The Trump administration is defending sweeping tariffs that sent markets careening. Shawn Donnan of Bloomberg News discusses what might happen next. Trump has attempted to revoke temporary protected status for some Venezuelans. KFF Health News reporter Vanessa G. Sánchez tells us how the caregiving industry could be affected. The Wall Street Journal examines the recent killing of Palestinian paramedics and how cellphone video footage helped detail the incident. Plus, a second child has died of measles in Texas, a judge ordered the government to return a man who was mistakenly deported, and the Connecticut Huskies won the women’s NCAA basketball championship. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Chapter 1: What are the effects of Trump's tariffs on the global economy?
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 U.S. 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 U.S. economy.
Chapter 2: How are American businesses reacting to the new tariffs?
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 the course toward financial calamity.
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.
If you have a recession in the United States, that by definition means Americans are buying less stuff, that 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.
As the White House tries to kind of shock the economy into submission and reshape a global trade order, Donnan 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 percent on all imports from the U.S. beginning this week. The European Union is reportedly preparing a response as well.
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Chapter 3: What historical events are referenced in the tariff discussion?
As Donnan points out in his reporting, when the U.S. imposed new tariffs in the 1930s, it sparked a broader trade war that is a historical reason for the concern here.
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 to a halt and led to the deepening and the lengthening of the Great Depression.
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 U.S. could face. And some parts of the organized labor sector that have voiced support are doing so with some caveats.
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.
Chapter 4: How might Venezuelan TPS status changes impact caregiving?
Let's turn now to immigration, where the future is 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 U.S. officials determined are not safe to return to, like Venezuela. And it allows them to work legally in the U.S.
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.
Chapter 5: Who is affected by the uncertainty in TPS status for Venezuelans?
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.
Sanchez told us about one woman living through this uncertainty. Alanis Ortiz is a Venezuelan immigrant and caregiver in New Jersey with TPS.
She's been taking care of Josephine Sanec. 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.
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 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.
As for Ortiz, the possibility of losing her job and being deported has brought a lot of anxiety.
She is scared and she doesn't feel that going back to Venezuela is safe. And she doesn't know if she's going to return to Venezuela, if she is either detained or is forced to leave, that she will end up in the detention center for a very long period of time. So there is a lot of uncertainty right now.
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 23rd, 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.
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