Business

(NEW YORK) — Hiring data to be released on Friday will offer a gauge of the nation’s economic health, just a day after President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs triggered a major stock selloff.

The jobs report, which details employer activity in March, is set to provide a snapshot of staff cuts imposed by the federal government last month amid cost-cutting efforts undertaken by the Department of Government Efficiency.

The fresh data may also offer clues about possible fallout from a previous round of tariffs imposed on Mexico, Canada and China at the outset of March.

Economists expect the U.S. to have added 140,000 jobs in March. That figure would mark a slight slowdown from hiring in the previous month, but it would still amount to solid job growth.

Despite escalating trade tensions and market turbulence since Trump took office in January, the economy remains in solid shape by several key measures.

The unemployment rate stands at a historically low level. Meanwhile, inflation sits well below a peak attained in 2022, though price increases register nearly a percentage point higher than the Fed’s goal of 2%.

“The economy is strong,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., last month.

Tariffs announced earlier this week, however, threaten to derail hiring and worsen inflation, multiple analysts previously told ABC News.

The far-reaching levies increase the likelihood of a recession by driving up prices, sapping consumer spending, slowing business activity and risking layoffs, they said.

The White House plans to slap a 10% tax on all imported products and place additional duties on items from some of the largest U.S. trading partners, including China and the European Union.

“​​These policies, if sustained, would likely push the U.S. and global economy into recession this year,” J.P. Morgan said in a note to clients after the tariff announcement.

“Recession risks will likely rise,” Deutsche Bank added.

U.S. stocks plunged on Thursday in the first trading session after Trump unveiled the new tariffs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 1,679 points, or nearly 4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined almost 6%.

The S&P 500 tumbled 4.8%, marking its worst trading day since 2020.

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(NEW YORK) — Stock markets continued their slide on Friday morning, as the shockwaves of President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs continued to reverberate around the globe.

U.S. stock futures slipped further, with Dow Jones futures plummeting nearly 1,100 points — or 2.68% — on Friday morning. S&P 500 futures slid 137.5 points or 2.53% and NASDAQ futures were down 510.25 points or 2.73%.

Global markets gave early signals of the difficult to come on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei index lost 3.5% on Friday, while the broader Japanese Topix index fell 4.45%.

In South Korea, the KOSPI index was down 1.7%, with the country grappling with both Trump’s tariffs and the news that South Korea’s Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Indian investors joined the sell-off on Friday, with the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex indexes both falling more than 1%. India’s stock markets had previously performed better than others thanks to lower tariffs than competitors like China, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Australia’s S&P/ASX, meanwhile, continued its slide into Friday with another 2% drop taking the index to an 8-month low.

In Europe, too, stock markets fell upon opening. Britain’s FTSE 100 index dropped more than 1%, Germany’s DAX fell 0.75%, France’s CAC lost 0.9% and Spain’s IBEX slipped 1.4%.

Trump’s Wednesday announcement of tariffs on nearly all American trade partners sent U.S. and foreign markets alike into a tailspin.

All three major American stock markets closed down on Thursday, marking their worst day since June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NASDAQ fell 6%, the S&P 500 4.8% and the Dow Jones nearly 4%.

Major companies were among those struggling. Nike plummeted 14% while Apple fell 9%. E-commerce giant Amazon slid nearly 9%.

Shares fell for each of the other so-called “Magnificent Seven,” a group of large tech firms that helped drive stock market gains in recent years.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, dropped nearly 9%. Chipmaker Nvidia slid 7%.

Tesla, the electric carmaker led by Trump-advisor Elon Musk, declined 5%.

Shares of U.S. retailers that depend largely on imported products also tumbled, with Dollar Tree down 13% and Five Below seeing 27% losses..

ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff, Max Zahn, Victor Ordoñez and Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Key foreign stock markets continued their slide after opening on Friday morning, as the shockwaves of President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs continued to reverberate around the globe.

Japan’s Nikkei index lost 3.5% on Friday, while the broader Japanese Topix index fell 4.45%.

