Markets Keep Falling, South Korea Upholds Impeachment, TikTok Bid

👋 Բարև*

Welcome to Friday, where global markets drop for a second day after Trump’s tariffs, South Korea upholds the decision to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, and today’s quiz question wonders who may be the next owner of TikTok. Meanwhile, we feature a piece from Arabic media Daraj about the impact of Saudi Arabia’s decision 10 years ago to enter the longstanding civil conflict in Yemen.

[*Barev - Armenian]

💡 SPOTLIGHT

Even if he’s ready to negotiate, Trump's tariff gamble could end very badly for the U.S.

If there’s one word associated with Donald Trump’s name since his first term, it’s “disruption.” This old word has taken on new meaning with the rise of tech startups, businesses from the new economy that have shattered the rules of the old economy. A prime example is Uber, which transformed the taxi industry, first through confrontation, then through negotiation.

It’s the word that immediately comes to mind in the face of the tariff war launched by the U.S. president on Wednesday. A war against the entire world — friend or foe, rich or poor — except, notably, for Vladimir Putin’s Russia, which has mysteriously been spared.

The essence of disruption is to kick over the anthill in order to achieve something, to transform the old world into something new. That’s what Donald Trump is attempting, in his over-the-top provocative way. Yet it comes with the obvious risk, of course, that it may backfire and have the opposite effect; instead of making America “great again,” it could weaken it like never before — and to the benefit of its rivals.

The online French journal Le Grand Continent published a piece in February that takes on significant importance after the recent events. It was written by Stephen Miran, who currently serves as the head of the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

In this piece, he praises tariffs and reminds readers that “President Trump sees tariffs as a negotiating tool to strike deals. It is easier to imagine, he adds, that after a series of punitive tariffs, trading partners like Europe and China will become more receptive to a monetary agreement in exchange for a reduction in tariffs.”

Stephen Miran envisions something akin to the 1985 “Plaza Accords” between the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan, which helped lower the overvalued dollar. He suggests signing the future agreements reached under pressure at… Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s residence in Florida!

(And right on cue, late Thursday Trump said that he would be open to negotiating with other countries for “phenomenal” terms.)

Yet this approach has been criticized by many economists, even before it was implemented. In Le Monde, two renowned American economists had stated as early as January that a policy of tariff hikes would likely slide into a major new global trade war. "Its consequences, unfortunately, are not hard to predict: less trade and, above all, less international cooperation on the major issues of our time, such as war, poverty and climate change.” [...]

— Read the full article by Pierre Haski for France Inter, translated from French and adapted by Worldcrunch.

🗞️  FRONT PAGE

German daily Die Tageszeitung headlines: “The only thing to do now: Drink until customs come.” Responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, the European Union (EU) had announced a 50% retaliation tariff on American whiskey products, set to start on April 1 but then delayed until April 13 after Trump threatened a 200% tariff on European alcohol if the EU were to go forward. "This gives U.S. distillers a glimmer of hope,” said Chris Swonger, president of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, urging "the EU and U.S. to reach an agreement that will return and safeguard zero-for-zero tariffs for spirits trade, benefitting the spirits and hospitality sectors."

🌎  7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Global markets drop for a second day, as Trump says tariffs plan going “very well.” European markets fell on opening on Friday, following further declines in the Asian markets. Japan’s Nikkei index was hardest hit, closing down 3%. This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump's raft of worldwide tariffs continues to spark fears of a global downturn. Also on Friday, China retaliated with new 34% levies on U.S. goods. Concerns that a global trade war could hurt energy demand pushed oil prices down nearly 2% on Friday, putting them on track for their worst week in months. The tariffs have, however, helped drive a rally in U.S. Treasuries and supported gold near a record peak. Read more about Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs here.

• Impeachment of South Korea’s suspended president upheld. South Korea’s constitutional court has voted unanimously to uphold parliament’s decision to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived declaration of martial law in December. The ruling was met with jubilation and despair among pro-Yoon and anti-Yoon protesters, with both groups taking to the streets ahead of the verdict. Parliament had voted to impeach Yoon on Dec. 14; now that he is removed from office, a snap election must be held within 60 days.

