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The International Monetary Fund downgraded growth in nearly all countries amid ongoing uncertainty from the Trump administration’s trade policy
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U.S. stocks ended the day higher on Tuesday after remarks by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that while any negotiations with China over Donald Trump’s tariffs may be a “slog,” he believes there will be a de-escalation of the current trade tensions, describing the situation as not sustainable.
Bessent’s comments were made at a closed-door event on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meetings and came the same day that the IMF warned the U.S. economy would be hit hardest by Trump’s aggressive tariffs plan.
In its forecast of global economic growth, the IMF dropped the U.S. from 2.7 percent to 1.8 percent for the year, while downgrading nearly all countries and shaving half a percentage point off global growth.
The White House continues to claim that trade agreements are being negotiated, with basic terms reportedly close to being agreed with Japan and India.
At a swearing-in ceremony for SEC chair Paul Atkins, Trump sought to allay market fears by saying the China tariffs will come down, and that he had no intention of firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, having previously said the opposite.
The Trump administration has submitted today’s court-ordered daily status report on Kilmar Abrego Garcia confidentially.
This is the first time that’s happened.
Judge Paula Xinis torches government attorneys once again, finding their refusals to answer questions from Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers “specious” and in “bad faith.”
Trump administration attorneys are ordered to come up with legal arguments to defend their “vague and unsubstantiated assertions of privilege” they’ve used as “a shield to obstruct discovery and evade compliance” with court orders.
“Defendants have known, at least since last week, that this Court requires specific legal and factual showings to support any claim of privilege. Yet they have continued to rely on boilerplate assertions. That ends now,” Xinis wrote.
Xinis also calls out the administration for its “continued mischaracterization of the Supreme Court’s Order” to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release.
The judge also notes that the government must provide some evidence to defend allegations that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13. “Defendants cannot invoke the moniker of MS-13 as responsive to the Court’s previous order … then object to follow-up interrogatories seeking the factual bases for the same,” Xinis wrote.
The government must answer questions from Abrego Garcia’s attorneys by 6 p.m. tomorrow night.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Tuesday to halt efforts to shut down Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, whose news broadcasts are funded by the government to export U.S. values to the world.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who is overseeing six lawsuits from employees and contractors affected by the shutdown of U.S. Agency for Global Media, ordered the administration to “take all necessary steps” to restore employees and contractors to their positions and resume radio, television and online news broadcasts.
USAGM placed over 1,000 employees on leave and told 600 contractors they would be terminated after the agency abruptly shut down the broadcasts in March.
The ruling was a “significant victory for press freedom,” said Andrew Celli, an attorney representing VOA employees in the lawsuits.
VOA was founded to combat Nazi propaganda at the height of World War Two, and has become a major international media broadcaster.
Congress has funded and authorized the broadcasts to provide an “accurate, objective, and comprehensive” source of news in other nations and export the “cardinal American values of free speech, freedom of the press, and open debate,” Lamberth wrote. Congress made the broadcasts mandatory and did not allow the executive branch to unilaterally terminate or defund them, he ruled.
Trump advisor Kari Lake announced the shutdown on March 15, placing nearly all USAGM employees on leave, saying the agency was “irretrievably broken” and biased against President Donald Trump.
Tesla delivered disappointing earnings just after the bell on Tuesday, missing Wall Street expectations.
“It is difficult to measure the impacts of shifting global trade policy on the automotive and energy supply chains, our cost structure and demand for durable goods and related services,” the company said in a letter to investors, adding it would be revisiting guidance in its Q2 update.
Michelle Del Rey has the details.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday conceded that the 154 percent tax Americans currently pay for most imported goods from China will come down as a result of trade talks between Washington and Beijing.
Speaking in the Oval Office after a brief swearing-in ceremony for Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins, Trump said talks with China were “doing fine” because “everybody wants to have involvement” in American markets.
Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, D.C.
A former top adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was accused of leaking sensitive information to the media, claims he was fired as part of an elaborate deep state plot.
Dan Caldwell, who was one of three officials escorted from the Pentagon last week, maintains that he was not responsible for the leaked information, which has since prompted calls for his former boss to be dismissed.
Speaking to Tucker Carlson on the conservative commentator’s podcast Monday, Caldwell instead suggested that the purge was linked to his loyalty to Hegseth and President Donald Trump.
James Liddell has the story.
President Donald Trump says he has “no intention” of firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, whom he appointed in his first term.
“None whatsoever. Never did,” says Trump, before again voicing his strong desire for Powell and the Fed to lower interest rates.
As recently as this afternoon, the White House reiterated Trump’s displeasure with Powell.
Fears over the independence of the Federal Reserve and Powell’s future have had a huge impact on the markets recently, causing big drops on Wall Street whenever Trump has criticized him.
Last week, Trump posted on Truth Social that Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough!”
Tuesday marks the 55th anniversary of the United States’ Earth Day movement. As the world continues to get hotter and hotter, each passing day is but another that could be used to combat the terrifying and existential threat of human-caused climate change.
Julia Musto reports from New York.
Florida Representative Byron Donalds faced hundreds of his constituents on Monday during a contentious town hall filled with boos, jeers, cheers and shouting – the latest Republican to field aggressive questioning in the public forum.
Donalds, a close ally of President Donald Trump, defended the administration’s policies and positions as he fielded confrontational questions about Elon Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency, the Israel–Hamas conflict, diversity, equity and inclusion, and more.
However, he struggled to get through answers as audience members interrupted him several times to boo or shout at him.
Ariana Baio has the story.
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Trump admin gives markets hope on China tariffs ‘de-escalation’: Live updates – The Independent
