As Trump’s tariffs take hold, how much pain can Americans handle?

Summary

Apple News Today: April 7, 2025

Host: Shemitah Basu
Episode Title: As Trump’s tariffs take hold, how much pain can Americans handle?

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Trump Administration's Tariff Policy and Its Economic Impact

In this episode, Shemitah Basu explores the widespread ramifications of the Trump administration's recent implementation of sweeping tariffs. These tariffs have sent shockwaves through global markets, with the S&P 500 plunging to its lowest level in nearly a year. Basu highlights that last week marked the worst performance for American stocks since the onset of the pandemic five years ago.

Market Turmoil and Public Protest

The announcement of the tariffs has not only destabilized financial markets but also sparked significant public unrest. Over the weekend, thousands of protesters rallied in Washington, D.C., and in cities across all 50 states. These demonstrations, termed "hands off protests" by organizers, expressed dissent against President Trump and influential figures like Elon Musk. Protesters cited a variety of grievances, including Musk's restructuring of government agencies, cuts to medical research funding, and the economic uncertainty introduced by the tariffs.

Government Response and Optimism

Despite the immediate negative impact on the economy, administration officials remain optimistic. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant addressed concerns on Meet the Press at [01:35], stating, "There doesn't have to be a recession. Who knows how the market is going to react in a day, in a week. What we are looking at is building the long-term economic fundamentals for prosperity that I think the previous administration had put us on a course toward financial calamity." Besant emphasized that over 50 countries have reached out to the United States to initiate trade negotiations, suggesting potential long-term economic benefits.

Expert Opinions and Historical Context

However, not all experts share this optimism. Sean Donnan, a senior writer for economics at Bloomberg News, voiced concerns about the short-term economic outlook. At [02:24], Donnan explained, "If you have a recession in the United States, that by definition means Americans are buying less stuff... Maybe now's not the time to invest." He drew parallels to the 1930s, recalling how the Smoot-Hawley tariffs led to a global trade war, significantly exacerbating the Great Depression. Donnan cautions that the current tariffs could similarly trigger a prolonged economic downturn.

Global and Domestic Reactions

The global response to the U.S. tariffs has been swift and retaliatory. China announced reciprocal tariffs of 34% on all U.S. imports beginning that week, and the European Union is reportedly preparing its own response. Domestically, the reaction is mixed. While industries such as steel and aluminum welcome the tariffs to protect against cheaper foreign competitors, there is growing concern among some Republican leaders about potential future retaliatory measures. Even within labor unions, traditionally supportive of protectionist policies, there is a nuanced stance. At [03:58], Donnan observes, "Labor unions have traditionally been pretty supportive of tariff policy, but... even some protectionist parts of the conversation... say... this may be just going a little bit too far too quickly."

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Immigration: Uncertainty for Venezuelans Under Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

Basu shifts focus to the precarious situation facing hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans residing legally in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Originally designated to protect individuals fleeing unsafe conditions in their home countries, TPS allows them to work legally in the U.S. without the risk of deportation.

Potential Revocation and Its Consequences

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had initially planned to terminate TPS for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans. However, a federal judge intervened last week, halting this plan. The judge argued that deporting these individuals would cause irreparable harm to families and lead to significant economic losses. The caregiving sector, which relies heavily on immigrant workers, stands to be particularly affected. According to 2022 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 40% of home health aides, nearly 30% of personal care workers, and just over 20% of nursing assistants are foreign-born.

Personal Impact: The Story of Alanis Ortiz

To illustrate the human cost, Basu shares the story of Alanis Ortiz, a Venezuelan immigrant and caregiver in New Jersey with TPS. Vanessa Sanchez, a KFF Health News reporter, explains Ortiz's critical role in caring for Josephine Sanek, a 16-year-old with severe autism and other disabilities. Any disruption to Ortiz's employment threatens Josephine's well-being. Krista Sanek, Josephine's mother, expressed deep fear, stating at [06:56], "If anything happens to Ortiz, their family and especially Josephine would be, quote, gutted beyond." Ortiz herself faces immense anxiety over the possibility of deportation, fearing detainment and uncertainty about her future.

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International Incident: Rescue Workers Killed by Israeli Troops

Another critical issue discussed is the tragic incident involving the death of rescue workers in Rafah, a town bordering Gaza. Following the end of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, aid workers in ambulances approached an area affected by an Israeli airstrike to assist the wounded. According to reports, Israeli soldiers opened fire on these rescue vehicles.