In South Korea, the KOSPI index was down 1.7%, with the country grappling with both Trump’s tariffs and the news that South Korea’s Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Indian investors joined the sell-off on Friday, with the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex indexes both falling more than 1%. India’s stock markets had previously performed better than others thanks to lower tariffs than competitors like China, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Australia’s S&P/ASX, meanwhile, continued its slide into Friday with another 2% drop taking the index to an 8-month low.

In Europe, too, stock markets fell upon opening. Britain’s FTSE 100 index dropped more than 1%, Germany’s DAX fell 0.75%, France’s CAC lost 0.9% and Spain’s IBEX slipped 1.4%.

Trump’s Wednesday announcement of tariffs on nearly all American trade partners sent U.S. and foreign markets alike into a tailspin.

All three major American stock markets closed down on Thursday, marking their worst day since June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NASDAQ fell 6%, the S&P 500 4.8% and the Dow Jones nearly 4%

Major companies were among those struggling. Nike plummeted 14% while Apple fell 9%. E-commerce giant Amazon slid nearly 9%.

Shares fell for each of the other so-called “Magnificent Seven,” a group of large tech firms that helped drive stock market gains in recent years.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, dropped nearly 9%. Chipmaker Nvidia slid 7%.

Tesla, the electric carmaker led by Trump-advisor Elon Musk, declined 5%.

Shares of U.S. retailers that depend largely on imported products also tumbled, with Dollar Tree down 13% and Five Below seeing 27% losses..

Stock futures suggested more pain for investors. Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ futures were all down around 1% on Friday morning.

ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff, Max Zahn, Victor Ordoñez and Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — The Kentucky bourbon industry said it is reeling from retaliatory actions taken by Canada and the European Union in response to President Donald Trump’s trade war against both global regions.

More than 90% of the world’s bourbon is from Kentucky, which advocates say is now jeopardized.

Last month, the EU announced it plans to impose a 50% tariff on all American whiskey in response to Trump’s decision to bring back tariffs on overseas steel and aluminum imports. Trump said on social media that he would retaliate by levying 200% tariffs on all wines, champagne and other alcoholic products imported from the region should the EU move forward with its spirits tariff. The EU will make its final decision on April 13.

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa is imposing 25% tariffs on U.S. imports in response to Trump’s measures. In addition, the government-run Liquor Control Board of Ontario ordered all retailers, bars and restaurants to stop selling American products. The board reported that U.S. alcohol sold within the province accounts for “annual sales of up to $965 million,” representing “more than 3,600 products from 35 US states.”

New Brunswick and Quebec both passed similar restrictions by ordering all American spirits brands removed from retail shelves.

The import tariffs, Trump wrote, “will be great for the wine and champagne businesses in the U.S.”

Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council, a Washington-based trade group, disagrees, telling ABC News that rising tariffs on both sides are “catastrophic.”

“Our industry is collateral damage as the result” of the trade war, he said. “Which is unfortunate because American consumers love Canadian whiskey, and European consumers love American whiskey and vice versa.” Likewise, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association said, “retaliatory measures against bourbon harm these markets and jeopardize growth for years to come.”

Canada was the largest importer of Kentucky-made spirits, including bourbon, before the current trade war. In 2023, the state exported $43 million worth of whiskey to Canada, according to the latest data on the Canadian government’s website. Kentucky imported more than $40 million in whiskey from Canada that same year.

The issue is uniting Kentucky lawmakers from both parties. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul have all blasted the tariffs, saying they will hurt jobs and sink the economy of the state.

“From bourbon distillers to car manufacturers to makers of fences to the builders of homes, to our farmers, nobody in Kentucky is coming up to me and say, ‘please put tariffs on things.’ We need to back away from this,” Paul said.

Swonger said the spirits industry has flourished because of a zero-for-zero tariff agreement among 51 countries around the world, which has allowed 3,1000 distillers to grow within the U.S. In Kentucky, the trade war will likely be hardest for small craft distilleries, many of which could “shut down trying to export to markets” impacted by the tariffs.

“Building a brand takes time. If you’re a little craft distillery going to an international market, it takes time and effort to talk to buyers. A massive tariff will shut that down,” he said.

That’s the worry of Victor Yarbrough, CEO of Brough Brothers Bourbon in Kentucky, which opened in 2020 and became the first African American-owned distillery in the state. Yarbrough said 2025 was planned as “a year of growth and expansion” for his company, which meant opening a second distillery and, for the first time, exporting to other countries, including Canada.

