”. In the United Kingdom, luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda announced that it was limiting shipments to the US, but it maintained its annual guidance as it reported a 13-percent drop in first-quarter revenue. Easing some tariffs Besides a 25-percent tariff on finished imported cars, the industry has also been affected by Trump’s 25-percent tariff on steel and aluminium. Advertisement Carmakers are also set to face new tariffs on foreign auto parts expected to take effect on May 3. Trump’s new policy means that a company would not face both a 25-percent levy for an imported vehicle and 25-percent on steel or aluminium. The importer would pay the higher of the two levies, but not both, a US Commerce Department official said. The other change is that companies that import parts for vehicles assembled in the US would be able to offset 3.75 percent of a vehicle’s list price in the first year and 2.5 percent in the second year. But analysts believe that this reprieve won’t necessarily work in practice as automakers face the effect tariffs will have on their business. “While this sounds good on paper (less bad then the original auto tariff slate), a US car with all US parts made in the US is a fictional tale not possible today and many factories/production hubs could take 4-5 years to build in the US … and this speaks to the massive frustration from the industry as the rules of the US tariff game are untenable in our view,” Wedbush Securities Dan Ives said in a note on Wednesday. Adblock test (Why?)
Columbia protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi released from US custody
A United States judge has ordered the release of Columbia University student and pro-Palestine protester Mohsen Mahdawi as a case challenging his deportation proceeds. In Burlington, Vermont, on Wednesday, US District Judge Geoffrey Crawford ruled Mahdawi could leave the Northwest State Correctional Facility, where he had been held since immigration officials arrested him earlier this month. Mahdawi walked out of the court with both hands in the air, flashing peace signs as supporters greeted him with cheers. As he spoke, he shared a message for President Donald Trump, whose administration has led a crackdown on student protesters who have denounced Israel’s war in Gaza. “I am not afraid of you,” Mahdawi said to Trump. He also addressed the people of Palestine and sought to dispel perceptions that the student protest movement was anything but peaceful. “We are pro-peace and antiwar,” Mahdawi explained. “To my people in Palestine: I feel your pain, I see your suffering, and I see freedom, and it is very soon.” Advertisement Mahdawi, a legal US resident who had been a leader in the protests at Columbia University, was detained on April 14 while attending a citizenship interview. Video of him being led away in handcuffs spread widely across social media. His arrest came as part of a wider push by the Trump administration to target visa holders and permanent residents for their pro-Palestine advocacy. Trump has also pressured top universities to crack down on pro-Palestine protests, in the name of combating anti-Semitism. Critics, however, say that rationale is an excuse to exert greater control over academia and stifle opposing views. Mohsen Mahdawi was just released on bail by a federal judge in Vermont. pic.twitter.com/sgtNyfeYmU — Katherine Franke (@ProfKFranke) April 30, 2025 What’s in the ruling? While the immigration case against Mahdawi will proceed, Judge Crawford ruled the student activist posed no flight risk and could be released to attend his graduation next month in New York City. It is possible the US government may appeal Mahdawi’s release, but the judge’s ruling allows him to leave the state of Vermont and fight his deportation from outside a detention facility. The Trump administration, however, had opposed his release. Its lawyers argued that Mahdawi’s detention was “constitutionally valid aspect of the deportation process”. Mahdawi’s lawyers have countered that his detainment treads on his constitutional rights to free speech. “Mohsen has committed no crime, and the government’s only supposed justification for holding him in prison is the content of his speech,” Lia Ernst, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who is representing Mahdawi, said in a statement following his release. Advertisement The Trump administration has taken the broad position that constitutional speech protections only apply to US citizens, a question that could eventually be decided by the US Supreme Court. In court filings, government lawyers have cited the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 as the legal basis for seeking Mahdawi’s deportation. A rarely used part of the law allows the US to deport foreign nationals “whose presence or activities in the United States” gives the secretary of state “reasonable ground to believe [they] would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences”. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has used that provision as the basis for seeking to deport Mahdawi and other pro-Palestinian student protesters. Israel is a critical ally of the US in the Middle East. Demonstrators in New York City carry placards that read ‘Free Mohsen’ to push for Mohsen Mahdawi’s release [File: Jeenah Moon/Reuters] Crackdown on advocacy Mahdawi was arrested weeks after fellow Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, also a US permanent resident. In early March, Khalil was likewise detained by immigration officials. The pair co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at the prestigious Ivy League university. Khalil has remained in immigration custody in Louisiana since his arrest outside his apartment. Earlier this month, an immigration judge ruled Khalil was indeed deportable, siding with government lawyers. In a two-page letter submitted to the court, Secretary of State Rubio had written that the 30-year-old should be removed from the US for his role in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States”. Advertisement The Trump administration has broadly portrayed nearly all forms of pro-Palestine advocacy as “anti-Semitic”, in what critics have called an effort to silence freedom of speech. Rubio provided no further evidence backing his claims against Khalil, and the student leader has been charged with no crime. Rubio’s letter nevertheless said that his department can revoke a permanent resident’s legal status even where their beliefs, associations or statements are “otherwise lawful”. On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that Khalil can move forward with a legal challenge to his arrest and detainment on the grounds that he was targeted for his political views. Both Mahdawi and Khalil have parallel court cases, one seeking reprieve from deportation and the other challenging the basis for their arrests. While in detention, Mahdawi had been visited by US Senator Peter Welch, a Democrat who has denounced the student’s arrest as “unjust” and antidemocratic. “I’m staying positive by reassuring myself in the ability of justice and the deep belief of democracy,” Mahdawi said at the time, according to a video posted on Welch’s X account. “This is the reason I wanted to become a citizen of this country, because I believe in the principles of this country.” Adblock test (Why?)