Conflicting Accounts and Evidence

Jonathan Whittle, head of the UN's humanitarian office in Gaza and the West Bank, stated at [09:11], "They were here to save lives. Instead they ended up in a mass grave." This statement underscores the discrepancy between the initial Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) account and emerging evidence. Sky News Middle East correspondent Alastair Bunkel reported at [09:34], "The video obtained by the New York Times very clearly shows that those ambulances had their emergency lights flashing," directly contradicting the IDF's claim that the ambulances were suspicious due to the absence of visible emergency indicators.

Official Responses and Ongoing Investigations

The Israeli military has since acknowledged that the initial account was a mistake, asserting that nine Hamas militants were responsible for the incident, including one involved in the October 7 attacks in 2023. However, Reuters notes that the Israeli government has not provided evidence to support these claims. Investigations are ongoing, with more conclusions expected to be shared later in the week.

High-Level Diplomatic Engagements

In the wake of this incident, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with President Trump to discuss not only the ongoing conflict and its human toll but also other pressing issues such as Iran and the previously mentioned tariffs. This meeting signifies the interconnectedness of domestic economic policies and international diplomatic relations.

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Additional News Highlights

Measles Outbreak in Texas

Basu reports on a tragic measles outbreak in West Texas, where an 8-year-old girl succumbed to measles-induced pulmonary failure in Lubbock last Thursday. This case prompted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to make a last-minute trip to Texas. Despite past controversies surrounding the MMR vaccine, Kennedy emphasized its importance, stating that "the most effective way to prevent measles is the MMR vaccine." To date, 500 measles cases have been reported across Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, with the majority concentrated in Texas's South Plains and Panhandle regions.

Deportation Case: Kilmar Abrego Garcia

A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration must take steps to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador. The administration had contended that the judge lacked authority over foreign policy decisions. However, the judge rejected this argument, asserting that Garcia was "seized without lawful authority" and emphasizing the U.S. government's responsibility to facilitate his return. This case has caused significant turmoil within the Department of Justice, leading to the administrative leave of a career DOJ attorney who expressed frustration over the department's handling of the situation. The administration has filed an appeal seeking an emergency stay of the judge's order.

UConn Women's Basketball National Championship

In sports news, the UConn Huskies clinched their record 12th NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship by defeating South Carolina. Senior guard Paige Beckers, a standout likely to be the first pick in the WNBA draft, scored 17 points, while senior guard Az Fudd and freshman Sarah Strong combined for 48 of the team's total points. The men's championship game is also highlighted, with Houston preparing to face Florida after a significant upset over Duke.

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Conclusion

Shemitah Basu's comprehensive coverage in this episode of Apple News Today provides listeners with an in-depth analysis of the multifaceted challenges facing America today, from economic policies and their global repercussions to critical issues in immigration and international conflicts. By incorporating expert opinions, personal stories, and factual reporting, the episode offers a nuanced understanding of how current events are shaping the nation's future.

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For more detailed stories and continuous updates, listeners are encouraged to follow the Apple News app.

Transcript

[Shemitah Basu]

Good morning. It's Monday, April 7th. I'm Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, why hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States legally might be sent back. The UN Learns more about what happened to rescue workers killed by Israeli troops. And UConn wins its record 12th women's basketball national championship. But first, businesses, economists, and governments across the world are still digesting and reacting to sweeping tariffs enacted by the Trump administration. The announcement last week sent markets careening, with the S&P 500 hitting the lowest level in almost a year. Last week was the worst for American stocks since the beginning of the pandemic five years ago. Over the weekend, thousands of protesters gathered in Washington, D.C. and in cities across all 50 states to demonstrate against President Trump and Elon Musk in what organizers dubbed hands off protests. Demonstrators told reporters they were motivated by a diverse list of issues, from Musk's overhaul of government agencies to cuts to medical research to tariffs. And yet on Sunday, administration officials remained defiant and waved away forecasting that has shown the tariffs could tilt the US Economy into a recession. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant made the case on Meet the Press that there are long term gains to be made here for the US Economy.

[Scott Besant]

There doesn't have to be a recession. Who knows how the market is going to react in a day, in a week. What we are looking at is building the long term economic fundamentals for prosperity that I think the previous administration had put us on a course toward financial calamity.