• Israeli attacks on Gaza school shelters kill 33. Gaza authorities say that at least 33 Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 wounded in Israeli air strikes on three schools housing displaced people in the Tuffah district of Gaza City. This comes as the Israeli military said on Friday that Israel Defense forces have moved into an area of northern Gaza to expand what they call a security zone around the edge of the enclave. It said soldiers carrying out the operation in the Gaza City suburb of Shejaia were letting civilians out via organized routes. We also offer this report by Daraj, translated from Arabic and adapted by Worldcrunch: Israel Has Begun Forcing Palestinians Out Of Gaza — Quietly And "Voluntarily."

• Britain and France accuse Russia of delaying Ukraine ceasefire talks. The foreign ministers of Britain and France on Friday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in ceasefire talks to end the war in Ukraine. “Our judgment is that Putin continues to obfuscate,” the UK’s David Lammy said at NATO headquarters. He spoke alongside France’s Jean-Noël Barrot, who stressed that Ukraine had accepted ceasefire terms three weeks ago, and that Russia now “owes an answer to the United States.”

• EU and Central Asian leaders hold first summit. Leaders of the EU and five Central Asian countries — leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — are holding their first summit on Friday to discuss ways to boost trade and other ties. Brussels also aims to expand its influence in the region amid intensifying competition from Russia and China. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the summit, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, is set to “deepen trade ties and expand cooperation in transport, critical raw materials, digital connectivity, water and energy.”

• India and Bangladesh leaders meet for first time since revolution. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on Friday with the new leader of neighboring Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, for the first time since protests in Dhaka ousted New Delhi's long-term ally and soured relations. Yunus, a Nobel Prize winner, took charge of Bangladesh’s interim government in August 2024 after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was toppled by a student-led uprising and fled by helicopter to India.

• News Quiz! The clock is ticking to find a buyer for TikTok, which faces a U.S. ban if its Chinese owner does not sell the app by the weekend. Among the following, who is NOT a serious bidder?
A. Amazon
B. Oracle
C. OnlyFans
D. MySpace
[Answer below]

🔢 BY THE NUMBERS

$2,300

The new tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday will inevitably cause production costs to soar for American companies that manufacture all or part of their products abroad. If they pass this on to consumers, the prices of many goods will rise considerably. Following projections from analysts at Rosenblatt Securities, the high-end iPhone 16 Pro Max could jump from its $1,599 current retail price to nearly $2,300 if Apple charges its new costs on the sales price — most iPhones still being made in China, which was hit with a 54% tariff.

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🇸🇦🇾🇪 A decade ago, Saudi Arabia plunged directly into the Yemeni quagmire, launching a military intervention alongside several coalition countries. Everyone expected the battle to be settled in weeks. But it soon became clear, this flash intervention would turn into an endless war.
— DARAJ

⚖️ France is just the latest in a string of cases that pit independent judiciary vs. even the most popular political leaders. From Turkey to Brazil, South Korea, Israel and Senegal, we offer a tour of similar cases around the world.
— WORLDCRUNCH

☣️ Herbicides pose environmental and human health risks but are also an essential tool for controlling invasive plants.
— UNDARK

📸 PHOTO DU JOUR

South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously removed President Yoon Suk Yeol from office Friday, upholding parliament's impeachment petition over Yoon’s imposition of martial law in December. The court rejected Yoon's argument that he declared martial law to sound the alarm over the main opposition party's abuse of its parliamentary majority. Thousands of people at a rally calling for Yoon's ouster in Seoul erupted into wild cheers. Here, a protester is waving a flag that reads ''The People Are the Masters.” "I am so sorry and regretful that I wasn't able to live up to your expectations," Yoon later said in a message to South Koreans released through his lawyers. The former President still faces a criminal trial on insurrection charges related to the martial law proclamation, which carry a maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment. — Photo: Suh Jeen Moon/ZUMA

📣 VERBATIM

“We fear for our existence.”

— Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra, co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, called for global action Thursday at the United Nations in New York, alarming on the worsening Israeli violence in the West Bank. "The international community needs to act," he said. "Not with words, not with condemnations, but with serious actions to make Israel respect international law and hold it accountable for its crimes." The film chronicles the forced displacement of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers and settlers in Adra’s home Massafer Yatta, an area of the occupied West Bank that Israel declared a restricted military zone in the 1980s. For more, we offer this Al-Manassa article, translated from Arabic and adapted by Worldcrunch: "No Other Land" And Us — What The Oscar-Winning Documentary Leaves Untold.

✍️ Newsletter by Rebecca Bonthius and Cecilia Laurent Monpetit