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"Tariff Wars" and "DOGE uses AI to snoop on federal workers."

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Daily Briefing

By Kate Turton

Hello. China vows to 'fight to the end' as Trump's tariff war rages and Wall Street wonders: will the US President blink? Elsewhere, sources say Musk's DOGE is using AI to snoop on US federal workers, and South Korea fires shots after North Korean soldiers cross a demarcation line. Plus, astronomers spot two white dwarfs doomed to die in a quadruple detonation.

Markets & Business   China vowed not to bow to "blackmail" from the United States as a global trade war ignited by US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs showed little sign of abating, even as battered stock markets steadied. Watch our daily rundown for more on markets. Our analysis shows that Beijing, feeling boxed into a corner by the US' intensifying tariff assault on China and any country that buys or assembles Chinese goods, is bracing for an economic war of attrition. Investors are trying to game out how much tolerance Trump has for stock market losses after his latest tariff policies ignited a more than 10% wipeout on Wall Street, with some still holding out hope of eventual relief. Days after Trump's announcement shocked multiple US trading partners and global markets, a handful of countries are emerging as potential winners although the risk of a tariff-induced recession will limit the upside. Saudi Arabia, with its wealth linked inextricably to oil revenue, faces mounting pressure to raise debt or cut spending after a plunge in crude prices, complicating plans to fund an ambitious agenda to diversify its economy. Two Democratic US senators demanded information from Microsoft and Google about their cloud computing partnerships with artificial intelligence companies, expressing concern the arrangements could stifle competition in the cutting-edge industry. From the crisis of 2008 to the pandemic to Trump’s tariffs, governments and central banks have influenced asset prices. In this episode of The Big View podcast Mark Haefele, chief investment officer of UBS’s wealth management unit, talks about the stark message for investors.

World News   The use of AI and Signal reinforces concerns among cybersecurity experts. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/File Photo Trump administration officials have told some US government employees that Elon Musk's DOGE team of technologists is using AI to surveil at least one federal agency’s communications for hostility to Trump and his agenda, said two people with knowledge of the matter. Tariff drama is also spilling over from inside the White House. Correspondent Andrea Shalal talks to the daily Reuters World News podcast about how Musk has been taking aim at Peter Navarro, Trump's top trade adviser - listen now for the latest on the spat. Trump made a surprise announcement that the US and Iran were poised to begin direct talks on Tehran's nuclear program, but Iran's foreign minister said the discussions in Oman would be indirect. The US Supreme Court allowed Trump to pursue deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members using a 1798 law that historically has been employed only in wartime as part of the Republican president's hardline approach to immigration, but with certain limits. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed for the first time that Ukrainian troops have been active in Russia's Belgorod region as they seek to protect Ukrainian towns near the border. Follow the latest from the war. Europe experienced its warmest March since records began, as climate change continues to push temperatures to unprecedented levels, European Union scientists said. South Korea's military said that it had fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers violated the military demarcation line before returning. Ahead of Australia's election, the war in Gaza has fractured support for Labor, a party seeking to win a second term in power. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government has expressed concern for Palestinians and supported ally Israel's right to self-defense. This has angered pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel voters.

Trump plans to fine migrants $998 a day for failing to leave after deportation order   Administration calls on migrants to "self deport and leave the country now". REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo The Trump administration plans to fine migrants under deportation orders up to $998 a day if they fail to leave the United States and to seize their property if they do not pay, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. The fines stem from a 1996 law that was enforced for the first time in 2018, during President Donald Trump's first term in office. The Trump administration plans to apply the penalties retroactively for up to five years, which could result in fines of more than $1 million, a senior Trump official said, requesting anonymity to discuss non-public plans. Read more

And Finally... White dwarf stars located in the Milky Way galaxy, in this handout illustration released on April 4, 2025. University of Warwick/Mark Garlick/Handout via REUTERS Astronomers have spotted two hefty white dwarf stars - highly compact stellar embers - orbiting close together that appear destined to die in an extraordinarily violent quadruple detonation. The two stars, gravitationally bound to each other in what is called a binary system, are located in our Milky Way galaxy about 160 light-years from Earth - relatively close in cosmic terms. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 9.5 trillion km. Read more

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