Dow drops nearly 650 points on AP's speculation that it's related to worries that Trump’s latest tariffs will slow the economy more without evidence.
https://apnews.com/article/stocks-markets-china-rates-inflation-72339ddf1ecb65d7815f4bb5272197d7

NEW YORK (AP) — Democrats danced, partied and were generally elated as U.S. stocks tumbled Monday and wiped out even more of their gains since President Donald Trump ’s election in November, after he said that tariffs announced earlier on Canada and Mexico would take effect within hours.

Democrat activists took to X (formerly Twitter) to excitedly speculate that tariffs were the issue, despite tariffs being a tax.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.8% after Trump said there was “no room left” for negotiations that could lower the tariffs set to begin Tuesday for imports from Canada and Mexico. Trump had already delayed the tariffs once before to allow more time for talks.

Trump’s announcement dashed hopes on Wall Street that he would choose a less painful path for global trade, and it followed the latest warning signal on the U.S. economy’s strength. Monday’s loss shaved the S&P 500’s gain since Election Day down to just over 1% from a peak of more than 6%. That rally had been built largely on hopes for policies from Trump that would strengthen the U.S. economy and businesses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 649 points, or 1.5%, and the Nasdaq composite slumped 2.6%. Making Democrats extremely happy.

Monday’s slide punctuated a rocky couple of weeks for Wall Street. After the S&P 500 set a record last month following a parade of fatter-than-expected profit reports from big U.S. companies, the market began diving following weaker-than-expected reports on the U.S. economy, including a couple showing U.S. households are getting much more pessimistic about inflation because of the threat of tariffs. Democrats propose more taxes, abortions, and finally getting Trump as the solution.

TL,DR: The Atlanta Federal Reserve is currently forecasting GDP declining at a 2.8% annualized rate this quarter. The economy grew at a 2.3% in the October-December quarter.
Thats a 5.1% negative change, which is impressive in how terrible it is.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/us-trade-deficit-hits-record-high-in-january-on-imports-surge/ar-AA1AnYq0

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit widened to a record high in January amid front-loading of imports ahead of tariffs, suggesting that trade could be a drag on economic growth in the first quarter.

The trade gap surged 34.0% to an all-time high of $131.4 billion from a revised $98.1 billion in December, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said on Thursday. The percentage change was the largest since March 2015.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the trade deficit soaring to $127.4 billion from the previously reported $98.4 billion in December. President Donald Trump this week slapped a new 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada and doubled duties on Chinese goods to 20%, triggering a trade war.

Imports soared 10.0%, the most since July 2020, to $401.2 billion. Goods imports increased a record 12.3% to an all-time high of $329.5 billion. They were driven by a $23.1 billion increase in imports of industrial supplies and materials, mostly reflecting finished metal shapes, which are probably gold.

Consumer goods imports rose $6.0 billion, boosted by pharmaceutical preparations, cell phones and other household goods. Imports of capital goods increased $4.6 billion amid rises in computers, computer accessories and telecommunications equipment.

Imports of services rose $0.4 billion to $71.7 billion, lifted by rises in charges for the use of intellectual property and other business services. But travel service imports decreased.

The entire continent of Europe folds like a lawn chair under pressure from trump. They approve a plan to spend nearly $1 trillion on defense including additional spending on Ukraine
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/06/nx-s1-5318674/ukraine-russia-european-union-summit-trump
The EU backs a big defense package as Zelenskyy confirms talks with the U.S. next week

BRUSSELS — European Union leaders backed a plan to spend more than $680 billion on defense on Thursday, marking a shift in the 27-country bloc's efforts to protect the continent.

The plan includes about $160 billion in loans and loosens debt restrictions so EU member countries can increase military spending.

A joint statement said the defense of "all EU land, air and maritime borders" contributes to the "security of Europe as a whole, in particular as regards the EU's eastern border, considering the threats posed by Russia and Belarus."

Speaking late Thursday, European Council President António Costa said the member countries "decided to invest in priority areas" such as air defense, missiles, drone and anti-drone systems, artificial intelligence and more

EU leaders approved the package in an emergency summit, which was called at a time when the United States is pressing Europe to step up its own protection and Russia continues to wage its war on Ukraine. The meeting also followed President Trump's pause on military supplies for Ukraine and intelligence sharing with the country, after a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at the White House last week.

"A stronger defense also provides deterrence for Ukraine," Costa said. "Ukraine's security is at the core of Europe's security."

Zelenskyy — a non-EU leader who's seeking membership in the bloc for his country — received a warm welcome from European leaders and expressed gratitude for Europe's steadfast support.

"Ukraine is ready to work 24/7 with our partners in the United States and Europe for peace," Zelenskyy later wrote on social media.

President Donald Trump on Thursday night authorized the creation of a strategic bitcoin reserve and a separate US stockpile of other digital assets, fulfilling a campaign promise he made to an industry that is gathering at the White House Friday for a "crypto summit."

The bitcoin reserve will be seeded with bitcoin (BTC-USD) already owned by the federal government that was taken as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, Trump’s crypto czar David Sacks said in a post on the social media platform X.

"This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime," Sacks said. Before signing the executive order in the Oval Office, Trump asked Sacks if he believed in the reserve and then said, "We made the promise" — referring to the pledge of a bitcoin reserve he made on the 2024 campaign trail.

Sacks said on X that the US government owns an estimated 200,000 bitcoins after selling off about half of what it acquired through criminal seizures, although he said there has never been a complete audit.