He told ABC News he was in negotiations with suppliers in New Brunswick in January, “when the tariff situation came out of nowhere.”

“It suspended our deal indefinitely,” as a result, Yarbrough said.

The tariffs imposed by the U.S., followed by the retaliatory tariffs from export countries, “shuttered our ability to go into these markets,” Yarbrough said. “And they’re huge markets. Ultimately, it reduces our ability to sell our product abroad.

He said in response that his company will focus on the 27 U.S. states where his product is not yet available. He is also looking at countries like Brazil and Colombia where the tariff war has not yet hit. The uncertainty, for him, is that that could change.

“I’m just the small bourbon producer being caught in the middle of it,” he said. “I hope we come to accord on both sides.”

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(NEW YORK) — U.S. stocks suffered major losses on Thursday at close of the first trading session after President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs announcement.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 1,679 points, or nearly 4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined almost 6%.

The S&P 500 tumbled 4.8%, marking its worst trading day since 2020.

The selloff hammered shares of some major multinational corporations with supply chains abroad.

Nike plummeted 14%, while Apple fell 9%. E-commerce giant Amazon slid nearly 9%.

Shares fell for each of the other so-called “Magnificent Seven,” a group of large tech firms that helped drive stock market gains in recent years.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, dropped nearly 9%. Chipmaker Nvidia slid 7%.

Tesla, the electric carmaker led by Trump-advisor Elon Musk, declined 5%.

Shares of U.S. retailers that depend largely on imported products also tumbled, with Dollar Tree down 13% and Five Below seeing 27% losses.

While Trump said the tariffs would free the U.S. from dependence on foreign goods, fears of a deepened international trade war appeared to influence the stock market reaction.

During the event at the White House on Wednesday, Trump unveiled a sweeping set of baseline tariffs on all trading partners and what he described as “kind reciprocal” tariffs on nations he claimed were the worst offenders in trade relations with the U.S.

“My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day,” Trump said from the Rose Garden. “April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed and the day that we began to make America wealthy again,” he said.

The president announced the measures would include a minimum baseline tariff of 10% on all trading partners and, further, more targeted punitive levies on certain countries, including China, the European Union and Taiwan.

Trump held up a chart with a list of nations and what the new U.S. tariffs against them will be.

At the top was China, which Trump said was set to be hit with a 34% tariff rate as he claimed it charged the United States 67%.

The 34% reciprocal rate for China is in addition to a previous 20% tariff Trump slapped on the nation — bringing the effective tariff rate on one of the U.S.’s biggest trading partners to 54% total.

While the longstanding effects of Trump’s newly minted tariffs stand to be seen, some experts told ABC News ahead of Wednesday that the measures could threaten economic growth and employment since duties slapped on imports risk increasing costs for businesses that rely on raw materials from abroad.

“If both businesses and consumers start to worry and pull back their spending, that is what can tip the U.S. over into a recession,” Kara Reynolds, an economist at American University, previously told ABC News.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, described the tariffs as “the fodder for an economic downturn.”

ABC News’ Max Zahn contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — U.S. stocks plunged in early trading on Thursday, just hours after President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs announcement touched off threats of countermeasures from foreign leaders.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 1,100 points, or 2.6%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 4.3%.

The S&P 500 tumbled 3.3%, setting it on pace for its worst trading day in more than two years.

The selloff hammered shares of some major multinational corporations with supply chains abroad.

Nike plummeted 11%, while Apple fell nearly 8%. E-commerce giant Amazon slid 6%.

Shares fell for each of the other so-called “Magnificent Seven,” a group of large tech firms that helped drive stock market gains in recent years.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, dropped 7%. Chipmaker Nvidia slid 4.5%.

Tesla, the electric carmaker led by Trump-advisor Elon Musk, declined 4%.

Shares of U.S. retailers that depend largely on imported products also tumbled, with Dollar Tree down 11% and Five Below seeing 25% losses.

While Trump said the tariffs would free the U.S. from dependence on foreign goods, fears of a deepened international trade war appeared to influence the stock market reaction.