[Shemitah Basu]

Besant also claimed that over 50 countries have been in contact with the United States since the announcement in order to begin trade negotiations. President Trump on social media said Americans need to, quote, hang tough and wait for the end result. He also recently said that it could take two years for American manufacturing to grow as a result of this policy. Sean Donnan, a senior writer for economics at Bloomberg News, told us that in the short term, a recession could cause companies to rethink their investment strategies.

[Sean Donnan]

If you have a recession in the United States, that by definition means Americans are buying less stuff that the the market in the United States is less attractive than it was otherwise. And so you may have companies also saying, well, hang on a second, maybe now's not the time to invest. If I'm going to be spending billions of dollars to build a factory in the United States, I kind of want some certainty about where we're going, what it is that I'm investing in.

[Shemitah Basu]

As the White House tries to kind of shock the economy into submission and reshape a global trade order, Donen said it's going to be key to watch how other countries respond. China has already said that it will impose reciprocal tariffs of 34 on all imports from the US beginning this week. The European Union is reportedly preparing a response as well. As Donen points out in his reporting, when the US imposed new tariffs in the 1930s, it sparked a broader trade war. That is a historical reason for the concern here.

[Sean Donnan]

What happened in 1930 after the Smoot Hawley tariffs went into place is that we saw countries all over the world retaliate, and that just brought global trade down to a halt and led to the deepening and the lengthening of the Great Depression.

[Shemitah Basu]

There are some industries, like steel and aluminum, that have welcomed tariffs. They've watched their cheaper foreign competitors win business in their markets, and they're eager for change. Some Republican leaders are already expressing worries about future retaliatory tariffs the US could face. And some parts of the organized labor sector that have voiced support are doing so with some caveats.

[Sean Donnan]

The labor unions have traditionally been pretty supportive of tariff policy, but one of the things we're seeing this time around is even some protectionist parts of the conversation. Those communities we're seeing, people say, well, hang on a second, this may be just going a little bit too far too quickly.

[Shemitah Basu]

Let's turn now to immigration, where the future is uncertain. Uncertain for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States legally under tps, short for Temporary Protected Status. TPS is a government designated protection for people who have fled countries that US Officials determined are not safe to return to, like Venezuela. And it allows them to work legally in the US without the risk of deportation. The Department of Homeland Security initially planned to end TPS for around 350,000 Venezuelans today, but a federal judge last week paused that plan, saying deporting them would cause irreparable harm to families and cost billions in economic activity. One industry that could be seriously disrupted by more deportations is caregiving. Foreign born workers make up a significant portion of caregivers in the United states, more than 40% of home health aides, close to 30% of personal care workers, and just over 20% of nursing assistants. That's according to data from 2022 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And because these jobs are so demanding and relatively low paying, NBC and KFF health News report, they often struggle to attract enough American born workers to fill roles. So KFF health news reporter Vanessa Sanchez told us, increasingly, immigrants are taking them.

[Vanessa Sanchez]

The share of foreign born workers who are in these settings has increased by 3% in the past decade and it is expected to increase even more. They represent a very important share of the caregiving workforce. And there is this sense of fear that even if they have legal status, they could be detained and they could be deported.

[Shemitah Basu]

Sanchez told us about one woman living through this uncertainty. Alanis Ortiz is a Venezuelan immigrant and caregiver in New Jersey with TPS.

[Vanessa Sanchez]

She's been taking care of Josephine Sanek. She's a 16 year old who has severe autism and other disabilities. She needs a routine and any disruption in her routine can cause more distress.

[Shemitah Basu]

Josephine's family told Sanchez Ortiz plays a critical role in her well being and they've been trying to win a reprieve for Ortiz. They've called congressional representatives. One family member wrote a letter to President Trump asking him to reconsider revoking tps. And Josephine's mom, Krista, told Sanchez, if anything happens to Ortiz, their family and especially Josephine would be, quote, gutted beyond.

[Krista]

Belief to rip somebody out of her life that has been her best friend for almost three years. You have no way to explain to her, oh, Alanis is being kicked out of the country and she can't come back.

[Shemitah Basu]

As for Ortiz, the possibility of losing her job and being deported has brought a lot of anxiety.

[Vanessa Sanchez]

She is scared and she doesn't feel that going back to Venezuela is safe. And she doesn't know if she's gonna return to Venezuela if she is either detained or is forced to leave, that she will end up in detention center for a very long period of time. So there is a lot of uncertainty right now.

