Trump approval rating knocked by poll showing trust in Republicans dropping: Live

As criticism mounts over the Trump administration’s failure to heed a court order commanding the government to “facilitate” the return of a man who was mistakenly deported and incarcerated in a Salvadoran prison, the White House attempted to change the subject on Wednesday with an emotional appearance in the James Brady press briefing room by the mother of a murder victim who recounted graphic details of her daughter’s death at the hands of a Salvadoran gang member.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was accompanied at Wednesday’s briefing by Patty Morin, a Bel Air, Maryland, woman whose daughter, Rachel Morin, was raped and murdered in August 2023 by a MS-13 member, Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez.

Leavitt almost immediately began shouting at the assembled journalists about how Democrats in Congress have “refused to accept the will of the people” by pushing back on the administration’s summary arrests and deportations of Latin American men without due process, as well as their subsequent incarceration in a Salvadoran prison absent any criminal charges or convictions.

Andrew Feinberg and Alex Woodward report.

After bitterly attacking Jerome Powell, here’s Trump on happier form paying tribute to American Samoa – and Tulsi Gabbard.

The president has said “big progress” was made on trade negotiations with Japan yesterday after he directly participated in talks with a Japanese delegation to the White House, even as both sides parted ways with little more than an agreement to meet again in place.

Japan, which was hit by a 24 percent blanket tariff along with an existing 25 percent duty on automobiles during Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2, was one of the first countries to formally kick off negotiations, an early test of Washington’s willingness to cede ground on the duties.

Although the blanket tariff on Japanese imports has since been paused for 90 days, a 10 percent universal rate remains in place, as does the duty for cars, a mainstay of Japan’s export-reliant economy.

Japan’s automobile sector, which comprises 20 percent of the total exports, could lose $17bn in export potential in the U.S. due duties, according to reports.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has more.

Here’s Josh Marcus with more background on the president’s attack on the Federal Reserve chairman just now.

Donald Trump has hit out at the Federal Reserve chair, saying that his “termination cannot come fast enough”.

In a Chicago speech Jerome Powell warned the “significantly larger than expected” tariffs could drive inflation back up.

He also said the central bank would see how the economy reacts before shifting interest rates from their current 4.25-4.5 percent range.

Trump said the European Central Bank was expected to cut interest rates, with a decision due on Thursday, and said the Fed should have also lowered rates “long ago”.

“The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, ‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete ‘mess!’” he said on social media.

“Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”

For the first time in years, American trust the Democrats more on the economy than they do Republicans.

It’s the first time since May 2021 where more people have trusted Democratic lawmakers with the economy over Republicans.

It follows a CBS News/YouGov poll which found Donald Trump’s personal economic approval rating had dropped four points from March, with 60 percent of respondents saying they disapproved of his tariffs.

On April 2, Trump announced blanket 10 per cent tariffs for most U.S. trading partners and higher reciprocal tariffs on dozens more.

Then last week, he paused the higher tariffs in response to the bond market, while ratcheting up duties on Chinese goods to 145 percent.

John Bowen has examined the escalating conflict between the White House and Harvard University:

This week, America’s oldest educational institution defied the Trump administration.

The Trump administration had demanded the university cooperate with federal agencies engaged in prosecuting and, in the case of foreign-born students, targeting for deportation, college students who engaged in a broad range of activities in opposition to the Israeli government’s siege of Gaza. It also would have forced Harvard to end diversity-based hiring policies.

“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach,” wrote Harvard’s president.

The framework of resistance is beginning to form. And one of the biggest names in Democratic politics is throwing himself behind it.

The Department of Homeland Security has demanded details of Harvard University’s foreign students’ “illegal “activities or risk losing the ability to enrol any foreign students.

In the escalating dispute between the Trump administration and Harvard, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the department was cancelling two grants worth more than $2.7 million while accusing the institution of “bending the knee to antisemitism”.

Noem said she wrote a letter to Harvard demanding records on what she called the “illegal and violent activities” of Harvard’s foreign student visa holders by April 30.

“And if Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students,” Noem said in a statement.

Earlier this week the university defied the White House, saying it would not enact a long list of demands issued by the administration, saying it would “not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights”.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the central bank wants to wait and see what effect higher tariffs have on the U.S. economy before making any changes to interest rates.

Powell said in a speech in Chicago that the effects of the Trump administration’s “substantial policy changes” in immigration, regulation, fiscal policy and trade were still evolving, “and their effects on the economy remain highly uncertain”.

“The level of the tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated,” he said on Wednesday evening.

“The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth.”

Powell said the central bank wants to see what happens before shifting interest rates from current levels.

“As that great Chicagoan Ferris Bueller once noted, “Life moves pretty fast.” For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.”

Gold prices are down slightly at the start of trading today, but are still up 11 per cent over the month and a whopping 40 per cent over 12 months.

Those are big gains for what is seen as a ‘safe’ commodity, so why have we seen two record highs this week?

It’s exactly because of that safe status, amid the current global economic turmoil.

Investors have been grappling with worries over the escalating trade war between the United States and China, which intensified after both economies imposed tit-for-tat tariffs.

Uncertainties over higher tariffs – announced, introduced, and then quickly paused last week – have also caused market jitters.