Chief-Exec.com

Trump imposes sweeping tariffs on imports
In a ceremony at the White House Rose Garden, President Trump unveiled his most expansive tariffs to date yesterday, including tariffs of at least 10 per cent on all trading partners except Canada and Mexico, with duties stretching past 20 per cent, 30 per cent and even beyond for some nations. He framed his policies as a response to a national emergency, saying that tariffs were needed to build up domestic production. Wall Street shuddered in response, with early market reaction pointing to a further slide in the stock market and a weakening dollar. European officials are poised to respond with countermeasures. Although the EU has so far concentrated on imposing higher tariffs on a wide variety of goods, officials have discussed placing penalties like tariffs or market access restrictions on US technology companies and even limiting American banks’ access to certain EU markets. New York Times, April 3

Israel's Netanyahu arrives in Hungary, defying ICC warrant
Hungary's enduring alliance with Israel will take centre stage as nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomes Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu to Budapest on Thursday - despite Netanyahu being sought by the International Criminal Court under an arrest warrant. The relationship with Israel has strengthened since the start of the war in Gaza, which was sparked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023. Israel's broad and devastating offensive in reaction gave rise to the ICC charges Netanyahu faces. Orbán, who has touted Hungary as "the safest country in Europe" for Jews, became the first leader to extend an invitation to Netanyahu, in defiance of the ICC arrest warrant. France 24, April 3

Elon Musk to ‘step back’ from advising Donald Trump
Elon Musk is preparing to step back from his role as a senior White House aide, President Trump is said to have told his inner circle. Trump said he remained satisfied with Musk’s vast, unprecedented programme of government cuts, but it has been agreed that Musk will soon return to his businesses, Politico reported. The news comes after weeks of concern among White House insiders that Musk, 53, had begun to overstep his remit as a government adviser and become a liability to the Trump administration. Only a month ago White House officials and allies were predicting Musk was “here to stay” and that the president would find a way around the 130-day time limit for unelected advisers, which is due to expire in late May or early June. The Times, April 2

Apple and other US tech groups hit as Donald Trump targets suppliers
Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff regime threatens upheaval for the likes of Apple, Amazon and other US companies that rely heavily on manufacturing in China and other countries now targeted for extra levies. The US president’s extra tariffs, due to come into effect within days, impose a universal 10 per cent levy on all countries. But they are much steeper for many of the Asian countries whose factories are deeply embedded in supply chains relied on by US multinationals. The extent of new tariffs was “worse than the worst case” scenario that markets feared, wrote Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives. China faces a “reciprocal” 34 per cent tariff, Trump said, on top of a 20 per cent tariff he has already imposed. Taiwan faces a reciprocal tariff of 32 per cent, although semiconductors, a geopolitically critical export, are exempt for now. Vietnam and India - which have also become important production centres for the likes of Apple - face reciprocal tariffs of 46 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively. Financial Times, April 3

‘Meta has stolen books’: authors to protest in London against AI trained using ‘shadow library’
Authors and other publishing industry professionals will stage a demonstration outside Meta’s London office today in protest of the organisation’s use of copyrighted books to train artificial intelligence. Novelists Kate Mosse and Tracy Chevalier as well as poet and former Royal Society of Literature chair Daljit Nagra will be among those in attendance outside the company’s King’s Cross office. Protesters will meet at Granary Square at 1.30pm and a letter to Meta from the Society of Authors will be hand-delivered at 1.45pm. It will also be sent to Meta headquarters in the US. Earlier this year, a US court filing alleged that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg approved the company’s use of a notorious “shadow library”, LibGen, which contains more than 7.5 million books. Last month, the Atlantic republished a searchable database of the titles contained in LibGen, through which many authors discovered their works may have been used to train Meta’s AI models. The Guardian, April 3

UK set to host 2035 Women's World Cup as only 'valid' bid
The United Kingdom is set to host the 2035 Women's World Cup as the sole "valid" bidder for the tournament, Fifa president Gianni Infantino says. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland submitted a joint expression of interest in March to hold the World Cup across the home nations. Under Fifa rotation rules, the tournament must be in Europe or Africa. Spain's federation president Rafael Louzan said last week that they were "working on" a joint bid alongside Portugal and Morocco. However, the deadline for expressions of interest passed on Monday and Infantino says the UK's bid is the only one received for 2035, while the United States are set to host the 2031 edition. "Today I can confirm as part of the bidding process that we received one bid for 2031 and one valid bid for 2035," Infantino said at a Uefa congress in Belgrade. "The 2031 bid is the United States of America and potentially some other Concacaf members and the 2035 bid is from Europe and the home nations. So, the path is there for the Women's World Cup in 2031 and 2035 to take place in some great nations and further boost the women's football movement." BBC news, April 3