[Shemitah Basu]

The judge who paused the Department of Homeland Security's plan to revoke TPS gave the government until today to file notice of an appeal. On March 23, a few days after Israel ended the ceasefire with Hamas and fighting resumed, a group of aid workers in ambulances approached an area in the town of Rafah, which borders Gaza, to assist people wounded by an Israeli airstrike. That's when Israeli soldiers opened fire. The Wall Street Journal reports. After several hours, more vehicles, including a fire truck, more ambulances and a UN vehicle showed up to look for their missing colleagues and they too were fired upon. Now, so far, these facts of what happened that day Israeli and Palestinian officials agree on Israel's military says the event is under examination. But in the meantime, it wasn't clear what had happened to the bodies of these rescue workers. After days of searching by the UN, a phone call came in from an Israeli military official who directed them to a mass grave. Buried under sand were 15 bodies and their crushed vehicles. Eight were paramedics with the Palestine Red Crescent Society and six were from the Palestinian civil defense, which included firefighters and emergency responders, and one was a UN employee. Here's Jonathan Whittle, the head of the UN's humanitarian office in Gaza and the west bank, who took that phone call, speaking at the gravesite.

[Scott Besant]

They were here to save lives. Instead they ended up in a mass grave.

[Shemitah Basu]

The audio quality isn't so great, but what he said was they were here to save lives. Instead they ended up in a mass grave. Video of the incident contradicts the IDF's initial account of what happened. Here's Sky News Middle east correspondent Alastair Bunkel speaking on the network about what the video shows.

[Alastair Bunkel]

The IDF also, and this is the crucial bit in relation to this video, said that those ambulances were traveling without their lights on and without any sign of them being emergency vehicles, and so therefore they were suspicious. But the video obtained by the New York Times very clearly shows that those ambulances had their emergency lights flashing.

[Shemitah Basu]

The Israeli military has since said their first account of what happened was a mistake. It claims nine Hamas militants were killed in the incident, including one who took part in the October 7 attacks in 2023. Reuters reports the Israeli government gave no evidence of how it made those identifications. Israel is expected to share more conclusions from its report sometime this week. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with President Trump today to discuss the war as well as other topics like Iran and tariffs. Before we let you go, a few other stories were following. A second child has died of measles in West Texas. The Houston chronicle reports an 8 year old girl died of measles pulmonary failure in Lubbock last Thursday, and Axios reports the death prompted a last minute trip to Texas from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He says the most effective way to prevent measles is the MMR vaccine. The health publication Stat notes Kennedy stopped short of recommending the vaccine, which in the past he has falsely characterized as dangerous. 500 cases of the measles have been reported across Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. The majority are in the South Plains and Panhandle region of Texas, where 481 confirmed cases have been reported since late January. A federal judge says the Trump administration must take steps to return a Maryland man who was erroneously deported to El Salvador. The administration last week said the judge had no power to order the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and that the judge was intruding on the president's power to direct foreign policy. The judge rejected that notion in an overnight opinion Sunday, saying Abrego Garcia was seized without lawful authority and that the US Government has the power to facilitate his return. Meanwhile, Politico reports that in addition to backlash from congressional Democrats and the courts, this case has also caused turmoil within the Justice Department. The career DOJ attorney who argued the case for the government was put on administrative leave after expressing exasperation about the department's unwillingness to provide more information to the court or take steps to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U. S. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the attorney was put on leave, saying, quote, he shouldn't have taken the case. The administration filed an appeal on Sunday asking for an emergency stay of the judge's order. And finally, UConn is the 2025 NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship. The two seed Huskies dominated South Carolina on Sunday. This is a record 12th national championship for the UConn women, who were led by senior guard Az Fudd and freshman Sarah Strong, who combined for 48 of the team's total points. Senior guard Paige Beckers, who's likely to be the first pick in the WNBA draft, scored 17. The men's championship game is tonight. Houston, who pulled off a big upset of Duke Saturday night, takes on Florida. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. It's been three months since devastating wildfires erupted across Los Angeles, and there's still a long road ahead to recovery. But California's insurance market isn't making things any easier. The San Francisco Chronicle examines how faulty algorithms and a broken process have left scores of homeowners underinsured and unprotected. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Narrated to find that story and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.