After deadly attack in Kashmir, what’s next for India and Pakistan?
India-Pakistan tensions grow after attack on tourists in disputed region of Kashmir. Tensions are growing between India and Pakistan after an attack killed 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir. As the exchange of accusations and gunfire continues, Kashmiris fear for what is to come. Adblock test (Why?)
Spain’s grid denies renewable energy to blame for massive blackout
REE says the outage cannot be blamed on Spain’s high share of renewable energy, cause not clear yet. Spain’s grid operator has denied that solar power was to blame for the country’s worst blackout, as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez faces increasing pressure to explain what went wrong. Red Electrica de Espana (REE) on Wednesday said the source of the outage had been narrowed down to two separate incidents of loss of generation in substations in southwestern Spain, but stressed that it was too early to draw conclusions, as it had yet to identify their exact location. REE’s head, former Socialist minister Beatriz Corredor, told Cadena SER radio that it was wrong to blame the outage on Spain’s high share of renewable energy. “These technologies are already stable, and they have systems that allow them to operate as a conventional generation system without any safety issues,” she said, adding she was not considering resigning. Life across the Iberian Peninsula was returning to normal after a power outage halted trains, shut airports and trapped people in lifts in Spain and Portugal on Monday. Advertisement Just before the system crashed, Spain’s solar energy accounted for 53 percent of electricity production, wind for almost 11 percent and nuclear and gas for 15 percent, according to REE data. Political opponents criticised Sanchez for taking too long to explain the blackout and suggested he was covering up for failings, after his left-wing coalition government invested in expanding the renewable energy sector. “Since REE has ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack, we can only point to the malfunctioning of REE, which has state investment and therefore its leaders are appointed by the government,” Miguel Tellado, a parliamentary spokesperson for the opposition conservative People’s Party, said in an interview on RTVE. Tellado called for an independent investigation to be conducted by Spain’s parliament rather than the government probe Sanchez has announced. The prime minister has not ruled out a cyberattack, although this has been dismissed by REE. Antonio Turiel, an energy expert at the state-owned Spanish National Research Council, told Onda Vasca radio station on Tuesday that the fundamental problem was the grid’s instability. “A lot of renewable energy has been integrated without the responsive stabilisation systems that should have been in place,” he said, adding that vulnerabilities stemmed from “the unplanned and haphazard integration of a host of renewable systems”. The government had forecast private and public investment of some 52 billion euros ($59bn) through 2030 to upgrade the power grid so it can handle the surge in demand from data centres and electric vehicles. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Trump blames predecessor as US economy hit by tariff policies
President asks for ‘patience’ as businesses react negatively to Trump’s aggressive efforts to upend global trade. United States President Donald Trump blames former president Joe Biden for the decline of key economic indicators during his first months as president, amid widespread disruptions caused by Trump’s tariff policies. The US economy contracted by 0.3 percent during the first quarter of the year, the first such drop in three years. During the last three months of 2024, the economy grew by 2.4 percent. “This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s,” Trump said in a post on his website Truth Social. “Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!” Since taking office, Trump’s efforts to upend the global trade system through a series of aggressive import duties have caused turmoil in financial markets amid fears of an escalating trade war and uncertainty surrounding the tariff policies. Advertisement The first quarter saw an uptick in imports, as US businesses seek to get out ahead of higher costs that could accompany future tariffs. Inflation, however, continues to ease. In March, consumer prices were 2.3 percent higher than they were a year earlier, compared with 2.5 percent in February. In a press release from the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt mirrored Trump’s claims that Biden was to blame for any turbulence while also stating that the Wednesday economic report showed “strong economic momentum”. “It’s no surprise the leftovers of Biden’s economic disaster have been a drag on economic growth, but the underlying numbers tell the real story of the strong momentum President Trump is delivering,” Leavitt said. Many economic analysts blame Trump’s chaotic approach to tariffs for the US’s flagging indicators. Since taking office, the S&P 500 has shrunk by about 7.3 percent. “If the blowout on trade was the result of firms pre-buying imported inputs to beat the tariffs, the decay in the trade balance will reverse in second quarter,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, told the news agency Reuters. “That will generate some GDP growth. However, corrosive uncertainty and higher taxes, tariffs are a tax on imports, will drag GDP growth back into the red by the end of this year.” In recent weeks, the White House has suggested that it could draw down tariffs with key US trading partners such as China, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stating last week that current rates were not “sustainable”. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)