During the event at the White House on Wednesday, Trump unveiled a sweeping set of baseline tariffs on all trading partners and what he described as “kind reciprocal” tariffs on nations he claimed were the worst offenders in trade relations with the U.S.

“My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day,” Trump said from the Rose Garden. “April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed and the day that we began to make America wealthy again,” he said.

The president announced the measures would include a minimum baseline tariff of 10% on all trading partners and, further, more targeted punitive levies on certain countries, including China, the European Union and Taiwan.

Trump held up a chart with a list of nations and what the new U.S. tariffs against them will be.

At the top was China, which Trump said was set to be hit with a 34% tariff rate as he claimed it charged the United States 67%.

The 34% reciprocal rate for China is in addition to a previous 20% tariff Trump slapped on the nation — bringing the effective tariff rate on one of the U.S.’s biggest trading partners to 54% total.

While the longstanding effects of Trump’s newly minted tariffs stand to be seen, some experts told ABC News ahead of Wednesday that the measures could threaten economic growth and employment since duties slapped on imports risk increasing costs for businesses that rely on raw materials from abroad.

“If both businesses and consumers start to worry and pull back their spending, that is what can tip the U.S. over into a recession,” Kara Reynolds, an economist at American University, previously told ABC News.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, described the tariffs as “the fodder for an economic downturn.”

ABC News’ Max Zahn contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — With the clock ticking on TikTok’s deadline to sell or face a ban in the U.S., the battle to buy the app has intensified.

Amazon has now sent a letter to the Trump administration to join the bidding war for TikTok, sources told ABC News.

President Donald Trump said over the weekend there are lots of potential buyers and said he’d like to keep the app alive. The administration has set an April 5 deadline for the app to be banned if it is not sold by it’s Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance.

On Wednesday, Trump and senior administration officials considered multiple proposals. It’s unclear if a decision has been made on how to move forward.

The mobile tech company AppLovin and a group including tech giant Oracle have also made bids to buy the app. Even if Trump approves a deal, China will still need to sign off on it.

Trump has said publicly that if an agreement isn’t reached by the deadline, he will just extend it.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — Foreign stock markets tumbled on Thursday morning following President Donald Trump’s announcement of a raft of tariffs on America’s trade partners — including a minimum baseline tariff of 10% on all nations.

American trading partners reacted to Trump’s tariffs announcement with condemnation and concern, warning that the measures could touch off a far-reaching and costly trade war.

China — hit with 34% tariffs on top of 20% tariffs Trump previously announced — urged the U.S. to “immediately cancel its unilateral tariff measures and properly resolve differences with its trading partners through equal dialogue,” a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said in a statement.

The tariffs will “endanger global economic development and the stability of the supply chain,” they added.

The European Union — now facing a 20% tariff — is prepared to respond,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “The universal tariffs announced by the U.S. are a major blow to businesses and consumers worldwide,” von der Leyen wrote in a post to X on Thursday.

“We’ll always protect our interests and values,” she added. “We’re also ready to engage. And to go from confrontation to negotiation.”

Asian markets led the global stock market slide on Thursday morning. Japan’s Nikkei index dropped 4% after opening, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 2.4%, South Korea’s KOSPI fell 2.7% and Australia’s ASX 200 fell 2%.

In Europe, the pan-continental STOXX 600 index fell 1.5% to a two-month low. Germany’s DAX fell nearly 2.5%, the French CAC 40 slipped 2.2% and Spain’s IBEX index dropped 1.5%. Britain’s FTSE 100 index lost 1.5%.

U.S. markets closed up ahead of Trump’s Wednesday Rose Garden presentation, but stock futures dropped on Wednesday night. Dow Jones futures plummeted 2.7%, S&P 500 futures sank 3.9% and futures tied to the NASDAQ 100 dropped 4.7%.

European leaders were quick to warn of potential knock-on effects.

In a Facebook post, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the tariffs targeted toward the European Union “wrong.”

She added, “We will do everything we can to work towards an agreement with the United States, with the aim of avoiding a trade war that would inevitably weaken the West in favor of other global players.”