Gaza offensive expanding to capture 'large areas', says Israeli defence minister
Airstrikes continued on Gaza on Wednesday morning after the Israeli defense minister announced that Israel intended to expand its war. In a statement, Israel Katz said the offensive was “expanding to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and capture large areas that will be added to the security zones of the state of Israel”. The move has been condemned by the Hostages Families Forum, who said it appeared that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government were making the return of 59 hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas “a secondary task” that had been “pushed to the bottom of the priority list”. The Guardian, April 2

US agrees to crack down on people smugglers’ use of social media
Donald Trump’s government has agreed to a crackdown on people smugglers that use US social media firms to promote illegal migration routes such as small boat crossings. The United States and China were among seven countries to sign a commitment at an immigration summit in London on Tuesday, pledging to do more to stop criminal gangs using social media platforms to advertise and facilitate organised immigration crime. The agreement commits the countries to work with tech firms to invest in stronger detection and moderation tools to tackle the problem online. Social media companies will be asked to share with law enforcement agencies trends in activity by people smugglers who use their platforms. They will also be asked to design technology to automatically prevent posts that advertise and “glorify” illegal migration. The Times, April 2

Trump tested in Florida and Wisconsin elections
In the first major election night of 2025, two Trump-backed Republicans won special congressional elections in Florida, shoring up their party’s slim House majority at a crucial moment for President Trump’s domestic agenda. Both victories had been expected. In Wisconsin, where a race for a State Supreme Court seat morphed into a referendum on Elon Musk’s role in politics, Susan Crawford, the liberal candidate, overcame $25 million in spending by Musk to handily defeat a conservative. The race could have implications for Wisconsin’s delegation to Congress. New York Times, April 2

Marine Le Pen goes on the offensive after 5-year ban
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has gone on the offensive to try to save her political career, emulating populist leaders from the US to Romania by attacking what she calls the “politicisation” of judges and the “system” seeking to eliminate her. Le Pen was sentenced on Monday to an immediate ban on standing for election for five years, which would make it impossible for her to run for president in 2027 unless the ban is overturned in an appeal before then. But she came out swinging after the verdict that she and her Rassemblement National party embezzled €4.4mn of EU parliament funds earmarked for staff in Brussels who were in reality working for her party in France. “The system took out the nuclear bomb and if they did so, it is obviously because we are on the verge of winning power,” she said on Tuesday. “We will not give up … We will not allow the French people to have the presidential election stolen from them.” Le Pen’s more combative turn breaks with her long-held strategy of seeking to “detoxify” the movement her father Jean-Marie Le Pen started more than 50 years ago in order to overcome its racist and xenophobic past. Financial Times, April 2

European visitors now need an entry permit to visit the UK
Travellers from Europe will now need a digital Electronic Travel Authorisation permit, which UK officials said they were rolling out to boost security and streamline entry processes. There will be a buffer period which could last several months. The permit can be bought online in the next few days for £10 (12 euros), but the price is rising swiftly from April 9 to £16. The ETA has already been introduced for American, Canadian and other visa-exempt nationals visiting the UK, which left the European Union in 2020. France 24, April 2

Environment Agency orders review into tyre recycling after BBC probe
The Environment Agency has launched a comprehensive review into shipments of waste tyres from the UK to India. Last week, BBC File on 4 Investigates heard that millions of these tyres - sent for recycling - were actually being "cooked" in makeshift furnaces, causing serious health problems and environmental damage. The pressure group Fighting Dirty has threatened legal proceedings against the EA over what it called a "lack of action" over the issue of tyre exports. The EA has asked the group to wait until its own review is complete, and it has also asked File on 4 Investigates to share the evidence from its investigation. The UK generates about 50 million waste tyres (nearly 700,000 tonnes) every year. According to official figures, about half of these are exported to India, supposedly to be recycled. But the BBC revealed that some 70 per cent of tyres exported to India from the UK and the rest of the world are being sent to makeshift industrial plants, where they are "cooked" in order to extract steel, small amounts of oil as well as carbon black - a powder or pellet that can be used in various industries. BBC news, April 2