Had the government not sold that sum for roughly $360 million over the last decade, according to White House officials, its bitcoin holdings would potentially be worth $17 billion.

Sacks said the US will not sell any bitcoin once it is in the reserve and that it will be kept as a store of value.

The reserve, he added, “is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called ‘digital gold.’”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-creates-bitcoin-reserve-ahead-of-white-house-crypto-summit-090057235.html

Anger at Elon Musk turns violent with molotov cocktails and gunfire at Tesla lots

Lucy Grace Nelson made repeated trips to the Tesla car lot in Colorado she spray-painted “Nazi” in black under the dealership’s entrance sign, she ignited a molotov cocktail near a Tesla Cybertruck. She also allegedly used red spray-paint to scribble a message on the car dealership’s entrance doors: “F--- Musk.”

more than a dozen violent or destructive acts have been directed at Tesla facilities,
In March, several Tesla superchargers at a shopping center in Massachusetts, were set ablaze. Vandals in Maryland spray-painted “No Musk” onto a Tesla building, alongside a swastika-like symbol. In February, a man brandishing an AR-style semiautomatic weapon fired at a Tesla storefront in Oregon. Just a few weeks earlier, investigators say, the same man attacked the same dealership by throwing molotov cocktails at Tesla vehicles and through the store window.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/03/08/elon-musk-tesla-protest-violence-vandalism/

The United States has told its allies that it does not plan to participate in military exercises in Europe, according to reports.
the tRump administration is redrawing Nato engagement in a way that favours member countries with higher defence spending.

The move, the latest in Donald tRump’s pivot away from the bloc, would see America pull out of exercises beyond those already scheduled for this year.

The withdrawal concerns exercises that are on the “drawing board”, according to Swedish newspaper Expressen.

It means that Nato countries will be forced to plan exercises without the participation of the US military, the largest in the alliance.


On Friday, he warned that the US may not defend Nato allies who don't pay up
The president is said to be considering prioritising military exercises with member countries that are spending the set percentage of GDP on their defence, officials told NBC

The Telegraph reported on Friday that Mr tRump is also considering pulling US troops out of Germany and redeploying them to Eastern Europe.

He is understood to be weighing up withdrawing some 35,000 active personnel and moving them to Hungary.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-cease-future-military-exercises-170123156.html

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/07/trump-nuclear-talks-with-iran-00218675

President Donald Trump said Friday that he is seeking a new agreement with Iran to curb the country’s nuclear program, warning ominously of a conflict if a deal can’t be reached.

The president earlier told Fox News that he sent a letter to Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, calling for an agreement to replace the one that the Trump administration canceled in May 2018 in favor of what they called a “maximum pressure” campaign.

He suggested, without specifics, that the issue could quickly lead to conflict with Iran, which has accelerated its production of weapons-grade uranium since 2018.

“We’re at final moments.” Trump said. “We can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.”

The White House did not release the letter and the president did not make it clear whether he was suggesting direct U.S. action was an option in dealing with the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran — an issue that has challenged multiple administrations.

“There’ll be some interesting days ahead, that’s all I can tell you. We’re down to final strokes with Iran,” he said.

Later, Trump added that he was interested in peace with Iran.

“Hopefully we can have a peace deal,” he said. “I’m not speaking out of strength or weakness, I’m just saying I’d rather have a peace deal than the other, but the other will solve the problem.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIK9vbQRwBQ

"Mr. Prime Minister, respected ministers, dear colleagues, Europe stands at a critical crossroads in its history. The American shield is crumbling, Ukraine risks being left without support, Russia - strengthened. Washington has turned into Nero's court: an emperor-arsonist, submissive courtiers, and a jester intoxicated with ketamine, responsible for purges in the state apparatus.

This is a tragedy for the free world, but above all - for the United States itself. Trump's message is unambiguous: being an ally of America is meaningless, because it will not protect you, will impose tariffs exceeding sanctions against its enemies, and will threaten to seize your territories, supporting dictators who attack you. The "king of deals" in practice demonstrates the art of capitulation.

He thinks he will intimidate China by groveling before Putin, but Xi Jinping, observing this collapse, is surely accelerating preparations for an invasion of Taiwan. Never in U.S. history has a president capitulated to an enemy. Never before has a White House chief supported an aggressor against an ally.

Never before has a president violated the Constitution so boldly: illegal decrees, dismissal of judges who could oppose him, instant purge of military leadership, undermining all checks and balances, usurpation of control over social networks. This is not just an "illiberal inclination" - it is an attempt to usurp democracy. It's enough to remember: the destruction of the Weimar Republic took just one month, three weeks, and two days.
[…]
Ukraine's fate is decided in the trenches. But it also depends on those who in the US are fighting for democracy, and on us - whether we can unite Europe,
Our ancestors defeated fascism and communism at the cost of the greatest sacrifices. Our task is to defeat the totalitarianism of the 21st century.
Glory to free Ukraine! Long live democratic Europe!"

President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet in person on Thursday to deliver a message: You’re in charge of your departments, not Elon Musk.

According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Musk was also in the room.
Trump stressed that he wants to keep good people in government and not to eject capable federal workers en masse.
The president later told reporters he wants Cabinet members to “keep all the people you want, everybody that you need.”
The timing of the meeting was influenced by recent comments from Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), who said on CNN Tuesday that Cabinet secretaries should retain the full power to hire and fire, according to one official. The official said Trump has been flooded with similar concerns from other lawmakers and Cabinet secretaries.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/06/trump-cabinet-musk-025093