German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck said Wednesday should be remembered as “inflation day” for American consumers. “The U.S. mania for tariffs could set off a spiral that could also pull countries into recession and cause massive damage worldwide,” Habeck said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Trump “acted for his country, and that is his mandate. Today, I will act in Britain’s interests with mine.” The U.K. is facing a 10% tariff on all its goods.

“Clearly, there will be an economic impact from the decisions the U.S. has taken, both here and globally,” Starmer added. “But I want to be crystal clear: we are prepared, indeed one of the great strengths of this nation is our ability to keep a cool head.”

In Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Tokyo “once again conveyed to the U.S. government that the recent measures are extremely regrettable and have strongly requested that they be reconsidered.” Japan is facing 24% tarrffs.

The measures, he added, “could have a significant impact on economic relations between Japan and the U.S., and ultimately on the global economy and the multilateral trading system as a whole.”

South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo instructed the government to “pour out all of its capabilities at its disposal to overcome this trade crisis,” in a statement quoted by the Yonhap news agency.

Han described Trump’s measures — which included 25% tariffs for all South Korean goods — as “very grave” and warned of “the approach of the reality of a global tariff war.”

Smaller nations also railed against Trump’s measures. Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad criticized the 32% tariffs to be imposed on the Pacific island nation as “disproportionate” and “unfair.”

ABC News’ Jack Moore, Leah Sarnoff, Will Gretsky and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — U.S. stocks stood essentially unchanged in trading on Wednesday hours before President Donald Trump’s expected announcement of sweeping tariffs, which the White House has dubbed “Liberation Day.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 7points, or 0.02%, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.05%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 0.02%.

Tesla, the electric carmaker led by billionaire Trump-advisor Elon Musk, fell nearly 2%. The stock decline came minutes after the company reported a 13% drop in car deliveries over the past three months compared to the same period a year ago.

The S&P 500 and NASDAQ both posted their first quarterly losses since 2022 this week as investors prepared for the new measures and economists warned of the possibility of a recession — with major potential knock-on effects for other economies around the globe.

Canada vowed Tuesday to respond with retaliatory tariffs if Trump slaps additional levies on Canadian goods.

Europe has a “strong plan” to retaliate against Trump’s planned tariffs, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a speech on Tuesday.

Trump is set to make his tariff announcement in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, after the stock market closes.

Abroad, the British FTSE 100 index dropped by more than 0.6% on Wednesday morning, with Germany’s DAX index down by 1.2%. The French CAC 40 index was down more than 0.5%.

Japan’s Nikkei index rose nearly 0.3%, but South Korea’s KOSPI index dropped by more than 0.6%.

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones ended at 41,989.96 down 0.03%. The S&P 500 ended at 5,633.07 up 0.38% and the NASDAQ ended at 17,449.89 up 0.87%.

Automakers and pharmaceutical companies have reportedly been lobbying the Trump administration for carve outs and a phase-in approach for the promised tariffs.

World leaders have threatened a response while pressing the White House for clarity.

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(NEW YORK) — Deliveries of Elon Musk’s Tesla vehicles dropped about 13% compared to a year ago, according to a new release from the company. The decline comes amid criticism of Musk and increased competition.

On Wednesday, Tesla reported it produced over 362,000 vehicles and delivered over 336,000 in the first quarter of 2025. That performance marked a decline compared to the same period one year ago, when Tesla produced over 433,000 vehicles and delivered about 387,000.

Shares of Tesla fell 2.5% in early trading on Wednesday.

The company has faced fierce backlash — including violence and vandalism against its cars and dealerships– as its CEO Elon Musk works in Washington alongside Donald Trump to slash the federal government.

Dan Ives, a managing director of equity research at the investment firm Wedbush, a longtime Tesla bull, slammed the report and sharply criticized the company in a note to clients on Wednesday.

“We are not going to look at these numbers with rose colored glasses,” Ives said. “They were a disaster on every metric.”

“The time has come for Musk,” Ives added.” It’s a fork in the road moment.”

In its release today, Tesla made no mention of its CEO but did say that a “changeover of Model Y lines across all four of our factories led to the loss of several weeks of production in Q1.” But, it said “the ramp of the New Model Y continues to go well.”

“Thank you to all our customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders and supporters who helped us achieve these results,” the release said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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